Monday, August 31, 2009

The Beauty of Black & White


August 31, 2009


Don't you just love the black and whiteness of pen and ink. So honest ~ so yes or no ~ so in or out ~ so up or down ~ no subtleties ~ no gray areas - just right there in black and white. You can't hide in the shadows, or blur the truth. It's the only time as an artist that I feel all of me is out there for brutal scrutiny and appraisal.




Friday, August 28, 2009

The Flowerhead Canvases


Aug 28, 2009

More Flowerheads for the mixed media canvases. These are much more organic, less flower friendly than the first group. I had originally intended to make happy flower faces for each of the canvases. But you just can't escape your true self - cute and friendly flowers go against my true grain. I really respond to the Ying and Yan of things, the good with the bad. Every beautiful flower has dirty twisted roots.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Moving Through Life ~ one birthday at a time

August 26, 2009
I look in the mirror and wonder who is that person. Of course I know it's me - but it's not the me I see in my head. In my head I don't look as old, or serious, my hair is nor that short, and I'm either much taller or much thinner - but not that pudgy old lady in the mirror. Now that I can wear purple and red, I've learned that the grown-up world does not exist. I don't know who made up that fairy tale - but they lied. The growing never stops. I still want more more more. Learning. Reading. Painting. Drawing. Doing. Wanting. Knowing. The yearning never ends, the growing up never comes.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Aug 23, 2009 Parrot Head Sunday

Jimmy Buffet
Summerzcool Tour
Atlantic City, NJ


Everyday is a revolution
Pull it together and it comes undone,

Just one more candle and a
trip around the sun.
Jimmy Buffet
Happy "Trip Around the Sun" to my fellow LEO's

Friday, August 21, 2009

THE OFFICIAL SEMI-ANNUAL CREATIVE SPIRIT MEETING OF THE ORBS

a special bottle just for Jack . workshop . watercolor . fellow creative spirits . pizza . wine in silver goblets . everything you need God provides . terrified of large paintings . shared soul . first gallery . new job . another ne job . Bon Apetite . Julia Childs . making your path in life one weedwacker at a time . baby birds .
1000 days .
gardening in the cool morning . weeds come first . first gallery sale . happy birthday .
ORBS . ectoplasm . protoplasm .


Mom sits on the end of my bed . open to the Universe . ORBS . trust the universe . keep your door shut . auras. gongs .


has any one seen Jack . three Leo's . . birthday singing . three left handed Leo's . candles . icing . ice cream .

I feel the energy . play with the energy . everything is energy . just toss it back and forth between your hands . step up to the painting . those design girls . Miss Marple .

healing hands . chocolate covered almonds . embossed paper . you will never cook in my kitchen . work release love us . i was not incarcerated . four grandbabies . dishwater hair .

God provides everything and I've added to it . bathing suits . Brazilian bathing suits . suits with skirts . suits with shorts . you must wear a suit in the pool . follow the rules . YAAAAAAAAAh . has anyone seen Jack . . . ORBS . next time we'll hire a photographer . . .

Finding Time For Art ~ Aug 20, 2009

the dust bunnies beckon . I'm knee deep in dirty socks . the people who sign my paycheck expect me at my desk everyday . family, God Bless Them, never expect dinner . so many other things must come first . even the little stray cat and her kittens now living under my shed . so little time . and another week has gone by . i've painted my flower faces with colored pencils and collaged them on the canvas . but still so much and so many left to do . and nasty old time is a selfish creature . if you don't give him his due, he sucks the life right out of your aspirations . he takes your interest . he steals your drive . . .

Monday, August 17, 2009

Canvas Collages or Painting with Paper




I've started the creatures I want to collage on my canvases. Faces in flowers seems appropriate. Pen & Ink to start with, then I'll finish them with colored pencils.

Colored pencils respond well to collage - the acrylic medium and varnish.

Today I discovered the blog site for Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson, collage artist. http://elizabethsthilairenelson.blogspot.com/. She describes her art as "painting with paper". I love it! It gives credence to the paper arts. Just like colored pencils - so many people think it's just coloring - like with crayons when we were kids. I shall call it "painting with colored pencils".





