A new painting...

Full Moon, June 5, 2010, acrylic, wash, monotype, sumi-paper on canvas, 30 x 12 inches

Oh, my, I had fun making this one...I dug into the blues to make it happen...the first layer is Payne's Gray with a burnt umber wash, then the white moon at the top...and I fiddled a bit and came to a standstill for over a week... well, that was while I was in the final stages of publishing my novel, so that took me off into another world for a bit of time before I could come back to painting mode last weekend and made layers on top of layers, shapes and marks, transparent layers on top of opaque...so this weekend I'm adding the finishing touches... I'm very pleased with how it turned out, she sparkles. I'm always experimenting, always looking for new directions...I have a few pieces left to finish, and some I want to "do over" because they're blah...so I have lots and lots to work on in the next few weeks...

My Fred and I have hooked up with fellow artists Ken Nichols and Suzanne Masters for an art exhibition this summer at Suzanne's shop! We spent Thursday night at the gallery drawing and painting, welcoming visitors. We're going to have an official opening reception on June 25th, 6-9 PM, The Gallery at Healing Arts Passages, 137 First Street, Liverpool New York.

Making stuff up as I go along...

Ancient Mechanism, May 30, 2010, acrylic, wash, monotype, sumi paper on Stonehenge paper, 8 x 8 inches.

I've been having a lovely time painting outside on my porch, using my portable studio table, the weather has been perfect all weekend, and another perfect day is ahead for tomorrow. This little painting started off as something I grabbed off the reject pile today...the original idea was red like my molten ore paintings... but it turned into mud and looked like crap, so I covered it up with Payne's gray (one of my favorite colors) and that looked crappy too, so I forgot about it for several weeks, then today, while I was waiting for other works in progress to dry, I decided to mess around with this...at this point, I figured, I already fucked it up, why not get experimental and see how much worse I could make it look...so I took a square piece of 2 ply mat board and slathered one side with a mix of Payne's gray and burnt umber (makes a nifty earthy blue/brown) and then I went crazy and squeezed a blob of vermillion on the other half, slathered that around and then flipped it onto the victim and "splat", on it went, and I burnished the crap out of it with the nearest jar (since I don't have a press to run it through, I have to print my monotypes with whatever I have handy!) Well...if only I photographed the hideous mess I made...oy, it was yuck-foo...so I turned the mat board a half turn and pressed the colors opposite...that made a bigger mess...then I dabbed my brush into burnt umber and dabbed that around...well, it toned down the vermillion...I was still not happy with it. I let it set for a bit, strolled around the yard, checked my email and browsed on line for a bit, ordered a new book, and then eventually made my way back to it...well, it still looked bad. I poked around a bit, I had just mixed a new batch of my special pale green that I love (that lovely lichen color) and I noticed the skin of the dried paint had released inside the jar, and I just had to start poking at it...yup that was a mess, so I took the piece of dried acrylic skin that was dripping with color and...you got it...I "brushed" it on the mess I was making...hey now...that...wait...I dabbed, dabbled, pressed, and poked...it got better... and thennnnn, I did a little bit of this, a little bit of that...oh, how about this...and flick this on it...well, will you look at that...I like it!

And so, that's how this little guy came into being...I love when that happens!

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...