Speaking Abstractly.....

Genesis

Lately I have been drawn to abstracts, the freedom, the color and the movement of the art is exciting.
When I did the painting above I started with modeling paste as the base for texture &  my limited color palette of blue and brown. As the painting progressed, I got a feel of where it was going.  I kept thinking, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"  adding a bit metallic gold to represent the Divine touch or spark of God.  It's a small 6x6.

My husband left a note on the kitchen counter before he left for work saying he really liked this one. Encouraged by that I decided to make  a series like this only in a larger size. Sounds easy right?  well not really.  I made four attempts on 2 canvases during 3 days and was unable to recreate it. It seemed the harder i tried the more awful the results!

So I washed off as much paint as I could with the kitchen sprayer and resigned myself to the fact that i couldn't duplicate it.. at least not for the time being.

I painted glazes over the much abused canvas and came up with this

Taking a break from abstracts  I painted one of my favorite subjects, fiddleheads. But this time instead of the tiny 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches format in water colors, I did it in acrylics on 5x7 aquaboard. I had lots of fun with this one with it's warm & happy  color palette and it took away that sense of failure from the "Genesis" series I had wanted to do.

Celebrating FiddleHeads

Not wanting to give up entirely I yet again took the other abused canvas re-gessoed, added a bit more modeling paste, and began again with a much warmer color palette.... and this is the result

Bursting

Is there a lesson in this for me? I'm not sure but I think it's that I can't paint an abstract when I'm all tense, my better abstracts happen when I'm relaxed and just play with the colors. Perhaps one day I'll be good enough at this to the point that the paint will be subject to me and not vice  versa!

angels and acceptance

The theme for Inspiration Avenue's art challenge of this past week was angels. I had fully intended to create an angel, however this week i had been stretched to my max, struggling with several things, one of which were painting angel ornaments for the grand children.


What has been bothering me most of late is my increasing lack of motor skills. My shaking hands were the main reason i closed my little jewelry shop over a year ago.  Two weeks ago i made a necklace as a little surprise gift for my sister in law, and  noticed how much more my hands shake and also the lack of strength they now have.  I went looking at the pictures of jewelry i had sold from the etsy shop and i confess to feeling deeply saddened that those days are forever behind me.
Making those little angels also served to put the mirror of reality before me, little facial features had to be redone because a trembling hand messed up. Even the simple task of writing the girls names was another reminder, as if i needed yet another! 

 There is a part of me that grieves and yet it's all right.


There's a saying "when God closes a door, He always opens a window"  while it's not Scripture, i am convinced that God has given each one of us gifts to be used, and art has been with me since childhood. So i will rejoice in this gift and paint with a grateful heart as long as God gives me breath.

a little bit of everything!

It's been one of those very long months that we all have when everything is hitting you at once.

my "net-book" stopped working needing an expensive repair, health problems, money problems, dealing with a major disappointment.... sigh.

But not all was a negative...

my friend Kim Collister was featured in

 Somerset Studio magazine!

I own some of her fabulous creations & was so

 inspired reading about her method for creating such artsy, encouraging tags 

that i thought i'd try my hand at them. 

Creating art is good therapy! 

 

I  mailed these out as a surprise gift for some 

very special customers as a little

 "thank you for your business".

~

Here are some new pieces I've done with 

the palette knife!

 i discovered that 

i love painting with the knives

and can't wait to do more!!

Blueberry Barrens

Abstract in Blue & Brown

Abstract Knife Painting

Dreaming of Spring

and

for something completely different...

....

the IA team had a "Mandalas" challenge 

a few weeks ago

that i couldn't post due to the pc trouble

so here are my belated & most feeble attempts

Oh!! I almost forgot to tell you,

though you probably have guessed,

i have a new laptop thanks to my hubby

it's my early Christmas and birthday gift!

Hopefully i will catch up with the IA challenges

and show you what i've been doing in my journal

but that will have to wait till later.

take care!

Autumn!!

Inspiration Avenue's challenge for this week is

"your favorite season"

That is easy as Pumpkin Pie

Autumn!

all the colors

  the crisp air

the crunch of the leaves

Mixed Media Art Card

the scent of apples

and wood burning stoves

i love everything about autumn!

Hand painted Maple Leaf pendant

Autumn Watercolor Landscape

What's your favorite season?

come on over to

Inspiration Avenue 

and enter our challenge!

and even consider joining our team!

