Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink, 4 x 4, collage and acrylic

This one might be fun really huge.

I'm looking forward to another day communing with torn pieces of paper and kooky birds.

See you when I surface!

Makeover or Take 2

Common Loon, 8 x 10, acrylic and collage

I'm refurbishing canvases again, painting over the uninspired efforts of earlier days , trying for something new and more interesting. Before I began this painting, I had covered the old canvas with a mixture of collage papers, but left the spirals in the lower right corner from the previous work.

Aline brought in a cool book she got for her recent birthday. It is a book of many birds of North America with a picture and something written about each, and then you can press a button on the side to hear their calls. We had a particularly good time listening to the common loon who makes a haunting, almost howling-wolf kind of sound. Good for this time of year. It brought people from all over the front of the building wondering what kind of creature was loose at LibertyTown!

I'm heading up to Alexandria tomorrow to bring home LibertyTown's contributions to From There to Here show which closes tomorrow in the Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory. I'm pleased that one of my works sold. It was not the one I thought would sell, either, so that's nice.

He Takes After Your Side of the Family, 10 x 10, mixed media with collage, aluminum cans, acrylic

Quiet, But Working

I've been working on those map-covered canvases I showed you all last post. I'll be showing them over the next few days. This one is called Looking for Bourbon St. and is acrylic on a 5 x 7 canvas, collaged with a portion of a street map of New Orleans. There is a fold in the map that I couldn't smooth out as much as I wanted, and you can see it in the photo in a more exaggerated way than in real life.

The paintings I have just completed are of real birds, painted in my slightly-less-than-real style. The next round will be my fantastical flighted creatures. I plan to reserve at least some of them for the small works show at LibertyTown every December. I think everything must be under 11 x 14. No problem. I love working small.

Then I must begin getting serious--well, as serious as I ever am--about my next show which is in a groovy local restaurant with enormous walls and high ceilings. My house is full of boxes of canvas I've ordered to be ready for where ever my whimsy takes me!

Lost in New Orleans

Ack! Too much time has gone by since my last post (sounds like I'm in the confessional!)

I have been busy hanging a portrait show at LibertyTown, which is fabulous. Check it out on LibertyTown's Facebook page.

Above is Lost in New Orleans, 6 x 6, collage and acrylic. I finished this earlier this week, so I actually have something productive to show!



I have invested in tons of small canvases and wooden shadow boxes and spent yesterday collaging them with maps. I plan a series of bird portraits in a non-traditional style, if you can believe it of me.

Happy creating, everyone!

Drooling, WIP

I don't eat cupcakes, so I must paint them! Sigh...

Note on yesterday's photo: there was a terrible flash bloom on the big cherry, which is better in today's picture. I forgot to give the warning.

Still no clothes on the figure, but I did resolve the last few squares a bit and added some detail.

Remember, it is still evolving--no telling where it will go from here!

"Cloudy with a Chance of Cupcakes"

...just to quote a great children's book title and a movie that did well on its opening weekend, as I understand. Anyone seen it yet?

It may be too soon to show the world how I have conceived this large painting to reinterpret the cupcake block print I just finished. But I have had fun pursuing this idea, so here it is, ready or not.

This is a 24 x 28 canvas with a painting on it that I had never been entirely happy with--ripe conditions for refurbishment, in my book! The long, narrow format also suited my purposes very well for another onslaught of the sweet treats in my original design.

I began by measuring out 8 inch squares Next, I sketched my ideas of this and that of cupcake-dom in each sector with watercolor pencil. If you look in the lower left corner of the canvas, you can see that I'm not through with the first application of paint in the last three squares, mostly because I'm not really charmed with those last three images.

Right now, the collage is restricted to the huge cherry which takes up 4 squares and the cupcake tower just to its right which takes up 2 squares. But, the matte medium may be coming out again tomorrow.

Will you still recognize this as the same painting that you saw today when next you see it? Will there still be a face in the window? Will it have clothing on? Only the Shadow knows...

Ready to Deliver

21 Cupcake Salute, hand colored relief, 8.5 x 4

It's done. I have really had fun with this. I am already at work on a large painting using this format. My only problem is-- will it be cupcakes or birds....both?? Stay tuned.