....After a Long Hiatus ......

Back to my polymer origins for awhile, when my pleasure was in paint and polymer and fooling around.  I loved veneer before I knew people used such techniques as well as other applications that I discovered for myself.
Klimt inspired, these six pieces of veneer (#7 Atlas) black clay, design drawn into surface, acrylic pigments.  Not yet cured.  Not yet tweaked...if necessary.

Next?  What to do with it?

10 X 10 Cover the World with Clay -- FIMO

Every time one of these opportunities comes along, I say "I WANT to do this and I WILL."  And then I don't.  I'm sure some of it is inertia, some wearing too many hats and not being particularly organized about it.  And some is my own shyness or reluctance when it comes to groups.  

SO, this Fiftieth celebration of FIMO and polymer clay was intriguing. An invitation to submit a 10x10 cm (about 4 inches) polymer clay tile.  These tiles will form an exhibit and will ultimately be sold to benefit two charitable efforts: One to aid children with heart disease, and one to aid indigenous women who produce art/craft items.

I almost "successfully" avoided it.  But on the very last day, lo and behold, a three day extension was declared.  It was the second extension and I thought...A SIGN.  So I decided to do it.  No excuses.

What to do?  As a painter I paint a LOT of cats, often blue since my interest is generally in "catness" as opposed to portraiture.  Other favorites include poppies and pears.  With polymer clay which I adore, partly because for some reason it permits me to take a much more abstract approach, I lean strongly toward mosaics, a long time love, but which, with clay, I find easier in terms of the technical stuff.  And lately I've been experimenting with metal leaf and alcohol inks. 

So, I took all that and made this, and while I see all manner of things I might tweak, I love him--his spirit.  As of this writing, he is on his way to Canada. 

Before making the above, I made the one below, but even though I like it very much, decided the mosaic wads much more expressive of everything I wanted to include. 

Materials were polymer clay, gold leaf, alcohol inks, a few metallic acrylic glazes (which is not as nice on big "cracks" as it can cloud the clay), and at the end 3 coats of PYM II. 

Sophie Got the Blues and Gave Them to Me ....

I started this little 6x6 painting this morning thinking I would celebrate our daytrip up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, Galax and Floyd to see the beginning of The Fall, but "suddenly" everything began to turn to shades of blue and transparent swirls appeared. 
At first I thought I was doing some under painting, but then realized the cat in question had taken over and that it had to be our Sophie who has been a bit odd lately and has begun to worry us a bit. 

Sophie is blue, so so am I.

I Hate Georgia O'Keeffe (sometimes)

Other than skulls and roses, I frankly did not discover Georgia O'Keeffe until 1987, about a year after her death.  Someone told me my flowers and general point of view reminded them of her and showed me her "100 Flowers" book.  I was floored.  A couple of years later I was in New York and started working on some cityscapes.  At MOMA saw her NY book.  WTH?  More like hers than I could explain.  Talking point of view here.  
Then just a couple of weeks ago I was in her country and fell in love with what I called dancing trees.  Cottonwood stands in winter.  We went to a new exhibit at G O'K Museum in Santa Fe.  YEP.    OK mine won't look like hers, but DAMN!  
So here, from Ghost Ranch where she lived is my newest-to-be. .  I know she never painted an embracing cat/raven at moonrise.   
When I'm feeling woo-woo I think a bit of her spirit  found me after her death ....    
That or she was as absurdly far-sighted and maybe amblyopic as I am.  

Discussing Where to Grab Lunch on the Blue Ridge

Finished.  I had thought there would be additional layer(s) of wildflowers but I soon realized precious little, if anything, would be gained, so I simply added more wild blackberries and suggestion of pastures in the land beyond. 
Acknowledging the nature of crows and their relatives, the title has been modified, grabbing lunch seeming most likely.
The canvas is 12 x 10 inches, the palette Quin. Magenta, Cadmium Red Med,  Azo yellow, Cadmium Orange, Cerulean Blue, Pthalo Blue, Pthalo Green, Unbleached titanium and Titanium Dioxide; Ivory Black.    While some black was worked into the birds' bodies, the "black" is primarily the pthalos and magenta. 

Discussing the Best Place for Lunch on the Blue Ridge

Wild blackberries added (liberties taken) ... one more layer  to go (I think) plus some tweaking here and there.  This was never meant to be so "complicated" a piece but ...

Winter Birds (working title)

Sketch done last night ..  I was thinking crows/ravens but as often happens they may not end up as such.  I've sketched onto 12 x 10 canvas and have painted in shapes ... roughly here at this point

Right now I prefer the sketch.   It is more lively right now -- hopefully the canvas will catch up.     I'm thinking of working with roughly the same palette as the yellow bird but in winter mode.  We'll see. 

I Wish I Was In Thailand .....

Yesterday I finished a new painting.  I haven't titled it yet but am really happy with it.  It is only the second piece I have done in some time.  As cold as it has been here (and almost everywhere) the colors alone have been cheerful.
The bird is a very rare creature; as far as I know, he is the only one of his kind.    So without further ado ...

I felt rather tentative until the last session (yesterday).  It's been a long time and  while you don't entirely forget, rustiness enters in.  First day  starting on a canvas which I had painted with a turquoise ground (mistake: should have only done background) ....not that it couldn't be overcome, but the one thing I had known from the beginning, was that the bird would be essentially yellow, and all yellows, even the cadmiums, tend toward transparency so it is easy to lose luminosity.    On the left is end at session 2; right session 3.  Sessi9on 1 was just ground color and sketching bird plus two of the flowers ....

 

The piece is 14 x10 and done in acrylic on stretched canvas.