November 28, 2010 November 29, 2010

Whooppee! Just finished my first ever holiday painting. I was asked if I wanted to show a painting at the Holiday Reception for one of my volunteer organizations but the theme was The Holidays and the work was to have a holiday theme. I did not have a painting like this so I did what I do – I procrastinated! Well the Reception is this Wednesday so I thought I had better get busy if I was going to participate. Anyway I love the sparkle and glow from our tree at Christmas. I get up early, turn on the lights and just sit with Christmas music playing very low in the back ground. I am filled with a sense of peace. Here is my painting. I am happy with the way it turned out but was sure it was lost at several points in the process. I may procrastinate but I also PERSEVERE!

 

November 25, 2010 November 26, 2010

Fitting the holiday, I am giving a “Foodies” tour today at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We are going to look at gorgeous depictions of food and drink, teas and parties, even battles using food as weapons – food, glorious food – nothing is more fun to talk about! Here is painting of apples I completed in 2007. I hope the playful spirit helps make your holiday a happy one!

Apples and Circles #2 from 2007

 

November 21, 2010 November 22, 2010

I made a commitment to myself…I promised that I would get busy on my next Geometry painting and not allow the pesky triangle to defeat me! Starting on Thursday I made dozens of little idea sketches and then took a couple to a more complete level. No go! Yesterday I sat down with renewed determination and idea led to idea. I finally came up with a design I like. The top sketch is a detailed planning sketch and the second sketch is to size and I will use it with colored pencil to establish the color scheme and think through final tweaks (clean up those chevrons!) before I draw it on my watercolor paper. I am working on an 8″ X 10″ size for this painting.

Triangle Sketches

November 20, 2010 November 20, 2010

When I learn something new I have to apply it to really understand and use the knowledge at an intuitive level. I want to continue to work with the ideas I learned when working with my black, white and gray collages and paintings. I decided to work on a collage but I want to add some interest by introducing a bit of color. I love blue so I painted a sheet of 9″ X 12″ bristol board with big daps of Winsor Blue, Prussian Blue, Thalo Blue and Cobalt Blue.

BG&W Collage 11182010 - Step 1

I started playing around with the torn shapes I had from the last time I worked with my gray scale papers. I decided to stay with primarily white, black and mid-gray and I also decided that I needed a large “blocking” shape because the background was so active that it didn’t fit well with the very flat gray scale papers. The background had to be a small accent element not a major element. It is fun to play around with shapes. It is like doing a jigsaw puzzle with no “right answer”. The gray scale papers are so flat and cold feeling that I have to work with torn edges to give softness and interest and I like to have some of the edges touch or overlap to add warmth – like the touch of a hand. Anyway after trial and error my final collage turned out A-OK. It’s not really cockeyed. That’s my photography!

BG&W Collage 11192010 - Final

November 18, 2010 November 19, 2010

On October 20th I posted a painting I was working on. I was really having trouble with part of it and have been thinking and working on it off and on for several days. I think I have taken the painting as far as I can right now. I still don’t know if it is finished but for now I am calling it complete. I hope that, with all the work and rework, I have not lost the lovely glow of Indiana in the autumn.

Indiana Autumn

November 16, 2010 November 17, 2010

One more story about my art.

Hope for Haiti

The images were everywhere and you couldn’t escape knowledge of the devastation in Haiti but in tragedy is change and rebirth.  I was inspired to try to communicate my hopes for mankind through the painting of two watercolors on January 22nd and 23rd, 2010. Through the circles, spheres, bubbles I hope to symbolize the circle of life, a feeling of universalness and a sense of hope and even fun. Through the colors I want to include the traditional description of the various skin tones of mankind in a diverse and beautiful way. Through the composition I want to say that, while we are different, we are the same and that we stand together. On January 22, 2010 I wrote the words below which came straight from my heart.

Hope for Haiti - Red, Yellow, Blue

 

From red, yellow and blue all colors are created,

From brown, black, red, yellow and white the human race is made,

From Yahweh, Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed and Jesus our spirits are refreshed,

We, man, woman, child stand together,

We are one…

Hope for Haiti - Colors of Man

 

November 15, 2010 November 16, 2010

National Abstract Show - White Light

I finally found time to visit the National Abstract Show that my paintings are in. The winners of the competition were primarily abstract expressionism but there were many different painting styles represented in the show.  The show had over 130 paintings entered from 17 states and around 50 paintings were juried into the show. The show closes this weekend and it was a huge honor for me to have two paintings accepted.

