Red Posies

Not Available

A return to my primitive flower doodles. I just felt the need to splash the posies onto the page. I like how the blossoms pop off the page. My sister liked it too. She claimed it as a Christmas gift before I framed it. I don't know what my family members will do with their Christmas paintings, but I now have more room to store any 2009 paintings. For Christmas I gave myself more painting supplies.

Gingerbread

12 X 9 Canvas Paper

More browns and orange move across this page. The white drizzles reminded me of a warm spicy hunk of Gingerbread. The business of the page reminds me of gingerbread houses and their little decorations here, there and everywhere. The painting is another example of how like a Scotsman I am. It exists primarily because I needed to use up all the paint from the brown string paintings Beep Beep and Whirlwind. Cheap Cheap Cheap......

Whirlwind

9 x 12 Styrene

This piece and Beep Beep are string paintings. This one is the back side of BeepBeep. Here though the fall winds blow the leaves into a frenzied dance. One of the elements of the string paintings on strene that fascinates me is the versatility of the views. One's personal preferences determines the position of the painting on display. Like with Whirlwind, what is the top? Which is right side or left side? Is it a vertical or horizontal? The styrene adds the question of which is front and which is back? Does the paint side show or the clear side? The string promts quandry of what to do with the mirror image? Finish the work as one picture or two? Oh my, so many questions.

Beep Beep

9 x 12 Styrene

Hidden in the underlayer is an image of a roadrunner I guess he's moving so fast he's stirred up everything around him. This is my first time to play with shades of brown. Before I added the orange layer, I kept thinking of an ice cream Sundae. All that chocolate and carmel swarming over the icecream. Yum

Lisa's Gift

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Lisa wanted the Trillium Trio I did earlier. When I went to set it aside for her, I couldn't find it. After she had two VERY bad weeks, I didn't have the heart to tell her I couldn't find her pick. So like a "good" mom, I did a second one for her. This time I painted the background red so the flowers would blend with her apple decorated kitchen. The day I finished this painting, I found the missing Trio. Boy I wish more people would help me get rid of more of my paintings. I'm running out of storage space. I think I've painted just as many new pieces in the last few weeks as I've managed to find new homes for the older pieces. Can you guess what many folks are getting for Christmas?

Kris Mum

No longer available

The highlight of this mum has to be the texture of the bloom. The background remains clear as I haven't decided if I want to fill it in or call it a suncatcher. I'm procrastinating on making a decision. (The background remained clear.)

Jungle Beat

No longer available

Can't you feel the beat as the objects swing and sway? Here I have joined two 8.5 x.11 pieces to create one picture. The mirror images were created by pulling a few yellow, black and green strings. What's most interesting to me with this pair is the individual touches within each piece. I have no explantation for those differences. Zach had to have this one because he sees a pair of preying mantis in it.

Jubilation

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I returned to play with textures, paint brushes and bright colors. The jublilation was mine as I played around. This piece has no inspiration and no obvious image that I can spot. I simply was having fun. Splish Splash-- after painting this, I needed a bath.

Dragons' Lair

17 x 11 acrylic styrene

This piece is too large for my scanner. Only one of the two dragons can be seen in the blue on the right. His mirror image is on the left with just his nose and smoke showing. I didn't see the dragons, but as I searched for a title, my niece Sara pointed out the dragons. I stole her suggestion on the spot. The piece is actually two 8 x 11 pieces completed as mirror images with blue, yellow and red strings. The plans are to assemble them as one picture.

Dark and Deep

12 x 9 acrylic styrene

I had not been using much black paint until I did this one. As a result the bright green plants found themselves at home in very dark woods. I also managed to use the paint brushed to splash the paint onto the clear support.

Daffy Dilly

No longer available

This doozie is a redo. I didn't like the first attempt at all. I had one big problem with the redo. Nothing would cover the purple from the first copy. My solution was to add two light purple flowers. The trick now is can you find the second purple flower?

Poppies

12 x 9 Yupo

OH my, a painting done on paper with a brush. What a novelty. As I worked on this, the poppies we used to buy to honor American Vets popped into my mind. As I thought about those days, poppies seemed to pop off my brush. Does anyone else remember Poppy Days and Flanders Field?

Merry Mum

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This mum just makes me feel happy. I want to dance with it as the confetti fills the air. This piece was supposed to be a suncatcher, but I ended up painting the back a solid blue. It will hang on a wall instead of in a window.

Frosted Tulips

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This faux stained glass is a a wall hanging. Since the back is one solid blue, the sun won't shine through. I'll confess that the frosting was added to cover all the speck and blotches that the plastic picked up as I worked on the project. My philosophy is if I can't avoid a mess, cover it up. I am a very good pretender.

Lonely Lily

No Longer Available
Faux stained glass intended to be hung in the window so the sun can shine in. The image is visible on both front and back. I prefer the scanned image as shown here. I must confess that I never imagined that such a simple image would be as difficult to create as it was. I also needed more imagination to figure out how to hang this suncatcher.

