Something different

I have a husband who likes to take long walks - visits a nearby gravel yard - and comes home with pockets full of rocks. I have boxes full of rocks.  I decided to DO something with them, as a break from painting.  I promised some of my art friends that I would post some pics. 
The left side has an incense burner and the right side has a small flashlight inside to show the transparent "window".  The base is 10 x 12" plasterboard; otherwise: rocks and superglue. Kinda like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. 

UGH!

"Junk Drawer"
I hope to never do a painting this complicated ever again!  It gave me problems all the way through.  To do the text, I used markers and found out that some of them were not permanent; so they bled when I wanted to paint around them - lots of re-doing parts of the canvass.  BUT - I'm done.
The original idea was a drawer of things I have let go of from the past (at least to some degree).  (example:  light bulb = ideas that have gone by the wayside)
And yes, that is a real handle at the bottom of the canvass.  It IS a drawer, after all.

Global Art acrylic version

After finishing the Global Art painting (watercolor) in the previous post, I decided I'd like to try it in acrylic.  I consulted the GAP founder - turns out the copyright I give to the organization does not prevent me from using the art myself or making other versions.  So here is the acrylic version - which now has a title:  "Children are the Future"
If you compare the two versions, you can see how different they feel - as far as technique.  I pretty much gave up on making the acrylic version look exactly like the watercolor.  Still, I am reasonably pleased.

Global Art Project for peace 2020

I've mentioned the Global Art Project before.  I am a bit ahead of the game for getting my contribution finished this year.  I haven't even been assigned a partner or given this a title.  But here it is: 

There are only two colors used - a skin tone I mixed myself (mostly burnt sienna) and Daniel Smith kyanite (blue/gray).  The kyanite is really special because it is an earth pigment that has a very fine sparkle from being a natural pigment.  I haven't worked in watercolor for a while, but revisited it for this application.  I have an idea to re-do this in acrylic if time permits.

First work for 2020

I've tried another new thing.  I'm not going to great detail about the inspiration - just a brief overview.  There is a branch of physics called "Cymatics" - the study of how sound vibration effects the physical world.  One experiment involves exposing water to different vibrations (Hz) and photographing the results with a high speed camera.  If you do a Google image search you will find many gorgeous images at different Hz levels. 
My painting is based on water at 528Hz.  The actual image is:

 I painted it as a mandala.
"H2O@528Hz Mandala"

This is mostly iridescent pigment, so again, very difficult to photograph.  As you can see here - the same image, but the one on the left is in darker light and the one on the right is in bright light. 

"Auburn, Emerald and Lace"

This will probably be the last painting finished for the year, but I wanted it done for the next show in January.
I created a challenge for myself here.  I didn't want the figure to sit dead center or all the way to the left.  That's been done a lot.  However, in order to balance the layout I needed something to draw attention to the large left space - hence the lace pattern. 
And then when it came to taking a photo, was the next challenge.  It took several shots to get the colors right.  The lace pattern is mostly iridescent pigment.  In order to have the lace show up without "washing out" the darks, I will admit to tweaking it in PhotoShop.  But I think this version is pretty close to the actual artwork.

Holiday artwork

I finished this first little miniature painting for my art league gift exchange. 

When my husband saw it, he asked for a painting in the same format but with hedgehogs.  He has lived in Germany before and fell in love with them.  "Hedgehog X2"

"Gaia Weeps"

We hang a new show at the market this coming weekend that will be up until the middle of January.  Hopefully we sell things for the holiday gift giving season. 
I am entering a new original - "Gaia Weeps".  It's an environmental theme; and yes, it will be interesting to see if THIS one ruffles any feathers.

I am realizing that people are more willing to buy prints rather than pay the full price for originals.  I can sell a well-made print for a quarter the price of the original.  I've sold two prints in the last month - after many months of no sales.  Will be doing more of that. 
I will be entering two prints along with this original this weekend.

"Summer Backroads"

Latest painting up.
I have not been in the painting mood for a few months - working slowly on a couple of pieces.  However, this one is just completed.  It's another piece done from a photo (with permission).

"snap-Dragons"

I felt like doing another "just for fun" painting...not much else to say about it.

I did want to mention:  the last two paintings in this blog ("Choose" and the portrait of my husband) were removed from the Central Market show we hung about a month ago.   Someone apparently complained that they were too "political".  I don't see it....but....I complied and replaced them with two older and more conventional pieces.  So much for "artistic expression".

"Choose"

Finished this just in time for the art league switch-out of art this weekend.  There are several levels of meaning in this work, but I am not going to go into that.  It's kind of up to the interpretation of the viewer.

New art up

I have two other pieces in the works.  This one just happened to be the first finished.  This portrait is of my husband, Ernie.  I plan on displaying it the next time we change art at the market venue.  Obviously, it won't be for sale.  (Yes, there is iridescent pigment in this.)