The last work of 2009...

Elemental December, Frost and Snow, 12/28/2009, acrylic monotype on sumi paper mounted on canvas, 9 x 9 inches

At one point, I had feared that I was going to work this one to death...it saw many layers, had some of them washed off...here's the documented progression...

Started on 12/5/2009 (I loved this start sooooo much!)


12/6/2009, then I did this the next day...I wasn't completely happy with it, I tried to like it, but...unfortunately (or fortunately depends on how you want to look at it), I didn't photograph the two other attempts that I dunked into the bathtub and scrubbed the paint off with the paint brush...oy!


12/27/2009, I started over again...and washed it off at least one more time (if not two) before I got to this point...then late that night on one final impulse, I added the "windows" and the moon...I woke up the next morning and fell in love with what I had done...and so it's finished...a white painting.

There are more works in progress, tomorrow begins a new year...this is the last one to receive 2009...it's been a very productive year, I have loved my experiments with texture and color and all the hard work has been very rewarding and wonderful! I appreciate all who follow my "blog studio" and leave comments. I'm going to pour some champagne and ring in the new year...all the best to you!

Slip into the Glimpse...

Slip into the Glimpse, 12/27/2009, acrylic monotype on sumi on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

Oh, happy day! It turned out to be a pretty one...I've kept this canvas aside for weeks n' weeks with that red/gold wash on it, and today was the day to make marks while my mind wandered over many things...I'd walk away from it, go outside to enjoy the sunshine...all of our snow is melted away, it was not quite balmy, but it was a lovely day...

The title...it's one of those phrases that came into being to explain something I saw within...just a glimpse of something beautiful that I have no words for...

Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice, 12/14/2009, acrylic monotype on sumi paper mounted on Stonehenge paper, 8 x 8 inches

The layers of color are so much fun, they always surprise me in the end! All four are part of a series...a fifth piece is still being contemplated...it seems I'm into my winter nocturnes...must be the long nights and snow bringing it on...

A busy day...

Bones of the Earth, Molten Ore, (Star) 12/13/2009, acrylic monotype, sumi paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches

A wintery mix outside today...inside...well, a mix of this, a mix of that, I turned on the music and let the paint fly...many of these were posted in their early stages on my November 29th post...many have evolved into something completely different from what I started with...


Ice Nocturne, Elemental December, 12/13/2009, acrylic monotype, sumi paper and 2 ply mat board on canvas, 12 x 12 inches



Bones of the Earth, 12/13/2009, acrylic monotype, sumi paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches



Bones of the Earth, 12/13/2009, acrylic monotype, sumi paper on canvas, 12 x 12 inches



Bones of the Earth, Fieldstone, 12/13/2009, acrylic monotype, sumi paper and 2 ply mat board on canvas, 4 x 4 inches (It's sooooo little!)


Bones of the Earth, 12/13/2009, acrylic monotype, sumi paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches



This one isn't quite done yet...almost...I really love to keep it simple...

My choice of music today was an eclectic mix, Patty Smith, Florence and the Machine, Moby, Bob Dylan, Tracy Bonham, Beatles, Metric, Mute Math, Balbec, and then I listened to all four discs of Woodstock... Okay with that said...imagine painting that red one with Jimi Hendricks jamming the Star Spangled Banner? (Yes, it was awesome.)

Today was awesome.

Progress...a little at a time...

It took some time to make the positive ID, but judging by the crinkles I think I got the right one...this is what I had last week...loved it then...but knew I had to be brave to go beyond this lovely start...

This was yesterday morning's effort...oh, I was so bummed after I added the burnt sienna, I thought for sure I ruined it, then I went into it with a dark brown, and then laid down some white on top of it while it was still a bit wet...I oooo'd and ahhhh'd, and so I loved it more...

This is today's work...I love it better...there will be more, stay tuned!

LOTS of work in progress...

The nice thing about being on holiday...I have more time to make art...so I planned ahead, bought extra canvases, and on Friday I started making surfaces, then yesterday I started laying down the raw elements...sort of assembly line, while one is drying, I start another, and it just started to get out of hand...the splash of sunshine on my dining room table full of canvases was just too pretty this morning...it gave me a few ideas too...yes, this is the same table that just days ago was a spiffy looking with a table cloth and a feast laid out for the family gathered around...

