Artist collaboration

"We all have to fight our obsessions and prejudices and try to keep our eyes open to new forms. I know I do, for one. It's very difficult to see something that's new, and not a repetition 0f something you've already seen and responded to. But if you can get into the right kind of receptive and appreciative -creative- way of seeing, then the whole world is full of new ideas and new possiblities." Henry Moore

This photo is from the latest show I took part in, called Balance, an artists' collaborative game. It is a traveling show that will be in four galleries thru out Michigan in the coming months. It is a Women's Caucus for Art exhibit. I was paired with another artist and we exchanged three works of art. Mine were 2-d,hers were 3-d. The artist was Sandy Shelly and she does wonderful altered books and assemblages.She helped me to think outside the box about memories and balance. In the photo is a painting where I have my Mother center, I am to the right and my daughter on the left, we are all in our early 20's - each in our own way trying to find balance. This was my third piece.It is a mixed media where I used photo transfers, watercolor and pencil.

Layering Your Art

I also have been taking a online course with Gary Reef. It was his Layering/Texture Course. I was in heaven, so many ideas that I still have to try. He also has a great website - Art from the Heart. His U-tubes are really entertaining with lots of ideas for folks who love mixed media. These are samples from his course. They are before and after so you can see how I built up the surface, then covered it with tinfoil and then used a variety of paints. Interesting what alittle paper, glue and paint can do. More examples of artwork from this class will to come.

Another great online course

I said I was busy this summer. I took Mary Ann Moss's stencil class called Pure Exerimentation Stencilry. She had great videos and it is so much fun seeing what everyone else was up to. Here are a few of the ones I did. I am still cutting out more.I used an electric stencil cutter which was pretty cool. It's interesting while I was taking this class I found all kinds of things that I could use as a stencil.Second hand stores and garage sales added to my supplies.

Facebook and Artists

How quickly this summer has gone by.I had all these good intentions of posting and then don't get to it. I took a great seminar this summer called Facebook and Artists. The instructor was Dee Overly and she was terrific. We learned the why's and how's of using this popular social networking tool as part of your art web presence. If you get a chance to hear her take it - www.deeoverly.com.

This painting is called Questioning and it is a mixed media piece that was in a show at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan. It includes paint, collage and a photo transfer plus pen. I ever seem satisfied with just one medium.

Chaos

"The creation of true art requires some mysterious innate ability to thrive in chaos" - Sharon Hubbard. Ain't that the truth!  I have been meaning to post for some time now but other things like committee meetings, local art groups, museum openings ( University of Michigan has just reopened and it is fabulous), and now I am a on facebook talking to other artists but I will not twitter at least not yet. These two paintings were in a show I was in at the Riverside Art Center. Lady of Means is a mixed media piece with a photo transfer, the model was a gal I paint with and is also a Chelsea painter - a group that I am a member of. The first piece "remembering" is also a mixed media piece with a photo transfer of her face and a lot of other media on top. This afternoon I am going to try to conquer some of the chaos in my studio.

Men at Work

 This is a piece I worked on while mentoring a young lady, she just turned 17. She also wants to be an artist. First we covered some print paper with black gesso, let that dry. Then we cut out figures out of plastic, different weights. We then applied watered down white gesso over the black and layed our plastic on top. Let that dry and then I went back in with colored pencils. She has not finished hers but I will post her's soon. I want to do a whole series of shadows and figures. I have them dancing around in my head, we'll see if they want to come out and play.

In a Juried Show

I got two pieces in the State Wide Fine Arts Competition at the Ella Sharp Museum of Art and History here in Jackson Michigan. I was unable to go to the opening because of a snow storm. It seems to snow every day but to day we are up to 22 degrees, we're having a heat wave. So here I am playing with Photoshop and getting ready to go paint in my studio. I have so much to learn with this program. I figure my brain will stay forever young, here's hoping.