Dreams About Art

My Happy New Year starts in February this year

2012-02-03T20:05:00.001-05:00

Well, not really! Since I had surgery the first week of January, January is what you call a lost month. Everything went fine, and I am happy to be up and mobile again.

I have painted a number of new paintings, and now I can share some with you. I have been experimenting with ghost flowers in the background. This painting is called Poppy Shadows. It was painted on a gold toned piece of watercolor paper 11 3/4" x 10 1/4". I used a technique called color sanding to add some texture in the painting. I have just listed it in my Etsy shop. Click on the painting name under the first illustration to go to the listing.

Poppy Shadows

I put one of these new poppy ghost flower paintings into the Artists' Guild Gallery, and last week I was notified that it was sold. Yay! It's title was Ghost Poppies. It is shown below.

Ghost Poppies

Ghost Poppies was painted on a toned sheet of watercolor paper that had been textured prior to painting. Then I added some texture with a roller before painting the poppies.

Enjoy!

Winter Setting In

2011-11-15T19:49:00.001-05:00

I have created an Etsy treasury to celebrate winter. Winter Mood Setting In

To me, winter represents a time of being thankful for having a warm, cozy home to come to when the weather is cold and icy and presents challenges to drive in and even to walk on icy sidewalks. This treasury has some beautiful and special items in it, and I hope you will visit the Etsy shops represented in the treasury and see what they have to offer. Right click on the link Winter Mood Setting In, and select open in new window. While you're there, come and visit my Etsy shop too! Mary Hamilton's Etsy Shop: DreamON

Recycled Art - Why Not?

2011-10-19T22:01:00.000-04:00

Just having fun with the idea of making something new out of something old. This is the painting I had to begin with: that is, before I started thinking negatively. Negative painting, being what I'm getting at, and not having a bad attitude. This is a technique that I have used creating successive layers of negative painting, or painting around objects before, but this time I used the existing painting of the deer in the woods and only had a single layer of painting in the negative.

I was inspired by Etsy running the leaf pictures that had been configured into faces, and I thought that idea was very clever!

I have had a stash of painting starts, and paintings that need "something." Sometimes it seems that "starts" are what fits the mood, but in the last few days, I have been in the mood to do the fixing and finishing on a few of these

Over In The Clover

My painting with the deer at the edge of the trees had lost its charm for me, and it became my victim, as I cut the size down a bit and started drawing clover leaves on it, and then I painted around the clover in Indigo Blue. Before the paint was dry, I lifted some additional areas.

This new painting called "Over In The Clover" is what came of it all. It was fun to do, and sometimes doing a painting just for fun is better than struggling with one to fix the details that may never turn out right anyway.

Therapy!

To see more information about this painting in my Etsy shop, please click on the painting title.

49th Annual Glenwood Springs Fall Art Festival

2011-09-23T23:33:00.000-04:00

While the Florida Watercolor Society is holding its annual convention in Sarasota, I am in Colorado. It's a conflict every year, but for 14 years now we have been out west and a part of the Glenwood Springs Fall Art Festival. This is a wonderful show with wonderful art displayed in all classifications and categories that takes place in the Ramada Inn in Glenwood Springs. It is the largest non-juried show in Colorado with usually two (or more pieces in the case of pottery and sculpture) of art by around 300 artists judged on Wednesday. Judges this year and their specialties are Mark Silvers, Watercolors; Liz Thiele, Oil Painting; and Mary Zimmerman, Sculpture. There are also a large number of paintings, pottery and sculptures available in the Bargain Bin that are not judged, but are great values. This show would not work at all without the hours and hours worked by volunteers. My husband and I are but two of them. It's fun to make our yearly stop at this show and renew friendships with artists at this show. My gallery paintings this year are "Fish Camp," a scene from the very picturesque Cortez waterfront in Florida, and "Beach Shoe Exchange," a sunny, sand and surf painting with white dune fences and a few stray shoes left behind. These paintings are both watercolor paintings that are 16 x 28 inches framed.

For information about these paintings or the availability of prints, please contact me by email or by Etsy conversation at DreamON.etsy.com.I also recently added a new Facebook fan page, The Art of Mary Hamilton which can be found by clicking on this link: (or pasting this link into your browser: http://www.facebook.com/MaryHamiltonArt ).

Front Page of Etsy This Morning

2011-05-10T19:30:00.006-04:00

I woke up this morning to check my Etsy shop and for the first time saw an actual Etsy front page with one of my listings in it. What an exciting way to wake up! (The last time it happened, the item sold right away and I only became aware of the FP later.)

My item is called Under A Lemon Moon. It is in the second row, second item from left. Many thanks to DawnWillBreak for creating such a beautiful beach wedding treasury and for including my lemon moon watercolor painting in it!!!!! You can visit her Etsy shop by clicking here. Click on the image of the Front Page to see a larger view.

In other "Breaking News," I've added two new items to my shop today. The Sinking Sun is a 6 x 6 inch acrylic on canvas. The inspiration for this one is, of course, the glorious Florida sunsets we have here on the west coast of Florida where sometimes it looks like the sun is just melting into the Gulf. The water almost loses its color it is such a grayed-out aqua, except where the sun and sky reflections hit the water. It is so amazing to be able to live here and see such a gorgeous sight!

I also included a new mermaid watercolor, In The Deep. I just love the song, "Rolling In The Deep" sung by Adele, and also recently on Idol by Haley. So this is the inspiration for my mermaid. I was thinking about her playing and executing full rolls deep in the ocean. This painting is very close to 8 x 11 inches.

Both of these photos are clickable. Hope you have as much fun dreaming when you see these as I did when I was painting them!

Season 10 American Idol

2011-03-17T21:33:00.003-04:00

One thing you probably don't know about me is that I am a huge fan of American Idol.

What's different this year? The new group of judges selected probably the best contestants ever!

Although I didn't hate Simon Cowell, still I thought he could cut the contestants to the heart with only a few words. So I can't say that I miss him, especially with the new judges this year. The entertainment value provided by the judges on the show has gone way up.

I've always enjoyed Jennifer Lopez in the movies, and she seems to be a grounded, genuinely kind person as a judge, at least so far. Stephen Tyler is fun and unpredictable, and I am enjoying his personality. The fans love them both. Jennifer has started giving some technical advice which shows her classical voice training. Stephen needs to bring more in the way of advice to the singers as well. Randy Jackson, the experienced judge here, needs to give some real constructive advice. He tends to want to pigeonhole certain contestants into a mold when this early, it just seems they might be trying to show what a broad range they possess when they switch song types from week to week. Other contestants seem to get a pass when they switch from Blues to Rock, etc. Really Randy!

That said, this year I feel the contestants were much further along and polished than in previous years, at least not until towards the end did they show as much poise and stage presence as they do this year. The voices are better, and most any of them will probably have a future singing somewhere.

I know everyone doesn't feel the same, but hey, it's only one person's opinion: ME. My son confessed that Simon sometimes was the reason he watched the show.

The guys: I admire James Durbin having overcome Turret's and Ausberger's Syndromes to get into this competition in the first place, so I'm watching him with great admiration and interest. He has a really nice voice which he has shown, in addition to his preferred hard rock style. Scotty McCreery is a deep-voiced 17 year old who sings pretty good country, but it's hard to feature that mature voice coming from the face! Paul McDonald sounds a lot like Rod Stewart, and he has had a couple of rough weeks, but escaped without any scars from judges so far. Jacob Lusk can pull off a Luther Vandross song with seemingly no difficulty. Stefano Langone has a career in Vegas with his vocal style. And then there is Casey Abrams who in addition to his wonderfully intense singing possesses a great sense of humor and is so likeable. Jacob and Casey have the early lead. Stefano and Scotty are right in there too.

The girls: I tend to root for underdogs, and right now Haley Reinhart is someone I like, but she has an uphill battle convincing the judges she knows who she is. Naima Adedapo will also have a tough road and we will have to see if she can correct her tendency to be flat - that is her pitch is. Lauren Alaina and Thia Megia are the young ones, only 16 years old. What big voices they both have: one country and one more of a ballad singer. Pia Toscano is the favorite of the girls right now.

Well, there you have it - my opinionated opinion! I'd love to hear how you feel!

A Glimpse Of My World Tonight

2011-02-17T18:08:00.006-05:00

As I sit here contemplating the world from my window tonight, I am thinking, "What could possibly top this for a studio view?" No, I'm not in jail!!! These are built-in partitions in the windows, and the view of sunlight playing upon the palm tree as sunset nears is pretty much all right with me.

Other than that, I have been painting, in acrylics, lots of grapes and grape leaves on a variety of surfaces from masonite panels to 4 x 4 canvases. Friends have been collecting corks for me for years, and I am planning to use them in some kind of art -- for years. About now, the corks are multiplying much faster than the artwork! So this week's project is to use some of them!

So here are a couple of my projects which are nearing completion. Here are a few of the little canvases which I am planning to mount onto a masonite surface which has been textured with acrylic gel and then painted with black gesso and with gloss gel. Wow! That didn't do it for me at all! I decided to back off and paint it with a warm brown, and then wiped and blotted some of that off of the panel. The glossy black surface looked terrible with the paintings and corks. After I took this photo, I decided to add a few corks. At this point, I have not glued anything down, but I can say I am getting close.

In the next photo, I have painted the grapes and grape leaves in a different style on a masonite panel. Yesterday, I had fun dremeling holes in everything I could get my hands on. Then I went to Michael's in search of some raffia, only to find they had no raffia in the natural color, but I found narrow ribbons on sale, so I bought 3 colors of those, and today I attached ribbons and a nice bow to the project and called it "done." The photo was taken "in progress" and before it was finished -- for sure! In this one, I decided no corks!
The dremel holes were drilled at the top left, and the presentation is vertical, with tri-color ribbons of gray green, lavender and natural, and a bow.

These have been fun, but there are Oh, so many corks to use. I fear, the fun has just begun!

Not sure where I will show these, but Etsy is probably not the venue this time!

New Poppy ACEOs

2010-12-15T18:11:00.005-05:00

I just posted two new ACEOs with poppies to my Etsy store, DreamON. Have started to run out of them, so today was poppy day. These two have a teeny bit of collage with sheet music and bits of fibrous, old handmade paper that a fellow artist from Studio 1212 brought today. Had fun creating these! Things have been so busy lately, it was fun to actually sit down and paint with the group and not have to worry about all the things I had to do. Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot to get done, including lots of shopping, but I have gotten enuf done so that it's not making me CRAZY right now. So I had freedom to paint!

Made It To Front Page!

2010-09-16T09:32:00.004-04:00

AuclairBlueSquare's Treasury made it to the Front Page of Etsy this morning, and right there in the middle is my little "Poppy Smile." I'm also happy to say that it sold while it was on the FP! It's exciting to have been on the FP. Thank you, Mary of AuclairBlueSquare for creating this wonderful treasury and for including my little Poppy! Also, a big thank you to Etsy for selecting this treasury for the FP!

Small Things - Just 5 x 5

2010-09-04T10:19:00.007-04:00

New collages --- What great fun it is to make collages!

I posted on Facebook a little while ago about artists being great hoarders. Well, in order to make collages, we just have to be - a little bit, anyway. Otherwise, where would you ever come up with the "stuff" to make a collage?

So I have these big red sunflowers - silk flowers that I have had in a beautiful twisted glass vase with some smooth little pebbles. I decided that the stems were way too long, so my wonderful hubby set about finding some snips to cut through the heavy wire stems. He cut them off, and then asked the crucial question: "What do you want to do with these?" The "these" referred to the remaining stems. At first I said to throw them out, but I saw them just laying there on top of the trash, and I just had to rescue them.

I had just painted these little 5 x 5 canvases black, so I laid a few of the stems on top, and decided they looked pretty cool. So I asked him if he could go and cut me some 5 inch even cuts from the stems, and he's great and cut them for me.

I had rescued a bag of dessicant, you know a bag labeled, "Do Not Eat!" and determined the little stuff inside was clay balls. So I set about mixing up some thinned red acrylic in a small lid to see if I could get the balls to accept the color. After awhile I got some nice red ones, some pink ones and some that lost their shape and were melting.

I had some lovely gold paper that another artist (Thank you, Raquel) had given out to us that she said came from Brazil, and some other paper that I thought was rice paper that I bought in a bargain bag. First I glued on the "rice paper" and the glue showed through after it dried, so out came the gold acrylic to paint this which turned out great. I cut out a round shape from the gold paper and glued it onto the other canvas, then I proceeded to lay on the stems and the little colored balls and glued them down. Voila!

Finished, But Why?

2010-08-17T20:45:00.005-04:00

Family mementos saved over a lifetime, among them paintings, books, letters, photographs, collections of various kinds, trinkets, souvenirs clippings, etc.: presumably they meant something to the person who saved them. Some of them are antiques, some collectible, but for unknown reasons they have become popular to keep. The question could be asked, why? Some people have no need to keep anything, and others can't throw out anything. Why?

A week or so ago I read an article in The Art Biz Blog (August 2, 2010) that presented the question: Why does an artist paint a painting? Sometimes, for me, there is a clear reason, but since I really enjoy the process, many times I am painting a subject simply because I like whatever it is I am painting. I don't go through a huge psychological self-examination to ask myself, why? Is that what most artists do, or do most of them have a story behind each painting? I have no idea, but it would be fun to find out, I think.

This particular painting comes from a photo that interested me. First, it was a really old photo, and I wanted to see if I could paint it to look that way. Second, the subject is a young woman wearing a coat with a fur collar who was standing in front of a school bus that has curtains in the window. (Hello. The school buses I rode on sure didn't have any curtains! Maybe this is because the distance I had to travel to school wasn't long enough for a nap, or could be that school bus riders a long time ago were more civilized than the ones I went to school with.) Last, from other photos I unearthed from a relative's lifetime collection, these fur-collared coats were apparently as much a fashion statement of that time for young women as today's fads are relevant today. Later, after I had painted the painting, I found out the girl turned out to be the "matchmaker" who introduced my mother-in-law to her husband.

And that is the story of why I painted the painting, or as Paul Harvey used to say, "That's the rest of the story." (Oh, I had to Google the saying, because I couldn't remember WHO said that.)

This is the finished painting from one I wrote about in an earlier post, and showed the painting unfinished. I have titled it The Matchmaker.

Crowning Glory Girls - New Series at DreamON on Etsy

2010-07-13T21:28:00.007-04:00

Lady of the Locks Original Watercolor Painting On Tissue Paper Collage

I am sharing the beginning of a new series tonight. I have called it the Crowning Glory Girls, because it is all about ladies with long, long, long hair, and that's what makes it so much fun. I was brainstorming all day and crunching on a name for the series. These are some of the ones I came up with on the way there:

The Crowning Glory Girls. Hair They Come. Ladies With Locks. From Tops To Bottoms. Tails of Hair and There. Heaps of Hair. Curlie Girlies. From Heads to Tails. Big On Hair. Heavenly Hair. World of Curls. Locks To Love. Looks and Locks. Curlilocks and the Bon Bons. Curly Ladies With Locks. Hair Hoopla. Cougar Curlers. We’re Out of Hair. Ladies of the Lock. Hair Watch. All About Hair. Out of Their Heads?

Well, you get the idea, I couldn’t decide what to call this bunch of ladies. They are loosely inspired by R.C. Gorman, Native American artist of the Southwest. What I do know is that these are (mostly) all watercolors, a layer of tissue paper, and then more watercolors with archival ink to finish. 8x8, 7 x 7 and 7 x 6 ¾ . Pastel colors in the background with stronger colors in the girl’s lovely outfits.

I say mostly watercolors, because I have almost finished one in black and white for the Studio 1212 Black and White show's 40 paintings for $40 wall in October.

The painting I have chosen to share here at "Dreams About Art" is called "Lady of the Locks," the dreamy girl with purple hair. She can be found in my Etsy shop, DreamON.

Black and White and Fun With Photochop

2010-06-20T14:03:00.011-04:00

The Black & White Show in October, at Studio 1212 is going to be something special this year. It is the 40th anniversary of the group of artists who represent the longest lasting artist's cooperative in the Tampa Bay area. While there are none of us who have been there 40 years, it is an accomplishment for this type of endeavor to have that kind of longevity.

