What I am doing these days

I have been falling down on my promise to post each week mostly because I have been reading books with the time I usually spend in Blogland.  (Highly recommended are 'Finn and Lady', ' In the Woods' and 'Sous Chef').  

acrylic on canvas, 24"x36" - no title yet

 Work at the studio is going great as the autumn progresses.  

acrylic on canvas, 18"x24", no title yet

 Acrylic on canvas, paper and plywood panels with paper collage has been the focus.  

Also continuing with etching at Pratt, which is playing into my images in interesting ways.

 I am enjoying the wide range of botanicals that call Seattle home.

 After work I have a choice of dozens of enchanting venues for our walks.  This is along the ship canal near Fremont.

Wishing you a glorious fall (or spring, if that is your hemisphere's season).

Prototype

One productive day in the studio this past week...

...drawing and designing, first in the sketchbook then on freezer paper...

...cutting out my pattern...

...and then cutting out the fabric...

And then:

Hello.

I am a Bat Prototype.

Pulling the plug on the Mighty Mighty Day Job mid-August.  Coming up with a new plan.
(Gotta put Dog Food in a certain dish).

Happy week and hope your Solstice was full of celebration!

Belatedly, royGbiv

The third Thursday came and went, as did most of the busy weekend.  I am sitting down to the computer to do more than check email (and read my horoscope) for the first time in days.  Happily, I was able to put in three full days painting in the new studio, which was heaven after all these many months.  I will give you a little look at my progress there, but first, I give you GREEN, for the April Roy G. Biv challenge, brought to us by the talented Julie and Jennifer.

Walking along Ballard Avenue a couple of weeks ago, the flower store had a stunning display of lime green birdcages.  I felt the '60s had returned!

Some sweet graffiti on a nearby garden wall in my neighborhood.

At the Locks this afternoon, I spotted this swath of vivid green algae.

A delicate green indeed on these new leaves along the Elliot Bay trail.

All the focus on green seems to have followed me into my painting efforts this week.  These are all acrylic, graphite and collage on paper, each about 6x9 inches I guess.

 Nobody is finished yet, but they are feeling complete to me.

Nobody has for-sure titles yet, either.

Gosh, it feels good to have muscled through the uncertainty of the first few hours, just to move paint again and not think about anything but the relationship of color to shape to line.

Hope your Easter was a happy one!

Melissa Bolton's Archetype Test

Recently, Denise at Grrl+Dog had a good post about archetypes, along with a link to a little self-test created by Melissa Bolton which one can take to determine ones own archetype. 

I love a good self-test and Monday evening, gave the branding archetype thing a go.

detail: work in progress, acrylic collage on 130 lb watercolor paper

 I was not surprised by the outcome of my test.  Turns out my top archetypes are:

THE CREATOR; THE PASSIONATE; and THE NURTURER.

view from the End of the Road on Friday

Melissa Bolton's branding archetype test is fascinating, and I have only scratched the surface of exploring the uses of this new-found lens for viewing my work and my world.  

Off to the town and the MMDJ.  Happy Wednesday, All!

Pingo Ergo Sum

The top line of my To-Do list for last week: 

paint paint paint

Here, have a little peak at the progress:

detail, top left, acrylic collage on 60"x44" canvas

detail, bottom right, acrylic collage on 60"x44" canvas

I hope to finish this work (which will be a part of my solo exhibit next month at the Clausen Museum) tomorrow and Friday, then move back on to the silk project for the new Library here.  

Professor Michael Spafford, my beloved painting teacher and adviser at University of Washington, always made a distinction between a painting being 'complete' and being 'finished'. What do you think?

Spafford also had a sweat shirt emblazoned with the phrase:

Pingo Ergo Sum

which he translated:
I paint therefore I am.

Now that's the TRUTH for this day anyway!

(Artistic) Nature - DC

Although I do enjoy being in close proximity to the Forest and beach and am mostly grateful that I live in splendid isolation here on this Alaskan Island, I feel like I tend to inundate you, Gentle Reader, with scenes of Nature.  Therefore, in response to Tiny Woolf’s Drawing Challenge this week I want to talk about a region of the soul’s landscape – artistic nature. 

