Tree With Roots

This is a mixed media collage that I recently finished. The drips seemed to fit an image of a tree that I've had for maybe years. This one took a long time to complete. I seem to finish all but the top left corner of a piece, and then that corner taunts me until I finally finish it. This isn't the first time that corner

has given me pause. I guess it's the way I look at things while I'm working.

Fall Is Coming

It felt like an early fall morning in the Back Forty today. There was a cool breeze and the crows were complaining to each other. That's what I love about August in Maryland: every once in a while, there is a day or two's break in the heat. It's a reminder that fall really is on the way.

Questions That Artists Don't Want to Hear

Here's an engaging article tht I know will pique your interest! A number of artists have added their own set of questions. https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=67533

Spring Is Coming

I went out on the deck to have my coffee at 6:30 AM. Winter is on the way out. I noticed that the birds have begun to call, and "that other bird over there" has begun to answer. Ah yes, they are staking out their territories. I heard robins, ducks, fish crows, jays and other unidentified twittery things. In another month, the noise will be deafening. I do like to hear this.

Organic Flow-Through

This piece began with an exercise called "Eleven Dots" in Creating Abstract Art, by Dean Nimmer. You randomly place 11 dots on a blank page, connect them as you wish, and then intuitively go from there. I like the colors and contrast in this, and my husband says that it's "Picasso-esque." (Love is blind.) If it's turned on its side, it resembles a fancy fish. I could call it "Cosmic Fish" or "A Fish out of Water." It's bothersome to me though, because I feel it lacks complexity. It may be time to "bury my darlings" and cover parts of it with other layers. I'll share the results, but I think I'll look at it for a few days first.

So, I decided to scrape some white across parts of the piece. I put some plastic wrap over that and let it dry overnight. This is the result:

I filled in some of the shapes left by the plastic wrap and I do like this part of the piece.  It reminds me of mysterious ancient writing:

Next I mixed titanium white and ultramarine blue, and scraped them over other areas. Now It's becoming more interesting.

I also added magenta paint, and then I outlined prominent shapes with black India ink. This is the final painting, which is entitled "Spirit Bird Spoke" (Someone also saw a Spirit Fish.)

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.

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.