I'm experimenting again...this little 12 x 12 inch canvas has the sumi paper adhered to the surface, but I also glued a small square of 2 ply mat board underneath the paper (it's in the upper middle of the canvas, can you tell?) There's a lot going on in this piece that I like...but I'll work on it some more later to see what I can enhance...things were getting a bit sloppy last night at about 9PM when I had to call it quits...

This one has some potential, I love the subtle things happening in the background and I hope to keep some of it...

I'm going to try another red one...I just have a tough time with the color red...I like it, but not really in love with it...but I know lots of people love the other red one I made (and I do too)...my niece was hinting...but I need it for an upcoming show...I started a small red one too, but the photo didn't turn out so well...

I am loving this wrinkly surface...lots of nifty stuff happening...there's a trio of these 9 x 9's...I'm going to see if I can group them together as a triptych...it just might work...


I'm going to try again for the gold...without going too orange, I'm hoping to maintain the delicate wash without screwing it up like I had done before...twice...argh! (Tho' the two that I "screwed up" turned out fine as individual pieces...they just went in a different direction, these things happen.)

This long skinny one (8 x 24 I think) has a lovely color that I'd hate to lose...very delicate compared to the darker ones...I'll have to see what happens...

Well, I have my work cut out for me...I also have about a dozen prepared papers to mess around with...I haven't touched them yet, they're still flattening under a crockery lid with stones on it...

I just ordered a new mobile storage cart from Blick this morning...I have way too much stuff again...this is my second storage cart (the other one is full!) Can't have enough of those little guys...

The Tangle...and the chaos

If you also visit my other blog, Upstate Girl, you'll see that I found a birds nest in this mess behind the barn, but for Bliss, I'm going to focus on the beauty of this chaos...plentiful dried golden rod and grasses...sumac and choke cherry, briars and I'm sure br'er rabbit and his relations must live in there...the colors are pretty amazing...



I can't get enough of the grape vine curlicues!

I absolutely love the purple and lavender colors of black berry briars...(ouch) The bits of red are nightshade berries...

I want to do something with my photos...possibly a series of books rather than individual photos since I focus on a series of things having to do with textures and colors, the photos are more like a sketchbook, a thought process, they're about looking and seeing...dunno...I'm thinking about it...my Fred thinks I should do it.

The tangle and the chaos...my feelings are in knots, now that I've finished my novel The Fractured Hues of White Light and I have an exhibition coming up the first week of December...my Fred and I together, displaying at a local restaurant...I'm very excited. Much to do, much to think about, new work to move along...soon...

The latest...

This was the dining room table about three hours ago...

Celestial Autumn, Blue and Gold, 11/15/2009, acrylic monotype on sumi paper mounted on canvas, 18 x 6 inches

I finally finished this little fella, it's been through the wringer, it started out this bright, airy wash that I posted back on October 18...but it became a mess, I poked at it from time to time, became disgusted with it yesterday, painted it over with white and started over...but it lost that pretty wash...oh, well, these things (unhappy accidents) happen...I'm pretty happy with it as it is...

The morning started out foggy...my little crow friends were waiting for me to leave them their breakfast, but they like sumac berries too...



Then the sun broke through and made things sparkly, and apparently, extra sniffy for my one dog named Max...(please visit Upstate Girl for a photo essay about my little buddy dog and his sniffy nose!)


It turned out to be such a beautiful day, it's been unusually warm for November...but I'm not complaining, I'm sure the worst is yet to come! So, I put my chair out in a sunny spot and sat writing at my laptop with my faithful dog nearby...and we listened with interest as something of the unidentified critter variety was in the weeds making a rustling racket...but at first we didn't know what it was...soon enough, I saw something large and brown rummaging around in the garden, then the head popped up, iridescent green and bright red headgear...it was our friend the pheasant! (Unfortunately my camera happened to be out of reach at the time...no pheasant pictures.) Phez didn't think much of us staring at him (Max with ears in full bloom and tail wagging.) So he ran off...it's funny to see such a large bird run...and then he flew away. A little while later, we heard him crowing in the weeds again.

