A Merry Christmas To All

Christmas Day 2013.  I have managed to keep things simple.  Simple greens at the doorway.  Simple gifts for the twelve littles.  Not-quite-simple home interior rearrange, but it got done and I love it!  Some rooms are spring-loaded, but those are projects for the new year.  Many goals to define for 2014, but for today--Christmas Day--I will reflect on the significance of this day and what I am most blessed to have.  I wish those blessings for one and all.  Merry Christmas.

Daily Paintworks

I've just successfully added Daily Paintworks to the places my artwork can be viewed and/or purchased.  Daily Paintworks is a wonderful site where artists can post their original work.  For the minimum investment of $12.95 a month, artists can post and sell paintings with no commission taken.  If one chooses to use the auction option, there is a commission.  Now, I just have paint more consistently.  That will be the tricky part.  Stop by and check out the site--there are, on the average, 200 original paintings posted every day, or scroll down and click on the Daily Paintworks link on the right side of this page to visit my DPW gallery. 

Lifting Fog

I'm pretty happy with the outcome of today's hours of experimentation.  Clayboard with acrylic utilizing negative shape painting.  8" x 8" cradled.  I'll paint the sides black and it will be ready to hang. 

Frost on the Rose Hips

It won't be long now.  Winter's icy fingers are reaching out to wrap around our temperate weather days of late fall.  Like the old saying "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."  I've taken a LOT of foliage photos this late-fall season in hopes of discovering what can happen on Claybord when I focus on the negative shapes and paint deep into the thicket.  Still more work to be done on this one I'm thinking.

Harvest Moon

 As the middle of October approaches, things turn all black cats and pumpkins.  My 20-pound black cat, Lickerish, was the inspiration for this little acrylic card design.  What's not to love about a big black cat any time of year.   "Harvest Moon"  #218

Artful Autumn

New card for fall from the Whimsical Rabbit.  This was done in transparent watercolor, white acrylic ink and black gouache on 140# Arches paper.  "Owl and Oak" #219.

The Bellingham Farmers Market 2013 season is over for me.  On to fall and winter show preparation.  Lots of cards to make and hopefully new designs.  I was expecting to be done with my corporate employment as of Oct. 4 and heading into my new life as a self-supporting artist, but that will have to wait a bit.  So, I will continue to try to balance my life as an artist on a shoestring schedule...truly hoping to blog more frequently.

BLACK AND WHITE

Nest #1

Luna #1

Simple black on white.  I would not have guessed that I would be so intrigued with such a simple palette. I had the good fortune to spend the day printing with Jan Lor, a brilliant print maker and fellow farmer's market atisan.

These are two of the new relief prints I made today.  I created a "plate" of cardboard shapes on mat board, sealed with acrylic gel.  Water-soluble printing ink was then rolled on with a brayer.  The high spots were wiped off.  The plate was then rolled through a wonderful, extremely expensive, printing press to reveal the most amazing results.   No two prints were exactly the same and the textures were amazing.  It felt like the best use of a day off I'd discovered in a very long time.     

Berry Season

It's berry season in Whatcom County.  First the strawberries, followed by raspberries and then (my personal favorite) blueberries and blackberries from the backyard.  M-M-M fresh-baked blackberry pie with ice cream.  Of course, that daydream is contingent on my actually baking...Hey, it could happen.

This 18" x 36" image is from a series of acrylic paintings I did last summer for a showing at Bellewood Acres.  Several of them are still on display there.  They look great on their barn-red wall in the dining area.  Such a great place.  "Strawberries in Colander"  #215.

Remembering

Memorial Day.  A time to remember those who have gone before us, remembering those who have made our freedom something we can take for granted, but shouldn't.    A huge thank you to all those who have served our Country in so many ways. 

Trying to wrangle acrylics.   Here's a little 5" x 7" impressionistic warm up I've just completed.  To see it up close, you could visit my booth at the Saturday Bellingham Farmer's Market.

Poor Neglected Blog

How hard could it be, blogging on a regular basis?  Lots of people do it.  I'm really going to try harder.    One thing that is still constant is my love of all things creative.  I've been dabbling in oil paint on canvas, but I'm rethinking that.  It's just not immediate enough for my short attention span.  A week waiting for paint to dry is so....like I'm on to something else.  I did do this little dress for practice.   I'm liking the texture, which can't really be appreciated in this image.  I have such high respect for those artists who can get a photographic likeness with oil paint; however, it's back to the acrylics for me.