Art & Life

Happy solstice everyone ~ wherever you are in the world! Summer has arrived and it’s been a sweltering hot day. Outside its 96 degrees.

However, I have been managing to stay nice and cool with a fan blowing, tucked away in my studio working. Here are a couple of projects I’ve been working on lately.

This ~ . . .

 

 

Then followed that beautiful season ~ Summer. Filled was the air with a
dreamy and magical light; and the landscape lay as if new created in all the
freshness of childhood.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

And This . . .

 

Now it is time to put away the mess on my table and clean my dirty brushes. I have finished dipping my brush into a soup in which bits of inspiration have been simmering for months or maybe years. The perfect word for today ~ Unfurling . . .

 

Here is one of my favorite poems by Mary Oliver

Something whispered something

that was not even a word.

It was more like a silence

that was understandable.

I was standing

at the edge of the pond.

Nothing living, what we call living,

was in sight.

And yet, the voice entered me,

my body-life,

with so much happiness.

And there was nothing there

but the water, the sky, the grass.

 

Spring Has Returned

The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. ~ Harriet Ann Jacobs

Spring is here! The season of renewal & rebirth is upon us.

I love everything about spring, especially watching mother nature constantly rearranging and changing the landscape. Splashes of vibrant color here and there mixed in with shades of varying green.

Even though Spring has arrived it’s still very cold and blustery. I  found myself puttering around the studio, drinking hot chocolate and day dreaming about the warm days ahead.

What I have been working on Lately

The Lady of Spring ~ sketch #1

I scanned it and used Painter 9 to develop the painting.

A work in progress . . .

Still working . . . . and  working . . .

quote for the day;

Spring ~ the birthday of the world

‘Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume:
There’s crimson buds, and white and blue,
The very rainbow showers
Have turned to blossoms where they fell,
And sown the earth with flowers.

~Thomas Hood

The Sea

The Sea – Mixed Media – 8 X  II inches

I’ve been working on quite a few projects lately, and this painting is one of them. At this point, it’s still a work in progress.

The preliminary sketch of the mermaid has been floating around in my studio for some time. Every time I came across it I meant to do something with it, but never did.

I finally started working on it yesterday and this is as far as I got. . . .

I still have a long way to go on this one and a lot of changes are likely going to happen.

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” – C. G. Jung

New Work in Progress

Nature Talking – Acrylic- Mixed media Collage – 9 x 12 inches on paper

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”  -John Muir

“If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.
Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.”
–   Raymond Inmon

Raining Rabbits

It was hard to get started this morning. It was cold and dank and a slow drizzle of rain greeted me as I stepped out the back door. I quickly went back inside and slipped into some warm fuzzy socks and my boots before going out again. Brrr

I worked some more on Jack the rabbit but other than that I didn’t get much done except for cleaning out my closet a bit.

Work in progress – the rabbit for the “Jack Rabbit Moon”, painting. Mixed Media – 11 x 14 inches

Work In Progress

Visions – Mixed Media/Collage – 10 x 12 inches

I spent most of the day working on the collage/painting above, and I will post my progress in the coming weeks.

The woman represents the visionary, the healer, the medicine woman, the shaman…

She is the one who interacts directly with helping spirits to address the spiritual aspects of illness, perform soul retrievals, help the spirits of the deceased cross over and performs a variety of ceremonies for her community.

Work In Progress

I am still working on the Lady of the Forest painting. Below is a photo of my progress so far. It’s been a slow go, but only because there has been so many other things needing my attention. “C’est la vie”

I am looking forward to this weekend because we don’t have anything important planned and we can spend some quality time together, and maybe do a bit of sketching around town or stay home and play with paint.

Lady of the Forest #3 Acrylic/ Watercolor/Mixed Medium – 16 x 20 inches -on  Canvas

”The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” -Picasso.

Work in Progress

Started working on this painting early this morning as the rain came down in a steady rhythm against my studio windows. There is something magical about the early morning hours before the rest of the world wakes up. In those quiet, stolen moments before dawn there is a deep stillness and beauty. I love this time of day!

As I painted I thought about the forest in folklore and mythology and became inspired to create my own version of the lady of the forest. Ideas danced around in my head as I listened to our oak tree let loose an unbelievable amount of acorns on our roof. All the noise reminded me it was time to put the kettle on for tea.

Lady of the Forest – Acrylic/ Mixed Medium – 16 x 20 inches on canvas

“Have a deep respect for the source of life and also for the ocean, for the forest, for the stars and for the truth.” – Unknown

Painting Another Heart

I started another heart painting a couple of days ago. This is my third painting with a crystal heart as the main focal point. I can’t help myself, I feel drawn to paint this ancient symbol.

Throughout history, the heart symbol has been considered a religious icon. The ancient Egyptians believed the heart was the center of all consciousness, the center of life itself. For the Christians the heart represents hope, charity, and forgiveness.

For many others the heart was the center of thought, emotion, the soul, the center of one’s very being.

Celtic Heart – Combined Media – 12 X 12 inches

Erratic Day

The day was a little erratic, with taking our dog to have his nails trimmed, giving him a bath, and trying to get some painting done.

I did manage to squeeze in a couple of hours of painting. The image below is a cropped portion of the painting I worked on today.

Secrets – Digital Combined Media – 16 X 20 inches

“We dance round in a ring and suppose, while the secret sits in the middle and knows.” – Robert Frost

“If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.” – Kahlil Gibran