"Sculpt The World"

I love when someone sends me a photo or link they think I might like and it's clear they know me well.  There are so many interesting things out there we might never know about unless someone gives us a nudge.

This Tumblr link came from my brother-in-law Craig and I was blown away by these stunning photos where artist Jon Foreman arranges stones in patterns on the beach.  There are many more beautiful images and videos on his Sculpt the World Facebook Page.

You can also scroll through the photos on his Instagram page....

he also designs with leaves and other natural objects.

Simple beauty!

Closure

I shared my finished class piece with Margie and some friends at my project group and I was validated that it does look a bit better in person.  The Fabulous Florals class was a 5 week journey and some of the steps were a real challenge...but good things can happen out of comfort zones. I'm so glad I took the plunge.  Here are a few final thoughts....then I can have some closure.

When I started making the leaf prints....I laid some of them down on my childlike underpainting and thought they could actually save it. I ended up painting over the circle plants...and added them back in with the collage papers so I could reposition them.  To get the circles uniform...I tore the paper around a dime....I thought that was pretty clever.



I put some of the more bluer leaf prints on a scattered pile of ephemera and saw even more potential for them.  When there are actually leaves in the yard....I'm certainly going to play around with this again.



This paper was in my stash....a beautiful textured paper with gold accents.  It was a lovely teal....but I over painted some of it with a deep blue and love the depth and richness of the new color. I think it would make a beautiful vase in a collage.

From fresh flowers to sketching to under painting to painting papers to collage to finishing touches to closure....trust the process.  I learned a ton!

Trust The Process

"If you want to be good at something you must first be willing to be bad at it." author unknown

As I mentioned yesterday I was hesitant scared to paint a neutral background on my collage project.....but I did....and I can honestly say it improved it. It's far from perfect but I can actually say I don't hate it and I learned a ton! Trust the process! 

I think the neutral could have been a little warmer...but it is what it is. I have a lot to learn about about mixing acrylics. I think it looks better in person than it does here...or maybe that's just wishful thinking.

When I submitted it online to the class I admitted that I TOTALLY LOST the light and shadows.  I just went for contrast in my paper decisions....making it a little more cartoonish.

I do like how the neutral paint accentuates the circles and makes them pop....and the grassy paper really helped soften the hard edges and adds a little whimsy.  The paint also helped redefine some lines....giving it the breathing space it needed.  Phew!

The splash of dots in the middle was a last minute attempt at adding a missing focal point...something I could have solved a little earlier. Hindsight is 20/20.  I will likely revisit the process a bit in tomorrow's post....then I'll have closure.  

Home Stretch

Yesterday's freezing rain coated the trees with ice and the light from the sun was beautiful through the sparkly trees.  The first photo is the morning light in the front of the condo....the second is the late afternoon light in the back.

I'm almost ready to wrap things up in the Fabulous Florals class.  It's been great journey but I'm ready to put it aside for a while and tend to other things. I've learned a variety of new techniques and can't wait to put my own spin on it in the future.

I'm not sure my piece is anywhere close to fabulous....but finished is better than fabulous. I'm done collaging my big piece and the final step is to paint the negative space with a neutral color....which scares me to death.


I'm actually fond of my contrasting blue background....but Elizabeth says painting the negative space opens things up and helps define shapes and colors.  It gives a little breathing room. Since this is a learning opportunity I'm going to give it a go and honor the process because I think mine needs a little breathing room....it's pretty tightly packed.

Somehow holding it at an angle like this seems more forgiving.   ha ha  I'm on the home stretch and tomorrow I'll have closure before I head back to Lexington.

And speaking of fabulous.....Anne finished her fun-a-day cathedral window project.  Fun is just the same as fabulous! Thanks for taking me on your journey with you!  Well done!

Little Moment

The paint on the bookshelves in the big back bedroom has cured...and it was time to get the books off the floor.

Paul has been collecting books for his retirement for several years...and they've been piling up all over the condo.

This was my favorite little moment so far on the new shelves....a U-Haul truck and trailer and sweet little bear from when he was a child....and of course a few baseball figures.                                                                                           

As much as I like styling bookshelves...arranging the books has to be a Paul job....he has a system...and it's very much still a work in progress. I would like to say there's room to grow...but I know what's in Lexington.  But there's nothing like shelves full of books to warm up a room.  

