A Collage and A Goal

Code Red

Mixed Media Collage

12 X 12, Mounted on wood panel

This is my latest large collage which was completed before Christmas but was put aside because of all the activity of the season. My blogging this year has been spastic to say the least but my goal for 2016 is to post a blog at least once a week. I don't like resolutions, I prefer a goal, it sounds less daunting to me. 

In this collage I used manufactured papers, altered National Geographic paper, and a marbled paper which I made in a class a long time ago. Sometimes you find a hidden treasure in the piles of stuff that you accumulate as an artist. All of it was coated with acrylic gloss medium, and heat fused. It's been mounted to a wood panel with a 3/4" cradle painted black. It has been coated with satin UV varnish and is ready to hang.

I have signed up for another 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge which starts on January 1. This will be interesting since I am also teaching 3 mini collage classes in January, participating with my husband in a show at at local theater, and preparing for our annual sale in February. Nothing like starting the year out with a bang! 

A very HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2016; I pray for peace, health and prosperity for all. 

Small Collages

Seashell Collage

4.5 X 3.5

Our art association has a category called Small World in their annual art show in February. We are allowed to enter 4 pieces in this category so I am busy  making 4 new pieces. If I put it off too much it will never get done in the bustle of Christmas. I may enter this one along with the Oriental Expressions that I have already posted. I have several to choose from and will post more as I get them photographed. 

My next project is to finish designing my Christmas card for this year. Time is flying!

Mounted Watercolor

Plumeria 

Watercolor 10.5 X 10.5,

mounted on 12 X 12 gallery wrapped canvas

Robert Burridge sends out a weekly email letter called "Bob Blasts". This week's video showed how to mount a watercolor painting on a gallery wrapped canvas. I decided to give it a try. I confess I cropped an older watercolor, punched up the colors on it and found a canvas that would fit. I'm very happy with the results. I painted the canvas with a buff acrylic and gave the painting several coats of spray fixative. When the fixative was dry I coated the painting with a matte UV varnish. I used soft gel medium to adhere the painting to the canvas, cleaned the edges with a baby wipe (invaluable studio tool) and placed it upside down on a plastic sheet. I fit mat board in the back so that I could put some weights on it while it dried overnight. I decided another protective coat of UV varnish would be a good idea and I'm calling it finished. No frame, no glass, ready to hang! 

Mounting small collages

Oriental Expressions I and II

Since these collages are small, I decided to mount them on gallery wrapped canvas. The black background sets off the collages, I think. I used soft acrylic gel medium coated evenly on the back of the collage so that it would adhere to the canvas. I used a brayer to make sure they were firmly attached and the excess gel was removed with a baby wipe. Then I turned them over on a non stick surface and pressed them down with books. After drying everything was coated with UV varnish. The collages are 4 X 4 and the finished piece is 6 X 6, ready to enter into the next art show.

Playful Collage

Who-ville?

I made this little collage awhile ago. The houses are from a cutout stamp that one of my students made for me. She had one of those machines that makes cutouts for scrapbooking. We used a piece of self sticking craft foam and fastened it to some cardboard to make the stamp. This was the trial run, I haven't found a use for it since but perhaps I will in the future. It reminds me of Whoville from the Grinch movies. 

The Third Collage, Oriental Expressions

Oriental Expressions 3, Umbrellas

This is the third in the series where I'm using the Japanese papers that were given me. I've been trading off between making collages and painting watercolors. The watercolor painting I'm working on is taking more time than I planned mostly because I haven't planned it. Things go so much better when I have a plan and stick to it. It's another full sheet and I'm at the stage where I'm stuck and I don't know what to do next. It's a good time to put it away and let it simmer for awhile and get out the papers for making collage.

I went to the Florida Watercolor Society convention and show last week end. I enjoy all the artists who demonstrate their style and method of painting, the trade show with too many tempting supplies at sale prices and, most of all, the show with all the wonderful artwork that made it into the exhibition. I met artist friends and rubbed elbows with the winners. I think a week end of art immersion is a very good thing!

A Mini Collage Class

I taught a Mini Collage Class last Saturday in Sun City, FL. My long-time friend, Dixie, was instrumental in getting the class organized. There were 10 enthusiastic ladies in the class and they were a joy to work with. They got right into it and were eager to learn the process. I had the little frames that were a donation and made the paper substrate to fit each one so that the class would be able to get started right away finding their collage papers. For a warm up they all did 3 practice collages on index cards using glue sticks to fasten the papers down. That got their creative juices going so that they could put together their heat fused collages. A couple of gals had to leave early before I got a picture of their collage so there are only 8 out of 10, but they are all wonderful little compositions. The images are all between 2 x 2 to 3 x 3 inches. 

