Five fun little pieces

Five fun little pieces to try at the Rittenhouse Fine Arts show in Philly next weekend. Along with other bigger paintings, of course. These are acrylic and charcoal on wood panel 3" X 12" X .5", 

Our Town ~ Summer Version

This is a second version of the painting I did last winter called Our Town (shown at the bottom). 

I wanted to try the same composition and see what little things would emerge from the different surface created by the collage and built up layers, which is where I find the details that become the story of the painting.  

It came out much more "summery" with warmer colors and birds instead of leaf shapes, 

which I guess just shows how much I respond to the present season when I paint. 

Can't help it. 

Both paintings are 40" X 40" X 2" 

Acrylic, paper collage, charcoal, chalk and oil pastel, colored pencil

9 paintings on panels

Nine new paintings on wood panels. Five 8" X 8" and four 12" X 12". All 2" deep. Unfortunately, here you aren't able to see the images that continue around the edges. 

These paintings, along with a few more, I will be taking to the show in Reston, Virginia next weekend. Those that don't find good homes there will be shipped to Left Bank Gallery in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. 

 Untitled #4325 Acrylic, black and white charcoal, paper collage, pastel

8" X 8" X 2" 

 Untitled #4326 Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, oil pastel, colored pencil

8" X 8" X 2" 

 Untitled #4327 Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, pastel, ink

8" X 8" X 2" 

 Untitled #4329 Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, pastel, colored pencil

8" X 8" X 2" 

 Untitled #4330 Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

8" X 8" X 2" 

 Untitled #4331 Acrylic, black and white charcoal, paper collage, pastel, oil pastel, ink, colored pencil

12" X 12" X 2" 

  Untitled #4332 Acrylic, black and white charcoal, paper collage, oil pastel

12" X 12" X 2" 

  Untitled #4333 Acrylic, black and white charcoal, paper collage, colored pencil

12" X 12" X 2" 

 Untitled #4334 Acrylic, black and white charcoal, paper collage, oil pastel, ink, colored pencil

12" X 12" X 2" 

9 small paintings on paper

I'm looking forward to doing Greater Reston Arts Center’s Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival in a few weeks and my goal is to fill my booth with new work. These small paintings are on paper and will be framed. I'm also working on some paintings on wood panels which I'll make sure to show you when finished.  

Untitled #4319

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, oil pastel

9” X 6” 

 Untitled #4320

Acrylic, charcoal, ink

9” X 6”

 Untitled #4321

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, pastel, colored pencil

7” X 7”

 Untitled #4322

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, colored pencil

9” X 6”

 Untitled #4323

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, colored pencil

9” X 6”

Untitled #4324

Acrylic, charcoal, pastel, colored pencil

9” X 6”

 Untitled #4315

Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

9” X 6”

 Untitled #4314

Acrylic, black and white charcoal

7” X 5”

Untitled #4317

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, oil pastel

7” X 5”

A few small paintings on paper

Here are a few new paintings on paper. The first four are 5" X 7", the last one is 8" X 12". All are acrylic and charcoal with a little oil and chalk pastel here and there.

Eat Sleep Paint ~ Another enriching experience at a Skip Lawrence workshop

This was my third time to attend the March painting workshop with Skip Lawrence at Bon Secours Retreat Center near Baltimore. Skip is generous, funny, warm and just an extremely wonderful teacher full of useful knowledge and the gift of getting ideas across. The other participants are wonderful, too and it's great to see them and paint with these good people every year. The surroundings are beautiful and inspiring and all we do is eat the yummy meals prepared for us, sleep when we must and paint our hearts out. My time also involved some driving because I commute, except for the two nights I was happily snowed in and had to stay there. 

Here's what I did...

 Seatown II Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage 8" X 8" X 2" wood panel

 Making Sure it Doesn’t Budge (#4255)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

20” X 20” X 2” wood panel

Dissolve into Atmosphere (#4257)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

20” X 20” X 2” wood panel

  Breathing Exercise (#4259)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

12” X 12” X 2” wood panel

 Wait for It (#4260)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, pastel

12” X 24” X 2” wood panel

 Long Remembered (#4263)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, oil pastel

12” X 12” X 2” wood panel

 Naturally (#4265)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, oil pastel

12” X 12” X 2” wood panel

 As Needed (#4266)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

12” X 12” X 2” wood panel

 Forward in Slow Motion (#4268)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, oil pastel

12” X 12” X 2” wood panel

 Ceremony (#4271)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

10” X 10” X 2” wood panel

 Charm (#4273)

Acrylic, charcoal

10” X 10” X 2” wood panel

 Now or Never (#4275)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

10” X 10” X 2” wood panel

  Waiting (#4276)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

8” X 8” X 2” wood panel

 Filling the Missing (#4277)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, ink

8” X 8” X 2” wood panel

 Remember and Forget (#4280)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

8” X 8” X 2” wood panel

 Birds and the Blue Moon (#4281)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

8” X 8” X 2” wood panel

 Seatown I (#4284)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

8” X 8” X 2” wood panel

 The Black Cat’s House (#4285)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage, oil pastel

8” X 8” X 2” wood panel

 White Cat (#4288)

Acrylic, charcoal, conte

8” X 8” X 2” wood panel

Couple (#4289)

Acrylic, charcoal, paper collage

8” X 8” X 2” wood panel

Four new large paintings

Each of these four new paintings is on a 40" X 40" X 2" wood panel using a lot of collage with papers I've painted or printed. I wanted to have some large pieces for the American Craft Council show which is in Baltimore next week.

This one started out as a painting of trees. I tried to make it work because I've done lines of trees before and I know people like trees and I am trying to make a living here BUT I just couldn't connect with it. So, the tops of the trees remain and the bottom three quarters of the piece is collage over what were the trunks, which you can still see through the thin paper. I printed the papers first using blocks I'd made from various materials and colors that went with the underpainting, progressing from ochre to sienna, then blue. It was all rather random and free form. The other details over the first layer of collage are cut out from painted wax paper for the most part. Title hasn't come to me yet.

This started with the sky which came about by softening a painting underneath that had been applied with a scraper, so the edges had been sharp. Then I had to come up with what to do with the top and bottom. I covered those surfaces with printed papers then found details in the textured surface to enhance and make into things. More collage of painted paper added to painted objects. Calling it Hieroglyphs on the Cliffs. Maybe.

This one is called Our Town. Lots of texture created by applying tissue with matte medium and letting it wrinkle and bunch up. Painting the dried surface then dragging oil pastel over it helps enhance that texture. Also has collage of painted papers. At one point this painting was composed of a bunch of big circle, the remnants of some still detectable.

A larger version of Bouquets While Living from the bird series. There is another collage under this using more color, but I painted over it and went with the earth tones again for the painted and printed papers making up the forms.

Did I mention these pieces were a lot of fun to do?!