Metamorphosis-Sugar Blues

Metamorphosis in Blue-Blue Moon

Boundary-Drawing from life

Drawing from life or a photo requires using different muscles than when I draw something abstract. There's a constant tension to looking back and forth from the subject to the paper, and the coordination between eye and hand. I'm always assessing the spaces between the lines as well as the shapes and the tones.

Boundary-enough with this weather already!

Boundary-Staying within the lines

Folding paper into compartments to be colored in feels very mindless and soothing. Just what I need today. Looking to transform feeling yucky.

Boundary-Saying 'No'

Boundary/barrier

barrier /boundary

Gratitude-A lovely story

There is a story -- probably urban legend, but full of truth nonetheless -- concerning the famous violinist Itzhak Perlman. One evening, Perlman was in New York to give a concert. As a child he had been stricken with polio and so getting on stage is no small feat for him. He wears braces on both legs and walks with two crutches. Perlman labors across the stage slowly, until he reaches the chair in which he seats himself to play.

As soon as he appeared on stage that night, the audience applauded and then waited respectfully as he made his way slowly across the stage to his chair. He took his seat, signaled to the conductor to begin, and began to play.

No sooner had he finished the first few bars than one of the strings on his violin snapped with a report like gunshot. At that point Perlman was close enough to the beginning of the piece that it would have been reasonable to have brought the concert to a halt while he replaced the string, to begin again. But that's not what he did. He waited a moment and then signaled the conductor to pick up just where they had left off.

Perlman now had only three strings with which to play his soloist part. He was able to find some of the missing notes on adjoining strings, but where that wasn't possible, he had to rearrange the music on the spot in his head so that it all still held together.

He played with passion and artistry, spontaneously rearranging the symphony right through to the end. When he finally rested his bow, the audience sat for a moment in stunned silence. And then they rose to their feet and cheered wildly. They knew they had been witness to an extraordinary display of human skill and ingenuity.

Perlman raised his bow to signal for quiet. "You know," he said, "it is the artist's task to make beautiful music with what you have left."

We have to wonder, was he speaking of his violin strings or his crippled body? And is it true only for artists? We are all lacking something and so we are challenged to answer the question: Do we have the attitude of making something of beauty out of what we have, incomplete as it may be?

Gratitude-Process-Thanks Deb

I'm very grateful for our Mindfulness Group led by friend and teacher, Deb.
I've learned much about 'process art'; marks on paper as inquiry, exploring options and experimentation. I've adopted these practices for much of my work outside of class as well. Here's a recent sample.

I arranged strips of tape on paper, 

painted the page with watercolor, then  removed the tape.

Filled in the white spaces with w/c and oil pastel layers.

Added and scraped away more oil pastel.

Gratitude-It's just a cold...

Watercolor and oil pastel

Gratitude

Exciting-Softness

In our group this week, Deb's prompt was 'softness'. I enjoyed exploring this word/concept.

Exciting-Part of the Process

I really wanted to paint something the minute I came home this afternoon. When I entered the studio, however, I was greeted by wreckage from the week. I realized I had to tidy first so I took all the stuff within arm's reach and tossed it in a pile to sort. Then I reprioritized my stuff and made new places for it. Some of it went to the trash. I feel so good, and I know I'll really feel good when I reach for something and it's there.

During

After

After

Exciting-In Living Color

It's so black, white and gray outside. I wanted to play with some color to give me a lift.
This is new paper especially for acylic paint. It's 256 lb. and it has a very coarse texture to hold the paint. I tore pieces of tape and did a design on the paper. The I painted the background with black Chinese ink. I removed the tape, painted the white places with Golden Liquid Acrylics then layered oil pastels. Sometimes I scratched thru several layers with a brush handle. Fun.

Acrylic, ink and oil pastel

Exciting-Lebanese Rice Dish

One of the few things I miss about living in New York is the amazing array of wonderful ethnic foods. You could get any kind of take out, or buy the ingredients to cook it yourself. There was a Lebanese butcher across the street who also sold prepared foods. It was one of our favorite places. They made a  dish called moudadara. I've been having a hankering for it, so today I made some. It's basically lentils, rice and sautéed onions.  I'm very excited! It's delish!

Moudadara

Exciting-great news!

Since 2009 I got tests and saw an oncologist or surgeon every 3 months, locally and in Boston.
My latest blood work and cat scan were good and for the first time, my doctor in Boston told me I don't have to make the trip out to see her. Yay!

I'm so excited!

Excitement-Drawing Life

My Millie

Exciting-New Paint

 Been using watercolor for a while, but decided to try some acrylics. Got the fluid type to keep it sorta watercolor-like. The colors are very saturated and mix well. They dry very quickly in the pallet, however, and they don't reconstitute well. Having just started, I can't say I get how to use them yet. I do find experimenting with a new medium and such lush colors very exciting. Here's a couple of samples.
                                                                                                             

Delicate Balance-Snow Birds

Watercolor and oil pastel 

Delicate Balance-Chickadee

Ink on rice paper

Delicate Balance-Hummingbird

Ink on rice paper

Delicate Balance-Wired

Delicate Balance-Flamingo

A Delicate Balance-The Sentry

Tangerines-5 ways

Missed Mindfulness Group today. The snow kept me inside. Deb told me they were going to draw an object in several ways, with different materials. Here's mine.

Marker on sketch paper

Ink on mulberry paper

Watercolor pencil on sketch paper

Watercolor on rice paper

Charcoal on rice paper

Spring-Fuscia for Valentine's Day

Spring-Not

Signs of Spring

Thanks Deb

Spring-Beneath My Trees

Spring too

 

It's all about editing.

One Thing-Spring?

My energy is rather low today. Made a mindless, layback little picture with watercolor and cray pas. 

Alchemy-It's a long story...

Alchemy-X-rays

I arranged strips of masking tape on a sheet of watercolor paper. Then laid down washes covering the  page. I found some tubes of acrylic this afternoon so I used it like watercolor (sorta)
Then peeled off the tape and drew with cray pas and then paint in white areas.

And what is this imagery?
Well it was such a beautiful day. Even though there was more than a foot of snow on the ground, I could sense the activity taken place beneath and how it's all getting ready to burst through the layers.

Oh yeah, I was also inspired by seeing and discussing x-rays of my feet with my podiatrist.

Alchemy-Singing

I practiced the song several times in the car on the drive down. My sister helped me with my selection. We agreed that I had a good chance of hitting all the notes with a Carol King song.

I felt nervous and excited as I made my way up the steps of the church. I needn’t have been concerned. They didn’t ask me to audition, and it quickly became obvious that all skill levels were welcomed to the group.

We sang for over an hour to a piano and guitar. The songs ranged from The Monkeys to Andy Williams. The lyrics were printed on flipchart paper and clipped on an easel.

The fellow next to me had great enthusiasm and knew all the na na nas. Sometimes he was ahead of the music which challenged me to keep the timing.

Of the dozen singers, there wasn’t one I particularly connected to; yet there was a cheerfulness in the room that I resonated with. My nervousness disappeared and I felt proud of myself for showing up. After all, how often do I have the opportunity to just sing songs?

Singing-so simple and joyful, for a change.

Alchemy

Alchemy=Transformation?