Strata Progression

Don't know about you but I find it fascinating to see how an artist develops a project they are working on.  A number of fellow bloggers will share how they follow one idea, technique after another, Cindy with her amazing realism, Zom another amazing Aussie artist, Rice and her one of a kind clothing remakes, among the many talented artist who's blogs I follow.

So here is my update on the strata piece I'm working on.  The biggest change came when I used a piece of sheer multi coloured material on the upper portion and a small stripe towards the bottom. In the upper left I have a hand stencil done in gel drying that will add some interest to the piece. I've added some black shimmery aluminum oxide  my bro in-law gave me (he uses it for sand blasting.) In fact he's given me some fun metal shavings in indigo blue, bronze and  copper that I hope to use somewhere in this piece.  Or at least a little :-) Then I got out my copper and bronze inks and did some strizzling to create a nice luminous effect under coming layers of glazes.  The various coloured glazes are what I'm preparing to do next, love the effects I've been getting by alternating between transparent & opaque, warm and cool tones as well.

The colours in the photo don't fully match up with the actual, but you get the idea.  Have a great weekend!

On The Easel

Got the first rush of paint down for my strata piece today.   You can see my 'teal' canvas in the background waiting for some gel stencilled texture to dry and of course inspiration to hit as to how to continue.  Long ways to go on both but thought I'd share the process.  Already I can see where I need to come in and change some things so should be fun seeing where these paintings take me in the next little while.  I've got plans to add some texture elements to the strata piece, fingers crossed that this experiment goes well.

Anxiously awaiting delivery of my Joe DiGilio DVD's (love those super sales) and of course some new luscious paint.  I expect they will find there way into these new canvases :-)

The Power of Splatter

So what do you do when you're in too much pain to sleep more than three hours?  Why you sling paint don't you know.  As some of you may know, I live with chronic pain so this is my norm and I've found my ways of living with it and still enjoy the life that I've been blessed to have.  In recent years, painting has played a huge role in making my life feel richer, deeper and wonderfully releasing in the wee hours of the morning :-)

When the pain is too heavy I know it would be a waste of time trying to work on a canvas so I let loose in my journal and when that's too small and confining I grab the big watercolour sheets and have at it!  This morning, I had a grand 'loosening up' session with craft paint and my big art table.  Golly who would think a loss of sleep could be this much fun?  I'll let this first frenzy of pain dry and see what more I want to do with it, maybe it will be my 'getting limber' exercise for a time.  When it's run its course I'll give it some coats of varnish so it doesn't peel off under the abuse I put it through working on large projects.

There's something very liberating about going BIG!  Life itself can make us feel hemmed in so why not find yourself a surface on the huge side and splat some paint...

Home Improvements

Thought it was time to make some changes to my blog, for the sake of my viewers :-)  Light text on a black background makes for difficult reading and I knew I needed to work on fixing the problem.  I'm afraid my designer eye doesn't care for the new look as much, but I know in the end it's a better choice after all who wants their eyes pulling out of their head trying to read a post!  Figured if I'm having a hard time reading my own blog, then so are others.

Still working away at the details of 'Joyous Struggle' and I must say I'm getting anxious to start work on my prepared strata piece :-)

On the learning front, I've been leafing back through Mary Todd Beam's books.  The woman so inspires me, I love her work and teaching style.  Also been checking out Joe DiGiulio's teaching clips, "Abstract Expressionist Mind" at Jerry's Artarama, they have such a great sale on I ordered a couple of his videos.  Can't wait to watch them!

Enjoy your weekend!

The Joyous Struggle

"Joyous Struggle" 24 X 38 Mixed Media on Canvas

Do you ever feel that while you are working on your art, the art is working on you?  It's a strange and wondrous thing to see how threads of things going on around you, within you becomes part of the process of creating.  How many times have I thought I was done, until I step back and take the long look that leads me back into the painting and the next step that I hope will bring completion.


