Altered Environments

A River of Falling Stars, 10/7/2012, acrylic and monotype on Arches watercolor paper, 30 x 22

Seriously, I finished painting this one yesterday afternoon. As soon as the paint dried I had to frame it...this painting was one of those that I had started once upon a time, and then gave up on it, tucking it away thinking one day maybe...well, two weeks ago when I was invited to be in a new exhibition as Szozda I pulled it out and slathered it with my favorite near black blue, Payne's gray...the only thing left of the original painting is the moon. Everything else evolved since then...building layers on layers on layers...OMG it's sooooooo gorgeous, and floated in a frame it's stunning!

We delivered the paintings and drawings to the Szozda Gallery today, and saw the preliminary layout...it's always a different experience to see the work in the gallery than at home...

The postcard!

I came down with a cold on Thursday morning, and have finally shook off the worst of it, naturally, in time to go back to work, but of course, I had to push through to get the paintings wired and the drawings framed...in between napping and taking hot baths to feel better. I managed to finish three new paintings to include with the work in progress paintings that I already had finished before...

Where water meets sky...#2, 10/6/2012, acrylic wash, monotype, rice paper on canvas, 24 x 24 inches

Ripple, 10/7/2012, acrylic wash, monotype, rice paper on canvas, 20 x 20 inches

This was the very last painting of the day...yes, this one is named after the Grateful Dead song Ripple...you know, it's whatever is going through my head at the time...it's been a productive and fun time...I always say, if I didn't love what I do, I wouldn't be doing it. I love what I do and I feel very fortunate...

Looking forward to seeing the show up on the walls and looking forward to the reception on Friday night!

Altered Environments, 10/11-11/4/2012 Szozda Gallery, Syracuse NY

Crescent Moon, 9/23/2012, acrylic wash, monotype and rice paper on canvas, 5 x 5 inches

I've been invited to be in another exhibition at Szozda Gallery and have been finishing up my work in progress...last weekend was perhaps my most productive in quite awhile...and it felt good to splash around a bit...resolving a few things that have been lingering on my work table or propped in various propping places...these two little moon paintings have been a study of patience...they've been chronic "do overs" for over a year...you'd never think something so small would be so complicated! I've painted over them, I've peeled rice paper off, I've glued mat board to them, and then ripped that off...applied more rice paper, painted and painted and painted over that and then more rice paper...then a wash and then suddenly I have a pair of paintings that I'm very much in love with hanging on the wall side by side...

Full Moon, 9/21/2012, acrylic wash, monotype and rice paper on canvas, 5 x 5 inches

Where water meets sky...9/23/2012, acrylic wash, monotype and rice paper on canvas, 30 x 12 inches

 Sometimes a painting happens with little effort...Where water meets sky... came into being with less fuss...it's so delicate and lovely, the children's moon floating in the sky pulled perfectly the first time without more than a dab or two with my pinky finger to touch up where it needed a little help...

Blue Moon, 8/31/2012, acrylic wash, monotype and rice paper on canvas, 39 x 12 inches

 This Blue Moon was one that I had a bit of a time with...a wash of Prussian blue made it glow...

Late Summer Dawn, 8/21/2012, acrylic wash, monotype and rice paper on canvas, 18 x 6 inches

This little one was pale green once...but hung around looking unfinished...it has a nice distressed look to it that I was going for...and that red-gold wash made everything so stunning in the end...

Midnight, 9/21/2012, acrylic wash, monotype and rice paper on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

I should never try to repeat a painting that I've sold...it never works out...I fussed around and fussed around with layers and layer...I nearly scraped the whole thing down while I scratched away at the layers I had built up, thinking I'd go black with it, but not really wanting to use black...then I did a wash of Prussian blue...this made it as near black as I wanted to get with it...

An Autumn Morning, 9/21/2012, acrylic wash, monotype and rice paper on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

This last one was a problem child from way back...some of the gold is showing through from previous layers...I had a pale blue over a dark blue scumble layer over it that wasn't quite behaving itself...so I went after it last Friday on my day off...and made it misty like that morning...pulling random marks with cut-out shapes and edges...

In the midst of all of this industrious creativity, I have been nursing two of my elder cats, Tiggy-Pooh got biffed in the eye by one of his buddies while playing and had to be run off to the vet for that, so I'm juggling his attitude about being medicated...and our oldest kitty, Fatty Woo Hobbes, the one and only button-eyed schmoo, slipped away in his sleep on Wednesday night (9/26).

Fatty Woo Hobbes 1997-2012, soaking up the sunshine 9/16/2012

It's been a trying few days...needless to say, I'm feeling a little frazzled and sad...on top of it all, I also have the usual FMS flare-up symptoms making life interesting (I won't go into the gory details of those, the timing is as always "fantastic.") So this weekend I'm going to be good to myself...if I paint, I paint, if I don't, I don't...that's okay. The sun is shining...I'm going to head out to the porch and soak it up while I can (just like my little old kitty did, he had such a good day that day.)

Opening Night at Szozda Gallery 8/10/2012

 

A corner of my own...

 A good night, the rain cleared off and it wasn't as hot outside...the show was hung and looks great, Caroline always does a good job making our art look good!

the Blue Square Window on one side and Solar on the other side...

The First People...

Eclipse hanging on the wall looking sooo beautiful!

SOLD! (not me, the painting.) I really don't like having my picture taken, I always make faces. The person who bought the painting made the beautiful copper necklace with the turquoise stones that I'm wearing.

Good times...great conversations, more exhibitions at other venues in the planning stages...it's been a long day. I'm tired. Time to go to bed.

Addendum...8/11/2012:

I knew this one little painting would sell...that color turquoise seems to grab everyone's attention these days. I'm very happy that my painting is going to a good home...and I'm very glad to be exhibiting at Caroline's lovely gallery with a unique group of local talent, photographer Ray Trudell, mixed media by Linda Esterley and paintings by Phil Parsons, and Emily Elizabeth...I don't think the local artists get enough credit for what we do, many of us work day jobs and squeeze in time alone in some corner of our homes to make art...(and for goodness sakes, write books), some of us are fortunate to make a little pocket money now and then...we are "the other New York." We are the reality of a lot of dreams. Someone long ago, back in the '80's said that "Painting is dead." And every now an then, I hear this so-called death-knell still being batted about in conversation...seriously? For something that's supposedly dead or dying for 30 years or more, it looks mighty alive to me on the walls of Caroline's gallery...and other galleries too...and online, there's tons of artists out there making art, beautiful art. We make art because we love it...it's our joy in life...and I know I appreciate it everyday. I also appreciate Caroline Szozda for inviting me to drop off my little paintings and being part of this exhibition.

Something new...something blue...

Detail of Something Blue, 4/1/2012

Something Blue, 3/29/2012 acrylic wash monotype, rice paper on canvas, 18 x 6 inches

I've been busy making a few things, plodding along, and then sitting back, contemplating...and then going long periods of not doing much of anything (down time is important.) When I made this one I was almost afraid to do that one more thing to it...but I did, and then I did another thing...so I have been holding back posting this one because I thought...maybe there's "one more thing"...

Well, if there is, I'll add it later.

I went to a "Book Eating Party" hosted by the Szozda Gallery and Salt City Book Arts it was a good time, my Fred's painting was one of the featured raffle items, and it seemed there was lots of competition for it. Good turn out, good time...

Back to making more...

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.