Messy Messy Messy

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Ugh! Working with the smooth plastic surface can get messy--expecially if I get in a hurry. I got in a hurry. Then when I tried to "fix it," I made it messier. SO sho0t me... or shoot the painting. It might make a very good target.

Splish Splash

Pair 12 x 9 Yupo

I'm having more fun with string with this pair. I've scanned them from different directions to show a larger portion of the mirror image. It's very difficult to see the reversal of the images as so much of the whole has been cropped out. That's part of the fun because you can flip and flop each panel to create a new view whenever you like. I wish I could change my personal mirror image that easily.

Trillium Trio

12 X 9 Styrene
This is the first of a series of faux stained glass panels. I absolutely cannot stay within the lines. The process has been interesting, but the outcome has been primitive. I also have not figured out how to suspend the panels so they catch the light.

Sylvan Mist

No Longer Available
These woods are not dark or deep. They are inhabited by fairy sprites who flit about from place to place. Well ,what would you call this one? Remember I rarely preplan a title for the paintings. They simply turn out as guided by the muse as I amuse myself.

AhChoo

No Longer Available

Just looking at the puffs of pollen captured here makes me want to sneeze. Now that a hard freeze had hit us, the sneezes are gone for a while. Now, I'm only coughing.

Monkeying Around

No Longer Available
When I started this one, the most dominant image was a monkey's face. But the more I monkeyed around, the face got lost in the background. Oh well, it wouldn't have ended up looking like a monkey if I tried to make it so.

Strawberries

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After the blue and green strings were pulled around the red blobs, wild strawberries appeared in the middle of the field. Painting the backside of the styrene gray changed the lighting of the piece and accented the texture of the berries which is diminished by the scan. The "twin" to this piece is "Joy to the World."

Joy to the World

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Determining the front or back; the top or bottom; or the left or right of this piece is entirely arbitrary. The white space is clear. This is a suncatcher that simply brings me joy. Now if I could only figure out how to suspend it on a window.

Holly Berries

9 x 12 Canvas

Red and blue strings were pulled across the green background. The combination reminded me of the holly bush right beside my front door. The mirror image of this stringy pair is "Go with the Flow". The green background made a very big difference in the results. Both pieces have a texture that is not shown by the scan.

Go with the Flow

No Longer Available

Blue and red strings were pulled to create the energy that flows across this piece. Brushes were used to created the confetti flying in the air. The mirror image of this one is Holy Berries.

Holy Cow

No Longer Available

Pink and purple strings were pulled to create this piece for Lisa. An orange string was also pulled, but it vanished. When the bright yellow was painted onto the reverse side, the cow seemed to jump into place. That is appropriate since Lisa loves cows.

Diving Dove

9 x 12 clear styrene

Lisa wanted a pink, purple and orange string painting. I see both a bird flying toward the ground and a big purple tornado. Turn this over and the textures and images are very different. Working with a clear support adds additional flexibility to the view of each painting.

Autumn Daze

No longer available

The leaves fell off the trees so quickly. Today all that can be seen are the bare black limbs.

Hutch

Photograph

This is Hurricane Hutch. He's learned to use that sad, sad face to his full advantage. Hutch is a Victorian Bulldog. If he can put it in his mouth, he will chew it. I'm struggling to convince him that I am not a chew toy.

Reflection

16 x 20 acrylic No Longer Available

The two sheets shown here are mirror images created by sandwiching several paint covered strings between the pages, applying pressure and pulling them out. The results remind me of a garden. What do you see? I did not use a brush as I worked on this one. The strings did all the work.

Kitty's Quilt

16 x 12 Collage

This is the same picture scanned from two angles. Each corner features a different quilt block. I assembled five of the quilt blocks shown previously to create a painted quilt. As I worked on it, Baby, our kitty, kept sleeping on the pieces. He got very good use out of this two dimensional quilt and I found a way to make the individual quilt blocks a bit more interesting.

Irish Lace

12 x 9 acrylic Yupo
The texture is provided by a paper doily used by the hospital during a spring stay. The scanner did not do the red tulips in the center justice, but a close examination will reveal the three red flowers in the center of the small nosegay. I tried to repaint the two splotched areas outside the lace, but the paint would not hold. I decided the table must be chipped.

Clearly Blue

No Longer Available
Much of the shading and shadowing has been created by the texture created by rippled pieces of gauze. I used the same tint of blue for the whole piece (a few smudges of yellow were not picked up by the scan). When I didn't know what I should do next, I called it quits and stopped painting. I was going to add to this later, but I never got re-inspired.

