Sun Series #1

Sun Series #1

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Staying Rooted to Somewhere

"Staying Rooted to Somewhere"
acrylic and collage on drywall
24 x 46"

This is the fourth piece in the series of larger paintings that I have been doing incorporating geometric and architectural elements with circle and ladder forms.   I often work with vertical surfaces but not one as narrow as this so that was part of the challenge for me.
The title comes from a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye.
I happened upon her work and love how she writes and explores contemporary situations.
While I am currently trying to work abstractly, something literal almost always sneaks into the work as it did here
with the flower.
I guess that is just part of my thought process.  And I need to acknowledge that and just go with it.
The flower and ladder part of the painting was already there when I came across Nye's poem
and I knew that her words were what I was painting toward.

Monday, July 11, 2016

A Do-Over!



This is my excuse for not being in my studio. Lots to do in the garden and we
just added four new raised beds to fill next year.  What am I thinking?!

(Title Pending)
mixed media acrylic painting
36 x 46"

Is anyone still out there?  I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted.  Yikes!

This work is a "do over" of the piece I posted on April 26.
I just wasn't satisfied with it and I had to mull it over for a long time.
I finally decided I was definitely over-thinking the whole thing.
And I was scared!
But this past weekend I just went for it.
There were parts I liked, but the original work just felt rigid and strained.
It also lacked the kind of layering I was hoping to achieve.
I feel this is a better end product and place from which to grow further.

I learned a lot through the whole process on both pieces and have started a new work hoping to
maintain the layering and the looser quality I got to in this work.