Vacation...part 2

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...

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.