The Beauty of Watercolor

Watercolor is by far my favorite medium. I love the way the water and paint move over a sheet of paper. I love the way the white of the paper is used to highlight. I love the fluidity and suggestion of watercolor. I suppose these elements are achievable in oil (and acrylic, for sure!), but there is just something about ethereal about watercolor that is not present in oils or acrylics. I'm sure there are artists out there who would disagree, but hey, to each his own!

I love (okay, obssessed with) painting the female form. I can never find a model, because my friends get a little silly when I bring it up, so I end up becoming my own model! The above painting is a self-portrait, photographed in front of a window. I began to experiment with blues and greens instead of my usual yellow ochers. For awhile, I insisted on realistic skin tone, but became bored with that real fast. This was the first of incorporating different colors.

Alas, the painting is no longer with me. A friend loved it so much, I handed it over without complaint! I know it is appreciated in it's current home!

My obsession with wire hangers continues.....

.....I had made these to show off jewelry at a craft show: 8 wire hangers twisted into a tree. It's almost 2 feet tall! Now they sit as centerpieces on various tables in my house. Excellent for displaying ornaments for the holidays. Or pictures...or notes....or anything, really. 

These are not hard to make, just awkward, and a little hard on the hands. I ended up with more than a few blisters! 

A quick and easy way to use up the multitude of wire hangers lurking in my studio. 

And a shameless plug: there are several smaller versions for sale on my online Etsy store,

www.watercoloredwindows.etsy.com! 

I love trees. I may have mentioned that a few times already.

The Life Cycle of a Dragon

My friend's son loves dragons. He and I have that in common. I love dragons, too. When he asked me to make him something for his room, he wanted dragons. My friend gave me free reign over the project. Sometimes, that's not always a good idea; I can come up with some outrageous stuff.

This is a 2'x2' mixed media piece, on plywood. It's damn heavy. I used all kinds of materials: raw wool, brass sheet metal, stones, wire hangers, an oval canvas, fabric. It was a blast to make, and his reaction when he saw it was priceless. 

I really don't know what to do with all this crap sometimes!

I really have a lot of random junk in the studio. People are aware of having an artist in their midst, and like to drop stuff off on my porch, or hand me odds and ends, assuming I will come up with a use for it. Most of the time, I can.

But not always. 

To make things worse, I have a tough time throwing anything out. I'm not a hoarder (I think), it's the guilt. I hate the idea of chucking stuff into a landfill, destroying the environment, killing off the bees, we'll end up with no strawberries, the world will starve,  Monsanto will create genetically engineered bees to pollinate plants, but they mutated into a superflu, kicking off a zombie apocalypse, all because I threw away some old paintbrushes. 

........

What? It could happen.

Below is my effort to prevent the annihilation of the human race:  the shamrock storage box.

A small, clear, 12 compartment storage box with a decorated lid. Tissue paper and glue, my friends. 

This tiny project barely made a dent in the amount of materials in my studio. Not to mention that I can't find this box anywhere. Thank goodness I had pictures of it stored on my hard drive.

I'm pretty sure the box is under a stack of canvas, to the left of the exercise ball, behind the paper making kit. 

Maybe. 

Allow Me to Introduce....the Wire Hanger

I have developed an unnatural attachment to wire hangers. I use them for many purposes they were not intended for (admit it, you've hollered "no wire hangers!" a time or two). My fav way to use them is to bend them mercilessly into trees. 

This piece is made of chair legs and wire hanger trees. 

The chair legs are glued together with Elmer's school glue (a surprisingly excellent bonding agent, who knew?) and hand planed. A friend once asked me if it would be easier to use an electric planer, but that would take something out of the process, don't you think? And, besides, I don't know how to use big power tools, it's safer that way (long story). Trees were drawn onto the wood, then filled in with black ink. The background is brown ink. The wire trees are stapled (I also have a love affair with the stapler) onto the wood, and a wire hanger is used for the hanging mechanism, held in with drywall screws. 

This piece hangs in my dining room. It's heavy, it's three dimensional, and it's really cool. Also, it could put your eye out. Good to know for the holidays! 

For the Love of Trees

I am fascinated by trees. A tree takes carbon dioxide, and creates oxygen. A tree also houses countless flora, fauna, and insect life. Paper, fabric and a variety of dwellings are made from their branches. Some are edible! when the tree falls or dies, it continues to be useful through decomposition. Such an amazing testament of a life cycle. My favorite part of a tree is their shape. And I am fascinated by their shape in winter, against a white, sunless sky.

To honor my friends, the trees, I used wood that was from a previous project, and fabric that was not much more than rags. I found jeans to be a really great canvas material; so are old dish towels and tablecloths. Fabric was stretched and stapled over the simple square frames, then primed with white latex semi gloss paint. 

I traced the branches using a projector onto the canvas, then filled them in with black oil paint. This turned out to be one of my favorite projects to date. The paintings really pop against a red wall.

I enjoyed the task of canvas making so much, I gathered the rest of the miscellaneous wood and fabric and made about 35 "new" canvases. How's that for environmentally friendly art?

"Mooooommmmmm!!! I'm Bored!!"

Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of mothers than hearing her children shout "I'm bored!" twenty minutes after school lets out. This year it took a full 90 minutes before I heard the dreaded statement, sung in my daughter's dulcet tones. But I was ready for her. Bring on the "I'm Bored" bucket. 

I am far from the first mom to think of this; a quick search on Pinterest will reveal dozens, if not hundreds, of versions of this concept. Mothers everywhere, rejoice. It's filled with such wonderful activities like "call a friend" or  "create a collage." There's also "organize your toys" or "clean the toilet." Come, child, put your hand in the bucket, and choose. It fills me with glee. 

My daughter stuck her hand in and came out with "practice guitar in your underwear." Needless to say, she found something else to do (after chastising me for putting that in there in the first place. I still think it's funny). Summer might work out after all!

Creating the bucket was simple. It's an old paint can, cleaned up and de-labled. Scrap paper covers the inside and outside of the can in blocky designs. Repurposed paint can = happy mommy.