Flying Bluebird

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Here I was simply trying to figure out how to create more intense shades with watercolors. Ending up with a bird in flight was a bonus.

Buggy

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When I tried to draw bugs in my college biology, none of them turned out as well as these did. The painted ones simply showed up on the page. In my experiences, bugs do tend to just show up.

Roadblock

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Traveling on this roadway involves roadblocks. How each roadblock is mastered adds to the texture of life. Sometimes I stop at the roadblock to rest, relax and refuel. Other times I just plow through. I guess I'm too stubborn to just quit moving forward or to turn back.

Barf

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My grandson named this one. As he helped me scan in the watercolors, he freely offered his opinions. When he saw this one, he grabbed his stomach and groaned. "Grandma," he said, "this one looks like barf. It really hurts my stomach." Then he groaned again.

I like the pastel colors, but the interpretation of each piece is truly in the eye of the beholder. I appreciate his honest response. I wish more folks were willing to share their impressions with me.

I didn't create this blog to gather praise. What I wanted was conversation starters. He saw barf. What do you see?

Straight & Narrow

20 X 16 arcrylic canvas

Well, the lines were intended to be straight and narrow, but it didn't happen. Reminds me of many times when I intended to follow the straight and narrow, but ended up a bit off course. As I think about this idea, it dawns on me that keeping to the straight and narrow would be very dull. I have actually enjoyed some of my stray moves.

This piece has light blue pencil lines to indicate where I intended to add straight and narrow black lines, but my hand is so unsteady, that I keep putting off finishing this painting according to my original plan--- hmm another example from my life's experiences.

The series of 2007 acrylics ends with this piece. Next will be the 2007 watercolors. ( ... if you have to know, I'm still slapping the paint around. Several pieces of both watercolor and acrylic have been completed in 2008.)

Looking Down

9 x 12 acrylic Yupo

Flying over farmland provides an interesting view of the Earth's surface. The variety of the tones of green has always fascinated me. I soak up the beauty below like a sponge. Actually, I DID use a sponge to create the texture of the terrain in this painting. (I see the airplane's shadow in the center of the painting. Do you?)

The Whole Cloth

9 x 12 acrylic yupo

What can you make from this raw material? You are in charge of the possibilities here.

A Maze

12 x 16 acrylic canvas

This path is strewn with road blocks. A curving journey creates quite an interesting story. Life would be so dull if the path was smooth and straight. This beautiful pink background is deceptive as its true color is salmon. But many of life's journeys are loaded with deceptions.

The expected delivery of more paint WILL include a red that can be tinted pink (I hope.)

Purple Mountain Majesty

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Without trying, the majesty of snow covered mountains appeared in this piece. Three pieces of tissue were placed before I began dabbing on the paint. Those bits of paper form the basic structure of the accidental mountains.

Fruit Flop

12 x 9 acrylic coldpress paper

Not even fruit flies would be attracted to this mess. Like I said previously, I don't do well when I attempt to copy reality. The red patches aren't even red---they are orange. The scanner didn't handle this mess well either. Oh well...

Enchantment

12 X 9 acrylic Yupo

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. Welcome to the sylvan woods. Watch out for the wicked witch as you explore this land of enchantment.

Crossroads

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Making changes in life is often very messy and uncomfortable. This piece represents my life at the crossroads. I find it messy and it makes me uncomfortable. I want to toss it out and ask for a "do-over", but I've learned that there are no "do-overs" in life. You have to live with whatever has happened (and try NOT to repeat it.)

Lavendar Ripples

9 x 12 acrylic collage cold press paper

Some of the ripples from the tissue used as the background can be seen in this scan. The lavendar tone is a mixture of orange, blue and white. The white dot in the upper left corner is a hole in the tissue. I really enjoy finding out how the collages turn out. The blending of the colors seems like cool magic. This piece is also "wet on wet" and the extra moisture also affects the blends in mysterious ways.

Orange Flowers

9 x 12 acrylic cold press paper

See, not all the paintings use blues. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my red tube of paint was really orange (and the purple tube was a dark blue). Some of the scans make this color look like a shade of pink, which is the color I would have preferred, but, sigh, it's orange that was lightened with white. Future paintings will use reds and pinks---once the new order of paints arrive.

Taking flight

9 x 12 arcrylic cold press paper

I swear this one is a road map to my mind. Thoughts fly off in all directions. Many people often find it difficult to make connections between my thoughts. OR I've captured impressions of UFOs. Who knows. ( In truth, I was cleaning up my brushes at the end of a painting session. I suppose I shouldn't tell people that.)

Pile of Balls

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First I painted each ball. When the paint was dry, I cut each ball out and "glued" it to the support. Maybe next time I'll make pool balls and put them in a triangle.

Blues

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Alhough this may seem like a "mood" piece, it's actually a "lesson" in values--color values. The white was splashed on at the last minute to lighten things up.

Left Field

This experiment didn’t go as planned. The blue pieces were stamped on, but the design on the stamp faded out. I won’t call this a failure, just a big surprise that left me in left field.

12 X 9 acrylic yupo

Dotty

This piece was “inspired” by an accident.  I spilled some the contents of my three-hole punch on the floor and wondered what would happen if I would “glue” them to a canvas panel before I did any painting.  I applied ALL the “dots” and let the surface dry for 24 hours before I started playing with the paints.  The scan does a good job of showing the design created by the dots, but the texture is not really clear.  The next time the hole punch is full, I’ll try making another painting.

 

12 X 9 acrylic collage canvas panel

Blue Flowers

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What do you do with left over paint on the palette? Why paint flowers of course. Sadly, these are the only types of flowers I can manage. But the colors are nice.

Blue Birds

9 x 12 acrylic Yupo

Baby

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This is one of the few pieces based on reality. Baby is Danny's* cat who spends most of his time sleeping on the dining room table. When Baby is awake, he is our protect cat as he watches out the window for any odd movements. He's been wise enough to figure out that if he is on the table, the dogs can not bother him. Baby also hoped he was safe from human interference, but Austin has taken up climbing onto the table and making a tent over both of them. It is a surprise that Baby tolerates this because when he arrived with Danny in 2006, he was a one-man cat.
*Danny is Scott's (my son) good friend who came to live with us. As a professional international pool player, Danny has introduced a new level of excitement to our lives. As Danny travels, Baby has come to be more dependent on the stay-at-homes to look out for him.

Amoeba

16 x 12 collage canvas panel
I started by adding a layer of tissue paper before I began painting. The scan did not do justice to the texture, but the colors do reflect the effects of the texture.