Some New Directions

 As we get older it's harder to part with things -- not because things are important as "things" but because they represent a life -- mine.  This week I started doing a morning drawing and today I decided to add one of the "things" that I can't part with. The pear was done a couple days ago.

Here is a photo of it in real life sitting on top of our Hoosier Cabinet.  It was dropped and broken by someone, either a child or a cleaning person, but it was put back together and most of the mistakes are on the back.  It was my grandmother's, given to her by Uncle John.  He was experimenting with crystal glazes and this one was a reject.  I think of both of them when I look at it.

He did perfect the glaze and according to a book about him, his recipes are at the DIA.  I've seen current artists who say they developed the glaze and I'm not doubting them.  But it isn't new.  As I said, this was my grandmothers, she died in 1958, that's when I got it.

Recently I've been working on brushstrokes and have been watching Jean Haines videos.  She's the one who got me started on the stones which I can't seem to stop doing but that aside.  Another video showed up that caught my attention, Shirley Trevena.  She does very interesting still lifes.  I'm not thinking mine will look like hers but I think adding some of my "things" may work in one or two.  The brushwork practice has been good so it's time to think about some serious painting.

Meanwhile I still have a few mixed media and collage works in process.  That will be another post.

Doing A Daily For A Month

I've challenged myself to a daily collage for this month using some of the parts I've accumulated from the deconstructing I've been doing.  Since most of my day has been clearing clutter from the studio I want to stay with that but want to keep making art as well.

I started July 5, this is the first one.  By the end of the month there will be 37 and hopefully some of them will be good enough to mount on a 4x4 cradle.  I'm not giving a lot of thought to the work, just getting something down.
This is Day 2 finished this morning.

Now back to the clutter clearing.... a huge bag of trash went to the curb this morning!

Another Series of 4x4's Started

I'm playing with collage and decided to start another series of 4x4's.  The last time I did 40, this time I decided to do 4 times 4...16.  I spent Monday making collage papers; Tuesday I started playing.  I'm trying to use as few pieces as possible, at least for now.

My plan is to do one a day; it's a good way to start the time in the studio.  With past practices like this I've found that some days something goes together quickly, other days not so much.  On those other days I leave them sit in the area I work on collage while I go about doing other things.  Every once in awhile I have to walk past them and often that's when something pops out at me. 

Creativity is like that, sometimes she's just there on your shoulder telling you what to do; other times she figures you aren't paying attention (usually she's right on that) so she moves away and waits for you to come back with a more open mind...

Here are the first three....

Just Playing #1

Just Playing #2

Just Playing #3

Wondering Where I'm Going?

I was doing acrylic pours and must confess they are fun to do; however, not something I want to do as my primary art form.  I've also been playing a lot in my grunge journal, practicing faces for no particular reason, just good to practice.  This is the latest....

It's my great-grandfather, Sylvanus T. Percy.  I recently had my DNA done by Ancestry and have been having fun finding more about my family history.  Of course, I knew about Sylvanus but there are so many other branches of the family tree to find... what an adventure.  This is another person on my paternal grandmother's side of the family.

I'm back to the 1400's and not sure where she fits but I think she'll be fun to draw so she will be the next entry in my Grunge Journal.  Looks to me like she may take me awhile to finish.

So what does this have to do with wondering where I'm going?  I've committed to Daily Paintworks and it's costing me money (which is the reason I signed up.) If I have to pay for it I am committed.  So far I've done some acrylic pours and some watercolor sketches but neither of those grab me on a daily basis.  So this month I plan to play... a lot... with several different things... two of the top of my head are 5 minute paintings and 10 minute collage.  Another possibility, Gelli Plate prints. They will all be small and may or may not be for sale.  Hopefully but the end of February I will come up with something that I want to stick with for awhile.  We shall see.

Oh, and some good news.  I entered two pieces in the Winter Arts Festival at the Gallery Uptown and both of them were accepted.  This is one and I just realized I haven't gotten a photo of the second one yet.  I'll have to do that sometime soon.

Wine About Winter & My Daily

First, the daily... I am slowly putting away Christmas and these crab apples seemed a good candidate for the Even Challenge over at Daily Paintworks and my daily painting.

The rest of my day was spent judging Wine About Winter entries with Colleen Rockey and Bette DelVecchio.  We saw a lot of art, all of it good though as always some were better than others.  We had a hard time narrowing it down to the winners but we managed. 

If you are local, come on downtown Friday evening for Wine About Winter, taste a variety of wines and see some good art.  It's always a fun evening.  Stop by the Coast Guard Festival Office and see what I'm showing.  I'll be there most of the evening along with some of my nautical works.

Some Things Revisited

It's no secret I've been clearing some clutter from my studio and unearthing things I had forgotten.  I did this in 2014.  I have a sketchbook almost full of these images called Zendangles.  Something similar to Zentangle but to me, much more fun

One of the Dangles in the sketchbook was a start, not much to it.  So I decided to add more.  I haven't done any color yet, maybe later today or tonight.  Last night I taught my class the basics, they had a good time with it and some of them will probably do more.  It's addictive.

The other thing I did yesterday was pick up the sampler my mother started.  I should have blocked it myself before having it framed because they didn't get it straight.  She would not like that which is the only reason I think it should be straight.  For now it will hang in my sewing room, above her machine.  It is a reminder to me that while there are many ways we are alike... note unfinished sketchbook above and unfinished sampler.... there are also many ways we are different and that's okay.