Friday, August 14, 2009

The Orange Canvas Project 8/14/2009


The origami paper has been glued to the canvas, along with some much loved mulberry paper. You might be wondering why I’m working on so many canvases – there are over a dozen. The new ones are small, 6 x 6”, and some are older paintings needing a new life are included. I usually do paint more than one at a time. That way I always use all the paint and torn paper. Plus, I can usually create one really good piece out or two or three. Any canvas that doesn’t work out just gets recycled to the next project. This time however, I plan to put a few of them on eBay and in my Etsy store. So we’ll see . . . .

The Orange Canvas Project - 8/13/2009


Back to work on the orange canvases – which now have been white washed. You might be thinking I’ve just gone back to the “Blank White Canvas”. But no – it’s just a thin wash of off-white, much of the orange still shows through leaving a warm glow. It’s all part of the layering process.

I am drawing faces, coloring them with colored pencils, and will collage them onto these painted canvases. I need lots of layers before I even get to the drawings.

I spent some time perusing through my stash of collage papers and finally settled on this origami paper. It has a delicate lightness and a feminine quality to it. I think it will be very appropriate.

This is all part of my process – the revelation of the unplanned painting.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Conquering the Blank Canvas


The first thing I do when starting a new painting project is to eliminate the "white blank canvas". I usually paint the canvas with a warm color - orange if my favorite. When I do start to paint - it feels like I'm just I'm jumping in where I left off - doesn't feel like a newbie!


I never use red for the background - I save the red to use in the painting, for drama. And never yellow for the background - I will only use yellow in the painting only if the subject actually is yellow, like a flower petal.


I remember as a kid, sitting at the linoleum kitchen set, after dinner, with my coloring papers and crayons. When ever I colored with the yellow crayon, I could not see the color under the artificial kitchen lights. I stopped using the yellow crayon - I think that's why, even today, I never chose yellow.


I want to see all the colors - all the time!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The Creative Habit . . .


Here I am – ready to start a new project – the blank white intimidating canvas – inviting and threatening all at once. I have a system for coming up with ideas, or the “what to paint” dilemma. I carry a journal with me everyday. Since I work full time, I can’t be in the studio during the day – so whenever inspiration strikes or I come up with an interesting idea, I record it in the journal. Being a visual person, my journals don’t house many words, just sketches and pictures. I also save inspiring pictures from magazines; copy pictures from the internet, or take photos with my camera and glue them in my book. Some of the things I save might are only meaningful to me – colors I like together, the patterns from a light source, textures in fabric and nature – I collect words and phrases that are inspiring and glue them in the journal. Using tape and glue in the journal reminds me of collage – so that in itself is also inspiring. When I am able to create – I go to the journal and decide what my project will be –in retrospect some of the ideas will seem lame – but there was a reason at that time for me to record them. Some of the things in the journal will generate an idea for a painting and sometimes I will have made finished sketches ready for a canvas – either way, when I get to the studio, I am ready to work.

This is my system for deciding what to paint “a system for turning an idea into a painting”. I developed this “system” after reading Twyla Tharp’s book, “The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life”. The first chapter is called – “I Walk into a White Room” – for me it means the same as – I’m staring at a white canvas.

I’ve learned that discipline and habit are the natural routes used by my muse – without disciple and habit, my muse is very illusive.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Reinventing My Blog . . . .


The initial intent of this blog was to hold myself responsible for creating and posting artwork everyday. After 18 months, I'm done with that and want to move on. Instead, I want to use this blog to promote my artwork - an online studio.


Already I'm stumped, not knowing what to write. So I'm looking at other art blogs and noting the ones that gave me inspiration. Here is my initial list:


1. Debi Watson's watercolor blog is fabulous for all the How-To info she shares. Her watercolor are great too!


2. I love how Kelly Rae Roberts show us her home life along with her art and makes me feel like a best friend. I just want to buy everything she has!


3. If I need some inspiration and motivation and just plain feeling good in the spirit, I look at Jeannine Roberts blog.


4. I like the homey feeling of Morna Crites-Moore's blog, especially her entry about her studio. Sometimes I think everyone else has a picture perfect studio, it's good to know I'm not alone, that there is a huge network of artists, all with the same dreams and wishes and unorganized studios.


5. When I'm looking for a workshop teacher, who has gobs of info to impart, I go to blog sites of Nita Leland and Nicolas Simmons.


I could go on and on, my list of favorites is staggering!

2022

   Merry Christmas