Vincent Van Gogh Inspired Pumpkins

I am having so much fun with Vincent Van Gogh and the fourth grade students. The students seem to really enjoy creating in his style.

Veterans Day Concert Art

From September through December, I am being a long term substitute teacher to approximately 440 third through fifth graders. I love coming up with projects and delighting in their creations. I have benefited so much from other teachers' projects that I have discovered on the internet. To give back, I wanted to share one of mine. I gave each student of a third grade class, a six inch square either white, blue or red. This assembly is large 6' x 9' once I glued the squares down on bulletin board paper. Most classes I gave a template of a head to trace onto construction paper to make into an American they are proud of. A lot of the students talked about family members that serve in the military. I also gave them some star templates to trace. Two classes I tried asking them to make an object that causes them to be proud of the U.S.A. My paper sample was ice cream because it reminded me of Fourth of July. So you see a lot of ice creams but I think it makes it look celebratory. Happy Veteran's Day!

Making a "Positive" Statement

"Billowing Up", acrylic on canvas, 9" x 12"

I created these paintings to apply for membership into the McGuffey Center for the Arts, as happy as I have ever been with a series and for the first time no plans for when or where they might be shown.

"At the Foot", acrylic on canvas, 24" x 12"

"Mountain Drive", acrylic on canvas, 12" x 16"

"Interwoven", acrylic on canvas, 40" x 30"

"In the Valley", acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24"

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My Statement

In a different context, I heard the phrase “positively filling negative spaces” and to me this represented my art in several ways. My process begins by quickly sketching in nature: seeing and experiencing my surroundings more than transcribing details. While being in nature I feel a love for it’s ever changing cycles and inspired by all of the beautiful visual variation. This experience positively fills my mind, crowding out negative thoughts.

Then I take these sketches back to the studio where a dialogue begins. I rework the sketches until the composition speaks to me telling me it’s main idea.  What is this view of nature showing?  Usually a verb is brought to mind such as growing, multiplying, expanding or comforting. Nature is always moving forward changing, evolving and making an active or positive mark.

Then the process of painting begins by choosing colors intuitively. I like using minimal black and white sketches as a reference because then during the painting process I am free to play with colors and add details. I love the results of the painting stages: seeing the layers and evidence of what came before and is partially covered. I enjoy the contrast of thick paint against thin washes and detail marks against areas of color. I imagine the air space in the painting being filled as if by soap bubbles, no real negative space. All filled positively.

Live Paint Demonstration at IX Park

A few weeks ago, I painted during a fund raiser called "Let's Revel" for IX Park in Charlottesville, VA. It was so much fun! I was painting away while so much was going on around me: live band performances, food and drink trucks, balloons flying around during an auction presentation, a drag act, people dressed in costumes and mural street artists painting away. To reflect the spirit of the night, I picked a friend of mine's former Halloween costumes. I combined two of her photos to get the image below with the blue face. I thought her head dress was creatively inspiring. People seemed to enjoy the quick evolution of the painting. And I loved performing this way.

Mural

I am working on the UV protection coats so I haven't taken down all of the plastic yet but almost there. I love being at the location, sad it is coming to an end.

Chicken Spot Illustration

I worked on making my latest painting into an illustration with Adobe Illustrator this morning. Would love to collaborate with my design and publishing friends this year.

Chicken in the Snow

"Chicken in the Snow", 18" x 18", acrylic on canvas.

One of my goals for 2014 is to be more direct with my painting. I want painting to be like drawing, feel immediate and expressive. One way to do this I feel is to paint more from life, so Tuesday I went out in the snow to paint. Well this was quite an experience with water based paint. By the end my water cup full of brushes turned to slushy. The wind was whipping, it sounded just like the cartoon version of "Rudolph" when the misfits run away. Once I got paint all over the canvas, I proceeded to drop it face down in the snow three times. So I took it into the studio to dry flat on the table so when the snow melted it didn't make the paint run. Well the end result with a little reworking is pretty cool. Maybe I will go throw another painting down in the snow today.

Mural Progress

I was doing a meditation and the facilitator asked what colors you were seeing for love and I saw magenta-purple and yellow-green. I wonder if they are my real colors of love or they are what I see when I close my eyes remembering the mural painting.

A Third of the Way

I am a third of the way through the mural and doubts arise. I am reminded of an article I read in the Smithsonian about a project and the director said if everyone is happy you aren't doing something right. You are not pushing it enough. Most have been complimentary of the mural but there are a wide variety of artisans and tradesman working on the building and many have their opinions. The painting is not everyone's cup of tea, some that are making strange comments I suspect really think realism is the best way to go in art. But the owners use words like "love" and "spectacular" so I am satisfied. I am also reminded of reading that Cy Twombly's work arises the most intense reactions of love and hate. I love it but don't have the courage to paint like that, not yet anyway. I actually think that I wouldn't mind painting realistically on a large mural because from my brushes' and eyes' perspective it is abstractly just blending colors. I heard Chuck Close say something similar in a documentary and it made me appreciate him as an artist even more. He said he was engaged and enjoying painting the little abstract paintings in the squares then it came together as a large realistic portrait for his viewers. If I was to paint this again, I may do it all differently but I had a bold bright vision and I went for it. All you can do is your best at any point in time and keep looking forward. Should you ever regret going for it? Do actors or singers worry they were too bold?

Mural Painting Begins

"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success."  —Henry David Thoreau

Día de Muertos

Come to the Art The Arts Center In Orange on Friday October 25 from 6 to 8 pm to paint your own 3-D skull or mask. Call 540-672-7311 by Friday morning to register. Thanks!

Paint your ideas or paint my design with your own flair.

Mural Project

Some sneak peaks for an upcoming mural project I am painting in a vineyard tasting room.

Hanging a Show and Re-evaluating

Having a show is a great motivator to accomplish work and then hanging the show is an opportunity to step back and evaluate. My goal with paint has been to be more expressive. In the future, I want the painting process to be more immediate like my drawing process. Drawing delights, surprises and leads me to new discoveries. To accomplish this I feel I need to start painting from life. When I have tried this before it has been too much visual information for me to get into a successful painting but perhaps now that I have some faster methods of painting it will work. Drawing for me has that free and easy raw expression, not over thinking but purely expressing, I hope to get into my paintings. There will also be the logistics of time and transporting my materials. Wish me luck in adventures outside and if you get a chance, evaluate my paintings at DéCOR in Carytown of Richmond, VA through September 27th. Thanks!

My Children's Art Class at the Center for the Arts in Orange

Teaching art to children makes me curious and fascinated about our human capacity for creativity. It seems to me that deliberate effort combined with uninhibited thoughts can equal pure genius. The younger children have pure strokes of genius in process and manipulation and the older children have pure genius in ideas. The originality is remarkable. I am sad when children stop themselves because things aren't perfect. However, I have had plenty of "creative" jobs that the most important factors are speed and accuracy. Life and education's dilemma?
According to Robert Genn, to get back to this genius of a child you need to rely on intuition. http://clicks.robertgenn.com/paint-intuitively.php
I want to get the book: Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking , Daniel Dennett

Fierce: Expression, Determination, Existence

Fierce, 24" x 30", acrylic on canvas

Being pulled to separate my painting experience from my drawing and design efforts. I love the feeling of not being bound by anything when painting.

Spring Abstracts

It seems like these new paintings appeared like magic in my studio. I intended to play around with some background techniques and then I wanted to keep them as paintings on their own. What do you think? I really miss the festivals of Florida to hear people's reactions and what they are drawn to.