Work in Progress

I have always enjoyed making masks and over the years I have made them out of clay, plaster, paper mache, porcelain, and leather. Lately I have been using rigid wrap over a mold. The rigid wrap is durable, light weight and easy to attach to a canvas.

On this piece I wanted a very organic looking finish and tried several products, but golden’s crackle medium turned out to be just what I was looking for. I had to do several masks and push the medium as far as I could before I got what I wanted. I love this stuff!

I have also used the crackle medium with acrylic and watercolors and I really like the way it adds a bit of interest and texture to my paintings.

This is the third mask in a series I have been working on, and  I am now beginning to attach bark and natural fibers for the hair etc …

Metamorphosis #2 – Acrylic/Mixed Media/Collage – 15 x 30 inches on canvas

Metamorphosis # 1 – Acrylic/Mixed Media/Collage – 15 x 30 inches on canvas

“For if in any manner we can stimulate this instinct, new passages are opened for us into nature, the mind flows into and through things hardest and highest, and the metamorphosis is possible.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly,” – Richard Bach.”

April

Everywhere I look I see signs of spring! The earth is awakening and everything is so vibrant and alive and full of energy.

It is hard to believe April is here. The flowers are blooming and the trees are unfurling their leaves. When I took my walk today, I came across a novel way to inject some vibrant color into your garden. I noticed our neighbor had hung three large Christmas  balls from her tree. They appear to be made of crackled glass. My photo doesn’t do them justice . . . so beautiful & surprising.

“The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools’ Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.”
–   Poor Robin’s Almanac, 1790

Monday

Creating a gestural, anatomical and structural life drawing with Gary Geraths.

“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.” – Agnes De Mille

Daily Warm Up Exercises

Below is one of the images from my daily warm up exercises this morning.

I started by spreading  a layer of heavy gel medium on watercolor paper and drew patterns into the gel with old plastic cards, rubber stamps, and various sizes of old margarine lids.

I then used my sculpture tools to define certain areas by scooping out the excess gel medium. When the gel had dried, I floated acrylic washes over the surface and let that dry.

Next I added another layer of acrylic over the first layer and used plastic wrap in certain areas to create more texture.

When the pieces had all dried I started to define and bring out the organic patterns that I began to see develop before my eyes. What fun!

The image here is the one that I decided to work on first. I will let it sit for a couple of days and come back to it with fresh eyes.

For right now,  I see all kinds of images dancing in the medium and my imagination is in overdrive! Time to take a break. lol

Acrylic Art – Mixed Media Collage – Friday warm up exercise #3 – 9 x 12 inches on paper

”An artist’s early work is inevitably made up of a mixture of tendencies and interests, some of which are compatible and some of which are in conflict. As the artist picks his way along, rejecting and accepting as he goes, certain patterns of enquiry emerge. His failures are as valuable as his successes: by misjudging one thing he conforms something else, even if at the time he does not know what that something else is.” — Bridget Riley.

Garden Doodles

The weather was so fantastic I just had to be out in the garden!

I grabbed my Fabriano Journal and watercolors and created the first image with a micron pen and watercolor. The second image was made with a micron #03 pen.

The journal has a variety of colored pages so the page color of the first image  is beige  and the second image is on light brown paper.

Fairy – Garden Doodles

Tree doodle