November 29, 2014 November 29, 2014

For all of those from the United States, I hope you had a wonderful, family fun-filled Thanksgiving and have recovered from our typical over indulgence. We had 26 family members at our dinner and it was quite lively (3 great-granddaughters under 6 years of age). I am blessed to have a wonderful family and we are each other’s best friends. I sincerely hope all of you are equally blessed in your own way.

I have completed the ATC’s for my sister’s two children. My niece is a kindred spirit – independent, adventurous and horse-loving. I wanted to give her something soft and beautiful to enjoy during her busy days working in advertising. I found this beautiful image of two geisha in a National Geographic Expeditions catalog, The red and white “rainbow” is actually the rim of a plate from a painting of food. I liked the vintage feel. The burgundy strip is brocade fabric from a clothing catalog and the background is from a painting of a nude surrounded by roses.

Collage 6 2014 ATC

My nephew recently completed his masters degree, took his first full time job (as an agronomist working in the farmlands east of Indianapolis) and married. I wanted to present the start of his life’s voyage as an adult, something indicating opportunity and smacking of adventure. The images came from my usual sources. I particularly loved the curve of the horns of the alpine sheep along side the billowing sails and the round pumpkin.

Collage 7 2014

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November 25, 2014 November 25, 2014

I have finished my battle with yellow, orange and red! Not my best, not my worst. The hardest color to work with was quinacridone violet, a violet-red. I am glad this is finished and am thinking about where to go next – paint a traditional subject in yellow, orange and red – harmony in yellow, green and blue – decision time!

Harmony in Yellow, Orange and Red

November 22, 2014 November 22, 2014

I am struggling with my next “Harmony” painting. I am working with yellow, orange and red and the red keeps overwhelming the painting. Right now I have a painting with freckles. I will keep trying to unify and create harmony.

I have been having fun with the ATC’s for my family. I have created the three collages for my three daughters (the first two were for my brother and sister). I’ve tried to make these whimsical and fun. The first, for my oldest daughter was a giggle to work on, I could not keep from smiling as I made it. The background is from an ad that is in many of the artist magazines right now and I think it is for markers or a book on zentangles, the polar bear is from the National Geographic Expeditions catalog, the bird is from a catalog with clothes and decorative arts and the “iceberg with the cherry on top” is from the cover of the Artist’s magazine. I was fascinated by the idea of a polar bear roaming an iceberg made of whipped cream floating on a tranquil turquoise sea!

Collage 3 2014 ATC

The collage for my second daughter got its background from a competition winner in the Artist’s magazine 2013 competition. It is a painting of a young girl seeming to be underwater with aquatic vegetation floating around her head – very surreal.  The two different types of fish are from two different photos I found and the strip of blue is from the cover of a travel catalog showing blue tropical waters. You can barely see the features of the girl peaking out in a couple of places.

Collage 4 2014 ATC

For my third daughter I found a brilliant blue butterfly that dominates the ATC.  The background is from a very attractive and brilliantly colored abstract painting in one of my magazines. It reminds me of aboriginal art from Australia. The blue strip is again of waves from a travel brochure and the leaves are cut from a green background which had interesting texture and color. I also added one little purple square from my first four ATC’s that I made for my friends. It appears to be a little cockeyed. Like me and my sense of humor?

Collage 5 2014 ATC

 

 

 

November 20, 2014 November 20, 2014

I am really excited about my second ATC collage. The back ground is cut from a National Geographic catalog and is a sweater they sell. I loved the rich pattern and colors. I found the two beautiful butterflies in different places. One is from a National Geographic Expeditions booklet and the other is from a small ad in one of my art magazines.

Collage 2 2014 ATC

The rose is cut from somewhere that I can’t remember and may have been “extracted” from a group of flowers. (I’ve been searching and cutting and loosing track…) The long strip is from a clothing catalog and is a strip from a charcoal gray sweater. It added interesting back ground texture. It is fun to notice that I included a strip buttons running down the sweater in the background. They are almost invisible.

 

November 18, 2014 November 18, 2014

I am making good progress on ATC Christmas gifts for my family. I have headed in a new direction and have started making collages using patterns, colors, partial images from magazines, catalogs, pamphlets, travel procures. This idea was inspired by a beautiful background on the cover of the Artist’s Magazine. The background was a wallpaper that had beautiful color and design. It just jumped out and grabbed me! I combined it with a small painting of a single rose, a photograph of a zebra and a strip of color from an ad for sweaters. I tried to combine manmade and natural items and wanted a quirky, almost surrealist look. I’m going for FUN! I think it turned out very well…unlike my photo.

