I dream of summer skies..., May 2012, acrylic wash monotype, rice paper on canvas, 24 x 12 inches

I have pondered this one long enough, and decided to leave it...I wanted to keep this one simple...just because I loved the surface and how the colors flowed and broke apart as I scumbled and scrubbed with brushes after printing my shapes and marks...some things were not going as hoped, but I prodded and kept fiddling...when I made it too complex, I washed it off...I wanted it to be simple. I almost thought I ruined it! I love the golden glow, and those blues...so, this is it.

Detail #1

Detail #2

I have a few other small paintings in progress, but nothing I want to share at the moment...I'm looking forward to setting up my porch studio soon and stocking up on paints and other goodies for making more...but I've been spending more time working on editing my novel than painting, and when I'm not pondering words, I'm digging in the dirt and planting things in the garden...and of course, there's the encaustic kit that is begging me to take it out to play in the shop...Soon. Very soon!

It has felt good to dawdle over my paintings...

At my day job I've been checking in our fall exhibition of Karl Schrag's paintings...oh, so pretty! As soon as the link is up, I'll post it...he was an amazing painter.

SOLD!

The Longest Night - Winter Solstice, 2012, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches

The Longest Day - Summer Solstice, 2012, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches

It was a lovely night for an art auction in Syracuse, New York. The Eastwood Rotary Club hosted their annual CNY Art Showcase last night to raise money for the Everson Museum of Art and I'm happy to report that my two paintings that I created specifically for the auction, were selected for the Auction Preview exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art and then both paintings sold at the auction to a young lady who was more than happy to take them home as a pair! Just seeing her happy face made me very happy...I'm glad my paintings found a good home with someone who admired them, and patiently waited until almost the end of the auction to bid on them.

The Sketchbook Project 2012

FYI, my sketchbook is now on-line for browsing at the Brooklyn Art Library/ Art Co-op website...the tour starts April 14th at the Brooklyn Art Library, 103A N. 3rd St, Brooklyn, NY 11249so if you're in the area, check it out!

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...

March roaring in...

Detail, Spring Equinox, 2/26/2012

 My latest painting, a work in progress, I can't really declare it done, but it's very close, I'm loving the colors and textures that are going on in there...

Spring Equinox, 2/26/2012, acrylic wash monotype, rice paper on canvas, 40 x 16 inches

detail of Spring Equinox

It glows...I was unhappy with it for a bit of time, then on Sunday night just before bed, I went at it one more time, obliterating parts that I had liked previously, but was no longer so enamored with...

I'm probably celebrating spring too soon as it is just the beginning of March, and it is a lovely sunny day, but that WIND has been howling, like it does in March, purging winter away...it's enough to make you feel a little punch drunk after spending a little too long outside...it's been a mild winter, probably the mildest in my memory...but I dare not speak so soon, it is March after all, and it's a long month...and there are still possible snow storms...some of our worst happen in March.

Master Class at The Altered Page

 

http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/2012/02/master-class-13-final-fifteen.html

If I had a chance to study with Karl Schrag it would have been an honor...his paintings and prints are so stunning with vibrant colors and bold mark making...his translation of the night landscape turned pastoral scenes into a fantastic day where anything can happen...

Some of his influence has entered into my work...most of which are nocturnes...

Nocturne Forest, 2009

Walking In the Rain, 2008

Evening, Blue and Gold, 2010

Nocturne, Ice, 2009

River of Fallen Stars, 2008

Winter Solstice, 2011

A Mid-Summer Night, 2010

My latest work...

The Longest Night, from the Winter Solstice Series, 1/25/2012, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches

It truly felt good making these little paintings...I've created them special for the CNY Art Showcase which is a fund raising art auction sponsored by the Everson Museum of Art and the Eastwood Rotary Club.

The Longest Day, from the Summer Solstice Series, 1/22/2012, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 9 x 9 inches

 It's nice to paint something sunny and warm in the middle of winter!

A Frosty Night, from the Blue Square Window, 1/21/2012, acrylic wash monotype and rice paper on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

This is another addition to the Blue Square Window idea that I've been playing with, I'm loving the nocturne cool blues. I feel I'm gaining some creative momentum...but I'm not going to put pressure on myself to perform. I have several canvases in the wings, including a largish one that I haven't splashed any color on just yet and look forward to.

My little sketchbook was rec'd at the Brooklyn Art Library today, and I'm looking forward to the tour to begin, not that I'm going to be able to travel to any locations, just the idea that it's going to travel and be available to visitors to browse through...I loved watching my friends  page through it before I let it go...and I will miss the little fellow, I had so much fun making it, I'll have to make more!

The Sketchbook Project

Front cover

I finally finished it! After several weeks of diligent work, drawing, painting, fussing, planning, spraying (there might've been some praying from time to time), I painted the cover yesterday, scanned it all, and rebound the pages this afternoon...(I keep looking at it!) It's a sweet little sketchbook and lots of lucky people will get to look at it on the 2012 tour.
 

It's just a bitty thing, but it's chock full of good stuff!

side view of pages...will it ever lay flat? I'll need to put some weight on it before it goes...

Here...let's look inside...

