Day 11 One of My Favorite Subjects

Paris In The Fall

Collage, 10 X 10

Yes, I admit it, I'm one of those people who loves Paris. Something draws us back to that city again and again. I can stay a few days and I'm satisfied, although I often wonder what it would be like to be able to stay for a month and really be able to explore in a leisurely fashion. Our first trip to Paris was billed as a Christmas shopping trip, three days in Paris, three in London in November. We just got a taste and knew we had to go back even though we had a tiny hotel room, it was expensive, confusing, cold and rainy. We since have been back spring, summer and fall, each time to a different neighborhood. It's a wonderful city to explore, there seems to be no end to the interesting new place you can find each time. 

This collage is made with stamped and painted tissue, altered magazine pages, printed pages and acrylic paint. 

Day 10 One Third of the Way!

Lariats

Collage 10 X 10

This collage was made from altered magazine pages, hand painted paper and tissue, printed paper and acrylic paint. It has lots of texture that can't be appreciated in a photo. When you get into making collages you start to save interesting papers. The red in this piece was from an envelope of unusual paper that was sent from India. The hand made papers often hold memories of when and where they were made and who was there creating with you. Making a collage, like painting a painting, carries a piece of the artist in it. 

Day 9 Getting Bigger

Petroglyph

Collage 10 X 10

I've been saving this one because I wanted to show the smaller ones first. This whole piece is done with pages from the National Geographic that were altered with the Citrasolv. The organic quality of the pages lend themselves to a landscape format and with the layers I thought it looked like the side of a cliff. I found this giraffe transfer in my stash that just seemed to be waiting to be put on this piece. Is that serendipity or what? 

For those who are kind enough to leave comments, I'm sorry that I've had to reinstate the comment puzzle thing. I found that I had hundreds of spam comments in my spam box which I was unaware of until I stumbled upon it while looking for something else. I do love the comments and appreciate the time it takes for you to leave them. 

Day Eight, Before and After

Landscape, Day 8

Heron Lake, Day 8-revised

Collage, 4.5 X 6.5 in 8 X 10 mat

As I looked at this collage I felt that it needed something. So, I looked through my images for image transfer and thought the heron was just the thing. The size and scale was right and it fit the feel of the piece. To transfer an image I coated the printed image with several coats of gloss or gel medium and allowed it to dry. I cut it as close to the image as I could, placed it face down on my artwork and fused it with the iron. Then I rubbed the excess paper off with a small, damp cloth. What is left is the printed image on the layer of medium minus the paper. I first learned about the process in a Golden Paints workshop, I think they have tutorials on line if you want to know more. Just search "acrylic transfers".

Day 7 Abstract Collage

Writing On the Wall

Collage 4.5 X 6.5

I have one week down and three to go! I hope we all make it to the end. This collage is made up of altered magazine pages, stained tissue and printed tissue. All of it has been coated with gloss medium and heat fused, then sealed with gloss medium and UV varnish. I love this process because you can design your collage and fuse it without taking it all apart to glue the individual pieces down. Once you arrange it, it's practically done. I like the limited palette on this one; red, black and gray are always a good combination. Did you know the phrase "The writing on the wall" comes from a story in the Old Testament? You'll find the story in the book of Daniel, chapter 5. It's quite interesting. 

Day 6, Autumn Day Collage

Autumn Day

Collage, 7.5 X 5.5

The next few day's collages are a bit bigger, they fit in an 8 X 10 mat for framing. This one, with the orange and green made me think of the early days of fall when some of the leaves have turned and some have kept their green for just a little longer. The papers are painted tissue, water stained tissue, and an altered magazine page. Acrylic paint is lightly wiped on and wiped off in places to bring the piece together, then it is coated with gloss medium.  

Day 4, 30 In 30 Challenge, Postcard Collages

Caravan

Collage 4 X 5.5

This collage came together when I was looking for a piece of orange to place in my collage. I spotted this orange with camels on the back of some prepared paper  that had not been affected by the Citrasolv. I like to put in something that is objective now an then and people really like to see something recognizable in an otherwise abstract piece. I have gotten a very positive response to this collage and I think that's why. All the rest of the papers in this collage were magazine pages that were altered with Citrasolv and coated with gloss medium, then heat fused.

Day 4 Post Card Landscape 3

Moonscape

Mixed Media Collage

4 X 5.5

Here we are at day 4 and I have another postcard sized collage. The papers are hand painted tissue, jelly printed paper and magazine page with the ink altered with Citrasolv. The circular forms on this paper remind me of photos of the moon with the craters. I hope you are enjoying the 30 Day Challenge as much as I am.

