Safe travels

I framed a set of two monoprints I made in a workshop with April Richardson
before hearing of a woman's shelter 

looking for art to be auctioned as a fundraiser. 

That made me think about the unintentional symbolism 

possible in these "abstract" prints. 

I didn't write down the shelter's name or website. Sigh. 

So they hang in my office, some of my favorite prints.

Monotype. Love it. Always surprised by it.

Hiding in plain sight

At a printmaking class with April Richardson, I sketched a child's face and began adding color and texture.

Idea: we think we know what children are thinking, but do we? (Did people know you as you saw yourself, when you were small?)

Bird hideaway

A friend gave me a canvas with brown marbling and an underpinning of crimson haze. She put a hanger on the back for portrait view. The horizontal lines did nothing for me.

Then a Chinese artist I'd met in a printmaking class sent me a bird she'd painted on rice paper. I turned the background to a landscape view and blended the two art offerings.

Modifications: I put light modeling paste behind the bird, tore the edges, and glued it on the original lines with acrylic medium. I used acrylic paints (VanDyke Brown Hue, Crimson Lake, Indian Yellow Hue) to blend in the rice paper, fade back white lines carrying the eye out of the painting, and create berries. Highlighted with a Staedler watercolor pencil and a deep pink Sharpie fine point marker.

Had some little peacock featherlets: put those on as glowing "grass" with acrylic medium.

Done for now. Might do more later.

Writing on the wall

Saw a heron in a suburb's drainage pond on my morning walk. It inspired me to sketch a simple 4' heron on my bedroom wall with soft pastels. Trying out Sennelier.

Book blogger

There's something satisfying about seeing a brown envelope from the publishers in my mailbox. I like to rip open the package to see what the books are inside. Sometimes that creates a mess - the biodegradable envelopes filled with lint and fluff spray onto the entry rug.

It's all worth it though. I love to read what people are thinking and what they write for others. Private journals and diaries record personal ideas. Books and magazines gather thoughts to be shared.

Let me know if there are books you have recently read and love. I'll be in touch - with the books that hit my desk this year.