Painting my Garden

Hello, long neglected blog. It's been a while! But summer is here, and I'm on vacation until September which means I have time for my art once again. For those of you that don't know, I teach ESL part-time at a local college when I'm not doing art. I squeeze in time for art whenever I can, so even though I haven't been blogging much, I have been painting, collaging, and drawing quite a lot this year. I'm focusing more on my painting skills these days and recently took Diane Culhane's wonderful online class "Paint Your Garden: The Language of Paint." Using a garden theme as inspiration, Diane teaches various painting techniques in this class such as pointillism and masking.

Lucifer and Becky

Inspired by the Crocosimia Lucifer and Daisies (Leucanthemum × superbum 'Becky') now blooming in my garden

acrylic on canvas

8" x 10'

I used a lot of masking in this one, both with masking fluid and masking tape. Can you tell where I used the tape? I might go back in and do more line work, but I don't want to lose the spontaneous feel I have. Diane uses the liner brush a lot in her paintings, but so far, I haven't been happy with my results. Like anything else, it will take practice.

Which brings me to another question -- How do you learn from an artist that you admire, but at the same time, keep your own 'voice'? I love Diane's style, but I don't want to copy it (and indeed, I am not able to copy it, at least at this point in time)?

Thanks for visiting today! I appreciate your comments.

Face #10: Mixed Media Portrait

This is a mixed media portrait on a wood panel that I started recently. I'm experimenting with drawing and acrylic together in this piece. So far, I'm happy with the lines, collage, and colors, but less happy with her face. The nose is better than some I've done, but her eyes aren't matching so I want to go back in and work on them some more. 

"In the Distance" a Wabi-Sabi Landscape

In the Distance
acrylic on 8" x 10" canvas

In 2011, I had the good fortune to take a workshop with Serena Barton in Portland which focused on her interpretation of the wabi-sabi concept in encaustic. I blogged about my experience that day in an earlier post. At the time, I was completely enthralled by the wax, and yet as time has passed, I find myself thinking about wabi-sabi again and again. I even have a journal I started after that workshop that I use specifically for contemplating wabi-sabi.

According to Serena, "Wabi-Sabi is an aesthetic, a state of mind, a mix of emotions, and a way of perceiving life. It embraces cycles of change, including life and death. Wabi-Sabi values the seasoned, well-worn, accidental, and imperfect. It includes the sorrow of change and loss, as well as the acceptance of these." Wabi-Sabi colors are muted and textures are rough. If you think of a flower as it is just beginning to turn brown at the edges, you can get a feel for Wabi-Sabi. To me, it includes beauty, longing, mystery, and depth -- all things that appeal to me in art and life, and that I hope to create in my work.

I did this painting after reading Serena's new book, Wabi Sabi Art Workshop. It was actually an unsuccessful painting I'd started earlier, so I decided to paint over, creating more layers and textures in the process.

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday. Go check it out and see all of the wonderful art that's been created this week. Thanks so much for stopping by! I always appreciate your comments.

Evolution of a Painting

Earlier in the summer, I took a wonderful online class from Diane Culhane, " Between Speech and Silence." I'm planning to blog more about that course in a separate post. In this post, I'm going to show how two of the paintings evolved during the creative process.

Our goal in the paintings was to suggest a story or dialog by including figures. The beauty of this concept is that story is open to interpretation by the viewer. I love creating mystery in my work and this is a fun new way to accomplish that goal. Here is an early version of one of my paintings.

After setting it aside for a few days, I decided that the face was OK, but too big and heavy for the rest of the painting. So instead of the face, I added another bird. It's much more balanced and whimsical to to me now. I wonder what these two birds are saying to each other, don't you? 

This is another painting from the course, again following the idea of creating dialog with figures.

The more I looked at this one, the less happy I felt about it. I decided I didn't like the girl so much, and I wanted to create more interest with the tree. It felt like a children's book illustration to me, which isn't a bad thing, but it wasn't what I really was aiming for. I added some more collage and replaced the girl with an image transfer.

