SARAH'S MYSTERY WOMAN

My niece, Sarah, is an up and coming artist.  I was delighted to purchase this piece from a show in Cape Girardeau, MO, where Sarah donated her work for a charitable event.  I am delighted with her works, which remind me of a cross between Aubrey Beardsley and E. Gorey.  This woman has mystery, intrigue, and delicacy.  Sarah always hides a key somewhere in her works, and lovely patterns in an almost old-fashioned way.  Keep an eye out...her work is so unique it grows on you! 

WHAT TO DO WITH A BAD WATERCOLOR...MAKE A BOWL!

I have done a lot of watercolor 'practice' paintings over the years, and tried in vain to find some redeeming values in them to frame.  Eventually, however, I faced facts.  They were no good! Awful, in reality!  So what do you do with them?  Well, for this project, I tore them up and repurposed them into a bowl!  I took a plastic mixing bowl, flipped it over and wrapped it in foil and Saran, and then started tearing up bits of paintings to decoupage over it all.  I added a few dried leaves to add interest, (I used gel medium for my 'glue') let it dry for a few days, and then flipped it back over, taking out the plastic bowl and the foil and Saran.  I am very pleased with it, and love the flowing colors from the paintings!

FRAMING THE IRIS

 

This is a painting that I did last year at this time, and I have been unable to put it up, sell it, or take pleasure in it because I am having a terrible time framing it!  As a starving artist (metaphorical, of course, if any of you have seen my plump portrait!) I can't afford to have all of my work framed professionally.  I try to find ready made frames, hit estate sales, and even the occasional yard sale or two.  This is a normal enough size, 8"x8"...but nothing seems to work well.  Add to that the fact that I painted it at an angle, to be hung on an angle, and I am having an impossible time finding something to complement it.  I painted the top of the flower too close to the edge, so some frames cut it too close.  The edges are stapled, so I can't leave it unframed.  I have thought about 'floating' it in a slightly larger frame, but don't quite know how to do it.  If anyone has a suggestion, I would be MOST grateful!  Sometimes, art and logic don't seem to come together....

CRAFTING A VALENTINE FOR MY TRUE LOVE

My hubby does some truly outrageous things for Valentine's Day.  One of the sweetest was to search out heart shaped rocks whenever we go somewhere special, presenting them with a flourish of flowers, poetry or song.  This year I wanted to present to him one of our favorite heart stones, taken from one of the beaches in California, framed in a Valentine.  I found a lovely filagree metal frame with a 3"x3" opening.  Using foam core board and decorative paper as a background, I hot glued the stone on, wrote a quote from our favorite date movie "Princess Bride" and framed it out.  Valentine's Day will be a bit funky for us this year, as we are volunteering at a fund raiser for adult literacy in the evening, but as usual, hubby planned ahead...Friday we are going to a dinner theatre, an Agatha Christie mystery!  My favorite author, so I am really excited!  I hope that you have made personal plans for your loved ones, be they partners, children, or best friends...and make some wonderful memories.  Happy Valentine's, all!

ARTIST CHALLENGE #76

I entered the Artist Challenge Gallery's "Show me what you've got" show this month with a detail from my painting of gariel young, hatching from their leathery eggs.  It reminded me that I can still do work that is significant (I chose this subject to honor an endangered species) and special to me.  I have been aggravated at myself in recent months for not getting more painting done, and more creating for my soul.  I vow to do more in upcoming weeks!  You can go to the following link to see all of the wonderful entries for this challenge...

 

www.artchallengegallery.com

FUNGUS ART

 

I found this piece of art at an antique store the other day.  While I am sure that it couldn't have been 1889 that this was done, but instead 1989....it is so interesting!  Shelf mushrooms have been used as canvases for thousands of years.  I looked up the process to doing this type of art, and it is a very immediate piece of work.  You pick the fungi, and etch into it with a sharp stick, quill, or other instrument.  Work quickly, before it gets too stiff!  When it dries, the scratches in the surface will darken and look just like ink!

BUTTONS, BUTTONS, SKETCHING BUTTONS

 

What fun this sketch was...my spring cleaning led me into my sewing kit, and I had to draw the buttons!  The baseball button was from my son's pajamas when he was little...25 years ago!  I decided to do this drawing like a pseudo etching.  I have always loved etchings, but have no background in it at all. Someday....

COLORFUL INK SKETCH: TOYS

 

My spring cleaning obsession came to a screeching halt this morning when I ran across some old toys that I have kept around for my grandson's visits (and he has long outgrown).  They were so lovely and colorful that I had to set them up and do some drawing.  I am pleased with them...the cow was really hard!  I finally chose to not draw every detail and shadow, and keep it simple.  Hope you like it...

