Follow your bliss...

My latest work...

2012-01-27T22:56:00.000-05:00

The Longest Night, from the Winter Solstice Series, 1/25/2012, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches

It truly felt good making these little paintings...I've created them special for the CNY Art Showcase which is a fund raising art auction sponsored by the Everson Museum of Art and the Eastwood Rotary Club.

The Longest Day, from the Summer Solstice Series, 1/22/2012, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches

It's nice to paint something sunny and warm in the middle of winter!

A Frosty Night, from the Blue Square Window, 1/21/2012, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

This is another addition to the Blue Square Window idea that I've been playing with, I'm loving the nocturne cool blues. I feel I'm gaining some creative momentum...but I'm not going to put pressure on myself to perform. I have several canvases in the wings, including a largish one that I haven't splashed any color on just yet and look forward to.

My little sketchbook was rec'd at the Brooklyn Art Library today, and I'm looking forward to the tour to begin, not that I'm going to be able to travel to any locations, just the idea that it's going to travel and be available to visitors to browse through...I loved watching my friends page through it before I let it go...and I will miss the little fellow, I had so much fun making it, I'll have to make more!

The Sketchbook Project

2012-01-01T19:33:00.003-05:00


Front cover

I finally finished it! After several weeks of diligent work, drawing, painting, fussing, planning, spraying (there might've been some praying from time to time), I painted the cover yesterday, scanned it all, and rebound the pages this afternoon...(I keep looking at it!) It's a sweet little sketchbook and lots of lucky people will get to look at it on the 2012 tour.

It's just a bitty thing, but it's chock full of good stuff!

side view of pages...will it ever lay flat? I'll need to put some weight on it before it goes...

Here...let's look inside...

I made extra sheets of tinted rice paper to slip in here and there, I painted both sides and then would later saturate one side with another color to let it bleed through to the other side...

This is one part of the sheet inside the book.

First drawing on first page

I was intimidated at first, but once I got going, I didn't stop...so this is why I've been so quiet for so long...well, some part of it...it's been a long preoccupation that I've been grateful for and needed!

This is one of the text pages, I mounted rice paper to the verso of the drawings using archival ATG tape and then printing the text on semi-transparent vellum and tipping in with photo corners.

Another page of tinted rice paper, I slipped it in so front and back, right and left will be seen in different parts of the book

Another drawing...this one is so dang pretty! I love making these little pieces.

This is it inside the book with glassine covering it.

One of my worries was the verso sides of the pages with drawings and paintings on them and how to deal with them. This is a verso page which had a painting on the recto, so it was a lumpy, I colored the whole page with a 9B pencil, sprayed it with a coat of Crystal Clear spray to hold it, and then tipped in a text...

The blue square window theme is ongoing...

This was the last drawing I made, finished it on New Year's Eve morning. (I really love this one!)

On the left edge, there is a piece of glassine that I have hinged with archival ATG tape to protect the drawing surface, it was tedious work putting that stuff on each drawing, but it's worth it to preserve the drawing. I'll probably spray everything one more time before it leaves just because...

Another text page

This is the "Center Fold" painting...

My painting pages were done with acrylic washes and applied rice paper (using matte medium) so the pages are pretty thick and not so bendy...they should stand up to handling all right.

Another sheet of tinted rice paper...a piece of summer sky...

This little painting has multiple layers of colors, I was starting to get frustrated with its monochromatic-ness, then suddenly it just happened, like paintings tend to do...(there are lots of colors in there...really, lots of them.)

This is another one of my favorite drawings...I really put some of my best into this little sketchbook!

The back cover...I love that blue.

It was a nice way to end the year and to start the new one...I had a good time making the little book and will probably make others on my own and I will participate in the Sketchbook Project again next year!

Happy New Year!

Another Blue Square Window

2011-12-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

Blue Square Window, 12/27/2011 acrylic wash monotype, rice paper on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

I did this little painting on a whim yesterday...ooooooo, pretty...it felt good to spread out a bit, I've been so focused on The Sketchbook Project these days, everything is at a small scale for that so 12 x 12 inches seem HUGE. I'll post scans once they're finished, I have one more blank page to do some drawing on and some touch ups to do for at least one small painting, then I have my narrative to print (on opaque vellum) and will tip in the sheets onto the pages that I've left blank on the back sides of drawings...tho' I'd like to do some sort of background stuff for the blank page...a gray tone lightly smudged, I have two pages that are completely covered in the blackest graphite (9B)...I'm just trying not to impact the drawings on the other side (always difficult to draw on both sides!) And of course, the cover will be fun to do! I'm looking forward to doing that!

I'm doing okay overall, FMS flare-ups have settled down, but I've exchanged that for sciatic nerve pain (if it isn't one thing its another, right?) It was our first Christmas with the new family configuration...it was not without a few meltdowns during key moments, but it was do-able...my siblings and cousins came for dinner at my house, and it seemed she was with us in spirit, herding us through the process like she would with key phrases like "Dinner is ready, I'm not sending out engraved invitations." And: "Let's do presents now, then we'll have pie." Then the inevitable: "It's getting dark, you kids should go home." We all miss Mom very much, and my poor father in the nursing home adds another unexpected dimension to everything. Our visits never seem frequent enough or long enough, and although he seems to have adjusted to being there, (he's hard to find, he's always rolling around in his wheelchair visiting), it's just sad to leave him there. So much has changed...the adjustment to the new "normal" is an ongoing process. It's been a process in which I've done more thinking than doing anything...reading lots of books has been a quiet immersion that has been most enjoyable. I'm filling my Tumblr site with lots of photographs, yet lots of them haven't been processed either. I'm in a strange place, in between here and there, "what was" and "how it is"...and I know it's not over yet. I'm hanging in there while I muddle through this stage of life. I'm very grateful that I have my creative outlets to go to...even tho' I've "run out of steam", I'm still doing things and exploring. I think it's been a good thing to slow down, this past year it's been too much "go-go-go-go".

There goes the snowplow...it's snowing and blowing out there today, a lake effect result of the rainy front that blew through yesterday... the wee birds are frantic at the feeder, I'll go out in a bit to replenish the seed...I think I have a seed bell to add to the feeder, but I must come up with a way that it will not be carried off by the squirrels!

Happy New Year, and thanks for stopping by!

Winter Solstice paintings

2011-12-11T18:35:00.000-05:00

Winter Solstice No. 1, 12/11/2011

Busy painting today...5 new paintings, all acrylic on Stonehenge paper with rice paper (8 x 8
inches).

Winter Solstice No. 2, 12/11/2011

Winter Solstice No. 3, 12/11/2011

Winter Solstice No. 4, 12/11/2011

Winter Solstice No. 5, 12/11/2011

It's been awhile since I had a marathon painting day...I usually do a Winter Solstice series around now and give a few of the results for presents, the full moon that was out the last few nights inspired them...I'm pretty pleased with the results...a blustery little collection. I'm such a sucker for blue.

Doodling around...

2011-11-26T14:33:00.001-05:00

A found painting at the bottom of an iron kettle...

This was so darn pretty...on Thanksgiving day I had water with a cinnamon stick simmering in it on the stove...this old kettle has been a dear old friend for years...we've cooked many a chili in it over camp fires and wood stove fires...so seeing this amazing pattern this morning, I had to photograph it before I cleaned it up...

I've been a little busy...creatively coming along, doodling and looking, making plans for the future, but for now, laying low...I have hung up most of everything that came back from the gallery, or tucked them away if they're of the right size to tuck away...

Wall of a few paintings

I treated myself to an early Christmas present...

The price was right, so I got the big starter kit with all the goodies to do encaustics...I haven't done this since college...or the immediate weeks following graduation when I was melting wax in an electric frying pan I bought at a garage sale...so it's been awhile. Not sure when I'll start playing with this...it will need a designated work space where kitties can't get into it...as kitties are likely to do...

A work in progress...

I've been working steadily along with The Sketchbook Project project...thought I'd share a couple of shots...

The back cover...oops, some stray blue paint...I'm working out how I'm going to decorate the outside...

Yellow in the middle...

A drawing in progress

I've been doing a lot of looking...my camera is building up an archive of images...I can barely keep up with the digital sketchbook...thought I'd share a few things I've seen lately...

A found painting in a grape leaf

I'm coming out of a period of very bad FMS flare ups, I've had a devil of a time with pain management, but it seems the worst part has passed on, and now I'm at a more tolerable level, the usual day-to-day aches and such...the muscle spasms were so bad I felt like I had run a marathon...
it's over with, that's all that matters now...

Just looking through the lens of the camera, I find the things I like...

The next group of photos is a story about a kitty...

"Popeye" arrived on 10/28/2011

This little kitty has quite the tale to tell...most of it we will never know...we suspect he had an altercation with a car a few weeks ago, we found him hiding underneath our porch on October 28th, half-starved and with an eye injury that was quite gruesome (poor little guy did not need a mask for Halloween, he was quite the scary sight to see!) There was no way to save the eye, but the kitty could be saved...I'll admit, I cringed a bit having to take in one more stray cat, but I couldn't turn my back on him.

One Eyed Popeye, pre-op

"Popeye" is doing well, recovering from surgery to remove his damaged eye quite nicely...he gets the stitches out on Monday...


Post-Op Popeye...24 hours after surgery

After several days on antibiotics to fight a bad blood infection, he had surgery to remove what was left of the eye on November 15th, and has been recovering nicely ever since...the sweet wee boy has made himself at home...

Popeye can't wait to get out of his fancy collar!

Such a sweet little fellow, we're happy to have him in our family!

The Sketchbook Project

2011-10-29T19:16:00.000-04:00

I joined up for this year's project, missed it last year...if you haven't yet, the deadline is October 31st!

My theme is Monochromatic...I'm really looking forward to getting started, should be fun!

Finally...a new painting

2011-10-23T12:48:00.003-04:00

Just a detail

It seems that I've gotten out of my funk...although I've been drawing through most of it, and mucking around with washes on paper, being like a kid with a coloring book, I began laying down color on a 24 x 24 inch square canvas that I had started prior to my mother's passing...and then painted it white along with everything else that I had in progress at the time (as noted in a previous post)...

Detail of the Brown Layer, 10/13/2011

I started with my favorite mix of burnt umber and terra verte as the first layer, it was so lovely I let it linger like this for a few days...

The Near Black Stage 10/16/2011

...then I slathered on my favorite Paynes gray...to which my Fred exclaimed, "I liked it better brown"...well, so did I, the surface was just so beautiful as is...and I lost my confidence in it for a bit and left it sitting looking near black, the deep blue with brown showing through...

Then yesterday I went after it with my blues...

detail

There's a story here...I'm getting to it...every painting has those tales of how they came into being...this one digs into my past...

In the many moons ago time when I was an art student at SU, I was an independent-minded type of student, willful, wanted to do my thing, to "get on with it" in a manner of speaking...I had a professor, Jim Dwyer, for figure drawing...he was very kind, had plenty of great stories, he was very engaging and offered a wealth of information and advice based on his years of experience, which I appreciated very much. I was mining my figure studies for larger works in my other studio classes, and tended to pull my best gesture drawings of the day out of the newsprint pad and work into them to create finished studies to tack up in my studio (which a figure drawing instructor from the previous semester encouraged.) Well, apparently, I did a bad for this particular gentleman's class...(I always got myself into trouble for not following directions! It's that willful, independent-mindedness, "get on with it" that gets me into trouble all the time. Drat.) At the end of the semester, when Jim asked for our portfolios of our best drawings, I brought these finished pieces created on top of the gesture drawings done in class...although he said that they were fine drawings, and appreciated my desire to take what I learned in his class and go the extra step into the journey of making art, he didn't want finished work for this final portfolio. So Jim firmly sent me out the door to go find the gesture drawings that I did in class...oy vey...I was mad...I had to go all the way back to the dorm to fetch them. I brought back the "good, but not as good" gesture drawings, so that's how I wound up with a "C" in my last semester of figure drawing. I was not a happy camper about that, but I got what I deserved...a lesson learned.

