Thursday, March 29, 2012

Artists Play Room Challenge

The Artists Play Room Challenge was to doodle or zentangle your name, initial or a favorite word. It sounded so easy and lots of fun; when Jenn asked for suggestions for a challenge, i suggested this. Well, would you believe that i  that i did this 3 times before i submitted this entry?!

The first one i did is my favorite, but after it was finished i thought to myself, "is this really a doodle"??
So then i did another this time in ink on a small 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches aceo card. But after seeing the amazing entry by VonnyK , i decided to try it again.

The third one is better than the second and was done in brown ink & is about 5x7; still, i must confess that my favorite is the watercolor even though it's not actually a doodle/zentangle.
Doodling for a finished piece of art is far different than doodling on the church bulletin or a scrap piece of paper as i tend to do! Yet isn't that why we take part in a challenge, to stretch ourselves & grow? So here you go Jenn, and thanks for this APR challenge! :D

And if you haven't done so, i encourage you to join in the fun at the Artists Play Room!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

dissatisfaction and a Re-Work

Have you ever done a piece, and even though people said nice things about it, the more you looked at it, the less you liked it?  Well that's the way i felt about a piece i did for IA's Team Challenge on texture.                                                                 
                
  Although i loved the color palette of the "green"
version, it was just way to busy, and i became increasingly dissatisfied with it. So i "quieted" the noise with more torn paper for the corners and with transparent acrylic paint and mediums, trying to give it that mellow encaustic look.

I'm content with this piece now, but am considering adding green and perhaps a bit of blue transparent acrylic layers to it.... hmmm

I'm very taken with the combining of paint and collage and have more ideas in my head waiting to get out!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

For the BIRDS


I am always on the lookout for beautiful papers & wonderful vintage items for my mixed media collages. Just recently i found an old paper back bird book dated 1949. My heart skipped a beat with this fabulous find! As expected there were  marks & stains on some pages,  nevertheless, it is wonderful for this creative soul.  The hubby & i love watching the  birds  that come to our feeders and have three other bird books in the house so i had no guilt about tearing up this old book for art's sake :)


The first collage with Sparrows was small, just 4x4 inches while the second of the Eastern Blue Bird is 5 x 7, both are on Ampersand board. I must confess that i am still learning as i go with mixed media collage. The first small one, was almost  perfect, but i decided to add some handwritten verse to it. Yup you guessed it, i blew it. Fortunately collage is a forgiving medium allowing me to change the design of the piece. Two more are sitting on the kitchen counter awaiting the final touches.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

a bit o Green for the Artist's Play Room Challenge

The much long awaited Artists Play Room Challenge is launched today by Jenn McLean, blogger and artist of  Just Add Water Silly at etsy. To celebrate her Irish heritage, our challenge is "GREEN". 
So here is my entry.... lots of green grass and a sky of gold for the proverbial lucky Irish "pot o gold"!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

~ Vintage Feel Of Gentler Days ~

We have a new Inspiration Avenue host for this week's challenge, Shel, and her challenge for us is "Vintage Photography" to capture the feel of days gone by. Now this, I have to say, had me stumped for awhile because i'm a painter, and rarely does my work have an old fashioned or vintage feel. I tried "aging" a couple of my paintings and the results were just OK at best; but it was when i took out an old painting that things changed.

This is a watercolor painting that i did of my daughter about 18 years ago.

Below is the painting after I cropped it and put it through a few filters and this is the result, and to my surprise, i like this version much better!!

It's not too late to join the fun & try the IA challenge, in fact why  don't you join our team? We'd really love to have you! :)



Thursday, March 8, 2012

IA Challenge "You've Got Mail"

Jennifer McLean is this weeks Inspiration Avenues' weekly team challenge host. It is her first time hosting and she has done a fabulous job! Jenn's terrific theme is "You've Got Mail" and was alot of fun to work on!
The size of my piece, an ACEO ) 2.5 x 3.5 inches)  allowed me freedom to try something different.I've always loved the look of "painted" collages and this is my first attempt at it. The end result is quite a bit different from what i had planned, yet I'm rather pleased with it.
I'm always amazed at the fabulous artistic talent from Inspiration Avenue! Go and take a peek at this week's challenge & consider joining in on the fun, you have till noon Eastern Sunday to submit your inspiration :)

"from my heart to yours"
miniature collage by Diane Rank , the Expressive Palette

Friday, March 2, 2012

the Butterfly Project

"The Butterfly"
The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
against a white stone....
Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ’way up high.
It went away I’m sure
because it wished
to kiss the world good-bye.
For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.
Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942
Born in Prague on Jan. 7, 1921.
Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942.
Died in Aushchwitz on Sept. 29, 1944.


Whether it was the fact that my early childhood was in a Jewish neighborhood, or that the mother of my first childhood "crush" was a survivor of the camps; I have always held a special place in my heart for the Jewish people and especially for the victims of the Holocaust. So when I heard about the Butterfly Project by the Holocaust Museum in Houston, it wasn't a question of "if" but "what" shall I make. The inspiration for this, was the poem itself. I tried to put myself in the ghetto or a camp, & think about what seeing a golden butterfly would represent. It would represent Hope of a life outside these walls, Freedom to fly wherever without fear or cruelty, and Life instead of death.
This is the piece I am sending for the Butterfly Project. You can learn more about it here.