Happy Holidays!

Wishing all my blog visitors Happy Holidays!

May you have a blessed holiday season filled with family, friends, and good cheer! 

Gone To The Dogs

If you are wondering where I've been, I have literally gone to the dogs. My Mother recently moved, and I have helped out in various ways. Because her two dogs are still feeling unsettled in the new place, I was asked on their first day to dog sit when she went out to do some errands. This was not a chore for me since I completely adore them. Rocky spent most of the time I was there exploring, then retreated off to my mother's bed...so I didn't get a picture of him. But Rooster, above, was very clingy. At last he went up on a sheet covered couch, but he didn't really settle in until I sat down next to him. He almost looked like he was smiling to have me there, so I couldn't resist and took a picture of him sleeping blissfully.

Outside of helping my Mom out, I have also had a lot of other things going on, so I haven't done any painting. I did do some sketches, but will post them next time. I also played around with updating and arranging my collections. I think the one directly below will be for one venue where I just have to submit the images, never the artwork itself. I just need one more piece to complete it for the five they require.

 Alternatively, it may be these with one more added...

 Here's all the pieces together, which I may add to and submit for a collection for a gallery.

I'm sure these things will be able to get more attention after the New Year. Christmas is sneaking up quickly! 

Until next time, take care!

Face #740: It's A Wrap...

Just finished this one...

I may let it sit for a couple days, and go back to it. But probably not. I already have another piece I want to start.

Until next time, take care! Thanks for visiting.

Face #740: It's A Start...

Faces #738, and #739 are the preliminary sketches I did for a new piece I started. Originally, I thought I was going to make this piece with the mermaid sitting at the shore line.

But I decided in order to make it part of the collection I wanted to add it to, that I'd have to take a different approach. I also decided to work on a piece of the mat board I bought for collages, rather than the Canson paper I usually work with. I haven't worked with pastel on mat board for a while. This piece is 20" by 32", and I've shown it below after I've gone over my initial drawing with a gray ink to use for a guide.

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Below: It's a start to this piece, anyway. I know I'm looking at a few more sessions until it's finished.

Until next time, take care!

Parma Paper Study, And Contact Sheet

I've been busy with a house guest, so have not gotten around to posting faces #736-#737 which I did the other day. The piece below was done on one of the new papers I bought, in a parma color. If nothing else, it's two more faces to add to the count, and it was a thorough study of the pastel on this color background. 

For me, a piece like this just gets added to a pile instead of being set aside with the more preferable pieces. I just move on with whatever I learned whether a piece is good or bad, and there's no further thought on it unless I think it can be used in a submission. But I was laughing about a recent article I read in ARTnews magazine about an artist who took all the work he did during specific years, burned it, and put some of the ashes in a small casket and baked the rest into cookies which subsequently went on exhibit like that (laughing)! The article also covered some other artists who had taken some measures to get rid of work they'd done that they were less than pleased about. This is of course a subjective matter. One artist destroyed 60 works estimated at a loss of 655 million dollars. Obviously, just because he himself didn't like it, doesn't mean it didn't have value.  

For me, I may be flattered if someone likes a piece I've done and says so. But I don't ask or rely on what other people think about my work unless it's a critique from another professional with equal or more experience, or someone I've submitted work to. Otherwise, it's like a woman asking her man if a dress makes her look fat...a question with no acceptable or right reply. I stay in love with the process of creating, rather than falling in love with individual pieces because it keeps me objective.  I also read magazines like ARTnews, and keep my finger on the pulse of the creative art world beyond my own "studio" to help stay objective. Another thing that is sometimes helpful in an objective analysis, is creating a contact sheet, like the one below when an artist is considering a submission. Seeing the work compiled in such a way can bring to a person's attention which pieces should be weeded out, which pieces work well in a collection, and what kind of pieces can be created to add to a collection. It forces you to be objective about the work. The contact sheet below was created to help me in selecting for two collections in progress for two very different venues. I need more pieces for one of those venues, and find I can't work on that goal on demand...having to do some other unrelated pieces as well. With Christmas coming fast, I'm sure to get sidetracked, anyway (sigh)!

Thanks for the visit! Until next time, take care!

Collage-ville

I decided to go with two individual collages, rather than combining the two below. I bought this garnet colored mat board, along with some other colored mat board for more collages. I also sprang for more decorative papers at my local art supply store. All in all, I think the choices worked well together on the two pieces.

 After the two pieces above, I started thinking about some of the other collages I've done on this blog which I didn't finish (below). I may revisit these at some point.

I did a couple sketches last night in exploration of a new piece I'm hoping to start. I will be sure to post when I do! Until next time, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Collage And Montages

I got a real bargain while shopping for decorative paper at JoAnn Fabrics this weekend. They had this entire scrapbook kit for only nine dollars. I bought it for the 16 sheets of decorative paper, stickers and cutouts. But when I got home, there was the added delight of realizing it came with a scrapbook, too, which I can use at some point! While I have nothing against using "found" objects and papers in a collage, it's nice to be able to purchase or even design and print my own items that I know are acid free. If you are making items to sell, it is something that needs to be considered. I have loosely laid out the two faces with some of the decorative papers/elements (below). I can't decide whether I will make two individual collages, or keep them together.

 I think I am finally finished with this montage, below. I had it in my mind that the shape in the lower right hand corner was more conducive to a sail boat, then went ahead and put in the motor boat (which now I've changed). I finally like this piece, and can sleep at night again.

 I did a lot of digital montages since the digital imaging class I took in school for graphic design. One of the things you learn in any Photoshop class are about transparency levels and blending modes on your layers. It's a lot of fun playing with these, as I did in the imagery below. The first montage below has a digital time stamp of 2005...quite some time ago. The other two below it are a little more recent and were done for fabric panels in the end of 2009.

Although I like my digital work and experience, I'm just as happy with any traditional implements even as simple as a pencil.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Until next time, take care!