Anyway...Jim Dwyer passed away in April of 2011, and on this past Thursday evening, there was a little ceremony celebrating his life and art at the Delavan Art Center (where my artwork shows along with Mr. Dwyer's) ...many of us reminisced about our time spent with Jim, and what a kind spirit he was, independent-minded, a gentleman, and how he loved working with the kids, one memory recalled by a friend was a student asking in regards to abstract painting: "Mr. Dwyer, what do you work with if you don't have a subject?" Dwyer replied, "Subject matter limits what I have; with no subject, I have everything to work with." Which is a priceless one. Then another recollection was made that right around the time that Jim was getting ready to retire he said that "Just at the time I've so much to say -- nobody is listening." Which is all too true, I had noted many of the students in my classes were not as respectful of the elder statesmen teaching in the program. I enjoyed the classes with the professors nearing retirement than I did the younger fellas who were more keen on the current art world and self-promotion, they seemed more impatient with students, at times much harsher with their criticism...(much of this conflict and discord left a bad taste in my mouth over the years.)

Well, anyway...during the reminiscing the other night, a friend of Jim's got up to speak, and recalled a time when another artist visited Jim in his studio and contemplated a blue square painting that Jim was working on at the time...this other artist (who was a figurative artist, where Jim was geometric and color-oriented) declared: "It's a window." Jim looked at him and said "No, it's a fucking blue square." Goodness, I laughed so hard, it was the best thing I've heard in a long time. A shot in the arm that I needed because I've been so sad about losing my mum that it's truly been an energy suck...and so because of this amusing little story, I made my very own blue square...window, in memory of Jim Dwyer...and my mother.

The Blue Square Window, 10/23/2011

My mother would have saw a window, Jim would have most certainly loved it as a blue square made in the way that I wanted to make it (and not because someone else dictated that this is how it's done.)

Later:

Well, shoot, I tipped in its side and now I can't decide which way I want to have the top!

...guess I'll live with it for a while one way, and then with it another way for a while...

Being good to myself...part 2

2011-09-25T20:18:00.001-04:00

Detail of drawing 8/20/2011

Finished drawing, was seen in a previous post some time ago, picture quality stinks tho' sorry! I'll have to scan it next time.

I feel bad that I haven't posted any new painting in so long...and those blank canvases are still blank, but they've been tucked away so I'm not feeling at all intimidated by their white accusatory glares...so as I am prone to do during these times, I draw, and my pencils are my tools (as I've said in Seth's blog today! http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/)

I'm trying to get back to a sense of normal...slowly it's coming...these drawings are keeping me occupied...and lots of photographs of stuff posted on my Tumblr page http://laurajwryan.tumblr.com/

Life has been interesting to say the least, going forward...I'm preparing for one more show with my Fred at the Onondaga County Central Library in the Galleries in downtown Syracuse, opening on October 1st, and it will be up throughout the month of October, ending on the 31st. Another fine opportunity to get my art out and about...and to get me out and about.

Another detail

Another drawing I worked on and finished shortly after my dad broke his hip, lots of sharp edges...I can't imagine why I felt like making a bunch of layers of squares...

A work in progress (same sketchbook)...this certainly has the look of agitation to it...

A "found" painting, spray paint over spray from one of my husband's shop projects on a piece of plywood.

Being good to myself...

2011-08-27T19:13:00.000-04:00

A found painting, 8/21/2011...random spray painting done by my Fred, he was spray painting somethings for a project and I found his left behind marks on the plywood intriguing

A found painting, another view, 8/21/2011

A found painting, yet another look, 8/21/2011

Starting over, new blanks to work with...yes, that is a Pringle's potato chip can on the table, I use it to store my brushes.

Last weekend I started to think about new work...anything that I had started prior to my mother's death, I painted over as the flow had been disrupted and I just lost heart to work on what I had put there, so, I made them all white again. I will probably add some fresh rice paper in areas where I want to freshen up the texture as now there is no longer the papery feel to the surface that I prefer to maintain under the thin washes of paint...

Oh, I've hit a rough patch...we all hit them throughout our lives, these last two years have been emotionally rough as my Fred lost both of his parents within a year of each other, and now this month of August, my mother, and in the midst of this while struggling to find equilibrium three weeks to the day of my mother's death, my poor father had an accident at home and broke his hip...accidents happen...we were just feeling a sense of "normal", feeling less apprehensive about dad being home alone as his attitude and forward thinking were making us feel confident that he was going to be okay as time went by, but now this new change, shift in gears...oh the poor thing, I feel so bad for him! The surgery went well, his hip is fixed, and now, barring any medical complications associated with the surgery, he should be moved on to the rehab unit as early as Monday and the next step, the long road to recovery.

Lovely news tho' my mother's paintings and other crafts that she entered into the New York State Fair won prizes! She rec'd 4 honorable mentions and a blue ribbon...scrolling through the photos I took at the house, I only have the one of the bunny (he's leaning up against the wooden box on the rug):

Janie's Bunny and other things she made, the bunny won honorable mention. Her traditional hooked wool rug with little chickadees won a blue ribbon (similar in style to the rug on the left with Paul Revere, only it is smaller.) She hand dyed and hand cut her wool for these rugs.

Our little gallery, Moonlighting had its closing reception last night, my Fred and I were unable to make it as we were just returning from my father's house and I am gimping around with severe sciatic nerve pain because of the disc in my lower back became irritated (apparently, I haven't been good to myself, so now I'm paying for it in spades!) It is bittersweet shutting it down, it was a good experience having a place of our own to hang our artwork, inviting people in to see what we've done, and enjoying good company...but in a way that is a little bit selfish, I'm glad we're done with it (more time to paint!) We learned a lot and it's time to move on. I feel badly that I haven't been able to be there this past month with all that has gone on, but there isn't much to be done about it. On Sunday our show at Szozda Gallery is closing, and of course, Hurricane Irene is stopping by with wind and rain to make for a spectacular ending to our beautiful art show...oy vey, right?

I've been on my porch all day, propped on pillows in a chair, watching the world go by with my dog Max, he's been gnawing on a bone that is making him very happy (he was so unhappy and out of sorts while I was away.) A flock of black birds have been shuffling themselves about the trees with much cackling fuss and when they take off in a group, the fluttering of wings sound like a storm surge blowing in...the incoming storm must be making them nervous. I've noted today that the barn swallows have finished teaching the last of their little peas from their brooding nests and vacated the barn and our sky it's sad to think that summer is over already, I have loved watching their annual air show, and seeing their fledglings lined up on the ledges, looking like round little peas fresh from their pods.

No rain as of yet, but there is a prevalent gray sky above.

I am being good to myself...being patient with how things are...I'm doing some drawings to satisfy the need to be doing something creative...when I have a few finished, I will share them...it is back to black and white to work out what I need to do next or to just go with the flow, I always pick up a pencil when I need to start over again.

Loss...feeling lost...

2011-08-10T13:34:00.000-04:00

My Mother's bed 8/2/2011

My Mother passed away on August 3rd due to the inter-cranial bleeding from a stroke that put her into a coma on August 2nd, Janie was 80 years old. She got up that morning, made her bed, went about her daily routine until she complained to my father that she didn't feel well, and suddenly she fainted, and never woke up. Although it was very unexpected, I believe she knew her time was coming. She hadn't been ill at the time, she had been doing well since she had a TIA last January, a warning shot over her bow you could say, she had briefly lost her eyesight but gained it back quickly and resumed her life as a folk artist, painting was one of her joys in life. Her doctor was monitoring her and I believe she was due for an appointment in September...although some of us had noticed some forgetfulness and repeating herself during conversations, she seemed to be chugging along fine on her own steam, she was such a lively little lady no one suspected a thing...we knew if she didn't feel good she'd say so because she was a squeaky wheel when things weren't right in her world. My poor father has been left behind, and the rest of her family and friends in shock, who would've thought that she would up and die so suddenly, but yet, this would be the way she'd prefer it...to leave the world while still in motion, she would have made a terrible patient...

A is for Angels...this was in the Comfort Room where she spent her final hours...it was very appropriate as she loved angels.

We buried her on August 9th, and the sky opened up and poured rain almost all day long, it was pretty awful out, and I'm sure Janie would have been ticked off by the "shitty weather" on the day of her funeral.

The flowers from the funeral 8/9/2011

We brought home the flowers and set them on the front stoop as we unloaded them from the cars, they looked so pretty there we left them as a tribute...

The garden

This is the house that I grew up in, my father built it...of course with the help of several local craftsmen and laborers...it is a sweet little house, tho' at times I wonder how five of us lived in there without killing each other...I was outside most of the time, a roamer from dawn to dusk...I came home for meals and when the street lights came on...my mother had an iron school bell to call me home with when I was needed...I could hear it from a mile away...if not more. I've been told on more than one occasion this past week how much I resemble our Janie...I am, after all, Laura Jane...what a rebel name...yes, I am my mother's daughter, and there were times we didn't see eye-to-eye, there were times it seemed we couldn't exist in the same space because we were too alike and sometimes that isn't a good thing, but as we've aged we've gotten on better, and I loved calling her up and letting her talk because she was such a treat to listen to, a chip off the old block of her father, Gordon...I'm just the latest version of them both and Great Grandma too, but with a good blend of my father to balance things out just enough so the chip isn't so jagged that I'd miss the block too much...

Impatiens in an enamel coated metal colander, she planted these special this year and was very pleased about how well the flowers were doing in this arrangement...

I saw this the morning after she passed...a sweet little still life in the garden

The porch, with all of her things...

Although she's gone, she is everywhere we look in her house. Goodness knows, I will miss her every day for the rest of my life...I've had to "talk" to her a few times to ask her "What did you do with your wedding picture, Mom?" I found it tucked away in a photo album, the frame must've gotten broken...it took only patience to find it, and I found a second copy of it in a paper bag in the hall closet, full of photos from her mother's house after her father died...I am the finder of lost objects, except when it's my own things...(I do find them eventually in the last place I look, just like everybody else.) The photos that I found are treasures that will be comfort to us all...

My mother was a folk artist, she painted many beautiful things, usually on old wooden boxes, boards, bowls, benches, stools, chairs, and other odds n' ends that she'd find...and she won prizes at the New York State Fair. My sister and I will make certain that her entries are delivered this week as scheduled, she would've wanted us to do that...


Her final piece.

This is the last piece she worked on, it is the lid of a picnic basket, featuring historical buildings in our home town Lyons NY where she lived all of her life. All that was left to do is to finish the Wayne County Courthouse, and I've been asked to finish it for her...I couldn't work on it yet, but I will make a special trip home to take care of it...I need a little time to fill the hole left in my life, get back to something resembling "Normal"...and help my siblings settle our father into his new routine without his Janie, this isn't going to be easy, we're playing it by ear, hoping he can stay at home for as long as he wants to and for as long as he's able.

"It's Elemental" at Szozda Gallery

2011-07-24T12:33:00.000-04:00

detail of Evening, Blue and Gold, now at Szozda Gallery

It's a "Night 'n Day" arrangement, I really love these together

Just before the reception

Wednesday before the lighting was finished.