Among other things, we will have a wall of 40 works of art to be created on 12 x 12 inch canvases for $40 each. So I am starting to think of what to do this year for my two 12 x 12 paintings, as well as the regular size pieces for the show - all black and white.

My two kitties were last year's pieces I did for the show. I had to mail them back to the gallery, so they were on smaller 8 x 8 inch chunky canvases. I have just now put them on Etsy. Meet "Research," the white aloof kitty, and "Ambush" the dark, attack-planning cat.

I have listed them together, because they look cute that way, but also because the cost to ship them priority mail would be the same, whether they are together or separate. These canvases have wooden stretcher bars that are made of heavy wood.

After playing with Photoshop to come up with some way to show both paintings in one of my views on Etsy without having to photograph them again, I stumbled onto a couple of techniques that were new to me.

Now, I am completely self-taught in the art of Photoshop, and this may be kindergarten stuff to those who use Photoshop all the time, but I discovered this function of the paint bucket yesterday completely by accident by pressing the right mouse button when I was trying to do something else by pressing the left, and presto, my white cat turned pink. Thought it looked so cute, I used it in a poster.

Then I made another one that looks like the moths have eaten part of it away by finding out that Free Transform has some other interesting features associated with it.

Ah, if not to play and have silly fun with simple things, what would life be?

Wildflower Season

2010-04-13T19:07:00.010-04:00

With the exception of two Springtimes spent in south Texas, I have never lived anywhere that has a real Spring. Certainly in Colorado where one day is 70 degrees and the next has two feet of snow, there is no Spring! Daffodils peak out forlornly when the snow melts.
This painting is titled "Give Me Lemonade."

Now, here on the west coast of Florida, there is a definite change, but other than fallen oak leaves everywhere and new green leaves replacing them and a few azaleas here and there, no true Spring. So our Spring Break to the Panhandle of Florida and Alabama was a treat for me, and I went crazy taking photos.
On the way home I fixed a water bottle in my map compartment and painted "little things" most of the way while hubby listened to ball games and sports things on the radio. Here are a few inspirational photos and some results so far.

"Daffodils Say Spring" below and "Renaissance Bouquet" at left are now in my Etsy shop. They are both 2.5 x 3.5 inches and are original watercolor paintings that are artist card size ACEOs.
"Daffodils Say Spring" [SOLD]

It was a fun way for me to pass the time, and when I am painting time really flies. I just loved the flowers everywhere. I took pictures and painted wild growing things with pretty blossoms that many would call weeds, I am sure, but they were lovely to me.

I had never seen Wisteria growing anywhere until a few years ago in Oregon, but that was planted and in someone's yard. In the panhandle region, it grows wild and is beautiful.

This last ACEO original watercolor painting is titled "Flowerlets Gone Wild." [SOLD]

Ahhhh, Spring!

Old Photos, New Fun

2010-02-16T18:57:00.007-05:00

A few months ago, we took a trip out west to meet with my husband's family members to go through and clean out the contents of a relative's apartment when she was no longer able to maintain her independent living status. A few layers of dust and dirt gave way to uncovering a lifetime of memories. Among her things were photos of young girls on the threshold of womanhood, being silly and laughing about the things young women do together. A couple of them revealed that fur collars were quite the "in" trend of this day.

One photo in particular was a picture of a shy, young girl standing beside a school bus, smartly attired in the fad of the day.

This photo interested me, and I have chosen to paint her in the sepia tones of the photo. This project is a work in progress, and shown as it is today in my watercolor version.

I am fading out the background to give the affect of time in a misty, vague sort of way. Here the painting is shown after the first session working on the it.

Here Comes Mischief in Cat Form!

2010-02-06T12:11:00.004-05:00

Misty Gray Cat is a painting about a kitty that we used to have. A soft, pretty gray-colored shelter kitten we got when my son could hold her upside down in one hand, she grew into a beautiful, although squirrely, cat who could be gentle and loving or as fierce as a tasmanian devil when she visited the veterinarian (which thankfully she rarely needed).

Misty, the painting, is done in pure watercolor on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor paper with mostly Winsor-Newton paints. (I have a few other brands, all professional quality, and intermingle them on my palette.) It definitely reflects the personality of this loving tasmanian, split-personality, kooky kitty. Cool colors dominate the composition.

Misty Gray Cat can be found at DreamON by clicking here. Enjoy!

Beautiful Fall Day

2009-10-02T13:53:00.013-04:00

Just thought I'd share a few memories from a beautiful fall day somewhere in Colorado between Steamboat Springs and Wolcott.
The beautiful gold colors usually peak the third week in September, but these photos were taken this week, and as you can tell there are still a lot of green trees.

Enjoy!

These next ones give you a feeling of flying, and the one on the right below feels like vertigo; it's hard to figure out where the horizon is.

The last one is one of my favorites. It makes you wonder where the road goes. It provides inspiration for a painting, I think.

The Birthday Unicorn

2009-09-29T11:13:00.002-04:00

Just recently I undertook a project which put me totally out of my element. My granddaughter asked me to paint a unicorn for her birthday. Explicit instructions included size (big) and color (pink with green eyes and pink and blue hair). Now I might add that my granddaughter is an extraordinarily talented young artist herself, and her grandma is very proud of her. (Not that her grandma would exaggerate, but she spends her spare time creating art a large percentage of the time!) She would much rather paint or draw with markers than fill in coloring pages, and she really is pretty good for being just six years old.

The unicorn was not a subject I have ever tried before. I know a lot of girls draw horses when they are young, but not me. The number of horses I have tried to draw or paint, ever, could probably be counted on my fingers. However, this was a labor of love, and I grew to love it and hope she will as well.

The original acrylic painting is 16 x 20 inches. I may do prints, and if I do I would put them into my shop, DreamON, sometime in the future.

So here is the unicorn, and I hope you enjoy it. Copyright 2009 by Mary M. Hamilton.

Glenwood Springs Fall Art Festival

2009-09-26T15:01:00.005-04:00

This is the best art show! The Glenwood Springs Art Guild has been putting on this indoor open entry show for 47 years now, and boy, do they do it right! The show is held in the lower level of the Ramada Inn in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It is one of the best opportunities both for buyers and artists around. The art is always good. In addition there are demonstrations by the three judges and sometimes an additional artist also. This year's judges are Tanis Bula, Charles Hardy and Tim Wedel, and Cindy Brabec-King, an outstanding watercolorist, will give an additional demo. Judging is done Wednesday, and the show opened when judging was completed.

My entries this Fall are "Bliss" and "Tina's Dance."

The entrants are broken down into Professional, Advanced and Amateur classes. Media accepted includes hand-thrown and hand-built pottery, sculpture, oil/acrylics, watermedia, mixed media, graphics and pastels. There are landscapes, still life, portrait-figure, animal, sculpture and pottery categories for which ribbons are awarded. Cash awards are reserved for Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion in each classification of entrants.

Another real plus for artists are the artists' Friday night dinner and Saturday night's banquet and "artists' bash." The most appreciated feature of this show would be the patrons who support this event every year, but a close runner-up would be the hours and hours of work put in by the Glenwood Springs Art Guild. These are the folks who have made this event possible for the 47 years it has been occurring. Thank you to both!

2009-04-07T18:18:00.009-04:00

Texture is fun, but more than that the added dimension it adds to a painting is becoming to me like putting salt and spice on my food.

The textures that can be added to every kind of two-dimensional media vary, but more and more I am looking at texture as a necessity rather than an addition to a painting. In this first example entitled Music For Martinis, texturing the background happened before the idea of the painting was hatched.

In this next example, He Gave Me Flowers some of the background texturing happened as the abstract still life was being painted, but much of it was created after the fact.

The two examples are used to show that texture can happen at any stage of a painting to add interest and excitement to the artwork.

For added information about either painting, you may want to click on the images to read more.

How Did We Lose Our Common Sense?

2009-03-26T11:44:00.005-04:00

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is a law that was passed last year and went into effect in February of 2009 for products manufactured after November 12, 2008. Such an outcry has resulted that a minimal version of the law is currently being enforced, with more the stringent requirements to follow in August. At that time the lead paint limit for products intended for children under 12 will be lowered from the current 600 ppm to 90 ppm. At the present time, third-party testing for currently effective limits of lead by an accredited third-party is required for products manufactured after December 21, 2008. To learn more about this act, go to the official website of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s CPSIA site at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html .

The CPSIA happened partly in reaction to the toys, jewelry and other items imported from China containing lead and pthalates and partly because of the U.S. Government’s ever-increasing recalls of dangerous toys in the recent past. Make no mistake, the last thing we ever need is dangerous toys for our babies and children. Yes, we need to be assured that imported and mass-produced items contain no harmful substances that would make children sick or harm them.

On the other hand, and considering that lead and children have co-existed in the world for a very long time, most of us who are breathing right now are not aware of having suffered any ill consequences from it. No one denies that children have been harmed from eating or chewing on items that have been painted with lead or contain lead; however, in historical terms it is a relatively recent discovery that lead harms children. Lead-based wall paint was taken off of the market in the USA for that reason. It is incomprehensible to us now that anyone would still be painting toys with lead-containing paint; however, the government felt it had to strengthen the laws because products containing lead did get into our children’s hands.

But this act takes protection to the absurd, and it is hitting the small producer of handmade items for children extremely hard, because it requires testing that is way too expensive for them to do. Why not require the original manufacturer of the goods or at the very least the importer to test and not the middleman who bought the goods to make their products from? As an example, I just cannot believe anyone ever intended that the home sewer of baby dresses or crocheted booties should be the victims of this ridiculous legislation. Why not require the maker of the yarn or the buttons or the fabric used to make a garment to do the testing instead?

To me, one of the most absurd facets of this law is that old books printed prior to 1985 contain lead in the printed type and that those books should be destroyed. Talk about a total overreaction: this is just incomprehensible. Libraries, already short on funding, are falling under the law’s requirements to have old books “intended” for use by children either tested by third-parties or destroyed. If this were a valid requirement, then all of us who learned how to read prior to 1985 would be morons staggering in the streets, clutching at our throats with our eyes popping out from the deadly lead in the type of our textbooks and all of the other vintage books we read in our lifetimes.

Just Discovered - I've Gone Blue!

2009-03-24T17:02:00.011-04:00

"Curacao In Venice" [SOLD]

Unconsciously, once again, I have found myself painting most everything in the same triad of colors. The last time I did this, it was red, yellow, orange: that was my Orange Period. This time I'm stuck in the blue, violet, green combo. It takes awhile to become conscious of this, because not absolutely everything comes out in these colors, especially landscapes. However when I look over the body of work I have created for the last month, it is readily apparent that I am in my Blue Period. Hm!

I remember from studying Art History that certain famous artists had their red, blue, green, purple or yellow periods. I thought at the time that this was awfully pretentious! So coming into my second color phase - at least that I've actually noticed, and it amuses me to have discovered this. It's most curious. Have any of you other artists ever experienced this?

The photo above at the left is of my painting entitled "Curacao In Venice." It was even more orange before I gave it a treatment of purple long after it was first painted along with the rest of the orangies.

Here are some of my latest (my bluies). First, on the right is "Abstract Pansies."

Back again on the left is "Before You Were Awake."

On the right, "Connection" [SOLD]

And my latest painting which is entitled "Connection." I did three that day, but that was a conscious thing that they were all the same colors, because I had seen a painting done by a friend of mine in those same colors. Her painting was a different subject and considerably larger, but the color combination totally resonated with me. Why is that? Looking back I can see it's the Blue thing.

It's proof for me that when we paint or write poetry and who knows what else that our inner thoughts and emotions enter into the product.

Except for Curacao in Venice(sold) and Connection(sold), the other two are available in my Etsy shop. You can click on the photos for more information.

Blogging Guilt

2009-03-17T19:44:00.007-04:00

Every day that goes by is fraught with guilt about not updating my blog. I know how important it is to establish and maintain a regular habit of writing something. As a visual artist, it is also essential to include a photo of either my art, a technique or something valuable to artists reading the blog. At least this is my goal. Therefore blog guilt sets in when day after day passes and I haven't made a contribution here.

However, being an artist involves far more than just blogging, running an Etsy shop, checking email, reading other people's blogs or other types of social networking. And these are just the web-based activities. I sometimes feel like I need to clone myself in order to keep up. When do I just get to paint????

The following article really hit home for me. It was written by Alyson Stanfield of ArtBizBlog fame. Hope you will enjoy it and take time to think about it.

Return to Your Art

When times are good, artists make art.
When times are bad, artists make art.
When time stands still, artists will continue making art.

Artists who are true to themselves do not make art for the marketplace, but for themselves--to start a dialogue with their viewers, their fans, and the world. They make art because they have something to say that is best said not with words, but through a creative act. They make art because they have to. The marketing stuff can come later.

Through this newsletter and the Art Biz Blog, I give you ideas for promoting your art and building your business. Too many ideas. You can't possibly implement these ideas as fast as I generate them. And I'm sure I'm just one of the sources you're hearing from.

The result of all these ideas may be a feeling of overwhelm. The result of overwhelm can lead to forgetting about your art. And the result of forgetting about your art can either be no art to market or art you're not confident in.

Never neglect the studio. Always return to your art. The disciplined practice of making art is mandatory. Everything else is optional.

Know This . . .
Artists make art--regardless.

Think About This . . .
Have you been neglecting your studio time?

Do This . . .
Return to your art. Remember why you are an artist. Recall the thrill of your best work. Hold on to that sensation and revisit it when you're feeling overwhelmed or uninspired. Just get back to the studio!

Share your thoughts and listen to the podcast on the Art Biz Blog. http://www.artbizblog.com

Don't miss these posts on the blog:

Podcast: Promote an out-of-town event
We need art now more than ever
Artist-inventors who have changed the world
Arbitrary art grant

Read everything and sign up for updates at http://www.artbizblog.com

Copyright 2009 Alyson B. Stanfield. Alyson takes the mystery out of marketing your art and making more money as an artist. Visit http://www.ArtBizCoach.com to get articles just like this one delivered to your inbox.

Small Beachy Watercolors

2009-03-09T19:32:00.004-04:00

"Exile Island" [SOLD]
This is one of my latest beachy watercolors that I've been painting this week. I call this one Exile Island. I guess I've watched entirely too much Survivor, because the name just seemed to fit. While I'm thinking about it, how come they always pick the most beautiful-looking locations that have such horrible weather? I mean it rains on those people most every night, and of course, they have nowhere to go, so they're just miserable and wet. That must be a prerequisite in picking locations.

Anyway, this painting seemed to name itself. Most of the time I agonize over titles. If nothing clever presents itself, I can sit there and groan over naming a painting for an inordinate amount of time, only to come up with something dopey like "Red Boat." I think I need a Painting Namer - now there's a whole new profession!

These paintings I'm presently working on will be for sale in my local locations - at least for now.

Fun With Acrylics - ACEO Style

2009-03-03T18:51:00.006-05:00

Abstract Flowers 2[SOLD] Abstract Flowers 3[SOLD]Abstract Flowers 1 (Available)

For these latest three ACEOs I started with backgrounds of Napthol Red Medium, Naples Yellow and Chromium Oxide Green Golden Liquid Acrylics combined with White Gesso. These three colors make some lovely shades when combined. As soon as the backgrounds dried, I drew floral images on each of the ACEO-sized pieces of watercolor paper. This size is always a constant 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. Using some darker green combinations of the same three colors and changing the colors frequently from a more green to a more red combination of these colors, also varying intensity and temperature, I painted negatively around my drawings. Then I putzed around a bit to paint in stamens and centers.

The colors proved difficult to correct the photo and adjust for accuracy, but I finally achieved a reasonable likeness. The images look quite nice together against a background of neutral rice paper with a border courtesy of Corel Paint Shop.

ACEOs and Note Cards '>to view ACEOs later in my Etsy Shop in my ACEO Artist Cards Section!

Winds of March Sale!

2009-03-02T09:40:00.009-05:00

I decided to have a sale of some of my pieces that have been in my Etsy Shop, DreamON, for quite some time. It's time to get some new artwork going in; and clean up, clean out, sweep out with the March winds - some things that have been lurking there in the corner unnoticed. So I'm posting a few of them here.

