Letting the muse lead the way...

Sometimes I really don't have a preconceived plan for the painting or collage. I just start with a background of some comfortable colors and patterns and begin to play around with the materials.  Like with the cloud-like texture on this basket and the tree branches. I did not know an owl would make it's home in the branches at first. But with my latest fascination with owls, it just seemed natural to put one there. And what else would an owl listen to in the night besides the music of the night itself.  The basket measures 13 x 13 x 6 inches.
                                                                                                                                               

"The Night Sings" 

What a great way to..........

begin the week! I sold my triptic print painting, "Under the Sea".  And it swam,... or rather flew across the Pacific to Hawaii to its new home.  Yay! I am very happy. Although I did enjoy looking at it and remembering how the paint went down and how it was to roll the paint over the fish for the printing step, I am really jazzed that someone enjoys it now in their home.  Actually she purchased it for her sister. How very nice that she bought it for a gift.

Several layers of paint were applied with brush, rubber fish, real shells, stones, cheese cloth, etc. to create this under-the-sea view. I really had fun experimenting with the paint. More is more, as they say. More paint, more texture, the more it seemed to look like I was really swimming with the fishes.

Made the smaller sections so that you could move them around in different order and the fish swim from one canvas to the others.  This was painted in 2007 for a Art teacher gallery show and has also been displayed in my home and in City of the World Art Gallery in Las Vegas.

Pull up a Comfy Chair

Here's some more texture-filled fun I had with paper mache. I was sooooo inspired by Sue Pelletier in the May/June 2008 issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors that I had to create my own versions. I hope you like them.

They turned out very cush-ie, I think. I even had a fellow come to the viewing during First Friday at City of the World Art Gallery and say, "I know those chairs..." and proceed to name them.  What fun!

Art Makes my Heart Beat...

Lately my schedule has been overwhelming. When this happens I know that it is time for some art therapy.
So I make up a project that involves my hands in a very tactile way. A project where I have to really get my hands into the medium in order to create what I have in mind. Like modeling papier mache hearts, for instance.

Recipe: white glue + water (1 to 1 ratio), stirred well; plus torn tissue paper. And the fun begins!

Hot tip: It is a good idea to tear a bunch of tissue paper or soft paper before beginning the process. Not so easy to tear strips after your hands are all sticky. Lesson well learned!

 "Fleur de les Heart"

  

"Silver Springs Evening"

"Blue Heart Key"     

Owls in the Moonlight

Been really busy painting and getting my gallery/studio space all spruced up.  And I have been "burning the midnight oil" too. So painting some pictures of owls seemed to be the right decision.
Here are two little pictures I painted this last week. 

I had a blast painting "Moonlight Owl" canvas with acrylics.
He seems to have  alot of personality--- flapping a wing and watching out for whatever critters might happen by in the night.

Sometimes painting more than one at a time helps move the project along.  No overworking the paint and turning it into mud. No losing track of the shapes. Just filling in the images and working out the ideas, bringing the paintings to life.  

"Owl Duet". Just two owls, hanging out.

Caught the Art Bug

I really caught the art bug this last week at the Art and Soul Retreat in Las Vegas.  It was my first mixed media event like this and I had a blast. Jumped in with both feet and took four classes. Whew!
First one was a little overwhelming. We used  fluid acrylics, watercolor crayons, decorated papers, 3-D objects, and encaustic wax. It was "process overload" and not everyone was able to complete the steps. Personally I think the piece was too big to complete in the time.  I will have to work on this one on my own to finish. A disappointment for me.
Tuesday I took a soldering class which was satisfying, even though my piece shows that I am a beginner. Still I had fun smoothing liquid, hot silver over the charms. 

That evening Steampunk became the focus in the form of a metal shrine. The teacher was generous and it was a great class to take in the evening. I added the finishing touches at home and I plan to make some more.

"Over the Moon" Steampunk Shrine
Thanks to Lesley Venable and her inspiring class.


The bookmaking class on Thursday was super too. I had a great time in this one too, just want to do some more pages before I do the "final reveal".
Whew! I feel like I took a rocket trip to the moon and back- a marvelous mixed media adventure.

Early Spring songsters visit imaginary gardens

Spring seems to be arriving early this week. The sky has been clear and there is a faint cool breeze. And when I looked around my garden, it seemed the bulbs were being choked by the crafty crabgrass. And the crabgrass was laughing in triumph as it tried to overtake everything in it's way... Argh! What a mess!  It haunted me in those early morning dreams one has when you are slipping between sandman land and daylight. After my brief workout at the gym, I went right out to clean up the mess.

And on my painting table....
wishing for a better garden view, I splashed some gouche colors around to create these little impressionistic scenes. Added my favorite wire screening for a bitty fence, and a clay bird for personality and whimsy. Old text from a used encyclopedia, (no one uses these any more, do they?) was ripped into a cloud shape. One of my favorite things to do is rip paper. Just love those raggy edges.    Hope you like them.

"Nature is the art of God" favored quote of the day by Dante Alighieri.

"Yellow Bird Among Wildflowers"  and
"Bluebird Among Wildflowers"--Mini collages