new works on paper

"Untitled#7"

8" x 8" acrylic and collage on paper

"Untitled#8"

8" x 8" acrylic and collage on paper

Happy Friday, the 18th! These two sweet little paintings have just joined the untitled series I've been working on. Both of these are originals are available in my Etsy Shop here and here.

Thanks to Lidy from HelloLidy.com for featuring my "Windswept" painting as part of her "weekend picks for an office space" post. Her decor and design blog is really fun and inspiring!

Have you been following me on instagram? I wish you would! :)

"Everyone Else is Shouting"

12" x 12" acrylic on paper

2014

Hi everyone...I haven't been paying enough attention to my blog lately. I'm sorry Mr. Blog. Been busy painting away and working on my Etsy shop so I haven't been able to devote much attention to you. I shall try and do better.

Hey...I just purchased a really good art book about Franz Kline. I highly recommend it! 

Are you following me on Instagram? :)

"Transported"

8" x 8" acrylic, collage, ink and crayon on paper

"Float Away"

8" x 8" acrylic and collage on paper

Two new paintings to start off the week! Hope you had a great weekend!

This is a painting I've been working on…with a looser style and quick brush. I considered it about half finished yesterday but today…I'm kinda liking it the way it is. Think I will just make a few minor adjustments and see what happens to the next one.

I'm really liking this canvas size too…24" x 24". Not too large and not too small…just right!

"PLENTY"

8" x 8" acrylic on canvas with...collage, oil pencil and caran d'ache crayons

I've been away from blogging for awhile. Been so busy doing other things for Abby Creek that I had to let the blog slide for awhile. Good to be back though!

I've been having fun using a new app called WALNUT that let's you see what your artwork looks like hanging in different interior settings. Give it a try.

Hope you're all doing well! Happy St. Patty's Day and may the luck of the Irish be upon you!

New Abstract on Canvas

"Fearless Heart"

16" x 16" acrylic on canvas

2013

New painting! I also used caran d'ache crayon, black ink, acrylic paint pen and collage paper.

I would love it if you would leave me a comment about what feelings it evokes for you.

Think...Outside the Box

"Outside the Box"

13" x 16" acrylic on canvas

2013

"This afternoon

in my grade level meeting

I must be prepared to

"think outside the box."

Right now

I'm remembering

the painstaking effort it took

to get in the box

in the first place.

Will there be applause

when we emerge?

Will the applause gratify us

the way the gasps of disbelief did

when we tucked our

last body

part

in?"

Poem by Mary Lee Hahn

New acrylic on paper

"Safe and Sound"

8" x 8" acrylic on paper

2013

Safe and Sound

Streaks of red,

Paint the sky,

Pink, orange, and gold.

Before the sun,

Falls from the sky,

And everything goes cold.

Indigo returns,

As do the stars,

A bright, shining light.

Guiding you back,

To your safe haven,

Away from the frozen, dark night.

But you want to begin again,

Stop feeling so small!

So you wait away,

For the light to peek around,

To make your new start,

This time, safe and sound.

~poem by JustARose

New Artist in Town!

Drawing by Valerie

Hi everyone, hope you had a great holiday weekend. I think I'm full now from potato salad, baked beans and cheesecake leftovers...although I enjoyed every bite!

A weekend highlight for me was having Valerie, a lovely young artist, come to visit my studio. Valerie is going to be in the 7th grade this year and wants to study art and have her own studio some day. As you can see from the drawing she did for me as a thank you...she is well on her way. I was really impressed by her artistic vision and I was so pleased to have the chance to see more beautiful drawings in her sketchbook. Her talent and creative spark were a joy to be around. What a wonderful new light in the art world!

Puzzled

"Puzzle"

8" x 8" acrylic on paper

2013

Besides working on lots of new paintings, I'm sprucing up my studio a bit. Can't show you the whole space just yet because it's still a work in progress. 

I WILL show you these cool new gray chairs and red rug I bought at IKEA for a corner "relax and contemplate" area. You can change out the fabric covers whenever you need to...so if Maisie decides to step in paint and plant her little paw marks on them, well, you get the idea!

Abstract Exploration

"Turnaround"

8" x 8" acrylic, ink, crayon and collage on paper

2013

These small abstracts on paper that I've been painting have inspired me. I've been working out some new ideas and techniques and I like the directions they're taking me. Below are the beginnings of four new ones. I love the rawness of the underlayers!

Mixed Media on Paper

"Shatter"

8 x 8 mixed media on paper

2013

Sonnet IX: There where the waves shatter

There where the waves shatter on the restless rocks

the clear light bursts and enacts its rose,

and the sea-circle shrinks to a cluster of buds,

to one drop of blue salt, falling.

O bright magnolia bursting in the foam,

magnetic transient whose death blooms

and vanishes--being, nothingness--forever:

broken salt, dazzling lurch of the sea.

You & I, Love, together we ratify the silence,

while the sea destroys its perpetual statues,

collapses its towers of wild speed and whiteness:

because in the weavings of those invisible fabrics,

galloping water, incessant sand,

we make the only permanent tenderness. 

