Painting In Progress.......Suspended Ovoids

In progress - "Suspended Ovoids"

Acrylic on canvas - 30" x 40"

So I stared at my blank canvas for a good part of the day and evening last Saturday, and finally took the plunge on Sunday-- beginning still another painting in my "Ovoid" series.  By mid-morning on Monday,  the painting was at a good point:  suffused, somewhat evocative, a bit brooding, and in a simple palette akin to  the bark, leaves, and lichen of our blueberry bushes in early summer.  Two simple, warm-white ovoids commanded the center of attention.  By Monday afternoon, I had managed to lose the suffused feel and my background palette had shifted.  Tuesday and Wednesday evenings were spent studying the painting; comparing and contrasting it with others in my midst and deliberating about whether to try to recapture the early essence of the painting, or to pursue an alternative, more graphic approach.   Last night, as the light faded to darkness, I literally sat staring at the painting.  Finally, I made several decisions:  "Yes" to using bright orange.  "Yes" to stripes.  "No" to the dark, dark background.  "Yes" to the larger end of the ovoids on the bottom of the painting. "Yes" to "suspending" the ovoids.  And within a matter of an hour, I was well on my way!  Now, it's a matter of adding more color interest to the orange stripes (ala the citrus oranges); adding refinements here and there, and perhaps adding some graphite.   Cannot wait to get back to this painting in the morning light!

And then, I think I'll try to recapture the early essence of the earlier "lost" painting in a smaller version.  :)

Art = Happiness

Cheers!

In Progress.....

Ovoid 2

Acrylic on canvas (first state)

36" x 36"

Still pondering my next move on this painting, shown above in it's beginning state.  It's the second in a series of ovoid paintings derived from thumbnail sketches -- although ovoids are featured in a few of my other paintings, too.   I placed a few things on the table as color references.  I'm liking the current softness of this painting, which is very different from the one shown here, recently.  Think I'm about ready to take the leap.......will report back....

Happy weekend, all!

Fabrics "Fotos" and Flickers

Block prints on cotton

Screen print on repurposed fabric; acrylic painting in background;

vessel made by anonymous high schooler; tomatillo on glass trivet

 Screen print on polyester chiffon;
 draped over chairback in front of window (photo rotated)

 Inked printing block from India

Hand printed repurposed fabrics

 

  Acrylic on paper (cropped)

Hope you're having a great weekend.  I'm trying to find my way back to my paintbrushes.  In the meantime, I pulled lots of pieces of printed fabric out of storage and scattered them about on tables and chairs.  Of course, that created visual chaos.  So I immediately began editing them back out of sight, save for a few of which I might actually attempt to sew into something!!!  While "editing" I took these photos.  Taking photos--and especially "curating" them-- is a great way to train the eye.

This afternoon, I spent awhile reading Cathy Cullis' "Dye Studio" tutorials on her blog.  Her process for dying small pieces of fabric with plants is very similar to making sun tea.  It's all so low-tech and so "Slow-Cloth-like" that it makes me want to order some mordant this minute and get started.  See Cathy's lovely blueberry and onion skin fabrics and her gorgeous hand- and machine-stitched beauties here.  Find out about the Slow Cloth movement here.

A serendipity of sitting at my computer while creating this post was the huge male Flicker that climbed the tree trunk 10 feet beyond my window.  His coloring was as vibrant as the browns and pink/reds in my painting, above.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple Materials....Simple Beauty

Acrylic on recycled coffee sleeves

Mixed media and lovely pomegranate

Much to do today in preparation for my daughter's homecoming, but I wanted to encourage you to stop back by soon as I will be featuring the work of a couple of wonderful artists in separate posts.

Simply gorgeous here in Portland.  Hope all is well where you are.  Thanks for visiting!!