Found a New Home

I thought I was done with my abstract horizon lesson. Time to cut my losses and move on.

I was ready to send You Know that Wyoming Will Be Your New Home on its way. Its new home was going to be a wastebasket. In Massachusetts.

But I walked past it in my studio today, and suddenly I had a paint brush in hand.

I painted over the whole dang thing, yippy ti yi yo.

winter white-out conditions!

Phew!

But where to go now?

Yippy Ti Yi Yo …

The refrain from a folk song I remember from my kids' Disney CD of 100 Favorite Songs came to mind as I painted today.

Yippy ti yi yo, git along little dogies,

It's your misfortune and none of my own.

Time for this little dogie to be moving along.

Time to part ways with this abstract collage landscape lesson. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse.

You Know That Wyoming Will Be Your New Home
8x8", collage and acrylic
abstract
2016

The fun for me today came when I cleaned off my (new!) brayer and made myself some collage paper for an as yet unknown project.

Scratching an Itch

You know how good it feels to scratch a mosquito bite? Until it doesn't feel good and you see you're bleeding?

Yesterday? I painted until it didn't feel good.

Even so, I remain curious about the abstract landscape lesson I've now completed twice, both times with a fair amount of feeling off-the-mark while painting. I still want to scratch that itch.

Mindfully.

So I set out to explore again today.

I rerun the workshop videos, noticing this and that, saying, huh!, more than once.

I cut an 8x8" piece of watercolor paper for my substrate.

I apply collage of varied shapes, varied neutrals, and varied print matter.

I paint over the collage with a thin layer of titanium white diluted with glazing medium. I add another thin layer, of white and parchment.

From there, on to a thin layer of a warmer tone—a drop of yellow ochre mixed with white and glazing medium. Go back in to deepen the ochre in a few areas.

Next, I mix up a thin, neutral green and let it wash over several areas.

And then, I put my collage, my brush, my paper palette, my wiping cloth, my glazing medium, and my attention to rest. I stop at enough instead of finding myself mindlessly … bleeding!

Work in progress:

Dropping Over the Horizon

Returned to the downloaded workshop I started at the beginning of January. Workshop focuses on composition, the current lesson on abstract landscape as composition.

Did a first run through the exercise a couple of weeks ago.

Wanted to try my hand at another abstract landscape following the same guidelines.

Felt loose and spontaneous with the initial collaging.



Covered collage with a loose wash, no hesitation. Created a rough demarcation for horizon.



Added color. Painted loosely.



Experimented: applied no paint to collaged horizon; made horizon sloped and deep.



Observed: fussiness with collaging.
Observed: loss of attention to values.


Experimented: changed values; fiddled with pastels in foreground and background.



Chopped exercise into pieces.



Threw whole excercise over the horizon! Buh-bye!

My New Best Friend

Happy birthday, Martha!

Martha was my new best friend in September, 1967, at the American School in London. Martha is now my … best friend of quite awhile!

Once a year she condescends to be the same age as I, instead of younger, for about fourteen weeks.

Those fourteen weeks begin now, Martha.

For her birthday card this year I took a section of the blind contour drawing I did in January and used it as the foundation for an abstract painting: blind contour drawing with pen first, india ink brush-like pens next, pastels after that, and finally tissue paper collage.

I'm hoping Martha might tuck this little paper prayer into a book, thereby taking me with her, in a manner of speaking, when she travels to Vietnam and Cambodia in a few days.

Paper Prayer 31
2x4", ink, pastels, and tissue collage on watercolor paper
abstract
2016
[not for sale]

Another Postcard Playground

These sturdy 4x5" substrates I've made from manila stock make great turf for experimenting.

Today, I started with an already-prepped background painted awhile ago.

Had a sliver of an idea. Made a mark.

Nah. Didn't do it for me.

Made another mark. Better. That mark led to me to the next, and on to others.

I let some wind-driven wax-pastel rain sheet its way crosswise.

Scribbled a bit.

Made some more marks.

Then called it a day.

Postcard's ready to head on its way—maybe through wind, maybe through rain, maybe through neither.

Happy trails, little card!

Postcard 8
5x4", acrylic, ink, and wax pastels on manila stock
abstract
2016
[not for sale]

How Embarrassing!

The spoonbill wading in the shallow waters of the stamp in the corner of this postcard, looking to find dinner, swept its partly opened spatulate bill from side to side till the moment a whole bunch of small aquatic creatures touched the inside of its bill—which it promptly snapped shut.

To its great astonishment, what it thought was insects turned out to be confetti. Not wanting to be found the fool, it flung the colored bits into the air and wished me the happiest of new years!

Postcard 7
5x4", acrylic, ink, and watercolor pencil on manila stock
abstract
2016
[not for sale]