Artful Thinking

The joy of getting carried away

There is something so joyful about black-lined colorful and whimsical images.  I don't know what it is.  I think it goes back to my love of coloring books.  They were so stress free and offered hours of color fun.  The background on this piece is mixed-media with collage and transfers and several paint treatments.  But it seemed so tame to me.  Once I got started I just kept going.

Nuance

When I bought this house a wonderful old gentle man was tending its garden.  For years, each Tuesday we would take a few moments to visit and over time I learned of his long life, his family and his point of view.  He had been born to parents who crossed the US-Mexican border long before this act became illegal.  He told me that all his parents did to legally enter the US was put a dime into a bucket.  Santos shared stories of Pasadena that most history books don't record.  Living in restricted housing, playing baseball with the late great Jackie Robinson when he was a kid, fighting in the war as part of the "other" soldiers.  But he was not bitter at all.  He reflected a positive point of view always.  In the last few years Santos lost his sight and could no longer tend the garden.  He had trained his crew to carry on and when he could no longer help he gave his crew the business.  Santos saw the nuances in every plant in the garden.  He knew when something needed iron and he recognized when a fruit tree was being strangled by a stray root.  He was my friend and I will miss him.  Rest in Peace, Santos.

Plein Air in the sunshine with Golden's OPEN Acrylics

I spent the morning yesterday at a Plein Air event at the Riverside Art Museum.  The artists were gearing up for their annual "paint-out" and I manned a table demonstrating Golden's OPEN acrylics.  This was a true test of the extended working time in outdoor conditions  as the table was set up in the brilliant morning sunlight and there was a brisk breeze all day. We started out cool but by early afternoon it was distinctly warm!   For 3 1/2 hours we painted and explored how versatile and workable the paint is.  The artists were amazed and created little landscape gems right in front of me.  I love spontaneous painting so I played for a bit myself while chatting with the other artists.  My landscapes are a bit more creative than the traditional type but the colors are fabulous!  If you haven't jumped onto the OPEN Acrylics bandwagon, you should give it a try! Layer Love V.2.0 is an online Class that I teach with Julie Prichard on her network.  It will give you a great intro to OPEN and its many possibilities.  You'll just need to take your laptop outside if you want to learn it plein air!

Signs of spring...

The flowering plum burst into bloom this past week.  It is a riot of  bright pink flowers and is always a signal that the earth is getting warmed up.  Not that SoCal has had any winter to speak of, but it has been resting.  I took a few personal days this week and it was nice.  Went into the desert where the mountains were lavender and gray and the sunsets were magnificent oranges and fuschia.  I'm prepping for some classes coming up and today I made this little layered collage using hand cut stamps and OPEN acrylics.  I love cutting the stamps and then playing with them! 

Just a little color to think about...

 

Enjoy!

Mixing the old with the new

I spent last weekend at Venus Art Studios and Supply in Palm Desert, CA.  The desert in winter is glorious. Each time I visit I think to myself, I could live here.  There is an energy there that is contagious and I so enjoy the artists I meet.  I taught for two days straight and it felt like I was amongst friends the whole time.  There is nothing more exciting for me than to be with other artists and see the ideas literally fly from one person to the next as the enthusiasm mounts throughout the day.  We revisited collage in a contemporary way and in this piece which started as a sample board for techniques the ending was a faux encaustic.  Whenever I can capture a tecnique or a look from another medium and translate it into acrylic products I am happy.  I'm on the road again this week, in fact, a lot of the month ahead, so I'll touch base as I can.

A sigh of relief...

I just got home after spending the last couple of days with my art partner, Julie Prichard working on the final photo sequences for our book together.  The art work is glorious and now we move onto the final writing stages before the editors at North Light/F & W do whatever it is they do to books to make it available to the general public.  The one really great thing about this project is that it is  forcing us to really think about our art and how we communicate with all of our students both in the online network in The Land of Lost Luggage and in my "in person" workshops .  We want our art to communicate, but we need to be able to explain how we do things so you can understand.  Understand?  All kidding aside, the teacher in me is always happy when you "get it!" 

Go make lots of art!

Stepping back to go forward

For the last couple of years I've been doing more painting than mixed media.  But recently I stepped back and decided that I really missed all the stuff I used to put underneath and into my earlier work.  This piece is built upon a piece that was highly unsuccessful and I could never seem to complete.  I just decided to add more collage elements to define a horizon and then worked paint in and around the shapes.  I am so happy I stepped back because it allowed me to move forward. I am devloting this year to more mixed media applications!

Visiting old places

There was a time when I did a lot of spatial abstracts.  I loved filling up canvases with color and exploring what happened with the edges collided.  I've been revisiting this idea a bit lately in the studio.  I find that it is harder now than it used to be.  I've learned a lot of new techniques and there are new paints to explore.  They keep me from falling back to how I used to do things.  I think it is  good thing.

View and review

In just a few days we will embrace 2012.  I'm not totally sure where all the time went this year, but I feel it was productive.  There is a lot to show for the year's work with Lectures, Workshops, and Online Classes with Julie Prichard, travel, a new grandson, and a book deal under my belt.  That should take care of 2011. But what comes next? 

I walked into my garden this week and realized that I was seeing the last of this year's roses.  Half of the bushes (there are more than 50) are already down to their bare bones and the rest will be gone by next week.  This always signals to me that it's time to look back then look forward.  Everything needs a rest and a review!  What do you se when you look back on 2011?  What's awaiting in 2012?

One of a kind and out of the box

I've been "printing" a lot lately in an out of the box manner.  In general being out of the box is where I feel most comfortable.  I can conform when I have to, but if given the choice I would exercise my inventiveness everytime!  Just wondering how much you are able to get "out of the box" these days.  By the way what will you do with all those empty boxes after the holidays?