It was a lovely, productive, and restful day, I feel pretty good, my latest Fibromyalgia flare-up has calmed down again...it's been a good weekend.

The finished drawing

Samhain, Cavatina, 11/6/2009, pencil on Bristol (smooth) paper, 14 x 11 inches

I finished it finally (started it September 27th)...the "bigger" they are, the longer they take to make, I usually like little 'uns the best, but sometimes a big 'un is right for the time and I was so out of sorts feeling I needed the space to wander so forgive the meandering, aimlessness of it, these drawings are more personal as I work out things, focus, look inward for peace, go with the flow...you have no idea...or maybe you do. I usually name them as pieces of classical music because the lines and shapes remind me of sound...this one reminds of the 5th movement of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13, Opus 130



(TNUA Concert Hall, Taipei March 21, 2008 Peter Winograd, violin, Laurie Carney, violin, Daniel Avshalomov, viola, Wolfram Koessel, cello)

My father-in-law passed away on November 5th...we see him off tomorrow...a bittersweet time...the Cavatina seems appropriate...

This piece of music also has significance in my novel, The Fractured Hues of White Light, (soon to be released, hopefully before Christmas!)

(Yes, I know...how do you find the time! I just do.)

Seasonal colors...

Elemental Autumn, Samhain, 10/31/2009, acrylic monotype on sumi paper mounted on canvas, 12 x 30 inches

I think it's finished...well, it's still sitting on the dining room table, I've picked at it all week, adding bits of this and that, I've given it a name anyway...if I make any changes they might be small ones...nothing drastic...unless I go crazy and decide to obliterate it...which I don't think I will do...

Bones of the Earth, Bronzed, 10/25/09, acrylic monotype on sumi paper mounted on canvas, 18 x 6 inches

This little guy...is from last week, I had to think about it, it started out red and then the red wasn't working, so I made it go away...it took a few layers...and I was ready to give up, but then I plopped that gold red that I used in Samhain all over it, like a glaze, and fooled around a bit more and now I think it's "done" the pale green square saved it for me, I might ponder it a little more, but, like with Samhain, I don't expect too much will change (of course if I do anything too crazy I'll be sure to post the results!)

This has been a rough week, my Fred's father is near death, these are difficult times...
an emotional rollercoaster...which has put many projects in limbo...exhaustion is taking its toll.

Work in progress...this is an orange one...

I worked on this lovely orange painting at the dining room table while I cooked curried butternut squash thai soup (OMG was that yummy!) on the woodstove...still much to do...I originally started with a delicate wash...then made a mess of it by going too dark too soon with the dark moss brown that I love so much...dang...so I painted over it all with pale umber, stone gray, and a white wash...then I went back at it again, the red gold wash (the color in jar on the table) and played with a pale green and the dark moss color...more to come another day!

And then...I picked this little painting off the wall (I originally worked on it back in August 16th) because I "saw" something that needed to be done...I think this time it's done...

Bones of the Earth, Granite Fieldstone with Lichen, 10/25/09
acrylic monotype on sumi mounted on canvas
10 x 10 inches

Work in progress...

This is the top...

This is the middle...

This is the bottom...well, for now, that's how my mind has this little guy oriented, it's only 6 x18...

Oh, yes, here's some pretty fun...this is the early stages of new work, the sumi paper was mounted on the canvas yesterday morning, and I did the washes last night after everything dried...I'm loving the colors as is...I don't imagine doing too much more...but now is contemplation time...

I didn't paint anything new this week...

I've been concentrating on my novel...but yesterday, I got outside with the sunshine, and went into the barn to explore...it's old...built around 1850 or so...the patina of the wood has always been an interest to me, and the light was bright enough to reach into the darkest corners...

This narrow piece reminds me of an O'Keeffe painting from her early days...or maybe even the Jack-in-the-Pulpit paintings...

I loved the knot, and ya gotta love the cobwebs...there's even a stray pencil line...

There's more, but I need to stop here, dinner is nearly ready...

Black forest stew...mmmmmmm...that's guaranteed to fill in the empty nooks and crannies...stick to the ribs...take the chill off...there might be snow in the air tonight...I can smell it on the wind...I'm not ready for it...