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"

Throwback Thursday

Another more recent throwback: embrace, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36".  This was in the first show I had when I started painting again, at the Gary Public Library. Since then it's shown in several other galleries in Northwest Indiana.

in the studio

This week was full of #art365 landscapes as I am now working through the #paintseptember project on twitter. A painting a day for the month of September. Big paintings are on hold right now. I am getting ready for Intimate Persuasions: Small Works opening Saturday. I've got a lot of figuring out to do, as far as what will be included. Adding in new pieces each week is counter productive, really. Oh well. 

This week began with 2 pieces based on a friend of a friend's photo. I was not actually in Vermont. Then a few of the prairie. insert is north of 80 heading east. pleasant view is a cemetery I visited on the road trip last month. Also this week, I made 5 small encaustic paintings. You can see those here.

west woodstock, vermont, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

treeline, proper road, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

goldenrod, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

sunflower prairie, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

insert, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

pleasant view, old lincoln highway, acrylic on paper, 5" x 6"

sunlit, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

Friday was the opening of TEXT:Louder Than Words at Studio 659. seneca was part of this show, and I didn't bring a camera, so I have no pics. I did meet another artist, Arlene Tribbia, who is also a writer. Two different people commented how much her work looked like mine. Unfortunately, her work in the show isn't on her website (and again I didn't take any pictures...) There is a lot of really good artwork in this show. The show is up through Saturday, September 28.

Next up: This week I'd like to get back to some drawing, as well as the continuation of #paintseptember. 

Intimate Persuasions: Small Works by Brabant Lenting and Dawn Diamantopoulos opens Saturday, September 14 4-9pm at Paul Henry's Art Gallery in Hammond. 

in the studio

This week was full of #art365 landscapes. It began with a continuation of the field outside Crown Point but got sidetracked by some high contrast. Then further sidetracked while I worked through a couple of ideas on a sliver of light at sunset and the glow of sunrise on fog, and finally back to the field.

field I, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

quiet, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

roadside glow, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

early sunset I,acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

early sunset II,acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

early sunset III, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

morning fog I, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

morning fog II,acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

early sunset IV, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

field II, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

In other news: I've joined #paintseptember on twitter and will be making a small landscape every day. This easily ties in with my #art365 project of making art every day, I just have to have something completed every day for this month. 

seneca will be part of Studio 659's TEXT: Louder Than Words exhibit which opens this Friday. The following week, there will be an opening featuring a large selection of these #art365 landscapes at Paul Henry's Art Gallery. Details to follow.

in the studio

This week's big accomplishment was the rework of this was only a dream. Rework actually doesn't begin to cover it. It was 24" x 48" and I wasn't quite happy with it. I had experimented with some things on it and learned a lot, but the end just wasn't there. And because it was so long, I upended the canvas to save room. This canvas had originally painted vertically and seeing it that way made me feel like it still wanted to be in that orientation. But then, it was so skinny. So I added in another canvas and now I had 48" x 60" which is more substantial. I forgot how hard it is to reach the top of 48". That extra 8" makes quite a difference. Needless to say, it looks nothing like the last version. I am however happy with this piece. There is ink text in the background which says:

this was only a dream but now I am awake.

but some days I wish I was still asleep. 

this was only a dream, acrylic and ink on canvas, 48" x 60"

I began working on another piece, tentatively titled out of reach. I changed the composition from yesterday, only to step back and realize the change didn't work. This piece will have a few more days' work. The color will be changing as well. This was just blocking in the underpainting.

out of reach, work in progress
acrylic and ink, 48" x 24"

And I finished the bicycle pieces. If you haven't been following along, another artist donated a whole huge stack of canvases to me, right after I agreed to donate a piece of work to Habitat for Humanity. The good karma had to be paid forward. I do from time to time make overt offerings to the good karma gods and a stack of canvases was going to need a karmic thank you. So my pay it forward, good karma plan is to offer up these two paintings in auction with no minimum bid. Right now they have bids of $5 and $10. (I said no minimum bid and I wasn't kidding!) The links will take you to my facebook page. If you aren't on facebook and would like to bid, or would like to bid privately, contact me and I will update the bid for you.

bicycle I, acrylic on canvas panel, 24" x 36"

bicycle II, acrylic on canvas panel, 24" x 36"

Why bicycles? Because my 10 year old son finally learned how to ride a bike. He hasn't even wanted to try for the last few years and was very self conscious about it. Mean mommy that I am, I made him try it. It took a couple of days of me running alongside, holding the bike up. (Thankfully, only a few days because that was exhausting!) Now he is out for bike rides every day. That joy and pride and freedom inspired these two pieces.

and now for some more good karma

Who doesn't need more good karma? I mean, seriously, if you feel like you could use some karmic interference, you need to earn it. You need to be grateful and thankful for good things in your life. I really believe appreciation is a key factor in this.

early summer prairie, acrylic on canvas, 4" x 4"

early summer prairie is the #art365 piece for 5.29.13. #art365 is my pledge/challenge to make art every day. I started January 1st and have made some art every day since then. Some days I do a lot and some days I do a little, but I haven't missed a day yet. I am posting #art365 on facebook, as well as  google+ twitter and pinterest. #art365 landscapes are also being posted to my website.

