Looking for the Cotton Candy Jellybean

Click Here to Purchase for $50 - 5x5in. - collage on illustration board

This one came together like magic. I love it.

Solving the Riddle

 

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Is it a bird? Is it a bug? What's the riddle? Will it get solved? I don't know but I love the colors.

Doodling Around Broccoli

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This one reminds me of being a kid and forced to eat broccoli. The only way it was ever ok was when it was smothered in the cheese sauce my mom made. Now I like it fine, but it's still better with cheese sauce.

The Power of Getting Lost

 

Click Here to Buy for $50 - 5x5in. - collage on illustration board

Here's a different kind of collage than most of my others. This kind is more time consuming. It went through many iterations before I landed on something that felt satisfying. It's more of a journey type of collage. I really like it.

Sunset Off the Edge of the World

 

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This is a particular favorite collage of mine and I can't tell you why. I love the combination of colors, textures - everything. I have many that don't work out, and those are the ones I don't show you.

City Bird

 

Click Here to Buy for $50 - 5x5in. - collage on illustration board

These little 5x5in. collages go well in a standard 8x8in. frame. I got this one from Amazon, and put a light gray sheet of paper behind the collage. (frame not included)

Frazzle

 

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I collect images for inspiration on Pinterest, and  find myself very attracted to black and white images. So recently I did a lot of mark making with ink on white paper, and then cut up and collaged them together. It was really fun working with pure value for a minute.

Interference

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When I first started doing collage I tended to use ALL the colors, every time. Now I often choose a particular color to kind of ... focus on, and then add more as needed. Sometimes I still end up with all the colors, but other times I find a harmony in just a few. These resonate with me strongly.

Color Jam

Click Here to Buy for $50 - 5x5in. - collage on illustration board

My process for collage is very different than painting. I don't usually begin with any preconceived notions or plans. I just pick a color, any color, cut a shape, and glue it down. There is no wrong answer. After that I am just reacting by instinct to whatever is there. I keep working until it feels done. Sometimes it takes an hour, and sometimes it takes days. Sometimes a piece feels done and I never touch it again, and sometimes I come back over and over for weeks. Collage to me feels like creative therapy.

Spring

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Another spring themed collage. I hand make all the paper with acrylic paint and (usually) a gelli plate. The little drawings I do with ink and a brush, or pens. The text is random that I print out with cool fonts I find. Recently I discovered that google has a whole bunch of extra fonts that you can search through and add for your use in google docs!

Buy Now - $45 - 5x5in. - collage - "Frumption"

Someone suggested making these really big, but I love how small and intimate they are.

Buy Now - $45 - 5x5in. - collage - "Spastidious"

In a Blue World

 

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I grew up with cats, but my husband is allergic, so we've had dogs together. Now I find that if I'm around cats again, for any length of time, my eyes start the itch and my nose runs. I wonder if I was always allergic, or if it came on later... I still love on them when I see them because it's totally worth it.

Cleopatra

 

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I read an essay today by a great writer I just discovered, Lily King. She talks about the difference between teaching and writing. But I think it applies to any kind of teaching/creating.

She says she loves teaching, but that she “cannot approach any kind of writing with [her] English teacher brain. That’s the brain that wants to analyze, find themes and metaphors and motifs and irony and resonance, to deconstruct and reify and measure authorial distance. That brain expects perfect and immediate cohesion (or deliberate disruption) of all fictional elements. That brain needs to be banished from the process - or at least from writing the first draft.”

“Because that brain cannot create a thing. All it can do is dissect and evaluate and criticize. When you are writing something new, when you are in the blank-page stage, what you need, all you need, is your creative, sensual, wide-open brain. Your creator, not your critic.”

Amen, sister.

A Showy Flower Not Showing

 

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This is another example of a "scene" I've wanted to paint for a while, but didn't know how in oil. I think it worked perfectly in gouache. Ahhh, the joy of using more than one medium!

Miss Fluffy

 

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I've never had a Golden myself, but I've met quite a few. And they are always super happy, very sweet dogs. So I have a soft spot.

Like Water Off a

 

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New Book Announcement!

Hey all, I just got a shipment of my new book, "Cars and Buildings." I also received more copies of my other three. Each contains 100 of my favorite paintings from a particular category. The other 3 are "The Not So Still Life," "The Edible Still Life," and "People Out and About." You can buy them here. Thanks!

Grooming Us

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The reference for this was dark and busy, so I lightened it and gave it a solid background. I tried it out on my ipad first so I could experiment with different colors and values. I'm so glad because I really thought a light gray would work, but in the end, this mustardy color was my favorite.

Mind Your Own Business

 

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Thank you for all the feedback on yesterday's post! It makes me very happy/sad to hear that so many experience the same emotional turmoil when art doesn't work out. I'm happy to know I'm not alone, but sad that we all have to suffer. : ( Someone suggested that the bad feeling usually comes before a breakthrough. Looking back, I would say that's usually true. Unfortunately it doesn't make the bad feeling any easier to slog through, especially when you have no clue how long it will last. Someone else suggested that winter often comes with an ebb. I wonder if that's linked at all to winter weight? Seems like they might go together. Ha. ; )

Angry Alarm

 

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I found a new source for royalty free images - unsplash.com. I've been regularly scouring this and other sites for images, and saving them into folders by animal. Unfortunately I have completely neglected to jot down the names of the photographers, which would have been necessary to give individual shout-outs. So I would just like to put out a big THANK YOU to all who share their photos for us artists to use!!! Your generosity is very much appreciated.

Also, I recently posted this month's Daily Paintworks Challenge, in which I ask you to share your resolution(s) for the year, in art. In it I share this photo I took recently of a subject I plan to paint more of this year. Feel free to use it if you're inspired!

Cautious Kitty

 

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Here's something tiny and innocent, born into a crazy world.