It's so much different now! Overall, I am very happy with the tree, but still not so sure if the bird and face 'go together.' But it's been good to try out the idea of creating a story in my work -- definitely a new concept for me, but a fun way to push myself in a new direction.

Reeling, Through Endless Summer Days

Is it really September already? Where has the summer gone? August flew by in a blur and now, the kids are back in school, which means some peace and quiet and time to paint!

This piece is a combination of collage, image transfer (the sunflowers) and acrylic. The pattern in the lower part of the painting comes from a gel printed piece of sewing pattern tissue that originally looked like this:

The beautiful pattern in the print is from a crocheted doily. It was fun, and challenging to try and get the abstract and representational elements to work together in this composition. While I painted, I focused on layers of glazing to add depth and texture and I actually ended up painting over the flowers quite a bit to enhance the color.

 I started this piece, I'd been thinking about these words from Emily Dickinson's poem "A Liquor Never Brewed":

 Inebriate of air am I, 
And debauchee of dew, 
 Reeling, through endless summer days, 
 From inns of molten blue. 


 Lovely, don't you think?

I'd also like to remember my grandmother who passed away at the end of August, at the age of 102, quite an amazing woman! One of my fondest childhood memories is of her taking us to see the wild crocuses blooming in the spring. We lived pretty far north, so often the crocuses would be poking up through the snow! For her 101st birthday last summer, I made her this mixed media collage (blogged about here) to thank her for the beautiful memory.

I miss her, but I'm so glad she had such a long and healthy life, and that I could have her in my life for so many years.

Thanks for stopping by! Your comments are always very much appreciated.

A Difficult Subject and a Happy Ending

These past few weeks I've been busy doing a lot of small collages, using bits of painted papers (read more about this process here) and other elements. Here is one I'm calling "A Difficult Subject."

I used some charcoal in the background, then used clear gesso, followed by the collage elements, and finally, some watercolor. (really not so difficult, and definitely a whole lot of fun)

While we're on the subject of fun, this past year has been one of creative frenzy for me as I've rediscovered my love of creating and making art. One thing I've become very good at is starting a lot of paintings. Sometimes my work just flows and comes together easily into a finished piece, and others, well...let's just say I've got quite a few of those! I can't make myself throw them out, though. I put them away for awhile, hoping that I'll figure out how to finish them someday. Here is one of those paintings. I can't even remember how I started this one. I think I was probably using up paint that I'd put out and didn't want to waste. I know I worked on it at several different times. The other day, I took it out again and decided I kind of like it, just as it is. So, here is my newly finished painting of the week, "Sunscape". 

Which leads me to a question. How should I frame small pieces such as these? Some are standard size, and others are not. The small collage is actually on mat board. How do you all do it? Do you know of sources for economical (but nice) frames? Do you make your own? Thanks in advance for your advice! 

Rhapsody in Blue: Experimenting with Acrylics

Over the years, I've had a love/hate relationship with acrylics. Well, to be honest, probably more hate than love. I first experimented with them long before I ever tried oils and really wanted to love the medium. The easy cleanup was a huge bonus for me. But the paint always dried so fast and my end result never seemed to look the way I wanted it to. Along the way, I did try oils, and then watercolor, which stole my heart. There is just something about the way the water flows on paper that keeps me coming back for more. But about a year ago, as I began experimenting with mixed media techniques, I kept hearing about the new fluid acrylics, so I finally decided I should give them a try. So here I am, once again experimenting with acrylic painting.

When I started out with these two paintings, I wasn't sure if I would use the painting as background for collage or just paint. I ended up liking the colors and shapes enough that I decided to just paint and see what happened. This is also part of my ongoing challenge to learn how to do abstract compositions.

I doubt that acrylics will ever become my primary medium, but they have some useful qualities for mixed media art. Their colors are more intense than watercolor, and the fact that they dry fast and are permanent is very nice for working with layers. The fluid acrylics also lend themselves to some interesting paint effects that I love in watercolor. So, I'm sure I will continue to experiment with them and use them to a certain extent in my artwork.

I recently discovered the Creative Color Challenge  on Flickr and posted my paintings there for the March color theme of tranquil blues.

Thanks so much for visiting! I really appreciate your comments.