'The Nature of Love' 8x6 pigma pen and prismacolor pencil

Artistic nature is a quality all people possess in varying degrees.  It’s the place from which comes our impulse to stop in jaw-dropped awe at a sunset, a rainbow, a rock formation.  Some people, artists, are lucky (and/or tortured) enough to spend much of their time translating such feelings and experiences into tangible form.  

study for large painting, 8x6 pigma pen and inktense pencils

My artistic nature follows a pattern as regular as the seasons.  The first couple of sessions on any new painting or body of work are inevitably torture as I lay down chaos on canvas and endure a barrage of relentlessly negative self-talk to the effect that I have forgotten how to paint, am never going to make anything ‘good’ again, am wasting my time… but then just as surely as the tide rises, something happens in the action of working and I get a glimmer of form, an idea of where this thing I am slashing away at with my animal-hairs-on-a-stick is heading.  Magic!  Soon I am dancing in the creative moonlight, all angst replaced by excitement and pure joy of the making.

 

28 yards of silk organza ready to be cut down to size for my library commission

The past two weeks have been exactly like that at the studio as I began work on a couple of new projects including a big (for me) acrylic collage on an approximately 60”x44” canvas for my museum show in November.  Here is a little glimpse of where I left things yesterday at the end of week two.  Still a long way to go, but I am dancing now!

work in progress, acrylic and paper collage on canvas, about 44" x 60"

 Thank you to the extraordinary Nadine for this week's always-stimulating drawing challenge.  Please take a wander over to her part of the Forest for a look at wild Nature through the eyes of some exceptional artists.  Happy week!

silk organza panels piling up on my ironing board

Stitching Continues (Until Morale Improves)

At my studio, work on finishing the monoprints on cotton continues.  The process is such fun - drawing with my sewing machine to develop the imagery in each print.

'Misty Morning' - gelliplate monoprint with machine stitching, 11"x8"

'Summer Smoke II' - gelliplate monoprint with machine stitching, 6.25"x5.5"

'Twenty' - gelliplate monoprint with machine stitching, 6.25"x4.75"

For these prints, I used a combination of Akua-color monoprint ink, Golden Open acrylic paint and regular Liquitex acrylics bought on sale.  My preference is the Golden Open acrylics, but I am learning the ropes with the Akua-color inks which are quite thin and are best applied in a very thin layer.  (If you ask me).

Off to the Mighty Mighty Day Job and then I am back to stitching.  What are you up to this week in the way of creating?

Scene, Recently #34

It has been a game of catch-up since Daughter flew back to her home last week but I do not regret a moment of the days spent on 'stay-cation' with her.  One project I got busy on immediately after she got on the jet is the Nose - a carnival game for our local radio station KFSK's Kiddie Carnival at the July 4th celebration.

 

The Nose - paper mache on plywood - work in progress

 My morning walks continue to fill me with serenity, which sometimes flies away later in these busy days.

This morning a layer of fog glided along the Wrangell Narrows.

One thing I love about Blogland is the opportunity to exchange art with some fabulous artists.  The past week my post office box yielded an envelop of mail-art treasure from Connie Rose. 

Mail Art from Connie Rose

artist trading card from Connie

Thanks, Connie - an ATC in return is on my list, way up near the top.  As soon as I finish this Nose...

Happy mid-week, All!

Relishing Summer

So much to be grateful for this week...

...blue skies...

...warmer temperatures...

...LONG days...

...and Summer's Screaming Green palette.

crab apple blossoms

baby pine cones

Best of all, our Daughter is coming for a week's visit tomorrow and our Son is coming up to work for the summer on Sunday.

I will be taking a little break from studio work this week.  Here are some projects in mid-stream, waiting for my return:

detail of  one of a series of procion dye paintings, waiting to be stitched

monoprint, acrylic paint and prismacolor pencil on cotton, 6"x8", waiting to be stitched

containers of low-water emersion over-dyes, all cottons, which I will rinse out tomorrow while I wait for Daughter's plane to land in the morning

Hope your week is going well.  Got gratitude?