Four in a row

Fred Wellner, Animus Ferrum, 2010, acrylic on canvas 20 x 20

I'm exhausted! We've been in the middle of a heat wave (along with everybody else it seems), tipping into the high 90's and touching 100 (which is a rare thing for Upstate NY), so the turn out at the opening wasn't as good as hoped, but better than I expected because of the heat. It was a good time overall, I talked to a lot of people about my painting process, inspirations, and of course, the weather...more pictures to come as I've been promised a few from friends who were snapping shots throughout the night...Caroline did a good job hanging and lighting the show, and the space is lovely, my Fred and I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful venue and advocate for our artwork! The exhibition is up until August 28th, and our book, Elemental is for sale there as well. We've had excellent press the week leading up to it, and we will be doing events throughout the month, possibly a demonstration of our painting process in the gallery, possibly a collaborative effort melding both of our processes together...it might be messy, but it would be a good time.

We still have the rest of this month and next month left on our lease on Moonlighting Gallery, and have our monthly reception on Friday night, July 29th, I have a couple of small new pieces that I kept aside for that, and I have some older ones to fill in the gaps that I left behind. I thought I'd mention here that we've decided to not renew the lease (for various reasons), which also includes disbanding the partnership (amicable), but I'm remaining positive about the overall experience. We learned a lot by doing than by not doing, so it was worth the investment of time and money to do it. It's going to feel good to slow down for a bit and plan for our next project...one being a book of our drawings. I wouldn't mind exploring a new shared space at another time, making it more like a working studio space than a gallery space, a place to work on larger projects and room for storage, but nice enough to throw a reception and invite people in to come see what we've been doing lately...I see it as an investment...but right now, I want to put my feet up and rest, and dream about new paintings...have you ever noticed that paint doesn't work well when it's way too hot...or is it just the heat exhausted artist having trouble applying the paint? Maybe both.

Press for the upcoming show at Szozda Gallery...

2011-07-19T18:38:00.000-04:00

Thursday, July 14, 2011, "Neighbors", the Post Standard (Syracuse, NY) we got a full page spread featuring three of my paintings, but not all of it fit on my scanner...

...so here's the rest of the piece from Thursday's "Neighbors"

My Fred's painting made it into the "Stars" section of the local Sunday paper

We dropped off our paintings on Sunday and tomorrow the soft opening happens, and then we'll be attending the Third Thursday event at Szozda Gallery, and then the opening reception on Friday night (whew!) It's also going to be in the low to high 90's for the next few days too...oy, I fear that people will wilt and not show up...but it is an air-conditioned gallery, so maybe they'll come for the A/C and snacks! We're very excited...it's going to be a very nice show...

Painting some more...

2011-07-03T09:32:00.001-04:00

There is more than blue going on in the sky... 627/2011, acrylic wash, monotype, rice paper on canvas, 40 x 16 inches

My latest painting evolves like all of my paintings do, with an under wash of color to add depth to the next layer, with my Blue Sky series, I select warm tones, burnt sienna, yellows, greens, turquoise, purple, orange...the washes of blue radiate differently...oh, but it was hard to paint over this under wash...it was so beautiful it almost hurt to cover it up...

"The Wash" stage...yes, that's my little portable studio table, it's just an old drying rack with boards on it, easy take down and put away...yup, my porch floor is paint spattered (that's okay, I need to repaint it anyway)

but I did...
Here are some detail images for comparison...

detail of top wash

detail of top finished painting

It was a fun painting to make, larger than I usually do...it's mighty pretty...it really glows in my dining room, can't wait to see it in the gallery!

I've been a busy lady this week, my vacation has been very productive...wonderful...a little bit of everything happening, a little bit of everything getting done...a show with my Fred and I is coming up this month at Szozda Gallery, Its Elemental! opens on July 20th with a reception on the 22nd, and runs through to the 28th of August...so I'm making more new work to add into the mix as the following week is yet another reception at our little Moonlighting studio...

Seth Apter at The Altered Page has the 5th Edition of The Pulse up and running this weekend, and as always, inspiring, beautiful bits of this and that to look at and read about...love it!

I recently found out about America: Now and Here, which is a traveling exhibition currently on view in Detroit until July 24th (was in Kansas City in May) that has pulled together artists of several disciplines, visual artists, poets, playwrights, filmmakers, and musicians, it's going to be on a two year tour of the country, it's going to Chicago in October. For more information where to catch the show or to join the national conversation here's a link to their website: http://americanowandhere.org/

There are more paintings on deck to work on, I'm feeling quite satisfied (mostly), yet itching to keep going...

Vacation...part 2

2011-06-17T15:15:00.000-04:00

Elemental, abstraction 6/16/2011, acrylic wash, monotype, rice paper on canvas, 24 x 8 inches

I'm back on vacation again, a few days off, a few days at work...it's a little hectic at the office. (I don't really want to talk about it.)

Yesterday I painted all day outside, my little porch studio was a contemplative space, the first painting fell into place quickly (in stages of course), but it was inspired by a small acrylic monotype sketch in my sketchbook from two years ago, I've been meaning to put it on canvas, but sometimes these things need to be worked out in their own time.

detail

The second piece...oh, fun!

This was done on a whim...

I painted over the 2006 Calendar from one of the Chinese restaurants that we frequent that was hanging on our kitchen door (for a little too long), but I didn't throw it out...the idea wheels turned. I tried painting over it, but it just wasn't right, so I adhered some rice paper to it, and then it got some body to it. I've been layering color on it for a few weeks, it wasn't doin' it for me...well, you know how that goes, so I went into "that mode", you know the one, the state of frustration that very often can make or break a piece..."oh, fuck it" I said, and went at it...the blue circle was preceded by a white one that disappeared rather than being something ethereal and lovely, so I slathered on the blue, stepped back and said "There ya go!" I am painting the back, but it's not finished.

detail

A work in progress. 24 x 24 inches

This last piece is a work in progress, oh it's so pretty, I'm enjoying my yellow-on-yellow phase, tho' I wound up adding a touch of green to this one to give it a little more contrast...I'll finish it soon, I'm almost there.


Detail

There are more in progress, surfaces prepared, washes laid down, and such...I'm juggling painting and writing, and working in the garden...I've been dodging raindrops today to keep up with the weeds, at least the asparagus bed looks better than it did! I'll post more as they come into being. I have a show to get ready for next Friday at Moonlighting, and a show coming up in July at the Szozda Gallery (can't wait!) So I must work hard to get these pieces ready to hang!

Vacation...

2011-06-03T09:24:00.001-04:00

Found objects collage, grape vine coils on canvas, digital photo, 6/2/2011

Found object collage, grape vine coils on canvas, digital photo, 6/2/2011

I've been fooling around with my camera again...see what happens when I have time on my hands? (I've had a lovely week off!) I wanted to do this for years, I would look at the little coils on the grape vines and they reminded me so much of the lines I make in my drawings that I thought it might be fun to gather a bunch together and make a "drawing" with them...so I started collecting some this spring (I have quite a few), then I pulled a piece of canvas out of my scrap bag of saved scraps from pieces trimmed off of stretched canvases that I made (ironed it to get the wrinkles out) and made a few swipes of white paint on one of my monotype plates and printed a background for my little bits to lie on...once that dried and I got the lighting set up to my liking, I snapped dozens of photos...first I tried being "neat" about it, lining them up in rows, making them look like Chinese characters...that was cool, but it's been done...then I connected them like my random drawing lines (first image), and then at the end, I jumbled them up and let them fall in a heap (second image, I liked that best of all!) I'll continue playing with this and see what else I can make...I do have some fancy paper to print the photos on when I'm done...might frame up a few for Moonlighting...

Amber Dawn, 5/22/2011, acrylic wash, monotype and rice paper on canvas, 16 x 8 inches

I kept this one simple, that gold color is just so juicy I am enjoying it...I have a fascination with yellow, partly because it's pretty, but also, it's a difficult color to paint with, keeping it "clean" without it turning green is always a challenge...shoot...why not do yellow-on-yellow paintings? (I'm currently reading about Robert Ryman's white-on-white paintings, which is giving me more ideas...like I need more ideas!)


Saffron Sun Scroll, acrylic wash and monotype on rice paper approx. 8 feet long x 12 inches (with a grape vine twig at top.)

We hung the show last Thursday night and I put the scroll up on the purple wall near the door, it was quite the "oooo-ahhh" of the show as the yellow and purple absolutely glowed...we joked that whoever bought the piece would have to hire Suzanne to paint their wall (it didn't sell, yet)...but I think I should come up with a special panel to go with them (since I can't take Suzanne's pretty purple wall with me), possibly a canvas, and a tube for rolling and storage. I'm still working it out...I might have some canvas kicking around somewhere...

June Dawn, 6/1/2011, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 16 x 8 inches

detail of June Dawn

I worked on this little bit the other day, setting up the portable studio table on the porch, we had such fine summer-like weather earlier in the week, reaching high 80's and nigh 90, perfect! This canvas has layers of bright cerulean blue below the pale greens and blues...it's a sweet little piece...I love this size canvas. (After my art school days where everyone painted BIG paintings and ever since I started working in an art collection, I promised myself that I won't paint anything bigger than I can move by myself, so I have a special appreciation for small paintings.)

My "coloring book" started 5/31/2011

I bound this book with scrap paper ages ago and have been planning to do something with it...well, I got busy with it at long last and decided to make it my "coloring book" to just splash around, play, scribble and enjoy... this is just the first pages...I think next time, I'll paint the paper first and then bind it...but maybe that would be too much like planning...

Three more days left of my long time off, I'm going to keep making new art, work on filling up my coloring book, and I have several canvases to prep for future paintings.

Transition...well, kinda sorta

2011-05-22T18:05:00.000-04:00

Detail the black and white scroll (unfinished, there is so much more left to do!)

Unrolled (the table is 8 feet long)

I took a break from painting and finally...well, look at the trouble I got into! I'm making scrolls on rice paper...

Dawn Scroll detail

This is a wee one...about 3 feet? Give or take a few inches. Not finished, still detail work left to be done.

These were not started from scratch, they were started 3 years ago, so I've left them rolled in a drawer at a stand-still, not sure what to do next. I'd take them out to look at them, roll them back up and put them away.

Detail of the Night Scroll

A long one! Lots left to do, I've barely touched it since the first layer was laid down.

Then one day while at work, thinking about work things...these scrolls came to mind again...

Detail for the Sun Scroll

Of all of the scrolls, this is the one almost done, just a few details left to give some structure to the center...

I pulled out the yellow one, put my little temporary studio table up and started slathering the red/gold safron color that I love so much all over it, and then...and then I had fun...

detail of the Water Scroll

Another long one, more to do...lots more!

Well, I hope to at least have the yellow one ready for the opening this Friday night at Moonlighting...I still have to figure out HOW I'm going to display it...

The rest will come together over time...much to do!

The one lone canvas...Moonrise, 5/14/2011, acrylic wash, monotype, rice paper on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

Oh, look, I've made a...a bean! Well, it's going to be a sleeping kitty someday.

My Fred gave me some soapstone for my birthday a few weeks back, and this bitty block of stone has slowly taken shape...the little navy bean kitty...I've never done this before, and always wanted to try it so here I go...and I don't know if you noticed in the scroll photos the chunks of soapstone holding the scroll edges down...yup, those are mine to carve (someday!)

So during my month long thoughts about transition, I've done a great deal...and I also made an e-book out of my novel The Fractured Hues of White Light to celebrate the first year anniversary of its publication as a paperback original, so it's now for sale at Barnes & Noble for the Nook! (YAY!!)

Here comes the sun...

2011-04-24T09:59:00.001-04:00

Here comes the sun... 4/23/2011 acrylic wash monotype, rice paper on canvas 16 x 8 inches

Detail

I finished this little one yesterday afternoon, the multiple layers of paint create such stunning depth...it's so much prettier in person...I have it finished just in time to include it in our end of month reception at Moonlighting this Friday night (4/29), I might try to finish up one more, maybe...just maybe...