They're all great buys at their newly reduced prices!!! Please go check out my Winds Of March Sale Section. Click here to be transported. The first one is called A Bit Squirrely.

This next one is titled Heceta Lighthouse. The Heceta Head Lighthouse as seen in the distance from the twisting highway along the Oregon coast makes you want to get up close, but the traffic moves right along, and before you know it, you've driven right past. My original painting has real seaweed collaged onto it now.

This next one is called Kitty Daze. For whatever reason, I've always loved this one. The bright and cheerful colors with the cute little sandpaper kitty collaged on just appeals to me.

I had just discovered that the foam thingy that came with my ultra-spendy Stein Mart watch made a wonderful stamping tool that I have gleefully used and used until it just fell apart. It's a happy painting. And, you know, I just love kitties!

The last one in the post is Wind For Sale. It is all one painting that has a black gesso border dividing it into three panes onto which collaged pieces add a slight, colorful quality to the otherwise all black and white. It had a moonlit marina theme. It's not meant to be realistic, but to have that special quality that moonlight casts on objects in darkness.

There are eleven pieces of artwork in the special Winds of March Sale. You will find them all in my Etsy shop at DreamON.Etsy.com.

Ramblings from the Islands In Wet Carpet Land

2009-02-27T05:37:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was kind of a lost day. We made a trip to Tampa for an 11 am appointment and had to be back home in time to have the carpet cleaned at 3 pm. In between we searched for a restaurant that we never found. (I thought I knew exactly where it was until we got there and nothing looked familiar.) So, being really hungry by then, we kept driving until we found a place that almost made us wish we'd skipped lunch. By that time it was 1:30 anyway, so why bother to eat a "Greek" salad they forgot to put dressing on with petrified shrimp nestled in for a treat? I did ask for and receive dressing from the waiter, but even with the dressing this salad wasn't good. The people at the next table over made a complaint and got something comp'ed, I didn't listen carefully enough to figure it out, but I know the waiter gave them a freebee. I just didn't have the heart to make his day any worse by making it two in-a-row, even though the petrified shrimp did qualify.

So on to the carpet cleaning saga. The people on the phone had quoted a price which had to be verified by counting square feet when the carpet cleaner guy arrived, and that price actually turned out to be less than quoted, because our square footage was less. Here's the part that ALWAYS turns me off: the quote didn't include Scotchgarding the carpet, and the guy presented this $114 "extra" as if it were expected. (I hate having one price quoted and finding out a service is much more expensive than expected.) My thing is I don't remember ever paying for scotchgarding a carpet before, and there were times in the past the whole job didn't cost $114 - let alone as an add-on! So our carpet is "unprotected" and will probably shrivel up and crawl away before the end of the month or something. Also it's still damp this morning after keeping the A/C on all night like the guy recommended so it could be completely dry in 5-6 hours. Yeah, right! As soon as it warms up I will have the windows open, thank you very much!

Well, it was a weird evening sitting on our furniture islands in the midst of the wet carpet ocean around us watching TV. We watched Survivor, and this time I think the TV audience was "blindsided," because everyone but the sick guy voted off the sick guy and not Erinn who had been painted as a grinning she-devil by Coach, that we thought they were all going to vote off. Next, watching a taped American Idol, I guessed the winners again. Yay! I'm 6 for 6.

So today I can look forward to coming home and putting all the stuff back in its place from the carpet cleaning yesterday, but first I have to truck my paintings over to Ruth Eckerd Hall for the exhibit. Maybe I can even get some painting done by dinner time. Maybe, I hope!

Palm Island

2009-02-22T18:22:00.001-05:00

As I was sitting at the Artists' Guild Gallery yesterday, I painted this landscape of Palm Island. The day had started out pretty cool, and having the door open early felt pretty chilly, but as customers came and went and sales happened, the temperatures heated up also. It was a good day with enough of a lull at times to paint, but also quite a few visitors kept me busy.

One comment still has me chuckling. A lady said that she thought my husband was posing for me. Well, hello! Unless he looks like a tree, I think he was just sitting there reading. People can be kinda funny, I think!

This one is available in my Etsy shop, DreamON. Click on the photo of the painting for a link to my shop.

Matting 101 - How To's

2009-02-17T18:18:00.000-05:00

This is a brief description of the process for figuring out how to mat an original watercolor into a single mat for a standard size 16 x 20-inch frame. It is the method I learned from a professional framer. There are, of course, other methods people also use.

The original painting is 15 x 11 inches as it is facing right side up. The outside dimensions of the mat will be 20 x 16 inches (also facing right side up). In this example, each side of the mat is going to be 3 1/4 wide. That leaves the size of the opening at 14 x 10 inches. This allows the mat to overlap one-half of an inch on each side, top and bottom of the painting. This is enough to adequately cover the painting without having to worry about an edge showing, and I would recommend no less than that one-half inch.

Also, I would like to say that standard size mats can be purchased from a number of retail outlets. The need for a custom mat comes into play when your color choice for a mat is not something sold in stores or when the size of the painting is not something that will readily fit into a standard size mat.

This example shows the entire painting laying on the foam core. I left the photo with more contrast just to show edges and how it looks laid out.

With the painting on top of a piece of foam core cut to the exact same outer dimensions as the outside of the mat (20 x 16). Place your newly cut mat on top of the painting, and make sure that it is placed where you want it when the mat is aligned with the foam core top, bottom and sides. Take a pencil and mark the upper corners on the foam core when the painting is aligned.

Flip the painting up from the bottom (as if it were hinged at the top of the painting, keeping the top of the painting aligned with the pencil marks you just made).

This photo shows the painting attached to the foam core by tape hinges. To make the hinges, cut acid-free framer's tape (or similar product) in four even strips all cut to approximately 3 1/2 inches long. Tape a piece perpendicular across the edge of the painting attaching the painting to the foam core evenly spaced from the right side and from the left side. Attach a second piece of tape adjacent and overlapping slightly each piece of tape. Then cut four more pieces of tape each 4 inches long.

Tape these parallel to the top edge and perpendicular to the tape strips you just adhered. Two are all that are necessary and those two would be to the foam core, but tape seems to fail here in a humid climate, so I frequently use the additional two pieces as shown on the back of the painting.

The first example shows how the painting looks in the finished mat. Of course, the real mat doesn't have all the numbers scribbled on it.

If you want, you can hinge the mat to the frame at the top. Place the mat face down aligned at the top edge (where the hinge will be) of the side with the painting affixed to the foam core right-side up. Place one strip of tape parallel to the top edge, across the joint between the mat and foam core backing. This joint will be on the wrong side of the mat and the right side of the foam core backing.

All that remains is to put the matted watercolor into your frame.

Valentine's Day Visiting Manatees

2009-02-14T18:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

We spent our day driving around Tampa Bay, literally. We took the long way, over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and up the east side with a stop at Apollo Beach for lunch at a place called Circles, which was very good, but the food could have been more spicy to fit my spice-craving Colorado tastebuds. I ordered the Nut-Crusted Grouper that advertised a Chili sauce, and I was thinking hot Thai Chili sauce. Oh, well, get over it, Mary!

The next stop was at the Big Bend Power Plant where manatees love the warmer water generated by the plant in the winter. A sign posted there said that many manatees had been saved by these warm waters and those of the natural springs whose temperatures year-round stay somewhere just above 70 degrees, as I remember. The temperatures of the Gulf of Mexico this month have been as low as 56 degrees Fahrenheit during a recent cold snap. When the Gulf temperatures fall, manatees move to these warmer areas. They can't live in cold water.

Our favorite area to see manatees is up by Homosassa Springs, but this was a day for a short trip. One big problem for these huge mammals, also called Sea Cows, is when they migrate inland up the rivers to the natural springs, they are clipped by boat propellers when boaters are not extremely careful. Manatees need to come to the surface to breathe, doing what they do naturally, but many boaters forget about them. It is, in fact, hard to avoid them. As my picture shows, this one has come to the top of the water for its breath and a large portion of its body is close to the surface of the water. Here at the power plant, there are no boats, but that isn't true in the rivers and bays around here.

I've seen lots of bumper stickers that say, "Look out for motorcycles - they're everywhere." Just a reminder for boaters, "Watch out for the manatees." They could be anywhere in the shallow areas this time of the year.

New ACEOs

2009-02-11T19:07:00.001-05:00

It was fun this afternoon painting these new ACEOs. They are, like all ACEOs (Artist Cards Editions & Originals), exactly 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. These are all painted on Arches 140-lb. Cold Press Watercolor paper. I loved painting these little stylized poppies.
I laid them all down on a shiny black gesso-painted tissue paper surface, and thought it was fun how much they look like they were almost meant to be together as one. I will be putting them into my Etsy shop soon.

Speaking of black gesso-painted tissue paper, the black gesso makes an extraordinary transformation happen when it is applied to ordinary tissue paper. To try this, make sure you have a plastic bag underneath while painting. The white kitchen bags with the drawstrings work nicely if you cut them open on one side and the bottom and then open them out. The reason for using the shiny white plastic as a surface to paint the tissue paper on is that when it's dry, it's easy to peel off. The resulting product is almost rubbery and makes an interesting collage material. I used it for Molly's hat in my latest Fashion Diva. See previous post.

Fashion Diva Series Continues

2009-02-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted any of my Fashion Divas lately, but just so you know, the series has been quite successful for me, and I just sold the original of Amanda last week at the Artists Guild Gallery on Anna Maria Island. There are no prints at this time. Here's what Amanda looks like (on the right).

The selling of Amanda has prompted me to create Molly. I had the song "Devil With The Blue Dress" running through my mind as I created this painting. Molly is the star in the lyrics of this old 60s (I think) song. It brings to mind a funny thing that happened when I was in college.

The memory that runs through my mind here is my freshman year in the dorm, a few of us who lived on my floor had a party one Saturday night. At that time it was totally illegal to have alcohol in the dorms. Some other girls had gotten caught smuggling beer into the dorm in a pitcher (dripping, I think) earlier in the year, so we knew we had to be smarter than that. One of my friends came up with the idea of getting our beer in by putting it into one of those year-supply size of Kotex boxes, and it worked like a charm. We had a great party, complete with dragging out someone's red dress and a wig hat to dress up in and dance in all decked out, when this other song with those lyrics was played on the radio. (I can't remember how that song's title or how it goes right now). We all had a fabulous time, didn't endanger anyone by driving, we didn't get caught, and nobody got hurt - except for my roomie who ended up with a big hangover.

Anyway, Molly is shown above on the left. She's going to make her debut at the end of this month at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, for our Studio1212 display there in March and April. She is an acrylic with tissue paper collaged on over magazine pictures and a recycled acrylic painting underneath. So there were many layers involved in the creation of Molly. The base is 140-lb Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper.

Fallout of Poor Economy and Flourish Boutique On CNN

2009-02-07T10:15:00.000-05:00

Through my Etsy shop, about a year ago I was contacted by Vanessa Cooreman-Smith of Flourish Boutique & Gallery in South Bend, Indiana. She had had a life-long dream of owning her own business, and it was coming to fruition later that year. She was interested in certain artists who fit into her concept. To make a long story short, I sent her some of my artwork, and she put it into her store. When we were on the road home from our trip last fall, my husband and I stopped in and met her and saw Flourish Boutique in person.

This is a segment of an email I received earlier this week:

"Dear Mary,
FLOURISH is on CNN.com today!
Last week, I filled out an i-report on cnn.com on how the changing economy is impacting my life and business. I was then contacted and interviewed, for the story that is now on cnn.com. Click below to read the full story, on how my husband Stephen and I are working to achieve our dreams despite the economy."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/02/05/economic.survivor3/index.html

The story has apparently solicited so many comments that CNN decided to feature Vanessa and her husband today live on CNN. This is from an email I received late yesterday:Flourish Boutique & Gallery
We will be on CNN TV Live Tomorrow (Sat 2/7/09)
at around 10:35 am

Tune in to hear more about our personal story!
CNN will be broadcasting our 4 minute live interview from the studios at ND. Our story is one in an ongoing series on how the changing economy is impacting families and small business owners around the country.

Wondering Why we are sharing our story, or want to hear more straight from me?
Click here to read my blog:
http://www.flourishboutique.blogspot.com/

XOXO,
Vanessa Cooreman Smith
Flourish Boutique & Gallery

www.FlourishBoutique.com

Steve talked about the value of having attended sessions of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, a program for learning about the importance of reducing debt-load and advocating everyone's need to get out of debt. The two of them talked not only about how the economy has affected their businesses (Steve's a Realtor), but also the personal sacrifices Americans are beginning to make to mitigate their increasing financial woes. Vanessa talked about the changes she has made to the lines of clothing she carries in her store, and how she hopes that will be reflected in sales.

I wish them the very best! The success of small businesses is the lifeblood of our country, because big business has show an amazing lack of fiscal responsibility and planning.

The way I see it, jobs are critical to this economy. People will stop buying if they are not employed. Companies should be rewarded for putting American people to work, not just for their existence, and especially not because they have gotten themselves into trouble by over-compensating executives who thrive on cheating everyone they can. Companies seeking cheaper production costs and sending our jobs overseas has put Americans in real peril. Our government is borrowing against the future and dispersing money like rain. And this makes sense how?

Painting On Tissue Paper

2009-02-04T16:13:00.002-05:00

I had what I call a spirit painting on a piece of watercolor paper with a variety of pastels that seemed a bit too bright for a background. To get a good background this way, wet the watercolor paper thoroughly, let it reach the "sheen" stage, and then drop in the watercolor colors you want. This technique works well to start a modern type of floral where you aren't painting from reality, but you can tell it looks like what it is supposed to be. It's a good start from which to begin painting negatively.

So anyway this particular background was too intense, so I got the idea to cover it with tissue paper which muted the colors considerably. I just applied pieces of tissue paper to the watercolor paper using acrylic gel medium. I liked the result and ended up making two paintings out of it. One of them is a cute little clothesline painting using the scenes I remembered from our Italian trip.

It makes a nice little piece of whimsey! It's painted in acrylics with black marker and a white gel pen to finish up.

For more information, click here.

(This painting sold in February.)

New Awareness

2009-02-03T18:08:00.000-05:00

Now over a week has passed since I last posted about my asthma attack. At the time, I thought I was over the worst of it, but little did I know the dimensions of the event that was unfolding. It has been up and down over and over, and while I can say I think I'm over the worst now, I also have to admit how little I really know about this disease. I have been extremely depressed at times, and I'm sure that has contributed to the uphill road I have found myself on.

When I went in to the doctor for my follow-up visit, I was so weak that the thought of performing the expected breathing test seemed like a hill too high for me to climb. When I realized they weren't going to let me go without doing the test and I finally did it, the results were that the doctor thought I hadn't made any improvement since my hospital visit.

I find myself now on a steroid for a month that has bad side effects, including potential bone loss, which for a person with a family history of osteoporosis is depressing and far-reaching into an old-age like my mother and grandmother suffered. (Expletives deleted.)

To say I am down is so minimal. BUT. . .

I have begun to paint again. This is a painting like those we did in the Mark Polomchak workshop, but on 140 lb. watercolor paper. At the workshop he provided a special illustration board that was fabulous for his techniques. The techniques have to be adapted and thought out to make them work on regular watercolor paper, so I think that I will be working on this for awhile. But anything that makes me think and takes my mind off of myself at this point is good therapy!

Click here to see more details about this painting.

This Describes It

2009-01-23T21:06:00.001-05:00

OK, so now I've managed to have an asthma attack; my first one ever, and it has not been any fun at all. After about 12 hours of coughing and really sensing that I could not get a good breath, I had my hubby take me to the E-room. They told me I had bronchitis and that since I have asthma, it couldn't be distinguished from an asthma attack, so for about the next three hours in the early morning today, I was stuck, x-rayed, wired for EKG and hooked up to a breathing machine. I much prefer sleeping!

So I looked around my files for a painting that describes the ucky feeling. I came up with this one, whose real title is Brain On Martinis. Of course, had it been martinis, it would have been more fun, and it wouldn't have lasted so long or worn me out to this extent. This painting is acrylic on a CT-scan of some disgusting body part or other. I have no respect for the films, especially not tonight. OK, and now photos aren't loading, and this post needs the visual. OK, I got it to load.

