Making Marks

Love and Romance Show, part 2

Here's the second clock I made for the February "Love and Romance" show at Lunaria.

This piece more clearly incorporates the Zentangle/doodle style that I've been working on. Like Love Garden, this piece started with a line drawing in India ink and then it's painted with acrylic washes. Both clocks have glass pieces to represent numbers on the face.

I really enjoyed making these pieces - they were a definite departure from the oil pastels and embossed pastel pieces I've been recently working on. I hope you like them, too!

Love and Romance Show, part 1

I haven't made any clocks for a while, but I decided to make two for the February group show at Lunaria. This is a bit of a new style for me, working larger and drawing my design.

I used India ink to make the black lines and then painted in liquid acrylic. The background has a lot of texture. I wanted the face to be darker so the clock hands would show up against the background.

This one is called Garden of Love.

Silverton Arts Invitational Card Show

I've been playing with the Gocco printer, again! This time I wanted to make designs for greeting cards since I was invited to participate in the Silverton Arts Association Invitational Card Show. My intent was to print some simple images with bold impact. The tree design includes a background that was printed from an "open screen" that I blocked off with tape. I read about how Shu-Ju Wang has used this process and decided to try it. 

I made another print based on a photo I took of a flower. This required three screens to print. Each time I use the Gocco, I learn something. This time I saw how the layers in the petals overlapped and like how they made a subtle third color. I'll see how I can do this intentionally in some other projects.

And The Winner Is. . .

Me! I really appreciate all of the comments and support family, friends and colleagues have given me for this show.  (This photo is one of the gallery walls showing how they hung KC's work and mine. It looks great!)

But the winner of my Gocco print, Blue Gestures, is Tammy! Congratulations! I've sent you an e-mail asking for your address.

Thank you to everyone who showed up in person and who wrote such kind comments.

My next reception will be when I open my ETSY shop in the next two weeks. I'll be giving away another Gocco print, Purple Enclosure. I'll give a preview and then announce it here, just like this reception.

Reception is Today

As promised earlier in the week, I'm inviting guests to leave a comment today (before midnight, Pacific Daylight time). I'll take the names, toss them in a hat, and choose a person. That person will win the artist's proof of my first Gocco print.

The on-line reception is in honor of my exhibit opening tonight at Lunaria Gallery. If you join us in person, you can also post a comment here and participate in the drawing.

Thanks for stopping by!

On-line Reception & Drawing

Some of you have written me about my show opening on Friday and sent good wishes since you won't be able to attend. Today I had a brilliant idea: I'll have an on-line reception!

Stop by this blog on Friday, Sept. 7th, and add a comment to Friday's post. I'll put your name in the hat for a drawing. The winner will get the Artist's Proof for Blue Gestures.

I appreciate those of you who read my blog and add comments, so this works out for both of us.

I'm currently working on my next Gocco print and opening an ETSY shop. Be on the look out for another drawing for my ETSY opening.

Notions, Transitions and Sentiments

When I started painting the Circles Series, I would describe my frame of mind as very much thinking about circles. The images are literal. The colors are layers and layers of paint applied as I was working out the ideas I wanted to convey about circles. One element that has continually fascinated me has been little bits of color peeking out from behind the top layer of something. (I think if graffiti in addition to fine art examples.) Because of my emphasis on thinking about the shape, the first part of this series will have "notions" in the title. (I'm still working on exact titles for each piece.)

I made sense of the second part of the series after seeing all the paintings together. One example is posted here (the red on a green background) and another was posted earlier. They definitely express my development of the series,  linking the other two groups. As a result, they will have "transitions" in the titles. This group has seven paintings, and they have also undergone myriad layers of development and paint.

The final group is a significant change from the original "notions" group and reflects an integration of my previous work (in nature themes) with the circles theme. The shapes have an organic quality and are inspired in part from sea foam on the sand and river rocks. These pieces will have "sentiments" in their titles.

Thoughts on a Series

It started as a simple enough concept - paint circles. Try different media (from cold tar to glazing medium), different application methods (brushes to rags to palette knives) and use a simple shape as a focal point. Of course it was not that easy. Like many projects, I've experienced highs and lows and learned about myself and the artistic process over the past seven months.

This piece (8" x 8") was started in January. It's been through several significant changes, the most recent of which was adding an image transfer. I really liked the designs I created in Wild's class at Sitka, and this painting needed some pattern in the background. I drew designs and spent some time at the photo copy machine enlarging (to about 400%) and lightening them to create a pattern to use for an image transfer.

The series of 29 paintings are divided up into three groups. The first one is "Notions" because I was very much thinking through what I was doing. Each piece is painted on gallery wrapped canvas and the sides are painted a color from one of the circles.

I've now applied a layer of gel medium to all the work and it's time to start varnishing. Just a few more steps until they are ready for the opening on Sept. 7th: photography, titling and hanging.

Honorable Mention

I'm delighted to share that Blue Branch (left) won an Honorable Mention in Creative Catalyst Productions' Winter Show of still life pieces.

I wrote about Blue Branch in February right after I revised this and another piece. I'm glad to see that the revision was successful!

Right now I'm working on a series for a show in September. I'm hoping that people connect with the work, but, as demonstrated here, I'm not averse to reworking pieces that somehow fail to create an initial impact. I edit my writing all the time. I like having the freedom to edit my visual work as well.