Left to Right, Ken Nichols, Fred Wellner, Laura Wellner, Suzanne Masters

Last Sunday afternoon, the four painters of Moonlighting Gallery visited Cafe 407 on Tulip Street in Liverpool NY to paint a painting for a fundraiser for Ophelia's Place (event yet to be determined.)

The finished painting

detail

detail with critter that My Fred made

I think this is my favorite spot...

Another favorite spot

It's just interesting to see how we blend our styles on the canvas

another detail of a favorite spot...

So many nifty little places for the eye to wander into and rest for awhile, thinking...

We've been doing this project since we started our partnership at Moonlighting, starting a painting, and then passing it around amongst ourselves or to other painters we know...we have about a dozen paintings so far, and it is our intention to do a reception at the gallery someday, have a silent auction, and donate the money to a good cause...fun stuff!

From my sketchbooks...

2011-04-20T19:44:00.000-04:00

Untitled, (Finished on St. Patrick's Day), 3/17/2011

I keep several sketchbooks, different shapes, sizes,

Untitled, 4/14/2011

I always have something in the works, my little graphite meanderings,

Untitled, 9/26/2010

...pencil point, sharp or broken, worn down, the edge of a graphite stick, graphite dust, grit...

Untitled, 2/10/2011

...they're about mark making...

Moonlighting, 9/9/2010

practice and patience...

A work in progress starting with the hard 'H' pencils, don't know which way is up yet...

The Bridge Street Painting...

2011-04-10T12:37:00.000-04:00

Detail of The Waxing Moon, 4/9/2011

This is the painting that I started for the local television show "Bridge Street", I went in with this dusky burnt umber and Payne's gray wash:

The start...4/3/2011

I was a little bit concerned that people would take one look at it and say "Yuck, are you kidding, this is your painting?" but to me it was gorgeous and I was working out in my head the colors I intended to use, and as usual, I cannot plan what will happen...it's intuitive and once I get to work, anything goes...

At the end of the show, Layer #2, 4/4/2011

There was not enough time to finish a painting during the show...I never believed that I could, and I knew Fred wouldn't...it's a lot to do, so I had no expectations that I would... I really loved the foundation that I created...

I took it home and worked on it...4/4-4/9

Once I got into the third stage I needed to walk away from it and give it a rest, the top part was troublesome, but I finally got it settled by Saturday morning...


The Waxing Moon, 4/9/2011

Yesterday I fiddled and tweaked throughout the day and the result is this new nocturnal image that I'm very happy with...

The event itself was a bit of a learning experience...when people asked me how it went I told them that it was awesome and awful at the same time... it was what I expected, yet not... my Fred and I work well together during these moments of stress, if one fumbles, the other fills in the blanks...we did fine a classic grace under fire moment...so the interviewer got our last name wrong, I corrected her and we moved on...the lighting was terrible for painting, but we made do...small stuff...we remained calm and patient, and I'm glad it's done and the painting is just as beautiful as I had hoped it would be...

The auction went well on Friday, we were relaxed, and set up our table with postcards, brochures, our art book, and I set out my two novels (artwork featured on the cover, why not? And it is part of what I do.) Fred brought one of his stone sculptures, and I set out my portfolio of photographs, we kept it simple. Our artwork sold, bidders got bargains. The young woman who bought my drawing Lumina #2 was clearly pleased with winning the bid...it was meant to be...her smile was priceless. I didn't get to see the reaction of the winner of my photograph My Conversation with Georgia, but I did see it leave under the arm of a gentleman...it was for a good cause, and worth doing again. We met more local artists...it's amazing to see how much talent is in the area, most of us all do what we do on the side, a few are professionals (have retired from day jobs.)

It appears that Spring has arrived at last, I'm still photographing the debris of leaves and dead grass, the crocuses are the only things brave enough to bloom. A honey bee was buzzing in them yesterday, and a bumble bee buzzed past my head while I poked around at the twiggy remains in the herb garden. There was a bullfrog belching in the marshy area behind the barn last night, it was sweet hearing his noise...

There is rain on the way, I'm going outside before it comes...

Back to making more...

2011-04-03T08:35:00.000-04:00

Evening Light, 3/28/2011, acrylic wash, monotype, rice paper on canvas, 18 x 6 inches

detail of middle/bottom

Detail of top

Evening Light started off as a blue painting and turned into gold instead...I'm so in love with this little painting! She really sparkles, I don't think the photos really do her justice at all (in most of the pics I took she looks too green, so I had to fiddle a bit to get it right.) I love her simplicity, when I placed the blue horizon bands I knew that was all she needed...I didn't want to do another thing to that surface. I took her to Moonlighting and hung her up to replace one of the paintings that I packed up for Szozoda Gallery, to swap out paintings that have been there since fall. (My Fred and I will be showing there mid-July, the dates yet to be announced.)

The writing and production of our little art book Elemental took up so much of my time that I hardly painted a thing for nearly a month! I'm so glad the book is done, it's published, and out there to be browsed through... it's a real beauty (please click the BookBuzzr widget and enjoy!) It's a fabulous collection of artwork, it barely scratches the surface of what we've accomplished (that's the crazy part of it!) We're in the planning stages for a book of our drawings...so stayed tuned. I've gathered up a bunch of scans and have started the selection process...so much to choose from!

Tomorrow my Fred and I will be on television promoting the CNY Art Showcase, (WSYR Ch. 9, "Bridge Street, 10-11 AM) We're bringing our paints and canvases to work on something new, we'll see what happens with that...I'm trying not to dwell on it too much (if you know what I mean, too much of the 'unknown' and 'what if' imagined disasters sort of stuff that can drive a person to distraction.) I just need to pack up my stuff, pick something comfortable to wear, pack my little apron, and go with the flow...what will be, will be. The auction will be on Friday, we'll go and enjoy the show.

First day of spring...

2011-03-20T21:58:00.000-04:00


First Day of Spring, 3/20/2011	, 24 x 8 inches

This piece started over a year ago, I got to a point and stopped, I liked it, but knew it needed something more, so I hung it up near my desk, and waited for the right time to finish it.

Work in progress...one from the back log of things to finish...

2011-03-15T19:57:00.001-04:00

Bones of the Earth, Encrusted with Lichen 3/13/2011

It's been a long time since I started this painting, it was from the summer of 2009, I liked it, but there was more I wanted to do with it, but I didn't know what...well, I took it down from the wall on Sunday morning and started slathering my bits of mat board and paper shapes with earthy tones and started splattering...it's hanging in the dining room where I can visit with it, ponder what I've done, and dream of other things to do...

My Fred and I have finished the work on our art book Elemental: Abstract Art from Two Perspectives, and set it up through Blurb on Sunday night, we're waiting for the 'proof copy' to come, as soon as we're satisfied with how it looks, I will post the link to it, get a widget up for online browsing of the little beautiful thing we've made...it is a magical time for us, so much coming together... our little gallery has another opening coming up on the 25th, there's the fundraiser, CNY Art Showcase, Rotary Club of Eastwood, Syracuse, on April 8th, to raise money for St. Joseph's Hospital and we've been selected to be on TV to promote the event! April 4th, Channel 9 WSYR, the morning program "Bridge Street"! We're going to be painting live and interviewed about what we do, how we do it, and that sort of good stuff, it's all very exciting and it feels good!

My Conversation with Georgia, 2010 (Featured on the cover!)

Lumina #2, 2008

Snowed in again...

2011-03-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

Midnight Dreams, January 2011

Evening, Blue and Gold, 2010

I'm finally putting these two up, I have them hanging at the gallery and didn't have photos of them, so I took pictures at the gallery one night after work at long last! Midnight Dreams has never been posted before, but Evening has gone through several changes, and FINALLY, I'm satisfied with it.

Our art book project is nearly done, I'm revisiting my comments, and doing final revisions, keeping it simple and conversational rather than long blathering essays full of incomprehensible bullshit...it’s been good for me to think about what I'm doing rather than the how I'm doing it with the mediums that I'm using, and although I pretty much can explain what my paintings are about having to do with what series they're part of, Nocturne, Bones of the Earth, Blue Sky, Celestial Spring, The Ancients, and so on, I have enjoyed addressing my ideas with brief anecdotes of personal experiences, such as the music that I listen to while painting. I listen to a lot of Beethoven, or if I'm not actually listening to the music, it's there, humming around in my head. I think my favorite bit of writing so far is the one I wrote for my little painting "The Fifth" being about Beethoven's 5th Symphony and how he was pressed to explain what it was about, Anton Shindler said that Beethoven once told him that it was "Fate knocking at the door", a student said that there was a piece of it that came from the song of a little bird, and another person piped in that the maestro would say anything to get rid of people with pesky questions...which I catch myself doing from time to time, and then later on, I'll come up with something else, I’ve had to back track through my blog and journals to double check titles and ideas, hoping that I’m not contradicting myself too much!

The Fifth, 2008

Another Beethoven related entry is for The Edge of Night, Cavatina, a little painting on canvas board that I made one sunny afternoon while feeling perfectly content and happy, is quite the contrast from the music that I selected from one of the string quartets (5th movement of Opus 130) to name it. At the same time I painted this, I was working on my novel The Fractured Hues of White Light, it is curious how my creative endeavors to spilled over onto one another and overlapped in layers of thoughts...both pieces give me great joy, but it's odd how sometimes happiness can be painful, almost a cause for sorrow, like a longing for something that has not been and could never be...


The Edge of Night, Cavatina, 2009

This book is going to be so beautiful!

It's back to snow again after several days of rain and warm temperatures, I'm glad the wind has stopped howling in the eaves, that was very unsettling, I always forget how windy March can be...the red wing black birds have arrived in a flock, blown in by the wind I suppose! The chipmunk is above ground again, scurrying around collecting seed in his pouches, poor little thing, I watched him on the porch, snow on his whiskers, quite pitiful...and my cats know he's there, and they "wants him!" But I won't let them outside to get him!

Details, details, details...

2011-02-20T14:40:00.001-05:00

Detail, Celestial Spring, the Phases of the Sun and Moon, 2007

Detail, Moonlight, 2009

Detail, There is more than blue going on in that sky..., 2010

Detail, Pastoral Window, 2007

Detail, Ancient Artifact, no. 3, 2010

Detail, Bones of the Earth, 2009

Detail, Celestial Spring, the Comet's Tail, 2008

Detail, A Mid-Summer Night, 2010

Detail, Mind's Eye, 2009

Detail, Ancient Artifact, Navigation, 2010

Detail, A Cold Day in July, 2007

Detail, Elemental Autumn, 2009

Detail, River of Fallen Stars, 2008

The news is...my Fred and I are in the process of creating our very first art book featuring us, of course...our paintings, a hundred images, or so...and in full color! So, I've been busy photographing and scanning, and writing about my paintings and process...it's been a good exercise in self-assessment...spending time with the art, thinking about what I want to say about what I've done...studying the details and really looking at these paintings, the big and the small, on canvas and paper...the comparison and contrast between us as artists is a visual conversation...seeing it all together in this form so far is breath-taking...it is a work in progress...I'll keep you posted...

Opening 1/28/2011

2011-01-29T11:34:00.002-05:00

After weeks of preparation the new show is up in our little Moonlighting Gallery...Thursday night we took some of the old and put up the new...this is what it looked like before we left at the end of the night, Suzanne has a way with putting it together...

My wall after hanging on Thursday night

The night before, after the hanging, Ken's newest painting on the easel

A grouping of my paintings in the hallway

Suzanne's wall and Ken's wife, Chris's jewelry tree

Suzanne and Ken's shared wall

Ken's wall

My Fred's wall and Suzanne's furniture...

And so the day of the opening came...I spent the day at work, doing what I do to pay the bills...

