art every day 21: minis and modigliani

                                   

art every day 17

Today I felt like I needed some help so I turned to Cezanne.  I have been asked often if I think its cheating to copy and the answer, for me, is always no.  

I'm preparing now for an unexpectedly busy time of year coming up.  I committed to doing more shows than I have ever done within a few weeks time so I will be in full creative swing. 

For now, I am concentrating on smaller pieces and since I will be traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday I will be able to keep up the pace...I think, I hope. 

For anyone who is checking in for the first time I should mention the post titles of "art every day" is in refereance to an online challenge Art Every Day Month  put together by Leah Piken Kolidas.  You can view the list of participants here.  I'm in the studio nearly every day but I still like having this challenge to spur me on and it was definitely helpful in providing the impetus to getting this blog off the ground.

Now if I could just find the time to figure out how to add buttons...

         

a little abstract watercolor from last night

Below are some photos of a painting I finished two weeks ago.   I got some great feedback on the last painting that I posted the progress on so I thought I would post some photos of the beginning, middle and final states of this one.   It is 48" x 36" and sold!



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If you are in the Cambridge/Somerville area this weekend stop

by the Burren for SLAM, the Saturday Local Artist Market. 

Its an execellent opportunity to browse, shop and enjoy a pint at the same time!



art every day 15: breakthrough

Untitled

acrylic on canvas

48" x 36"

After spending the day working on this painting I finally feel like what I have been wanting to happen happened.  I knew it needed to open up and I kept wishing I could crawl inside it somehow and work on it from the inside out.  Impossible, yes, but that was the sensation that kept arising.  So the question has been playing with me, if I can't blow it out from within then what?  I think I got as close to what I was going for, aside from a few touch ups,  that I will stop for now.  This is what it looked like a week ago and this is what it looked today when I started painting.  Because I know all along I wanted to push it in a more expressive direction I like to think of it as all the color and line underneath just exploded and rearranged in a new, more organic order.

art every day 11

The past couple of days have been a bit more on the busy-ness side of creativity for me.  I have a few one day holiday shows coming up so I have been spending time getting organinzed and tying up loose ends.  These photos are group shots of some of the smaller pieces I have been working on.  In the top photo are two I was able to do today.  I think of them as abstract ornaments or art blocks, for any occasion. 

The photo above are some of the aceo's I have been creating for a while now.  I like to spread these out on the table for people to look through at shows.  Its a great way to start or add to a art collection or an excellent and inexpensive way to give original art as a gift.   

I don't want to let the day pass without acknowledging Veteran's Day.  Below are a couple of shots I took on my daily walk...

Thank you to all past and present vets.

art every day 9

Today was a day full of busyness.  I wasn't sure if was possible to squeeze creativity in but it happened.  I teach a class each Tuesday and I just love it.  I feel so inspired and charged afterwards that sometimes I wonder who is the student?  As the night went on I considered what (as much as if) I could pull out of me and I decided to tap into a topic that has been the subject of much conversation around my house lately: reflection, self-reflection, image, reverse image.  I didn't have the energy to create from the raw so I resorted to a master, thus the Picasso.  I have to note that it was a quick copy, maybe 10 to 15  minutes, and in very low light, but all the same, it was just what I needed...and just in case you were wondering, mine is the one on the left!

   

art every day 5: whats on your wall & secrets

This is how the day started, very grey...again

 

Today I worked on the larger painting I started earlier this week.  I used some of the left over paint to cover a couple pages in a sketchbook I've been working on.

Not one, but two, Etsy Treasuries today!

1. Spanish Symphony 2 by Brian Elston 2. Sinking by Michelle Daisley Moffitt 3. Storm Lancaster Avenue by Victoria Webb 4. To Protect by Linda J. Monfort 5.Cycles of Secrets by Tammy Ricker 6. From Below by Sarah John Afana

And to top off the day I had a painting featured in an Etsy treasury, "Whats on your wall?"  put together by Sara John Arfana. 

Its part of the Fine Art Friday movement put in motion by Jessica Torrant & Arfana to share and promote artists' work online.  Its so great to see collections of fine art put together. So many amazing artists!  Sadly I am not blog savvy enough yet to

be able to link the treasury with images but I'll get there.

The second treasury, Secrets is beautifully put together by Liora Lleucu and features the same painting, "Cycles of Secrets" alongside beautiful and enticing mixed media pieces, photographs, jewelry and books.  

 

Enjoy!

art every day 3

 

This was a little offshoot from a larger painting I started today.  I was thinking about something else but it turned out to looked like a funny kind of bird.  It's painted on a small piece of plywood, 

3 1/8" x 3 1/8" x 7/8"

This is the larger piece I started, waiting to dry. 

       When my son got home from school he asked me to do an "exquisite corpse" with him. 

We love doing these and laughed so hard at the end result.  I especially love the teeny, tiny hands.  

Art Every Day - Day 1

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I'm excited to be participating in the Art Every Day Month Challenge put together by Leah Piken Kolidas.   It started today and runs for the month of November - you can join in at any point though.

So here goes ~ I started off with a little 4" x 4" acrylic on canvas.  I've changed it a bit since taking the picture but for the most part its the same.  Who knows, it may change again... I've been playing with liquid acrylics lately and really loving the quick drying time.  Surprising myself since I have been loyal to oil for most all of my years painting.  I'm looking forward to playing more with the acrylics in the days to come.