Tree Spirits

I love photographing trees and I have a fondness for tree knot holes, especially those which have interesting shapes and textures.

As a child I would imagine all sorts of magical beings living in these holes, and would place little treasures inside as gifts.

Now that I am older, I have discovered there are subtle images and shapes lurking in the places between light and shadow within these knot holes. Below is a sketch of a knot hole near our home.

Tree Spirit – Digital Combined Mixed Media

In towering splendor once I stood
A regal monarch of the wood,
My branches once reached to the sky
See me now but do not cry.
The Creator’s work has yet to cease
I’ve become a shelter for bird and beast,
And when at last I fall to the Earth
The life I leave will inspire new birth;
A seedling springs forth from the ground
Nature’s cycle goes round and round.
– S. Edward Palmer, Spirit Tree

Work In Progress

I spent the afternoon working on this painting, using acrylic glazing and layering techniques. The glazes were done by diluting the paint with acrylic glazing medium.

I love the way glazes create softness and subtle shadings, these are caused by the overlapping layers of color added to the painting.

Work In Progress

Sketch Crawl

Tomorrow the World Wide Sketch Crawl will be held locally at Ghirardelli square and the Marina in San Francisco. Go to Sketch Crawl for more info.

In addition to Sketch Crawl, my husband is really anticipating the great chocolate experience to be found at Ghirardelli square, I think he mentioned a chocolate sundae with the chocolate on the side. yum… He really loves his chocolate!

The Marina is also a very beautiful place to visit and explore.

So grab your moleskins, pens, pencils, watercolors and come join the fun.

Acrylics & Mixed Media

Here are two photos of something I was working on today, I had a lot of fun with this project using a canvas I had prepared with gesso, tissue paper, and various rice papers.

My intent was to play with color and lifting techniques with no particular design element in mind, so when I took a break and stepped back to look at how the painting was developing, I saw some very interesting patterns and shapes beginning to emerge.

I used gel medium, fluid acrylics, flow enhancer, and colored pencils.

Creative Experiments With Acrylics

Today I experimented with creating some more acrylic textures, this time I used Atelier acrylics, Golden acrylics, and Liquitex acrylics.

Test Series #1

Test Series #2

Test Series #3

Crocus Flowers

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not”.
– Georgia O’Keeffe

I worked on the Kuan Yin painting this afternoon, laying in some more layers of color and developing the golden bamboo leaves.

Later I decided to prepare another canvas and set it aside to dry. Then I looked out my studio window and noticed rain clouds moving towards us. Ah, such is life…

Spring Cleaning

What is it about Spring that fills us with the urge to throughly clean our house from top to bottom all in one day?

This morning I found myself putting on a Tina Turner CD, and then I proceeded to dust down the ceiling and the corners of the walls, and by the time I hit the fourth song on the CD “What’s love got to do with it”, I was in a full “spring cleaning mode,” and there was no saving me from myself.

Hours later, a rather tired and achy woman emerged from her self induced cleaning urge, and now I am going to literally pour myself into a nice warm bubble bath.

Experimental Techniques in acrylics

Yesterday I spent some time creating some interesting background textures with alcohol, wax crayons, salt, and lifting techniques with fabric, toilet paper, etc…

Afterwards I decided I would try some of these techniques on the canvas below, the under painting is almost finished, but it still needs  more work before I can begin experimenting.

Below is an example of some of the techniques I played around with.

When I used the toilet paper lifting technique, some of the design on the paper was transferred to my painting. The toilet paper I used had these wonderful dotted spiral designs on it and although it’s hard to see in this photograph, they created a very interesting pattern.

Finished Piece

Dream Thyme was signed and finished this morning, and I moved onto my next project.

Dream Thyme
Acrylic Mixed Media & Collage on canvas

16 x 20 inches

“May you have warm words on a cold evening,
a full moon on a dark night,
and a smooth road all the way to your door”.
– Celtic Blessing

Spring Equinox

The Spring Equinox! A time when the light and dark are in perfect balance.

As I look outside my window the sun is shining, the sycamore trees are beginning to leaf out, and this for me is the time of the year that always stirs up feelings of hope, expectation, joy, and wander lust.

I ask myself what will I change, create, and give birth to during this season. I can foresee endless possibilities to explore, yet each one requires change and we know change can sometimes be difficult yet without change we become stagnant, resigned, and settled.

So I choose to open myself to growth, new insights, new adventures, yet also let intuition and common sense guide me through these feelings of restlessness, excitement and laziness which we call Spring Fever.

The Visitation
Combined Media on Canvas (9 x 7 inches)

“If one looks closely enough, one can see angels in every piece of art.” ~Adeline Cullen Ray