A LONNG day at work, pre-opening, my little size 6 1/2 "dogs" were "barking" ...I took a photo of my poor tired feet after a long day cataloging an incoming collection from a donor (I just completed documentation of the 100th piece.) But I gotta tell ya, the Frye's are awesome boots and soooo comfortable.

The NIGHT! It looks so pretty!

Thankfully we missed the coastal storm so the weather was good, we weren't up to our eyeballs in snow (just our knees, right?), what's there, has been there for awhile with a light dusting to make it prettier...

...and the people came, filling the space with excited voices and enthusiasm...I made a "gallery playlist" on my mini and hooked up speakers for cool tunes, Moby, Grouper, Warpaint, Blur, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, TheWho, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Emily Barker, Florence and the Machine, Groove Armada, Imogen Heap, M83, Mistle Thrush, Artemis, Paul Simon, The Ravonettes, XX, Tracy Bonham, and Metric...just a mix...

Fun was had by all...it's a sweet little space, and we feel so fortunate to have a place to hang our work and to have the chance to invite friends and the community in to visit with us and see what we've been up to lately...everyone we meet loves the concept of "Moonlighting", we're working artists who work day jobs, we pool our resources and follow our bliss...

Moon paintings...

2011-01-09T22:11:00.000-05:00

Setting Crescent Moon, January 9, 2011, acrylic wash, sumi paper on canvas, 4 x 4 inches

Full Moon at Dawn, January 9, 2011, acrylic wash, sumi paper on canvas, 8 x 8 inches

I did a little bit of painting this weekend, not as much as I wanted to because yesterday was a total wash out due to FMS symptoms that made me happy to tuck into bed for the day. It's just how it goes sometimes. I did move forward on a few paintings that I was stalled on, these two were my successes of the day. The little crescent moon came into being because of the moon I saw setting one night in a haze of cloud cover, it was creamy orange in the darkness...oy was that a pretty sight to see! No photos of the event...I just enjoyed looking at it rather than trying to fit it through a camera...some times it's just the experience that matters more...and I love the simplicity of it, sometimes I bog myself down with too much fussing around with throwing everything I've got into a painting and making a mess that I forget to keep it simple.

The dawn image is more of a fantasy, I wanted to use yellow ochre so bad one day and the canvas sat there being yellow ochre for quite a few days before I went at it with the blue and white...I added the full moon tonight...I might tinker with it a little more...or not, depends on how I feel about it later, but for now I'm glad to see that this little canvas has something on it that I'm happy with...it had something completely different on it previously (one of the not so satisfying pieces that I made go away!)

We're going to have a reception for our new work on January 28th at Moonlighting, so I need to try to finish up a few paintings, but looking at what I've got set aside, I have more than I thought...so no real panic to pull it together.

New Year's Eve 2010

2010-12-31T17:11:00.004-05:00

The Childrens Moon, New Year's Eve morning

It's looking like this is my last painting of 2010, it's just a wee bit, 4 x 4 inches, part of the blue sky/children's moon series that I've been working with lately. I was noticing the moon in the morning sky for the last couple of mornings (we've been fortunate to see the sun for the first time in awhile), and I had this little painting in limbo for several weeks, only the background pleased me, not so much the moon until I made it into a crescent moon yesterday morning after I saw the little pale crescent riding high in the morning sky. I loved it immediately, but waited until today to see if I still liked it, and I do, so I signed it. and it's done. (YAY!) There are still unfinished paintings on my work table left to do, but they are going to wait for another time.

I've been a busy girl this year, painting, drawing, making photographs, publishing another book, and opening a gallery with our friends...(much of this I mused over at my other blog Upstate Girl http://upstategirl-laurajwryan.blogspot.com/ I posted a few of my favorite photos there)...it's been a good year along with the usual ups and downs of life, I can't complain...it's all good.

I will post my most favorite paintings of 2010 here...

Full Moon, 2010 (The one I'm glad didn't sell.)

If Not, Winter, 2010

Nocturne, Winter New Moon, 2010

Bones of the Earth, 2010

Ancient Mechanism, 2010

A part of the "shared painting" project with Ken Nichols at Moonlighting Gallery


There is more than just blue going on in that sky...2010

The Childrens Moon, November 7, 2010

Winter Moon, November 7, 2010

Has anyone noticed the overwhelming color...blue? I guess it's my favorite.

Defining art moments of 2010 (at least the ones I could find pictures of!):

Our Wall at The Delavan Gallery, April 2010

June, 2010

A full house with me in the middle of it

The Sign is UP!

Happy New Year!

A painting for the Solstice...

2010-12-19T16:20:00.000-05:00

Winter Solstice Time, December 19, 2010, acrylic wash, with monotype, sumi paper on canvas 40 x 16 inches

Starting point on November 6, 2010

Stage 2, 11/28/2010

Detail from 11/28/2010

Stage 3 on 12/11/2010

Detail from 12/11/2010

If anything, I'm persistent...in spite of FMS flare-ups that have been troublesome for several weeks now, I've pulled it together enough to keep painting even when I have disasters like today when I spilled my water jar full of blue water and it soaked poor Max while he was napping! (He's already forgiven me, we took a long walk around the acre after he dried off for a good sniff around.) My hands are not cooperating as well lately. There are lots of layers, and lots of doubts about where I was going with this (did I really want to cover all that up?) Well, it's done what I've wanted to do, I kept it simple and pale like the slice of the sky that is turquoise in the late afternoon on a winter day. I love the subtle details that are happening, the glow of the warm tones underneath showing through. Pretty stuff.

Some very small drawings

2010-12-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

A very small drawing, #3, 12/5/2010, graphite pencil on Stonehenge paper, 2 1/2 x 2 inches

A very small drawing, #1, 11/6/2010, graphite pencil on Stonehenge paper, 2 1/2 x 2 inches

A very small drawing, #2, 11/26/2010, graphite pencil on Stonehenge paper, 2 1/2 x 2 inches

I've been making some tiny drawings lately...because they're portable, I can work on them anywhere, anytime...there have been some days that just making these bitty doodles were just right, at the right time...keeping the hands busy, the mind occupied. I love making these little guys! I haven't done any this small in a long time, it felt good getting back to this intimate size. I want to keep making more, and probably will for a while, I have plenty of paper!

Painting, painting, painting...

2010-11-28T20:20:00.000-05:00

Detail of work in progress in the Blue Sky series...layers of color...

Work in progress, from the Blue Sky series 16 x 8 inches


The big one...

Work in progress in the Ancient Mechanism painting 16 x 8 inches

A night sky in progress 12 x 12 inches

Lots of work in progress, nothing finished, yet progress is a good thing, and I'm feeling satisfied with the way things are going...it feels good.

Moonlighting Gallery, 137 First Street, Liverpool New York

Our sign was installed on the store front today (at last)...now people will know who we are...it's so pretty!

November...

2010-11-07T21:11:00.000-05:00


Winter, Moon 11/7/2010 acrylic wash, monotype, sumi paper on canvas 16 x 8 inches	(Nocturne series)

The Children's Moon, 11 7/2010, acrylic wash, monotype, sumi paper on canvas, 10 x 10 inches (Blue Sky series)

A little more progress on my Evening Sky, not done yet...

I've had a touch of a cold for this weekend, stayed home and slept the day away on Friday, ate hot n' sour soup and babied myself...feeling a bit better, been busy painting today, very productive! Lots of new work in progress, one is a red one, and more in the Blue Sky series on deck...and I really love my new Nocturne piece, it turned out just as I had envisioned it (I love when that happens!)

New work in progress and it's Snowing on Halloween Night...

2010-10-31T19:28:00.001-04:00

New painting in progress (24 x 18) I am loving this one!

Detail

Almost done (9 x 9) I'm still "living with it"

Oooo...I made some pretty paper for future collages

They're just so PRETTY!

Snow on my dog.

Snow on my sage.

It's not that unusual to have snow up here on the hilltop for Halloween...there's always the chance of snow any time in October...it rarely sticks around long...

I've been sort of busy, resting mostly, having back-to-back Halloween Party and reception at Moonlighting was a little bit too much for me to handle during a FMS flare-up...I've working on Ebooks instead of painting...but the bits of work I have in progress are looking good...and I was dying to photograph that lovely roll of colored paper that I've been staining with acrylic washes for a couple of weeks, the roll keeps getting bigger...I just love looking at them...I'll eventually start cutting them down to my favorite shapes and possibly tearing some in random strips with raw edges just for something different to off-set the squares and circles that I'll make...it's going to give me something else to think about anyway...

Now it's done... I signed it this time.

2010-10-24T14:50:00.001-04:00

Gotta love it...I said it was done, but then one more thing begged for my attention, and I pondered it for another week and then two...and this weekend I started to play with it...it was that bottom part, it just looked not quite right...so I went at it with more blue...then amber...then turquoise...a circle and then another...and then a delicate touch of white...

I'm pretty happy with it now...but who knows, tomorrow I might look at it again and decide NOPE...well, you know, that's just part of the fun!

It's such a strong blue, it's hard to photograph and have it look true (true blue) but these are pretty close, I had to take the photos outside on the porch to have them look right...the indoor shots were too yellow/green.

Lots of lady bugs out there today, it's warm out, a little rainy and gray...but I don't mind, any warm days are welcome at this point...and of course, lady bugs...this little one stood still long enough for a portrait...the others were busy, trundling along on their little buggy missions...

We're holding another reception at Moonlighting this week, Friday, October 29th, starting around 6PM to whenever, lovely art, good company, fun will be had by all...Halloween costumes are welcome, but not required!

Finished it (finally!)

2010-10-10T19:15:00.000-04:00

I added the children's moon at the top...I had to cut one out of paper for the size I wanted, and it went on perfect the first time~

Blue Sky Series, "There's more than blue going on in that sky..."

A detail, in the middle left, canvas and sumi paper visible

detail, lower right edge

detail of the middle, lots of yellow showing through

my latest pencil drawing in my sketchbook, I really love this one a lot!

A found painting... a pallet with some spray paint...I couldn't resist photographing it!

There are times I begin to become afraid that I've run out of steam and worry...What if I can't paint anymore? Usually, when I feel that way, I go back to my sketchbooks and draw those stream of consciousness drawings, cranking them out one after another...and then I feel better about everything again...so I've been going through this uncertainty... kind of rough few weeks, mostly because I haven't been feeling all that well, and I've been focusing on writing more since that's quieter...so it's a combination of things...

I've spent time on the porch today, sunning myself, storing up sunshine for the winter... staring up at that pristine blue sky and thinking about what I'm going to paint next... I painted over a group of canvases that were not working for me, and laid down some colors to work with for the Blue Sky series... and I have taken some scrap paper and scumbled acrylic washes on them for future collages... it's been a creatively busy weekend, and I'm quite content...

Work in progress...this one is taking a long time...

2010-10-06T21:36:00.000-04:00

Work in progress "Blue Sky" as of 10/6/2010 (There is more than one blue going on in that sky...)


Work in progress about two weeks ago (maybe three, I've been glaring at it for a bit of time)

Work in progress a week ago, getting there

Hmmmm... I can't seem to find a first photo of this one when I started it with the Easter egg bands of color...I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but whatever, I started to go with it one way about a month ago, then changed my mind pretty much right away, tried to cover it up with a pale blue, then glared at it for another week or so, and then went back to it last week, and then tonight I glazed it with some cobalt blue after washing off the "sky blue" that I made and didn't like at all...it was too opaque...but I love how those bands of colors still show through, and no longer regret them...

I was lying on my back on the porch one day, I had a bad cold last week (haven't had one this bad in a long time), and the sun was out on one of the days that I spent at home nursing myself back to health (lots of tea w/ honey) so the dog and I bot had a nice lie down in the sunshine...I stared up at the blue and the blue stared back...it was lovely, and I felt so happy looking at it...one of the things I love about being up here on top of Irish Hill is this unobstructed view of the sky, it's what got me back on track painting all those years ago...my mind is just abuzz with this blue, and I want to make more of it soon...hopefully I will finish this one up this weekend, and I'll have the final piece photographed and ready to show!

