April 29, 2011 April 30, 2011

Yesterday was full of sunshine and I got up at 4 am to watch hours of Royal Wedding coverage. Yes, I did! And I remain unashamed. I loved every minute of it! The ceremony was dignified, regal, romantic. These two did it right and I wish them decades of love, health and happiness. I was also pretty productive, did housework and continued to paint. Here is a new painting. It is small (6″ X 8″) and is on Fluid watercolor paper.

Tattered and Torn 2

This has been a tough week and we had a second failure with Ken’s treatment program so I titled this Tattered and Torn 2. We are feeling a bit beat-up but have regained our perspective and are moving forward with a spirit of peace and hope. I used some bright Spring-like colors but you see the dark place lurking around the edges.

Advertisement

April 28, 2011 April 29, 2011

We have been having an up-and-down type of week but I have been able to get a few photos of Spring flowers. I hope to do a couple of drawings or paintings of these beautiful plants. That said, over the last two or three days I have started three new abstracts. The first one completed was a small 6″ X 6″ painting on the Fluid watercolor paper. I still like this paper and consider it pretty robust but twice I have had the surface lift when removing masking fluid. Remember I work REALLY wet. I think I need to make certain the surface is fully, totally, 100% dry before I remove any masking. I have been able to repair the spot by wetting the tip of my finger and sticking the strip back down. It seems to hold and isn’t visible but the tears have been small. This painting is the third in my Got the Blues series…we’re kind of feeling that way right now…BUT the sun’s out, the grass is green and the Royal Wedding was marvelous. I feel a good day dawning!

Got the Blues 3

April 23, 2011 April 24, 2011

On Friday and Saturday I worked on another Flow painting. I seem to be moving away from the idea of flowing blood or blood vessels carrying the flow and am thinking more about the flow of life, about how birth and death are both a natural part of living, along with all the bumps and bruises in between. I think this is probably the most vibrant of my flow paintings. The photo does not quite capture all the subtle glowing blues behind the main circle. I tried to integrate a dark, dark area. This area is different shades of brown and indigo with a final glaze of thalo blue. I also wanted to integrate some of the yellows and greens of Spring. I hope your Easter Day is full of family, faith and blessings!

Flow 3 - 12" X 16" CP Kilimanjaro Paper and Watercolor

End of Spring Paint Out April 22, 2011

Hi all you creative types! Last year we did three virtual paint-outs here on WordPress and boy were they fun. I am issuing the call for our first paint out of 2011. I am a devoted reader of Oprah magazine and this month I was captured, I was enchanted, I was gripped by six words from a poem by e. e. cummings. I am a farm girl who grew up among the green fields and forests of Indiana. The words that captured my imagination are “the leaping greenly spirits of trees”. I would like to offer these as the inspitation for our first paint out. I hope everyone reading this realizes that the “Paint Out” is open to all artists whether you paint with a brush, a needle, a word processor. Please come out and play in the sand box!

On the last day of Spring, Monday, June 20th, please post your creation on your blog and leave a comment on my post. If you are not a blogger and would still like to participate, email me your creation and I will do a follow-up post with your work.

Thanks to all who join the community and accept the challenge.

April 21, 2011

This painting is different from the rather emotional work I’ve been doing and it started with an accident. I pulled out my 6″ X 8″ block of Fluid paper, removed Got the Blues 2 that I posted on April 15, 2011 and there to my surprise was a light streak of blue running all the way down the next sheet of paper. Fluid blocks are only sealed on two sides rather than four because the paper does not buckle much and it dries very flat. BUT, and this is a big but, if you work really wet like I do when paint runs off the side of the paper it apparently can run between the sheets. (Now I wipe the wet edges!) I decided to take this as a challenge but couldn’t get an idea to start with. So, you know me, I started drawing circles and splashing paint.

Orbs 1

I even used my little Cheap Joe’s spray bottles (which by the way, didn’t work very well.) I wound up with something that looks a little surreal. Ken said it looked like the solar system. I thought it looked like planets aligning. It also looks like something out of Harry Potter with the darkness beginning to flow forth. Anyway, I decided to keep it simple and just called it Orbs 1.

