It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....

Jolly Ole’ Elf

11x14, oil on panel

SOLD

It has been my tradition for some years to create Christmas art – click here and here for just a couple.  I love it and am always sorry I don’t start earlier.  It’s a stretch to keep up the Christmas energy and excitement much past January 1^st.  Well, this year I did it!  How delightfully easy it was to catch the holiday spirit in October!

I saw a Christmas clock last week. It read something like: 42 days, 7 hours, 20 minutes, and 15 seconds. (Jaw drop.) I'm going back to painting... Thanks for looking! 

Meet Maggie!

Maggie

16x20, paper on gallery wrapped canvas

sold

Painting Paper with Paper: Gifts, Wrapped

Zig Zag, Too

12x24, paper on canvas

Can't get enough of this gray and white chevron paper.  I enjoyed painting Zig Zag so much I decided to give it another go, but this time in torn paper. (Click on the orange link to see the oil version.) Used some of those inky painty papers too!  Love the oil version and the paper version hanging together. (Click on the next orange link to see the hand painted papers.) Email me if you're interested and thanks for looking!

(double click any photo for bigger view)

Happy Halloween! And a peek at what's on the easel...

Don't you find it irritating to be confronted with Christmas before Thanksgiving?  Or at least until well after Halloween?  I know I do.... It's an assault on my senses.  I like Halloween and I really love Thanksgiving. I want to move slowly and appreciate each one!
However, this year I've realized a long held dream of painting Santa portraits during the fall months. I actually started in time!  I'm having such fun and in my studio, it's beginning to look a lot like... well... we'll talk about that later.  So, let this be a sneak peek. More to come - all sizes.  Meanwhile, Happy Halloween!

One Thing Leads to Another

(click on images for larger views!)
Sometimes, when I need to loosen up or shake a mood or search for my muse, I make nutty collages. Always have. Inspired by the art of the day or a friend's favorite quote, I just grab whatever flotsam and jetsam are at hand and go for it.  Lately, it's been file folders.

It started over the summer as I was cleaning out files, getting ready for the school year.  I swiped a stack of 1/3-cut, standard manila file folders from Mr. Right and organized like mad.  At some point during my ship-shaping, folder met paint. And gesso. And stencils. And Adirondack sprays. And juicy inks. And Sharpies. And gel pens.

That was a dozen+ file folders ago. Sigh. Heaven.

I've been thinking about painting interiors again and this happened.

I've been adding quotes I sometimes think about I would want to remember while sitting in meetings.  Will I really take these folders to business meetings?  Probably not. 

I've also put a coat of sealer on them so they're tougher than your average bird.  

A quote on the inside too, a favorite of one of my twisted sisters.

Zig-Zag: Gifts, Wrapped in Chevron

Zig-Zag

oil on panel, 12x12, $240

I love our culture's current fascination with the time-honored chevron pattern.  Mustaches are hard to understand but give me a good chevron obsession and I totally get it!  (Also curley-que ribbon, which never really goes out of style.)  While painting this gift, I dreamed about a pair of slipper chairs upholstered in a chevron fabric... gray would be lovely.  Or a beautiful chevron patterned brick floor.  I like this little present a lot.  Thanks for looking!

Paper Painting Whimsy

Today is "paper painting" day in the studio.  It's amazing how quickly my stockpile runs out when I'm tearing and pasting for collages.  I'm certain every artist has their own process.  Paper painting for me is a little how I imagine some abstract art to be created. No finished product in mind -  making decisions based on color and form and value, mixed with a big batch of serendipity.  Lots of "what ifs" and inky-painty fingers and funny tools like carved corks and cardboard rolls.  Yes, I'm that person who snatches paper towels with interesting quilting patterns and Starbucks cup cozies from unsuspecting friends. No such thing as a bad choice. Love it, love it, love it.

Dontcha Love Teachers?

Many Thanks

oil on panel, 8x10, $140

Teachers are some of my favorite people.  I've had the privilege to work in schools for the past 15 or so years - a non-teacher amongst teachers - and I can attest that they have a unique blend of God-given talents and personally developed skills.  Mixed with cah-razy amounts of energy and courage. 

Speaking of, I took Julie Ford Oliver's Daily Paintworks ArtByte Tutorial on Fracturing a while ago.  Neat.  Then recently, on a trip to Houston, I visited Texas Art Supply and found the handiest little "fracturer."  Made by Princeton, it's called a Wedge.  Highly recommended.  Thanks for looking.

Gifts, Wrapped - Art Reflecting Life

Just for Laughs

oil on panel, 11x14, $250
double-click all images for larger views!

What is it with this sudden pop-culture-fascination surrounding the lowly mustache? I've heard 2013 is the Year of the 'Stache.  Don't you see them everywhere - from tiny tattoos to pacifiers to sunglasses to... well.... wrapping paper?  They make us smile and they sure were fun to paint!

Mustache? Moustache? Turns out both spellings are correct, the first being decidedly more American.

Surprise - A Pretty Package

Surprise!

oil on panel, 9x12
SOLD

I saw this wrapping paper at a friend's house... probably 2 years ago... and loved it. She's that kind of friend you can say, "Oh, I love that. Can I have some?" And home I went with a generous piece.  One great thing about painting paper (rather than the reverse - when you use paper to paint collages or other mixed media pieces) is that when the painting is finished, you still have the paper!  :)  Take care and thanks as always.