Drawing the things I have no words for...

2010-09-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

Cat's Cradle, 9/16/2010, pencil drawing in sketchbook, 7 x 9 inches

I've been drawing a lot more than painting lately, it's just the mood I've been in... I have some work in progress painting wise, but nothing I'm ready to share at the moment...but I've been drawing in my sketchbook...the drawings there will probably stay in there, I tend to abuse the paper quite a bit with the pencil point so they'll never lay flat, at times, I've regretted separating drawings from their sketchbooks because they become disconnected from the history that collected them, a thought process or whatever was inspiring them to come into being... my little graphite meanderings over the paper surface are not necessarily my best work, their purpose it mostly to work out the things inside that I have no words for... tho' I do name them later in an attempt to pinpoint a time, so I can look at them later and say, "Yes, I do remember that time..."

Set in Motion, 5/13/2010, pencil drawing in sketchbook, 9 x 7 inches

Springtime sketch, 5/16/2010, pencil drawing in sketchbook, 9 x 7 inches


September Nights, 9/2/2010, pencil drawing in sketchbook, 9 x 7 inches


The difference between ghosts and dogs, 5/29/2010, pencil drawing in sketchbook, 9 x 7inches


A work in progress as of 9/18/2010, same sketchbook

This latest drawing I started on Thursday night at The Gallery, just rolling around a fat chunk of very black graphite and then following the path of what I've left behind, filling in, expanding on...when I finish this one, I promise to post the end...

We will be officially naming our gallery soon...lots to do before then...we're going to have a reception on this Thursday night to celebrate Ken's 55th birthday, cake and goodies, and of course, the art! Some new work will be unveiled too...

A few new things...

2010-09-05T12:24:00.007-04:00

This is a work in progress... I'm testing out the watercolor canvas that my Fred bought me, its texture is pretty flat so my monotype plates slip and slide... I didn't add my sumi-paper to the surface just to be different this time, so far so good... I like the brightness...

I finally finished this little guy from the Ancient Artifacts series (formerly known as Corrosion).

This one too, I was having a little bit of trouble with the two ends, but I think I resolved those, but, I won't stop myself from tinkering with it if I see something else I want to do to it...

The opening at The Gallery went well last Friday, I've been out of sorts with FMS all week, just a bit too much on my plate lately so I'm a bit worn out, I'm grateful for the long weekend to paint and relax, read and write... and of course blog! I feel like I've fallen behind...

I just tried out Tumblr this morning... it's going to take some getting used to... it's not rocket science, but anything new and unfamiliar tends to be like that with me, I still have issues with Facebook... hmmmm...

I couldn't resist this photo of Crouching Tigger-Hidden Pooh and Max sharing the critter bed... they're soooooo dang cuddly cute!

Rainy Sunday...

2010-08-22T17:40:00.005-04:00

A work in progress that I'm really loving at the moment (9 x 9 inches)... this is it as it stands today, I've signed it, but I haven't named it yet... and I'm thinking it over... is it really done? Wait n' see... I love the glow of it...

This was my table yesterday afternoon... full of works in progress! I love these productive days... the red one on the right I can't tell you how many layers of paint that thing has on top of modeling paste, it's gone from one extreme to the next, and I decided to try red again (I have issues with red.) I'm not sure if I'm leaving it as is or if I'll keep painting over the darn thing until something makes me happy! The horizontal one at the top I wish I hadn't put those moons in it... they're way too white and they are bugging me... the earthy square in the middle is mighty nice, but I'm pondering it for now...

Speaking of pondering... this painting is FINALLY done... it's languished for months looking quite dull and brown... then I went crazy with my favorite turquoise color and so...

Ancient Artifacts, 8/15/2010 Acrylic, Wash, Monotype, Sumi paper on Canvas, 24 x 8 inches

This new painting will be in the exhibition opening this Friday, August 27th, 6-9 PM at The Gallery @ Healing Art Passages, 137 First Street, Liverpool NY!

I wrapped up seven of my new things for The Gallery this morning, and my Fred dropped everything off and is spending the afternoon there painting and enjoying himself in our little place. I felt disappointed that I only had seven new things to put in, but that's all right, I'm making more, and can always add stuff later or keep them back for another time or place... funny... I was reminded of something last night, as I was looking at the line up of my work... they are quite dark, murky, nocturnal themes, and lots of earthy tones... my Fred and the other two artists in our adventure are very bright in comparison... but this reminded me of a time in art school, when this young adjunct professor (a very perky girl, one of those too perky to the point of annoying, it was much too early in the morning for me to deal with that kind of energy)... well the story is this... she saw what I had been working on during the first few classes of the semester and she asked me point blank: "You use such dark colors, do you have mental problems?" (Excuse me? Oh, did everyone in the studio hear that? You did? GREAT! I feel even better.) I can't recall exactly what I said back to her, tho' at that age I tended toward being more polite, but I remember being appalled and giving her a look (honey, you've got mental problems asking me that kind of a question). Now, to begin with, this girl had pushed my buttons enough already that semester, and this comment was the last straw... I left the studio during our break, went to the department chair's office to make my complaint and picked up an add drop form... This young woman had formed a very odd bias about me, and I wasn't going to tolerate that nonsense for an entire semester... that was right up there with the guy who declared "Painting is dead." (All in one semester! Wait, I thought this was art school, not drama queen school!) Gotta love art school... oh the angst, so WTF at the time (early 80's). I probably should've stuck it out in that class to prove something, but I was young and impatient with bullshit, it was an intro painting class I didn't want to take, it just happened to fit my schedule and I needed the credits, so I shucked it off without looking back... but apparently, I never forgot since it came back to me with such clarity last night. So, looking at the line up of earthy toned paintings reminded me of this episode... (as I recall, I was painting a still life of field stones on that infamous day.) I laughed out loud at 11 PM in my dining room, how funny! It's so odd how people react to what you do... some love it, some don't, some 'get it', some dismiss it. All I know, I love what I do... these paintings of the bones of the earth, ancient artifacts, and night skies feel right to me, I wouldn't change a thing...

Thursday night at The Gallery...

2010-08-13T19:09:00.003-04:00

Happiness is... having a gallery to call your own and hanging out on a Thursday night making art... this board each of us have taken turns to make our marks on it (Ken at the top, then my Fred, Suzanne, and that's me working at the bottom)... when we're done, the board will be sealed and hung outside our front door to greet visitors (or we hope it will draw them to the door!) It's interesting how our work is different, but we go well together... I think our visitors love coming in to see us working on making art, easels and brushes, sketchbooks and pencils fully operational... our next opening is August 27th! New artwork on the walls... and hopefully more new faces to mingle with the regulars!!

Good times!

Summer time...

2010-08-08T20:41:00.005-04:00

August Night, is a bitty, 9 x9 inch painting...a work in progress nearly finished... still 'living' with it... there might be some things added, but I'm not expecting to add anything too big... I can hear the crickets singing...

Midnight Blue, 8/1/2010, acrylic wash, monotype, sumi-paper on canvas 20 x 20 inches

I finally finished this one to my satisfaction... I was afraid that I had worked it to death, but when I went at it with the slightly off center dark stripe about two weeks ago I knew I was near to the end of the ordeal...
Mid-Summer Night (Green), August 1, 2010, acrylic wash, monotype, sumi-paper on canvas, 30 x 12 inches

I fiddled with this a little more, the lower right corner was bugging me, and now I like this better...

I just had a new exhibition of photos, drawings and paintings installed by Suzanne Master's at Gentile's Restaurant in downtown Syracuse, and we're gearing up for our second opening at The Gallery at Healing Art Passages on August 27th... these three little paintings will most definitely be there...

I did a book signing yesterday at The Gallery, it was well attended, and I did do a reading from Chapter 1, it was a good deal...my Fred video taped it, we'll see if it's good enough for a Youtube post...it felt good to be there and talk to people about what I do...

I think it's been a good thing, combining our efforts to have our little gallery space, it feels right... and we're already talking about what we're going to do during the holidays... that will be a special time for the four of us.

Digging back into the past to unbury treasure...

2010-07-17T15:01:00.004-04:00

Here's an oldie, but a goodie...River of Fallen Stars. I'm always partial to posts that illustrate the process, I don't always stop long enough (or soon enough) while making a work of art to photograph the beginning to the end...

Sunday, March 02, 2008

The Progress of a River of Fallen Stars

I started this one back, back, back...ummmmmm...January, after the New Year, immediately following the second large Celestial Spring painting, soooo that was back on New Year's Eve...

1
Well, it all started with a wash of blue, and sprinkles of salt, I let it run and drip, then dry...

2

I kept it taped to a board during all this time, so forgive the rough edges, it is a mess...but the next few steps were like this, I would work into it, drawing, splashing paint, shaving pastel and water-soluble graphite into damp soggy places, and more splashing, and occasionally loading up a brush with white acrylic paint and splooking it on there...fun, right?

3

Well, then I made more of a mess with it, and tried to make some defined linear stuff to lead the eye around...it didn't go where I initially planned for it to go, more white than I wanted it to be...I really wanted more blue...but sometimes you go with what you got and make it work...

but I really didn't like it that much at this point, there were parts to it that I enjoyed, and parts that I just didn't know what to do about...

4

Today I finished her off...finally...I'm mostly happy with it now, I had to fall in love with it all over again today...which wasn't easy, I was really having doubts about it, but I like it now...

Detail of bottom

I really like the way I dropped it into the margin to make up for the blop that oozed under the tape...

The title is from a song by The Kennedy's a little folk duo, Pete and Maura Kennedy, River of Fallen Stars is one of my favorite albums...I believe it's out of print, but there are used ones out there to buy...

Detail of top...

It just makes me think of a meteor shower when I look at it...kinda sparkles...

Well, that's that...it seemed to turn out all right after all..

Later, in the summer of 2008, River of Fallen Stars sold at the Contemporary Gallery during the Whimsy exhibition, co-curated by Courtney Rile and Roslyn Esperon.

My faithful laptop has suffered with the "Blue Screen of Death" condition this week, so I've been a bit out of commission, tho' I am back at half the size with a new Dell Mini...it is mighty itty-bitty, but I'm loving it...as for the old laptop, I'm hoping to get it repaired and up and running again soon, and I'm hoping to retrieve as much information from the hard drive as possible because there are a few photo gems that I haven't backed up in recent weeks...so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't a lost cause...

A work in progress...

2010-07-11T21:49:00.004-04:00

A work in progress on the porch, a nocturne in blue and purple...

Summer Night, a new painting...

2010-07-05T22:41:00.008-04:00

It's still a work in progress, but almost done...there's still a little bit of something I want to do to it, a splash here, a splash there...maybe...I'll enjoy it as is for now...

I'm really loving the details...

If you look close there are browns and earthy colors in the layers below the green and Payne's gray, it was a painting that I started back in April and stalled out on it...and I left it hanging on the wall where it could nag me every day (FINISH ME!)

Here's the before:
It had a lot of cool possibilities going on in there, but it wasn't shining like it is now...

Oh happy day!

2010-06-26T13:38:00.003-04:00

Here I am waving to you in the midst of the opening of our little gallery at 137 First Street, Liverpool, New York! It was a beautiful night outside and beautiful inside, the local support of our effort was AMmmmm-AZING! We're trying to figure out how many people showed up, and ran out of fingers, so we're guessing about 60 or so...maybe more... many familiar faces from other gallery events and such that I've been involved in/gone to, etc...the lovely cluster of art lovers in the area who hear about an opening reception and graciously show up every time (Thank you!) I sold a painting and a book, that'll pay for our share of the July rent! It was a big night, and I'm totally wiped out tired in that fantastic good way of being after such a good thing...I'm buzzing, but have yet to "land"...there's a nap in my future! I want to paint...and will...but I need to relax, I need to rest...and regroup, get back to reality...