Oriental Paper Collage

Oriental Expressions 2 Umbrellas

Mixed Media-Collage 4 X 4

This is the second collage I have completed using the Japanese paper. I love the red in these collages. It's so eye catching. This collage also has some of the envelope paper (upper right) and some specialty paper (center). These are heat fused collages that are coated with acrylic gloss medium and finished with a coat of acrylic UV varnish. 

Oriental Papers

 

Oriental Expressions 1

Collage 3.5 X 4.5

I'm finally back to blogging after a very busy summer. We had 3 trips to Minnesota and one to Oregon and back. My suitcase really got a work out and so did I! 

A long time ago a friend who had lived in Japan gave me some scraps of decorative paper that she had used to cover boxes. They are quite beautiful and have been a treasure in my paper collection but it's time that they are used. So I coated some of them with gloss and have begun a series of collages with them. Since most of the pieces of paper are small, the collages will be small. This is my first which I mixed with hand painted tissue (the light red), marbled paper ( black) and security envelope (lower right corner). I'm enjoying the challenge of working with the colors and patterns in these papers.

Finally Finished!

Elephant on Masa paper

Watercolor 28 X 20

I've been working on this for a long time. Full sheet paintings take me a little longer and I wanted to take my time enjoy the process, and watch what happened as I added color to the slight texture of the Masa paper. I had very little wrinkling in it when I applied it to the watercolor paper and I liked working on it a lot. I used several references in order to get the detail in the eyes and the rest of the body. I wanted to emphasize the head and let the body just fade into soft edges. 

  

I haven't come up with a good title for it yet. If you have any suggestions please write them in the comments. 

Summertime Slow Down

Matlacha Mangroves

Watercolor on Masa paper, 10 X 14

It's hot, it's rainy, it's summertime in Florida. It's a good time to slow down and take it easy. A time to travel to cooler places and it you can't do that, you stay inside and read, play on the internet and maybe paint a little. I've been doing very little painting but the elephant painting is coming along. I'm taking my time with it and enjoying the process. There is no pressure of a deadline of a show to enter. 

I enjoy working on the Masa paper because sometimes the painting just seems to paint itself, especially if you do a landscape. You wet the paper and then crinkle it leaving a little space that's not crinkled; then you smooth it on an absorbent surface like a towel or piece of felt. The next step is to lightly wash over the wrinkled areas with a soft brush and India ink, black, brown or both as I did. It's glued to watercolor paper using a special flour based wallpaper paste and a brayer to get a good adhesion. At this point I let it dry, but you could continue to work on it. I wasn't going for mangroves but that's what appeared when I started to add color. 

Summer Painting

Elephant Herd 

Watercolor 4 X 6

This summer I've been taking a watercolor class that had me out of my comfort zone for the month of May. We were working on a still life set up which is not one of my favorite things to paint, unless it's something I'm particularly fond of. It was a struggle, I learned some things and my paintings ended up in the trash. I think I still have one unfinished one lurking somewhere. 

This month we were supposed to start on something of our own choosing. The instructor probably got tired of the whining about the still life. Since summer time is a good time to tackle a project that has been on the back of my brain for awhile, I decided to do a full sheet elephant painting on a Masa paper covered sheet of 140 pound paper. The Masa paper technique I learned a long time ago in a workshop with Chen-Khee Chee. I love the crinkled paper to work on and thought it would lend itself well to painting an elephant. 

The first thing I had to do was find some reference material and do some sketches and small color studies of elephants. This is also a way to procrastinate getting to the larger painting. The painting above is one of my practice paintings that I actually liked. I have started on the full sheet painting. I don't have a scary blank sheet anymore, but I'm taking my time and hope that it will be "blog worthy" in a week or two.

Still Life

Still Life on the Lanai

Mixed media/collage 

16 X 16 Gallery Wrap Canvas

A still life; a moment in time captured in a painting. Our workshop with Tara Funk Grim was held on a lanai (a screened outdoor room) on the lovely island of Sanibel Florida. We were surrounded by trees, and a courtyard with birds singing and flitting about. We were visited and serenaded everyday by a cardinal. Our last day we had a set up of fruit for our still life which we could "paint" with our colored tissue in any arrangement. It was far from complete when we left class on the last day. I've been working on it, off and on, ever since. Now, I think I'm finished. The yellow table is laden with fruit with a view to the world outside. I think I can still hear the cardinal!