Anybody else have experience with this asthma thing, and how do you know when you need help? Because 12 hours is probably way too long to wait, I think.

Results: Two Days Well Spent

2009-01-22T09:40:00.001-05:00

This was my painting that I produced on day one of Mark Polomchak's Bradenton workshop. These colors are difficult to adjust from the painting to the photograph and then to the screen, but probably as close as I can get them. As I said in the previous post, I was amazed at how well all of the paintings turned out - a tribute to the instructor's tried and true techniques, clear instructions and so forth.

This was my painting which was done on the second day. I had really messed up the sky, trying to be cute with clouds and blurring the horizon, but a little scrubbing and airbrushing made it turn out looking amazing, thanks to Mark. I was coming down with a cold, and on my own probably would have abandoned painting for the day, just chalking it up to one of those days that painting doesn't go too well. I am glad I was at the workshop and ended up sticking with it.

These are workshop paintings, and neither will be for sale. I think I'll keep 'em.

Mark Polomchak Workshop In Bradenton

2009-01-20T19:19:00.001-05:00

Today was the first day of an art workshop I'm attending which is being given by Mark Polomchak, an affable instructor from Crown Point, Indiana, with a lively teaching style who paints a variety of subjects from Amish scenes to animals. I got the impression that Mark's art would have wide appeal to all sorts of different people.

Many times in workshops I have had the feeling that though an instructor is intensely competent, and I have learned something I felt was significant, the fact is that artists are the main group who admire the techniques. How many people who are not artists are impressed by really cool negative painting?

Admittedly, negative painting is extremely important to the development of an artist, and being able to do it competently is no small fete. However, the average person on the street has probably no idea what it meant by negative painting, no more than the average bird knows what a nanosecond is.

I was also impressed by his teaching skills, which were evidenced by what seemed to be all-around, pretty decent paintings by everyone in the workshop. That tells me first of all that Mark's teaching techniques were most effective, and he kept the attention of all participants. In addition, even those who claimed to be beginning painters came up with quite nice results and didn't leave the session frustrated as so often happens.

Also, I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

Since it is dark now, and my photography at night is not the greatest, I will post my painting from today another time.

See Mark Polomchak's website to view his work and for more information. http://www.polomchak.com

Fruit of the Gods

2009-01-15T19:34:00.001-05:00

What's Up In The Kitchen? What A Fine Fruit, in the spotlight for tonight, is a watercolor honoring the Bosc variety of pear. The Bosc is known for its long neck and brownish skin color.

Called by Homer, the ancient Greek poet who wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey, "the fruit of the gods," the pear has a lot to live up to. In the United States, second in popularity only to the apple, pears are actually related to them genetically. Most pears are grown in Washington and Oregon where the mild, moist climate promotes optimum growth.

Pears are said to be a healthy choice, being free from fat, cholesterol and sodium. What makes them soften, however is the gift of sugar created from starches as it ripens. It provides the sweet nectar advertised by Homer who was thought to be blind, and therefore who must have been oblivious to the characteristics of over-ripened feminine pulchritude when exposed to a diet of such sugars. Pears, on the other hand provide a wonderful amount of fiber, potassium and Vitamin C. Such is life; balance the benefits against the disadvantages. Enjoy pears! You can especially appreciate this one because its inedible and therefore calorie-free eye candy.

This little pear has been captured and held by a digitally created boundary of burnt sienna which enhances its quinacridone base color. I painted this while I was gallery sitting at the Artists' Guild Gallery this fall on one of the quiet days that season provides. The original painting is a 9 x 12 inch watercolor on Arches Hot Press Watercolor paper. Prints will be for sale here in my Etsy shop, and pears can be found in your local supermarket.

A New Spin On Margarita

2009-01-14T16:32:00.000-05:00

What's Up In The Kitchen? This week I've found a new toy while editing A New Spin On Margarita. Not that the toy hasn't been available to me ever since I've had the Corel Paint Shop software, but I just found it, and I've been having fun trying out the "picture frames" on my new series of paintings which for the most part have a white background. This very lacy one reminds me of a valentine. I had to try it out in six or eight colors before deciding on this one. What's cool is I can print it out this way (on the right) or I can print it out without any background at all.
There are other options available also, including a small band of color, which I like the best of all. Aren't new discoveries wonderful?

Check out A New Spin On Margarita in my Etsy Shop to see this one. Then, come on back!

Pizza For Pam

2009-01-13T18:44:00.000-05:00

What's Up In The Kitchen today? Well, it's Pizza for Pam! Who doesn't love pizza? It's a cinch that Pam loves pizza. Sometimes I wish I had a dress shaped like this. Why? Because Mary loves pizza too. Too much that is.

More about pizza. The first pizza I ever remember was the pizza that was served in my junior high school, and I thought it was terrible. We never had pizza at home, because my dad hated anything that had onions, cheese or garlic as an ingredient. Meat, potatoes and vegetables were the fare in the home I grew up in. Consequently, we never had pizza at home until I purchased a Chef Boyardee pizza mix to try. That was pretty awful too. At this point I could NOT figure out why my friends liked the stuff so much. I didn't find out about pizza at all until I was living away from home at college, and then I found I loved the stuff. A whole new world of culinary experiences was opened up for me. Now I know the pizza in junior high was pretty awful. Ditto Chef.

Some of the world's best pizza places are dumpy little places. Our current favorite pizza comes from one of these. It's possible to eat the pizza there, but a much better idea is to go and get it, and bring it home. We have another favorite restaurant where they have live Blues bands outside on weekends, and that's pretty fun, and the pizza's real good too. Yeah, outside in Florida, even in the wintertime!

Pam is going to come to my Etsy shop in the form of prints, hot off my Epson printer. The first one will be listed tonight. Then you can link to Pizza For Pam right here.

According to the Epson web site, "fade-resistant DURABrite Ultra Inks are light resistant and fade resistant up to 100 years. Light-resistance rating based on accelerated testing of prints on Epson special media, displayed indoors, under glass. Actual print stability will vary according to image, display conditions, light intensity, paper, humidity and atmospheric conditions. Ratings based on ink only; some papers may discolor over time. Epson does not guarantee the longevity of prints. For maximum print life, display all prints under glass or lamination or properly store them." http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?infoType=Specs&oid=56291070&category=Products

I never considered that the ink would last longer than the paper it was printed on. That's something I can just picture: images and letters hanging around after the paper disintegrated. Well, I know that's not what they mean, but the vision is fun to imagine.

New Wine

2009-01-12T13:52:00.001-05:00

What's Up In The Kitchen? New Wine is my painting for today and joins the series. There are no "kitchen peeps" in this painting. Anyway I had been wondering how long wine needs to age before it is drinkable. (This painting sold in February).

So I was exploring the net and found Wine Spectator's top wine for 2008 was a 2005 wine from Chile.

Casa Lapostolle
Clos Apalta Colchagua Valley 2005
96 points / $75
5,987 cases made
Chile

In fact the majority of the top ten were bottled in 2005. Numbers 9 and 10, however were a 2007 vintage.

Mollydooker
Shiraz McLaren Vale Carnival of Love 2007
95 points / $90
2,596 cases made
Australia

Seghesio
Zinfandel Sonoma County 2007
93 points / $24
68,000 cases made
California

If you want to see the whole Top 100 list of wines for 2008, here is the link for Wine Spectator's list in a PDF : http://static.winespectator.com/Wine/Images/Graphics/Redesign/images/top100-2008-atGlance.pdf

Undoubtedly the most famous quotation mentioning new wine is in the Bible in passages where Jesus is questioned about fasting by the disciples of John the Baptist. In Matthew 9:17, "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

The practical application is that wine was stored in the skins of animals in those days. When new wine is put into a wineskin it stretches out, once. If new wine is put into an old wineskin that has already been stretched out, and the fermenting causes bubbles that need to expand, the wineskin would rupture and the wine would pour out. So new wine needed to be put into a new skin, and neither the wine or wineskin would not be harmed in the process.

This is one of the parables of Jesus, using a practical illustration to get across His point. My (while others may agree or disagree, keep in mind it is just mine) simple interpretion could be that Jesus, is telling the followers of John that He is the new wineskin, their legalistic beliefs are impossible to live up to, and now that He has come they need to put their trust (wine) in Him, and not depend on what works they do themselves (old wineskin) to earn salvation.

What's Up In The Kitchen?

2009-01-11T20:52:00.001-05:00

I'm back after taking a holiday break, and I have a new series I've started called What's Up In The Kitchen?. These are kitchen peeps who live in vegetables, fruits, glassware and who knows where else they'll turn up. On the left is Girl Caught Hiding In The Celery. I guess there must be kind of a little miniature celery forest out there in the celery fields, and before they come to the kitchen the little peeps must be out there playing hide and go seek.

I have no idea where the motivation for this series came from, but right now I'm finding the kitchen peeps rather fun to paint. You can just never be sure what's going on in the artist brain, but it's for sure different than what's up with the brain of an average Joe.

My dear hubby reads the newspaper every day. Once upon a time I read the newspaper too - the front page section, the weather, the section with ''Dear Abby" in it, the sports section and sometimes the classifieds. Now I find no time to read the newspaper. I have Etsy to play with, and kitchen peeps to paint, and lots of other art-related activities to attend to. I'm not that one-dimensional, but reading the newspaper just doesn't come to the top of the list very often.

The peeps on the right side are called Carrot Dancer Understudies. I was thinking about calling them Carrot Dancers Waiting For Their Wings, as kind of a play on words for "waiting in the wings", but I decided that understudies conveyed the idea, without making them wingless. After all carrots aren't lacking appendages of any kind, are they?

In any event, I've just started the series, but I can tell you that some of the paintings have peeps and some don't, but they all have to do with nefarious and not so nefarious kitchen activity. Stay tuned.

Interview With Miz Katie

2008-12-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

I got to know Miz Katie a little bit from my convos with her about my Treasury about clotheslines. That has lead to our exchange of features about each other's Etsy shops. The following are questions I posed to her and her answers to my questions.

I notice that you are in Kansas and wondered how long you have lived there?
Almost ten years, minus 2. It's actually a very long story, so I'll try to keep it short. I moved to KS in 1999 from Maine. Ended up moving to West Virginia in 2005. I LOVE West Virginia. But, I came back to Kansas in 2007 to be near family. I will never regret that choice, but honestly, I miss my friends in WV.

Are you in a rural area or closer to KC?
I am in extremely rural Kansas, three plus hours away from KC, and about 40-45 minutes away from Wichita. Except for the 932 people and all the barking dogs, it's a bit like a ghost town here. The grocery store, two restaurants and barber shop were closed when we moved here. There is absolutely nothing to do. It is about a 20-25 minute drive to the nearest little city. But, we have a liquor store, which just opened. I heard it is doing very well. Wine is a top seller.

What do you like about it, and what do you dislike?
I love being near family.
I love my house.
I love the flat land.
I love the hot, arid summers.
I dislike/disagree with the majority of political views.
I dislike people not caring for their animals, and leaving them out all night, barking, no matter what the weather.
I wish the neighborhood kids weren't so loud, disrespectful and rude.
I miss my WV "hillbilly" friends.

Are you involved in any art groups or do you show in a gallery?
Only online. I belong to so many art groups, it would take days to list them all.
I don't think my art fits in a typical gallery.

How long have you been painting?
Oh, gosh! Well, hm..my obsession for painting started soon after I moved to Kansas in 1999..I was very lonely, depressed, and unhappy. I began to paint for that reason. Painting made me come alive. It gave me reason to get out of bed each morning. I couldn't wait to paint..still can't. It's something I look forward to doing every day. Before that, I was more into collage, writing, and photography. I've been published a few times in magazines/newspapers, and several times online.

What time of day do you find is best for you to paint?
Anytime is fine with me. I'm not one who has to sit around and wait for inspiration. I HAVE to paint. It isn't a choice. I usually paint from around 1pm to 7pm, though. That time works for me. I have the morning to get the boring stuff done, and I can play all afternoon. Sometimes, I can't wait for 1pm, though, and I head to the studio as soon as my first cup of coffee is brewed.

What do you like about your work space, and what do you dislike?
I have a pretty big room, which I call my studio. I love everything about it, except that it's freezing cold. I can't seem to get it above 60F in that room, no matter how high I crank the furnace. brr!!! I have to use a space heater the whole time I'm working.

Do you listen to any music while painting, and if you do what kind of music?
Sure, sometimes. I like Alternative. I usually go to Pandora.com and listen to the Foo Fighters station. That gives me non-stop music with no commercials the whole time I paint.

How did your "style" evolve?
Oh, there are so many ways! The most important is that I stopped taking myself and art seriously years ago. I used to be so anal retentive. It was incredibly boring and painful to make art back then. I was so careful. Ugh! The day I learned there are no mistakes in art was the greatest day I've ever lived. I know now that no matter what I do, I can NOT mess up. It's impossible. That's why gesso was created! All I have to do is paint over it if I don't like it, and try again. What a relief! Whew! The pressure is OFF.

I am much happier these days, so I insert humor into my artwork more often than I used to. I like to take something ordinary and twist it until it's humorous. Sometimes, absurdly so. I'm from New England; therefore, I am sarcastic. ;) Most everything I make comes from my imagination, made up stories, exaggeration, half-truths, and complete and utter lies! Oh, there is a pinch of reality thrown in from time to time, but eh.. I like to keep it as unreal as possible.

I hope you have enjoyed this feature on Miz Katie and will check out her Etsy shop, MizKatie!
I think her art is very fresh and lots of fun! Enjoy!

Crazy Days and Crazy Nights

2008-12-09T18:14:00.000-05:00

I have been soooo busy since we got back to Florida. It has always been a fact that summer is a slower, more restful season, and most groups I've been involved with don't have either meetings or shows. So when I arrive on the scene two months late, I feel like the world is spinning extra fast, because there is just so much getting caught up to be done.

I've checked on and updated inventory in shops and galleries, helped hang a group show, participated in a reception for the group show, gone to meetings and board meetings, gallery sat, helped hang my month-long show in a local boutique, designed and had Christmas cards printed and distributed them to various outlets where they are being sold, and even put together a membership database for another group and layed out the membership book and had that printed. I've been to two holiday parties for two groups already, taken a one-day workshop and done a Treasury for Etsy. And this is only the "art-related" activities. All this, just since the first of November!!!

I am looking forward to having TIME, sometime in the future. I wonder what it feels like to actually finish reading a book??? Maybe I could even PAINT!!!! I love being busy, but this feels like crazy busy.

My New Etsy Treasury "Just hanging out"

2008-12-06T19:34:00.000-05:00

As you can see, I've named this treasury on Etsy, "Just hanging out." I love plays on words, and I think this one works. This is my most successful treasury to date. Just looking at it I found it on page 5, and it's not even a day old yet. Just an infant!

I had been looking for subjects for a treasury, and somehow I started thinking about how much fun I had photographing clotheslines in Italy and how much fun I've had painting the two Italian clotheslines that I've painted. So I decided this would be my subject.

I had so much fun seeing what was on Etsy with search words "art" and "clothesline." I found some wonderful things, and I was excited to snag a treasury. Well it's taken me awhile to do that. One time the magic number was down to 336 or something, and I went into the kitchen to work on something - like dinner or something silly like that. I had one eye on the computer and saw the screen flash, but by the time I got to it, the treasuries had already been filled. So this time, the magic number was 347 when I started to stalk the treasury page and wait for the screen to "open, open, open."

Many thanks to MizKatie who offered me access to her blog photo, where she has featured my treasury. Screen shot declined to work for me tonight. She's a fabulously expressive artist so go check out her world at MizKatie .

Please do go look at MizKatie's blog, Miz Katie , and be sure to check out my treasury which can be found on Etsy.com in Treasury under "Just hanging out" . It will expire in two days on December 8th around noon, so look fast.

Christmas Cards and Computer Flu

2008-11-12T19:53:00.000-05:00

I have been in the process of making Christmas cards, and I actually did get as far as printing three different designs on glossy photo paper before the computer had to go to the computer hospital. And, yes of course, it was expensive and it still doesn't quite work right yet!!!! It also made the Christmas card project grind to a halt while I waited for the machine to be fixed.