Day 3 Postcard Collage 2

Sunlit 

Postcard Collage

This looks like a sunlit cliff shoreline to me, especially in the photo. You can't tell that the little strip of yellow is the gold acrylic that I put on the torn edges of the paper. That is what makes the cliff look sunlit as well. These are the same kinds of papers that I used yesterday. I'm loving experimenting with these little landscapes. Check in with me tomorrow to see the 3rd in the series.

Day 2- Post Card Landscape

Post Card Landscape A

Collage 4 X 5.5

I decided to make post card sized landscapes for the first part of the month of the 30 day challenge. It gives me a chance to experiment with differing horizon lines, colors and papers without having a large piece to agonize over. They go fairly quickly and leave me time to work on larger pieces which take longer to complete. 

This collage is made up of magazine pages altered with Citrasolv and colored tissue that has been altered with water. Everything is coated with gloss medium and fused together with heat on 140# watercolor paper.

Day 1, 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

I'm going to participate in the 30 Day Challenge again. I plan to do my collage "paintings" as well as some watercolor and mixed media. My theme is "My Neck of the Woods", mostly focusing on Florida scenes but I will be doing a lot of non-objective pieces as well so I'm not being ridged about it. 

Time Span 

Collage 3.5 X 4.5

I've been learning how to make papers with National Geographic magazines and Citrasolv, a natural cleaning product. It dissolves the ink and makes one able to manipulate it into interesting, random patterns. All the papers in this little collage were made this way, coated with gloss medium and heat fused to 140 pound watercolor paper. It was then enhanced with acrylic paint and coated with another layer of medium.

Collage-o-rama

Going With the Flow 

Collage, 8 X 8

I've been on  quite a collage kick again lately. I'm surely addicted to the medium. I love working with the colors and patterns on the papers, the assembly, and making order out of what seems to be chaos. This was made with hand painted papers, text, stamped, and altered National Geographic papers. Out of my stacks of papers I pick two or three colors I want to work with, decide what kind of composition it will be, then I start tearing and placing papers until I get something I like. I didn't know it needed a fish until it was almost finished. This is stamped from my own hand carved fish stamp with copper acrylic on a thin paper. Next I wipe over the collage with acrylic paint and then wipe it off. This colors all the white edges of the papers and unifies the piece. If you enlarge the picture you should be able to make out fish images in the blue area above the stamped fish behind the net effect. They are all headed the same direction, going with the flow. The final step is to coat it with a UV varnish to preserve the colors. It can then be matted and framed or adhered to a gallery canvas or wood panel.

Lost and Found

Purple Mountains

7 X 10 Watercolor

Have you ever "lost" a painting and then found it years later? I found some magazines from 2001 in the bottom of a drawer, and I began looking through them. In the back of one of them was this painting. Obviously, it was painted during one of my trips west, I'm not sure which one. I thought it was a fun little painting and so typical of the sunset scenes one sees in Arizona,  or New Mexico. Usually I date my pictures that I paint away from home and keep them as a diary of my trips, but this one wasn't dated. The only thing I have to go by is the date on the magazines. 

Sailboat series #2

Red Sun At Night

Watercolor 15 X 11

This is the second in the sailboat series, very much like the first one only larger. I love doing the colorful skies, getting the colors to blend into each other is one of the most fun things to do with watercolor. I must be doing the boat OK because a sailor recognized the type of boat it was before I put the insignia on the sail. That's a good sign. 

Painting Sailboats

Red Sun in the Morning

Watercolor 8 X 11

I'm doing a series of sailboat paintings so that I have some to show at the Regatta in October. This is the first of them painted with watercolor. I wet the sky area being careful not to get the sail wet. Then I started with the orange and allowed the colors to blend into each other.When that dried I used masking on the lines and railing of the boat, then I wet the water area and put in a blend of ultra marine blue, and a touch of permanent magenta. After drying I could add the touch of orange from the sky and the details of the boat. This was my practice piece for a larger painting but it turned out OK so I thought I'd post it. 

A Bird in the Bush

A Bird in the Bush

Collage, 8 X 8

This collage has been patiently waiting for me for weeks to finish it. I'm so glad that it was begun so that I had something in the works one afternoon when the men were working on the kitchen and I had to be on hand for questions on details. Since my art room is right off the kitchen it was the perfect place to be. Over several days it entertained me during the completion of the kitchen project. The collage was begun with hand painted papers on 140# watercolor paper which were heat fused then coated with acrylics and stenciled. Finally it will be sealed a coat of satin acrylic varnish. 

Zentangle Butterfly  

4 1/4 X 3 1/4

With the remodel going on it's so crazy at my house I had to get away one afternoon to do something creative. Starting or finishing a painting was not an option, so I got out my colored pens and did some Zentangle. It's relaxing and absorbing at the same time. It takes your mind off of what is going on in your life and you combine your colors and doodles with abandon. It's small enough to finish in an afternoon and I come away with a sense of accomplishment. This will make a nice "mini" for our art league's sale in February. 