National Abstract Show - Carnival

The show is displayed in the Garfield Park Arts Center. This is a historic building with lots of space that is used for classes and to support all types of art and art groups. The competition is organizaed and managed by the Southside Art League of Indianapolis.

November 14, 2010 November 15, 2010

On November 11th I posted a discussion of my Geometry paintings. Keith followed up with a question about how I developed the design so I looked through some of my sketchbooks to see what I could find to do a show-and-tell. First of all it begins when I decide which shape – circle, square or triangle – I want to work with. Then I begin to doodle and sketch ideas.

Working sketches for a Triangle based painting

I usually sit watching TV and doodle as I watch. You can see how really terrible some of the ideas for the triangle were but I don’t censor myself. I even tried combining a triangle with other shapes. I just keep working at this process until I find something that seems close to what I want. I then do a more refined drawing – still small and not ruler perfect but close to the real thing.

Working sketches for Circle and Triangle paintings

This page from my sketchbook actually shows two things. First it includes my to scale planning drawing for my circle painting. It is colored with colored pencils so I can work out the best color plan and you can see two prismatic color approaches below the completed drawing. It also shows my “getting close to being final” design for the triangle painting. I have started to think about a larger set of paintings but I still need to do an 8″ X 10″ triangle to complete my set of 8X10’s. Better get to it!

November 11, 2010 November 12, 2010

Another page from my book of stories:

Geometry

I must admit that I am clearly a left brainer. I am rational and organized and love precision and logic. My undergraduate degree was from Purdue University in Mathematics. Math has been a pleasure for me since I was a little girl. I still remember the joy of unlocking the keys to trigonometry. But I also recognize my natural limitations. I work to free my right brain so I can be spontaneous, creative and experimental. I have had some success by striving to combine both my love of art and mathematics. For four years I have been working on a series of paintings devoted to geometry.  I love the power of basic geometric shapes and tried for about 18 months to find a way to combine the beauty of geometric shapes with prismatic color. A year ago I made a breakthrough and have created five small paintings that have achieved my vision.

Geometry #4 - First in the new geometric Series

To develop these paintings I would choose a shape and work out a strong design in my sketchbook. My focus was on the design and the way the shapes interlock to create variety, interest and a clean simplicity.

Geometry #5

After finalizing my rough drawing. I used a ruler and protractor to make a scale drawing . This allowed me to work out any final design changes. I finished my “to scale” drawing by using colored pencils to determine the color scheme for the painting.

Geometry #6

The final design was then drawn on watercolor paper and painted with pure color using watercolor paint. The design for the triangle shape was by far the most difficult to develop. The circle and square lend themselves to beautiful, symmetrical design. The triangle is much more difficult to “balance”.

I will continue with this series that gives me so much joy. My next objective is to scale up even further – to do larger paintings. I hope the results are spectacular!

November 10, 2010 November 11, 2010

I was having way too much fun pouring and splattering paint so I decided to step back and do a collage. I read ALOT and I had the idea to do a collage based on Words that Matter. As I worked with the idea and began collecting words to use in my collage my focus shifted from Words that Matter to Words Matter. It is amazing what a difference one word can make. In this case it changed the entire meaning.  The first stage that I am going to show had two layers of collage and included a layer of stained tissue paper. It includes three news stories from the Indianapolis Star, a Garfield cartoon that I thought had a comment on “Bullying” and a cartoon commenting on a family trying to get by with less. Everything was very relevant to today. I finished this stage by painting a very dilute layer of white gouache to unify the whole.

Words Matter Collage - Stage 1

I applied more layers of words by collage, another layer of tissue paper and painted three strips of Payne’s Gray using the edge of paper torn from a spiral notebook. More words and a tissue layer with Words Matter written in pencil covering the entire work.  Then I finished by rewriting some words in ink so they were draker and applied a collage layer with Words Matter written in a larger size.  I like the fact that as you look at the piece you begin to see the words emerge through the collage layers.

Words Matter Collage - Stage 2

 

This is almost finished and I am sealing the edges with matte medium since I have so many frayed tissue paper edges sticking out. I am also going to finsh the back with painted tissue paper but no words.

As I worked with this I became more and more emotionally invested in the work of art. My sister is a teacher of high school English. As she teaches her students language, literature and writing she also teaches by example – things like courage, ethics and responsibility. This is dedicated to her and she KNOWS that Words Matter.