Assembly Line

This is the palette paper that I've used to clean my brushes. It will now become new collaging material.

 It is completely out of character for me to work in an assembly line fashion to create art, but desperate times call for desperate measures. This morning, in addition to varnishing my new dragonfly piece (which I hope to have finished tonight), I prepped a few canvases with paint and wrapped them in plastic wrap (for a textural look) and then stacked them. When the paint is dry, I'll remove the plastic wrap.

 

I work each project on an aluminum oven liner tray and right now I have four of them stacked on top of each other. I'm sure if I could take an X-ray of my brain, it would look very similar right now. 

 

Here's the tricky part. I've prepped each canvas with paint, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with them next! But you can be sure I'll keep you posted.

"Dragonfly 1", Mixed Media Collage, 5x7

I'm back at work on the Yellow Springs show. I have to give them my inventory of works by this Friday. (I'm going to have to make something up.) Then everything has to be delivered by April 19. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Day Before the Opening

Some of the most beautiful countryside anywhere can be found in south eastern Pennsylvania. The rolling countryside contains winding brooks, picturesque homes, horse farms, vineyards and, of course, mushroom farms. 

Flickerwood Wine Cellars Wine Tasting Room

Kennett Square, the town where Flickerwood Wine Cellars Tasting Room (host of my art exhibit) is located, could well be called the mushroom capital of the United States. (Oh, wait, I just looked it up. They call themselves the mushroom capital of the world!) This could well be the reason why the mushroom museum is located there. It is also one of the most picturesque little towns you'll find anywhere; with tree lined streets and inviting shops and restaurants.

I learned only a few months ago that mushroom farming, like growing grapes for wines, is an Italian innovation. Although the local landscape looks nothing like the Italian landscape, the climate must be similar to be so conducive to both grapes and mushrooms. 

The Mushroom Cap

Portabella's Restaurant

"Blue Bathing Lady" - Digital Collage

Yes, I know. You've seen her before. She is probably my favorite piece of garden statuary. And she probably has a formal name, too. I just don't know what it is.

Five years ago, out of the blue, I was invited by a complete stranger to spend a week in Gibraltar Gardens in downtown Wilmington, Delaware to spend a week as a special guest artist. That stranger has since become a very special friend, Connie Ripper. 

Although I only lived a few miles away, just across the state line, I had never before heard of Gibraltar Gardens. But I soon discovered that it is one of the best kept secrets in that city. Stepping into the gardens is like stepping into a European country. Over the course of the week I spent there, I made some sketches, did an interview with a local magazine, and took over 200 photos. There were about a dozen artists invited to be guests over the course of the summer and in return we all contributed a piece of art inspired by the gardens to be sold at silent auction as a fund raiser for Gibraltar.

I have made a number of collages with the garden images as my inspiration, but I've especially used this fountain, which I photographed from all angles. 

Below is the image I created on Bomomo.com which I used as the background for this collage. The dragonflies came from various other collages of mine, too.

Also below are two mixed media collages featuring my bathing lady as the subject. And, as you can see, she's the subject of my blog banner this month as well.

It may very well be that I overuse her, but I never get tired of looking at her.

"Garden Fountain" 5x7 Mixed Media Collage

"Lady Fountain" 8x10 Mixed Media Collage

"Wine & Nasturtiums" 9x12 Mixed Media Collage

Here is the last piece for the show at Flickerwood. You can go to my website to see the entire line-up for that show. FLICKERWOOD

Now I must finish up Yellow Springs. I want to have 32 pieces by April 18 (the maximum number allowable). Right now I have only four (the minimum required) that I can count on for sure. Poor Emmett won't be seeing a lot of me for the next few weeks. :(

Tulip Quilt - Digital Collage

Here it is! The first digital collage that I've created using an image that I created on Bomomo. Then I cut and pasted three tulips from my mixed media collage titled "Dancing Tulips." Of course, I applied different filters in photoshop to change the look of these images, too.

So now I have a nifty new little art piece ready to print. I'll probably  print it out 5x7 on watercolor paper.

Digital image created with Bomomo.com

"Dancing Tulips"  20x20  Mixed Media Collage

Blue Bottle Collage - Digital Collage

This new image was formed by digitally combining the following images: