A Little Break Today

So today I thought I would give everyone a break from my studio forays. Many of my blogger friends, I am learning, are also gardeners. We have only lived in this house just over a year. So what you see here is a result of the previous (and original) owners. My husband is a HUGE tree lover. He can't get enough of hardwood trees! Thus one of the big reasons we purchased this house. It is actually on a double lot and this area of our back yard is actually where a house was suppose to have been built about 35 or 40 years ago.

But this is the view I see each day from the back part of my house which is a kitchen and family room of all windows and skylights. I am clearly aware of how blessed I am to enjoy this kind of space and be so very close (just a couple of miles) to the city of Washington, DC...well, not the being close to Washington part, but the lovely area so close to the city part.
And these are the lovely tall trees which have leafed out beautifully this year. I love the way the green looks in that high light.

But here is what I really want you to see:
Do you see these little sprouts? I planted these in a pot. They were seeds sent to me by our dear friend, Babs! I didn't touch the seeds as usually seeds hate me. But I sprinkled them into this pot from the little package Babs sent along. And this is a shock of shocks to me that these little guys have come up! Seriously, I am shocked! But it is very exciting to see this happen. My husband and son covered the pot for me with fine wire fence, for now, to keep the squirrels from eating the seeds...I think they may have gotten some before we got them covered! So this is art, at least for me!

Gardening is such an inspiration for so many artists...I always think of Claude Monet. I wish I were a better gardener. I love planning gardens, I love viewing gardens, I adore flowers and I am grateful for the gardeners of the world, BUT I am no gardener. The one thing I don't care for in American yards (gardens) is the abundance of grass. We are presently working on plans to eliminate a lot of the grass in this yard and to allow the remainder of the back yard to return to the forest floor! Our plans are to keep this house for the long term, now. Those are the plans...but one never knows what the Universe has in store for us as far as relocation. One day, I will show you the front garden space.

So would you say gardening is an art? Does your gardening inspire your art as Claude's did?

Small Painting

My apologies for this photograph, but I wanted to show you this painting I did over this past weekend. It is 14 x 16 rice paper on gallery wrapped canvas with acrylic paints. I was really focused on the wrinkling of the paper with this particular piece. I am not sure it is complete at this point, but I am happy with it so far. If I do any more, it will be in the form of dry brushing to bring up the wrinkles a little more.

While it is not exactly Wordless Wednesday around here, I don't have a great deal to say today. Basically, this is just what it is! LOL I am glad to be back in the studio these days, though.

Do you ever have reflective days where you don't have a lot to say? ...well except in your own head?

Is there a big change?

I am going to share a bit more of what I have done with the PearlEx powder today, then will move on tomorrow to something else.

Here is what happened on some archival tissue paper I used under the rice paper I was working on. I often fold a sheet of this tissue to place under any absorb-able papers, because I never know what will happen with the ink. I have also used watercolor paper to do something similar.

And, as you can see, I also used this ink wet tissue paper to mop up some of the excess powder.

Now, this is an image you saw yesterday, but I have done something with it...so I wanted to show you some basic steps:

And this is a part of one of the other images you saw in yesterday's post. Do you recognize it? I left a tad of yellow so you could see...
So I took these two and wove them together to get:
One of the things about these weavings is how they change the entire piece. This looks so different from either of the two pieces from which it was made. You can see each part, if you look closely. But the composition makes it appear very different. Do you agree with me weaving this paper makes it very different? Can you imagine some of these with a different weave than the basic straight over-under weave? This is not going to be my main work, but it is a technique which interests me and also is a way I can use some of these papers which are created in the studio...and I am not always using those oh, so expensive canvases all the time! :)

So yesterday was very busy for me, so I was not able to get to a lot in the studio, but this part basically came together for me. I think this one is positive for mounting.

I have heard rumblings that a lot of you are keeping busy with your art and your gardens on these beautiful spring days. While I love the garden, I am not a good gardener. I adore seeing all of your garden work, though...it is very inspirational. And thank you so much for taking the time to post comments here.

