Hope

Hope

What's the use

of something

as unstable

and diffuse as hope--

the almost-twin

of making do,

the isotope

of going on:

what isn't in

the envelope

just before

it isn't:

the always tabled

righting of the present.

--Kay Ryan

This is another of my encaustic paintings. It's also my (pink) entry for this week's Summer of Color, although I'm a little late for the party. 

We literally had two tons of gravel delivered to the house and are going back for more! So I've been shoveling gravel and doing a lot of work outside. That doesn't leave much time for art at the end of the day. :( I'm finding that I'm not as young as I used to be and when the evening comes I seem to want to just take it easy now (not to mention the sore muscles)! Hopefully this last load will be the end of it and I can get back to my painting. ;)

Shattered Hearts

"But you cut me quick

In the light of the shade,

On the edge of the green

Of the yard's sharpest blade..."

Sharpest Blade, by Over the Rhine

These are a pair of paintings I did last year. It was when I first started experimenting with encaustic painting. I love this medium! Now that summer's here I have cleared that part of my art room and am eager to start in again.  You must have adequate ventilation (open windows and exhaust fan) for the fumes but it's worth it. I've been stockpiling all kinds of new colors of encaustic paint every time I visit Blick Art Supply so we shall see what develops in the coming weeks. I'm still new at it but I'm ready to bring out the torch and see what I can come up with. Don't tell hubby but I've got a new torch, too! I'll be careful not to burn the house down...  ;) The first painting is called Shattered Hearts.

The second painting is called Bleeding Hearts. It's done over an old painting I bought at a store and then decided I didn't like so I thought I would just paint my own! ;) So these are my heart paintings for today.

For this week's Paint Party Friday I wanted to contribute something so I thought I would show you a different medium. Be sure to check out all the other entries. There is always a great deal of eye candy there! ;)

Wild Thing

This week for the Summer of Color challenge we were supposed to work with the color green. Ugh! I had the hardest time with this one. I realized I hardly EVER work with green. I was so tempted to skip this week. But I signed up for this because I wanted to try and work outside of my comfort zone. This is what I came up with. I know, not my normal thing. Ha! At least I did something. I can now move on to next week.

One fun thing: I was able to play with Tyvek! Yay! The crocodile is Tyvek painted black, ironed and then painted again. That's where all of that cool texture came from. So if nothing else I was able to come up with some textures for another piece later on :)

I've been having some computer problems off and on, but all fixed now. For Paint Party Friday people, sorry I wasn't able to get to you before now. I promise to visit your blogs starting today!  :)

Sister Love

Today is my sister's birthday. Yay! So I painted this for her. I call it Sister Love. Happy Birthday, Paula! She's the baby sister. There are five of us (3 girls, 2 boys) and I'm the oldest. She's had a rough year and I wanted to give her something to hopefully make her smile and to tell her how much I love her. Big Hug to you, sis! This will be on it's way as soon as I get it framed. This is also my entry for Paint Party Friday.

I fell in love with all of the techniques for this painting when I saw them in this book:

I LOVE it. So many ideas for mixed media and this painting was only one of them. I highly recommend it.

And Finally, Shayla From The Inexplicable Rabbit nominated me for this:

Thank you so much, Shayla! That's so sweet of you! Please check out Shayla's blog. Her artwork is incredible. I LOVE it! Now technically I'm supposed to name ten things about myself. I will, but at a later date. And as for nominating other bloggers, there are so many of you out there I couldn't possibly narrow it down. I'll just nominate all of the wonderful blogs of Paint Party Friday. THEY deserve it!

Blue Lady

This is my entry for the Summer of Color this week. Our first color: Blue! We can use any shade, however we like. I decided to do an art journal page. I tend to use a lot of the same colors in my work so this exercise in color each week will help me with that challenge, I think.

I'm excited to see a few familiar faces in the participant list plus it looks like I'll meet a lot of new artists as well. Check it out!

Not Feeling It

It's Paint Party Friday time again! And you would think this girl would be more excited about it. Especially after I went to all the trouble of hand-piecing her dress (all made from tiny bits of CitraSolv papers glued together)! So when I surprised her with the dress, I had her try it on. You see the reaction I got. She had an attitude from the day I sketched her. You just can't please some people!  ;)

Be sure to check out the other PPF entries. You never know what you'll find!

Discovery

Is it June already? The summer will be here before you know it. I'm always looking for inspiration and signing up for courses is a fun way to start. So this is what I'm excited about now: Yesterday was the beginning of the Summer of Color, hosted by Kristin. Every week there will be a new color to inspire. This week: Blue! (No, the art at the top is not the entry for the week. I have until next Monday to post!) We can work in any medium. I will probably stick with acrylics but I'll see what mood I'm in that week. ;)

Today is the first day for Soul Restoration 2. I LOVED Soul Restoration and was thrilled when they decided to offer a second workshop. So that will definitely keep me busy. And later this month I will be starting the Experimental Art e-course with Amelia Critchlow. I am really looking forward to that!

I hope this will be a summer of discovery. There is a lot of emotional baggage I'm working on unloading and once that is sorted out maybe I'll find my way to where it is I'm trying to go with my art.  ;)

Ghosts

Playing with layers again. Torn papers, tissue paper, collage and paint. Then scratched into the layers after that. Loving the work of Jeanne Bessette lately. Thank you, Micael, for sending me the link! This is my current obsession: figurative abstract. Even hubby likes it! ;) So I may be doing a lot more on this theme. We'll see...

Whisper

Time for Paint Party Friday again! I've been inspired by the music of A Fine Frenzy lately. Their album One Cell in the Sea has been playing non-stop on my iPod for days. The song Whisper was the inspiration for this little piece. It's done on watercolor paper. I've once again added tons of papers, layers of paint and some image transfers. Be sure to check out the other participants in the party. You won't be disappointed :)

Here is a video of the song if you'd care to listen to it:

Pixie

This mischievous little creature showed up in my sketchbook last night. She just made me smile. I've been known to cause a little mischief myself so I could totally identify with her. Maybe she's a small part of me, who knows... I rather like her! She's cheered me up a bit. After I sketched and shaded her I scanned the page into Photoshop and added a few digital elements.

Today kicks off 30 Days of Creativity. I try to work in my sketchbook every evening. Sometimes nothing comes of it but other times I am surprised at the ideas for paintings that jump out from the page. So I won't post what I do everyday but periodically I'll check in with what I'm working on. I think it's a great idea and love to see people getting excited about art! How cool is that!