"Orange" blueberries & Maine art

We just returned home from our 

little vacation to Maine.

There were so many memorable sights

which are all far better in my minds eye

than what came out of my  Kodak

but i still want to share some of them with you!

 we took a day trip to Campobello Island in Canada
and  loved this gorgeous tree!

I got a kick out of 

this Copper Moose Head on a house 

outside of EastPort ME

and this heavy metal woman

was in a parking lot of a business

in EastPort

i think the same artisan who made the moose

created her too don't you?

One of my favorite sights

are the colorful Blueberry Barrens!

After harvest, they change color

into flaming orange and red!

This picture is of a field that is
beginning to turn color

and this field along RT1

is almost there!

As soon as I'm caught up on all the work,

mainly laundry,  I'm going to do some

paintings in acrylic of the fields.

But here is a watercolor i did

after seeing them last year

which just so happens to work for 

Inspiration Avenue's Orange Challenge!

Blueberry Field after Harvest

IAC - a pink rose

Cindy, our IA sister loves roses!

so it's no surprise that Cindy selected "Roses"
for our Inspiration Avenue's challenge!

My mother-in-law was the sweetest soul
who had a twinkle in her eye and love in her heart.
So when she passed at the age of 92,
we planted a rose bush to remember her by.
This is a picture of one of "mom's roses"
that I took a few years ago.

for the challenge i played around with the photo

This was a lovely and very enjoyable challenge!
Thank you Cindy! Come join us at
Inspiration Avenue!
~
And the color of these roses fit perfectly for
Kim's
31 days of Pink!

the farmer's market & prayer

It's been a rough few weeks,
lots of company plus a major fibro flare-up
but Autumn is here at last
and I'm ready to create art again!

On the first day of autumn

my friend Kathryn & I went 

to the farmers market.

Kathryn came home with raw goat milk
which is delicious by the way;

but i came home with this handmade journal

it's unusual in that i havent' seen one

that opens from the top of the book

both the front and back cover are the same

the inside paper is recyled

I've attempted a store bought art journal before

but basically it's rather haphazard & all over the map,

 just sketches,  a bit of color testing and i ashamedly
 admit to using it's pages for a shopping list.

However this journal has given me a theme for my art...

"Prayer" so this journal will be filled with
art inspired by Scripture and the Spiritual life.

With matte medium, i glued  sets of 2 pages into 1

and gessoed them. From  the looks of these
 they will need another coat of gesso.

and i added to the inside covers

a page from an 1866 German Devotional

and 1907 book "Festival Prayers, Day of Atonement" in Hebrew

 Although i'm  just beginning this

i feel confident that this is just the book

i needed to really get going with an art journal!

~

and on a side note, 

a while back i won a garden cross created by 

Peggy Gatto, and at long last here is a picture of it!

Thank you Peggy!! :)

....the Party's Over...

The Fairy Tea Party is over

but before the last fairy left

she had to select

the guest to receive

this necklace

so she sprinkled special fairy dust

and

one special guest glowed!

Sally Anne Russell!

But wait
there is still another gift to be given

so more special fairy dusting

and now Georgie of Puddin & Pie is now aglow!

Sally & Georgie,  please email me your addresses

so i can mail your gift out to you!

Blessings and Joy to all!!

It's the Fairies Party Hop!

 

Welcome!!!  how wonderful that you are here!

let's take a peek inside ....

Natures flowers are the decorations for the party
and the fairies begin to arrive!

the fairies are arriving from east and west,

and from the north & south...

pretty fairy cakes

fairy tea sandwiches and
sips of refreshing fairy green tea

 

time for dancing

 and making new friends

and making merry!

psst, can you see the gifts the fairies have for you???

One you will find right at Inspiration Avenues Fairy Party

and the other

right here!

*for a chance to win this necklace:
* post a comment here
then go to The Expressive Palette on facebook
* say "Hi" & "like" the page!
a random drawing will be selected from all the names, and
it will be lovingly sent to the winner*
* Check back here Monday
if you see your name, then email me your address :)

the sun is setting
and lights keep the party going

yet soon the fairies will be returning
to their wee abodes

and as they leave they thank you so much for coming to their party
and wish you a most lovely & magical good night

~

and don't forget to attend all the other delightful fairy parties
that you will find at Inspiration Avenue!