Pages

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Mixed Media Painting on Collage

Addie
16x20, mixed media on cradled board
purchase info below
Another modern day angel. Her halo is just the tiniest bit sparkly, in a tarnished silver sort of way. Addie's a bit precocious, I think. No framing necessary. Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely pre-Christmas energy.



Thursday, December 13, 2012

A Modern-Day Angel


Isabel
9x12, mixed media on cradled board

A modern-day angel, she's made with lovely textured papers, lots of juicy paint, and a dress from magazine scraps but she's also scratched up, having hit her fair share of sandpaper. Her face came from my imagination but her hairdo belongs to one of my twisted sisters.   I'm so happy with Isabel. 
She's smaller than I've been working on lately - also fun - and the sides are painted greenish-turquoise so no framing required.  I continue to be inspired by Jane DesRosier.  Purchasing details below.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Monday, December 3, 2012

Blue Hair and Chinoiserie

Ruby, the Venetian
16x20, mixed media on cradled board
I love creating and painting these Paper Dolls. Be sure to double-click and see all the yummy layers. It is so fun to making art that's great when viewed from far away and then holds surprises galore when you walk up and look closely. Blue stenciled hair, a chinoiserie robe, and oil paint smooshed on with a palette knife - all on paper that peeks out around the edges.  The sides are finished in burnt umber - no need to frame. Painter Albert Herter's The Venetian was my inspiration.


Monday, November 26, 2012

My Own Little Cyber Monday Sale

Catchin Rays
12x12, oil on panel

Still Catchin' Rays: Trading Spaces
12x12, oil on panel
This was a young couple I snapped in Port Aransas.  Let's not call it stalking.  These two paintings look great side-by-side.  I loved the challenge of portraying same people/same place/different time/different light/different tide.  In honor of Cyber Monday, I'll sell them discounted - $350 for the pair. What a deal! Double-click to see larger images. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Bathing Beauty

Bathing Beauty
16x20, oil on panel
SOLD
I'm doing some long overdue blog work and thought I'd begin by re-posting a few paintings that are available for purchase.  This was a Port Aransas darling - I've painted her a couple of times. Loving those reflections!  Thanks so much for looking.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The (Funny) Seasons of an Artist: More Cartoons Than Sketches

In pencil below my shell sketch: 
"I've put seashells all over the house - inside or out - to remind us all:
Almost time to go to the beach!"

I couldn't resist keeping all of these cartoons from Andre Francois's The Tattooed Sailor in my sketchbook nor can I resist posting them here for my artist/pals.  Funny, right?  The spot color on each "season" is mine. Can anyone explain "Spring" to me?  I just don't get it. What is that on the stool? 

Thanks to those emailing me - faithfully following along with this sketchbook and even making their own!  It keeps me scanning and Photoshopping - truly the bug of this project. If posting sketchbook spreads was truly something I was going to do long-term, I'd be putting a bigger scanner on my Christmas list!





Friday, August 31, 2012

Now For Something a Little Different

Grace
16x20, paper on wrapped canvas
email me for info
Back to the Paper Dolls - this was soooo fun!  Like last year's Santa...click here to remember.   I keep asking myself, why don't I do more of this? Such a great value study exercise too.

  
double click on any photo for larger view



Sunday, August 26, 2012

Color Theory and Flocks of Pigeons

Another few pages from my sketchbook which began its life as a copy of famed French cartoonist Andre Francois's book The Tattooed Sailor.  Now dubbed The Tattooed Sailor & His Devoted Artist.  Click here to see how one became the other.  Click here to scroll through the pages.
Noodler's Habenero

I struggle with the whole color temperature concept... in every media.  I get it intellectually - I've read lots of books/articles on color theory, I've done these exercises a zillion times, I've stuck post-it notes on my easel and palette -- but it just doesn't click in practice.  Or at least I don't think it does... But, don't get me wrong. It's a fun struggle.
This summer I was reading Susie Short's posts about color... 

Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Tattooed Sailor: Flipflops and College

A tasty summer drink, my favorite shoes, an epaulette for a tail, and Shark Boy's gone to college. The pasted-in paper fragment came from an old recipe book that got paint on it... somehow. :)


Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Sailor and The Artist in the Garden

The background of this hibiscus page was splashed with Golden Fluid Acrylics several weeks before I got to the sketch.  The watercolors layered on top of the acrylics so beautifully... gotta love water-based media for how well they play with others.