Moon Rise

Moon Rise Over Montana

Gouache on paper 7.5 X 7.5

It's been such a long time since I've posted a painting. I've been doing some summer travel to witness grandchildren graduating from High School. Such a milestone in their young lives! Add remodeling the kitchen and it leaves little time to paint.

This painting was done quite some time ago and I don't know where it's been hiding but it just surfaced and I thought it would be a fun one to post. I did a whole summer's worth of painting with gouache one year and really enjoyed the medium. It's a nice transition to go from watercolor to acrylic because of it's opaque qualities but it's still movable with water after it dries. I do hope I'll be able to get some painting in soon, I miss it when life gets in the way.

A Simple Design

Sailin'

Acrylic, 22 X 28 (framed) 

Every year our art league has a competition in conjunction with a local sailing club. The club members choose one painting from the show to put on their Regatta T shirt. This year my painting, Sailin' was chosen for the T shirt. Two years ago I had another painting chosen so this is the second time I've received this honor. 

For the painting I made a simple graded blue background in acrylic; mixing the paint with polymer medium gave it some shine. After it dried I drew simple boat and sail shapes on the blue background with chalk, erasing and redrawing until I had the placement , sizes and shapes that I wanted. Then it was a matter of boldly taking a brush full of fluid white paint and following the chalk lines. I had to move quickly to keep the lines smooth. It took several tries, washing out the white acrylic before it dried. it was a fun experiment, something I've never done before. It was so simple I almost didn't enter it but in the end decided I had nothing to loose. Now, I'm happy that I did. When the T shirt is printed in the Fall I'll share a picture of it.

Textured backgrounds

 Textured Acrylic Background

 

I think it must have been at least a year ago, probably longer, that I took a workshop from Libit Jones. She had us make colorful, textured backgrounds for our paintings. I did several smaller paintings in her workshop and made 2 full sheet backgrounds for future paintings. Then I stalled out. The backgrounds were stuck in the back of the stack waiting for an idea. I finally decided to try flamingos. I struggle with acrylic figurative painting because it's seems opposite of watercolor. You go from dark to light instead of light to dark, and then acrylics get darker as they dry and watercolors dry lighter. It's a learning process for sure.

My first attempt covered up the background and just allowed whatever I managed to scratch out show through in the water. Acrylics dry quickly and it was a challenge to get the top layer scraped out before it was too dry. You can see the under painting through the water. Click on the image to get a closer view.

 

 

Flamingo With Lotus

Acrylic 30 X 22

Palm Paradise

Palm Paradise

Collage/Acrylic 6X12

(Click for larger view)

 

 

This is the last collage I did for our collage class which ended in March. I wanted to show that not all the papers needed to be torn, some can be cut for hard edges. I cut some of the palm fronds and the grasses, it's too difficult to tear small pieces sometimes needed to complete your composition. The papers are altered Geographic pages, sheet music, printed papers and painted tissues. All are sealed with polymer medium, heat fused and the art is protected with UV varnish. Be sure to click on it so that you can see the little details.

I appreciate your comments so much. Thank you!



 

 



Zentangles

Hummingbird Zen

Colored Pen 4.25 X 3.25

Seahorse Zen

Colored Pen 4 X 6

I've been wanting to do some zentangles or doodle art with the many pens and markers that I have acquired over the years. I like the ones I've seen with a subject in them so I used a seahorse and a hummingbird as my beginning place. I tried to make them interesting and varied. Maybe my desire to make them artistically balanced gets in my way. I think they are colorful and fun, a great way to play with my "stuff" when I'm not working on a painting or collage. I think they will make fun note cards, too.

From Zambia

From Zambia

Collage, 8 X 8

I didn't know what to name this collage and finally settled on "From Zambia" because the stamps I put in it are from there. They have some wonderfully colorful stamps. The focal point is a stamp with a Rotary International logo on it. I thought it had an interesting shape and the orange is complimentary to the blue. The papers are hand painted tissue and deli papers, altered National Geographic pages, book pages, and decorative papers. All of them have been coated and sealed with polymer medium and heat fused to watercolor paper. 

New class, new students

Four Student Collages

These four collages were done by our new students last week. They are all 2 X 2 and were done from the scraps that my co-teacher and I save from our collages. They were embellished with little punch outs. I think they are all well done, we have some experienced artists in the group who wanted to learn the technique of collage without adhesives. It's going to be a fun class since there are only four new students and four returning students. We will have a great time making our papers and collages.

