Day 17 Fish Out of Water

Fish Out of Water

Collage on paper 4 X 6

At first you see the fish shape on top, which I emphasized with acrylic then you see the  stamped fish that I placed below it. The top fish just "showed up" in the altered paper that I used, the bottom fish was a stamp I made from Styrofoam, stamped on tissue and coated with gloss medium. Then I heat sealed it to the collage like I do all the other pieces. Usually I don't know how a collage is going to turn out, I just keep playing with the possibilities until I like what I have. 

Day 16, Hoot, Hoot

Hoot, Hoot

Collage on paper, 8 X 8

I started this one yesterday but I had to wait until today to finish it. Sometimes you set aside your goals in order to just listen to someone who needs to talk. 

It's nesting season again for the Burrowing Owls who make their home here. They sit peeking out of the weeds beside their dens and watch the world go by and keep a sharp eye out for dogs, cats, and preying birds. With all the dangers it's a wonder that they survive, but they do. Soon the eggs will hatch and there will be three or four more pairs of eyes watching me as I walk by.

Day 15 Tony's Market

Tony's Market

Watercolor 11 X 15

Day 15! Hooray, we're half way to the finish! 

This is the last painting we did at the Jack Nolan Workshop. When I saw the sketch and all the detail I was a bit overwhelmed. It's a lot in a small format but Jack took us through it step by step until we came to the finishing details. All of the subjects in this workshop were out of my comfort zone but sometimes it's good to stretch yourself and grow in what you love to do. I learned that even pictures that look impossibly full of detail can be broken down into bite sized pieces, like eating an elephant one bite at a time.

Day 14 Dragonfly

Dragonfly

Collage 7 3/4 X 6

Dragonflies are such cool creatures. They can fly, dart and hover. They are the sky's vacuum cleaners of other bugs. I'm so grateful for their appetite for mosquitos. They come in every color of the rainbow and in all sizes. Of all the insect world they rate right up there with butterflies in my book.  How could I not feature one that is between earth and sky with wings outstretched in flight?

I'm almost halfway through the 30 day challenge. It's a good thing that I had a few done ahead of time for today was a day for laundry, cleaning and shopping and not much time for being creative. Now that I'm caught up with the necessary stuff of life I can hole up in the studio and make art.





Day 13, Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

Collage on canvas board 4 X %

For day 13 of the 30 day challenge I decided to post a little collage I did for a mini artwork donation that is required by the Pine Island Art League every year. This is my first attempt to collage on a canvas board and it was not hard at all. I just coated the board with gloss medium like I do any substrate and then fused my chosen papers to it. If you look out at the Gulf from just about any beach in the Fort Myers area you see some barrier islands that are off the coast. The little black protrusion on the end of my island is a light house, maybe the Sanibel Lighthouse. Anyway, I think it will make a nice souvenir for someone.

Day 12 Boca Grande Lighthouse

Boca Grande Lighthouse

Watercolor 15 X 22

This is the second day's painting in the Jack Nolan workshop that I have been attending. We used the lesson on shadows in this painting with the dark shadows under the lighthouse and the cast shadows on the side of the building. It could still use a little tweaking but all in all I think it turned out well for a workshop painting. 

Day 11 Shadow Exercise

Shadow Exercise

Watercolor

This is the first painting we did yesterday for the Jack Nolan Workshop that I'm taking at the Cape Coral Art League this weekend. It was an exercise in light and shadow. We chose the direction of our light source and placement of shadows. Each painting was different, even though we all painted the same subject, depending on what time of day we were depicting. I like the long shadows of early morning and late afternoon. I'm enjoying the switch back to watercolor for the time being. It's been awhile, and I needed this simple exercise to get back to familiarizing myself with the paint to water ratio that is needed for this medium. Things improved as the day went on, thankfully!

Day 10 Life Is Better When It's Fun

Life Is Better When It's Fun

Mixed Media Collage 4 X 6

I love this photo of the laughing girls; I knew I had to incorporate it in one of my collages. I used various blue shades of papers with one orange pop behind the photo. I added some fun stamping and the "Life is better" stamp. I think this one is just fun to look at and it will make a wonderful note card some day.

The first 10 days has gone really quickly and now I'm in a watercolor workshop so I will have some workshop paintings to share for the next few days.

Day 9, Funky Bird

Funky Bird

Collage on paper, 4 X 6

I took all my scraps of collage paper and arranged them on my substrate. I fused them together with the iron and let them cool. Then I came in with acrylic and painted around a bird shape free hand. When that dried I added the  stamping and a little ink. The legs are a little off, that's why I named it Funky Bird. It's fun to do something off beat now and then. 

Day 8, Sun Rising

Sun Rising

Collage on paper, 3.5 X 4.75

I'm scrambling but still on top of the 30 day challenge. I'm having fun doing these little collages, it's such good practice. It's harder to put in the time getting them on the blog and the website but good for me to learn not to procrastinate over coffee in the morning.

This collage was done with altered magazine pages, painted tissue paper and acrylic paint. The gold dot is made from hot glue which has been painted with gold acrylic. 

