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Dancing With Trees 02 – progress

Monday, September 10th, 2007

Dancing With Trees 02, started August 30th – 48H x 48W acrylics on canvas – progression details are combined into one post. The oil pastel with the same name, posted in March 2007, inspired the painting.

I’ve tried lots of new things with this one – am hoping to keep just the impression of branches. I don’t want too many details. Using washes and glazes to help create the cedar branch texture I’ve dripped water, paint, glazes, and varnish across patches of color, splattered it on with a brush and also painting upside down.

Polypore Fungi – phase 2

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Polypore Fungi, work in progress, 59 H x 41 W x 2 D, acrylics on canvas. Here is the painting after a few more hours of work.

Polypore Fungi, work in progress

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

Polypore Fungi, work in progress, 59 H x 41 W x 2 D, acrylics on canvas

Studying shades of dark and light are the basics of any Artwork done with color, and it’s good to practice “real” drawing every so often, paying attention to lines, shapes, spaces…but enough of pencil drawings for a while. I’m craving color and space once more- ready to paint again, but starting this so close to the date we leave for holidays this coming Friday. My hope is to call it finished while it’s still at the open and lively stage, before over-working it. Here is the painting after about two hours.

Aspen, Banff National Park

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

“Northern Delights 01, Aspen at a protected Bison reserve, Banff National Park, Alberta Canada – 14H x 11W inches oil pastels and water-wash pencils on paper, white double mat, 22H x 26W inches white frame with white crackle finish

Pre-Columbian Jaguar Beads

Thursday, February 1st, 2007

1. the tray 2. the beads 3. a picture of the original necklace.

The Pre-Columbian Jaguar Beads are made of Polymer clay, a permanent material once baked, acrylic paints, varnish, tray re-purposed and paper-mached, painted and varnished for durability.

I was drawn immediately to this Pre-Columbian Mayan necklacewith jaguar beads upon seeing a photo of it, and would love to own it. Well, making one is the next best thing! The original necklace of gold jaguar head-shaped beads was made over 500 years ago, discovered in a tomb in Guatemala.

Like much of the pre-historic and tribal art that looks crude or seems like it should be easy to recreate, there is a lot more here than meets the eye. One of the things that’s so enjoyable about a project like this is experiencing the same design dilemmas that the original artist might have encountered.

There is a lot of good design in that simple-looking necklace! I think the goldsmith who created the original might have used a mold because each individual jaguar head-shaped bead needs to be identical, and so do the small round ones in order to string the beads together and obtain the exact uniform semi-circle shape. Mine were individually shaped, less than perfect, and did not fit together well unfortunately. I’ll need to make a mold from one of the more perfect beads in order to replicate this with consistancy.

The jaguar beads are glued onto a useful tray, a recycled film case that was paper mached then painted with acrylic, and it’s as if a moment in time is recaptured, a moment when the original artist had beads on a surface, ready to be strung together. The refurbished tray is varnished, durable and useful. Hand wash gently with damp soapy cloth, and the crevices with a wet paintbrush, dabbing the area softly to absorb excess moisture.

First Snow, started

Monday, January 15th, 2007

First Snow, 36H x 24W inches acrylics and crackle medium on canvas, work in progress
First Snow has many layers and blobs of paint. A damp cloth dipped in white was wiped lightly across the textured surface to create the effect of snow powder. Crackle medium also works well to help with the impression of snowfall. The scene is of tall Spruce trees in Calgary, Alberta where, on September 1st, the day I was to return to Dallas I awoke to a gentle snowfall and powder on the trees.

Sun Shower 01

Friday, December 1st, 2006

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Sun Shower 01, 85H x 45W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, used watercolors resist medium, narrow dark wood frame. (now sold)
This painting went through an interesting work process, made connections with some of my existing painting methods, and shed light on new ones.

1) Sun Shower detail – masking medium, usually used with watercolors to keep areas white, was dotted with a toothpick all over where raindrops would be. 2) about 1.5 hours after starting. 3) after about 5 hours of work. 4) after about seven days.

The tall Ponderosa Pine is in our oldest son’s front yard in Ottawa, Ontario. A small covered balcony overlooks the yard and the tree dominates, providing lots of shade there. Last summer while sitting on the balcony, as it poured rain the sun kept shining. The street beyond sparkled, and branches were heavy with raindrops. It was an hour of incredible beauty that inspired this painting.

January Thaw

Thursday, June 15th, 2006

January Thaw, 14H x 11W inches oil pastels, white double mat, brass title plate, 22H x 26W inches wide white frame with white crackle finish.
Willow branches, welcome bits of color during the January thaw, a seasonal expectation in eastern Ontario, when temperatures hover around 0*C. After a period of 1-2 weeks temperatures can dip to -40*C, and the most intense, unpredictable part of winter begins.

The Evolution of January Thaw – a painting is more than the sum of its parts. It transformed dramatically while conversing with other Artists and their critiques on a popular online Artists’ website.

“When I am painting I have no knowledge of what I am doing. Only after a moment of ‘returning consciousness’ do I become aware of what I have been doing. Then, however, I have no hesitation about making changes, or destroying images, because the painting has a life of its own. My mission is to bring forth this life”. Jackson Pollock

Ancient Mayan Bowl Chair

Thursday, March 30th, 2006

Mayan Bowl Replica Chair, 29H x 29W x 29D inches durable, functional, comfortable refurbished vintage 1960’s plastic lawn chair, mixed media: woven canvas strips, plaster cured and painted, varnish and wax.

This replica of an ancient Mayan artifact re-utilizes a vintage plastic lawn chair that was considered Art in its own day. The refurbished chair was created by a process of weaving canvas strips and white glue paper-mache style over the entire plastic top and bottom, layering wall plaster sanded in between coats, acrylics paint, varnish, graphite, marker, more varnish, then waxed for durability. Three more chairs are yet to be created with historic Art themes from other cultures.

The original bowl design is from the Late Classic Period of Mayan history, 600 – 900 A.D. Common Era, portraying two water Gods witnessing the birth of the all-important Maize God who emerges from a turtle, symbol of the earth and origins thereof. Customarily, hieroglyphs written along the top rim show the bowl-owner’s name and what the bowl was used for.
Inspirational resource: Maya, Divine Kings of the Rainforest edited by Nikolai Grube ISBN 3-8290-4150-0

Post-dated notes: Accepted into Grand Prairie Arts Council Juried Exhibition and Sale Sept./Oct. 2007, and won Second Place cash award, 3D Category. Also accepted into Artjury.com’s 2007 Fall/Winter Juried Online Exhibition.