in the studio

The good news is I've had a pretty productive week. Making myself always work everyday is a good thing. I need to paint something bigger next week.

1.6.15 gouache, 4: x 6"

1.7.15 gouache, 4" x 6"

1.9.15 gouache, 4" x 6"

1.10.15 gouache, 4" x 6"

wip, acrylic, 11" x 14"

I've been fiddling with the wip for over a week and I think just today I figured out what was not working. Hope to have this finished next week.

Out of the studio, I stopped by White Ripple's 2nd Saturday event. No opening this month, but they still had the open studios and there was an open mic that seems to be gaining some traction. Next week, the SLAC Anniversary show closes at Paul Henry's on Saturday, and with it the live art silent auction. I don't have any work in the auction this year, but lots of artists very generously contributed. There is also a group collaborative piece (on which I did paint a bit). The auction is benefiting the Carmelite Home in East Chicago. That happens 1-5 on Saturday. 

If you are waiting for the postcardswap...I'm getting to it. You'll have your assigned artist in the next couple of days.

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.

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

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

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"

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.

#printoctober: monotypes

Happy October! It's the beginning of #printoctober on twitter and I trialed a couple of monotypes at the end of last month. You can see them in last week's in the studio post. This is my official start for this project.

Here's my printmaking disclaimer: I am trying really hard to retrain myself to say monotype and not monoprint. I will probably use them both when I really mean monotype. A monotype plate has nothing on it that can be repeated in additional printings, and therefore each print is entirely unique. I don't know when this change in naming happened, but I have always called this type of printing monoprinting. Maybe I always used the wrong term. A monoprint has some feature, like an etched line, which can be replicated on each printing. To me, it seems like the names should be reversed, but no one asked me. I will try not be too confusing. You can read more about the history of montype here.

Anyway, it's sort of the anti-printmaking printmaking, because you cannot make an edition. They are all one offs. It's really drawing or painting but with extra work afterwards. On a small scale, it can be done without a press. And since I don't have a press, this seemed like a good way to start. I'm using a glass plate, which I pulled out of a picture frame. The first one was chipped on the side and these things do show, so I dissembled another frame so that I have potentially pretty prints for this month's project. While I am sticking with the #art365 concept, I am not promising to print everyday, but I will try to do it as often as possible. I have a collagraph idea that I want to try out, too. So this month there will be some experimenting.

I pulled three prints today. The first two were done with gouache and the third was done with acrylic paint with an extender. I am using damp watercolor paper. Gouache can be reactivated but acrylic is done when it's dry. I like the look of the acrylic one the best, but the drying time is going to be trickier. I've got pics of the plate, the print, and the plate again, post printing, for each one. The post printing plate pics are bad, but I didn't check them til the plate was already cleaned off for the next print. ( A small lie: I didn't actually clean the plate between the first and second print. You don't want to know how infrequently I clean my paint brushes while painting. Don't pick up my bad habits. )

See how narrow that yellow was on the plate compared to how wide it is on the print? Heavy paint oozes when it gets smooshed. On the plus side, I did get quite a lot of the gouache to transfer from the plate to the paper. 

So, better this time. That skinny little line stayed skinny. And most of the paint transferred, but still sort of not enough of it was on there in the first place. I did water the gouache down just a bit. I'm using cold press watercolor paper and you can really see the texture of the paper on this. I need to buy some printmaking paper. (Just remembered I have a ton of printmaking paper, which I have been schlepping around for over 20 years. true story.) 

This last print is acrylic paint with an extender about 50:50. I felt like the yellow stripe would have been better if I could have let the rest of it dry first, but that wan't an option with acrylic. I am also thinking that rolling it out on the top and bottom halves then wiping away a borderline (aka subtractive printing) to be painted back in might work.

I'll be posting daily any prints I do on facebook, twitter (with the #printoctober hashtag) and on google+ (which is my usual MO for the #art365 project) and when I try something different or if I do something brilliant, there will be blog posts for those with behind the scenes pics. If I get really ambitious I may film one day.

Have you tried monotype? What did you use for ink? Did you have a press? If you've done it, let me know what did or did not work for you.

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

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