Anyway, back to the cards - I am going to cut the four-up printed sheets apart and glue the individual images to the cards. The cards also have to be printed with the inside message and the "who-done-it" information on the back.

I thought when I painted the images while I was still traveling that I would be ahead of the season, but instead the joke's on me. Hello! Don't you just love computer jokes!

Sears - An Email About Ethics and Appreciation

2008-11-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

The following is an email I received that made me proud of Sears for treating its employees who are in the called-up reserves with kindness and appreciation for their military service.

Subject: Sears - Christmas shopping has already started

I know I needed this reminder since Sears isn't always my first choice. Amazing when you think of how long the war has lasted and they haven't withdrawn from their commitment. Could we each buy at least one thing at Sears this year?

How does Sears treat its employees who are called up for military duty? By law, they are required to hold their jobs open and available, but nothing more. Usually, people take a big pay cut and lose benefits as a result of being called up.

Sears is voluntarily paying the difference in salaries and maintaining all benefits, including medical insurance and bonus programs, for all called up reservist employees for up to two years.

I submit that Sears is an exemplary corporate citizen and should be recognized for its contribution. I suggest we all shop at Sears, and be sure to find a manager to tell them why we are there so the company gets the positive reinforcement it well deserves.

Pass it on.

Decided to check this before I sent it forward. So I sent the following e-mail to the Sears Customer Service Department:

I received this e-mail and I would like to know if it is true. If it is, the Internet may have just become one very good source of advertisement for your company. I know I would go out of my way to buy products from Sears instead of another store for a like item, even if it's cheaper at that store.

This is their answer to my e-mail:

Dear Customer:

Thank you for contacting Sears.The information is factual. We appreciate your positive feedback.

Sears regards service to our country as one of greatest sacrifices our young men and women can make. We are happy to do our part to lessen the burden they bear at this time.

Bill Thorn
Sears Customer Care
webcenter@sears.com
1-800-349-4358

Please pass this on to all your friends. Sears needs to be recognized for this outstanding contribution and we need to show them as Americans, we do appreciate what they are doing for our military!!!

It's verified ! By Snopes.com at:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/sears.asp

Artist Workshop With Carol Frye

2008-11-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

For the last two days I have been taking an art workshop which was called "Subtle and Sophisticated Collage Workshop," with Carol Frye of Lakeland, Florida (http://www.carolfrye.com ), an award-winning artist who holds signature memberships in six different well-known acrylic and watercolor societies. She has been featured in the " Ones To Watch" feature in the December 2007 Watercolor Magic and also published a few other times in this magazine and several other artist publications. Check out her website to see pictures of her wonderful artwork.

We prepared backgrounds for our collages using several different starting techniques and then prepared some artistic tissue papers to use in the collages which we then began by layering the three primary colors to produce dark but rich, colorful neutrals before laying on any collage materials. This in itself is so different for me, as I am wild for color.

I am sharing three of my projects here. The first one on canvas is largely a prepared background (above), just to show here how much preparation has already gone into the painting before any detail is ever added. This is the result of quite a few layers of paint on the textured canvas. I took my first photos after dark last night using an overhead light and a flash - probably the worst conditions to take photos, but I wanted to do my blog, and I intended to replace them today when the light is much better, which I have now done.

You will notice also, in addition to better pictures, that I have now finished the two last paintings.

Creatures From The Trip

2008-10-22T06:12:00.001-04:00

We are now in the process of traveling back to Florida. I thought it would be nice to share with you some of the animals we have seen on our trip. The first one is this lovely white-tailed deer who ran across the road in front of our car somewhere in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Not to worry, it was a long ways from us, but such a lovely creature!

It was a very interesting day for critters, as not much later we found bison crossing under the highway (through an underpass) and were able to get some great shots of them both before they disappeared into the tunnel and after they reappeared on the other side of the road. Buffalo aren't especially rare, but we hardly ever see them, and it's fun to imagine what the plains must have looked like when there were thousands of them roaming free.
Then we went on to Mount Rushmore and saw these stone critters. What an amazing feat of human artistry this mountainside is! Seeing pictures of it is not adequate to describe the size of this work of art, because it really is unimaginable that someone sought out to create these images out of a mountainside. I have never noticed the glasses on Teddy Roosevelt until that day.

While we were at Mount Rushmore, we saw these mountain goats. At first they were drinking from a puddle in the parking lot, but that isn't a very cool place for them to be. They were obviously accustomed to people and showed no fear of us, but a dog barked, and they took off. This photo of them in a more natural environment is my favorite.Hope you enjoyed the critters, because I've had a lot of fun taking their pictures. It's what I do when we're on the road and there's no time to paint.

Beautiful Fall Colors To Share

2008-10-09T18:05:00.001-04:00

We have been admiring the beautiful fall colors in the mountains of Colorado and taking lots of pictures. it was a crisp, fall day when I took the photo that inspired this little watercolor. I loved the contrast between the pale blue-green of the sage in the foreground with the gold of the Aspen trees in the background and the dark green and gold-greens of the tall evergreen in the mid-area. The far-away trees on the mountains lose their dark color because of the atmosphere and the distance.

Here are some additional photos we took that day. You can see just how incredibly beautiful, that Autumn's gold dress looks on the hillsides.

I have put Colorado Gold up in my Etsy shop, DreamON. Click here for more information.

The Italian Wash Job - ORIGINAL Mixed Media Watercolor and Acrylic on paper

2008-10-07T20:57:00.001-04:00

It's finally done!

I started talking about this painting on July 12th as a sort of demo and did another feature on it on August 7th. Then I got busy preparing paintings for art shows, and did not get back to working on it again until this week. Final touches included straightening the lines of the shadows with acrylics and painting shadows under the laundry with a watercolor mixture of Cobalt Blue, Winsor Violet and Burnt Sienna.

I wasn't sure until the shadows went in that I was going to even like it, but they made a tremendous difference. One thing that has befuddled me for quite awhile is where the focal point is. I like the pane on the left the best, but the pane on the right is bigger and closer. Theoretically it should be where the center of interest is found; so I put some red socks there and increased the contrast of light and dark in this pane, but I still am more interested in the left pane, and I think it still dominates. I look at the lower window in the left pane, and I'm not sure that is a bad thing. After all it is located in the Golden Triangle. Where do you think the focal point is located?

More information about this painting is located here:

It's All About Art -- Well Almost!

2008-09-26T18:55:00.000-04:00

The Glenwood Springs Fall Art Festival is in full swing from September 24-28 this year. This annual event held in the lower level of the Ramada Inn in Glenwood Springs, CO is in its 46th year. When the founding members of the Glenwood Springs Art Guild began the festival, they never envisioned it would grow to the largest non-juried event in the state with 375 artists participating. Each two-dimentional artist or sculptor is allowed two entries and pottery artists up to five. This alone would be a major project, but there is a separate contest by the Chamber of Commerce to pick the winner for the annual Christmas card and a separate category for Guild members to paint to a theme which this year is "Me and My Shadow." There are probably 20 of each of these, but also there is the Bargain Bin, an area where each participating artist can enter 6 or 8 (if a Guild member) more paintings. In the Bargain Bin the highest price is $125 and there are many fine paintings to choose from at this price and less.

The event is judged by three judges which come from different genres themselves. There are categories for amateur, advanced and professional artists, and awards are presented in each medium allowed in the show. At the end of the week there is an awards banquet, but one of the things that makes this show special is the Art Purchase Patrons who have agreed to purchase at least one work of art from the galleries. A special dinner early in the week is held for these wonderful supporters of the art community, and then, with their Purchase Award ribbons clutched tightly, there is a stampede to the galleries as they are simultaneously let loose to run and claim their prized piece of art.

In 2007 over $120,000 worth of art exchanged hands during the festival. That is one thing that keeps the artists coming back, but perhaps the most important fact is that this festival provides support to 22 area schools, plus substantial scholarship awards are given annually to the lucky scholarship award winners who will go on to the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Denver.

Come to the art show, and then enjoy the marvelous hot springs pool. This wonderful facility, located within walking distance of the Ramada Inn and along the Colorado River, is 600+ feet long of pure pleasure for swimmers and soakers alike. The temperature in the big pool is 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the therapy pool is 104 degrees. The site has modern shower facilities, restaurant/snack bar and a gift shop for all your needs.

Miniature Horses - Cute Animals

2008-09-14T15:05:00.001-04:00

A year or so ago I took some photos of the tiniest horse I have ever seen with the thought in mind that one day I would paint it. Such a precious sight, it was the cutest baby, only a few days old, and with its mother at a street fair in Colorado. A little child had reached out to make friends with the foal, and because the little boy was unsure, he kept his left hand on his outstretched right arm as if to pull it back if the horse took a nip. It was a cute sight, and both of the babies (horse and human) were delightful to watch.

I had seen miniature horses before, but never a baby one. This horse was so incredibly small, yet exhibiting perfect, yet tiny, characteristics of a horse and acting like quite like a horse and not any other species, even though it was the size of a dog.

According to Wikipedia, "The American Miniature Horse Association AMHA was founded in 1978 and was dedicated to establishing the Miniature horse as a distinct breed of horse. In the AMHA, Miniatures cannot exceed 34 inches at the withers (which the AMHA defines as located at the last hair of the mane). There are two divisions in American Miniature Horse Registry (AMHR) - the "A" division for horses 34 inches (86 cm) and under, and the "B" division for horses 34 to 38 inches (86 to 97 cm).

The AMHA standard suggests that if a person were to see a photograph of a miniature horse, without any size reference, it would be identical in characteristics, conformation, and proportion to a full-sized horse.

According to the AMHR, a "Miniature should be a small, sound, well-balanced horse and should give the impression of strength, agility and alertness. A Miniature should be eager and friendly but not skittish in disposition."

I was painting animal pictures one day this week, and decided to paint this little one. You can find more information about my painting by clicking right here.

Driving Around Colorado

2008-09-07T08:28:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend we were delighted to have a visit from some Florida friends, and we all did some driving around Western Colorado. I am sharing with you, this morning, some of the sights as you travel around here in the early Fall.

Shown at left are rafters near Glenwood Springs. With record snows this past season, there is still plenty of water in the rivers for rafting and kayaking.

At right is a stately Cottonwood tree on the banks of the beautiful Colorado River.

Next is what's left of a dinosaur, I think. Most of his backbone covers the top of this ridge.

Of course there is this luxury housing found near Eagle, at right below.

Scrub Oak is very common with its acorns now, but just a few weeks away these small trees will turn magnificent colors for a very short, short time before turning brown and dropping their leaves.

This is just a glimpse of Colorado's sights, and it all reminds me that I must get busy and paint.

ACEOs Come To The Blog

2008-09-02T15:31:00.000-04:00

OK, I'm following the leaders and have started creating ACEOs. There are many shop owners on Etsy creating ACEOs, and it really does offer an inexpensive way for a buyer to start collecting art. The ones in this post are the first I've done on Etsy.

The ACEO acronym stands for Artist Cards, Editions and Originals. The only rule for making your very own ACEO is that it be exactly 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches or 64 x 89 mm (which is the same exact size as are baseball cards) . ACEOs grew as an offshoot of Artist Trading Cards which had the stipulation that they be traded and never would any money change hands, in fact, trading face to face was the desired means of transfer. However, this is the real world, and reality is that the real world is a commercial pig, and somebody started selling them. Soon they began "trading" on eBay, and the rest is history.

Actually, before I ever heard of Artist Trading Cards or ACEOs I find I've made very similar cards only a quarter inch smaller in each direction for the Glenwood Springs Art Guild for quite a few years. We use these as place cards at our annual banquet. A stand-up tag is applied to the back of each, and it's always fun to walk around the tables and see who got who's mini painting. At the end of the evening we take our place card home if we wish, and we have a new piece of art.

There are oodles of ways you can use these mini pieces of art. You can find frames which are magnetic and put them on your fridge, or you can put them into a larger frame and hang it either alone or in a grouping of your ACEO artwork. They can be put into plastic sleeves made just this size in an album and display it on your coffee table for guests to enjoy. You can scrapbook with them, use them to decorate your handmade book covers, and the list goes on.

I've joined in the fun of the Great ACEO Swap Thread on Etsy started by Trinkets Treasures, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what my swap partner (Rustic Diva Designs) will send me.

Just click on any of the above ACEOs to get more info about them.

New Travels Among The Leaves

2008-08-30T14:45:00.000-04:00

Poor Blog! It was neglected all last week while we went on a foray to the Pacific Northwest. There was too much for me to do, to consider blogging last week, and so I took a blog break.

I wish I enjoyed flying like my husband does, but I fit kind of wedged into the too small space of one of these tin cans. If they would only take one row of seats out and distribute the space evenly among the remaining rows of seats, it would make a real difference in comfort, especially to tall people. But that would mean the airline's losing out on five full fares, so I'm going to ask you a small favor: the next time you fly, have mercy on whoever is behind you with legs and please do not recline the seat.

Luckily the flights were pretty short, but coming back my “neighbor” in the aisle seat had this super-annoying habit of repeatedly pulling at her “forelock” (grown-out bangs or what ever you call that bunch of hair that is shorter than the rest). I guess this behavior must have been comforting to her, but it absolutely made me feel like restraining her hands behind her back with one of those twister thingys. But I didn’t have one of those; consequently, it just made me really uncomfortable. I mean this was extreme, because she didn’t just occasionally push back her hair or pat it to make sure it stayed where it was. After a constant one and a half-hour toying with this hair thing, no kidding, I was looking for the whole thing to come out in her hand.

Well enough about air travel. . .on to more fun things.

Although it was at least 20 degrees hotter returning to Colorado than it had been in Oregon and even though no trees have started turning, I just have this feeling that autumn will be early this year.

For the last few years, fall has made me wanting to make leaf prints. This year is no exception, and on the road back I was collecting leaves of different kinds and shapes for my projects.

What I do next is to paint the back of the leaf (or leaves) I’m using with white Gesso. Then I place those, with the painted side down, on watercolor paper and use a brayer to roll over the top side. I do this while thinking about a pleasing arrangement of leaves on the paper. When dry, the imprint leaves will be white on white paper and not be overly visible. You can use the painted leaves over and over again until you run out of paper and motivation.

The next step is to get out the watercolors, and paint over the leaves which will resist the watercolor paints. It is a fun thing to do, and other than messy, rewarding with its results.

I will be putting some of these up in my Etsy shop before long and wlll post the clickable addresses as I do. The image on your right is called Leaf Season. Click here for more info.

Smashing Flowers

2008-08-19T19:14:00.000-04:00

OK, I've heard of smashing pumpkins and Smashing Pumpkins. But, have you ever thought about smashing flowers as an art form? A fellow artist sent me an email about Betsy Dillard Stroud's article which you can find by clicking here. Look for Printing with a Hammer, August 07, 2008, by Betsy Dillard Stroud. It looked interesting, so yesterday I gathered some flowers and leaves of different kinds including stems. Then I prepared my watercolor paper, padded it, laid wax paper over it, and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of some innocent plant life. (I'm still not feeling good about this.) Anyway, this first photo on the left is what my initial effort looked like.

Still feeling sorry for the flowers, this morning I thought I needed to make as much as I could out of it, so I grabbed a Tomball pen and my watercolors and went to work. First, I outlined to find the flowers and leaves that were obvious and invented a few more . Then I began to do some negative painting with the watercolors, and by now I'm not feeling so bad about the flowers, now that I've made something that I like a lot more. I hope you will like it too!

It's something different. It really doesn't matter if you use some kind of dillapidated flowers though, so if you get a chance you might try it with some past-their-prime poseys. I guess you could also try it with some blooming weeds you want to clear away anyway or on that bouquet you get from someone you now dislike with a passion (to relieve stress).

Click here for more information about this painting.

Memories of Cottonwood Trees

2008-08-15T12:42:00.000-04:00

This painting is about cottonwood trees, not just one like you see in the photo, but remembrances from my life that these trees bring to mind. There were the childhood tire swings that were so much fun, and the fallen leaves that needed to be raked into piles to play in.