I made extra sheets of tinted rice paper to slip in here and there, I painted both sides and then would later saturate one side with another color to let it bleed through to the other side...

This is one part of the sheet inside the book.

First drawing on first page

 I was intimidated at first, but once I got going, I didn't stop...so this is why I've been so quiet for so long...well, some part of it...it's been a long preoccupation that I've been grateful for and needed!

This is one of the text pages, I mounted rice paper to the verso of the drawings using archival ATG tape and then printing the text on semi-transparent vellum and tipping in with photo corners.

Another page of tinted rice paper, I slipped it in so front and back, right and left will be seen in different parts of the book

Another drawing...this one is so dang pretty! I love making these little pieces.

This is it inside the book with glassine covering it.

One of my worries was the verso sides of the pages with drawings and paintings on them and how to deal with them. This is a verso page which had a painting on the recto, so it was a lumpy, I colored the whole page with a 9B pencil, sprayed it with a coat of Crystal Clear spray to hold it, and then tipped in a text...

The blue square window theme is ongoing...

This was the last drawing I made, finished it on New Year's Eve morning. (I really love this one!)

On the left edge, there is a piece of glassine that I have hinged with archival ATG tape to protect the drawing surface, it was tedious work putting that stuff on each drawing, but it's worth it to preserve the drawing. I'll probably spray everything one more time before it leaves just because...

Another text page

This is the "Center Fold" painting...

 My painting pages were done with acrylic washes and applied rice paper (using matte medium) so the pages are pretty thick and not so bendy...they should stand up to handling all right.

Another sheet of tinted rice paper...a piece of summer sky...

This little painting has multiple layers of colors, I was starting to get frustrated with its monochromatic-ness, then suddenly it just happened, like paintings tend to do...(there are lots of colors in there...really, lots of them.)

This is another one of my favorite drawings...I really put some of my best into this little sketchbook!

The back cover...I love that blue.

 It was a nice way to end the year and to start the new one...I had a good time making the little book and will probably make others on my own and I will participate in the Sketchbook Project again next year!

Happy New Year!

Another Blue Square Window

Blue Square Window, 12/27/2011 acrylic wash monotype, rice paper on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

I did this little painting on a whim yesterday...ooooooo, pretty...it felt good to spread out a bit, I've been so focused on The Sketchbook Project these days, everything is at a small scale for that so 12 x 12 inches seem HUGE. I'll post scans once they're finished, I have one more blank page to do some drawing on and some touch ups to do for at least one small painting, then I have my narrative to print (on opaque vellum) and will tip in the sheets onto the pages that I've left blank on the back sides of drawings...tho' I'd like to do some sort of background stuff for the blank page...a gray tone lightly smudged, I have two pages that are completely covered in the blackest graphite (9B)...I'm just trying not to impact the drawings on the other side (always difficult to draw on both sides!) And of course, the cover will be fun to do! I'm looking forward to doing that!

I'm doing okay overall, FMS flare-ups have settled down, but I've exchanged that for sciatic nerve pain (if it isn't one thing its another, right?) It was our first Christmas with the new family configuration...it was not without a few meltdowns during key moments, but it was do-able...my siblings and cousins came for dinner at my house, and it seemed she was with us in spirit, herding us through the process like she would with key phrases like "Dinner is ready, I'm not sending out engraved invitations." And: "Let's do presents now, then we'll have pie." Then the inevitable: "It's getting dark, you kids should go home." We all miss Mom very much, and my poor father in the nursing home adds another unexpected dimension to everything. Our visits never seem frequent enough or long enough, and although he seems to have adjusted to being there, (he's hard to find, he's always rolling around in his wheelchair visiting), it's just sad to leave him there. So much has changed...the adjustment to the new "normal" is an ongoing process. It's been a process in which I've done more thinking than doing anything...reading lots of books has been a quiet immersion that has been most enjoyable. I'm filling my Tumblr site with lots of photographs, yet lots of them haven't been processed either. I'm in a strange place, in between here and there, "what was" and "how it is"...and I know it's not over yet. I'm hanging in there while I muddle through this stage of life. I'm very grateful that I have my creative outlets to go to...even tho' I've "run out of steam", I'm still doing things and exploring. I think it's been a good thing to slow down, this past year it's been too much "go-go-go-go".

There goes the snowplow...it's snowing and blowing out there today, a lake effect result of the rainy front that blew through yesterday... the wee birds are frantic at the feeder, I'll go out in a bit to replenish the seed...I think I have a seed bell to add to the feeder, but I must come up with a way that it will not be carried off by the squirrels!

Happy New Year, and thanks for stopping by!

Winter Solstice paintings

Winter Solstice No. 1, 12/11/2011

 Busy painting today...5 new paintings, all acrylic on Stonehenge paper with rice paper (8 x 8
 inches).

Winter Solstice No. 2, 12/11/2011

Winter Solstice No. 3, 12/11/2011

Winter Solstice No. 4, 12/11/2011

Winter Solstice No. 5, 12/11/2011

It's been awhile since I had a marathon painting day...I usually do a Winter Solstice series around now and give a few of the results for presents, the full moon that was out the last few nights inspired them...I'm pretty pleased with the results...a blustery little collection. I'm such a sucker for blue.