SCRIMSHAW VALENTINE EFFORT

 

A few years ago, I tried my hand at scrimshaw for hubby's Valentine.  I used a fake ivory square that came in a kit with the tools...while I discovered that I am lousy at scrimshaw, I was happy that I had taken a risk and tried something new.  Hubby liked it, or so he said!

THINKING AHEAD TO VALENTINE'S

 

I am thinking about the upcoming Valentine's Day.  Hubby is such a sweet loving man that I try on that day to do something special for him.  I have several ideas swimming about in my head, but I thought I would get the juices flowing by drawing a locket that he gave me years ago...

PECAN SKETCHING

 

I spent a quiet evening cracking pecan shells...I am using a Texas Inertia Nutcracker, which works especially well on the thin pecan shells.  However, I am now having to think about vacuuming the entire house, as the nut shells flew about willy-nilly!  Before I do that, however, I thought that I would draw a handful, eat a few, and post my efforts!  Then, maybe make pecan-maple fudge???

FLOWER SKETCH, KEEPING IT SIMPLE

 

 

This flower didn't come out as I had planned.  It is actually a very delicate flower, but I seem to be a bit heavy-handed today.  The petals are rather thick looking, and stiff.  I wonder how I could have made it look thinner...

BOTTLEBRUSH FLOWER SKETCH

 

 

This is a bottlebrush bush flower.  I first saw these when I moved to Southern California.  The hummingbirds love them.  They are fine and feathery, and reminded me of many of Jim Henson's creature creations.  I kept this sketch simple, all line and no shadow.  I love the simplicity of it, and the need to almost touch it.

STINKY FLOWER SKETCH

 

 

I have been craving some color lately, so dug out my inks to play with.  This is a huernia zebrina, a flower that blooms from a type of succulent house plant.  The flower when it blooms, gives off a horrible stench of rotting icky stuff in order to lure in its pollinators.  It is large, and has the most wonderful striped patterns to play with!  Isn't the world a weird and wonderful place?

NATURE'S OWN ART

I discovered this creation of art on my back patio this morning.  Nature does a much better job of it than I can...interesting technique, don't you think?  I can only hazard a guess, but I think that the leaf, combined with rain caused an imprint that sure left an impression on me!  I am inspired by the simplicity, and the message...

BLUEBIRD SKETCH

 

 

I don't often get a bluebird at my feeders. We are situated rather deep in the woods of Tennessee, and bluebirds are fond of fields and bugs.  I think that this one was just curious as to what all the other birds were doing...I had an especially busy day yesterday, with dozens of birds feeding on a new batch of sunflower seeds!  Anyway, my goal this year is to sketch and eventually paint my birds in a more natural position than just profile.  I love the way the bluebirds' feathers layer and fold! I also love the way the slight breeze fluffed some of the down out, giving it a windswept and unkempt look.  I used a super fine tip pilot pen to render this.  He was an almost cerelean blue with a rusty red throat.  Can't wait to get my paint out!

 

 

 

JACK RUSSELL TERRIER SKETCH

 

I am amazed at how much easier it is to read an animal's emotions and thoughts than it is a human's! Or maybe it is just that I never actually look directly into another person's eyes...anyway, this little guy was just begging to be played with, and his owner didn't have the energy to do it. I used a basic pilot pen to render this sketch, and am not real pleased with my perspective. However, it is my first sketch in over a month, so I am thrilled to be back!

LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION

Forgive my slowness in posting this week...Blogger is having issues with Windows browser, so I cannot post a photo of my latest work.  Hopefully, they will fix this issue quickly...Meanwhile, I will verbally discuss my frustrations with post holidays creativity funks!  Or maybe it is just the fact that I haven't seen the sun in weeks.  Here in Tennessee we are getting rain, clouds, and grumpy hubbies galore.  The new year stretches long before me, the economy is not promising a boost in art sales, and I am searching for my inspiration.  I have begun my spring cleaning in the house this week, and decided to get rid of a lot of old craft books...it is there that I found my spark of creativity, my possible enthusiasm, and an inkling of an idea!  In a VERY old book on masonry and cement techniques, I found a small article on plaster...which led me to think about frescos, which led me to think about landscapes on frescos!  Yes!  I think the softness, the diffusion that happens when working on plaster would make for some very zen paintings.  I am always looking for new ways to add calm and serenity to my space (mandalas should have worked, but didn't for me).  So I am now researching how to do a basic fresco painting on a small scale.  You can find inspiration anywhere, I guess...can't wait to start!

