Plodding Along

Grace & Lyvia

Wish I could say I've been making great progress with art projects in the last few days, but I can't.  I have lots of excuses, Easter + family visits and meals to host and it's been raining so that means headaches/migraines and you know I can't control the whether.  But the truth is, I'm feeling stuck, not sure how I want to proceed with my new canvas.  We'll call it percolating time.  Thinking about colour combinations, trying to visualize what it would look like done in certain colours using specific techniques.  Eventually I'll begin.

Grace's 

In the meantime, the girls were down and got the next step of their project done, laying in some base colours.  Next up, highlighting areas with metallic and interference paints.

Hope you're having a productive week!

Lyvia's

"Do you ever find that you are waiting for your moment, though you might not know exactly what it will look like or feel like, nevertheless you hope it’s on the way, and so you wait for it? And wait some more?" Scoutie Girl 

Multitasking Art

Thought I'd show you the beginnings of a new piece, layering in some design and texture elements right now. I love the fluid flow of the design, makes me feel unrestricted!  Funny thing, only with my art am I this messy.  Usually I work pretty neatly, maybe because I hate to clean.  But when I'm creating the last thing I want, or do worry about is mess and paint splattering everywhere. That's why I keep my art space free of decorative items, they would be ruined in short order!  On the other hand my floor might be a work of art one day.

I have also added some elements to the Joshua Tree.  I am using Golden Interference Gold (fine) paint to outline the tree, love how it's interacting with the base colours.  When I can I'll have my daughter take some photos of it and pray we can capture the shifting colours.  I've also added the words 'songline' in Hebrew text, I love the look of the Hebrew language and use it often in my art.  It adds a wonderful linear element the composition. I'm going to try some gold leafing to highlight those.

I don't know if you've been following the comment threat from this post, and this one, but my Aussie friend Kel, took one look at the collaged vintage music sheet elements I had added to the base of the tree and said this:

"Oh my - the hairs just stood up on the back of my neck...you've put a songline in there!"

This is what a songline means according to the link Kel included.

"Songlines, also called Dreaming tracks by Indigenous Australians within the animist indigenous belief system, are paths across the land, which mark the route followed by localized 'creator-beings' during the Dreaming. The Dreaming can be seen as an embodiment of Creation, which gives meaning to everything. The paths of the songlines are recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance and painting. A knowledgeable person is able to navigate across the land by repeating the words to the song, which describe the location of landmarks, waterholes and the natural phenomena. 

I love it!  Love that our art can take us places we don't fully understand as we follow our instincts.  I love the idea that my art comes from the place of Dreaming with my Creator and it spills out leaving it's impressions that can impact others.  More importantly The Creator leaves his imprint on the inside of me...

On to other things. My Grand-daughter Grace also has a new project on the go.  She is doing a piece for her teacher who loved what she had painted with me some time ago.  So she asked me to use the insolation foam and get the canvas ready for her to paint. (The foam is beyond messy so I handle that part of it)  I've laid out a couple of things, one like what she has already done and the other, well it reminds me of the milky way and a full moon in a night sky.  Could be fun!

Keeping At It

Thought I'd share with you were I've gone with my Joshua Tree canvas.  This has got to be the softest colour pallett I've ever used.  I can't adequately capture the actual tint and hues of the colours I'm using but I love the names, Australian Blue Gum, Australian Sky Blue and Southern Ocean Blue, Australian Red Violet all by Australian based Matisse products.

My plans are to paint the tree like limbs in a metallic yet to be determined and who knows what else will happen with this one before I call it done.  I've also added some vintage music sheet notes along it's roots, the Joshua Tree got it's name because it reminded Mormon settlers of the Biblical Joshua raising his arms in prayer.

Because of the challenge this has been for me, I thought I'd find out a little more about the Joshua Tree, some things really popped out at me.

"deep and extensive" root system. If it survives the rigors of the desert it can live for hundreds of years with some specimens surviving up to a thousand years.

Joshua trees usually do not branch until after they bloom.. " 


He's a resilient fellow, going down deep in order to find the nourishment he needs to survive and thrive.  I love that first he blooms then he branches out.  Kind of reminds me that I need to let my art bloom from within me fully before worrying about the branching out that comes with wanting to share your creations with others.  All in all, I'm finding the Joshua Tree pretty inspiring.

"Closet Art" Anyone?

Would be Joshua Tree?

Not sure how I get myself backed into these messes lately, but I've got another piece on the go that is giving me grief!  I have to admit it is a case of a design element gone bad.  I used my Gorilla glue to map out a design but there was too much moisture surrounding the glue and it swelled up and expanded totally obliterating the more delicate design I was going for.  Now, I'm fighting the design and trying to find a way to, well make it work. I've included a picture just to show you the crazy design I've got going on, right now I'm playing with ideas for texturing and deciding on colours.  It will all change radically if I stick with it.

Makes me wonder what is going on under the surface of my life that I keep coming up with these design challenged pieces and me without the knowhow of what to do with them.  If it wasn't for the fact that it's on a more expensive gallery wrapped canvas, I think I'd just call it 'closest art' and begin anew!  I laughed when my artistic, sister-in-law, Patricia talked about having canvases tucked away in the closet because they were duds she gave up on, 'closet art.'

So anyone out there practicing 'Closet Art' too?

Art On The Go

Grace (middle) Lyvia (on top)

Finally finished my Boxed In piece, I don't have a picture of the completed piece right now, the only camera we have is a Video Camera my hubby uses for videoing wild life and our Grand-daughters.  In fact I've spent the last couple of days editing video and creating DVD's with special effects for my Grand-daughter Grace who took some metals home at the Provincial Gymnastics Competition.  She was chosen to help represent our provence at the Atlantic & Eastern Competitions at the end of April. Yeah Grace! and Yeah! Team New Brunswick.

Also been playing with a small canvas that had been textured some time ago as an experiment, it's now looking a little like an abstract forest.  It's been fun to just play with this, I also have a canvas ready for paint, that I'm calling my Joshua Tree.  It was a case of Gorilla glue gone wild, it soaked up too much moisture and so instead of a wispy design I had this overpowering completely different look.  Thank God for my sister Kel, fresh back from her missions trip to Mexico, she took one look at it and said, "it looks like a Joshua tree."  You just never know what you're going to wind up with!