Two Girls and a Ball

The two little girl images are from the first pattern I ever used to make something... a purple cotton dress for my favorite doll which I still have. I also made a purple sundress for myself... when I was 9 years old.

Two Girls and a Ball

5" x 5"

Collage on gallery wrap canvas

Romans 1

Another in the Sermon Notes series, Romans 1 features a photo I shot in Israel. It represents Paul as he composed his letter to the band of believers living in Rome in AD 57.

Since I had such an appropriate photo this Note is different from the others. The text was printed on thin paper and then glued to the painted paper. The acrylic medium I used gives the paper a translucent quality.

My plan is to do a Note for each of the chapters in Romans, 16 in all. Our pastor is teaching Romans on Sunday morning and he goes verse by verse so this project will stretch over many months; don't expect to see one a week, though I have to play catch up since we're already up to Chapter 4.

Grasshopper

Here's another collage from my traveling compost box. I like the looks of torn edges but there's just something about the way my hands and mind works that insists on straight cuts and 90 degree angles. Perhaps it's all those years of garment construction when even being a half inch off-grain can make a skirt hang crooked and certainly is the difference between a smooth collar and one you'll never wear.

I started sewing when I was 4, when I'd sit in my grandmother's lap and learn embroidery stitches. That led to my making most of my clothes in high school and college, and then for most of my adult life. I no longer make my clothes except for the times when I can't stand another shopping trip. No longer is it a lot cheaper to sew one's own clothes, although I have such a big stash of good fabrics that if I used what I have then my clothing budget would hardly be dented. Hmmm.

More Collage

Yellow Headed Amazon

7.5 x 7.5

This is another collage made from my compost box of painted and commercial papers. The parrot image is from an ancient encyclopedia... remember when we opened a book to do research, way back before wikipedia?

LITTLE JO

7.5 x 7.5

I took a box of collage compost with me to use while on vacation at the beach, not realizing how appealing making a simple collage would be to my grandchildren. I took only enough supports for my own work but of course I soon realized that it was more important that I share with these budding artists.

The first girl to have a go was my 8 year old granddaughter who created a masterpiece right off the bat. Granted I kept control of the glue spreader (I had YES! paste with me and a broad plastic palette knife) so the work was neater than she normally produces but it was amazing. See for yourself...

Sarah's House

6.5 x 5

Soon my other granddaughter joined the fun and made this

And by week's end we had a gallery lining two windowsills...

Charlie's Chasing the Green Flash.

Jill's Tree

And the rest are mine.

At the Edge of the Forest

At the Edge of the Forest

Acrylic on Paper

16"x20"

Available

Mondays are busy for me but I managed to find time for some painting this afternoon, done from a photo by my friend, Nina Bagley. I'm noticing what happens at the edges of natural things... the contrast of light and dark at the edge where meadow meets forest, the glow at the edge of a rose petal in the morning sun, the prism of colors on the shell of a soap bubble, the light edge on the tree trunks that I see out my studio window, the shadow edge on the house siding created by the sun shining on an overlapping board, the dark edge of my friend's cheek as light glows behind her. And I realize that I don't stop to look, not often enough, at this beautiful world that God created for us to enjoy. I hope you stop for awhile today just to look and wonder at the beauty around you.

Photography

I've been just thinking about all those questionaires where you're asked to list your hobbies and I realized that I never list photography which is crazy since that's one of my major activities. I'm hardly ever without a camera. My uncle and my father loved to take photos and Dad let me use his fold-up bellow camera when I was a youngster. It was way better than a Brownie although he bought me one to shut up my whining because "everyone" had a Brownie. I got my first SLR in 1966 and have progressed through lots of others. Hmmmm... I still have most of the cameras somewhere and they'd make a nice display on my fireplace mantle. My current favorite is a little Camon PowerShot SD700IS because I can stick it in my pocket or purse and have it with me wherever I go.

Yesterday we went to a friend's cabin on the Wind River just above the Columbia in Washington. We climbed down to the river through the puckerbrush and out onto these massive rocks that line the river. It's so beautiful there with the quiet interupted only by the water as it pounds the rocks and the occasional bird, including a rather lusty-sounding raven.

As I was eating lunch on my back deck I noticed some interesting leaf shadows on the umbrella.

Have I painted today? No, but I have made a bit of art with my camera, and that counts.

Plaster and Board

Several weeks ago I took a 5-day workshop from Pat Wheeler... called The Architecture of Memory. I completed 4 paintings in class and finished 2 more in my studio. I'm most pleased with these two.

Here are a couple of details:

These paintings are on 2" deep cradled 12" X 36"panels which were first painted with a dark color. Then limestone clay was troweled on and allowed to dry completely, and sanded. At that point I laid in the landscape with watered down acrylic paint, and after it was dry I went back in with a big nail and carved the trees. Then I sanded the pieces smooth and added the details with more paint. The colors extend around the sides and the surface is finished with a layer of cold wax medium and buffed.

Will I do more of these paintings? Maybe, but the process is quite labor intensive and my hands were killing me after the carving and sanding, so I may be wise and find something that isn't so hard on my body, even though I do like the process and the results.

Hillsboro Plein Air Paint-Out

Participating in the Hillsboro Plein Air Paint Out last Saturday was a first for me. I've painted outside but never in an organized event and never with so many people watching. Cowardly me chose a rather quiet sidewalk in front of the courthouse, set up my equipment, and got to work. I've heard experienced outdoor painters advise "find a comfortable spot and paint what's in front of you" so that's what I did. There was a blue tent nested beside a path among the trees so I chose that as my subject.

I worked with Holbein acrylics and wasn't happy with the paints at all. The colors are wonderful for my splashy studio work but didn't work well for me that morning because I couldn't mix my greens to suit myself. My fault, not the paint. I need to practice mixing greens. And I didn't get the tent right which threw everything off.

Yes, I was doing way too much self critiquing and I knew it so I quit that painting and found another comfortable place, on a bench in front of The Candy Basket and behind a flower seller. The next painting came rather quickly and I was done in perhaps 30 minutes.

We turned in our 2 paintings for judging and I won an Honorable Mention in the Figurative classification for Flower Seller. What a surprise! I was participating because I thought it'd be fun to do and give me good experience. I gave no thought to winning anything. The judge mentioned the simplicity of the work and knowing when to stop. I didn't tell him that it was better about a dozen brushstrokes before I finished.

White Vase with Purple Flowers

I've been working with acrylics this afternoon and as long as I remember to make a statement with my painting and not get too realistic I'm okay. This was fun.

It's 12"x14".