Sippy cup art

What I'm Working On...Forest Scene

Sat outside and enjoyed painting.....but didn't capture what I was after.

Subtaction-Addition-Just add water

Before the storm and after

Subtracting-Cropping rocks!

Adding and Subtracting-Light and color

Here's the same picture 3 ways.

Subtracted color

Daylight photo

Night photo

Adding-More color, please

I LOVE trees. I love to paint trees. The colors seemed a little similar in all my pieces. I had the thought of adding some color to liven them up. What do you think?

Adding-Maybe an addition?

Channel-Cells on the Move

Channel-Ways to Encourage New Channels

Channel-Accessing Joy

It was Millie's birthday this week and we celebrated! Here's Millie on the deck having a paddle ball contest. Best activity for us wild and crazy folks. Everyone got into it.

Channeling-A message comes thru

If you don't like what you're seeing, change the channel.

Channel-Expanding your vision

Channel-We all do it

I believe channeling is connecting to something. I believe we all channel every day. It's just human.
Here are some examples of things I channel daily:
1. Witty remarks
2. Fabulous food
3. Artwork

Repetition-Poppys

I wanted to paint the poppys that Deb got for her birthday from Margaret. I took photos last week and this week must have tried a dozen times but was not happy. I wanted to present the picture on a card to my Millie for her birthday which is today. Finally I got one that I liked.

Repetition-Repurpose

I had a few 'practice pieces' ready to recycle. Instead I cut them up and pasted them in new configurations. The grid came first but I repeated the process to get something very different.

Repetition-Cut, paste, repeat

Repetition-Rainy Day

Repetition-Going in circles

This image is from a prompt we had in mindfulness class. My reference was a stainless steel bowl. I got lost in the scratches and reflections and made this image with watercolor on paper. I then took a photo, repeated the photo to form this grid and made color and sharpness adjustments. I find the images pleasing.

Who's that lady?-In a different light

Daytime

At night

Who's that lady?

Distortion-I'm done

What happened was I sat down at my work table and began the ritual of preparing to paint. I taped a piece of paper to a board then filled my jar with clean water. I lined up my brushes and paints and grabbed a roll of paper towels. I opened the music app to some Chinese flute. My windows were filled with the new growth green of the woods that we only see in the spring. I have painted this scene from my window many times; in every season. It was familiar and comforting. I felt very peaceful.

For the umpteenth time I began to sketch the trees, making vertical strokes on the page; leaving empty spaces for the dense layers of leaves that mask parts of the limbs.

The prompt for the blog this week is "distortion". I paused to think how I might make this image 'fit' to the prompt. I had a visceral response to the idea and it was not pleasant. The thought of distorting the trees gave me a slightly queasy feeling. Hmmm. "I'll have to come up with another piece for the blog," I thought. More reaction from the belly; resistance was rising.


I had followed my usual routine on Sunday when I received the prompt. I doodled. I made a mind map, a list of antonyms, associations and plays on words. I Googled 'distortion' and looked it up in Wikipedia. I made some cartoons to explore where my thoughts took me.

The next day, having some dark feelings, I sat at my table to draw myself as a mood changer. I often look to making art as a soothing, transforming activity. I set my intention to produce a post that would meet the assignment. I rendered a successful distortion, yet I didn't feel happy. I felt disturbed by it. Millie did not like what I had done, and let me know. I was ready to take it off the blog, I seem to be feeling quite upset for some reason.

I noticed that Deb was online at that moment so I called and reached her. We talked about the prompt and how it affected us. We discussed whether art need to look pretty, or evoke good feelings to the viewer. We attempted to define 'distortion' and it's variables. It was interesting to explore how self-portraits make me feel, and what led me to create them. Deb encouraged me to work through the discomfort and continue on this track; and I did. I made three more self-distortions. They left me sad and weakened, yet somehow fascinated by them.

The next day, I questioned how I would proceed. Half-heartedly, I took some more 'selfies' with the Ipad. As I sketched, I lost enthusiasm. I was done.

Now, sketching the trees outside my window, I again rebelled against distorting them on paper. I wanted to paint them some other way. Some how to celebrate their beauty and uniqueness. To take joy in the intimacy of spending time just looking at them, drawing them in, and through me. I have savored moments like this many times before, but I can do it again and again.

Distortion-Self-distorting

Distortion-Me

Distortion-Famous examples