Sunday, June 21, 2015

Well, It Isn't Blank Page Syndrome but......

This piece has me totally mystified. I started with an interesting background, and washed over it with several layers of red. I don't usually use red, so I was excited. Then I stamped a design that simply didn't work. I painted over it with more red, and then added some white which I scraped over it with a plastic card. This is interesting but I haven't a clue what to do next. I guess I'll set it aside and wait for it to "talk" to me (which usually happens between 3 and 5 AM.) The final result is entitled "SETI." It shows two worlds entirely unaware of each other. Our SETI project came to mind. Perhaps there are signals all around us, but we are listening for the wrong thing.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Home Made Potpourri From the Garden

I love spring, when the roses pop like popcorn all over our yard. I love to pick them and place vases throughout the house. When they begin to droop, I take them out and hang them upside down by the stems. I let them air dry and keep them until some hot summer day. Then, I take the blossoms from the stems to mix my potpourri of the year. This batch contains roses, lemon verbena dried last fall, orange peel, cloves, fennel seed, kosher salt, orange essential oil, lemon verbena essential oil, and rose essential oil. Roses mix nicely with citrus, cloves, and/or lavender.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Eagle Man

I really enjoy drawing designs on styrofoam meat trays. They make interesting monoprints and the cool thing is, no two are alike even from the same drawing. I enjoy the element of surprise. I think it's because I'm somewhat of a control freak, and I don't have to control this....



This one is entitled, "Eagle Man Flies Toward The Sun."

And this next one is called "African Mask."  If you scroll down to Painting Cutting and Pasting, you may recognize this face again.


Monday, February 16, 2015

2 New Paintings

I've been experimenting with abstract painting and collage. Here are my two latest paintings.

This one turned out a bit surreal. It's entitled "Morning Coffee" and the dark drips are actually coffee, sealed with fixative and varnish.


This one is called "Rank and File" due to the little rectangles marching in formation. You may recognize the central image from my stash of hand painted papers, seen in Painting, Cutting and Pasting from January 15.



One of my recent buyers says that my work is  "gutsy and yet balanced, and certainly intriguing." I really like the "gutsy" part.
I really like these natural sculptures.Bird nest sculptureshttps://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=19463

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Painting, Cutting and Pasting

The holidays and family events preoccupied me, so that I had been away from art for nearly 2 months. When January arrived, so did my need to create and keep my sanity.

I randomly painted watercolor paper and magazine pages. Some I will keep as art, while others will be collaged into something else. Here are some of the original papers:






I also experimented with making my own hand drawn stamps and handmade stencils. I really enjoyed using my glazing medium, which works well on the magazine pages. I made collagraphs and did rubbings on some, as seen in the photo directly above this.

I cut some of these and then collaged the bits and scraps onto them. Sometimes I made more marks. Here are some of my favorite bookmarks and gift tags:




SO MUCH FUN!
If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.
Albert Einstein

I've been thinking about goals recently. I have a Facebook page, this blog, and a Twitter account. I think I'm just flailing in all 3, randomly posting with no clear goal in mind.

Do you have  specific goal in mind for your blog? Do you have a vision or purpose, or do you just post whatever you feel like? Are your posts designed to create a brand, an image, or a feeling?

Your comments are always welcome.