"Joyous Struggle," I don't know how to express it more precisely, but that defines the creative process for me.  My sister and I, Kellie, have been talking a lot about the creative bent within us and our personal struggle to 'value' it, to see it's worth in this world.  Kel's been going through some difficult life transitions, the kind that make you take a long hard look at who you truly are, what fuels your tank.  We were rather odd ducks in our family nucleus, quiet and absorbed in the world of our imaginations.  Work never stopped on the family farm, so practical and pragmatic were the watchwords.  Truth be told, little value is put on the artistic in the world we occupy.


Something artist/author Makoto Fujimura wrote in 'A Letter to Young Artists' echoed the things Kel and I had been discussing:

"Remember your first love—how much you enjoyed creating as a child. If you ever lose that sense of joy, you will need to reflect on why you lost that spark... the craft of expression takes much “dying to self” and much discipline. A discipline of any form takes perseverance. But when we are going through a period of training, we must remember the reason for our training. Our journey needs to have a specific direction. Our direction need not be toward being successful and being famous. We need to start from your first love; what we cherish, what we are, and what we value.

There will be a quiet joy even within that wrestling.“But there may be a period, while the wings are just beginning to grow, when it cannot do so…The lumps on the shoulders…may even give it an awkward appearance.” C.S. Lewis

Have you ever felt awkward, and felt the “lumps”? If you are an artist, perhaps you began your journey realizing that you are different from others. We have gotten used to having these “lumps” and accepted the fact that to the world the “lumps” look strange and unnatural. Your teachers and your friends may not fully understand your intuition to try to fly with your winged “lumps.” What if Lewis is right, and you are destined to “fly”? What if our awkwardness, and our uniqueness points to the potential of the person we are meant to become? In order to learn to fly, you need to be patient, and ready to experience many failures; we need an environment where we can fail often, but you also need opportunities to peer into the wonders and mysteries of the vista of the world to come." Mako Fujimura

He expresses it so beautifully and served to be one more thread woven into this joyous struggle of finding and expressing that part of me that has long been missing and is only now coming to light. The hardest thing my sister and I had to face was by saying that our artistic side held little value in the world, we in effect we saying a huge portion of ourselves had no value. I suspect we are not alone :-)

Blogging Spring Cleaning!

Doing a little blog housecleaning after reading Rice's great article at Creative Mixed Media.  She shoots straight from the hip and I so appreciate her candour.  My need for a good point and shoot digital camera just went to the top of the 'Need' list however.  Having good photos of your artwork is important if that's what you're blogging about!

I've finish up the large canvas I've been calling 'joyous' it's going to hang out on my wall for a time until I know that it's truly done.  Begun work on a new strata piece, love this part where I get to play with all these texturing tools and work on the basic design.  I've got a new stencil or two from Mary Beth's collection I intend to work into the pice as well.  If someone saw the array of items littering the big table in my loft, they'd wonder if I was into construction or art!  Think I'll start another piece for all the left over ideas and items I want to play with but can't include in the one I do have going.

Can't bring myself to publish the pictures of 'joyous' that my video camera took, especially in light of Rice's article :-)  Will have to wait until I either purchase that point and shoot or my daughter brings her big camera home with her!

Hope your having a creative week!

Inspiration From The Young

I'm glad to say I've gotten started on layering in the foundational colour on the large piece I'm currently calling 'Joy.'  Someday I hope not to have to apologize for the poor picture quality, but for now this is the best my camera has to offer, macro shots only.

This foundations photo was taken with my son's camera. Although the painting has come a very long way, this will give you some idea of it's design.

The girls pieces are finished, although I don't have a photo of Lyvia's finished piece.  She breezed through here on Saturday, slapped on some metallic paint to finish it out and wanted to take it home with her, like the little whirl wind she is, come and gone in a moment.

Meanwhile Grace was off slaying her 'Dragons' and competing for Team New Brunswick, in the Atlantic Gynmanstic Competition.  She has been struggling with a back walk-over on her Beam routine, going through one of those times when the skills you had seem to go missing for a time.  But when the time came she pulled it off!  She inspires me.

Grace before judges waiting to do her Beam Routine

When I look at how hard she works, and then swallowing down her fears and competing before numerous judges on various events...Well, here I am at 54 still fighting new battles with the old dragon of fear and I have two granddaughters who overcome their fear and go and compete in gymnastics at 8 and 10 years of age.  I'd be humiliated if I weren't so proud of them :-)