Steps 7 - 11

Unfinished, still unnamed, mixed media collage 16 x 20

It's coming together and I'm feeling encouraged. I took this photo after I splattered the metallic gold wash but before I started applying the varnish. I typically apply 3 layers; two gloss and one matte, and more if needed. I love to watch the varnish interact with the papers. Some papers become more translucent; others become deeper and richer in color. Some will bleed if I'm not careful and sometimes that bleed is desirable. I've come to know what to expect from each of the papers, but sometimes I'm surprised. And I'm always delighted to watch the transformation.

Once the varnish has dried I need to go back in and add textural details. I'm still going down to the wire.

Steps 5 & 6

 I'm further along than this, but I need better lighting before I can capture my recent progress.

Step 5 - One more addition to the background

Step 6 - Separate components which make up subject

Universal Truths

Digital Collage

"Universal Truths" is now available as an iGoogle desktop theme.

Step 4

Unfinished and, as yet unnamed, mixed media collage - 16x20

The deadline is this Friday... which means I have to be finished by Thursday night. Can I do it?

"Drizzles" by Artist Susan Roden

 Susan Roden's Pastels

In the past 18 months that I have been utilizing social networking, I have met the most amazing artists online. Their collective talents awe and inspire me and I love to share their work with others.

Susan Roden's work has recently come to my attention. First and foremost, I find her use of color wonderfully unique and energetic. Her paintings come alive. 

Today, the image above popped up on my computer screen and again I was struck by Susan's use of color. But what really captured my attention was the way she used those wonderful colors in depicting the cupcake paper. What a boring mundane thing a cupcake wrapper is in real life and look at the character Susan has bestowed upon it.

And for me, it brought home a significant point and that is, as painters, it is not incumbent upon us to depict the world as it really is. That's the job of photo journalists. As painters, it is our duty to feature the world as it should be; as we'd like to see it, or as we see it in our mind's eye. It is our duty to give beauty and charm to the homely and not so charming. To bring color to a colorless world.

And, Susan Roden does that spectacularly!

Susan Roden's Pastels

Another One Bites the Dust

 I got sad news today in the mail. Studio 432, the gallery in Perryville, Maryland, which has represented me for the past couple of years, closed its doors on Christmas Eve. The news was made bittersweet by the inclusion of my last commission check. Oh, how I'll miss that funky, colorful converted church and all the eclectic, creative artists who exhibited therein. 

 

What makes it worse, is that on that same day, Christmas Eve, Thistles, the gallery which has represented me in Lewes, Delaware for the past three years, closed its doors, too. 

So, for the first time in many years, I find myself without gallery representation, and I think I won't be looking for any either. I believe we've come to an end of an era. I've been watching little individual galleries close their doors, one by one, for the past five years now. And I've been reading the predictions of their failings in trade magazines for a long time.

So, most likely, I'll be immersing myself into e-commerce and selling my artwork through Etsy or whatever else is out there. I'm sighing deeply as I write this, because I loved having someone else doing the promoting and selling. I loved being the "star" of special gallery exhibits and I truly loved the relationships I developed with the gallery owners who all became very dear friends of mine. 

And it's sad to see galleries disappearing from the retail market. Art viewed online is nothing like seeing it "in person." Its very tactile quality disappears on a computer screen. 

I don't know what the future of my art sales looks like, but I do know this; the closing of the galleries will not prevent me from creating more art.

Melted Crayons

I've always been a fan of Crayola crayons. (Yes, I was the kid in school who had the 64 pack with the sharpener in the back.) A few years ago I had the great fortune to participate in a Trashy Women workshop and my friend, Jo Pinder, showed me some interesting things to do with crayons that I couldn't wait to try with my new metallic fx collection.

It begins with an electric frying pan. You pretty much need to dedicate a frying pan to your studio; it will become covered in baked on crayon. Turn it on to warm; it doesn't need to be any hotter than that. Place a piece of paper in the skillet and begin marking it with crayons. The crayons will start to melt as it comes in contact with the warm paper and they will glide across the surface. I find it useful to incorporate a chopstick to keep the paper still.

You can use pretty much any type of paper. This particular piece of paper came from an old atlas, but I've used sheet music, newsprint, Thai unryu... you name it.

I'm loving the sheen of the metallic crayons on the paper. 

Next I use a cheese grater (yes, you're right, this needs to be a dedicated art studio cheese grater) and I grate complementary colors on top of the paper. The shavings melt when they come in contact with the warm surface. Sometimes, to help the melting process along, I'll smash the shavings with my chopstick.

Once the paper has cooled and the colors have set, you can use it in a collage; either "as is" or  cut out in shapes such as my "circle of crabs." 

Have fun and remember to turn the skillet off when you're finished.