Happy New Year and Here's to Learning New Things

What better way to start the New Year than learning something new. This past fall I have had the privilege of working with one of our areas most creative artists, Kathryn Carthwright. Many of you may know her by her "All Cracked Up" eggshell series. Kathy has opened some very important doors for me and has helped me to fill in the gaps of being a self taught artist. These gaps are basic art foundations that i feel will allow me to really improve my artwork vs. having self imposed limitations because of my lack of knowledge. Being an intuitive painter most of my life, which many people might agree is very freeing, I found just the opposite was true. By having the basic knowledge of the principle elements of design I am ecstatic with the thought of what i can create. So, i have posted here two of my first value paintings. They are near ready to begin adding color and I can only imagine what they may become. I hope to post the final works as soon as they are ready! Stay tuned!!

p.s. for some really great art discussions visit Kathy's blog at http://k-cartwright.blogspot.com/

Meet Dave Lewis, Artist of the Month at BCS

Dave is a client of Brunswick Center Services and an artist in his own right. He will be presenting his first solo exhibit at Mochablend Cafe on Hoosick Rd in Brunswick for the month of December. Please stop by for a great cup of coffee and some great art. Notecards of Dave's work will also be on sale at the cafe. Dave also has one of his seasonal artworks displayed at the Brunswick Community Library on RT 2 in Brunswick.

Mochablend Artist Luncheon

Last week I had the dubious honor of lunching with some of America's finest gentlemen on Veterans Day as we celebrated their first group show at the Mochablend in Brunswick. If you have a chance, please stop by and see their work which will be there until November 30.

Student Art Exhibits

Spreading the word of two student art exhibits at Mochablend Cafe, 720 Hoosick Rd in Brunswick. In honor of Veterans Day during the month of November the work from students in the art program of Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany will be on display. David Lewis of Brunswick Center Services of ARC will be featured during the month of December at the cafe. Stop in for a cup of coffee and some great artwork. Doesn't get any better than that!!

Autumn

I can't believe it's been three weeks since my last post. Sometimes i just don't know where the days go. In preparation for an art journaling class i will be teaching in october I found a great sketchbook that is the perfect size and paper weight for sketches and some watercolor/collage. I also found one of those "bananas" that hang off the trees (not sure what kind..i'll have to do some research) and it lent itself to a great first page of the journal. Just enjoying the perfect days of September and the colors as they begin to change on the leaves and nature's other treasures.

Enjoy!

Digital Play

Studio way too hot the last few days to play in so i thought it was a good time to make friends with the layers, filters and effects of Photoshop. It's an interesting process that produces some very interesting results. Both photos began as paintings and then were altered with palette knife effects and altering of the color hues and saturations. Can't say i like this play better than my brush and paints but it was fun!

Popcorn Haiku

My friend, Marje, has been working on a wonderful series of popcorn paintings. In honor of marje, our little art group is creating their own version of popcorn. Here is my contribution, a digitally altered and enhanced photo of popcorn with a haiku twist!!! (This was my 3 am creativity burst!)

Enjoy!

Follow ups....

As a follow up to my 7/9 post of how many lives "Peacock" can have i recently had him printed on a t-shirt for fun! i liked it so much i went back and had it printed on a canvas bag and a mouse pad. I think to myself, "Whether it is on the wall, on your arm or on your back, ART is meant to be enjoyed!"

Also following up on my Word a Day Project, this is one of those "well it seemed like a good idea at the time!" deals. I love the idea and I will continue to work them into my art, but i just cannot seem to produce one EVERY day. Even a Word Every Other Day Project won't work. But you get the idea anyway.

Stay tuned!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sun when it's out!

Seasons

As I was driving past the farmer's market the other day i realized how much i love living in the northeast, specifically because of the seasons. While i don't relish 3 feet of snow i do love the rythym of the seasons and what they bring to my life. Because not only are the seasons of the year relevant but also the seasons of life. That circle of life that seems to come around later rather than sooner when i am open to my mortality as well as things yet to be. I also realized that i have seasons of my mind that flow in and out as i am led from one day to the next or one project to the next. One of the dictionary's meanings for seasons was "the fitting time" and i thought ......perfect!

Word a Day Project

Return - go or come back; pass, give or send back to an earlier possessor; answer.

Word a Day Project

Marrying words and images is one of my favorite things to do. The Word a Day Project takes a random word from the dictionary and inteprets it in a visual way through collage.

Would anyone like to suggest a word?

Today's word: Junction

While i hope to post a word a day, i won't promise. Life sometimes gets in the way of the best promises.

