New Work Downtown

This Sunday I will be hanging 16 new acrylic and oil pastel paintings at Gallery 110 for my first Seattle solo show. The work will be on display through the month of March, opening on First Thursday, March 3 with an artist reception on the 5th from 6 to 8. I am working on a short talk about my process and thoughts about making things. Hope to see many of you there.

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).

Persistance in Beautiful Surroundings

Flossy and I have been enjoying exploring our new studio 'hood on the north shore of Lake Union during our lunchtime walks.  Yesterday we found a tiny park right across the street with some really beautiful views.  Have a wander with us:

Yes, that is the Space Needle, center right.

The Freeway bridge arches overhead (kinda noisy in a white-noise way).

The University bridge is the view to the east.

Indoors, progress was made - I began working on prototype models for some books I have in mind after being inspired by the 'Word Play' book arts exhibit over at the UW which we visited late Wednesday afternoon.

About 4 inches high x 22 inches, folded Arches cover with watercolor, graphite and pigma pen.

I ended up with something completely different than I was heading for, but the process was delightful, and it was only intended as a draft anyway.

This is a detail of the inside.  The text is a memory of driving in the dark.

Later, I had a painting session that started out horrible and ended up flying happily along.  I am still getting my sea legs after my long time away from the brushes.  The struggle with my mind telling me 'oh, you can't really paint' is best overcome by just keeping on pushing the paint around until something starts to emerge.

detail, acrylic on paper

'Buoy Bag' (about 9"x6")

Wishing you a good weekend.  Persist at what ever it is that makes you smile!

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!

Breathing Room

Last week, my Mother shared a link to a guest post by Jane Davies over at Diane Trout's place on making hot glue stencils.  

Today I celebrated completing two major projects by relaxing with my glue gun and gelliplate. Talk about FUN! 

After some free-form doodling directly on a teflon sheet (parchment paper can be used instead) I  drew a design on paper and placed it under the teflon.  

While the glue is still hot, slip a second sheet on top of your design and rub gently to smoosh the glue flatter.  (Jane Davies video tutorial explains all)! 

I ended up with about a dozen stencils in short order.

Kinda hard to see them, sorry.

Soon I was happily up to my elbows in ink, pulling monoprint after monoprint! 

The recent change in our weather was my inspiration.  

Snow is in the air...

...but not yet on the ground.

 I added the stars with silver acrylic paint and my rubber stamps.

In addition to snowflakes, I 'gloodled' a forest of pinetrees.

I am still loving printing on Japanese papers, but am anxious to try Rives BFK, as recommended by Roberta Warshaw.

I will reveal the two major projects in the next week or two when they have been presented to the future recipients.  Nice to have some days with no deadlines at last!  Hope you are finding some time to breathe and explore a new avenue.  

Happy weekend!

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!

Shelter - DC

Renilde, a wonderful painter and blogger extraordinaire came up with this week's drawing challenge, 'shelter'.  As someone who has used a house symbol in her work for years, I seized the theme naturally, and found it a great subject for monoprinting on the early Christmas gift my mother gave me: a Gelli plate.

These monoprints are all done on a 9x12 gelli plate using acrylic paint.

I found that I liked the way my Golden acrylics performed better than the Liquitex brand I got on sale recently.

I stayed up far too late last night working into my monoprints with watercolors and inks.

The acrylic acts as a resist, and the possibilities are ENDLESS!

This is an example of a 'ghost'print - what happens when you pull a second print from the plate.

Sorry about the quality of these photos - no natural day light available around here right now...  (also sorry to be a bit tardy in posting my DC).

I am using freezer paper to mask out my houses and ladders.

The circle was made with a selvage strip of fabric.

Monoprinting is one heck of alot of fun, and working on gelatin - as Linda Germain does - or the Gelli plate which is sort of a permanent gelatin plate - makes it possible to do so without a press.  Linda's blog is packed with generous how-tos and tutorials, plus her own art which is vastly inspiring.  Gelliarts also has a blog with many tutorials and loads of inspiration.

As I sat in the pool of warm light at my dining room table last night happily coloring my prints, I reflected on the comfortable shelter our home is.  Outside the snow came down, while me and my pets were cozy inside.  Grateful?  YES - absolutely.

Drawing Challenge: Habit

Word association: 

You say 'habit'; I say 'bad'.

'Habit' - acrylic, oil stick, graphite and paper on book page; 8"x6"

detail 01

detail 02

When a bad habit caught me in its vicious circle of hopelessness, the only way out was surrender and prayer, one day at a time.

Many more takes on this theme 

by talented artists 

can be found over at Kirsten's fascinating blog, A Sunny Spot.

Daily Drawing and Studio Assistant

'Walk Away' - pigma pen and prismacolor in 6"x8" Epsilon

'Internal Landscape' - pigma pen and prismacolor in 6"x8" Epsilon

pigma pen and prismacolor in 6"x8" Epsilon

'Studio Assistant' - pigma pen and prismacolor in 6"x8" Epsilon

Flossy, the real studio assistant, poses by recent work in our studio

Flossy and I wish you happiness this mid-week day.  Are you drawing?