When boredom hits, entertain yourself with pen and paper. BLIND SKETCH INSTRUCTIONS: Start with a self portrait. Choose a place to start - like the side of your face, top of your head, bottom of your chin. Move your pen pretending like it is your finger, following the lines of your face. Do NOT look at the paper. If you get stuck and need to start at a new point on the paper, you can look at the paper and choose a new starting point and continue as before, without looking at the paper. When you've exhausted the finger movement, stop. Now look and admire your abstract sketch. Next, observe your dogs using the blink sketch process. Share with me what you've done. And know...
Yellow ochre is a natural earth pigment which consists mostly of clay colored by iron o.xides. Yellow ochre ranges from golden to light brownish and is one of the oldest tints used by humans. It's what you see on the plaster walls of Tuscany. It's a wheat field at sunset. It's the glow of golden oak floors. And you can see it on my dog's forehead. When used in paintings it can easily take over. I have found it is a color that is either loved or hated. In 2010 and 2011 I used yellow ochre in several paintings. Here's an exampe of four. "Goin to Kansas City", 48" x 50", 2010 "Dump Ego, End Pain", 40" x 48", 2011 "Who Says I Don't Belong...
Beautiful hand prints by my BEAUTIFUL grand kids. Who doesn't need a reprieve from what's going on in our country today?? I AM caught up in all the "wrongs" happening in America now. So, upon awakening I chose to give my mind a rest and made time to appreciate the moment. Here is some art in my own back yard :-) Enjoy the moment and view more ART to enjoy even more of the moment :-)
Below you will see how the title relates to the painting. Black circle shows the hole. Obviously fingers are holding the scissors. The piece needed something on the right to balance the fingers. And there you have it!! Now click HERE to view sophisticated abstracts.
Be kind to our beautiful planet earth which gives us the best art there is. Peace to all. Click here for art on the wall.
Embrace or ignore the titles of my paintings. Sometimes a title may enhance what you see in the piece and sometimes it just is what it is with no connection to the painting. This title "Little Blue Caboose" popped in my head because of a song I heard growing up: Little Red Caboose chug chug chug!!! Who remembers that???? I've had different ways of titling my paintings. Often, titles come from inspirational books I'm reading. "3 Doors to Liberation" "Being is Always Becoming" "No Mee" If I get stuck I text my daughters for ideas. "The Death of Frivolity" "Somewhere Over the Rainbow There are Nightmares" And sometimes something ridiculous pops in my head which makes me laugh. It becomes the title even though it...
In 2002, I was "into"abstract mixed media/collage paintings. "Through the Lens" "Where do All the Children Play?" I used cutup magazines and books; old canvases, water colors on paper, burlap; white, black and red encaustic; and a full palette of oil paint. "After the Wind Stops" "Lies the Seed" For the past several years I have minimized my palette with a heavy focus on white. It is fun to look back and view these colorful paintings.
The Atlantic Ocean is six blocks from where I live. I love walking on the beach and watching the waves. They are meditative and calming and I sure needed that the other day. I was in a very bad mood and snapped at everyone around including my dogs. So, I jumped on my bike and went to the beach where I sat on the sand watching the water. It worked! My bad mood dissolved just like the waves leaving shore. The images stayed in my mind once back in my art studio. Yellow ochre and permanent blue are such a wonderful combination when covered in white oil paint. 12" x 12" canvases are the perfect size for quick expressions. These details can actually stand alone....
Woke up this morning to a beautifully quiet morning. The sun was shining. It was 23 degrees and there was ice on the fountain . Capturing water in an abstract painting can never portray its calming essence. It was too cold to sit outside and meditate. So, I sat looking out the window. and THEN!!! the bathroom ceiling light cover broke in a zillion pieces Apparently the propane heater's heat was too much heat!!! I should have left the heater in my art studio. Well, so much for meditating. Because then, my dog walked in the bathroom and cut her foot and cried . After I cleaned her up, she was able to rest peacefully. But my peace sort of wandered away!!!
Across the bottom of this abstract minimal painting titled "One" I wrote: "This is way cool!! :-) Just like emptiness doesn't mean nothingness; not painting a painting doesn't mean there's no painting as you can see here." "One" is minimal - it is simplicity without clutter. It's palette is monochromatic. Minimalism emerged in the early 1960s. It started as a reaction against the emotionalism displayed in Abstract Expressive Art. Minimal art favored the "cool" over the "dramatic". It emphasized extreme simplification of form and monochromatic palettes. Click on all the paintings below to view without having to scroll down. Minimalism is sometimes often considered a style of the super-rich. The thought is: "I can have anything but won't clutter my home. I will only acquire the most elegant,...