I remember many trips across the Great Plains where these are practically the only trees you see for miles and miles.

There was the painting workshop I took, in the mountains on someone's ranch ,where one of the painters was holding used brushes in her mouth. (The rest of us were voicing whispered speculations about her early demise from heavy metal poisoning acquired from Cobalt, Cadmium, Titanium - all lovely ingredients of paints.) This had nothing to do with the tree we were painting, but the memory of painting the tree includes this scenario.

I loved the volunteer trees that came up in our yard from seeds along our driveway that we transplanted and watched grow into 30 ft. trees. Of course, there's the annoying cotton floating in the air at times, but as a child I remember chasing after it floating in the air.

Cottonwood trees are a part of my memories and therefore of me. I understand just how welcome is their shade in a hot snd treeless area. I appreciate just how fast they grow, but also remember cleaning up fallen limbs and green leaves from an unseasonal heavy snow.

This painting was taken from the photo of the cottonwood that I took on that 104 degree day as we drove through Oklahoma and Kansas a few weeks ago. I tried to capture the feeling of dry heat and the late summer bleached out dry prairieland grasses in my watercolor painting. Purchase information about the painting entitled Old Cottonwood can be found by clicking here.

I Found The Best Store Ever!

2008-08-13T11:23:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we spent the day in Denver running errands and enjoying the day just poking around. It's always fun to visit somewhere you've lived for a long time just to see what's new and what the old stuff looks like. It's been 12 years now, and much has changed.

Here's what made the trip really special though: I found the greatest store, and I want to pack it up in my car and take it all home. The store is Donohue Paper Emporium. Next best thing: they have a website!http://www.donahuepaper.com/store_info.cfm

Donahue Paper Emporium
7286 South Yosemite St.
(between Arapahoe & Dry Creek in Centennial) Englewood, CO 80112

There are note papers in any color your heart desires with matching envelopes. They have mailing boxes and pouches of all sizes and shapes, bubble wrap by the foot, foamcore the size of a twin bed, plastic sleeves in a bunch of sizes. These are just the tip of the iceberg. I could have spent a lot of money and a lot of time in this store, because I just love paper stores, but this one is the best ever!

Back To Painting Again - Creative Process

2008-08-07T20:11:00.000-04:00

Hello! After two weeks of travel, we have reached Colorado where we will be for the next couple of months. It's familiar territory for me, since it was home for many years. I feel so blessed to get to spend time in two places that have such natural beauty and yet are so different from one another.

When we reached Denver, that city was almost at the end of a 25-day streak of 90 degree days, and incredibly they have only had a bit over three inches of rain this whole year. The afternoon before we left there was a big fire in the grassland of Green Mountain which came so very, very close to a neighborhood of expensive homes. As we drove up in the hills we could see the charred remains of the fire which covered somewhere around 900 acres on the east side of the mountain.

Today I got to paint with my friends in the Glenwood Springs Art Guild and enjoyed chatting with them and catching up on what had happened since I last saw them. I did make some progress on the Italian wash job painting that I previously shared on the blog. This is the painting I had started before we left on our trip. The first few steps in creating this painting can be found on the blog dated July 12th entitled Creative Process. (Click to refresh your memory).

Today I started adding watercolor to the inside squares (the background is all acrylic). I could hear Pink Floyd singing Just Another Brick In The Wall
as I painted the stones using many different colors, mixing bits of cobalt blue, burnt sienna, quinacridone gold, Winsor purple, brilliant orange and a little caput mortem from time to time. But first I painted the sky in the left panel and all of the windows.

Of course, after I stepped back from the painting I could see some issues I will have to keep in mind in the next painting session, the most bothersome to me is the almost "kiss" at the left bottom edge of the roof. I am also going to have to be very cognizant of the colors of the stone and not let everything blend together into the background. I am now thinking about making the right square more blurred so that the effect would be like a camera tightly focusing on the left square. Also, I'm not finished outlining the squares and creating the shadow effect I want.

Taking a photo of your paintings when they are still unfinished and looking at them on a computer screen helps also to point out any color issues. I found that the window reflections are not reflecting the sky color, and I will need to address this also.

So, that's where I am after this painting session. There will be more to come. Stay tuned.

What Does 104 Degrees Look Like?

2008-08-01T21:36:00.000-04:00

As we were traveling through the country in an air-conditioned vehicle today (Thank You, God), the temperatures this afternoon were hovering between 104 and 106 degrees outside. So not wanting to go outside and paint (so what, am I nuts?), I thought I would take some pictures so that you could see just what heat looks like. You will notice you see no people in these photos and very few cars.
Cottonwood trees are like the sentinels of the plains. Their structure very often has multiple trunks, and they grow quite rapidly, but as you might imagine with the fast growth, they are not strong trees and oftentimes and early fall or late spring heavy snow will break their limbs or even cause one of the trunks to fall. However, on this hot August day it wasn't snowing.

It wasn't too hot for cows though, and we saw quite a few today. Now yesterday when there were ponds scattered around, we sometimes saw the cows standing in the ponds. Today there were no ponds, just circular metal storage containers, and frequently the cattle were gathered around closeby.

I'm saying it wasn't too hot for cows, but then I didn't stick around to watch and see if any of them keeled over after we passed. Also, I know that people who are familiar with the bovine genus do not refer to them as cows, but I am a city girl, and they moo; hence, they are cows.

Another common sight on The Great Plains of the USA is the grain elevator. These stately white structures can be seen for miles and miles on a nice, clear, hot day like today.

So what can we surmise from these photos to describe how 104 degrees looks? Nobody human is outside if they can help it. Cows are pretty much stuck with it to do what cows do. Depending where you are, there has either been enough rain for the grassland to be still green or so little it has already been bleached out by the sun, and the more dried out it looks, the hotter it feels. No matter how you look at it though, the foliage cannot be described as lush. The skies are almost cloudless. Does this describe what 104 degrees looks like? All of the above photos were taken in Oklahoma or Kansas on August 1, 2008. They will make nice reference material for later paintings.

On To Tennessee

2008-07-29T20:26:00.000-04:00

A few days have passed since my Charleston post. Over the weekend we visited with our daughter and her two lovely pussycats. The pretty gray one, Shadow, was selected from a shelter by our daughter years ago and is now 14 years old, but she was a part of our family for a long time and, eccentric as she is, we miss her and her antics.

Shadow (above)

The other kitty, Gizmo, is kind of skittish with us, but loves to be outside on the porch and didn't need to keep us company.

The photos are some of the sights we have enjoyed in the last few days in our travels across the USA. This mill in North Carolina is still in operation and has a shop in the back with different types of flours you can buy which have been ground there. This was something I've never seen before and was not only very picturesque, but also quite interesting.

The geese were at the mill and were quite obviously welcomed heartily with goose food in the feeder. What do you feed a goose? Probably something delicious (to a goose) from the mill, aka grinding leftovers.

Then we came to Tennessee and found these Queen Anne's Lace everywhere. OK, they're weeds, but they are beautiful anyway.

The Queen Anne's Lace were in a field by this wonderful old barn and water or fuel storage container on stilts. This was just such a great scene and will probably end up in at least one painting someday. Oh, I do take these photos with the idea in mind to paint them, and by now they number in the thousands. I could paint for the rest of my life and never catch up to all the photos I've taken with painting in mind.

Make new goals. Paint, paint, paint!

Oh, just to remind everyone, my Etsy shop, DreamON is still open during all of my travels. As soon as I can, I will be painting new things from my trip and getting them in there too. Click here to go to my shop.

On To Beaufort, Isle of Palms and Charleston

2008-07-24T21:44:00.000-04:00

After leaving St. Simons Island, we continued north and had lunch this morning in Beaufort, SC and then did some walking around to look at shops and then took some pictures of their beautiful marina. You can find this and more info at http://www.beaufort.com/ , "Known for its Southern hospitality and casual seaside charm, Beaufort reigns as the 'Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands.' With its scenic waterfront charm, quaint shops and historic homes, Beaufort beckons, encouraging visitors to drift back in time and experience Southern hospitality at its finest."

After leaving Beaufort we headed further north and east to the Charleston area where we headed out to the Isle of Palms. I have read a number of books about this area, and I wanted to see firsthand where they took place. Isle of Palms is 7 miles long and 1 mile wide and has about 5,000 full-time residents. The following is a quote from the city of Isle of Palms website, "Novels and poetry have been written about the Isle of Palms. Those who live here and those who visit here seem changed forever because of the island and its people. Some arrive and never leave. Others must return year after year to get their dose of Isle of Palms to sustain them."

We ate on the screened porch of a lovely spot on the waterfront and clouds came in to shade us and cool us off from the 90-degree temperatures.

When the sun started to peep out again, the water just sparkled. However, it only sparkled where the sunlight touched it, and the rest remained gray.

We had shrimp and grits for the second time on this trip. The first time I ever heard of this unique combination, I thought, "WHAT?" But I have found that most times it is deliciously spicy and can come with Andouille sausage, pancetta, tomatoes, cheese, onions, and peppers. At least these are the combinations I have found so far, and I really, really like it. We have even had this at Emeril's place in Nawlins, so it is found at chi chi places too!

I did this painting of the view from our restaurant. It is entitled, West From Isle of Palms. (I sometimes astound myself at the clever titles.) It is done in Yarka watercolors and Sharpie markers on Arches 140-lb. Cold Press Watercolor paper. To see more info at my Etsy shop, DreamON, click here.

St. Simons Island, Georgia

2008-07-23T16:58:00.000-04:00

This fresh little watercolor is my Painting A Day coming fresh from my plein aire session this morning on location in St. Simons Island, Georgia. As I sat in the bright sunshine on the pier I was able to capture this 104-ft. tower while enjoying the banter taking place between the fishermen who as far as I was able to determine are probably regulars. Looking back to my left, a giant coastal oak sprawls to the left and some smaller trees are on the left with a lush green lawn in front. The lawn ends abruptly with a breakwater of large rocks dropping off to water below. Last night at low tide there was a small area of beach. This long fishing pier juts out to a "T" at the end. The initial part of the pier is covered, but I was unable to see the lighthouse under cover and had to paint in the sun.

If you want to know more history about the lighthouse, click here. Then be sure to click your back arrow to come back to my blog.

It took some adjusting in Photoshop to get the blues even close to correct. Blues and reds are tough to tweak, unless you get lucky and your camera catches the color just right. I took photos outside under cloudy skies, inside on a white background by a window, and inside away from the window but in very good light. The low light photo turned out to be the best, but still didn't pick up the blue of the sky just right or the greens in the oak tree. All I have to say is that I am so much happier with the painting than I am with the photo, but I guess the painting is what's most important, huh?

For purchase information about this 7 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch watercolor painted on professional quality (Arches 140-lb Cold Press) watercolor paper with Yarka watercolors, click here. St. Simons Lighthouse is available in my Etsy shop, DreamON.

My Traveling Art Gallery Hits The Road

2008-07-20T21:39:00.001-04:00

I have been absent from the blog for awhile trying to get a myriad of tasks completed before the deadline, which is when I leave for an extended road trip. Since we will be gone a long time, I had to consider what will fit in the car, and so many of the pieces from my Etsy shop are either too large or too bulky to bring along. I will be open for business as I drive along the roads of America and intend to ship my artwork to my customers without any delay. Have Computer, Will Travel!

Some of the places we will be stopping on our trip are places that we've never been before, while many are slightly familiar, but I'm sure changed since we last saw them. I'm planning on keeping a kind of travel journal thru photos, sketches and paintings which I will share on the blog, as we go. It should be fun. Stay tuned. The first mystery location will debut mid-week.

Meanwhile, I just put this little painting up in my Etsy store. It was painted five years ago, but being a mood painting of a little fishing village, it is timeless. The colors are muted, as a storm approaches. The name of this art is what else, Fishin' Village. Click here to obtain more information from my Etsy shop, DreamON.

Creative Process

2008-07-12T16:13:00.000-04:00

Today I am going to give a little bit of insight into my thought process as I begin a new painting. It is going to be a fairly large painting, and it will take a little more time to complete than some of my painting-a-day smaller ones.

First the idea came into my mind that I would like to do a painting about clotheslines and clothes hanging on a clothesline. So I got out my photos of Italy taken in 2004 and found this one (shown top left). We saw laundry hung out to dry throughout Italy, and I thought it leant a lot of charm to the towns and cities. I took quite a few pictures of laundry, but unfortunately most were side shots that didn't turn out well, so this front shot is the one I came back to. Next I went to find a photo of the painting (Hung Out To Dry) that I had done before, using this photo as inspiration (shown top right). This painting had sold right away, and I remembered liking it and thinking I wouldn't mind keeping it around to have for myself.

Then I did some sketches of building and laundry, and more buildings with laundry, and came up with this one. I liked the idea of it being more than just a picture of that subject and having the space broken up with shapes within shapes.

I started out thinking my focal point would be on the bottom left where the dark dress hangs, but by the time I had finished this sketch, I had decided to make the focal point in the right square. The idea of a blue background was my initial concept, but the square on the left has blue sky at the top (similar to the first painting), and this bothered me. So when I painted the background I made it a darker value of textural simulated stone. I will paint the sky in the left square a nice blue, and in the right bottom windows I will show the blue again reflecting the sky. I will probably find blue somewhere else - maybe in some of the laundry.

Here is where I am right now with the painting which is on a half-sheet of watercolor paper. I have painted in acrylics. I have shaded the left sides
of the "squares" to make it look like papers laying on a surface. The "square" on the right will have shading on top of the middle square, so that there will be an illusion that it is on top of the rest of the "squares."

I am planning a sandstone kind of finish for the buildings and some nice colorful laundry blowing across the page.

Painting Of The Day - Yellow Margarita

2008-07-09T20:16:00.000-04:00

I seem to be continually falling behind on the Painting A Day plan. I had an artist friend over yesterday, and we talked and painted and talked for close to 7 hours with a little dinner in the middle, and this little painting is my complete effort for the day yesterday. Today I painted with the group at Studio 1212 and only came up with a start for a larger half-sheet painting. Tomorrow I sit in the Artists Guild Gallery on Anna Maria Island. Sometimes when there aren't many customers I can complete a painting. It hasn't been really busy when I've been there the last two Thursdays, but just as soon as I plan on it, we will be busy. So goes the Painting A Day plan.

Anyway I hope you like this little painting, Yellow Margarita. I went out and picked the daily bloom from my ailing hibiscus plant (that I talked about a few days ago on the blog) and put it into a margarita glass, and I liked the complementary (or close to complementary) color scheme of the display. So while Nancy and I talked and painted, this is what was developing on my side of the table while she was doing some watercolor sketches on her side. This watercolor painting is 7.75 x 7.5 on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor Paper. Look closely, and you can read the Arches trademark in the lower right-hand corner of my photo. My DH's camera takes such amazing pictures that you can almost see the tooth of the paper. Please check my Etsy Shop, DreamON for more info about the painting (and others) by clicking here.

A Single Gull on the Fourth of July

2008-07-04T17:12:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I feel like a single girl in my own house. I'm alone in my art room creating or working on the computer or something. There's a ball game on in the livingroom and therefore a complete other zone. Go Rays! Nothing against baseball. The kids next door are playing with poppers in eager anticipation of tonight's fireworks, I'm sure. So the Single Gull and I have much in common. We're alone in our world - kind of.

A Single Gull is a watercolor I painted yesterday while I was Gallery-sitting at the Artists' Guild Gallery in Holmes Beach. She is 7.5 x 7.75 inches on Arches Watercolor Paper using Yarka watercolors. These are my "travel" paints which are very compact and have a lid that comes off and doubles as a palette. These paints are intense colors which come in pan form.

For more information on A Single Gull click on it's name.

Happy Birthday USA! Time to say thank you to our founding fathers for conceiving the Declaration of Independence and coming up with such a document while leaning heavily on the model for the theory of social compact in John Locke's Two Treatises of Government. It is a good time to reflect and give thanks to God for these 232 years since that document was hammered out and signed.