Drawn with Noodler's Habenero... I love how it's not quite waterproof.  Yes, that's a big gully running down the middle - where two signatures meet.  Some people glue a piece of paper down to hide it... I might try that sometime.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Thursday, August 2, 2012

The Tattooed Sailor and His Devoted Artist


What did you do for your summer vacation?

Andre Francois
I’ve always been a watercolor sketcher – partial to Moleskins, Lamy Safaris, Noodler’s Bulletproof black, Winsor Newton watercolors, and the odd bit of ephemera collaged in.  But I’ve never really shared my sketches on this blog… well, except for here and an oil sketch here and there.  For no particular reason – just not taking the time for all the blasted scanning and stitching.

But last spring I stumbled on this inspiration, took an old book that had belonged to my parents, dissected it, and rebound it with watercolor paper – thus making a new book that is part sketchbook and part bawdy, mid-century, French cartoons.  It’s been so much fun to work in and I must share.  If anyone reading this has ever been tempted to make a book or sketch or both, this is a grand adventure.

The original book was The Tattooed Sailor by French cartoonist Andre Francois (1918-2005), published in 1952.  I know Francois drew for some major newspapers and magazines back in the day but his subjects in this book were often artists and so, over the years, I’ve thumbed through The Tattooed Sailor many times and gotten good laughs. My hand-me-down copy was crumbling apart so, without reluctance, I committed it to the project.  I kept some of my favorite cartoons, which now live alongside sketches from our garden, our garage, and our travels.

No need for me to tell you how I re-made the book – I did exactly as I was told.  Shirley Levine of the Paper and Threads blog documented her process perfectly and even referred us to Martha at Trumpetvine Travels for the signature sewing. Both sets of directions are easy to follow. I haven't invested in bookmaking tools - just used what I had on hand and it worked fine.  Many thanks to these ladies for sharing so generously and making my summer!

Et merci aussi a M. Francois.


 My tattered copy of The Tattoed Sailor
Doubleclick any photo to enlarge.

Before glueing the signatures back in, I patched up the spine as best I could and glued a strip of muslin to the inside.  I used Fabriano Artistico 140lb. hot press watercolor paper in the off-white color which is still quite a bit whiter than the pages of the book. But I like it.  Some of the watercolor page edges are torn and some I trimmed with deckle-edged scissors.


I used some funny French-y advertising paper I had on hand for the end papers on both the front and back of the book.


I kept the first page with the original inscription. No clue who Dick was.



Francois's title and mine. :)
Cone Flowers drawn with Noodler's Serano.

Francois's ship is flying under the Texas flag!  And don't you love the Tattooed Sailor?
More sketches and cartoons to come.





Thursday, May 24, 2012

Did You Get The Picture?

Oh, Snap
16x20, oil and acrylic on paper

If you think these girls look familiar, you'd be right.  I've painted them in straight oil too - click here to remember. If you double-click to see a bigger image, you'll see the graph paper showing through her foot - my favorite part!  I continue to love working on paper though not as often as I'd like.  But this one makes me think of summer and lazy days and beach time... looking forward to all of that soon!

Friday, February 24, 2012

Oil Painting on Collage

Violet
11x14, oil on mixed media
email with questions
Greetings all. I would say 'happy winter' but we're not having much of that in Central Texas.  A balmy 90 degrees here yesterday.  Violet is basically the same process as before -- paper and acrylics, paper and acrylics, layer upon layer upon layer. But she's oil rather than watercolor as the Paper Dolls before her have been.  I LOVED switching the process around. Be sure to double-click on the photo to see an enlargement and to find the flowers peeking out of her cheeks!  She's on a cradled board that's about 1 1/2 inch deep and her sides are painted turquoise - like the streak on her chin.  No framing necessary. 

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Happy New Year - Welcome 2012!

Virginia, inspired by Jane
11x14, mixed media on cradled board
(double click to see larger view.... soooo fun!)
Still working in the Paper Dolls series, I took an online workshop just before the holidays from Jane DesRosier - a brilliant mixed media artist.  This piece incorporates a mostly-watercolor face with paint and ink techniques I used on some commissioned work recently.  But it was DesRosier-inspired, to be sure.  I adore the energy. I'm going to try it again, but bigger. Happy New Year to all!