You Gotta Have 'Faith'

Faith

16x20, mixed media on canvas

sold

Sold my first Paper Doll this week - Faith has gone to live with a darling collector. Woohoo! Truth be told, stepping out onto this 'mixed media' limb is quite intimidating so the validation of a sale is doubly meaningful. Faith was inspired by a long neck, a strong shadow, and a really great hair-do. She's a mix of pages and ephemera collected from vintage novels and phone books, a Bingo card, a French stamp, some Indian paper, and a handsome Italian man.

Mixing Oil and Water

Josephine

16x20, mixed media collage on cradled panel

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To the list of reasons why I love watercolor, please add Plays Well With Others. How friendly the water-based mediums are - watercolors, acrylics, inks, gouache, gels - matte and otherwise. I've fallen in love with Golden's Fluid Acrylics and Liquitex Inks. All products that were designed to be layered and mixed. That said, I used oil for some of the white flowers in the background of this piece and it acted as a 'resist' when I painted Josephine in watercolor. I love the white flowers peeking through on her skin. Lower right are the Chinese characters for 'friend' and 'good'. She looks great in a gold, plein-aire type frame!

Alice

12x16, mixed media

(double click for larger view)

A whole new group of twisted sisters has moved into my studio! Collectively, I think of them as Paper Dolls. What fun I've had this summer making truly messy art - splashing in watercolors and liquid acrylics and ink and matte medium, with bits and scraps of maps and vintage books and telephone directories under my feet. I can't wait to introduce you to these girls!

What Did You Do (for 5 minutes) Over Summer Vacation?

5 minute oil studies on canvas paper

from Jennifer Balkan class

Some things I did? Hmmmm... spent good time with Sharkboy and Lavagirl (Mr. Right has been working waaaay too much!), did a lot of volunteer work and got ready to do a whole bunch more, visited some colleges and the farmer's market. I stayed up late at night and slept late in the morning which isn't at all like me. I played in the studio making art a lot. Different kinds of art. Wildly inspiring, messy and for me, exciting art. More about that later.

A thing to love about this summer was a series of classes I took from one of my all-time favorite artists - and now a favorite person as well - Jennifer Balkan. She welcomed our little group into her studio where she had lovely models and soft samba music and we painted quick, nude studies with only 3 values -- surrounded by her beautiful work. Lovely. Click on her name above to check out her paintings. Even more lovely.

Some things I didn't do: I didn't blog. Please forgive my absence, Gentle Followers. I'll be here when I can and miss you terribly when I can't.