Warm-ups

 Speed Painting #4 

(sketchbook)

 11x17

I've had some ideas floating around in my head about painting over stripes.  I need to begin some new canvases for a show, so I turned to my sketchbook to explore the stripe idea in a speed painting.  I'm glad I did -- I learned a thing or two.  I gessoed the pages first, blew them dry, and jumped right in by quickly painting one bright stripe after another. And then . . .  I painted over them.  

At the end of these speed painting sessions, I'm done.  That's it.  It is what it is.  Time to move on.

We had the nicest groups of trick-or-treaters.  

Happy Halloween and thanks for visiting!

Autumn

 

 Did you remember with anticipation the smell of autumn?

the colors, yes,

but the smell of leaf fall?

no?

nor did I

 no matter,

now, we relish it

Blueberry

Hand painted

Acrylic on cotton

6" x 8"

(older piece)

All in all, it's been a great weekend.  Spent some time becoming familiar with textile guru India Flint's book, Eco Colour.  Spent some time yesterday with artist friends, LeBrie Rich and Joan McGuire, testing fabric swatches in conventional dye baths. Back at the house, I rolled up some eco leaf bundles per the instructions in India's book and steam-tested them for dye effectiveness. Today, I over-dyed some of Saturday's test swatches in mashed blueberries, and also took the paintbrush to the pulp (some of which is still adhered to the linen in the first photo). To top the weekend off, I went to see an awesome retrospective exhibit of Portlander Stephen Hayes' prints and paintings and was truly inspired. Indeed, it was a great weekend!

The rains have arrived and the wild(?) bunny continues to visit.

Have a wonderful week!

More About Speed Painting

Sketchbook Speed Painting #2

Sketchbook Speed Painting #3

Several months ago, it dawned on me that my "sketchbooks" aren't really sketchbooks at all, but rather they are more like "idea books".   I use them to do thumbnail sketches (as in one to two inches square) of  possible resolutions to current paintings or ideas for possible future paintings; and also to jot down notes about various techniques and products, as well as ideas for possible future projects.  Meanwhile, I continue to be inspired by other artists' sketchbooks.  (Sophie Munns' and Lari Washburn's come to mind at the moment.)

Of course, the idea behind sketchbooks, and sketching in general, is that they offer freedom to loosen up and mess up while capturing scenes or ideas and simultaneously developing techniques and skill.  So with that in mind, I broke-in a new sketchbook last weekend that will be dedicated to "speed paintings".  The phrase came to me as I was opening the book to begin my first painting.  Now, by "speed",  I don't necessarily mean works that are completed in fifteen to twenty minutes or less, although they might be; but my intent is that the works will be completed in one sitting.   And my concept is slightly different than the Painting a Day (PAD) concept, that Annamaria Potamiti and others are currently adhering to with wonderful results. For one, I will not be doing these paintings daily.  Secondly, they will frequently not be representational.  And lastly, they will remain in my sketchbooks.  But . . .my speed painting goals will surely be similar: improve observational skills; expand my repertoire of techniques; develop confidence in color, composition, and mark making; gain speed; and develop images worth pursuing on canvas.   Sounds like a plan!  (Hoping I stick with it.)  I'll post  the results regularly on Facebook and/or Flickr.  Anyone care to follow suit?

Have a great week!

Park and Art

 

Spokane boasts a wonderful park called Manito, loosely translated from the dialect of the indigenous tribes to mean "spirit of nature".  Designed in the early 1900s, it now features a Japanese garden, a formal annuals garden, a perennial garden, lilac gardens, a conservatory filled with cacti and succulents, and Mirror Pond.  Such an ambitious project for a young city that was so remote; and still, today, an ambitious project by the City and 100 volunteers to keep it so well maintained. 

My sister and daughter and I took a leisurely stroll through the park on Saturday afternoon in perfect weather and book-ended it with some productive art-making time.  I christened a new "speed painting" sketchbook.  Perhaps I will share some images from it on another day.  And now, the work week calls.

Black and Citron / Prints and Marks

 

 Versatex fabric dyes on recycled cotton .

Well yes, I said I would be picking up the paint brushes this week.  And actually, I was referring to painting on a canvas; but so far, all I've done is experiment with mark making on fabric in combination with relief printing. 

Tonight's the night:  I WILL put away the printing tools and inks, and bring out the acrylics.

Wishing you a creative, productive week -- whatever your work and/or activities may be!

Weekend . . .

 

 

 

Weekend

A little harvesting.

A little fire to prime the smokehouse for salmon.

A little photography of patinaed wood and metal.

A little printing.

Next up?  A little painting. :)

Have a great week, and thanks for visiting!

One Fine Day

  One Fine Day

acrylic on panel

10" x 10"

 

 

Two months have passed since my last post!  This constitutes a record in my four years of keeping this blog.  But the hiatus has been semi-intentional, as I allowed myself an "art and blogging sabbatical" of an unspecified duration.  Aside from changing the palette of my doodle painting shortly after my last post, and doing a little block printing, I haven't produced any art whatsoever since the beginning of June. Outside of my nearly full-time job, I have been concentrating on the ongoing process of getting rid of things around the house and have also painted two rooms.  Beyond that, I've been enjoying time with visiting family members, and have spent time watering and harvesting the vegetable garden and turning the compost (my current favorite garden task.) 

The middle three photos were taken on a recent walk, and the last photo is of one of the clover patches that have gone rampant in our lawns.  This situation, too, is semi-intentional and is a decided departure from the well-watered, well-groomed lawns that one typically finds at our house.  After all, my husband is a landscape architect and he greatly appreciates a well-maintained design.  But here's the rub:  lawns in the Pacific Northwest require extensive watering to remain green during the summer; but clover thrives in drought conditions and furthermore, binds nitrogen to the soil, which serves to fertilize both the clover and the turf grasses. Equally important, if not more so, the clover attracts honeybees.  And goodness knows, we all need to do everything possible to support the honeybees, our lifeline to a vast array of our foods.  Oh, and by the way, bunnies like clover, too. :) After having all but given up hope of seeing the presumably lone bunny that visited our yard for a few weeks this past spring, it made an appearance a couple of days ago and enjoyed its breakfast of clover!  Sure, the look of the clover takes a little getting used to, and we do have the neighbors to consider, but all in all, it seems like the time is right to return to lawns reminiscent of those we remember prior to the advent of widely available broadleaf herbicides.

Cheers!