Wordless Wednesday. . .

Newport Pictures and A Celebration

Hello my dear friends!! Thanks so much for your lovely comments on my last post!! Our weekend trip was fabulous! Despite the wind and cold temps the warm sun was shining all weekend which made Newport all the more beautiful!! We were blessed with great sunny weather! We always stay at a beach cottage that we love and waking up each morning to the sounds of the ocean is always amazing! Oh how I miss it already.

I will be sharing some photos in 2 parts since there are too many as usual! The ones here today were taken along Newport's famed "Cliff Walk". You can walk along the ocean for 3 miles and even see the mansions along the pathway!

This photo is from the top overlooking the edge of the cliff.

These are the "Forty Steps" at the start of the cliff walk. I didn't think I would make it back up! But me and my outta shape legs did just fine!

Lou and I took this photo at the bottom of the forty steps. Today is Lou's birthday so we will be relaxing at home, taking the pug to the walk trail and celebrating with some cupcakes later tonite! It is another sunny day here and I am grateful.

More photos to come! I have missed you all! I look forward to catching up and visiting your blogs soon!! :)

Angel Bride and A Weekend Getaway

"Angel Bride"

mixed media on 8x10 canvas board

I wanted to share my latest painting with you before I head out for the weekend. I used my angel sketch and adhered her to the layers of collage, glaze, and stamping that embellish this canvas board. I used crayon for the flowers and like that it is the only color on her. I initially wasn't crazy about the pink I chose but pink to me symbolizes love so I thought it was appropriate! She will be making her way to my etsy shop soon!

This morning hubby and I are heading to Newport, RI for the weekend! It was a gift from him for Valentine's Day. Although I have been there numerous times I never tire of it! We will be staying at a beach cottage right and I don't even care how cold it will be! Just to be near the ocean calms me and makes me happy!

I won't be blogging much but you know that I will have my camera with me so there will be photos to share upon my return!! Have a lovely weekend!! xo

Wordless Wednesday. . .

NYC, Janet, And An Etsy Treasury

Hello my friends! Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend! I am here to report that the Janet Jackson concert was AMAZING!!! She performed all of her #1 hits which was great! I remember buying her Control album when I was in high school in the 80's. I have been a fan ever since then. She looked great and her dancing is incredible to watch. I was up on my feet dancing for most of the concert!

We saw her at Radio City. I wanted to share a couple of photos I took in and around the theater. Boy was the city bustling Saturday night! We ate dinner at a fabulous italian place, Nizza's before heading to the show. If you are ever in NYC it is worth a visit!

And this morning I found out one of my art prints is included
in a lovely etsy treasury!

"Make a Wish"
8x8 Print of Original Painting

You can take a peek at the treasury HERE!
And thanks for all the great comments on my last post!

Angel in the Forest . . . Revisited

"Lift Me Up . . ."

mixed media on 8x10 canvas board

Thanks to all who commented on my landscape painting! I am now mulling around ideas in my head for where I want to take it next. I still have it up on the easel where I can see it and each time I pass by I stop and think. Hope to finish it soon and will post it when it is complete.

This painting I started yesterday and finished this morning. I don't think I was in the zone when I started it which made it a bit frustrating. I printed out some photos of butterflies to alter but when I had them on the canvas I hated how they looked! So out came the black gesso! I covered that all up and grabbed this photo which had been sitting on the table for over a week. It is of one of my glazed abstract paintings I had previously posted which I digitally altered in black and white.

Initially I didn't like how it came out but as always after stepping back it all came together for me. Hope you can see the angel being lifted up in the right corner of the photo!

Wishing you all a great day! Tonite I am heading to Radio City Music Hall with hubby to see Janet Jackson in concert!! So excited! She was on my list of icons I had hoped to see live someday! That someday is now!

WIP Update . . . Urban Landscape

I thought I would post an updated photo on the progress of my urban landscape painting. You can see the first stage of this painting and the inspiration photo HERE.

I am surprised that I made it this far. I am continuing to use only payne's gray white. I made some tweeks to it in order to continue with the perspective. I added some yellow on the buildings to mimic windows and widened the road in the foreground. I almost attempted a car on the road but erased it! Not sure yet how I will be able to do that.

I actually like the unfinished look to it. Sometimes when I do landscape I am way too rigid, trying to achieve an exact replica of the photo I use for inspiration. This time I am trying to let loose a bit and go for my own impression of it.

Would love to hear your input and or suggestions!

Wordless Wednesday. . .

View from the top of the MET

April, 2010

WIP . . . Urban Landscape

I have been itching to do another landscape since I finished the one for my friend. So I started this canvas last weekend. This is just the under painting where I am trying to sketch out some perspective. I wasn't even going to share it at this early stage but figured what the heck! I haven't done anymore to it I think out of fear! lol I am not sure where to go next. I think I need to just not think and slap some paint on!

This is the photo that I am using for inspiration. I took this photo in NYC a couple of years ago. When I looked at it again I saw it with different eyes. I right away noticed the composition and perspective. I wondered if I could paint it.