JOY IS IN THE UNIVERSE

Detail of "Tulips and Oranges"
in oil

 

 

"Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all -- that has been my religion."

    ---John Burroughs author, naturalist

 

I don't think you can truly appreciate something unless you know it, and curiosity is the key to starting the process.  Through appreciation comes joy in the knowledge and true intimacy with the world.  I had a study in oils to do once, in which I chose individual tulips to paint.  Each tulip, I chose carefully for its color and shape, then preceded to draw it, study it, notice every inch of it over a course of 3 days, tenderly wrapping it each evening in wet cloths and refrigerating it to keep it as long as possible.  I grew to know each bloom millimeter by millimeter, finding 20 shades of color in a yellow bloom.  What was a simple, easy to draw flower became a complex world.  I gained respect for the flowers' creation, and love for its petals. Through knowledge came joy in the study.  Joy in nature and it's creations.  An artist has the special privilege of getting to know her/his subject intimately. They learn to look in a different way at the world because of the experience. I look a bit closer at the flowers in my garden these days.  I take special joy in drawing or painting something unfamiliar, because I know that even if it is 'just a bug' I will appreciate the complexity of it, the glory of it, all the more when I am done!  How happy I am to be an artist!

EMOTIONAL ART

Photo by Rose, filters added with Pixlrogram app.

EMOTIONAL ART

My young daughter once asked me why I couldn't use ALL of my emotions to paint.  Anger and paint equals Van Gogh masterpieces, right?  For me, my creativity shuts down when I am going through a negative emotion.  My hands shake and I can't let go, or stop THINKING and just paint.  An example that it runs in the family is my mother.  A watercolorist, she was taking a class after a particularly nasty divorce.  The instructor picked up on her anger from her paintings.  They all were red and black slashes of color in phallic shapes.  He said they made him uncomfortable to look at them without protection - her anger came through loud and clear.  Was it something intentional? No. I am thankful that I haven't been that emotionally distracted very often this year. However, If you have seen a bit of a slow down through the past few months, it is because my emotions and my painting haven't worked well together, and I have trashed everything I have done! Calm has descended upon my little world with the new year, and I look forward to growth in my art and in my heart.  I wonder if you have created something incredible while under great emotional duress...if you would like to share it, I will make a special guest blog spot just for you! After all, art is about sharing your heart and spirit with the world...

AVOIDING THE ISSUE...IT HAS TO BE PERFECT!

Wooly Mammoth painting 3'x4', unfinished for 3 years!
 (see the finished painting in the blog archives)

 

 

AVOIDING THE ISSUE...IT HAS TO BE PERFECT!

 

More excerpts from my art journal on the creative process in my mind...

 

"It is amazing what you can accomplish when you are avoiding an especially daunting painting.  I had decided to do a particularly large piece, and it was in my mind exactly what I wanted.  I spent hours sketching, planning, doing thumbnails and color variations.  Then I discovered I HAD to rearrange the furniture.  I HAD to clean the oven.  I dug out half of the backyard to get a rock garden started.  I needed to make detailed pictures of the wild flowers growing on our property.  I HAD to finish a craft project that I had started five years earlier.  I HAD to make tiny bead dragonflies to sell at the upcoming festival, because the economy was too bad to sell 'real' art.  Eventually, however, you run out of excuses.  You feel so bad about avoiding the canvas that you creep up to the studio and stare at the canvas.  You even get the nerve up to gesso and tint the canvas...SO NOW WHAT???"

HOW MUCH I HAVE GROWN IN MY ART ATITUDE!

3"x3" landscape in acrylic, of Glacier National Park, MT

 

 

HOW MUCH I HAVE GROWN IN MY ART ATITUDE!

This is an excerpt from my art journal 5 years ago.  Upon reading it, I realize how far I have come in my confidence.

----"Why do I panic at the thought of finishing a painting?  For me, I know the exact moment I was warped for life....my high school art teacher would encourage and instruct me - until I came to the finish of the project.  Then she would take my painting away from me and finish it herself.  That told me that she was sure I would ruin a painting should I ever finish one.  So I never finish a painting without a LOT of panic, double-guessing, and anxiety. I need others to tell me if it is good or not. I feel NEEDY, and worse, I feel like the art is no longer MINE.  I have compromised my own feelings and emotions and put in someone else's.  How's THAT for self-sabotage?!

At one point, I was so frustrated with my inability to finish a painting that I started using smaller and smaller canvases.  I was eventually painting 2"x3" pieces...and still unable to complete them.  Worse, if you have ever talked to a miniatures artist, they are much harder to do than the larger one.  Great care has to be taken on a small surface to use it properly - composition has to be perfect.  Values must be perfect.  I had inadvertently painted myself into a corner..."