Spring Song

Spring Song

Collage 5 X 5

Often, when I begin a new collage I will do two with like papers. These papers are the same ones I used for the last collage; the music, player piano paper, gessoed and painted paper and altered magazine pages. I like the way the colors of the papers underneath show through the dashes of the player piano paper. With a little planning they can add quite a lot to the design.

Teaching, Creating, Blogging

Those Who Wish to Sing

Collage 7 X 7

It's been awhile since I've been blogging. it's amazing how much time it takes to teach a class, especially when you are new to it. Instead of making art I've been making plans for class. It was very rewarding to teach this newly learned skill to others and watch the enthusiasm for making papers and then making the collages. Eventually I just have to make something! I can't stand being around the papers and not start putting an idea together. I saw this quote on another blog, or Pinterest or somewhere and wanted to use it in a collage with music notes, player piano paper and finally a new bird stamp. Some of the other papers are altered from magazines and painted copy paper. All of it has been sealed in acrylic. 

A Great Sales Day

 One Fish, Two Fish

 Hydrangea

Message In An Aquarium

Today was the Pine Island Annual Art Show and Sale. It's our only show of the year and our big money making event. Of the many paintings that were sold today, 5 of mine went out the door! I am so humbled and elated at the same time; and very grateful. These are 3 that were sold and the painting that is the heading to my blog was also sold. The show is open until Sunday, 4 P M. 

Class Collages- week 1

The Collage class started last week and I asked the students to bring in the mini-collage that they made last week and the practice collages that they made with magazine pages. I think they have done a remarkable job for the first week and here are the ones that were brought in today which I photographed. Next week I'll try to get some pictures of the class at work. Everyone seems to be having a great time making their papers and getting ready to do a larger collage.

Old Marina

Watercolor 15 X 22

This is the painting I would have posted for day 30 if the weather had cooperated. We finally have some nice sunny days so I could take it outside and get a good photo of it. It was one of the paintings we started in the Jack Nolan workshop and it took me several painting sessions to complete it and put on the finishing touches. We started with a light wash of the 3 primaries over the whole painting and then decided, from the way that the wash dried which way the light would hit our subject. Of course mine was opposite the way that the painting was demonstrated so it took me some extra thinking to determine how my shadows would fall with the light coming from the left side. I'm happy with the way it turned out, it was a good learning experience.

Collage of paintings

Collage of paintings

I was able to figure out how to get 25 paintings in a collage but that was it. If I fooled around it became a disaster so I just left it as it filled in automatically. It's interesting. It's from a web site called www.picmonkey.com

It was a good month, a lot of good practice and keeping on top of the artwork everyday. I probably wouldn't have done all the collage work if I hadn't taken on the 30 day challenge. It's so easy to put things off until "tomorrow". Having a goal of 30 pieces in 30 days is a great way to get into the studio every day. I thank Leslie Saeta http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com for the challenge and I thank all the other artists that participated because that just made me want to keep at it. Check out all the neat collages of artwork on her page from a lot of the artists who participated.

DAY 3O- BE FREE

Be Free

Acrylic, 15 x 22

It's cold, rainy and dark today in SW Florida. Unusual for January but we can use the rain. As a result, the painting I did today can't be photographed, it's too big for the scanner, so I have to use the reserve painting I had for just this kind of day. It's an acrylic that I did earlier.  The idea for it came from a painting that was published in the Palette magazine from many years ago. I liked the softness of the lines and the ethereal look to it. 

Thanks for coming with me on this 30 day journey into daily creativity; it's been good to push myself to make art, even if it's small, everyday. It's been great to practice my collage making, I feel much more prepared to help teach the collage class which starts next week. 

I really appreciate those who have taken the time here and on facebook to comment about my art. Thank you! 

Day 29- Two Mini Collages

Two Mini Collages

Collage on paper each 2 X 2

This is a little exercise my co-teacher and I will be doing in the first collage class. Each student will be making a 2 X 2 collage so that they have something to take home on the first day. We have boxes of scraps for them to choose a dark, a light and an accent color. The scraps are from previous collages we have made so they are all coated and ready to fuse with a hot iron so that the class gets an idea how it all works. We have the little punches to make the interesting accents which we punch out to coated papers as well.

The class is full so we are excited to be teaching this for the first time in this area. 

Day28-Hydarangea

Hydrangea

Watercolor 8 X 8

I hope I didn't post this last year. It's one of those paintings that you keep "noodling" because it's so much fun to play around with those little individual flowers. There comes a time when you just have to stop and put it in a frame before you noodle too much. I finally did that today. It's in a nice, white 12 X 12 frame and it looks as fresh as spring. It will be offered for sale at the Annual Pine Island Art Show and Sale on Feb. 15.