Moonrise - Ink On Copper.

Moonrise

6x20 in alcohol ink on copper SOLD

Artist Note.

These images are from 

my Avian November show

This one got lots of attention.

The copper gleams through 

and creates an inner light.

I really liked working on it.

As I mentioned 

in a previous post,

I pushed myself to try 

doing some creative work

for my avian series.

I KNOW

I was totally creative with 

the one below.

The nest is actually
made of rust...

the bottom of a rusty bucket.
I wanted to use the walls
of the bucket
for a different project so

gently tapped out the bottom 

and when it fell to the ground

I saw it shaped like a nest.

I treated the rust and mounted it after 

I had painted the background shapes.

  It looked like a nest to me, but I

felt I wanted to pop an egg in.

Painting the egg was the

hardest part. 

If it was wrong 

then there would be 

no way to correct it.

(click to enlarge)

Rusty Home

18x21' treated rust mounted on

black acid-free foam board
painted with acrylic.
below - close-up of rust piece.

I was pleased I could break 

out of my usual imagery.

Life Cycle

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Life Cycle
13x10in mixed media on paper SOLD

Artist Note

Yes - a little different for me but
I did enjoy using acrylics
in this piece.
I love the colors of turquoise
and earth tones together.

My process...
after layering acrylic
colors and disturbing the surface
all over with the fracturing
technique,
I restored certain outlines
with
water-soluble artist's crayon.


I have been really busy.
I enjoyed a trip to
Art Basil
in Miami where I saw lots
of work, I wouldn't call art.

I also saw many brilliant 
paintings
which fed my soul.

I came back refreshed
and went right into
my fracturing workshop.
Lots of talented painters
with great attitudes.
They were all established
artists so a lot of good paintings
 came out of it.

It is always great for my moral
when I can help an artist
find a new direction to their
painting style. A great thing
about the fracturing technique
is you can use it a little or a lot.
It is really neat to see how
they adapt to their own
personal preferences.

Thank you for trusting
me to inspire you,
 Brenda, Kay, Carol,
Ana, Marilyn, Lindy and Candi.

Life is good.

Bouquet of Yellow

Bouquet of Yellow

6x8in oil on canvas panel $140.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note.

It was fun to get back to the 

fracturing technique in oils.

I find that although I use the 

same technique in other mediums,

only the acrylic comes 

close to the same effect as oils.

Another from my avian show.

Waiting  13 x10"

acrylic SOLD

Quite a fun one to paint

pushing into the abstract.

I used the fracturing 

technique a lot

It doesn't really show,  

but first I wrote 

all over the white surface 

with my thoughts 

about the avian world 

and then painted over them.

Small areas of it

appear here and there.

Wanna Be World Famous

Acrylic on paper 

12x12in 

Sold

(This is a re-post as I am still on vacation.)

I was invited to enter a show featuring paintings of women only. 

On my pondering of the place of women in art, I thought of the Mona Lisa, 

reportedly the most recognized portrait of a woman worldwide. 

Then think of all the famous artists' who have painted portraits 

of women in the hope to reach the same status. 

So far none have achieved Leonardo's stature. 

(I think Vermeer's Woman with a Pearl Earring is coming close)

The gallery informed me this piece was sold to a museum in Denmark.

Picasso-Portrait of Dora Maar Seated

Leonardo Da Vinci - Mona Lisa

Van Gogh-Madame Ginoux

Cezanne-Young Italian Girl

Egon Schiele-Seated Woman with Bent Knee

Matisse-Goldfish

The hardest part of this painting was the research of paintings of women

which would conform to my vision of them sitting 

together around a table...a universal theme the world over.

I started laughing when I picked the first two and even more 

so at the end

I adored the way these women looked totally bored ...

They must have been muttering as they posed...will he EVER finish!

Only Mona looks content, and after this painting, I wonder why?

Any guesses?

Slow-dry Lemons

Slow-dry Lemons

5x7  acrylic    sold


Three lemons are fun to paint.
I am one of three daughters (middle) and I reflected on the differences
between us...as I was trying to set up the lemons from
different angles, sizes and shadow areas.

Artist Note.

This is in acrylic.
I am going to do another one and try it a different way.
With this one I put Slow-dry in the mixtures to keep them
nice and soft. Acrylic took some getting used to for an oil painter like me.
The colors hues seem to be completely different than oils, even with the same
color name. I only seem to use it when I want to try something new or dry fast..
I use a Styrofoam egg carton for my acrylic palette.
The cups are deep enough to keep the paint moist longer
and a damp, folded paper towel fits in perfectly so you can
close the lid, have lunch and come back to find everything still very moist.

.

I also keep them as a reminder of the color palette I used for different paintings.
They stack open really well.
Styrofoam is a horrible material for disposal into the landfill, but one of our high
schools has a garbage machine only for Styrofoam and the kids place their lunch
containers in it...unwashed! It makes solid blocks to be used as paving blocks
and other building parts. Quite brilliant. I love the school for getting it.
Guess where my old palettes go!

Peoples Choice Award - O is for Onion

O is for Onion

12x12  mixed media  

I was in an Invitational Fruit and Vegetable show recently and was
amazed to find out I won the Peoples Choice Award.
The top artists in the area were participating and most of
them have very contemporary attitudes in their work, so
I thought if I wanted my work to fit in, I would allow myself to go a little
crazy with my piece.
Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the show to find
nearly all the painted works were hard edged and beautifully realistic.
All of it was very, very good.
One of the reasons I was amazed to win.


Artist Note.

I used acrylic paint and glued down a couple of actual pieces
of onion skin. I used the handy shaper I demoed in yesterday's
blog to create some dispersion of pigment into gel medium
and splattered and smudged, having a lot of fun. I threw in a
few tears and decided it was done.
Not my typical work but it is good to let go now and again.