waiting..........

Everything in my workspace is in the process of drying right now and even my underpaintings are wet, so I grabbed this off the floor and started cutting.....



Then I drug out a little 9x12 canvas that I had already ripped everything off of and started gluing down the little pieces from the deconstructed painting on cardboard...very random....


then I played with it by painting over the collage pieces - I added a bit of muslin and attached that with my cold wax........



it was a great way to still work while I'm waiting for things to dry - now this is drying - sigh - have a fabulous week everyone!

a quick stop.....

mixed media on board 19x24 - Site #3

Hello and happy Tuesday to everyone - I won't bore you with which one this was before, but trust me, it's much better - we had a fabulous four days with family here and I am just now back to work in the studio - this piece is #3 (obviously) in a series about 'sites'- sites being places that have been rediscovered by digging into them - that seems to be my MO right now - digging past something pleasing to get to something deeper - hope you are all finding life good!

in transition.....

That's where I am - in transition - I've been riding this new wave of moving forward - this post is really just a continuation of my last post - everything that I found just 'okay' got yanked and reworked - some of it too reworked - I was on a tear for sure - but I knew/know I'm in a time of looking at my art practice with new eyes - change is coming and I'm finding my way through it - it's a small change really, sort of like when I change from cayenne pepper to cinnamon in my morning coffee - a flavor change - but it's voice is strong and I'm paying attention - I'm deep into working with this new eye and finding it very challenging - I guess the best way to explain it, is to give you an example - the piece below I finished last month - it was okay.......then it got yanked...



the photo below is the first rework - it was totally over worked and I basically killed it.....that's what happened to much of the rework - overworked......


this last photo shows where I left it yesterday - I like this - I feel it is much stronger then the first place I left it........


so I'm in transition - just like life - will let you know what I find along the way..........

what's to lose....????

I hesitated to even post this - I mean who cares after awhile how many times I rework a piece! But what the heck! In my last post I showed two forms of one piece and guess what?! I reworked it again! If you are still interested ( I mean really!!), wander down to my last post and you can see the first two incarnations - they are okay - but the second one felt really forced and I don't think it held together as one painting - SSSSooooooooooo - I took another stab at it - well, I can finally say this feels right! It's hard to put into words why this feels right! It just does......I just have to trust my gut -




and if the truth be known, I've been on a tear for the past couple of weeks, reworking anything that is just okay! I mean what have I got to lose except 'just okay' work! I can say goodbye to that......

This painting below is one I finished a while back and I really liked it. But?, it didn't go far enough when I looked at it a couple of days ago......


YES! a rework........I like it much better now, but who knows how I will feel in another month...


Another brand new Monday and a whole brand new week ahead - fabulous!

.....getting started

Have had little time in the studio this week - found it very hard to get started again yesterday - felt very scattered and it was difficult to focus, but paint I did - the photo below is what I ended up with - I thought hmmmmmmm, not bad - at least there was form and an interesting color palette.....




then I walked into the space this afternoon and went, UGH! - at least I had a solid under painting - so on I painted, wiped out, painted, wiped out, scraped off, painted - the pic below is what I finished with today - this feels much stronger and tells a story......



This is mixed media on paper 19x24 - the weekend looms and I will have two full studio days - I hope you are all planning fun and time to make some art!

hitting the wall......

There is this thing about hitting the wall - when your tools become manageable and some things are even easy - when the paint goes on in the same way each time - similar shapes, colors, marks, almost routine. The work is still okay - it passes and can sometimes be a bit better then the last time - but........ As most anyone who has followed this blog knows, this past year and a half has been devoted to learning a new medium and then hooking that up with my love for mixed media - it has been a fabulous journey. Discovering ways to work with this new stuff! Yummy new stuff! I then came to the point that I was pretty comfortable and to be frank?, that's not a good place for me to be - in the comfortable safe zone - how do I ramp it up? How do I make what I do, fresh!, and move it past this place? Well, I take a painting I LIKE! and REWORK it! The painting below I really liked. The shapes pleased me, the colors pleased me, I got depth and it had a bit of mystery to it - I used all the mixed media I love - it was a success in my mind......




...so I drug it back out to my workspace and went to work - the painting below is what happened....I have to say, I personally like the rework much more and it gave me a new sense of how I need to push even further......


another painting that was fine, but reworked?


much more interesting - much stronger and again, a sense of what happens when I go past what I think I like to get to something I like much more - I'm over the wall and on the other side and

I have a fresh approach that I'm excited about - Wow! and I can't believe it's Monday again and a new week before us - make art everyone!