road trip......

Hello everyone! We are leaving this weekend for a week long 'road trip!' We are packing up two cars with family and friends and heading across the American west to explore Yellowstone National Park! Tourist traps, road food and motel living! Cameras, cell phones, GPS devices, walkie talkies, and the ever realiable road atlas - Automobiles Ho!

Also, here is the finished painting from my last post. I seem to be on a roll with this color palette and will be starting some new projects after I get home - these will be long term projects a bit different then my usual work - will keep you posted as the summer goes along.



this is mixed media on board 38x48 - Get your summer on everyone! (or winter depending on which part of the world you inhabit)

marking summer....

As a way to mark the first day of summer, I'm posting an under painting I did today - as I was cleaning up, this felt like the dark making way for the light, which seems appropriate for this solstice day - we are bringing in summer with overcast and drizzle, which seems to be the weather of choice for the Pacific Northwest - we are hoping for sun anytime soon....


these last two photos are of a larger painting I finished this week - the pic below is not cropped - it's just the work sitting on the floor in my work space.....


this is mixed media on board - 48x38 and the bottom photo shows it in the house to dry for the next few weeks - it can also give you an idea of the scale - the fabulous Caroline Douglas sculpture in front is about 2.25 feet tall....
Happy first day of summer everyone! Make art!

when it just doesn't work!

Sometimes, just when you think you have it right, you don't. I finished this piece a few days ago, but every time I walked into my work space, something about it just wasn't working for me - I know I've talked about this before and just posted about the importance of editing, so this is ANOTHER good example of pushing it a bit more - now some of you will like it at the first place I stopped, and others will agree with me about it working better now - but the final decision has to be with me - I've learned I really have to be true to myself, so.......


a few days ago, and.......



today - this new rework really satisfies me - I like the muted quality - it all works for me now and hits my gut in the right way. I have two more large pieces in progress and the header is one of them. Whew! Glad to see some of the pink gone!

announcement....(OMG!, there is so much pink here right now!)

Hello! I just wanted to make a quick stop to announce a new blog in the blogasphere! My 'bestest', Lisa Johnson just launched a new blog for her salon - Salon Delucca - I am curator for the gallery that is housed in the front of the salon, so now we can keep everyone posted on the latest events and happenings at the salon and gallery - go check us out! www.salondelucca.blogspot.com and also look for us on facebook!



I'll be back in a few days with some new work - until then, make it a good one, whatever you are doing!

yum....

In my quest to find ways to cut the cost of making art, I'm thrilled when I find a material that I love and will save me $$$$$ - While in Ontario, Sharon Barfoot introduced me to a fabulous board she gets at Home Depot - it's a 1/4 inch hardboard - it's smooth on both sides and will take paint, graphite, pencil, ink and just about anything I can throw on it - it comes in large sheets that can be cut to size - as soon as I could, after I got home, I made a trip to our local Home Depot (actually a 45 minute drive away, alas), bought two large sheets and the fabulous Brian, patient home depot worker who helps silly artist who doesn't know a thing about figuring cuts and sizes, etc., cut it on the very fast Home Depot cutter thingy and BAM!, I was on my way home with cheap (less then $30) surfaces to wander about on for weeks! I'm thrilled! The board I got is smooth on both sides, but has a white surface on one side - I suggest if you get this kind, turn it over to the other side (non white) because it has some tooth to it, or lightly sand the white surface. The picture below shows two large sheets waiting for their turn.......

under my work table are the left over bits and I will use every one of them.....


and here is the first painting I completed this week on the new board....



this is 36x48 mixed media - I'm also starting to replace much of my artist paint with house paint - the work in progress on my sidebar is an under painting and much of it is done with house paint - so you might want to try this surface - I love the versatility it gives me and I can mount my works on paper on this surface also - and yes, I'm messing around with templates again on my blog - there are some new designs that pop up when you are messing around in your layout and today I'm liking this one - have a wonderful weekend!

flying.....

I'm back in my studio full time again - full time for me is every afternoon for two to four hours, depending on my schedule and energy level - it is so satisfying to walk in and begin the work - right now I'm in the process of mounting some pieces and creating under paintings for four large new works - I was just asked recently to describe in a single sentence how I feel when I am working - geez! how DON'T I feel is a better question - but I did find an answer that pretty much describes how I feel generally, and that is: 'I feel like I'm flying with my feet on the ground' - the pictures below are details of the under paintings I'm working on - little bits of a much bigger dance - I should have at least one of these done in the next few days and will post -









It's Monday and the beginning of another fabulous week! Have a good one everyone!

it's about the edit....

I'm all about the 'edit'! The following sequence is what I have worked on for the last two days - it gave me a run for my money - Just when I thought it was finished, I would look again and realize 'NO' - more editing and then more and then more - it's always the question - 'is it finished?' - I can mess around with an under painting for a long time - hours, days and longer - then I start the editing - distilling the mess I've made to the strongest voice I can give my work - the first pic are the first marks I made - pencil and graphite........



then I messed around for a few hours with ink, acrylic, oil pastel and more mark making......


then I start eliminating and start marking the places that I like and want to keep (for awhile anyway).....


then the real painting begins - finding the voice of the work - this pic below shows a point where I thought it was finished, but when I looked at the photos on my computer it just didn't work yet....so back I went....


it needed more editing and and then some more - it was very close, but sometimes just another line will make a huge difference - I finally realized I had to eliminate the section I loved the most...when it was gone all the pieces fell into place...this is the final piece below....



this is mixed media on gatorboard 32x40 - have a wonderful week everyone!