April 20, 2011 April 21, 2011

Someday I will remember to have my camera ready so I can share the evolution of one of my abstract paintings. I have good intentions but…camera was upstairs and I was painting downstairs – AGAIN!

Into the Fire - Transparent Watercolor on 12" X 16" CP Kilimanjaro Block

I enjoyed the splishing and splashing I had to do to create this painting and was very happy with the colors and the neutrals they created as they mingled. AND of course I was able to incorporate a few of my favorite circles – am I chasing my tale or commenting on the circle of life. Either way “what goes around, comes around”. So I remain cliche laden and wishing you all a warm, dry, creative and sun filled day.

April 19, 2011 April 20, 2011

Yesterday was a great day. Stormy so I didn’t have to feel quilty about painting instead of working in the yard. I spent most of my day working on three painting. I worked in parallel so I would stay busy while my paintings dried between each layer. I’m still dealing with the issues of uncertainty, frustration, fear and also of growth, friendship and love that surround Ken’s illness – our “new normal”. Things bubble inside and then spill out. I titled this painting Tangled and Torn.

Tangled and Torn

This painting is another little guy on my 6″ X 6″ block of Fluid watercolor paper. I am very pleased with this paper – very robust and dries flat and without ripples, even after being soaked. I used watercolor and poured small amounts of diluted yellow acrylic through a paper towel to add texture. I created the slashes with the side of a plastic palette knife. This was fun to do. A bit sloppy and messy but representative of those nasty ropes that we keep breaking through. I chose the colors because, for me, they represent Spring and a sense of hope.

April 15, 2011 April 16, 2011

Well I’m finished. I reworked the little watercolor mentioned in yesterday’s post. It is on 8″ X 6″ Fluid watercolor paper, a new paper for me. It is performing pretty well and held up to incredibly rough, even abusive handling here. Yesterday both of us had a bad case of the blues so I had to finish this guy. The title is Got the Blues 2 (aren’t I original – LOL!) and I incorporated the flowing lines from my Falling and Flow paintings because I wanted to comment on the flow of life that occasionally gives us lemons. The blobby, goopy flow of white goauche is meant to represent the rough spots in life. We all have good days-bad days, highs and lows, bumps, bruises, restarts and bliss.  We’ve just got to focus on today and take that next step forward.

Got the Blues 2

April 14, 2011 April 15, 2011

Yesterday was a real bummer. We learned that, for whatever reason, they were not able to make the vaccine for Ken’s treatment this week. We were very disappointed. The feelings of frustration, lack of control and disappointment led me to work on another version of “falling”. I have been thinking about doing a painting with just blacks, grays and one other color so I practiced Carpe Deum and took a shot. I am actually very happy with this painting. It is on Arches paper and is roughly 8″ X 10″ ( don’t have the exact dimensions here!)

Falling 3

I am also working on a little “Blue” painting. It is on my new 6″ X 8″ block of Fluid watercolor paper. It was going very well but I think I’ve mucked it up and I’m trying to recover.  I may pull out the MASA paper and use collage to do some major revision. So many options…

April 12, 2011 April 13, 2011

Monday I received a shipment from Cheap Joe’s. I have been reading about the new Fluid brand watercolor papers on several blogs so I ordered two small blocks of Fluid paper. I used the 6″ X 6″ block for this painting.

Circle of Life

The paper held up very well to a series of really wet layers and the surface is nice but not as creamy as the Langston Prestige. But importantly, the Fluid is cheaper and is therefore good alternative to Arches, which does not stand up well to my really wet style of painting.  I almost never work using a square format and I want to do a series of small square paintings that can be framed to a 5″ X 5″ size. (Why? Who knows!!! Maybe as a design challenge…?) This painting is still based on my thinking and visualization of blood, blood flow, blood vessels, and capillaries. I wanted to work with a circle or ball like shape because I am thinking through a tree with the limbs and roots represented by vessels and capillaries.  Maybe grusome but I’m trying to make my paintings interesting and beautiful like the photos you see in National Geographic. Quite a challenge!