A Work in Progress

This is a new old painting I've been working on and just took up again to finish. As you can see there was an older start of a painting underneath the yellow (and it's really a true yellow not a greenish yellow) and some stencilling as well, and I painted over it with a transparent yellow to unify it. Then began collaging and found my footing although I'm not yet satisfied with the wording or the images in the red circles and I think I have some details to add to give it more interest. So this shows a work in progress and I'll show you it when it's totally finished and I'm happy with it.

On a second note, I've been painting my house exterior trim indoors but in a well ventilated space, before it gets put up in the siding project and have spent about 2 weeks being dizzy and having some horrendous headaches. Woke up 2 nights ago and had a clear thought that regardless of the warning labels on the acrylic latex paint can - I needed a full face mask respirator (not the flimsy paper filters) with activated charcoal cartridges etc. So my husband picked one up at Home Depot/Lowes for about $30. And I started feeling better the first day and today, my mind is sharp and I'm not dizzy at all. So for all you acrylic painters out there - over time you can start getting a reaction to the acrylic paint fumes - both fine art quality acrylic paint and house grade acrylic paint, especially if you are close to what you are painting and breathing in those fumes. PROTECT YOURSELF!

Here's the picture

So, here's the picture that wouldn't get done, but is now! Along with a closeup of a section on the right. You can see in the background where the dripping paint flowed sideways but I've put a whole new twist on the original. Oh, and it was 10 X 10 not 8 X 10.

Incidently, I don't know what these will be when I start out. I may have a picture from my picture stash that is arresting or a series of words that bring on thoughts or memories and sometimes as I work things just pop into my right brain and I choose to add it. Like I had some paper towels that I had used to sop up old acrylic and this is the center that I collaged over. I also included a piece of rug backing that I frequently paint through to it - stuck it on with Golden Acrylic Soft Gel which does a good job holding bulky things to paintings. And I've used some parts of my own old paintings that were part of the theme and have meaning to me though not to anyone else and that's ok. In fact, if I don't include things that have meaning for me even if other people don't know then the painting is less satisfying for me.

I think how this theme came about was musing about global warming initially and then came the words Eden at the end and then came the snakes and a part of a picture of my feeling on 911. This reflects then taking the global warming issue as a human responsibility to it's worst case scenario ending and relating it to a widely held belief of humanities initial curse.

So what do you think? My friend Sharon now says I have 2 readers that follow so I'm challenged to keep posting.

Below are 2 of the close up's I took to show parts of the painting that are not easy to see.

The painting that won't die

I've had a small painting 8X10 in my studio that I started a couple of months ago. Tried to do some dripping like I used to do on watercolor paper with the inks only this time I was doing it on canvas with thinned down fluid acrylics. Sorta, maybe, didn't quite work. Then I added a paper towel full of old wiped up paint-straightened out and then I applied some bubblewrap as a stencil to it. It was intriguing but wasn't sure it would ever work. Had a concept but didn't quite make it. So I left it for months. Well yesterday and today I pushed forward and put on a lot more detail and it does work! It's drying now but will get a photo tomorrow and put it up here for comments.

I also took another look at that commission painting I'm doing and told myself "this is another one where you have to go all the way through to the end before you're going to know if it works and was worth doing." If this doesn't work I'll have to start over with a new concept and this time I'll make it according to my current work and not pay so close attention to the client colors or realistic images of client objects they want included. That's what often doesn't work for me. Look for photo's tomorrow.

Sample Collage

So I thought I'd see if I could post a Collage I'd recently done and here it is - yayy I did it. So all, tell me what you think. I did this early this year and it's now in Shoalwater Gallery here on the Peninsula for the summer. Shoalwater is trying out abstracts to see if there will be a tourist audience interested in them. They are showing 4 of my encaustics, 3 of these collages and 2 other mixed media pieces. I also show at Azure Day Spa who take all of my large pieces and display on wonderful white walls 10-12 feet tall!!

Eater Up of Art Making Time

Yes, I too have just set up (hurried for sure) my new blog. I usually spend way too much time thinking about these types of things..the name of the blog, the look, the pictures, the titles and everything else. But this time I decided to wing it! Because I want this to be about having and working with interesting ideas and/or what creatively is happening in my studio or inspiring me to new work!

Also, I want to start putting up what's coming out of my studio each day as a way to make sure that something is coming out each day. Yes I know, I'm building a house, putting in a landscape, helping my friend Sharon put in her landscape, querying my husband about his latest trip to Home Depot and walking my dogs on the bay or the beach but hey - for me the thing I long for the most is getting into that studio and doing something creative.

So Collages are on my radar right now. Made directly on canvases and likely to have words and fabric and threads and interesting papers and lots of color and acrylic paint. Mostly smallish like 8 X 10 but going up to as big as 16 X 20's. In other words I just got my order in from Blick and I'm ready to go. Now I just have to figure out how to post my pictures to the website. Hmmmm and then next it'll be twitter!