Day 7, Floral

Floral, Not an Abstract

Collage, 4 X 6

This is day seven's collage piece. I have to work in advance because they have to be dry to scan and upload. I thought to myself, "It doesn't have to be an abstract", and decided to try to try some simple flowers. The blue, green and flower papers are all tissue that has been painted and coated with gloss, the center strip is a digital copy of a manufactured paper that has been coated.  They were all heat sealed together.  

Day 6 Lace

Lace

Collage, 6 X 6

I found the word Lace in my packet of small pieces so I decided to try to incorporate that plus some of the lacy papers that I had prepared. I also wanted to try an substrate that was not white but painted a tan color. It wasn't until I got the photo on my computer that realized that I had a big Z. Oh well, not every attempt is going to be a winner! It's a learning experience. I was going for a cruciform with the red lace but the black just takes over. I may have to play with some acrylics to modify that. If I come up with something I like, I'll re-post it. 

P.S. After fooling around with it I decided the best solution was to crop off the offending black on the top and bottom. I like the image below better.

Lace

Collage, 3 X 4

Day 5 Checkered Past

Checkered Past 

Collage 4.5 X 4.5

This is the collage for Day 5 of the 30 day challenge, which was yesterday. I wasn't happy with this collage yesterday so I delayed posting it until I could decide what to do with it. Today I thought that I would add the circles (when in doubt add circles?)and I do like the way the circles sort of bring it together. Most of the papers I have made myself except for the upper left corner, the checkers and the text which are printed. The rest are painted tissue paper or papers that have been altered in some way. They are fused together by being heat set. 

Day 4, Hope of Spring

Hope of Spring

Collage, 5 X 5

It's a cool, cloudy and rainy day in SW Florida today. It's the kind of cool that would feel balmy to the rest of the country but to those of us who live with day after day of 90's for months it feels bone chilling. Our houses, clothing and bodies aren't ready for this damp chill. So, even we hope for a short winter season and an early spring. We listen for the mockingbird to start marking their territory with the unending litany of song and for all the other signs of spring. 

Day 3, Memories

Memories

Collage, 4.5 X 3

I named this collage Memories because it was one I started 3 weeks ago when I was visiting a friend in another city. She had read my blog about doing collage without adhesives and wanted to learn the process. We only had a few hours to work so we used the prepared papers that I had brought along with me. We had such a good time designing our little abstract landscapes. Then it was time for me to drive the 2 hours home. A week later my friend died unexpectedly, two days before Christmas. All who knew her will miss her great attitude, cheerful personality, and artistic talent. So, in memory of Marilyn, I finished the collage that I started with her for day 3 of the 30 day challenge.

Day 2 Tall and Dark

Tall and Dark

Acrylic on paper 12X18

Here we are in day 2 and I'm already behind. Oh well, computer problems have a way of putting a kink in your plans. I've got the paintings, just getting them posted the appropriate day is the hard part. At least there is an extra time allowance for things like that. This painting was a quick one done in an abstract style that shows the subject taking up the full length of the painting. One of the choices an artist makes is how big the subject will be; another is placement of the subject. When you think about it, an artist has to make a lot of decisions before even putting brush to paint. 

Day 1, Brilliant Sunset

Brilliant Sunset

Watercolor on yupo, 10 X 12

I am going to be participating in the 30 day daily painting challenge again this year. It's a good way to get back into a painting routine after the holidays. The big challenge for me right now is learning to do my post on a new tablet. My laptop got a bug and is in for repairs so it has made me learn how to take pictures, download an app for editing, edit, post it on the blog and write the blog on a touch screen.  Yikes! That's a lot for a lady my age. But, I did it! 

The painting is my memory of the wonderful sunsets we see here in Florida, with water reflections and, of course, a palm tree. Watery reflections are fun to do on yupo since it's such a slick synthetic paper the juiciness of the water doesn't soak in, it just dries on top.

Greetings

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
30 paintings in 30 days starts January 1.
Happy painting everybody.

Almost Christmas!

Christmas Painting for 2013

5X7 Watercolor

At our house, we celebrate Jesus' birthday on December 25th. I know that his real birthday is not known for sure, but going with hundreds of years of tradition is OK with me. We have some eye witness accounts of his birthday, though, and it's pretty incredible. Angels appeared in the sky and sang! Not to the upper class people of the day but the lowest on the list, the shepherds. Then they went to see the baby in a cow shed and spread the news to all their friends and neighbors. I guess God wanted us to know that He came for everybody, not just the big shots of the day. That's a wonderful thing and worth celebrating. May your Christmas be blessed!

Three Little Abstracts

 Abstract Collage Sunset

 Abstract Collage With Face and R

Abstract Collage With Face

These abstracts are only 3.5 X 4.5 to fit in a 5 X 7 mat and frame. They are all made without regular adhesives and are pressed together with a heat sealing iron. I love being able to lay out my collage and move the papers around, then, when I've decided it's just the way I want it, I heat up the iron and press it together. The next step is to rub a little compatible acrylic color over it with a baby wipe. This gives it a thin coat that unifies the piece. Almost all the papers are altered or colored by hand so I can always find the colors that I like to work with because I've made them myself.

I've also been taking a class in painting abstracts in acrylics. If I get a "good one" I'll post it too.