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

 

I collect a lot of books, new and used, to give me inspiration.  For some reason, calligraphy has always inspired me with the shapes and movement of script.  I see an eventual change in my art , heading in the direction of script and nature.  I don't know what it is yet, but I am inspired!  What inspires you?  I find it very easy to get lost in the CRAFT of art...altered books, playing with color, fabric painting.  Sometimes I forget to be inspired by the playing to continue with my painting.  My mother-in-law calls it 'idle hands making the devils' playground' , but my mother sees no harm in the play.  Guess who I will listen too?

GUEST BLOGGER: JO ANDERSON, COTTONWOOD LEAVES

COTTONWOOD LEAVES

I am a volunteer at the Missouri Department of Conservation Nature Center, and once a year we go on a statewide trip...this one to Kansas City. While there we got a chance to use a huge hand-operated press.  On this piece, I painted the glass plate with a roller, then took cottonwood leaves and painted them atop the glass. A paper was laid over that and I hand cranked it through the large padded press.  What a surprise...a piece of nature art!

 

 

GUEST BLOGGER: JO ANDERSON

'Open Spaces' by J. Anderson

 

This painting was done when I lived in Colorado, and traveled to Wyoming where my grand children and antelope lived. The open spaces and even the stormy weather inspired me to paint in impressionist styles on full sheets of watercolor paper.  My daughter, Rose and I were also taking a life drawing class at that time...what fun!!!

 

(This painting is 26"x32", owned by daughter, Rose)

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS

Merry Christmas to all of you!  I wanted to thank you all for being interested in art, the creative process, and the beauty found all around you. It is that interest that brings us all together and gives us a common thread. The new year is fast approaching, and I have some big goals to think about for the upcoming future of the blog.  If any of you would like to comment, add your 2 cents worth, and offer suggestions, I am delighted to entertain them!  Meanwhile, enjoy life, enjoy color, enjoy yourselves!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND INVITE TO SUBMIT ART

Happy Holidays to all of you!  The holidays always stirs up a malstrom of emotions for me, and my creativity either peaks or plummets.  This year it has done a bit of both, so don't expect anything particularly great from me...however, if you would like to email me with some of your creative endeavors, I would be delighted to put them on my blog in the next few weeks!  Do you have something you have done that is especially close to your heart?  Send it to me, or leave a comment so I can contact you.  Meanwhile, I will try to reach through my moody freak-out, and get creative!  Have a great Holiday, everyone!

MY ARTIST'S HEART: POEM BY ROSE

MY ARTIST'S HEART

 

 

I need the gentler moments,

No crisis every day,

To grow and be creative,

And find my artists' way.

 

Van Gogh could use his anguish

To fuel his passions' fire.

But me, I need tranquillity

To find my heart's desire.

 

Da Vinci found his calling.

Picasso and Rembrandt, too.

But I struggle daily to find my place,

Scared to know, afraid to do.

 

Art is a mirror of yourself,

The soul a door, the heart a key.

Exposure means taking a risk...

What if it's NOT for me?!

 

I need the peaceful moments

To calm my fears and start.

It's all inside, each stroke, each line,

I'm an artist in my heart.

FAIRY TALE SKETCHES

Old King Cole's 4 and 20 blackbirds, baked in a pie
 

 I have been trying to work up some ideas for the Artist Challenge, subject of Fairy Tales. I did several sketches illustrating some of my favorite stories, but none of them really seemed to be right for a painting, so I am not sure if I will actually participate in the challenge or not.  Regardless, it has gotten me to thinking, experimenting a bit, and testing my 'wings' in the illustrative venue.  I am pleased to have pushed myself, even though the drawings aren't particularly good.  I need to be able to tell a story with my picture, and it isn't there yet...wish I could take some classes on this!

This is from the Shoemaker and the Elves

REINDEER PUZZLE PIN

I always have a puzzle with several pieces missing laying about.  For years I hunt for the missing pieces, holding on to the puzzle in the off chance I will find them...knowing full well that the cat probably ate the pieces in retribution for shooing her off the puzzle table! Being one to never waste anything (lesson learned from my mother, who survived the Depression) I made this silly reindeer.  Three puzzle pieces, a pin back, googly eyes, a tiny pompom and a bit of paint.  Warning...I make one or two every year, and they fall apart after a lot of hard wear.  Maybe I should add a fourth puzzle piece to support the three in the back?  Anyway, Happy Holidays!