shared visions art

Phase 2 of what will be called “Spring Wind”. There will be a third phase and the it may be final.

So I’m up at 2:52 working in my studio. Wanting to or Needing to? I’m not sure. I think it’s a little bit of both. Couldn’t sleep. My mind racing with so many thoughts. Some creative. The idea of illustrating “The Breath” – as in Meditation. A visual comes for a painting and then morphs into something I’d need a some kind of scientist’s input for. Laser, light, moisture, chemical related? Anyway…. I might as well paint as lay in bed unsleeping. So here is a new incarnation…or Spring Wind phase 3. Not sure about the red running into the white. I suspect that will be toned down.

Some artists hate it when there is a theme for a show they want to enter. In fact some won’t bother entering Themed shows at all. I go out of my way sometimes to enter them. It makes you stretch yourself. They make you think. I started this one to enter an upcoming show, but unfortunately this canvas is too large for the guidelines. Here is phase one and phase two. I am trying to take pictures of this one as I move along. I knew from the beginning I wanted to add some real organic elements. We will see where it goes!

This even fresher. . .Some times I don’t have an idea what a piece is going to be about when I start it. It may develop a voice of it’s own anywhere within the process and tell me what it wants to be when it grows up. This one let me now at the very end that it was “The Summer Wind”.

I have to admit I’m not sure what to make of this one yet. I wish that I had taken a photo of it’s beta version because it it so different than this one, I was not all that pleased with it at it’s inception, but having walked away and come back, it did begin to captivate me. I am naming it after Mount Fuji in some way. Needs some tweaking.

“Fuji” phase 2

Sometimes when you take a workshop it turns out you never use the techniques you learned again. That won’t be the case with Joan Fullerton’s. In fact This piece was done using many of them.

So I thought I’d learned a lot about Abstract Painting over the past year. At least enough to fix some past work. But here are two attempts. I believe one of them has improved, but not so sure about the other. I did come up with a funny saying though: “When in doubt add a dead lizard”. As always, I am still learning.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Most of the time (before the grand baby anyway) the studio is a quiet, contemplative and therapeutic place. I am forntunate to be able to “schedule” time there weekly when a friend comes to paint with me. We have been doing this for almost 10 years now. As much as I love my time alone (especially in the studio) there is something to be said for painting in the company of others. Small bits of encouragement or constructive criticism are passed. A strong feeling of camaraderie is in the air. Last Friday however, my husband scheduled something that included me looking after two grandkids. Kris and I had only an hour to ourselves before their invasion along with the sound of the hubby and stepson hammering outside the studio door. This is the piece I worked on then…. called “Chaos” and despite the title looks kind of happy. It’s not quite done, but almost. This is large form me too – 24×30.

Sometimes the path to the trash is a winding one. During the process of unframing some pieces I deemed unworthy, I then had to decide their next destination. Several will have a temporary reprieve. Since I feel I’ve learned a lot about making abstract art this past year, I’m hoping I can rescue some of them. These will be reworked:

This one, which I didn’t include in my original post about culling work for quality, will have a more difficult journey. I hope to rescue it by improving it as a watercolor.

This is another painting from my online workshop with Joan Fullerton. This one was painted with the 17 month old grandson in the studio. Hence it’s titled “Tension”.