Work in progress..."Corrosion"

This is currently drying on my easel...I'm pleased as can be about this mess that I made today...I'm playing with modeling paste on cradled masonite panel...then I cut in shapes with various implements, used plastic wrap that I pulled from off the boards (instead of throwing it out, I put it to good use!) to squish and pull the texture, and then scumbled in the colors after it set up...

It's not done yet...almost...I need to live with it for a bit and see where I want to go with it next...I'm just loving the greens...in my line of work at the day job, I am around bronze sculpture an I love the polished surfaces, and even the corrosion is pretty...

Here's some shots of the details:


And I love ancient bronzes and such...and this thing too, it's an ancient machine that was found in the Mediterranean (I can never remember, let alone spell the name of the gadget, but I love it), has been an inspiration...

And then there's this lovely stuff...lichen


and this moss on a dead tree...

Beautiful stuff...

What have I been doing...

This is a little monotype from my sketchbook...I have a roll of BFK Rives on order so I'll have a supply of the good stuff soon (maybe by next weekend!)

I've been doing lots of things, and this and that, gardening, writing, making art...I've been off from work since Thursday, so I've gotten to the point where I don't know what day it is...but I guess it's Monday, and it feels like Sunday...so I'm late posting...but I've been busy making lots of art...so I thought I'd poke out a few...some of the pictures didn't turn out so well, so...another time...

This tall skinny piece has evolved over an extended period of time...I bought the canvas last summer, and had all kinds of ideas for it, but none of them "worked out"...so I painted over it all and started over...this is what I have so far...
I've been wanting to work on a "White Series", well, this looks mighty blue/green, but that's just part of the illusion that I'm working on...I want the color to show through below the white wash...I sat on the porch yesterday working it out...I'm more satisfied with this than I have been with the others...it's acrylic with some pencil...some monotype and stencil...I'm just having some fun...

The latest...

I'm mostly fooling around with acrylic monotype, the little one on canvas (Wishes from the Lake, May 10, 2009, 6 x 6), and a few on paper in my sketchbooks have been fun and very satisfying. I really love that green that I made...it just reminds me so much of Lake Ontario...

I really need to invest in some good Fabriano or Rives to really make something nice, for now, I'm splashing and working out what I want to do...
I'm really loving this baby blue with naples yellow combination...


And this is Lavender Wishes...

My nifty birthday easel...(yes, I've gotten it "dirty" since the photo was taken!)

What did I do for Mother's Day?

I made art...and enjoyed every bit of it! But I haven't taken the time to download the photos...some are still 'unfinished'...so, I thought I'd post this little Symphony from April 19, 2009, pencil wanderings on paper, about 5 x 8 or so...I just go with the flow...this little drawing makes me very happy...it makes me think of cello's...

It's a mighty cold day out there, feels like it could snow...the sky is very dark and threatening...there's a frost warning tonight. There's a fire in the woodstove again after many days 'off'...

I've enjoyed my back to back "Day's"...my birthday was yesterday, and my Fred bought me a nifty sketchbox easel (which I filled with tubes of paint and brushes, and I have a tiny canvas drying on it...it's a ridiculously tiny canvas (6 x 6), but I love painting small...

Saying goodbye...

I always have a hard time saying goodbye, and I had to say goodbye to my graduate assistant, Kat, who has spent the academic year as my "right hand" at my day job (I train them to become good collection managers/registrars for art museums, send them out into the world to find jobs and to live happily ever after)...knowing this end was coming, I spent the month of April making art...lots of art, varieties of mediums, different colors, textures, fooling around with this and that, and just when I was beginning to fret, I stopped and I let the dust settle, finally, I picked this one to give her as a parting gift...she's called, New Moon, it measures about 4 x 4 1/2 and I think I finished the last splatter on April 9th...funny...I wanted to go measure it just now to check the accuracy, and then DOH! Remembered she's gone! Anyway she's a little mixed media piece of pleasure, watercolor, colored pencil (water soluble Creatacolor pencils) acrylic, pencil, and...the kitchen sink (kidding!)...she did get quite wet in the process and the paper is puckered in the right way...

Doodling during a book signing

See, tucked behind the stack of books I have my box of assorted pencils and my small sketchbook with a work in progress...I'm always doing something...I have always needed something to keep me "busy" while sitting still, and doodling in my sketchbook during my book signing yesterday kept me busy during the lulls...


Here's the drawing that I quickly snapped with my camera this morning...

Pencil drawings are always tough to photograph, better to be scanned...I need to catch up on my scanning some day...

Here's a detail, my Fred pointed out the little bull in the corner...I am a Taurus, it seems appropriate...

Here's a little bit of this, and a little bit of that...I posted this work in progress a few posts back...I'm not sure if I'm done with it or not...

My favorite part is the lower left area...the red veiny looking stuff...

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.