Ooops, Wrong Way!

1. Collage beginning

On the first day of the Tara Grim workshop we started with 3 colors of tissue paper, the first layer was the light blue, the second layer was the yellow connecting the light blue and the third layer was the mid-tone blue.  We were to try to make our torn tissues different sizes and shapes. I found it difficult to tear tissue in different shapes because it wants to tear with the "grain" of the paper into rectangles, cutting was the only option for me in that regard. The papers were attached to our substrates with gloss medium.

 2. Adding stamping

We carved out own stamps from a soft flexible material while the collage dried. Then we mixed up some acrylic paint and stamped over our collage. 

 3. Add contrasting elements

OK, this was the part where things started to go in the wrong direction. We were to add some contrasting elements to our collage. Granted, this was just supposed to be a fun, getting started piece, not something serious but I really didn't like my results. I needed to do something with it, I just couldn't let it sit around. So, the following week...

4. Ooops, Wrong Way!

I covered most of it over with acrylic paint and used cut out stencils to mask out the fish so that the under painting would show. I also used a shaper tool to remove the wet acrylic to make the seaweed. You can still see a lot of texture under the acrylic paint from the tissue and paper collage. I think the fish are varied and interesting from the under painting. One fish is traveling right and all the others left, which is why I named it what I did. Also because the painting took a "wrong" turn at the third step and needed a do-over. 

Collage On a Bag II, Courageous

Courageous

Collage on a paper bag

I have a special friend who is very courageous to my estimation. She has a genetic disease called CMT which is hard to pronounce and even harder to understand. It causes nerve degeneration and can progress differently in each person. My friend has been having a hard time walking the last couple of years. She has shown a lot of courage just learning to cope with her increasing disability. Everyday things which most people don't even think about, like sweeping a floor or going to the grocery store are 

major feats to her. So this is for you, Ellen, my courageous friend. (Click on the picture to enlarge the details). 

Collage On a Paper Bag

Paper Bag Collage 1

13 3/4 X 11

I love watching Laura Lein-Svencner's videos she posts on You-tube. I watched one where she cut apart a Trader Joe shopping bag and collaged on the unprinted inside. I happened to have a bag and decided to try it myself. You have to be careful to have nice straight edges if you want your margins to look good. Otherwise, the process is the same with coating the bag with gloss medium and using a tack iron to fuse the papers to the bag. If I wish to display it, I'll need to float it in a frame. For now it's an unframed piece. 

Collage Workshop

Collage Bouquet

Mixed Media, 16 X 20

This past week end I took a workshop from a Delaware artist, Tara Funk Grim. She's an accomplished painter and collagist. She begins her collages with a light tissue paper background and adds colored tissue and other papers as she goes, using gloss medium to seal the papers to the substrate. This is different from what I've been doing with the hot iron, it is a more traditional collage. After the papers are fixed and dry she starts painting out with acrylic the areas she doesn't like and cleans up the edges of the torn papers. She will also add more papers if needed.  Her work is amazing, go to her web site at www.tarafunkgrim.com 

Be sure to click on my image to get an enlargement so you can see all the "stuff" in there. 

Create a Challenge

Create

Collage 10 X 10

I've been challenging myself to add more detail and interest to my collages. More layers, and more complexity. With that kind of a challenge it's hard to know when to quit. I kept adding and decided that I think it's enough. But I'm still not sure. Maybe there will be more. I like the cascading effect of the pieces coming down. It's all about learning and stretching myself to keep it interesting. I once had a teacher tell me that an artist is in the business of entertaining the viewer. Let me know if you've been entertained.

This collage is made of hand made string paper, painted tissue paper, manufactured paper, and acrylic paint. It is coated with gloss medium and protected with UV varnish.

I'll be back soon...

My computer had a nasty virus and had to be completely cleaned out with everything reinstalled. It's working good as new now thanks to a talented young computer guru. So, I'm a little behind with blogging and posting my latest artwork. Once it gets photographed and edited I'll be ready to roll again. I hope you have a wonderful Easter with the joyful news of the resurrection. He is risen!