Sharing Some of My Weekend Studio

As I posted on Friday, I stopped by my local art shop to find they had a nice Spring Sale going on. I wanted to pick up a few things, so the sale was a bonus. Below is a quick photo of the items I purchased on Friday. I used some of these things this weekend and some I did not. Obviously you will be able to see some of these items later on. But do you see those three little bottles in the front? They are the main subject I want to talk about today.

This is an example of rice paper which has been saturated with acrylic ink (yellow, blue and purple). Now Elis Cooke, who writes the blog Into the Bylistic, works magic with metallic powders. When I spoke with her about that, she recommended I give PearlEx brand a try. I have taken her advice and those three little bottles are indeed PearlEx powdered pigments.
I placed a small bit of the pearl powder in a double layered square of cheese cloth and gathered up the corners. While I held the little package by the corners in my left hand, I used my right hand to tap the left hand which was holding the powder package over the paper with saturated with wet ink. Then I hung it up to let it dry. The ink really absorbs into the rice paper, so make sure you have something under it to also absorb the ink. Do you hear an opportunity here?
Here I tried to get a close up shot for you looking across the paper.

But my favorite way to use this powder was to mix it with the acrylic ink.
This is the same blue and purple ink which I poured separately into little cups and added the pearl powder. Then I poured this over the rice paper! Of course the ink melded together and the powder had a mind of it's own and came together in the center of the ink images and melded itself! This is really appealing to me.

So I tested a lot of colors and several methods using these same mediums. You will get to see them, too. So, what do you think I am considering doing with these pieces?

I did not only work with these this weekend. I worked on a painting which has been on my easel, I started another canvas and am preparing a backing for one of the weavings I have been working on. So it was a very successful weekend in the studio. I worked and worked until I just didn't have any more space in there for things to dry!

Did you have a creative weekend?

Have a Wonderful Day!

Heads Up

One quick note...

If you live near a Plaza Arts shop, stop in as they are having a very good sale. I popped in today to find some very good buys. If you don't live near a Plaza Arts, then shop online...the sale goes on there, too.

I don't want to take up your time, but wanted you to know about this...also, ASW has a big sale going on right now and don't forget to sign up for their newsletter so you can get more money off. You can only shop online with them, as far as I know.

Have a Great Weekend...and read the "sort of" post below!

More from the Past

Today I am just going to show you some of my older stuff, again. Babs has started a real trend here - just take a look at some of the blogs on my list on the right...quite a few are digging up some old things to share. Fun stuff, uh?

I am planning a weekend of art, so by next week we can begin to talk about some more current stuff. Yippee! So here we go:

This was the first time I ever played with soft pastels. I just can't get away from those dark backgrounds. :)
This I call playing catch. I am sure my son and husband had been throwing the baseball during the time I dreamed about this!
The first weaving I ever did...these were done on canvas from a canvas pad, so it is very much like fabric...
Do you ever feel like this? We had just been told we were going to be moving to Europe! I guess I was surprised and a bit overwhelmed as we had just moved less than a year before!
Just playing around...color just lifts me up...but a light background!

Have a fun weekend and go ahead and look into your old stuff and share some of the doodles.

Next week! NEW ART!

Dull Tasks, Emotional Indigestion and The Art of Others

So today I have a question to pose right away. According to this article "Dull Tasks Numb the Brain...". So here is what I want to ask, does this get me out of doing tasks like cleaning, laundry, banking, taxes, etc.? Seriously, it is an interesting article. And here is another article I think is interesting about emotional indigestion which causes insomnia and how to deal with that problem. Apparently artists have a leg up in this area. Well, isn't that another great perk of what we do? So a little brain food for you from other sources...I am lame in that department.

But today I just couldn't resist sharing a few of these photos with you. They are National Geographic award winning photographs...so you know they are wonderful art. My friend and fellow artist, Lesley McIver from New Zealand sent them to me. I wanted to share some with you...there were close to 30 total. Enjoy these...

I really loved this lacy image and the lace maker, too.
And this photograph is one I could stare at for a long, long time...so National Geographic!
But it was this photograph which touched my heart. Look at that precious little face in the middle of these two adults. Now this is true love!

I hope you have found these to also be wonderful images and the articles to bring a smile to your face if not informing you.

Let me know your thoughts today and what you are up to. Me? Running a few errands and preparing for my weekend of art :)

Have a Good One!