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

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

Details, details, details...

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...

Drawing the things I have no words for...

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...

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!

Lazy vacation days...

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.

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

Progress!

My work in progress is progressing, I'm trying to leave as much of the lovely yellow wash at the top alone...if you haven't noticed, I have a thing for yellow...I spent some of yesterday working on it, sprinkling, splashing, rooting around with a pencil, dipping charcoal in water, getting my fingers very dirty...it felt good to be busy and productive, my stupid cold is finally clearing away, so I feel more like doing things...

I also cleared off a small drafting table in the studio to make room for the production of small things on little bits of scraps...I have several little spaces throughout the house where I do my creative work, and one more little place...or "play station"...won't hurt the creative process....the lamp is temporary until I buy a replacement, the darn thing is wobbly because of poor design so I piled some stones around it to keep it from tumbling off...and of course the lamp shade doesn't fit those newfangled light bulbs...it casts a creepy shadow...(oh yeah, those are my little framed drawings from previous exhibitions hanging around...)
One little scrap of paper was pretty sorry looking, so I crumpled it up once, opened it, crumpled it up twice, flattened it out and set it on the drawing board for a bit, scribbled over it with a 9B woodless pencil and then left it...and then laid down the beach stones around it..

Then just before going to bed I went to the living room to turn back the heat, wound up sitting down and added some tinted graphite wash to a white acrylic background that I made in my sketchbook earlier in the evening...who knows where it's going to go...I love the blue...

A work in progress...

I have lots of works in progress over the holiday vacation, but this one has carried on since early December before I had my surgery...and while I worked it, I've been dying to post the pictures, but...haven't because...

I'm still "working on it"...but have tucked it away to think about it...I love it. Really I do, it's doing what I wanted, it's just not done yet. Well, since I write a lot about process, why not show the work in progress...

The heavily textured surface consists of white acrylic paint with an impasto that is splattered, dribbled, and scumbled, then I scribbled graphitint pencils over it, made them soggy, brushed and washed, dabbled and splattered, then when it dried, I started drawing with graphite...I'm loving the surface, and all, but...ummm...I don't know, it's just not finished yet...and that dark fossil-like shell bugs me, even tho' I like it...it's too dark (darn it.) This will be a multiple layer piece before it's done...I have some detail shots too...

It's been a lot of fun making this one...and I'm enjoying the frustration of the struggle with resolving it too...if anything, I've always been patient and have been willing to work out the bugs that are bugging me...