in the studio

This week in the studio: more canvas work. A  failed start, which has been put aside (for now. I will get back to that eventually.) New stretchers for new canvases with one done and one in progress. And three more to stretch. Another reclaimed canvas in progress. Some accidental happenings which had positive results. I've really been thinking about some conversations with other artists which happened earlier this month. (See their work: Cathal and Lecia) Two different people, unknown to each other, making nearly identical comments to me which I really needed pointed out. They seemed to know the course I was on, even though I didn't. I feel like this has been a big month of growth for me artistically. 

waiting on a change, acrylic, 16" x 16"

I also worked on some charity pieces, which will benefit a local breast cancer charity organization. Details about that can be found here. The second piece is the same place, as the above  painting. The hatching marks I used were meant to mimic the brushstrokes in painting.

untitled , watercolor pencil, 4" x 6"

untitled , watercolor pencil, 4" x 6"

Next week: more painting...

Throwback Thursday

I painted this right before the Safety and America show. I was considering this piece at the time part of the america series, which were figurative abstracts disguised as landscapes, but this was a real place. I hadn't yet started the #art365 landscapes but I was focused enough on the look of landscapes that I was noticing them show up in friends' vacation pictures. And I had started painting them whenever one caught my eye.

buff, acrylic, 16" x 20"

buff is one of the paintings I have at Renditions Gallery for the Engaging Arts event on Sunday.

in the studio

I've spent the week working just on canvas. I know it is hard to tell in photos what the scale of paintings are...these are all bigger than what I've painting so far this year. There's a lot of waiting-for-paint-to-dry time in these, much more than in the little gouaches.

anew, acrylic, 15" x 30"

division, acrylic, 30" x 30"

what gets left behind, acrylic, 30" x 40"

Up next week: making more art. A meeting with a gallery about this summer's showing. An open studio night at Paul Henry's. End of the week support for another artist and Sunday is the Engaging Arts Party in Porter.

Throwback Thursday

As promised, (or threatened?) I found the pages of the book. Last week's throwback was the cover. Here are a couple of the pages. The text was etched, although sadly not really bit as long as it should have been. The images are gum dichromate prints. Each layer of color around the edge is a different layer of printing. I really loved this type of printing.

in the studio

This week started with more little gouaches....

melt, gouache, 4" x 6"

last night, gouache, 4" x 6"

dark prairie, gouache, 4" x 4"

...and ended with a bigger piece. This canvas has been fighting me, but I think it might be done. I'm going to sleep on it.

thaw, acrylic, 40" x 30"

And here I am at the Triad Show at CornerStone Gallery Friday night. 

photo by Debra Gutierrez

Throwback Thursday

In my search for some ink drawings (which I did not find and am a little concerned about...) I stumbled across this. Once upon a time, I did a lot of photography. With a real camera. With film. This was the cover of a limited edition book. It looks like a half sheet of film, so I'd guess about 5" x 8" on the image size. I didn't measure it. This is a van dyke brown print on linen. The inside was filled with gum prints and the text was a combination of etchings and drypoints. The pages of the book are in another box, because I only assembled one book. I'll dig them out and share them in another post.

book cover, van dyke brown print on linen, circa 1992, Brooklyn

in the studio

This week: I painted. I sold more art. I booked a solo show for May-June. It was a good week.

sunrise over the prairie, gouache, 4" x 6"

two fields, goauche, 4" x 6"

lightfall, gouache, 4" x 6"

front, gouache, 4" x 6"

carmelite shadows, gouache, 4" x 6"

tangle (spirea, winter), gouache, 4" x 6"

saplings, gouache, 4" x 6"

Up this week: an opening on Friday at CornerStone for the Triad Show, featuring the work of artists from 3 local arts groups.


And here is another from the #postcardswap. This piece is by Loralei Walker.

Throwback Thursday

This week's throwback is breakdown. This was one of my white paintings. I was challenging myself to move away from super saturated colorwork and go for something more subtle. There is still a lot of color in it but it's diluted with a ton of titanium white. The first time I tried to make a white painting, I ended up with a mostly red canvas (which has since become something else...) 

Art is a journey. 

breakdown, September 2010, acrylic, 36" x 36"

in the studio

This has been a really good week. 7 paintings sold. Paintings delivered for an upcoming show. An opening Friday night. A potential solo show in the works.

I would say things fall into my lap, but I know that they fall into my lap when I work really hard. It isn't really luck, or at least not mostly luck. Cue the Thomas Jefferson quote:

 "I am a great believer in luck,

 and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." 

And on to this week's art!

morning clouds, gouache, 4" x 6"

the stretch behind, gouache, 4" x 6" SOLD

dusk, gouache, 4" x 6"

winter oaks, gouache, 4" x 6"

sunset prairie, gouache, 4" x 6"

fresh snow, gouache, 4" x 6"

Plans for this week: another delivery to Paul Henry's Art Gallery, a Friday night opening to support some fellow artists. More studio cleaning, so I can get that large canvas stretched. Some small color field studies based on the #art365 landscapes (think: simpler reductions) and a collage idea just popped into my head, which is a little weird because I don't do collages. hunh. Happy March!

postcard swap 2, part 2

Here are the rest of the postcards from this winter's postcard swap! There are a few missing, and if I get jpgs from any of the stragglers I'll add them into a 3rd post if there's a enough or I'll tack them onto the end of an in the studio post.

Robin Maria Pedrero

Megan Green

John Hyde

Julia Spencer

Thank you again to all the artists participating! It was great fun to see such a wide variety of media and styles. The #postcardswap will return in the summer...