So here is the next good karma giveaway. This is for facebook because I already promised it for facebook. Sadly, there are too many hoops to jump through to have the giveaway on facebook. Happily, a large portion of the sales I've had this year have been through facebook! So, thanks, facebook likers! When I hit 200 likes, I will give away this painting to a random comment-er on this blog post.


Rules? 

1. You have to like my facebook page. You can do that here. 
2. You have to leave a comment on this blog post. Not on the link to wherever you may have seen it, but actually on this post.

That's it. The drawing will be one week after I hit 200. I will post an update edit when that happens, with a firm date for the deadline.

Deadline update: Today is 6.17.13 and I have just hit 200 likes, thanks to everyone who shared my page and invited friends. The deadline will be in one week: Monday 6.24.13 at 4pm Central time. Please be sure to comment on this post, not the link. Thanks!

in the studio

drawing! all drawing, all week!

I continued working on the drawings I started last week and started a few more. mediocrity and the difference between are finished, the rest are works in progress. Unfinished works all still have mask on them. This is particularly visible on semantics: the yellow drips are mask. I find that I can work on several drawings at the same time a lot easier than several paintings. Although my studio is now covered in drawings and I'm running out of room. :/

medicrity, watercolor pencil and ink on paper, 30" x 23"
let me tell you a fairy tale of mediocrity: this is as good as it's going to get.

the difference between, watercolor pencil, ink, conté on paper, 30" x 23"
how do you tell the difference between what you want and what you need?

maybe this, watercolor pencil and ink on paper, 30" x 22"
maybe this was all in my head

other people's kindnesses, watercolor pencil ink and conté on paper, 30" x 23"
other people's kindnesses always catch me off guard. I never expect them.

semantics, watercolor pencil, ink and conté on paper, 30" x 22"
semantics does not excuse your words.

silver lining, watercolor pencil, ink, conté on paper, 30" x 23"
finding the silver lining always makes me sound like a bitch.

in the studio

this week began with an #art365 landscape 

dappled, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7"

and then I started a whole new series of drawings. I started thinking about this while I was painting seneca. I just couldn't tackle it then because I had to finish work for the show. I imagined figurative abstracts, messy, with a lot of different media: ink, charcoal, conté, watercolor, pastel... I've started 3 pieces this week. All starting with watercolor pencil, then ink washes and some masked out text. silver lining also has additional conté and ink washes on it. And I feel like it is heading in the right direction.


let me tell you a fairy tale of mediocrity: this is as good as it's going to get. 

mediocrity, 30" x 23" work in progress

finding the silver lining always makes me sound like a bitch.

other people's kindnesses always catch me off guard. I never expect them.

other people's kindnesses, 30" x 23" work in progress

I'm still looking for a few more likes on my facebook page for the good karma giveaway. So if you're on facebook, I'd appreciate it if you clicked over and liked me!

On my to do list for next week is etsy. My work is for sale through my website, but I think the #art365 landscapes could use a wider audience. Have you shopped on etsy? Do you have a shop on etsy? If you have any feedback and/or suggestions about it, let me know!

in the studio

Most of this week was spent on bad penny. A couple of days I only took detail shots. oops. I know it's a little bit like where's waldo trying to find the differences from one day to the next, but I assure you there was work done in between each of these shots. I think I am now done with this piece. I am going to leave it for now and live with it for a few days before I decide for sure, and then I'll sign it if it is staying like this.

I also got back to the #art365 landscapes. wetlands was inspired by a photo a friend posted to facebook and early summer prairie is the next good karma giveaway. You can find out how to win early summer prairie here.

early summer prairie, acrylic on canvas, 4" x 4"

waterways, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7"

in the studio

The big thing that happened in the studio this week, was the studio got cleaned. My husband commented, wow, we have hardwood floors?! uh, yeah, yeah we do. The cleaning was necessary because I had to find room to put the Alternate Realities paintings, and really this is where they need to go for now. And that sort of sucks because I was working on bad penny which is big and needs to be in that same spot to be painted.

pretty much as good as it's going to get

No #art365 landscapes this week, just more and more work on bad penny and this was only a dream.

this was only a dream, still a wip

I forgot to take pictures a couple of days, but when you look at the first two of bad penny, you see how little difference there is between the two days. There were two days of work, unphotographed, between the 2nd and 3rd pics. Here's why: with Alternate Realities pieces are back in the studio, it's a little chaotic now.

how I was working today

in the studio

I feel like I don't have a lot to show for this week. I didn't do any of the #art365 landscapes. I still painted everyday, but I did get a little lazy about posting it a couple of days. Layers and layers of washes in the same spot of the same painting look kind of ...well, they don't look like much. They are much, but they don't look it.

There are two days worth of washes on this was only a dream, all of them focused on the upper left portion. It's close to where I feel like it should be but I've been really wanting to get back to painting larger. At 24" x 48" this is too small.

And so I reclaimed three old canvases and began bad penny.

before: awaiting, limb,and before the dream

after: day 1 the beginning of bad penny

day 2

day 3

day 4 text added

day 5