Little Gems

Blue and Red

Collage 3.5 X 4.5

Be Happy 

Collage, 3.5 X 4.5

I did two quick little collages with scraps from other collages. It's a good way to practice and to work on composition and design. It also teaches me which papers are transparent and provide that see-through factor. Some of the tissue and deli papers are painted thinly enough to provide that effect. I discovered that I really liked the ridged seam of a cone coffee filter that I used in the top collage. When the acrylic paint is put over that and wiped away, just enough paint stays in the ridges. I will use that again. Some other things I would change for a stronger composition. It's all part of the learning process.

Added the Waterfall

Scandinavian Horses with Waterfall

I debated and fiddled with it and finally decided to add the waterfall. So much of what I remember of our drive through Norway was the wonderful waterfalls coming from the top of the mountains. I also added a little more shadowing. Now I think I'll leave it alone. It's a memory piece for me that I will enjoy for awhile.

Scandinavian Horses

Scandinavian Horses 

Collage 10 X 10

This is a collage I worked on during a collage class I was teaching in February. For the final session the class was to start a larger piece than they had been working on. We started with a 12 X 12 piece of 140# watercolor paper which was taped to either 10 X 10 or 8 X 8. They were to either start completely new or use a small collage that they had done earlier to give them an idea of where to start. By this time they all had made various papers which were coated front and back with gloss medium so that their finished arrangement could be fused together with a hot iron. The class went so quickly, I wish I had taken pictures of some of the collages that were started. 

My collage stemmed from a kitchen towel that my daughter gave me. I copied the appliqued horses on my copier and cut them out for the collage. The rest of the collage was from my memories of our trips to Norway and Sweden. I'm thinking of adding a waterfall, if I do, I'll post this collage again.

A Successful Show

 Sold

 2nd Place, Sold

 Honorable Mention

 Sold

Sold

On the second week end in February our Pine Island artist's group always has an annual show and sale. I think this one was our 47th. It was a good show for me and for our club, I sold 4 paintings and received 2 awards in the mixed media category. Many paintings were sold. It was a busy time getting 10 paintings ready for one show and 2 for another. 

Besides that, the month of February is when my friend, Nancy, and I teach our collage class. We had 10 people sign up for the class so there was a lot of preparation for that, too. The class is having a lot of fun learning the Jonathan Talbot method of making collage. We also show how to alter the National Geographic and book pages, how to paint their own papers on tissue, printer paper and lunch bags. We cram a lot into 4 weeks. This has left me with little time to devote to the blog. Now February is almost over, can you believe it? We are expecting friends to show up at the end of the week to thaw out from their winter in the north. I think I'll need another 30 day challenge to get back to the studio when the dust settles.

Play Time

Palm Tree on Molding Paste

Acrylic on 6 X 8 cardboard

If you ever get a chance to go to a workshop offered by a Golden Paint artist, try it, it's really fun. I went to one offered at my local art league and had a great time playing with a lot of the Golden products. All the materials are provided and when the workshop is over the samples are divided among the attendees so you continue to play when you get home. One of the products that we played with was molding pastes of varying thickness. This was heavy molding paste spread on a piece of cardboard. While it was still wet I made a palm tree shape in it. The texture was like heavy,smooth frosting for a cake. I used thinned acrylics to tint it when it was dry. I also embellished the tree with a little shiny metallic copper. We also did some image transfer, faux encaustic, and experimented with lots of different products. Well worth the time and money.

One More Valentine

Valentine 2015

Collage 3.5 X 3.5

I have one more Valentine for my collection but it won't go in with the triptych, obviously, since it's the fourth one. 

I've had to do some housekeeping since the 30 in 30 Days Challenge. I'm organizing my supplies for a class in collage that I'll be teaching with another artist. Lugging all the papers, acrylics and everything else you need for this process is a chore but it's so much fun to share it with other artists and see how excited they get about it. I'm also preparing for the Pine Island Show and Sale which is always the second week end in February. I have a workshop with Teresa Kirk scheduled for the same week end so I think I'll be overloaded until the 12th. I'll need a week of nothing!

I hope to have some nice things to post from the workshop by then. 

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments during the Challenge. 

Day 30- I Made It!

