Me in my Studio

Here's a pic of me in my studio.  Pretty typical.  My noise cancelling headphones to block out the world, and my glasses so I can see the fine details of my work.

Anthropologie Does it Again

 The windows of the store, Anthropologie always draw me in.  I don't know who the artists are that come up with all the wonderful ideas that flesh out into these great displays, but sometimes I'd like to be one of them.

This season they've got a huge display of... yes... paint sticks.  Painted paint sticks.  Paint stirrers to be exact.  They're all hanging on differing lengths of string to comprise a huge, probably twelve foot long display in the front window, and probably eight feet or so high.  It would have been fun to have been the ones to have painted them - they show joy!

Gets me excited for my 'messy painting day' which I'm planning for my classes in two weeks.  Yaaaay!  There is not much more fun in life than throwing a lot of paint around with kids - sometimes on ourselves and on each other!  Can't wait!

Scroll down and look at these great Anthropologie window pics.  The last one is different, the threw paint down and made a 'skin.'  A skin is when you get layers of, say, acrylic paint, and you can literally peel it up and do all kinds of things with it.  Of course, their skin they did photos of so they could create these window peels that the employees simply stick up, but you get the message.  Love, love them all.

Upcoming Classes taught by Yours Truly

Okay, all of you who have asked me to teach summer classes over the years - here's your chance! I'm going to be teaching metal embossing at The Woodlands League Art Gallery this June. This is a great, fun class even for non-artists.

This picture is part of three peonies I did, in its first stages.

 Here's the lowdown:  Metal Embossing Fun for kids ages 8-11, Tuesday and Thursday, June 12 & 14, 3:30-5:30.  $60.00.  I purchase supplies.  This is a class that’s so fun and relaxing, it’s hard to stop the kids when class is over!  Students will love learning how to emboss metal and create some truly nice, original pieces.  With some of their work, they will learn how to antique.  This is a class that is satisfying and fun.  Even non-artists can take home a variety of beautiful art of which they can be proud.

Metal Embossing for kids 12-adult :) This is a great chance for moms to take a class with their kids. This will be more intense and will cover Tuesdays and Thursdays, June 19,21, 26 and 28 from 3:30-5:30.  $120.00 for all four days.  I purchase supplies.  Students will enjoy learning the basics of embossing metal and will create a number of beautiful, finished pieces.  For their final piece, they will emboss a larger sheet of metal, gesso it to a board, prepare the metal to accept paint.  Once dry, they will be able to paint and finish it.  This will become a lovely, colorful piece of art with the metal glowing through the paint.  It’s a very satisfying medium that will leave you relaxed and ready for more.  I have taught this class many times and seen truly beautiful work come from non-artistic students.  Lots of fun for all ages; adults are encouraged to join in the fun, too!

 In both classes we'll be producing some seriously nice work for you to keep. Let me know if you have questions. If you want to sign up, let me know, or contact the Woodlands Art League Art Gallery, www.woodlandsartleague.org. 

For this piece, I first embossed the metal, then gessoed it to a board.  I then prepared the surface to accept paint.  Once it was dry, I was able to paint onto the metal, rubbing off portions to let the metal glow through.


It's going to be a really fun ride!

An Inside Tatoo - Update on the Dangerous Sport of Art

Well, it's just outside of two months since I skewered my leg on a sharp bamboo pen.  Looking down at my blog, I noted that the last time I wrote about it was one week out so I thought I'd give you an update.  It got much worse after that.  Because it went so deep, an infection set in and it turned into staph.  My skin also reacted, and my leg doubled in size from toes to knee, and toward the end it was getting really difficult to walk.  It took a tetanus shot, an emergency room visit, seriously hard antibiotics and three doctors' visits to finally heal my leg.  Oh, thank you, Lord!

Northern Pike Painting, Installmt #4, Finished

Well!  Once again my technical shortcomings are showing.  I've got a vertical pic here, where it's obviously horizontal.  I downloaded it horizontal, but every time I transferred it to my blog, it went vertical.  Let's just pretend it's like the thirty foot vertical Hubble and Hudson fish and say I did it on purpose.

Anyway, I finished it!  Like!  When you see it in person, the colors are super bright, and all over the painting you can see through the layers, getting a sense of depth.

Now all I have to do is let it dry for a day and then spray it with a spray varnish.  Once that's dry, I'll varnish it with a liquid varnish.  Both of these are archival, and high gloss, which I prefer, because they deepen and brighten the colors.

As you can see, it's still taped to my drawing board.  Within two weeks I'll have it finished and framed.  At that point, I'll take another photo so we can compare to see how much deeper and brighter the colors have become.

Northern Pike Painting in Progress, Installment #3

Okay, now I'm laying in the colors on the tail... red, comp to green, orange, comp to blue, some 'Hot Volcano Red,' which is a nice pearlescent, and an iridescent bronze.

Northern Pike Painting in Progress, Installment #2

Okay, here I have most of the friskit removed so you can actually see the fish.  I splattered friskit over the water as well so that when I go back in and paint again the fish will be well seated in the water.

You can see the tape around the edges holding this puppy down to my drawing board.  With YUPO, you don't have to worry about the 'paper' buckling at all, but you still need to tape it down just to hold it in place.

You can see some numbers at the bottom - initially I had those out on the drawing board because I wanted to make sure the head was 1/4 of the body.  Decided I liked it and will be painting the numbers in more vividly.

This pic shows a closeup of some of the textures I laid in.  I wanted the blues and greens to show through the fish to give the feel of reflections in the water.  The colors aren't the best because I'm not the best photographer.  I'm not making excuses - can't be good at everything!

I'm planning on painting the fish complimentaries of blues and greens - what is that, students?  Oranges and reds, in a 1/3 to 2/3 ratio as I've shown you kids.  I'll also lay down some more iridescents to give the sense of shiny scales.

Oh, how I love to fish!  One of these days I'll tell you the story of how I caught the one that got away.  But I'd have to paint a big bass to tell that story...