Recently, I had the pleasure of taking a 2 day workshop on Exploring Abstract Techniques in Acrylic Painting with Jo Toye. It was an incredible workshop and I learned all kinds of tools and techniques that I have never tried or even heard of before. Every artist in the workshop is now inspired to see how we can incorporate these new skills into our own mediums for a new twist. Here are some of the 'practice' studies we worked on using black & white gesso, fluid acrylics, applicator bottles, resist pens & masks and transparent glazes…
New Birdhouse!
At last! I have finally finished my 2nd mosaic/mixed media birdhouse! Isn't it awesome? I love it. So here's my question to all of you… Do you like it better just as a birdhouse only (the first 4 pictures) with or without the slate foundation it's resting on, OR…. do you like the 'landscaping' additions in the last 4 pictures, with the potted plant, decorative rock and the 'nuts & bolts' seashell birdbath? In other words, give the birds a house or make it a home? Tell me what you think.
I'm still working on how to hang it, so it will hang either way, with the slate and landscaping or without it. After I figure that out I'll hang it from my front porch and see how many hummingbirds it will attract with all this red. Hopefully that'll be my next post…pictures of hummingbirds perched on the edge of a seashell birdbath? It's hot here, maybe they'll go in for a dip :-)
This will be available for sale in my Scottsdale gallery, On the Edge, in September and on my website as soon as you help me decide whether to permanently attach the 'landscaping' or not. Dimensions and pricing coming soon. Thanks for your opinion!
3rd Ad in a Series for On the Edge Gallery
This is the 3rd advertisement in a series of ads for On the Edge Gallery, published in the program booklets for all the Theatre, Opera, Ballet, etc. performances in the Phoenix area this Fall.
The concept I came up with for the ad series is to find a famous quote about art and interweave it through images of artwork from a variety of our gallery members. A difficult balancing act with lots of kerning, letter spacing, and leading adjustments while trying to fit in different artworks, be it horizontal, vertical, skinny or square, orange or blue, from each artist. Like a puzzle, this one was really hard and many times I have to find another artwork by the same artist in a different format, color or subject that would fit better than the images they originally sent me. Needless to say, I love this process and delight in the minutia of moving an image 2 points to the left or adding 1 point of leading between lines of type just to create the right amount of black space!
My mixed media mosaic on an antique tractor disc "Looking Sharp, Miss!" is featured in this ad and you can see more works by all the other gallery artists featured in the ad on our website at www.OnTheEdgeGallery.com.
Glass House, No Stones
I can definitely tell you that little glass houses made from shards of 'found' glass will NOT be a series, at least not created by me. This is sheer insanity. But, here is my finished, first and only, Glass House. The roof comes off and inside is the perfect size for a little votive candle, or any other little trinkets, although it's a pretty tiny house. I used tweezers to get out pieces of glass that dropped in when my fingers barely fit :-) Anyway, be sure to notice the front door(s), with the red glass 'stoop', the door knobs and the potted plant on the left. (I love doing this!) Also the fact that the 'chimney' is made of various pieces of broken bottlenecks. All in all, a fun, crazy little project that I won't be doing again.
Hidden in the Hills Directory Ad
This week I'm taking a break from creating tiny glass houses (which are crazy insane) and doing Commercial Art instead, which to me is just as much fun as Fine Art. I've been happily designing a full page ad split between our 2 collective art galleries, to be published in a directory for Hidden In The Hills, an artists studio tour this November.
First I had to come up with the concept of how to visually split a page to show each gallery, how they are different yet similar. I believe cutting a page in half vertically keeps your eye moving up and down the page and is much more dynamic than splitting it horizontally, so that's my basic premise. Since the artists are so important in a collective gallery, I wanted to show some of the artists with their art. For my rough layout I cut & pasted different artists and art from several old ads and layered them on top of each other to see what could fit. Then it was time to arrange the photo shoots. Luckily we have really great, professional photographers in each gallery, Arlon Sieve and Bruce Boyce, who could do the job. I turned the art direction for the Fountain Hills photo shoot over to Jenny Willigrod (pastel painter and head of advertising there) and she and I chose artists and art from each gallery that would look good together and represent different mediums. She's on the left with the flower painting and I'm on the right (with the flower painting) because of course we're going to choose ourselves :-) Using each logo to define a color palette guided both the colors in the art and in the artists clothing to create a warm side and a cool side which separates the ad nicely. The finishing touch was the work of 2 of our abstract artists 'painted' on the floors. Then once each photo was finished I geeked out in photoshop for days, brighting faces and artwork, saturating colors, cutting parts of people out to move them or their art over, adding shadows, making walls recede and artwork pop…. obsessive? Who me? Anyway, I hope you all go out and buy some art today.
Here's the final design on the left and rough draft on the right.
Glass House
I'm staying true to form and starting on something completely new while I've still got several projects in process and now on hold. This is the very rough beginning of a glass house. Broken and shattered shards of glass most of which I've picked up off the ground. No roof yet, which I'm planning to make detachable, so it can be a trinket box, a candle holder or some such thing. My husband suggested I should put a rock inside, which I will do at least for display purposes once it's finished and exhibited. I'd like to say I'll do a whole series of them but this is incredibly time consuming. Stay tuned for the finished house!
New Birdhouse - In Progress
Well, I've had a little time this week to get back to working on my birdhouse again. Here are some work-in-progress photos. Some were shot sideways as many of the tiles on the back side are not glued on yet and would fall off if I stood the birdhouse right side up. Hopefully someday soon it will be ready for some flighty tenants to move in.
Mosaics on Magnets
Your own original Work of Art for around $20, in the form of a Miniature Mosaic Magnet - and really, who doesn't need another refrigerator magnet to hold all your lovely photos? Especially a pretty one! These are the first of many I hope to create and are available on my website HERE. I'll spend the summer making more that will go on sale at my Scottsdale Gallery, On the Edge, in the Fall. I'm hoping I can find a little antique toy refrigerator to display them on.
Collecting...
While I haven't had much time for creating anything recently, I have found time to walk my dogs nearly every day down by the canal or the alleys in the neighborhood. That and the occasional 'thrift shop therapy', means that I'm constantly COLLECTING…. junk, jewelry, broken glass, plastic, pottery or pretty china plates that I get to break, all for the off chance that another man's trash could be the treasure I need to make a work of art. I'm always so proud when I find something (that I think is) really cool. The flywheel, all those strings of beads, the big chunks of blue glass, anything that glitters…Here's some of my collection.
Neat and organized? Well, I have my moments, but not many of them!
Elements Natural Therapy
This week I've been working on more graphic design projects and doing them in my favorite way - trade. I love trading my artwork and graphic design services for the goods and services of the companies I'm doing the artwork for. This is a perfect example: Marguerite Gavel, my good friend and owner of Elements Natural Therapy needed three of my original floral paintings for her new lobby.
Original Floral Paintings For Elements Natural Therapy Lobby
She also requested a new logo, business card design and signage for her new location.
Elements Natural Therapy Signage
Elements Natural Therapy Services Signage
Elements Natural Therapy Promo, 1st Version
Elements Natural Therapy Promo, 2nd Version
Most recently I've designed a promo piece for her to market to assisted living and hospice facilities. In exchange for my art and design I have an almost unlimited supply of acupuncture, facials, massage, ionic detox and body treatments as well as new upholstery (she's also a seamstress) for all 10 of my dining room chairs, with placemats to match! I love doing business this way!