~Pablo Neruda

Impact

"Impact"

8" x 8" acrylic, ink, crayon on paper

2013

Happy June 10th! I've been working on four different paintings...two works on paper just finished and two on canvas waiting to get there. The one above will be available in my Etsy shop very soon.

I feel like I have so many irons in the fire right now...changing my website and totally re-organizing my studio are two of them. Lots of new things coming though...just gotta keep myself from getting dizzy!

Paper and Poetry

"Windswept 4"

acrylic and collage on paper

8" x 8"

It's a warm and a breezy afternoon here in Boulder. My studio door is open, Maisie is laying in front of it...soaking in fresh air and listening to distant bird songs and dog barks. Seems like winter is a long lost dream now.

After the Winter

Some day, when trees have shed their leaves

     And against the morning’s white

The shivering birds beneath the eaves

     Have sheltered for the night,

We’ll turn our faces southward, love,

     Toward the summer isle

Where bamboos spire the shafted grove

     And wide-mouthed orchids smile.

And we will seek the quiet hill

     Where towers the cotton tree,

And leaps the laughing crystal rill,

     And works the droning bee.

And we will build a cottage there

     Beside an open glade,

With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near,

     And ferns that never fade.

~Claude McKay

Paintings on Paper

"Windswept 3"

acrylic and collage on paper

8" x 8"

This is the third painting on paper in the Windswept series. I'm really enjoying working on paper for a change...and on some smaller pieces.

I've been preoccupied lately with designing a new website too...I'm using SquareSpace.com. Have you heard about them? I really like what I've seen...simple and clean templates, stylish and contemporary at the same time. The best part is that I will be able to incorporate my website, blog, gallery and Etsy shop all in one place. Easier to use...easier to update. Check them out!

We've gone straight from winter to summer here in Boulder...high 80's today. Might have to get Maisie's kiddie pool out. Wait a minute...I'm not done with spring yet!

"Windswept 2" 

8" x 8" acrylic and collage on canvas

2013

Here's the sister painting to "Windswept"which you can see if my previous blog post. This one is also available in my Etsy shop here.

A friend turned me on to the daily online "Writer's Almanac" recently. Check it out...it has some fantastic poetry and other juicy good tidbits.

New works on paper

"Windswept"

Acrylic and Collage on Paper

8"x 8" 

2013

I'm starting on a new series of Abstracts on Paper (8" x 8" format). Having a lot of fun with them! Paper has such a different feeling than canvas and I think switching the ground you work on is good for variety and new experiences.

I just listed this one in my Etsy shop here.

Have a great weekend!

Imagine a beautiful world

"Imagine"

12" x 13" acrylic and collage on canvas

April 2013

PURE IMAGINATION

Come with me and you'll be
In a world of pure imagination
Take a look and you'll see
Into your imagination

We'll begin with a spin
Trav'ling in the world of my creation
What we'll see will defy
Explanation

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world, there's nothing to it

There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be

 ~ Roald Dahl

New Painting and Museum Visit

"Room to Grow"

16" x 16" acrylic on canvas

2013

Here's a new painting, just finished...a little different palette used than in the last few pieces.

James and I went to the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver recently and loved it. The current exhibition is  Red/Yellow/Blue which displays Still's interest in using primary color in many of his works. I was really drawn to this one in his yellow series. Beeeeeautiful!

You can read more about Clyfford Still's life and work on the museum blog here.

A Landscape it is!

"Let it Rest"

10" x 12" acrylic on canvas

soon to be available on Etsy

Just finished this painting today. The funny thing about it...is that after I had completed work on it the other day, James came into the studio when I wasn't there and turned it upside down. He said it looked like a really interesting landscape and he liked it that way.

After looking at it again, I tended to agree so I continued to work on it in the position he left it. I started out with such a different intention with this piece but my husband gently nudged me in a new direction. The magic of art making...I love it when things like that happen!

New Painting

"Crossroads"

6" x 6" acrylic and collage on board

New painting just finished yesterday...working on a smaller surface this time.

I'm heading to California for a few days to see family. I'll be back in the studio at the end of next week, looking forward to finishing up some other new works to show you!

Tongue Tied Tuesday

"Somewhere Between"

12" x 24"

Acrylic and Collage on Canvas

New Year New Start

"Cool of the Night"

30" x 30" acrylic and collage on canvas

One of the paintings I completed after the Bloom True e-course

Here we go...off to a New Year full of possibility!

I didn't quite make it back to the blog in September as I had hoped to. Let's just say that 2012 was a very challenging year so my work had to take a back seat for most of it. I've started to paint again though so I hope 2013 is filled with creative joy, health and happiness. It's nice to be back!

I'm a little late in posting this but...I did manage to take an e-course with Flora Bowley a couple of months ago. I wanted to challenge myself with some new techniques and learn from the experiences of other Artists. It was a great few weeks of exploration. Flora is an inspiring teacher...so try one of her e-courses if you need a creative boost! Check out her Bloom True Facebook page too.

Back in September!

Guest Curator

Hello...and good Monday morning! Head on over to Crescendoh.com, a fantastic site for all things creative... run by the wonderfully talented, Jenny Doh. I am a Guest Curator there this week so I will be spotlighting other Artists and Blogs that inspire me. Hope they inspire you too!