Heron's Glen

Collage, 10 X 10

Day 30 has finally come and I can say that I have enjoyed the 30 in 30 Days Challenge. It has been frustrating and stressful at times but I was able to press through and get something finished. It wasn't always my best work but I don't think it was ever meant to be that. To me the idea was to get into the studio and make art; stop procrastinating and get going. That I did. For my last piece I wanted something larger so I worked on this heron over a couple of days and finished it yesterday. It has a lot of things going on in it so I think it entertains the viewer. It's made with altered National Geographic pages, painted tissue, painted papers and manufactured papers. The heron started out as a hand cut stencil on a piece of altered N. G. paper, some of it was painted with acrylic some of it is collage. All of it was heat fused to watercolor paper and coated with acrylic gloss medium. To finish, it will be coated with UV varnish. 

Day 29- We're Almost Finished

Valentine Triptych 3

Collage, 3 X 3

Finally the relationship blossoms into LOVE; the stony places of life are shared and because of that, they decrease. The walls are pushed aside, the lace is still there but on the sidelines. The love is in a field of gold because it's solid and true. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Ha! It was fun to imagine a meaning behind the composition, they all look splendid together since they were all made from the same papers. They are framed vertically in black and have a white mat . I'll try to get a good picture of them all together but it's pretty hard with the glass covering them.

I have just completed my grand finale piece for tomorrow. I hope to get it posted much earlier in the day. 

Day 28- Second Installment

Valentine Triptych 2

Collage, 3 X 3

By second installment I mean the second in a series of three in my Valentine Triptych. The colored papers are the same but arranged in a different composition. I have placed a little gold heart on this one. 

The first one in the triptych symbolized the beginnings of a relationship. The lace shows that we are trying to make an impression. The red strip going down the whole piece is the way we block the other person from seeing the stony places in our lives. In all the pieces there are words because words communicate our thoughts and feelings. In this second piece there is still some blocking of the stony places but our hearts are receptive. Tomorrow you'll get the rest of the story.

Day 27 Counting Down the Days

Valentine Triptych 1

Collage 3 X 3

I'm putting together another triptych for a little frame I bought. It  is black and has a mat with 3 openings that are 3 X 3. I thought it might be a good item for our local up coming art show and sale. This is the first one which is to be in the top opening. I used altered N. G. pages and printed art papers all coated with gloss acrylic medium and heat fused to watercolor paper.

Day 26-We're on the home stretch

Lend Me A Hand

Collage/Mixed Media

5.5 X 7.5

Well, we're almost finished with the 30 day challenge, only 4 more days left. Whew! I thought at the beginning that I'd miss a few days and feel OK with it but I just had to keep pushing. As it is, it's 9 PM and I've just finished this collage for today. Knowing there are only 4 days left just makes me more determined than ever to get something accomplished each remaining day. Thanks for all the great comments, I know how hard that can be, too. It really encouraged me to keep going. 

This collage is made from altered magazine pages, hand painted tissue, book pages, and acrylic on 140 # watercolor paper.

Day 25- I'm Underwater

 

Underwater Seahorse

Acrylic Ink on Yupo, 4.5 X 5.5

I'm feeling a bit underwater and swimming hard! I'm trying to stay caught up so that I can post everyday. Life has a way of getting in the way, my week-end has not been a relaxing one. But here we are! In turning this piece around after the ink had dried from it's wandering and doing it's thing I saw a seahorse hiding in the sea weeds. That is what is so much fun about doing these, you never know what is going to come of it. You may see something else, let me know if you do. 

Day 24-Time March On

Time Marches On

Acrylic on Masonite 8 X 10

This is another experimental piece. I put gesso on a Masonite board. Then I used molding paste smoothed over a stencil to make the raised texture areas. After that I began layering acrylic paint. The final layer was a gold acrylic that was thinly applied with cloth over the clock faces and different areas around the painting. Then I put the line work in with Caran D'arche which is then sprayed with fixative since it is water soluble.

Day 23- The End Is In Sight

Landscape Tile

Alcohol Ink on tile, 6 X 6

Putting the alcohol ink on white ceramic tile that you can buy at a home improvement store is a good way to experiment. It is easy to manipulate the inks and to completely wipe them off with alcohol if you want to do something different. When you get a design that you like, you let it dry and then coat it with epoxy to make it permanent. This tile has 3 shades of brown ink and silver. The silver tends to float on top of the other ink and makes interesting patterns.

Day 22- Squeaking By

Gold Arch

Collage, 5.5 X 4.25

It was a rough day with nothing working out as I had hoped it would. I was ready to give up on a posting for today and went into my studio to tidy up. I came across an unfinished collage that I started for an entry into an up coming art show. All it needed was a recognizable object in it to qualify for the Small World category.  I decided to find a bird to fly into my strange little composition. So here it is. I guess, when in doubt, put a bird in it! I hope things go better for the rest of the Challenge; 8 days and 8 paintings left!