Gifts, Wrapped - A New Favorite

Congratulations!

16x20, oil on canvas, $525

This one is just happy, happy. Thanks for looking!

Gifts, Wrapped

Dottie

9x12, oil on panel, $180

SOLD

Good that I bought a whole roll of this darling dotted paper as I've used it before in collages and mixed media pieces.  Thanks so much for looking.

Painting Paper

Celebrate!

12x12, oil on panel, $240

I LOVE this paper.  Do I say that every time??  Next in the Gift, Wrapped series. Thanks to all for the warm responses! 

New Series: Gifts, Wrapped

Picnic Present

9x12, oil on panel, $180

My fascination with paper and images on paper has led to a new series called Gifts, Wrapped.   

It's been a while since I've tackled the whole still-life thing - set-up, lighting, background, composition, shadow, etc. What a kick and how lucky that I'm painting the paper I so love (and already own!)  I've done quite a few so far - including some "tossers" - and I'm dreaming about wedding presents and housewarming presents, etc.  Even thinking about the ends of delicious Christmas paper rolls, tucked in the attic, that I'm too crazy about to actually use.  Sick.  I know.

So, there will be more to come!  Happy Summer and thanks for looking.

An Experiment: 1 Image / 4 Mediums

I’m crazy about playing with… working with… playing with different mediums. Sometimes this propensity worries me (ok, I'm a worrier).  I recently challenged myself to an experiment. Compare and contrast by recreating one image, four ways, using three mediums I know plus one new one.  I wondered – if I did them all quickly, back to back – would the experiment reveal one or two that could be abandoned?

I wanted the image to be simplistic/illustrative and I figured whimsy would be my saving grace.  To that end, I used a silly drawing and painted all three canvases hot pink before starting. Click on any of these to see larger images.

1. Acrylic.  Energy.  I’ve enjoyed using acrylics in the Paper Dolls series, either in the women themselves or as the background for women painted in oil.  Acrylics present my biggest challenge for loosening up.  I tend to fiddle.  I love that acrylics play so well with others and they dry deliciously fast.  But, for the sake of this experiment?  Yaaawn. 

2. Paper.  Possibly my favorite.  I think it’s the graphic qualities – the images within the image – that lure me back.  And it brings out the hunter/gatherer/collector in me, too.  That aspect is like a bonus.  It’s impossible to be tight with paper – I just have to let those details go and that feels healthy.  Focus on finding the values.

3. Oil.  A dear, old friend.  I forget how great it is that oil paint doesn’t dry fast. So lenient and forgiving. I love the smell of linseed oil and the excitement of mixing colors in oil – so different from all others.  Oil is comfort paint, like Southern cooking.

4. Fabric.  The Johnny-come-lately.  I’ve wanted to try creating an image with textiles for some time.  Truth be told, I come from a long line of quilters and I sometimes dream I have a quilt inside me.  I flirt with tutorials and articles and many small projects and even a few larger ones. But I had never tried actually sandwiching a front and a back and a piece of batting and then quilting and binding.  Yikes.  This one’s like an overgrown potholder. Truly heinous.

~~~

I considered throwing in a watercolor at the end but I was bored with the experiment idea.  The pitfalls of artistic infidelity are not lost on me but will I throw a medium out?  Doubtful!  They are all just too much fun and one inspires the next!  What can I say?  I like what I like.  Happy creating and thanks for visiting.

The Moroccan

The Moroccan

30x40, paper on cradled canvas
SOLD

The Moroccan is large and working on him was my Christmas present to myself.  Once rhythm was restored after The Big Day mania passed and not a creature was stirring, I tore and glued and thumbed and ripped to my heart’s content.  All to say, The Moroccan has a warm, fuzzy aura settled around his shoulders – his bliss is built in.  I love him over the mantle, gazing through the rooms of our house, but he’s usually in a lower spot where we can walk up close and admire his fun details. See below.  

Hidden treasure includes a ticket stub to Les Mis, a favorite cookie fortune, a 1940s "recipe" for how to boil eggs, and a castle on his chinny-chin-chin.  Passing through the studio one day, our son home from college peered over my shoulder at The Moroccan in progress, bussed me on the cheek, and said, “thanks for the shout out, Mom.”

Crazy how art life evolves.  The Moroccan was inspired by the oversized red and beige hound’s-tooth patterned paper I found on two gift sacks at the little Port Aransas IGA grocery store several years ago.  They’ve been thumb-tacked up next to my desk all this time, just waiting.  Ca-ra-zy.

Thanks a lot for visiting. I am a less-than-faithful blogger but remain a constant creator.  C’est la vie.

Click on images for larger views.

Modern Day Angel - Mixed Media

Hazel

11x14, mixed media on cradled board

purchase info below

I love Hazel. She might be in my Top 5 all-time favorites.  One reason, no doubt, is that she practically created herself. You know that feeling?  She was going to have a green dress and then - willy-nilly - it turned into pink and white stripes; she was going to have a gold halo but then poof! it wanted to be orange.  Lots of texture in the paper layer and a gentle sanding after she was painted really helped that texture shine through.  She even named herself.... with those eyes.  No framing necessary - she's painted red around the edges, see detail photos below. Double-click images for larger view - sorry about the glare on the detail photos.

Happy New Year to all.  Blessings and wishes for a great 2013!