I will using a monochrome palette in shades of payne's gray. I don't know who I think I am even considering this image but lets see if I can pull it off!

Make A Wish . . . New Collaged Piece

"Make A Wish"

mixed media on 8x8 wrapped canvas

Thanks for all the great comments on my pug photo in my last post! it is one of my favs! Who am I kidding? All of the photos I take of Bosco are my favorites! lol I thought it would make a cute card so I listed it today in my etsy shop!

Despite the fact that I woke up today with an ugly headache I tried not to let that stop me from finishing this piece I have been working on for quite a few days. This was inspired by techniques I am learning in Jodi Ohl's class "Fun With Faux Encaustics". I am veering off the traditional road with her class but am having fun learning alot of great collage layering techniques that I don't usually incorporate into my paintings. Of course I have absolutely no patience to let layers dry which can be a problem! lol

You may recognize this girl as it was a sketch I posted a few weeks ago. Well, I decided to print out my sketch on plain paper and collaged her onto the canvas. I just colored her in with some crayons and charcoal pencil. I have to say I had alot more fun coloring in a sketch than painting a face! This may be my new favorite way to get my sketches on canvas!

Wordless Wednesday. . .

"Friends"

Embrace Me With Your Love . . .

"Embrace Me With Your Love"

mixed media on 6x8 inch canvas board

Thanks for all your great comments on yesterday's post! I think it is my love of photography that pulls me right back to these altered photo pieces. So remember when I said I had another photo waiting in the wings? Well I got it on canvas quicker than I thought! This is an altered photo of my "Embrace" painting. You can see the original HERE.

I played around with the composition for a bit with this one. I knew I wanted to cut it in 3 pieces but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them! After moving them around alot I finally found something I liked. At first the blank space to the right scared me but then I thought I could fill it with some writing which I don't typically do. I used a palette knife again to scatter some white gesso around. I am loving that white gel pen. I find it much easier to write with than a paint pen.

I really like this piece. I am feeling less pressure to step away from the black and white palette.

Altered Angel . . . Using Photos of My Art

"Altered Angel"

mixed media on 6x8 inch canvas board

Its rainy here today so I have been in my studio sanding photos and painting. Some of you may remember seeing this photo in its original state. . . .as thepainting "Angel in the Shadows" Click Here to see the original painting. I had been thinking about using it for one of my altered black and white pieces. I digitally altered the image to black and white, cut it out, and began scratching it up with sandpaper. I used distress ink on the edges. Then I grabbed my water soluble black crayon to do some shading and outlining of the angel image.

I glued the photo to the gessoed board and cut up another piece of the image to add at the top. I used white gesso on a palette knife to scrape onto the background. I have a new white gel pen that I added the details with around the edges.

I have a photo of another one of my glazed paintings that is waiting in the wings to be cut up and altered! I think that will be next!

Progression of a Landscape Painting

I am excited to share the landscape I spoke of in Tuesday's post that I had been working on a for a good friend of mine. It was a special photo of his that I was so struck by when I saw it that I wanted to paint it for him. I hadn't done a landscape in quite awhile but this has renewed my love for the process of landscape painting! It is where I began before discovering mixed media.

The above photo shows the first layer of color that I put down pretty quickly. I did an initial sketch so I would know where to add the lights and darks. I used a combo of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for a neutral grayish tone along with some acrylic glaze medium to keep the paint moving. I tried to mimic some of the texture of the landscape as I laid down the color. And then I used a rag to wipe out the tiny bit of sky at the top, the path and the sidewall area on the left. You can probably still see some of my sketch with the tree limbs and a person on the path.

Then I began adding another layer of color this time with lots of green, yellows, and orange. I am now also going from dark to light to establish perspective. I must admit I had difficulty with the curved wall on the right side! I tried to work with shades of light and dark to bump it up.

Here is the finished painting! I really like what the yellow does for the gray of the path. It is a nice contrast and the yellow just pops! The person I didn't like initially and almost took it out at the end! But it is a crucial piece to the initial photo that I needed to leave it in.

I saw him Tuesday nite for dinner and surprised him with the painting. He loved it! And it made my heart so happy that I was able to recreate this scene for him in a painting that will hang on a wall in his home!

Wordless Wednesday. . .

Tilly Foster Farm

Brewster, NY

Emerge . . . My First Layered Collage Painting!

"Emerge"

mixed media on 8x10 canvas board

As I said in yesterday's post I did alot of painting this weekend. This piece is my first attempt at a layered collage. I typically don't have patience for layers and I certainly could have added many more but I will take this as a first step! I initially was going to use this as a background for one of my face sketches but when it was done I decided to fill the blank space in the center with the tree. I used a couple of my own photos for the collage that were printed on plain paper.

The colors I used are not colors I am comfortable with either. I used some hansa yellow, phalto blue (gs) and nickel azo gold. I did begin with a first layer of payne's gray glazed over some stamped tissue paper and of course that got lost when I added the other colors. I used staz on ink for the first time and I love it.

This picture doesn't do it justice. In person there is more depth and some texture from the tissue paper. Hope you like it!