Digital Finished

This was fun to do. Now I want to use acrylic medium to transfer it to a board and paint on it with acrylics again, metallic gold especially.

Going Digital Again

I am excited about combining my painted elements with digital photography on the computer. When I was in graduate school, I would do a digital piece then a painting and work back and forth. Then, I did not put paintings into my digital composites but mostly found textures and digital photographs. I was discovering how to work with paint media and texture with those explorations. I was very concerned about how to make things subtle and integrated. With my new work I believe I will learn about forms and shapes. I think going back and forth into the realistic elements of digital photography will be beneficial to my painting. I took a photo of this face when I was starting a painting. I proceeded to paint over this so I am glad that I grabbed it with my camera and was able to go back to it on the computer. Now I am adding photo elements to it. It might be hard to tell what is photo and what is not in the face. It is still a work in progress.
As I continued with the original painting, I overworked it and lost it. I am going to scrap it off and start over on the board. I recognize the mistakes of the painting because I have made them before. I had the idea I wanted to make a mythical beast so I drew the shapes and then tried to integrate it into the painting or space around it. Whenever I do that, it seems the painting falls apart into pretty marks and no form. The forms and images need to emerge from the process of painting almost like a sculptor building forms from clay. Tightening and defining towards the end of the process instead of the beginning. I am still not sure how to begin the entire process, although thinned out media seems to work well. When I do start with lots of thin medium, then finding good compositions and shapes is the challenge. But I see so many images in the tonal changes of color created from working with fluid acrylics and mediums.

It was a great show!

The opening was wonderful. Lots and lots of people, delicious food that never ran out and live music. Looking at the video I wish I was taller (short even with very high heels) and a better conversationalist, but I loved meeting the students and other attendees. Everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves too.
Thank you to the art students who took the video. They did a great job, I did the sloppy editing. While I am thanking: thank you to everyone who came to the opening, Blue Water Bay for the food, SFCC for being the host and Jayne Grant for coordinating it all. Jayne did a great job hanging the show, I was pleased with the way it flowed and that I actually filled the gallery. What a relief!
If you liked Soul Passages you can buy a print here: http://swaziaid.org/makersunited/Gallery.php
Also I have prints available at the Melrose Bay Gallery in Melrose.

Anticipation

I have been more excited and anxious this week than I anticipated. I am not generally a very social person and do not like being the center of attention. I can see why famous artists might have gone a little crazy when they became popular. As an artist, I am focused on the work and putting it out there, not me as a person. But now that I have taken the week to get used to the idea, I am looking forward to the evening. I love to talk about art. That is what I have enjoyed about doing art fairs. And the positive feed back is quite a rush. Friends that I know and volunteer with at church and in art organizations are coming. So I can see another reason it pays to get out of the studio and make contacts, you have someone to share in your celebrations.
Everyone whom I talk to seems very excited about coming. I was trying to figure out why I have more people wanting to attend this event than some others like art fairs. I guess the free food and music is a nice incentive. I hope people are not disappointed that it is a lot of works that have been shown before. I am glad that I have the writings that go with all the paintings to unveil, that is all new. When I do another big show in the future, I would love it to be all new works. But I went to a friend's show this past Summer that was a mixture of old and new works and I really enjoyed it. It was nice to see all of the works together in one place and in a nice space. So for the next post I will let you know how it goes. Unfortunately, I hear it thundering outside. I hope that will not dampen the attendance too much.

Show Information

The reason why the show is called Painted Dreams is because the best way I can describe my painting process is to compare it to dreaming. You do not decide exactly what will happen in a dream, it emerges from your thoughts, concerns and experiences. Forms and sometimes narratives emerge from my painting process, as well. I do not do preliminary sketches or studies, images appear from my layering, textures and gesture marks. Although I work intuitively, I intend for my paintings to focus on the positive and bring beauty into the world.

As with dreams, my paintings have recurring symbols one of which is a bird. To me, birds symbolize freedom because of their flight, nurturing and love because of their frailty and joy from their song. For this exhibit I am doing something I have never done before. And that is write a short poetic statement about each piece to put into words my thoughts and feelings about what developed in the painting. These words are often as ambiguous as the paintings and still leave viewers room to form their own interpretations. They are free to dream also.

Please come to the opening reception. There will be tasty edibles, live jazz and imaginative paintings. A feast for the senses and mind.

To Plan or Not to Plan

Today
Well, I am finally discovering that if I plan the direction of a painting that it takes longer to paint it than if I work with out a set plan. It is a revelation for me because I thought I was somehow making things easier by having a plan. With a plan, I do guarantee that I will have a better composition in the end but the process is not as satisfying. When I did California Poppies I made some shapes for composition, had some vague ideas of color and how I wanted to work the media but the imagery and subject matter developed toward the end of the process. A delight for me. Of course if it doesn't come together then it is very discouraging but if it works, it is elation. With Tree of Life I keep revising the colors, the marks and the media. It feels two inches thick. I have done this before, just when I think "okay it is going to work" and I make plans to send it somewhere, then it falls apart and I have to bring it back. Yesterday, I took a picture of it to post and discovered it looked worse than the last post and I thought it was surely done. Last night, I worked on the tree again, I felt it needed more outline marks to make the whole painting come together. In the previous version, I was trying to take the emphasis off of the tree and put it back on the atmosphere imagery around the tree. Too much thinking. I have been working on this since early August,ugh. But now it must be done, the show opening is just days away.
Yesterday