Throwback Thursday

It's 29° here today, and while it's not spring, it is balmy after the crazy wind chills we've had this month. We're just about done with winter, even if winter isn't done with us yet. spring, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 36" x 36"

in the studio

This week I continued with #art365 landscapes in gouache while I wrapped up the final edits on my grant application for the IAC. Somewhere last week the idea of these pieces acting as thumbnails for a larger piece got lost and I was just painting to paint. Perhaps because I've always hated thumbnails. Or maybe because we've been getting up later and I've been missing the early morning blues of the snow. Probably the thumbnail bit.

morning reversal, gouache on handmade paper, 5" x 5"

the pines, gouache, 4"x 4"

snow day, gouache 4" x 4"

afternoon shadows, gouache on handmade embossed paper, 5" x 5"

sunset rooftops, gouache, 4" x 6"

wind chill, gouache, 4" x 6"

Throwback Thursday

An untitled landscape from the america series, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 16" x 16"

in the studio

Well, #art365 landscapes were back with a vengence this week! I started working on them again, with the intention that one will be recreated in a large scale for my own home. I'm also thinking about the twitter art exhibit and the #postcardswap which need to be sent off soon and was thinking maybe one of these pieces would be in contention for those. And I dug through the paper I made at Hook Pottery Paper and started using some of those. And I've been using gouache. weird.

frozen, gouache on handmade paper, ~5" x 5"

winter sunrise, gouache on paper

winter willows, wicker park, gouache on paper

treeline, gouache on handmade paper, ~5" x 5"

winter prairie, gouache on paper, 4" x 6"

snowstorm, gouache on paper, 4" x 6"

creekside, gouache on handmade paper, ~5" x 5"

creekside was named creekbed when I saw the place which inspired this piece. It was creekbed when I painted it and photographed it. Then I posted it and it got posted as creekside in 3 different places. So it is now creekside because that is what it wants to be called. This is how I title my work. Each piece tells me what it wants to be called.

Throwback Thursday

So we're still in winter here. 

winter, 2010, acrylic, 36" x 36"
from the four seasons series

in the studio

I spent most of this week working on small sketches and planning out a large-ish piece. The snow is half melted but a good portion of the mornings this week the snow and sky were the same color, with just some small lines of grasses near the train tracks showing, and the tree line along the ridge breaking the space. I'm thinking a big #art365 landscape would be great over my fireplace mantel. I never really plan work to keep. And for all the artwork I make, I really have very little of it up in my house. I finish a piece, photograph it, and pack it away til it goes somewhere for a show or is sold. So the idea of making something for the house is a little weird. And I'm thinking about 36" x 60" which is way huge for the little landscapes to become. It will be awesome or awful, but I won't know until it happens.

Also this week, I wrapped up (finally) the asunder piece, which I've really been toying with and dragging out forever. Actually, I'm still wondering if the word asunder ought to be a bit more legible. But I am done for now. It's way past time to move on to something else. 

And I've been playing with a pastel drawing which I just keep drawing over and over and I know that part of the problem is I don't really feel like doing pastels and I want them to do things that pastels don't really do. But they were already out and set up and I was lazy. So I keep drawing and reworking and drawing and reworking... Here's a bit of that.

I joined a collaborative project for nwicreative which is still in the works. My part is done, and I should be able to show you the completed piece next week.

I got the first postcard jpg today! Can't wait to be able to share a couple of #postcardswap posts! And I have to do my postcard and also the #twitterartexhibit... 

This Saturday the SLAC Anniversary show closes and with it, the silent auction. I've got nine one of a kind prints and some of them don't have bids yet! Check them out here. This is a great opportunity to pick up some original art, below retail price and support a great organization. 50% of the sales of my work will be donated to the National Autism Association for Northwest Indiana.

Throwback Thursday

I was thinking that a painting titled winter would be rather appropriate, but after 2 weeks of Christmas break followed by 3 days of it's too cold to go to school, I'm thinking freedom is really more where it's at. I've had the house to myself for a couple of hours now and it has been glorious. Like choirs of angels singing. yeah, freedom. from the america series, 2010, acrylic, 15" x 30"

papermaking

File this one under better late than never...In November, I went to a workshop at Hook Pottery Paper with a couple of friends. 

         IT. WAS. AWESOME.

If I could type that in a bigger font, I would.

I cannot even begin to say how inspiring it was. I left with so many ideas! I had never considered there were so many possibilities of making art solely from paper: watermarking, embedding, embossing, layering. Here are a few of my pieces and a quick clip of one of my friends making paper.

Before and after: writing with pulp on a wet sheet of paper and the same sheet after pressing and drying.

paper embedded with paper.

pulp writing on different layers

pulp writing, layered paper (small square not quite centered) stenciled pulp. This was just an alphabet stencil from an office supply store. I would need to make some stencils out of mylar to have this be really effective for my own work. I hope you can see the possibilities of this in relation to my more recent Post No Bills work and my previous ink drawings.

And my first attempt at pulp painting. There's a huge learning curve on this.

I cannot wait to go back!

Throwback Thursday

Yesterday as I was working I was wondering what I would post for today's Throwback. I was not really looking forward to digging through portfolios and then I looked down and saw this painting. I've had it in my studio for the last couple of months because I was thinking of recreating it in a larger scale. Maybe that will happen this year. 

tired (with a strong back, but an empty soul), 2010, acrylic on canvas, 40" x 30" 

#postcardswap deadline is the 5th! Sign up now if you haven't already!