Day 21- Many Layers

Finding Joy

Mixed Media on gallery wrap canvas

12 X 12

I was so inspired by all the great abstract art on the Challenge web page that I decided to go all out and have some fun. This canvas has been painted over so many times, it must have at least 3 maybe 4 layers on it. The last layer was a collage with a tissue paper background. I covered it with gesso and made texture marks in it. I knew I wanted to put some corrugated cardboard on it and words. I chose "Finding joy" in my word collection and went from there to the finished painting. This took me 3 days so I'm needing to do catch up for tomorrow but this was so much fun, it was worth it.

Day 20- We're On A Roll

Day at the Beach

6.5 X 6.5

Acrylic Ink and Acrylic on Yupo

We are in the last 10 days of the 30 Day Challenge and rolling on to the finish line. Today I did a more controlled acrylic ink painting. It is possible to control the inks on Yupo if you allow the layers to dry. Since they are so wet and juicy, especially if you use water with them, allowing some drying time between the colors helps if you want to do a more controlled painting. In this case I put in the blue first, let it dry and then put in the beach. After that dried I painted the palm trees in layers, allowing each layer to dry. Finally, I used fluid acrylic to paint in the figure. Not quite as much fun as going with the flow. It just depends on what you want in your painting.

Day 19- An Old Love

Blue Grotto

Acrylic Ink on Yupo, 5 X 7

After working and struggling with Alcohol Ink I decided to go back to an old love of mine, Acrylic Ink on Yupo. I used to do a lot of these just for the fun of watching the ink move around on the slick Yupo. I add water to the surface first, drop in the ink, move it around, spray it, drip it, and then just let it do it's thing. After a big piece dries, I find the things I like in it and just cut that section out. Or, working on a small piece, limit the colors and watch it develop. If I'm feeling less adventurous, I allow layers to dry and then can paint one on top of the other. I think I prefer it to the alcohol inks because it dries more slowly and I can manipulate it more. 

Day 18- Tangled Woods

Tangled Woods

collage. ink, and acrylic 5.5 X 7.5

This one was a struggle. I started it as a collage on Thursday,I was not happy with the result so I covered it, partially at first, with acrylic, then I tried some stenciling and finally ended up with the negative trees stencil. At that point I needed something to focus on so I put my stand-by bird stamp in it. I still don't like the pink on the lower left but have decided to move on. I'm hoping for better results for tomorrow's post.  

Day 17- Alcohol Ink Note Card

Wish I Were Here

Alcohol Ink Notecard

It's one of those days where I wish I were somewhere warm and sunny on the beach. It's a little cool for me today but I'm sure there are plenty of tourists who are loving the beach today. 

This alcohol ink painting was done on transparent/translucent Yupo so you can see the color of the card through the painting. It's fun to try them on different colors to see which one enhances the painting the best. 

Day 16- Drama Queen

Drama Queen

Acrylic on paper, 9 X 12

I was working on a collage and I didn't like the direction it was going or the results I was having. This morning I saw a picture in the Wall Street Journal that just inspired me to get out the acrylics and see what I could do with it. This isn't even close to the detail in the original picture but I was just going for the shapes and the colors which were so dramatic. I think I'll try it again, usually that doesn't work for me but I'll do it anyway, just to see what happens. It was really fun to paint and though you can't see it there is iridescent gold in the yellows and oranges. 

Day 15-Butterfly Kisses

Butterfly Kisses

Collage, 5.5 X 7.5

Now we're half-way through the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. I think we're getting into the swing of painting everyday, but getting them posted everyday seems to be the hardest part of it. 

This collage is altered magazine pages, painted papers, printed papers, acrylic transfer and acrylic paint and medium on 140# watercolor paper.

Day 14-Balance

Balance

Collage, 3.5 X 5.5

We were at a beach in Maine last year where there were many stacked rocks. Some people do them as a type of meditation. The rocks are irregular in shape and it takes concentration to get them to balance. You need to breathe and be patient. Not unlike balancing life; breathe, be patient, put things in order, the big stuff first then add the smaller stuff. Some days the pile is short, some days it's tall. 

This collage was made from altered magazine pages, art paper, hand painted paper, acrylic paint and medium on watercolor paper.