As more pictures come along I'll add them!

Lazy vacation days...

2010-06-19T15:16:00.009-04:00

But I've been busy... this is a work in progress...or is it done? Dunno...I can't make up my mind, I made this awesome gray with Payne's Gray and Burnt Umber, slathered it on as a wash and it made this wonderful texture that is so lovely I'd hate to do anything to cover it up... I might add some more shapes or lines, but I'm willing to let it go after that...

The next three I did all together last weekend, laid them out, and worked them in an assembly line... I like doing that now and then when I have small things going on... they're all 8 x 8 inches, acrylic, wash, monotype, and sumi-paper on Stonehenge paper.

My Fred and I and our friends Ken and Suzanne are preparing for our exhibition at The Gallery at Healing Art Passages...we're hoping for a good turnout...

An ongoing project in association with The Gallery, our friend Ken Nichols has been doing a shared painting project with various artist friends, and this week was my turn to take a canvas he started and make my additions... this can be hard especially when styles, paint use and color choices are vastly different...so the first photo is what Ken gave to me to start with on Thursday night while we were gallery sitting... he starts with a flat black canvas, and uses very bright, colors...looking at it I saw flowers and a rooster/hummingbird combination like they got stuck to one another...or something...I puzzled over it all evening while the three of us chatted and painted in the gallery (we sit and make art during operation hours, makes it interesting for visitors to see the artists at work)...

I really didn't know how I was going to do it and make it work with my style and keep his base visible...well, let's say, I wasn't shy once I got started...

I had soooo much fun! I learned a lot about my art making during this exercise...the painting goes back to Ken on Sunday so he can make additions... so when I see it again, it'll be different.

A new painting...

2010-06-06T10:33:00.004-04:00

Full Moon, June 5, 2010, acrylic, wash, monotype, sumi-paper on canvas, 30 x 12 inches

Oh, my, I had fun making this one...I dug into the blues to make it happen...the first layer is Payne's Gray with a burnt umber wash, then the white moon at the top...and I fiddled a bit and came to a standstill for over a week... well, that was while I was in the final stages of publishing my novel, so that took me off into another world for a bit of time before I could come back to painting mode last weekend and made layers on top of layers, shapes and marks, transparent layers on top of opaque...so this weekend I'm adding the finishing touches... I'm very pleased with how it turned out, she sparkles. I'm always experimenting, always looking for new directions...I have a few pieces left to finish, and some I want to "do over" because they're blah...so I have lots and lots to work on in the next few weeks...

My Fred and I have hooked up with fellow artists Ken Nichols and Suzanne Masters for an art exhibition this summer at Suzanne's shop! We spent Thursday night at the gallery drawing and painting, welcoming visitors. We're going to have an official opening reception on June 25th, 6-9 PM, The Gallery at Healing Arts Passages, 137 First Street, Liverpool New York.

Making stuff up as I go along...

2010-05-30T20:54:00.004-04:00

Ancient Mechanism, May 30, 2010, acrylic, wash, monotype, sumi paper on Stonehenge paper, 8 x 8 inches.

I've been having a lovely time painting outside on my porch, using my portable studio table, the weather has been perfect all weekend, and another perfect day is ahead for tomorrow. This little painting started off as something I grabbed off the reject pile today...the original idea was red like my molten ore paintings... but it turned into mud and looked like crap, so I covered it up with Payne's gray (one of my favorite colors) and that looked crappy too, so I forgot about it for several weeks, then today, while I was waiting for other works in progress to dry, I decided to mess around with this...at this point, I figured, I already fucked it up, why not get experimental and see how much worse I could make it look...so I took a square piece of 2 ply mat board and slathered one side with a mix of Payne's gray and burnt umber (makes a nifty earthy blue/brown) and then I went crazy and squeezed a blob of vermillion on the other half, slathered that around and then flipped it onto the victim and "splat", on it went, and I burnished the crap out of it with the nearest jar (since I don't have a press to run it through, I have to print my monotypes with whatever I have handy!) Well...if only I photographed the hideous mess I made...oy, it was yuck-foo...so I turned the mat board a half turn and pressed the colors opposite...that made a bigger mess...then I dabbed my brush into burnt umber and dabbed that around...well, it toned down the vermillion...I was still not happy with it. I let it set for a bit, strolled around the yard, checked my email and browsed on line for a bit, ordered a new book, and then eventually made my way back to it...well, it still looked bad. I poked around a bit, I had just mixed a new batch of my special pale green that I love (that lovely lichen color) and I noticed the skin of the dried paint had released inside the jar, and I just had to start poking at it...yup that was a mess, so I took the piece of dried acrylic skin that was dripping with color and...you got it...I "brushed" it on the mess I was making...hey now...that...wait...I dabbed, dabbled, pressed, and poked...it got better... and thennnnn, I did a little bit of this, a little bit of that...oh, how about this...and flick this on it...well, will you look at that...I like it!

And so, that's how this little guy came into being...I love when that happens!

From my sketchbook...

2010-05-23T19:42:00.007-04:00

This is a work in progress in my sketchbook...I'm really loving the textures that I made in the beginning just rolling the side of the pencil around (it's a woodless pencil, I love those!)

This one I signed and have since changed my mind which way is up... I like this way better...so my signature is upside-down at the top...oops. (It's not the first time.)

Usually, I tape all four edges, but the top edge got away (DOH!) Well, I thought I had taped all four edges, come to find out, I didn't...I had two pieces of tape on the bottom! Note to self...ALWAYS put on your glasses when taping the edges of the paper!

For heavens sake...I've just been in such a tizzy these last few weeks, the drawings have been a soothing activity while I've been going through the process of publishing my second novel...which, just in case you haven't visited my other blog "Upstate Girl", it is officially published as of May 21st! What a relief...yet, I have noticed that I've dropped into a bit of a funk since I 'finished' the editing/proofreading phase of the thing...and once I held it in my hands for the first time, I turned all bittersweet (not quite weepy, just hmmm...a little sad). Well, I got to work in the garden these last few days, and while I turned up the soil and planted seeds, I re-set my brain, today was a better day and I am getting back into the groove of "doing". Maybe I won't forget to wear my glasses when taping paper edges or signing my pictures at the top when I thought it was the bottom...

Here are the two peas from a pod...but as different as night n' day... I love them both!

Heffalumps and Woozels...and a little painting...

2010-05-16T07:38:00.005-04:00

Remember when you were little and lying on your back, looking up at the clouds and finding faces and critters in the sky? For some reason, I wasn't that good at it (you'd think I would be, right? No, I really sucked at it.) The problem is (it's not really a problem) I was looking at other things in the sky, not trying to identify with something familiar... I was finding the things that I had no words for. If I saw the pirate or the bunny up there, that'd be all right, but more often than not, I'd say, "Oh, yeah, I see it too..." just because I wanted to fit in with the kids who were with me at the time. I'd point out the things that I saw "Do you see how that cloud has that bright curly wisp and the deep shadow?" The others would say, " Yeah, that's cool, but look over there, I see an old man..." It was frustrating to me when I didn't see what they saw, and they didn't see what I saw... it was just the way things were...

I never intend to "find the faces" in things... draw them or photograph them... but these three photos were 'looking at me' in that special way while I looked through the batch that I took last weekend, and I set them aside calling them the Heffalumps and Woozels...

Pooh and Piglet would certainly run screaming out of the Hundred Acre Wood if they ran up against these guys... (poor Pooh and Piglet!)

They're mostly harmless... just unnerving because of their steady stare...

May Twilight, 5/9/2010
acrylic wash, monotype on BFK Rives
6 x 4 inches

I started and finished this little guy last weekend on my birthday...I started a bunch of things that day...problem with doing so much all at once like that, I felt like I accomplished nothing! But I really did...

The old honey suckle bush...

2010-05-11T20:17:00.009-04:00

I spent a couple of days this past weekend visiting with this old gnarly grand-daddy of a honey suckle bush on my acre (it must be as old as our house), I've loved it for quite some time, and sat down with my camera to study its weathered old skin to fill my digital sketchbook with new visions...

There are more, but I'll save them for another post another day...aren't they gorgeous?

Tonight, I'm in the midst of an author chat at Library Thing, promoting my little ghost story, Dusty Waters, and my Fred and I are doing the final bit of work on the book cover for my new novel The Fractured Hues of White Light, the acrylic wash painting Walking on the Sun which was one of the many yellow paintings that I made specific for the book cover is now immortalized as the 'face' of my book! Here's a sneak peek of the painting...as soon as the cover is finalized, that will be posted too!

Walking on the Sun, 2010
acrylic wash on BFK RIVES wove paper
12 x 12 inches (this scan does not reflect the overall dimensions)

I wanted a yellow book, I got one!

Working on things...

2010-05-02T14:07:00.007-04:00

Is it done? Maybe, maybe not... I still see things I could do to it... but here it is the latest from my table... I worked outside on the portable studio table, it feels like summer on the second day of May... such an odd weekend with this early heat, but a lovely day all the same...

I don't know if you remember this... I posted the start of this drawing ages ago, and just finished it a few days ago, I love making these little guys, my pencil wanders and I go with it... I love the crisp lines I can get and the delicate grays, the velvety blacks... they're little giants... big things on small pages. I love getting lost in them while making them... when they're done, I just know it.

(We got our picture in yesterdays Post Standard, that's me with the straw hat on the far right, with my Fred standing by me, we're talking with a friend of ours.) Friday night we attended the closing of the Delavan Art Gallery, it was a bittersweet event, one that was sad to see the end of a good thing, but there is hope for the future as the space undergoes a transformation and a new space will emerge... a transition... we mustn't lose heart... change is good. We'll see what happens... my Fred and I have some ideas of our own, connections that we've made over the years... we'll see what happens. It's all an investment. I'll keep making art... keep going forward.

What I did on my day off...

2010-04-23T23:37:00.003-04:00

Bones of the Earth, the Corrosion of Metal, April 23, 2010
acrylic, monotype, sumi-paper on canvas
24 x 8 inches.

I finished this painting today... it was one that started out very different from how it ended up, it was once a delicate pale green with the plan to be mossy and evolved into this ancient looking monolith of gears and gadgets, shapes and lines (oh, I had a good time today!) It was nice being home today, I relaxed, took care of myself (I've been having lots of trouble with Fibro, allergies, and the latest manifestation of peri-menopausal crap this week, when it rains it pours!) Tonight we (my Fred and I) attended the Eastwood Rotary Club CNY ART Showcase at The Links at Erie Village in East Syracuse for a fundraiser for the local Ronald McDonald House, we each donated two paintings, and they sold well. (it's always a good feeling to see one's artwork go to a good home!) We also had our artwork on display on tables in the room, I brought ten paintings, and on a whim, I put my portfolio of photographs out for browsing... while I ate dinner, I spied on people leafing through it, and it seemed they were enjoyed by all. It's always a good experience to meet and greet, make new connections, and learn what to do to prepare for the next time we're invited to participate...fun was had by all!

It's been a long day for me, although I'm very tired I'm still too keyed up from the experience, and need to settle in...

A busy day...

2010-04-18T22:18:00.005-04:00

A Chinese Dragon, 4/18/2010, acrylic, monotype and Sumi paper on canvas, 6 x 6 inches.
He was a happy accident with a random twist of the brush.

Corrosion, 4/18/2010, acrylic and modeling paste on cradled masonite, 12 x 12 inches...

This one I worked on last summer, as much as I loved it, I didn't feel satisfied with it...until today, I rolled my paint brush here and there...