The dog ate it

16 x 12 acrylic canvas

For years I chuckled at my students who claimed the dog ate their homework. Puppy Hutch has convinced me that dogs do indeed eat the strangest things. This collage provides ample evidence. First, Hutch ate the original textured background off the canvas. Second, I collected other bits and pieces of items he shreaded and used them to create a new texture. Third, I created a visual of what the floor looks like after Hurricane Hutch has hit the scene. Anyone have good tips to help me tame Hurricane Hutch?

Animal Instincts

12 x 9 Acrylic No Longer Available

Here's my impression of what Hutch, our bulldog puppy, finds when he explores our back yard. He scents the trails of squirrels, rabbits, birds and humans. He also follows his natural instinct to chew whatever he can fit into his mouth. Thus the yard is littered with all kinds of bits and pieces.

Resolution Square

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Quilters know this design as Resolution Square. Viewers should note that I need to resolve to learn how to create a series of precise squares. This piece, as well as several others in my collection of misshapen blocks, will be combined to create a make-believe quilt. I can guarantee that my clumsy scissor work will not square up the series of painted blocks. The finished collage will be unlike any other quilt sample in existance.

Memory Chain

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Jennifer Chiaverini included this quilt block in the novel New Year's Quilt. The authentic block would be more regular than my mishapen piece shown here. But my memory is not as stable as many others may be. Like my memories this whole thing is cattywhompous.

Pinwheel

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The series of quilt blocks were inspired by Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts novels. I know I do not have the patience to do the piece work required for a quilt. I also didn't have the skills to replicate a perfect quilt square. This block is titled "Pinwheel".

Thunder

12 X 9 Acrylic No Longer Available
Listen, hear the thunder? The sky is raging and the air is ringing with loud booms.

Windy

12 x 9 No Longer Available
Whoa, the wind is pushing everything about. The swirling mass began as a blanket of facial tissue (Puffs, not Kleenex) laid on the canvas (actually cardboard*). As the wet paint touched the tissue, the wrinkles were created. The first coat of paint was white. When that dried, I was fascinated by the way the color moved onto the wrinkles. This is another example for me of how textures play a role in the creation of interesting designs.
*About that cardboard, I've discovered I am more Scotch than anyone knew. I use whatever is handy for the support. Wait, I'm being Green..... reuse and recycle.

Hell Fire

12 x 9
I don't know how to describe this. It isn't really a painting, although I did use the same tube of red paint. I dyed squares of gauze in a tray of red paint and then squished and smushed the gauze into place. The deeper the red, the thicker the layer of gauze. Next I used an eye dropper and dripped dabs of white and yellow onto the red. All I see is a raging mass of red. Do you spot any images here?

Seaside

No Longer Available
By the sea by the beautiful sea. Well, it may not be beautiful, but it is a sea. My goal was to present clearer distinctions between the land and sea and the sea and sky. Can you tell I also attempted to create the reflection in the water? Let's call that blob on the lower left a hill. Works for me.

Feathers

9 x 12 Acrylic No Longer Available

This attempt to create feathers was a bit more successful. The idea of feathers popped into my head when I was in the hospital. A beautiful professional painting with a feathery feel was all I could see when I gazed out the door into the hallway. I thought I could do something like that. I couldn't. I must have feathers for a brain.

Strings Attached

12 X 9 Acrylic
Like so many things in life, this comes with strings attached. Curling ribbon was used to create the texture. I painted the whiteribbon as I created the design. The scan does not show the white strings, but at times the strings in life are invisible.

Phooey

12 x 9
I scanned this with the wrong rotation. I tried to create and bouquet of feathers, but they are lost now. Also lost here is the detail of the texture. I used gauze squares as an undercoat. Much of the shading has been added by the wrinkles in the gauze.

Left Turn

12 x 9 Acrylic
I hate making left turns. But turning left is sometimes better than going off onto the wild right side. The intersection into my subdivision resembles this turn. Go left to get out; go right to get in. My political views may be represented here. Even though I don't like going left, many times going left is much preferred to the uncertainty of going right. Usually, I eventually go off onto the unbeaten path and take the one less traveled by as I strive to stay in the middle. (My husband hated maps like this one that places south at the top. He asserted that all maps should have North at top. He was definitely more right than I am.)

Invasion

No Longer Available
So many of my thoughts are interrupted by invasions. Do you see the bell, the caterpiller, or the tree? This is the first born of a set of twin paintings. I used it to make a print. That print was posted earlier. Of course because of the way the blog is organized, some of you will see it later (if you look for Disorder.)

Daisy, Daisy

9 x 12 Acrylic No Longer Available

What is its color true? This was supposed to be a yellow flower, but it turned orange. Are real daisies ever orange? The shadow added by the scan improved this painting. I'd love to be able to do the shading shown here. Oh well. Good thing I have never sought perfection.

Butterflies

12 x 9 Acrylic No Longer Available
Watching the butterflies helps find a sense of peace. (Those purple blobs are supposed to be butterflies. I still can not create very realistic images... but I do have some fun trying.) I faked those flowers too.