Does artwork have nine lives?

I began playing in the studio the other day and decided to see how far i could take one small piece of artwork. So I started with "Peacock" that is on my profile page. It is a small 4 x 4 canvas mixed media inspired by some peacock feathers given to me by a friend. I had recently been in a mosaic studio and was impressed with all those little pieces of stone becoming one. So i came home and printed on a piece of backed Japanese paper the peacock artwork mainly because of all the colors in the piece. Then i began cutting it up and collaging it to illustration board. One thing led to the next and i was left with "Peacock II-The Mosaic".

And so it sat for days until today. I have also been obsessed with making journals and learning new binding stitches. After finding the coptic stitch tutorial on line i decided to try my hand at it. i needed two covers to start. And there sitting on the easel was the little peacock just waiting to be reincarnated. So here is the final product. "Peacock III-The Journal".

I'm wondering now how many more miles i can get out of this one little canvas!

Light a Light

The other day I was watching the news and two segments side by side were reporting on 4th of july celebrations in this area and the other was reporting on the deaths of 4 US soldiers in the mideast. It was such a gripping contrast. I was reflecting on it and began to think about peace and how it is up to all of us to contribute to the process even in such a small way as to light a candle. So Happy 4th of July my friends and light a light for peace....and pass it on.

Nine Crows Silver

I recently became intrigued with crows. As i watched many of my sunflower and corn seeds disappear from the garden i realized the culprits were not rabbits but crows. A friend reminded me of the children's rhyme One Crow Sorrow, Two Crows Joy..... I had completely forgotten about that rhyme so I looked it up online (where else!) and there were many different versions of the poem. Investigating further I find that crows are also the guardian of ceremonial magic and healing. In any healing circle, the crow is present. Crows guide the magic of healing and the change in consciousness that will bring about a new reality and dispel "dis-ease" or illness. You can rest assured whenever crows are around, magic is near by and you are about to experience a change in consciousness. This 6 x 6 collage, one of my Nine Patch series, pays homage to this unique bird.

Yet another sunflower! This one came to me as i was going through some unfinished work i had set aside to make what i call "rescue" paintings. They are usually ones that didn't quite turn out like i intended and i saved for another day when i might have a different view of it. It is a 4 x 4 inch canvas collaged over using various papers with no rhyme or reason. As it dried there appeared the little bluebird and the rest as they say is history!

Another sunflower work....this one a coffee collage. Using everyday cardboard, papers and yes coffee as a painting medium this latest sunflower is called "Time is an Illusion". If you look closely the center of the flower is a clock. I don't have the time to wait for my sunflowers to grow so i am growing my own through mixed media collage!

As I was planting my sunflower seeds in the yard the other day I came up with a title for my last posted work. "Soul Flower". It became apparent to me as i was gardening that being the impatient person i am I began making sunflower artworks so i could have them now and not wait weeks for it. It seems a metaphor for me....germinating seeds of ideas, giving them time to nuture themselves and then watching them grow into something visible. I find myself creating sunflowers in many of my journaling pages and don't see an end to it anytime soon. So hopefully i will have more to post in the coming weeks. Have a great week!

I need your help! I have the darndest time giving title to some of my artwork. There are times that I have a title even before the artwork is begun and other times I have completed and sat with it for a while and still can't come up with anything deserving. So, if you have any ideas for this piece I am all ears..... It is 12th in my Nine Patch Series and is comprised of collage pieces, some hand painted, some vintage and some printed papers on a background of hand printed gold leaves and turqoise circles if that helps. Any suggestions?

May 8, 2009

Opening Day Jitters

mixed media/collage

24 x 24

In choosing my first work of art to "journal" I clearly had to choose this one. After a year of creating and re creating this piece and not being happy with the results I had an "aha" moment and over the course of the day this piece evolved.

Gesso, fluid acrylics, crackling paste, numeric stencils and charcoal pencil combined to make this one of my favorites. I can almost feel the excitement of the horses! How about you?

Welcome

Hello art friends, I swore i didn't like blogs. I didn't like reading them and I certainly didn't want to keep one. But then a funny things happened. I went to a couple of artist friends blogs and I liked them. I really liked reading about where they got their inspiration from, their techniques and how each work of art came about. So...i thought i would give it a try. A long time ago a friend suggested I write a simple narrative about each work. She said people who collect art like to know the story behind it. Well, i'm finally going to take that suggestion. I hope you enjoy reading into the soul of my artwork and I would love to hear what you think. So against all my better judgment I introduce you to Carolina Moon Arts Journal...you don't mind if i change blog to journal do you? It is more me!