I inherited her talent (she was an artist) and her love of fiber and fashion though you wouldn't know that to see me now, jeans and sweatshirts are my go to wardrobe. She liked perfect seams and stitches, I don't like staying in the lines nor do I feel compelled to have straight seams.  If they are that's fine, if not that's okay too.  But for the things she liked to sew it was important... fashion, clothes, she was a fashion designer through and through.  I prefer sewing art quilts and other just plain fun things like wonky dolls and angels.

Last Time For The Pear

It will be poached for dessert tonight.  This one was done with one of my XL Graphite sticks.  You can't really see the color but it's a deep burgundy.  The box of sticks is new and this is one I hadn't used, it looked like a dark grey, almost black as I was drawing.  I was surprised when I added the water and saw the rich burgundy

I'll have to find another something to draw from different angles, it was a fun challenge.  Nothing more done on the WIPs,  I will get back to them later today.

Just Playing

Time to just play a bit and see what happens if....  That's what today's daily is, just a lot of experimenting with paint, alcohol and some scratching tools.  The scratching tools, a single edge razor blade, an exacto knife and thanks to my niece, Megan, some dental tools.

This made me think of a collection of photos I have that I may use for a new series... maybe.  The photos.... sidewalk cracks and tree trunks.  For years I've taken photos of them on my walks, maybe it's time to do something with them.

Today's Daily, Just Playing

This was a start that has been sitting on a shelf in my studio for a very long time.  Today instead of starting something new I decided to start the day by finishing this one.  I was better able to focus today as we got good news about my brother... the surgery was a success!

I'm pleased with it, finding I really do enjoy just playing around with paint to see what happens.  This one is titled Just Playing #2

Just Playing

Today's daily isn't a painting, it's just mixed media play.  I have some JOS papers from China and I wanted to see how they hold up for collage.  I learned that one can't use tape as a mask, it lifts the color and the gold from the paper.  I learned a bit about glue and what will hold and what won't too.  I can see much that is good and much that is not good in this but it was play, no design intended. so I'm happy. I learned something and that's always a good thing.

More of the Challenge & Some Therapy

I was behind but caught up with my dailies… Here are a few more of them….

 

 

 

The color one was done with pen, ink and watercolor. 

And the therapy… I spent yesterday afternoon making acrylic skins… only because I love watching the colors mingle.  Here are two that are simply black and white, one with a bit of gold.

 

I will probably use these for collage, then again, maybe not.  We shall see

The Challenge and more on Etsy

I’m a day behind on the pen and ink challenge but I plan to catch up tomorrow.  Today has been a play date with my grandson.

I’ve also posted more of my daily sketches on my Etsy site.  This is one of them,,,

More of the pen and ink coming when I catch up…

Some things have to go

Some of you know, I do daily (almost) sketches.  They are piling up so I decided it’s time for some of them to go away.  Some will go in the  Etsy Store I’ve opened and some will go in the recycle pile. 

Prices for those in the Etsy Store are $5 or $10 depending on size and time.  They’re quick sketches as is, no mat, no frame.  Check it out, here’s a link to my store.

The recycle ones will get a coat of gesso and a new sketch.  I hate the idea of wasting good paper.

A Door Challenge

Once again, a challenge on Facebook, 5 days, 5 doors.  Here they are.

Same gate, another view and reversed

And this week I brought back a piece that was in a show at the Gallery Uptown… a departure that I think I’m going to visit again. This is Aunt Agnes, I had so much fun making her that I think I need to do more dolls.  She has lots of embellishments that were great fun to add.

And I have a few images that I’m wanting to do larger paintings of, it’s time to get back to that too.

Some Daily Sketches

I’m back from an Art Retreat in Harbor Springs, Michigan.  It was a productive week for me, lots of new work and several starts completed. 

I still have to photograph and scan most of the work; however, I did get some photos of the morning sketches.  Every morning started with a daily reading, morning journaling and then a sketch.  The Spider Wart was Sunday morning, before I left. That one is already gone to a new home.  The rest you can see here….

That last one is the top of the fridge….

That’s all I can show you now,  As soon as I get the others scanned or photographed I’ll share.

The Bird Challenge & Handmade Sketchbooks

My most recent work has been non-representational and mixed media.   And most recently, I’ve been working on a Challenge my friend Valri Ari threw out on Facebook.  More on that later but here’s today’s piece for the challenge.

 

The mixed media is a combination of monoprint and collage.  I’m  using more acrylics and one of the things I do when I’m using them is keep an extra sheet of paper next to me that I can use to blot some of the paint off a piece.  I also use the paper to clean my brayer as I’m printing..My intent in using that paper was to create papers for collage.

Enter sketchbooks.  I use a lot of them.  There are always a couple in the studio and I keep one in my purse and in my car.  I thought I would try to make some signatures of my own using the same paper but without anything on it.  The idea being to use the signatures as the sketchbook and eventually putting some of them together into one book.

One of the blogs I follow is Jane Davies.  She is the one who gave me the idea of lifting paint onto a separate sheet and she sometimes puts those sheets together into a handmade sketchbook.  I thought it would be a good way to work out some non-representational ideas so I made a few of those too.

A spread in one can end up looking like this….

The idea is to connect them somehow or use each page individually. I hadn’t been brave enough to use them until Valri Ari’s bird challenge came along.  The first challenge was birds, 20 in 20 days.  One of my signatures has 20 individual pages so I got brave and decided to give it a shot.  I am loving the results… Here’s the cover of the Bird Challenge…

For this one I’m doing individual pages, here are the rest that are done to date..

You can see that the last two are from a spread that is in the middle. 

I’m looking forward to the next challenge and using another of my signatures.