Category Archives: ART
Show Opening
Well, tonight is the opening for a show that I am participating in with two of my best pals. We hung the show on Wednesday and we were so happy with how it looks. We are 3 very diverse artists so it’s fun to see our work juxtaposed against each others! Madge creates beautiful ethereal watercolor paintings and has really stretched herself into new territories for this show, Jude does gorgeous batik and water color paintings that are both loose and strong at the same time somehow and my “style” (if I have one) is a fun and unexpected quirkiness that usually just comes out of my imagination! You wouldn’t think these three styles would look so good hanging together but somehow it just works. We’re excited for the opening reception to see the reaction of our visitors.
from left to right Jude Youshock, me and Madge Austin ready for our collaborative show entitled “Three Artists from Elmhurst” at the Lackawanna College Environmental Institute. 10 Moffat Drive Covington Township, Pa. 18444 You can contact the Institute at (570)842-1506 for more information on the show which runs April 26 to June 3, 2013.
Urban
The Illustration Friday word is “URBAN” for this week and the word for Creative Every Day is “COLOR ” so I played with the words to come up with this little childlike painting of some city buildings. Not a painting I will frame but it was a great exercise and I really enjoyed doing it…
abstract art
I don’t know how I started doing abstract art but I do love this genre. Some people ask me where I get my ideas and I really can’t say. Most of the time, there is no firm “idea” that I start with, it just emerges as I work. Sometimes I start one and set it aside because it isn’t “developing” and other times it just happens spontaneously. I especially like doing an abstract on a white or very simple colored background. I use to ask my friend how she could be so “loosey goosey” when she painted her beautiful watercolors. I was always so rigid when I painted. I thought I had to be “in control” with every stroke. Then I started doing collage work, mixed media pieces and abstract art and suddenly I understood what it meant to let your creativity flow loosely. Now I can either just go with the flow or come up with an unusual idea and make it happen! It’s such a good feeling. I sometimes look around my studio and ask myself…”what is your style?” To date…I have not received an answer to that question…ha ha! I know that strong colors and shapes seem to be a constant in my art. I guess that’s a good thing. I don’t so much enjoy doing still life or landscape in the traditional way but once in a while I’ll find a way to do those things MY way and it seems to work for me. Mostly I am just happy to be creating and sharing my art and it’s so nice when someone relates to a piece and just enjoys it for what it is to them. That’s art!
solid and liquid
True Black & White!
I finally came up with a true “black and white” piece for this month’s Creative Every Day prompt!! The inspiration for this painting was a beautiful, older white birch tree in the front yard of my Sister’s new home….
I framed it with a lovely black frame (not shown here) and it really sets it off nicely.
Flight Cancelled…
I had this idea for some time now to do a collage of a kite that got stuck in a tree and I finally made it happen. The sky had to be very vibrant, the clouds extra fluffy, the tree very stylistic so that the kite could be the shining star. I did the the background landscape with a palate knife so it would have the texture I desired and I over-laid the foliage with more cut-out foliage for extra depth.
I actually did three trees before I came up with the right silhouette but I love this one so much for it’s sleekness. It looks exactly like the type of tree that would snatch a kite and hold it hostage! 
It is such a fun painting and I enjoyed the process so much….
I hope you enjoy it too….
Box Kite…
This new collage is called “Box Kite”. Here is a lesson in recycling again. Don’t ever throw out those “not quite right” paintings because they can shine when they are reincarnated into something entirely different and wonderful…
Light…
Well, I am finally offering a new mixed media piece that qualifies for the February Creative Every Day prompt of “light”! I got to spend some time painting this week and I love the new pieces that I have created for my spring show! This one is called “Kimono” because that is what the colors and arrangement reminds me off. It is all acrylic paints.
Dark
The Creative Every Day “prompt” word for January has been dark and I’ve been using black backgrounds on several paintings that I’m working on. Last night I took some flowers that I had dried out of my flower press and affixed them to one of the black backgrounds. The yellow flowers really pop against that dark base. Then I turned the mat around, using the backside to frame the arrangement, because it is a nice thick one and I wanted to give the illusion of depth. Since none of the elements of this arrangement are “archival”, this might be classified as “temporary” art but it is so beautiful that….WHO CARES? Not a painting, but a beautiful “creation” all the same!
The Cardinal
Every morning when I curl up with my coffee and my doggies in the big chair by the patio doors, we watch the activity on and under the bird feeder. I always enjoy seeing the Cardinals…especially against the white backdrop of the snow. So when I went into my studio today, I thought I’d do a Cardinal in a snowy looking tree. It’s a tiny painting and I am going to put it in a little silver frame. The Cardinal was painted separately and then I cut it out and adhered it to the tree. I think it came out so cute!
