Been a long time, however I believe the juices are flowing again. Should see new posts before the end of the month!

SK shoes

canvas and markers

For Christmas I gave a pair of white canvas keds to my daughter-in-law with the promise to art them up. Was side tracked until we got the right size. Had to work hard on ideas and finally came up with SpeeDee, Statue of Liberty, Track/High Jump & personal best at TTU, Seattle,Knoxville, Crossfit Knights logo, kettle bells, Bailey and bigfoot. Seems like a lot to fit into a shoe but that’s why I call them  “Life Shoes.”  Only white left from the original canvas is the sign’s background held by SpeeDee (the first McDonald’s mascot before Ronald… figured that was a better choice than a big Ronald on her toes…plus SpeeDee makes for a good conversation). Can’t see on these shots but I did a couple of city scapes on the sides of the shoes. Yellow was a favorite color as was teal and grey.

First post of the year, maybe this will get my juices going again…later.

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Reflecting on a series

6 Mixed media pieces on heavy stock colour paper coated with polyurethane.

Haven’t got any big pieces in process currently, so I thought it might be nice to review a series that was inspired by the fall, leaves and water. The part I am most proud of  was staying within the original idea yet having different looks. Schooled and practiced painters may find this second nature, for myself it was a challenge. The first in this series is the one on the top right, and the last was a bit of a cop-out by just going black and white. I have displayed them as a unit/series once and it felt good. Each has a story as to why it is different from the last, maybe at a one man show I might get an opportunity to bore someone… 😉   As a normal course  of artistic creativity I tend to jump around a lot, which keeps me from being bored and juices flowing, but at some point I want to explore where some pieces might lead me. We may never create the next world’s masterpiece but if we don’t stretch with the creative spark we achieve, how will we know what is possible? Curious how others feel about this, feel free.

Shields

10×12 in. mixed media. Sometimes taking a simple shape and using it over and over can produce interesting results if you let your mind enjoy it. In my ink and marker period repeating a shape, and in this case a shield outline, over and over lead me towards a design. Using my full pallet of colors squares began to show up. Then once they took over I stayed with them around the edges. These generally are works that I become so involved with to smallest detail, time seems to stand still and before I know it the sun is peaking in the window and 12 hours have gone by. These are the times when I know I enjoy what I am doing…there are other things in life just as important to enjoy, but it is rewarding to know that making art is one of them.

Stop Number 9

 That was us, stop number 9 on your 2012 Artprowl Program and we couldn’t have asked for two better days of warm sunny weather to have it. We had the front lobby of the library and it worked great, they had also just installed a hanging system for pictures which was handy. It was nice to be sharing this type of experience with your family & friends let alone showing together…note the picture of two content artists photo-mugging. My son Matt has a style of his own and is really starting to produce larger works, note the tall non-plaided one standing next to him. Size 20 shoe and just under 8 foot tall, but friendly.  For myself the hardest part was figuring out which 18 pieces I was going to show in the lobby (nice problem, huh?) I settled on a cross section of my work vs. any series. Lucky for me I was also able to show 6 pieces on the far wall inside the library…first time my fall reflection series hung together, it looked great…really showed my abilities to stretch within a set subject matter and style, yet produce different outcomes.  It was very enjoyable 2 days sharing  and talking about our art, can’t wait until next time.

4 Square Rural

9×12 in mixed media. As simple as this piece seems to be, it was fairly complex in execution. Lost track of the layers but beneath each square of color I started out very vivid and bright. I really love how the textures allowed some of the full richness of the under lying colors to show. I did have to knock down some of the peaks though to get a more uniformed look. The full body white lines in some areas show well too. Unfortunately this piece can only get full appreciation in person, as the photo can’t capture the subtle tones. This was a follow-up to “Neutrons and Fertilizer,” only taking the tones the opposite direction in values.It kind of gives a wintery feel, although I have seen colors this muted from above when you get a lot of sun reflection in spring time. You have to work at seeing the signature as I didn’t want to disrupt the feel of the piece, lower right hand corner.