Midsummer Amaryllis

2008-07-01T20:59:00.001-04:00

Behold the lovely Amaryllis. I can't forget the first time I saw one of these plants, because it had that, "This just can't be real," appearance. The stems were very, very long and coming from a much smaller pot, but atop the stems were these great, big, enormous, exquisite and showy red blooms. It was only a few years ago, and I had no idea such a beautiful plant even existed.

The blossoms fit my concept perfectly for what I was trying to paint today which was a vignette. I painted two of them, which are quite similar, and I still have another idea for a third which is not a vignette but a gradated background. This first one I took from a photo that I had photoshopped with a special effect that had a lot of exaggerated shadowing on the right sides. The second one is more or less a loosey, goosey watercolor with no special effects.

Hopefully tomorrow I will do the third one.

Anyway I have placed the first one up for adoption on my Etsy site, DreamON. You can find out more about it there including how you may purchase it by clicking here.

Afternoon Delight Rescuing An Old Painting

2008-06-27T17:34:00.000-04:00

Fixing up old paintings is always fun. I can look at them periodically when I am looking for something and never see anything I want to do to change a painting. Then suddenly the inspiration hits me, and I have to "fix it."

I originally created this collage five years ago (dated on the back) and found it again this afternoon. It is a mixture of watercolor, acrylic and things I found in magazines.

It was just way, way too dark over all, so I covered the dark top parts with white gesso and let that dry, then mixed up some pale Hansa yellow acrylic up and proceeded to let the sunshine in. That is the effect I feel now when looking at the painting. It is joyful now, where before it was just kind of dark, but I didn't see it until today.

For additional information or purchase info, click here.

Life Under Construction

2008-06-26T18:19:00.000-04:00

I took this photo a few minutes ago of a beautiful yellow Hibiscus blooming outside. We have had such difficulty with our little "farm" on our deck this season, because of what I think is mealy bugs. First they attacked a nice red hibiscus we had to throw out. Next we threw out a tomato plant, followed by a basil plant. Now the little nasties have attacked my prize yellow hibiscus plant. A couple of weeks ago I started hand to hand combat with them by treating it leaf by leaf with an alchohol rub of each leaf and sticking a swabbed q-tip into the new growth areas. I took a risk, not knowing if I would be killing it, but by the next day I could see it had recovered a bit. Each time I would see the white cottony crud, I would hit it with more alcohol, until finally we got this whole blossom. Up until now, they had a portion of the bloom which had been stunted. But, alas, I see more yuk I will have to go and attack. If anyone has a suggestion how to eliminate these little critters I would love to hear about it.

I spent the morning sitting in the gallery in Anna Maria Island this morning. It was very quiet there. When it was time to leave, it was about to storm outside. We decided to find a place to wait it out before coming back across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It rained a boat-load while we were having our lunch.

Thought I would show you what has happened to this painting since I took it down off my Etsy site. I first described the technique I used to create my painting surface here on the blog on March 27th, in an article named "Fun With String and Glue." However, I never liked the painting, and I eventually painted over it. I am putting it aside so I can look at it for awhile and decide how I can finish it. Which do you like better, before or after the start-over?

Oh Hey, there's some toes!

Shoemania Alive and Well

2008-06-20T15:50:00.000-04:00

What woman doesn't just luuuuuv shoes? Well, maybe a few, but most of us would love to challenge Imelda Marcos for collecting many, many pairs of shoes if we had the means, the feet that could wear them comfortably and the space of course. We would also have to live with someone that understood a girl and her need for shoes and not go postal with the arrival of each new pair.

This brand-spanking new pair of peep-toe black pumps with monstrously high, high heels is begging someone, right now, to take them home. My original painting, Girl's First Love, has been lovingly painted by a girl who understands the value of shoes -- many, many pairs of shoes. Yep, I'm that shallow! The painting is on a 10 x 10 square canvas with no staples on the sides, so it can be hung with or without a frame. It would make a cute girly bedroom or powder room decoration for your wall. It is painted in acrylics and has a little Florida beach sand added for texture.

The painting will be available in my Etsy shop, DreamON. Click here.

Cabbage Palm

2008-06-19T16:50:00.000-04:00

This is just such a cool technique. I just love it. First crumple up a piece of tissue paper. Apply it to a sheet of watercolor paper using a mixture of acrylic paint and sand. Then use a brayer to seal the tissue down to the watercolor paper. Next apply acrylic paints to the "paper" in a subtle variety of colors to make the "paper" look like it has been woven. When that is dry, then you are ready to apply your design to the base. In this case, I drew a Cabbage Palm onto the base and painted it. A couple of more steps and finally ending with rollering on a thinned-down purple acrylic. Sooo cool!

Cabbage Palm has been added to my Etsy shop. For more information, click here .

Tree Climber - Painting A Day

2008-06-16T18:06:00.001-04:00

Tree Climber once again utilizes one of my favorite little animals, the little kitten. To use a kitten as a subject is completely natural for me, because I just love kitties.

I feel like I just might be getting back into the swing of the painting a day mode. Being sick with a stupid cold just absolutely laid me low, and it completely took any desire I had to paint. It exhausted me so that just the thought of painting made me want to run away. That combined with the fact that it's summer and has really gotten hot here.

A few years ago in my Experimental Painting class, we did some paintings called scrapings. The instructor cautioned us to save the paper towels we scraped the excess paint on. I saved it, and was able to utilize some of it in this painting for my collage materials. The tree in this painting is fabricated out of a drawing of black Sharpie poster paint marker, black permanent Sharpie marker and a Tombow gray pen. The background and sides were painted in a lovely light moonbeam yellow over which the drawing was made and the collage grew on.

This little 8 x 8 inch acrylic on canvas painting is available in my Etsy shop, DreamON. Click here for purchase details.

Yart Sale

2008-06-14T17:53:00.000-04:00

Etsy sellers have organized a cyber yard sale of art for the time period of June 11 - 20. When holding a yard sale, we usually grab that cup of coffee and head out to sell the yard - or at least all the stuff we've dragged out into the yard. The main purpose of this is so that we will not have to put it all away again.

Smart Mug is 6 X 8 inches on watercolor paper and will serve the purpose nicely for a cup of coffee for the Yart Sale. It is painted in watercolors.

I have a few other things on special in my Yart Sale Section, so drop by and see what's out in my cyber Yart. Click here to see the Smart Mug or go to http://DreamON.Etsy.com .

Summer Colds Are The Worst

2008-06-10T18:29:00.000-04:00

For the last week I have been battling this obnoxious cold that started in my chest. I haven't had too many colds in the last few years, so when I got one last fall it laid me low, and I can't believe I now have another one. Cooties, giant blue furry ones have descended upon my head. Blaaaahhhhh ! Yuckeeeeeeee! Eeeeeewwwwwwweeee! I hate being sick; it's such a waste of time! Needless to say it has slowed down my work, but I tell you what, I read in the Parade section of the newspaper this Sunday about some of the military who are coming home with horrible, horrible injuries and amputations to solve some of their problems. The ones featured go through these things and keep a great can-do attitude about it. That simply fills me with pride and admiration for them, and I feel like my complaining about a little cold is just soooooo pathetic.

After The Chick Fight

On to today's artistic project which was putting the final touches on something I started awhile ago, like so many of my projects. You might ask, why does she always have some old, unfinished project sitting around. Well, it's because I have been taught to have multiple projects going on all of the time. The theory is that it keeps you looser (yeah, complicated art word) because you aren't so wrought up concentrating on one masterpiece at a time.

OK this is not the greatest title, but After The Chick Fight with its empty gold, ornate picture frames and assorted "altered" photos just reminds me what might happen in an extreme situation when two chicks become jealous of one another's interest in what else, a man. We have already heard on the news about one chick's trek across the country in diapers to exact revenge upon another. Havoc is wreaked when anyone loses control, and there is much damage in the fray here.

So anyway, my original mixed-media collage is built upon gessoed masonite, and I have now put it up in my Etsy shop so you can find out more info about it. Click here.

Masquerade

2008-06-05T19:44:00.000-04:00

Swimming Upstream is an acrylic painting, the dimensions of which are 19 X 12 inches. Its charm comes from observing the many semi-transparent layers and textures it took to create the painting. Searching through the image to locate a recognizable object becomes a secondary task. The cloudy semi-transparent areas of thinned white gesso serve to define the tall surreal figure in the middle of the painting., but should you not see her, do not be dismayed. For each viewer, something different may appear, and the cloudy white gesso gives an eerie feel to the piece. The design radiates outward from the center. The painting is finished with a high gloss layer of Mod Podge. It will be displayed in my Etsy Shop. Additional information is available with a click here.

Get Polished

2008-06-04T17:24:00.000-04:00

Today's painting is Get Polished. It is an approximately 9 X 11 inch acrylic painting on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor paper. It would make a cute little painting to have in your beauty shop or powder room. I will be putting this layered acrylic piece on Etsy where you can find more information about how it can be yours. Click here.

Painting A Day: Flowers On Red Kool Aid

2008-06-03T20:12:00.001-04:00

Flowers On Red Kool Aid is my Painting of the Day. It photographed quite orange, but it is much more of a true red. Reds are very difficult to adjust. I put a layer of Pyroll Red under the Medium Red Acrylic layer and then scratched design elements into the top layer, so perhaps the camera read right thru to the much more orangey-red underlayer. I will try to get a photo with truer colors tomorrow when it's light.

For purchase information or more details about this painting click either here or on the photo. Flowers On Red Kool Aid is displayed in my Etsy store, DreamON.

Painting and Paper

2008-06-02T19:10:00.000-04:00

Have you ever imagined what things would look like through another color of eyes? If my eyes were blue I might see blue trees like these. People might also be blue, and dogs and cats.

This painting of the day is a watercolor on Arches Cold Press Watercolor paper sized approximately 10 x 13 inches. For purchase information click here. I have put this painting up for sale on my Etsy site, DreamON.

Why do I paint on this paper? Paper is probably the most important piece of making a decent watercolor painting. Brushes are the next most important. Paint is important, but not for the reasons you might think. I have tried painting with yucky watercolor paper, and it makes your job as an artist so much more difficult it is amazing to think that just paper could make such a difference. If you have a choice of where to spend your learning dollars, spend it on brushes and paper. I have found I like Arches and Fabriano paper the best. I buy Arches watercolor paper 25 sheets at a time in order to get a better price. I find some of the other manufacturers don't offer the ability to buy a pack of 25 sheets. I like Fabriano because it gives a nice soft surface to work on. Arches is familiar and predictable, and it is a great surface to work on wet or dry. It is strong. I can lift color from it, and even scrub it without destroying it, if I'm careful that is. It also makes a good surface for acrylics. Both of these papers are professional quality.

Treasury at Last - My First

2008-05-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

Doing a Treasury on Etsy has been one of my goals for a long time. I read The Storque article on how to create a Treasury, came up with an idea for a theme, and eventually put together a Poster Sketch featuring a number of shops. My theme is Zest of the Nest, a rather appropriate springtime idea that I thought would make a nice Treasury.

Here's where the catch lies: my timing was never too keen. For a long time the magic number would come up about the time I was cashing in my chips for the night. Now I checked my Poster Sketch from time to time to make sure all of the items were still popping up. Every now and then I had to replace one, because it was no longer there, so I figured all of the rest were still available. :)

Yesterday the magic number came up twice!!!!! You can imagine how excited I got, after all I had been hanging onto this Poster Sketch now for about a month and a half. OK, so the first time the number dropped to 333 before my very eyes, my internet server went down. Yeah, it really did.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I looked at the Treasury that evening, and the magic number was at 340. So I sat there, laptop glued to my lap, waiting until the number dropped to below 333. Then there it was, a spot to name my Treasury! I thought I could somehow just grab the Poster Sketch and plunk it in; however, it seemed each number had to be inserted manually. I wanted to move fast, because I thought if I was too slow, the Treasury might yet get snatched away again. I felt so slow and clumsy as I copied each one into the little boxes, and finally I was done. The pictures were all there, and I had captured a treasury.

By the next morning I had started to get some feedback. It was all complimentary, but then the other shoe dropped! One of the commenters said that most of the items in my Treasury had been sold -- in April yet. Mortification struck me solidly right between the eyes. Oh, no!

Long story short: it's all fixed now, but the comments have ground to a halt. Oh well, it was my virgin run at a Treasury. Chalk it all up to another learning experience. One of these days I may just know a thing or two. Two days later, and it's gone!

Paradise Input Decoder Devices

2008-05-27T17:56:00.000-04:00

This acrylic painting of Birds of Paradise flowers has a "Space Invaders" look to it. I intentionally wanted it to have an abstract nature and kept from using true colors and utilized a gradated, textured background to further promote this effect. First I did some thumbnail sketches and chose one with a Papa, Mama, Baby bear composition (that is a large shape, a medium shape and a small-sized shape). Then I used two layers of gradated White Gesso, Hansa Yellow and Cadmium Red Medium to get a nice thick background before starting on the drawing for the "birds."

Once I started on the "birds" I found I needed a couple coats of the White Gesso to get a thick enough layer. The next step was to pick up the colors in the background and use them in defining the "birds." I had left the medium "bird" all white until almost the very end when I decided to use a little bit of the brown on it.

I had printed out on 8 1/2" x 11 paper, some red-brown Photoshop effects of my digital photograph of the real Birds of Paradise photo taken at Pinellas County, Florida's Botanical Gardens as well as some other photos. This effect was so cool looking that I decided use it in my painting by collaging some of it onto my canvas using Acrylic Matte Medium.

The final steps involved using some textures to blend in the collaged parts with the painting and also to achieve the darkest of the dark colors. The result seems other-worldly, and I began to think of the "birds" as other-worldly devices coming to Planet Earth to check it out and report back to the other-world, in this case picking up the paradise from the "birds." That's how the name came about. WoooooOOOOHHHHHH!

This painting is large: 40 x 30 inches on gallery-wrapped canvas which has been painted on the sides, thus eliminating the need for a frame. It has been protected with a layer of Glossy Acrylic Medium and Varnish. It will be on display at Studio1212 Gallery in Clearwater, Florida from June 1st to June 25th in the "Canvas and Then Some" exhibit. I'm also showing it in my Etsy shop, DreamON. For more information, click here.

Wind For Sale

2008-05-22T19:42:00.001-04:00

Wind For Sale, the title of the painting refers to an old Finnish legend when in ancient times the Finns would offer wind for sale to traders who would wait and wait on their land because of bad sailing weather, and when the sailors paid for knowledge of the winds, the Finns would give them in exchange three magic knots tied in a sturdy leather strap. This is how they were to be utilize the knots: when they untied the first knot, they would have gentle breezes. When they indid the second knot, the winds would be stronger. If they weren't satisfied with the speed they were making and they untied the third knot, they were likely to face hurricane strength winds.

In the painting, the legend is applied to hopes for good sailing weather - full moon, stiff breeze and small boats.

For additional information about the painting or to purchase it, click here.

Everlasting

2008-05-21T19:14:00.001-04:00

Today's Painting A Day is called "Everlasting," because I saw in the focal point, two rings which symbolized for me covenant marriage, and the colors of the painting are happy colors: gold, yellows and magnificent manganese blue; and where they cross, pale green. It is painted with acrylic paints on 12 x 12 x 1 inch canvas. It will not need painting unless it is the desire of the buyer to frame it. The painting is not signed on the front, because the buyer might like another orientation. It is signed and dated on the back by the artist (me).

To see more information about this painting or for purchase information click here. It will be found in my Etsy shop, DreamON.

Caught Looking

2008-05-20T20:18:00.001-04:00

It's fun to give some thought to guessing what this little parrot has interrupted his grooming routine to peruse. Is there a hot little parrot chick out there? Maybe there's a human (how dare them) trying to snag him for a photo, or perhaps it's a wild monkey climbing the next tree in search of bananas.

In any event, I painted this guy awhile ago, photographed the painting and stored it on Photoshop. A few days ago I was looking at photos and playing around with the many different treatments you can perform on your pictures. I discovered an unfamiliar one that turns a photo into a monochromatic version of whatever color you have already selected. These looked to me like they should make some interesting collages. This is the first, but I carried it a bit further than I had intended by painting much of the parrot over again with my acrylics, and then did some outlining with marker before varnishing.

Caught Looking is 11 1/2 x 15 1/4 inches on 140-lb. Arches Cold Press Watercolor paper.

