The Importance of Playdates

What happens when a hoarder invites friends over to play? We each claim a teeny tiny spot on the table and get to work... I had good intentions of cleaning the studio so we would have vast amounts of room to work...didn't happen. Surprise, surprise....

I just spent the weekend with two of my favorite people doing some of my favorite things. Lynn and Karen made the trek from the far reaches of New England for an art sleepover.

Art playdates are amazing! We play off each other, offer constant inspiration( I want to be as deliberate and purposeful as Karen instead of just winging it all the time), advise, push, and laugh a lot. We also eat well---tomatoes, brie and herbs over pasta for dinner, roasted veggie panini for lunch, cheese, crackers, olives and prosciutto for snack. The other thing we do that just feels right and gives us time to re-charge is nap. That's right, grown women taking a timeout from being with each other and having some quiet time before regrouping for more art....Not only is it okay, but now seems perfectly normal in our group.

Since we are all in the witness protection program and do not allow photos...at least it seems that way :) , this is all I have to offer.
First a bit of Lynn. I would like to say that we made all of that mess together, but it all honesty it was there when she arrived.

These are Karen's masterpieces. She was only here for 24 hours, but created quite a few pieces!

Lynn's pieces are awesome too! It is so much fun to push someone and share all of my stuff.

I worked on a couple of the big canvases that were started at last years' WAAR (Wicked Awesome Artists Retreat). I had promised to finish all 8 of the 16x20 canvasses we started...Hmmm, With 2 done and another started, I'm not sure if I will get them done in time for WAAR 2015 (in October).

 Lynn hated this next one and was not afraid to tell me. On Saturday, we went to a printmakers show at the Duxbury Art Complex and I was inspired to add the purple cilia around each of the blobs. Now Lynn isn't so offended by it.... I'm trying to push myself more and make bold moves, not worrying about "wrecking" the piece.

 You've heard this before (from many places), but I strongly recommend getting together with other like-minded people to simply play! You will not regret it!

Painting at The Marshfield Fair

 

It's been a busy few weeks with The Marshfield Fair in full swing. I stepped up my volunteering just a bit this year. First we had a full weekend of checking-in all of the Country Arts entries (see the exhibitor handbook on the Fair website). While most of the entries come from local artists and craftspeople, the quilt block competition brings entries from far and wide. The amount of work involved in presenting the country arts display is amazing-from checking in the entries to judging, then displaying the 600 entries, then packing everything up after the fair.

I had an awesome time judging the cooking competitions with an old friend from high school. He understood that I got the big piece while we were judging chocolate bonbons because "I'm the girl..."

 

I met some wonderful new friends this year and I did THIS....



 

 

 

The Marshfield Fair Plein Air competition took place last Sunday. I wasn't originally going to enter, but was gently coerced (mmm hmmm) and I'm so glad I did it! ...AND I got a third place ribbon! There were 12 floral designers who competed first. They had 2 hours to use the flowers provided to create a gorgeous arrangement. Once they were done and judged (the man who won didn't even realize he was competing!) , the 12 painters were each assigned a display to paint. We had 4 hours to paint, right out in the open...with people watching... I was competing against another friend from high school (Class of 1985) so there was a bit of smack talk mixed in with support for all of the artists.

 

I was the only mixed media artist competing. The passers-by seemed to like all of my texture from collage under the paint, glass bead gel, and a tea bag. I should probably concentrate harder on editing myself... :)

Remember that Big Piece?

Well, I ended up starting another and slowly adding to the first. Once I added the birds I figured I was done, but I wasn't sure. I get stuck not wanting to cover up previous layers even though I KNOW it gets better as more layers get added.

Then I had a revelation! I wanted to play with negative space. I let that idea roll around in my head for a couple of weeks and then I just jumped in and did this!

I love it! And I thought it was done, but a week later I sanded down some of the red to expose more collage from underneath. I'm calling it "Two in The Bush".

As for the one with the arrow, it may or may not be done. They are both sitting on a bookshelf between the living room and kitchen so that they can speak to me when they are ready.

I'm temporarily calling this peice "Target Number".

What do you think???

Backyard Friends

Isn't he the cutest? Andy and I were out enjoying the pond one evening this week and we watched this little guy walk over to the tree, climb up, and settle in for a nap in the crook. We were keeping an eye out for Mom, but she never showed up.

Today I watched a little birdie take a bath in the top of the waterfall. He didn't even mind that I was sitting right there! Of course I did not have the camera with me...

Finally it feels like spring!

Going Large

I've been having conversations with other art friends about working large. We all agree that we want to, but really haven't. So I took a tiny dip in the working larger pool when I took a 16X20 canvas down to Jan's. I wasn't worried about wrecking a big canvas since I bought it for $1.00 at the thrift store...gotta love that place.

I started by covering the whole thing with collage bits (mostly book pages) and then added a wash of quin gold, quin crimson and thalo green. I bought some latex house paint samples at Lowe's (on clearance of course) to try the bubble effect that I showed in the provious post. After it was home and on display for a couple of days I started adding more paint. This picture was after I added some extra green, yellow and turquoise.

At this point, I didn't glue down the flask. It actually still isn't glued down while I work through deciding what to do. It sat like this for a day before I got brave and added some more paint. Sorry the pictures are crappy. I couldn't get a good shot without the flash back.

Next I added the orange..loved it.

Finally this is pretty much as it sits looking for the next layers. At this point I figure I've overdone and need to dial back. But no, I'm adding more layers of collage before I go in with more paint. This is the hard part...When is it done? When is it overdone?

How to Be Creative

I saw this on Kelly Kilmer's blog and thought it was interesting.

I just had my third weekend of art play-dates and they all left me super-excited!

First there was a night at Karen's house where we made some postcards and chatted about a small girls' art retreat next September.

The next weekend Marissa came over here and we did a little "Mailart 101". Marissa created her very first mailart and we sent it off to MMSA.

Yesterday I went down to Jan's house and played with Carol and Jan. Even though we were all working on completely different projects we all would stop and admire the others and help push through obstacles.

I painted on a big canvas for a change. Here's just a peek... Art on All!!!

Can you say...Obsessed???

I have been playing with both Citra Solv and Nevr Dull a whole bunch lately in preparation for my class at Kept Creations in Whitman, MA on October 11. The pages below are all Citrasolv on National Geographic magazines. Aren't they amazing! You end up with a lot of lunar landscapes, but I'm okay with that.. :)  I'm home on vacation this week and am hoping to actually create some art while I clean the hoard. We'll see what actually gets done. So far it is 10:00 AM on Monday morning and I haven't done either one.

Enjoy the eye-candy. I'll post some finished pieces later.

 Isn't the green fabulous???!!!

 This one below was from an older Nat Geo (1970's) and it took quite a bit to mainpulate the inks, but it's still cool. I actually like my fingerprints all over it.

 The reds are wonderful too. Boiling hot lava...right?