Fieldstone, 4/18/2010, acrylic, monotype, sumi paper on canvas, 6 x 6 inches

I've been getting caught up with unfinished business....I had a good day...

A new piece...

2010-04-04T22:43:00.004-04:00

Bones of the Earth, April 3, 2010, acrylic, monotype, sumi paper on canvas, 30 x 12 inches

It was in the 80's yesterday, so I set up the portable studio table on the porch and went to work on this painting that I started last fall and set aside because I didn't know what else to do with it... sometimes an idea doesn't pan out, there was things I liked about it, but... no matter, I like it better this way...I'm thinking about doing a little more to it before declaring it done, but I'm still pondering what to do next...I keep staring at it and getting lost in the textures...

It seems I'm building up a lot of unfinished projects...I think I'm developing this log jam because I'm still working my way through The Fractured Hues of White Light, I "finished" the last chapter today, but I'm not "finished" with it. I have to review things I want changed, and revisit places that troubled me previously...there's more work to be done before I can say it is "DONE" and ready to go to print. I don't want to have to make changes after it goes to print, it gets expensive once it gets to that stage...it's a work in progress. I think once it's out of my hands and into the hands of readers, then I can refocus my efforts in the other works in progress that I have lying around...

Pieces of Night and Day...

2010-03-28T16:41:00.004-04:00

I've been dwelling on finishing my novel The Fractured Hues of White Light, I'm in the pre-publication proof reading stage, hoping to catch those last little bits of this n' that...well, I've also been pondering book cover ideas...I've been in love with a yellow cover...but I'm also thinking about having a blue back cover...

I haven't finished anything new lately because of the intensive reading and fussing...

Then I rescued this little fella who beaned himself against my studio window this morning, I thought he was dead for sure, he hit hard and then fell (my studio is on the second floor, so it's a long drop for a little guy!) But when I checked, he was still breathing, and the little eye flickered open. I checked him over, carried him, protected him from the chill wind, and after a bit, sent him on his way... the full story is at my other blog Upstate Girl...and I also posted some nifty photos of stuff that I found around the acre last week...

I'm going back to reading chapter 10...

Thanks for stopping by!

A toot on my horn...

2010-03-18T22:21:00.008-04:00

My Fred and I are both featured in the CNY Art Showcase magazine... we have donated two paintings apiece to the Eastwood Rotary Foundation art auction & festival on April 23rd to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House. It's going to be a good time... we're going to have a booth to feature our artwork and have the opportunity to meet n' greet bidders.

I think I finished this painting last weekend, I just never got around to posting as it was late at night when I put on the finishing touches and the lighting was too crappy at the time to take a decent picture...I have yet to name it...it has multiple ideas happening, a Nocturne with a Blue Moon sort of theme...and my favorite corrosion colors...

*edit* 3/19/2010... I've given it a name! It's after a Sappho fragment: If Not, Winter

Then I started this little guy 16 x 8 inches...a burnt sienna wash with payne's gray scumbled on top...I have some thinking to do about what I want to do next...

I've been having multiple Fibromyalgia attacks this week, Monday being the worst day, I stayed home from work and slept much of the day away. I've been up and down all week long, I blame it on the time change mostly, that usually messes up everything for a while, my inner clock has no idea what time it is...I've taken tomorrow off from work to do a few things, possibly sit on the porch and soak in some sunshine...paint...read...write...do the things that get me out of bed everyday...

Tho' I have these little brown eyes that force my feet onto the floor and out the door early everyday...
What a sweet little boy dog! I think anyone with Fibromyalgia should have a dog to get them up everyday!

Yet another work in progress...

2010-03-08T00:12:00.004-05:00

A Blue Moon Nocturne...? No name yet for sure...I'm still fooling around with it, so it's not done. I tried to take a picture tonight, but the lighting was so bad once the sun went down, it just wasn't working out...so here is Saturday afternoon's photo...the "moon" at the top is paler now...not much else too different, a few splashes here and there...I think you get the idea... I loved dabbling with the lower half, that turquoise corrosion color is juicy stuff...a very thin wash that I rolled on with a small brush... the back ground is a layer of payne's gray with a layer of my 'moss' brown (which is a mix of burnt umber, raw umber, and a greenish-blue color in a mangled tube that I've been squeezing the last of the last out of for weeks that might be called viridian, I forget.) Lots of subtle goodies going on in there...

A new drawing... a little one

2010-02-28T19:43:00.003-05:00

A small drawing, I'm sticking with the harder leads, the softest being an HB, but mostly worked with 2H and 4H, I'm going back to the earlier work... I do that now and then, there's comfort there working with pencil. I just make the random marks and then make more random marks, and follow the flow... very relaxing.

Getting back into it...work in progress

2010-02-21T19:10:00.006-05:00

Work in progress #1, acrylic, monotype, and sumi paper on Stonehenge paper, 8 x 8 inches, I liked this one better before I added the marks...sometimes I should just leave well enough alone! I fear it will wind up going down the 'f-it' road and turn into something else (which at times turned into a good thing)...but maybe not...there's some bits that I like, some I don't like...I'll need to spend time looking at it to see what I'll come up with next...it needs some time...

Work in progress #2, acrylic, monotype, and sumi paper on canvas, 30 x 12 inches, I'm in love with this one, I keep seeing more in it, but I don't want to muddy it up too much...(I liked the color combination so much, I had to make another one...)

Keeping busy, yet laying low, my back has been giving me a ration of grief for about a week, so I have been lying on my bum with pillows and the heating pad most of the weekend and just spent about an hour splashing some colors...now I can feel like I did a little bit of something on the work that have been sitting around gathering dust!

Sometimes the monotype plates are just as pretty...

2010-02-07T23:50:00.007-05:00

My Fred told me that I should frame some of them...but I had already reused them for other things by then...or had managed to get something on them...

It seemed I did a lot this weekend, but feel like I did nothing of consequence...new canvases arrived in boxes, and I started the foundations for future things...fiddled with some works on paper, but nothing to tell about yet...two of them had some of their layers scrubbed off...hmmmmmmm...we'll see what happens another day...

A new work in progress...

2010-01-31T21:34:00.001-05:00

Just the wash so far...gosh it's pretty!

Progress...

2010-01-24T19:40:00.011-05:00

New Moon, 1/24/2010, acrylic, monotype, Hosho paper on canvas, 24 x 8 inches...a pretty little thing...it took some doing.

Bones of the Earth, Ancient Bronze, 1/24/2010, acrylic, monotype, Hosho paper on canvas, 24 x 8 inches. This was originally pink...imagine that? The pink disappeared on it's own, it just didn't seem to want to be on the canvas or the paper...too thinned down I guess...anyway...the corrosion of bronze is a theme I adore...I might go back into it later...

Finding Gold, 1/24/2010, acrylic, monotype, Hosho paper on canvas, 24 x 8 inches...once again I tried to do a yellow painting and found gold instead...

Bones of the Earth, Stone Monolith, 1/24/2010, acrylic, monotype, Hosho paper on canvas, 36 x 12 inches...I think this one is my favorite...I built up the textures using some of my scrap paper that I tore off to make my rough edges...slathered on naples yellow hue for the undercoat and went from there...the blue/green band near the bottom was the last bit I added to it today to finish it off, it pleases me so much I can just about scream!

Yes, I've been a busy girl... well, I started most of these back in December, and today everything came together, finishing touches and whatnot...so, I wasn't like a crazy woman painting until my eyes were bleeding and my hands falling off...or my head popping off my body...no...not quite...tho' I'm going through a bit of pondering about things creative and feeling odd about what I do, feeling overwhelmed at the same time that I feel good...feeling exhausted, yet content...

Sometimes I just don't know the 'why' of it, I just do what I do because I need to do it, I'd be so unhappy if I didn't spend my days working out these images and these thoughts... it just comes, I have to do something with it...I'd be a sorry thing if I didn't.

I just go with it...

Gallery Opening...

2010-01-21T21:52:00.003-05:00

This is our wall at the Delavan Art Gallery (pre-view before opening, I didn't take a single picture tonight, I was too busy people watching and chatting!) I'm sure you can pick out my little bits from past posts, they pretty much represent my summer evolution. The four paintings grouped in the lower middle and right are my Fred's (see his Blog "Crux" in the line up on the right!) He sold one early, the little vertical on the left next to my tall skinny vertical (Welsh Slate). It was Th3 in Syracuse tonight...and the opening was very crowded and lovely, we had perfect weather today and tonight, so everyone came out to browse the city's art world...We're both feeling buoyed by the event, it feels good to see our accomplishments on display!

Walkin' after midnight...what do I see...

2010-01-18T10:05:00.006-05:00

Midnight Indigo, Elemental Winter (January Nocturne), 1/17/2010
acrylic wash, monotype, and Hosho paper on canvas
24 x 8 inches

I love the simplicity of the dark circle at the top and the complex layers in the rectangle are just juicy...the Payne's Gray wash was so exquisite I hesitated to make a mark on it! I wish I had taken a photo of it, I thought I had, but apparently I didn't (drat).

I really love the late night walk with Max...even if I'm tired and cold on a winter's night there's still things to see and think about...there's magic in the air when there's fresh snow down, stars in the sky, and the air so crisp and frosty that it hurts to breathe deep...makes poor Max lift his paws while he's sniffing for bunnies in the snow... well, we're warmer now, it's thawing, and we're socked in with fog on the hilltop today, it's a good day to stay inside and paint...or go outside and take pictures...

I might have a few more things left to do with this one...so it's a work in progress...

Work in progress, Night and Day, Winter Elemental, 1/17/2010

Bones of the Earth, Bronzed, 2009-2010
acrylic wash, monotype, and Hosho paper on canvas
16 x 8

I reworked this one a few nights ago...as much as I liked it before, it was bugging me, I kept staring at it one night (instead of reading the proof of my next novel) and took it down off the wall and fooled about with it really late at night, and then delivered it to the Delavan Art Gallery on Thursday afternoon...I was surprised that it was picked from the bunch I brought in...but yet, not. Four other paintings that have been posted here previously were selected as well...there's a group exhibition opening this Thursday night (1/21), I don't know which piece (or pieces) will be included so it will be a bit of a surprise when I get there for the opening...I'll take pictures!

My new scanner/printer is up and running...photo paper is on order...I'm working on an Esty shop for selling original artwork, photographs and signed copies of books from Field Stone Press so...there's much in the works, I'll keep you posted when that happens...a few things have to fall into place first, I don't multi-task as well as I used to...

Window Pictures, Courtesy of Frost...

2010-01-10T15:21:00.016-05:00

It's been so cold it's breathtaking...I've been keeping busy with things...artwork, editing the book, playing around with the photos I've been taking of our winter wonderland...keeping warm is a priority...

I love incorporating the icicles dangling above...

Playing around with tinting the black and white...silver and gold...

Nature continues to impress me with its beauty...thinking about future paintings...

Since it seems I'm on a black and white theme, here's some pencil drawings that I finished...

December Winds, 12/11/2009, pencil drawing on paper 14 x 11 inches

These tend to be my mental putterings...an aimless relaxation...they take a very long time to make, they're very satisfying to me while I'm working on them...at times they're very odd...although I do try to "plan", they tend to be their own thing in spite of what I think I want to do when I lay down the first marks...

Winter Sonata, 1/1/2010, pencil drawing on paper, 14 x 11 inches...the first of the New Year...

I know, I posted this over at Upstate Girl...but just in case you didn't get there, I snapped this photo yesterday afternoon from my back window looking out at the hilltop behind us...all of the trees were coated with a fine layer of ice earlier in the week, then snowed upon for a couple of days more...and voila, winter wonderland! It's very pretty out there, and I have my camera full of pictures...so much to see, so much to look at...