For additional comments and purchase info, click here .

Some Kind of Music

2008-05-19T19:03:00.000-04:00

It's about time! Sometimes a painting just paints itself, and this one did.

Introducing Some Kind Of Music.

I just scraped the blue on with my palette knife, and then mixed up some pretty yellows - one cool and one warm, added the peach and painted the sides, and I thought it looked happy. The colors are just that pleasing. I had in mind that this was just a step on the way to somewhere else, but I was pretty contented with just this much.

I laid some bubble wrap down and waited for it to dry, and when it did I tried a couple of things for a focal point right where the bubble wrap pieces came together. I wiped a few of them off before I was satisfied with the treble clef. Then I did a couple of steps to embellish/obscure it, and I'm happy. I just think I like this painting. Some Kind of Music was sold on Etsy almost immediately after I put it on last evening. Yay!

May 16 Sunrise - Painting A Day

2008-05-16T09:44:00.001-04:00

This morning's sunrise, fresh and on paper!

The sun had just broken out of a fog bank across the water, and this glorious picture emerged. I just had to whip out my watercolors and try to paint what I saw. Of course, what is my paint and brush rendition compared to the glory of the actual beauty of a God-given sunrise?

The size of this one is 7 x 10.5 inches on 140 lb. Arches Cold Press Watercolor paper. For more details or to purchase, please click here.

Pictures of Spring

2008-05-13T20:49:00.000-04:00

I lived in Colorado most of my life where Spring really is a season that doesn't exist. You have beautiful weather for a week, everyone has Spring fever, and then a big snow blows in. The blossoms fall off of the trees, and if you're not lucky, the leaves if the snow is late enough. Then the daffodils come out from under the snow, the grass has gotten amazingly green, and you think it just might be Spring. The cycle repeats itself all through the months of March and April, and by May -- maybe it will just rain instead of snow.

This last weekend we visited my husband's mother in Portland, Oregon. Everything is blooming there! In some cases, it actually looks really strange, because there are red blossoms covering a bush that are next to purple blossoms, next to yellow blossoms, next to pink blossoms. You would think that the backyard farmers would have given some thought to this when they planted, like thinking about what looks nice blooming next to what. Of course, we didn't take pictures of the overdone yards, just what we thought looked pretty.

Overall the mass of flowers is beautiful. I was on total floral overload , never having seen so many things blooming in the same place before. This wisteria was gorgeous.

The rhododendrons were simply amazing. Azaleas were everywhere. Even holly bushes had red berries on them. Camelias. Tulips. Wow!

Someone on Etsy recommended going to Silverton which we did. The Oregon Gardens were immaculate, and we enjoyed them very much. Thank you for the recommendation. My mother-in-law got tired, so we did not get up to the falls. Maybe next timeAnyway, after many hours traveling across the country by air and many other hours driving around Oregon and Washington, I haven't gotten myself back into painting form yet. I tried painting today and made mud. Since mud is a most unattractive part of Spring, I will spare you having to see it. Hope you will enjoy the flowers instead.

Notes and Pieces - Painting A Day

2008-05-07T19:27:00.000-04:00

This painting is entitled Notes and Pieces. You may notice it is unsigned on the front. Abstracts are often left unsigned in order that the purchaser can display it in any direction. That said, this is my preferred view, but people's tastes are so varied. I have put this painting up in my Etsy store, DreamON. You can click on the picture to get to my shop to see purchase info.

This weekend we flew to Oregon to see my DHLM. (That's code for my dear husband's loving mother.) It takes all day just to get there and another whole day to return. I may be feeling like buzzard bait by Monday morning. (I'm such an optimist!) My diurnal clock is going to be on Eastern Standard Time no matter what. Four days is just not long enough to reset. This morning I was wide awake at 2 am (oh joy!). I have a feeling that four hours of sleep is going to make me a very grumpy companion for the day. Help me to keep my mouth glued shut, lest I say something I shouldn't.

Once when we went to Amsterdam, I was sooo tired by the time we got there after that long flight. I just had to sleep, no matter what we were told about staying up until our normal bedtime. Then I stayed awake for days! There was a church very closeby that had truly amazing chimes, but they went off every fifteen minutes. I would tell myself, as I tried to go to sleep, "You have 15 minutes to go to sleep, surely you can be asleep before they go off again." Ten minutes later I would be telling myself, "The bells are going to go off any second, might as well wait until they go off to sleep." Then I would listen intently. Well, this went on for two nights, until finally I found a music channel on the TV to drown out the incessant sound. As beautiful as the sound of a carillon is, it can also be overwhelmingly annoying as a sleep-aid.

Who ever said that one of the requirements for being an artist was sanity? (VanGogh might be able to tell us something.)

Pears and Squares Revisited

2008-05-07T18:49:00.001-04:00

This was my day to paint with my artist girlfriends at Studio 1212. It's one of those times when you don't remember what was talked about, but you do remember the giggles, smiles and raucous laughter. Yesterday we had our last business meeting and lunch at the beautiful home of one of our members and were treated to a relaxing and gorgeous view of the Gulf of Mexico complete with signs for the boating channel leading straight out to daydreams at sea.

Today I reworked Pears and Squares. It took a lot more effort than I had previously thought it would, because it just didn't look right to me. It might be fun to compare the first one that I posted a couple of days ago with this one. Anyway this is the result of the revision. I now have it up in my Etsy shop where you can find purchase information about it. Click here.

Tonight's American Idol results could be interesting. The cut will narrow the number down to the Top 3. Jason seems to have dropped out already, or that's the way it appears to me. He's such a dreamy-looking guy that he might just have a bucket-load of teeny-bopper fans to keep him alive, but from the last few weeks' performances, I just get the feeling that in his mind, he's already gone. That said, the battle of the Davids (David Cook and David Archuleta) who both are outstanding, has been made much more interesting by the rapid and profound development of Syesha Mercado and her obvious Broadway-bound vocal stylings. How's that for a totally uninformed commentary?

The Beach, Mud Pies and Pears

2008-05-05T20:21:00.000-04:00

These are some pictures I took yesterday when my husband and I were at the beach. Since there were quite a few fishermen trying their luck, there were also a number of shore birds hoping to tag onto someone's rejects, or maybe sneak some bait. These egrets are so beautiful and white that I always am amazed they look so clean. Frequently we see them up to their knees (I guess they have knees) in swampy-looking water, still looking white! Anyway, I love them, and watching them is fun.

Today, I have been making mud while painting, and that hasn't been so fun. I struggled to finally get something decent, and I still think I have some work to do on this one. It was another beautiful day outside, and I think my mind and body wanted to be out there. Sometimes I think I should just listen, because you can't force painting to turn out right if you are tired or just not in the mood. I should have gone out for awhile and then done some ironing or something.

This painting I am calling Pears and Squares. Its size is 9 1/2 x 15 inches, and it is, like the previous one (Refreshments) watercolor in the first layer with the remainder of layers painted in acrylic.

I don't think the pears are well-defined enough yet, so that means I will need to go back in and solve that problem in another session. You could say that painting a picture is a little like doing a puzzle, it has to be solved. Since I was struggling with my mud pies, I ran out of time to solve this puzzle today.

It was so late when I stopped painting that the flash on the camera came on when I took the photo, so I would need to take a better photo anyway, one without the glare even if I didn't need to do something else to the painting.

Another painting I have been re-working is the Eye of the Ocean, and now it doesn't look anything like it did when I talked about it on the blog a week or so ago. When it gets done, I may bring it back as a topic again. Would you like to see what it becomes?

In the meantime, I need to go to the beach more often. It is so incredible out there!

Refreshments: Painting A Day

2008-05-03T13:09:00.001-04:00

This week has been pretty much occupied with the preparations required for delivering 30 pieces of art to a couple of local venues serviced by the Creative Artists' Guild. These venues are part of the rotating art exhibits which the various participating artists of the guild fill from month to month. I have a two-month exhibit of my paintings in the Bel-Aire Cafe in Clearwater with three other artists and at Somers Title Company in Palm Harbor where my paintings are shown in a single-artist exhibit. These exhibits are in addition to locations where I exhibit year 'round at Studio 1212 Gallery in Clearwater, Grecko Grill in Madeira Beach and at the Artists' Guild Gallery in Holmes Beach. All of these locations are in the Tampa Bay, Florida area.

My new painting of the day, Refreshments, is an acrylic over watercolor on Arches Cold Press Watercolor paper. The dimensions are 12 1/2 x 15 inches. Click here for purchase information.

The technique I used was described earlier in the blog and is the same one used in Escape of the Little Boats and Spring Fling, the only difference being that I used a layer of watercolor first before negative painting in three succeeding layers of acrylics.

Cinderella and The Brain Drain

2008-04-29T19:54:00.001-04:00

Ahhhhh! The vacuous stare into space. This painting speaks of the romantic dreams of a young girl as she plans her glorious wedding to her knight-in-shining-armor hunk, her 2.4 well-behaved sparkling clean children riding in a brand new Ferrari van (hmmm) and their fairy-tale life they will all have.

Brain Drain addresses reality. While sleepy Cinderella is dreaming her life away, the "hunk" is passing her by scholastically, and when he's not thinking about sports or fighting imaginary wars, he's obsessed with, shall we say, physical conquests.

This painting has lots of texture built into the many layers of acrylic paint on this 8 X 8 X 1-inch canvas which is painted on all sides.

I Haven't Disappeared

2008-04-28T20:11:00.000-04:00

There are other facets to the art biz besides making art, and although that's what I'd rather be doing right now, the fact is I'm working hard doing some matting and framing for a couple of exhibits.

Although I haven't finished a new painting today, I thought I would put a new one up on the blog anyway. This one is called Can You Hear Me Now? It is an acrylic, marker and watercolor mixed media on watercolor paper. I started by using an acrylic heavy gel and just creating some texture on the paper. At this point I had no idea what I would be painting, and I let the paper dry and sit for about a week. The next time I looked at it, I just "saw" banana leaves, so the parrot seemed a natural fit for a subject. I drew these things on with a pencil to use the drawing for a roadmap before painting.

When watercolor goes on top of acrylic, it is very slick and moves around a lot, so the result is a nice loose painting. I love the colors in this painting. At the end, I did some outlining with a black marker to define form. There is a huge amount of texture in this painting that you just cannot see in the photo, but it's there -- all over the place.

Jumpin Grande Joe

2008-04-25T18:55:00.000-04:00

This collage came about as the result of my testing a new product I had bought a few months ago. The store demo of Pinata Colors I saw, with these denatured alcohol mixed colors, was done on a very small scale. The clerk had a small piece of wood on one end of which had been applied a piece of felt. She dropped a few beads of a couple colors onto a card, wiped around with the felt dauber, and presto there appeared some beautiful stained-glass appearing designs on the paper which were enhanced by applying the Pinata extender. She also made it look even more wonderful by using a gold metallic marker.

An inherent issue with this media seemed to be the fact that the little bottles of color seemed too small to use in a larger project , so I decided to use some thinned out red acrylic in addition and add the extender to all of them. My additional red color didn't react the same way as the Pinata colors which the bottle said are indelible in water, transparent, permanent and acid free, but I did like the way the white Pinata color worked especially well.

The project turned out to be a collage of cut up watercolor coffee cups added. I called the painting Jumpin Grande Joe, because when I decided to enhance the rhythm of the composition by angling the coffee cups and sugar bowl. I used repetition in the figure 8's and the curves of the cup handles, and I varied the line width of the calligraphy. The mostly-warm composition is enhanced by the cool and cooler blue coffee cups. The black coffee cup, as center of interest sits adjacent to a larger light which with the white calligraphy takes up about 25 percent of the mid-value background. The yellow string adds another point of interest and texture variation.

Find out more about Jumpin Grande Joe in my Etsy shop by clicking here .

Abandoned in the Fog

2008-04-24T16:38:00.000-04:00

Today was my opportunity to gallery sit in the Artists' Guild Gallery of Anna Maria Island. It was apparent that the legions of tourists that frequent the island in "season" have abandoned us for the summer. Quiet would be an understatement.

I brought my travel watercolor kit just in case. This includes a small palette of Yarka watercolors (which are more than adequate for the job), some Viva paper towels, three watercolor brushes, some pencils for sketching, an eraser, a sketchbook and some watercolor paper. I also brought one of my packets of photos that I want to paint.

After an initial sale, there were some other guests numbering in total 15, and then it got very quiet, so I got out my stuff and began to paint a watercolor of a sailboat in total fog. Actually I think the picture might have been taken last summer when there were a number of fires in Florida and it was really smoke and fog, but it might have been just fog. Anyway the background of the photo was pretty much totally white, which I thought was a really cool effect.

I am calling this painting Abandoned In The Fog. The sailboat, moored on the lake near where we live, has obviously seen better days and is a stationery object, loved by birds as a roost. I kept wishing I would see someone come to love it, but after a year in that position, someone moved it closer to shore, and we can't see it any longer. Actually I loved having it in my line of sight, but oh, well.

I will put this painting up on my Etsy site. Click here.

Workshop: Something Else To Do With Yupo

2008-04-22T18:39:00.000-04:00

Today at Studio 1212 Gallery we were treated to a workshop featuring Carole Rosefelt's Yupo Creations. This very creative artist showed us some of the things she has done with acrylic paint on Yupo paper. The imagination is the sole barrier, it seems, to what can be created using this versatile medium.

According to www.TreeHugger.com, Yupo is a synthetic paper which was originally developed in Japan, is produced in Chesapeake, Virginia in the U.S. The company touts the eco-effectiveness of YUPO, saying that synthetic paper enters the waste stream at a far slower rate than conventional paper. They point out that, since it is polypropylene (PP) plastic film, it is fully recyclable."

Yupo is thought of as a slippery canvas, but artists who paint on it regularly have learned to use its characteristics in developing their own style. However, today we weren't particularly interested in the composition on our papers, but in the colors and textures that we had painted on the papers.

We were using a heat gun to melt the pieces of Yupo we had cut from our "paintings" into objects that we could combine and make into wall hangings, pins, earrings, angels, and a couple came up with pieces which could be collaged onto paintings. These are a few of the ones I made today.

Beach Finds Look Like Art

2008-04-21T18:01:00.000-04:00

We found things like these on the beach yesterday in a number of locations. Aren't they beautiful and strange? They are a work of art in themselves. They obviously contained seeds belonging to something; however, none of the ones we saw were attached to anything, like the one in the picture is. At the time my friend, Nancy, thought they might be egg casings of perhaps the rays which are so common on Florida's West coast. Upon further research she found a website and conversed with them back and forth by email, and through that exchange, determined that they are egg capsules deposited most likely by the Pear Whelk.

Here's the website to find out about such things: http://www.jaxshells.org/eggch.htm

What is fascinating to me it is that almost every time I'm at the beach, I find different things among the debris deposited by the tides than were there previous times. Nancy grew up in Florida, and has much more beach knowledge than I. Yesterday we poked along and looked at these things while our group walked ahead, determined to set the land speed record for the mile. My artist's soul is thrilled by these small discoveries, and delving into them was just wonderful.

Today's Painting a Day is entitled Rose and Lace. I started by laying down a lace pattern in blue watercolor, then drew the rose in and painted it in shades of red and green. I thought it needed unifying, because the top half had basically nothing going for it other than the texture, so I proceeded to spatter and spray to provide a solution, which seems to satisfy me, at least for the moment. This painting is 6 x 9 inches on Arches Cold Press Watercolor paper and uses 100% watercolor paints. Find it here.

Henrietta and The Drewster - Paintings A Day

2008-04-18T18:18:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I find myself writing my 100th post to this blog. Should be some celebratory thing happening, like the celebration of the 100th episode of a TV show or something?How about a red carpet, fancy new dress, bouquet of flowers or a bottle of wine? I'll be waiting.

Anyway, today I have two paintings. They fit nicely together as a pair. They are Henrietta and The Drewster, a pair of colorful chickens done in watercolor and black marker (Sharpie). They are pretty cute, totally unrealistic chickies. They already found a home on Etsy in my shop DreamON, and I would sell the pair for $10 less if someone wanted to buy them both. Just convo me on Etsy, and I'll gitterdun!