Work in Progress from the Porch

A detail from an acrylic monotype in my sketchbook...from the Spring Series. I've fallen in love with the colors Naples Yellow and Powder Blue...they seem to go right together...

It's odd how April has suddenly turned into July...the summer-like weather has allowed me to spend time on my porch making art, although I usually end up cursing the breeze for causing my paper to flutter about, I love working in the fresh air and soaking up the sunshine! Tho' I might've gotten too much sunshine today, I'm feeling a bit out of sorts and have propped myself in bed in front of a breezy window, billowing curtains...tabbies are napping with me...robins calling out, a woodpecker making a racket...I did hear someone fire up a lawn mower earlier...too early for such things...

More experimental splashing about with water and graphitint pencils on a textured surface,



...and making acrylic monotypes...


...a detail of the "horizon line" this is the part that I am most happy with...

Pencil drawings

I try to mix it up a bit...a quick pencil sketch...maybe I was a little stressed at the time...but it was medicinal to MAKE SOMETHING!


This one took a little more time...I really don't plan them, they just happen along in the flow...whatever looks right...feels right, meditative...

Spring ponderings on paper...

I'm echoing ponderings from one blog to the other...I've been a busy girl creatively, playing around with colors and experimenting with monotypes in my sketchbook...

Abstraction study, March 21, 2009, acrylic monotype on paper, 12 x 9 inches

A detail...this little piece happened because I had leftover paint to use up, so I just started in using it up...and it went on from there...



Color study, 4/3/09, Cretacolor pencils (with water), 10 1/2 x 4 inches

A detail of texture...these pencils become very painterly when wet! I got bold with some orange and then toned it down with white and blue...

Spring Dawn, April 5, 2009, acrylic monotype on paper, 6 x 6 inches (very delicate colors)


And finally, a work in progress...still a little bit left to do with it to make it right...

Tinted graphite, acrylic, and watercolor, 8 x 8 inches...

Maybe I'll finish it today...

In which I study stones, they are the bones of the earth...

Split in Half, March 29, 2009 (I found a rather plain looking rock broken, and found a treat inside!)


While I was working out some unproductive stress last weekend (I couldn't concentrate on anything good), I went outside with my little camera and played with some field stones on one of our walls that my Fred built some time ago, it has taken on an "old wall look" since it was covered in weeds and vines, so I cleaned up around the stones, pulling the vines and weeds off (with bare hands, I got pretty dinged up, but didn't care), some stones tumbled about, so I rebuilt what I could move (I didn't lift anything too heavy)...I just went to town on it...

I shouldn't have been doing this nonsense, but I didn't know at the time that I had a herniated disk in my lower back. (*Note: The MRI was done on March 6th, the follow up appointment was originally set for March 13th, but it was changed to April 1st...oh, yes, I was assured by the receptionist, if there was "something serious" I would be contacted sooner rather than later, yeah, right...they really got on that. This MRI was originally requested in November because I had three numb toes, but guess what, my insurance company denied the request. Bastards. I could've been treated for this sooner!)

So...anyway, the wall and the stones...

Who would've thought these dusty old things found lying about in the dirt would be so pretty? THEY'RE so GORGEOUS!


Studying Stones, Amalgam, March 29, 2009


Bones of the Earth, Moss and Mold, March 29, 2009


Studying Stones, Amalgam, March 29, 2009 (I saw this pale blue, speckled one earlier in the day, and it kept calling me to come see it again!)


Bones of the Earth, the red one and the scratched one, side by side, March 29, 2009



Bones of the Earth, Chipped, March 29, 2009

Bones of the Earth, Forces of Time, March 29, 2009

Cracks and crevices, moss and scratches, character lines and chips...beautifully simple.