Collage 1 2014 ATC

November 16, 2014 November 16, 2014

I am sitting here watching the snow drift slowly to the ground. We should have 2 inches of snow by 7:00 am tomorrow morning. It’s very peaceful so I thought I would write a new post.

I have completed my third painting in the Harmony series. This one is Harmony in Yellow, Orange and Green. I used 5 yellows, 2 oranges, 2 greens and panicked because the painting was so aggressive and unpleasant looking. I pulled out my trusty quin gold and painted a light wash over about 80 percent of the painting. That added a subtleness that encouraged me to proceed. I did finish the painting and am happy. It is so hard to work with orange and combining it with green in a colorful abstract can careen out of control quickly. Here is the final painting.

Harmony in Yellow, Orange and Green

November 14, 2014 November 14, 2014

Abstract 3 2014 ATC

Abstract 4 2014 ATC

I was able to make two more ATC’s for my friends. I have used up all of the purple material except for three very small rectangles that I am saving. You never know when you might need a half inch section of purple for a collage, right? This was an interesting exercise. While the small size of the ATC’s forced me to keep my compositions simple, I tried to find an interesting and different approach to each composition.

Sorry for the tilted perspective of my photographs…looks like I was dizzy!

November 11, 2014 November 12, 2014

I have started working on a large set of ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards). I give these every Christmas to my family and friends so they can collect an “original work of art”. I started with a set of abstract collages for four of my friends.

Abstract 1 2014 ATC

Abstract 2 2014 ATC

I created one sheet of highly colored and highly textured purples and blues. I used watercolor crayons and plastic wrap. This is fun to do and it is amazing to see the colors “bloom” when touched with water. The result is like a miracle. Using this sheet I started cutting geometric shapes. I started with a couple of simple compositions. Here are my first two abstracts.

November 10, 2014 November 11, 2014

“Painting is by nature a luminous language.”      – Robert Delaunay

Isn’t that the truth? I want to speak that luminous language so I continue my work with color. The painting I am posting today is titled Harmony in Yellow and Green. I am trying to understand the use of color and I have much to learn. Because Wassily Kandinsky’s book The Spiritual in Art influenced so many early modernists I have been rereading the sections about color. Some highlights:

A well-balanced mixture of yellow and blue produces green. The horizontal movement ceases: likewise that from and towards the centre. The effect on the soul through the eye is therefore motionless…Green is the most restful color that exists.

In music the absolute green is represented by the placid, middle notes of a violin.

I don’t know if I agree 100% with everything Kandinsky says but who am I to disagree! I do know that, while walking at the State Park this summer, I pondered why I always am drawn to paint the Spring and Fall seasons but not Summer. It hit me like a rock…too much green! Kandinsky’s words helped me understand this response.

Harmony in Yellow and Green was painted with 5 different yellows, 2 greens and one green mixed on the paper using Hansa Yellow Light and Pthalo Blue. I let each of the colors dry thoroughly before applying the next color. A painting takes three or four days to complete. I thought the value structure was much better than my last painting. I am always open for comments and suggestions. When trying to improve my painting, I leave my ego at the door!

Harmony in Yellow and Green

 

 

November 9, 2014 November 10, 2014

Tomorrow, along with another docent at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, I am doing a Printmaking Workshop for our Asian Core docents. Marni, my fellow docent, introduced me to gadget prints and I spent yesterday afternoon learning how to do them. Basically, you scavenge your home and garage for “gadgets” that have a nice shape and a sturdy composition so they can be hammered to make an imprint. I found that using styrofoam plates for my printing plate worked well. I could cut them into rectangles on my paper cutter and they are very soft and take an imprint easily. I made two different plates. The below photo shows my two plates after they were inked and their corresponding prints. I learned I could also draw on the plates using a wooden skewer as a stylus. The lighter work had watered down ink so it is not as dark. I learned a lot and like the print with circles (you know me – of course I like circles!) Anyway, this was easy and fun. I’m going to do more with my grandchildren. Enjoy!