Black, White, and Rainbow

There was a light snow pretty much all day making everything so crisp and clean. It was one of those snows that clung to the sides of the trees and collected on the tops of branches...there were even little piles on the tops of all the tiny sycamore seed pods. 

It was pretty much a black and white view out the back in the late afternoon light....the white was almost a cool blue actually.

I was compelled to walk out and get a closer look at the little birdhouse....I loved the way it looked in the low light with the snow piled on top.


 

It looked like there was a little snowman sitting in front.

I didn't go back to my little collage today....but I did a quick little project to practice blending colors from light to dark.  I'm not sure I love it...but it was good practice. I used the little single bloom under painting I did earlier in the class?  I decided to go wild with it and infuse a whole rainbow of colors....quite a contrast to the black and white out the window.  I may share a little more about this tomorrow....or maybe I'll experiment with something new.  

Best Gift Ever!

I say that every time I get a great gift!  

I didn't get my feedback from Elizabeth until late in the day so haven't made changes yet to my collage...but I might just add polka dots everywhere.  That would be very ME!  Probably not...but I'm tempted.

I wasn't surprised at what she said....bigger variety of color values....looser shapes....not reusing the same papers in a flower. Variety is the key, she emphasizes. It all makes sense....and I've asked some clarifying questions so we'll see what tomorrow brings.  Today was chores, house puttering....a nice long visit with Margie...and being mystified watching our government at work. 

This is the perfect time to celebrate this wonderful gift from Janice.  It's a much used, much loved bar of soap covered with wool felting and has been super helpful cleaning my messy hands hands of paint and glues.  (Speaking of glue....gloss medium is what we're collaging with because it doesn't mute the colors.  In the end we will tone it down with a satin varnish.  Who knew?  Now I do.)

This wonderful felted soap is soft enough and abrasive enough to scrub the paint and glue off my hands.  I keep it in the bathroom in a pretty bowl with my little brush. It's getting smaller and squishier but I have another one in the wings.  Best gift ever Janice!

 

Full Disclosure

"Every piece of paper is a paint stroke." Elizabeth St. Hilaire

I found the painting part really hard....and so painting with paper might be just has hard.  It's going to take some practice.....but I did have fun giving it a go for the first time.

The new and final video lessons for the class came out this morning....and I jumped right in. 

This is a little side view of where I landed for today....and after some feedback I'll give it a second look tomorrow.  It's got issues.

OK....here's full disclosure.  I am still not comfortable with my larger painting so for the sake of the class I did this little zoomed in 6 x 8 as more practice a few weeks ago. The feedback was helpful and obvious....LOOSEN UP the lines and the flowers should have been a little more floppy. That bottom left leaf was stiff and terrible.  So I painted it out and inserted some of my leaf prints today as I started practicing collage today.

 

I decided to go ahead and show the full view.  It's got problems....but I won't list them. I'll get feedback tomorrow from Elizabeth and see how I can improve it.

It's a start....and you gotta' start somewhere.

Leaf Prints

One of our lessons this last week for the Fabulous Florals class was making leaf prints on some of our painted papers that we'll tuck into our final collage.

I had pressed some of the leafy greenery from my original bouquet so those along with a few snips from my schefflera plant is where I started.  I had a blast! I can really see where the multiple layers really pays off revealing interesting texture and depth on the cutouts.

I rolled a paint layer on my gel plate, laid down the leaves then pressed down a pre-printed piece of paper making sure to work my fingers around all the leaves.  This was one of the leaves I used over and over....and it's beautiful all painted up.  I wonder how long it will last this way....it's quite lovely.

Elizabeth warned us that it didn't work so well when the leaves were touching if you're planning on cutting them out..and it's good to thin some of them out. 

I learned that the hard way but those parts can be used for something else. I think bits of this paper is like fused fabric...every scrap useful.

When I cut them out I left a little bit of the contrasting outline defining the shape and giving them a bit of a frame.

I'm a big fan of these....but I'm in the wrong season to be shopping the yard and I don't have enough variety in my house plants. If I visit you....don't be surprised if you find your plants a bit pruned.😉

Dreaming and Scheming

I spent a few hours with an artist I admire in her home studio in Natick.  I love seeing where artists work....and Holly's studio was overflowing with colorful paintings in various stages. 

I've been following Holly Lombardo on Instagram for a while and met her for the first time at a gallery opening in Portsmouth this last fall. I love hearing her stories and connections to the woods, the water, and even frogs and mushrooms. She paints from her heart and soul and sees colors in the trees and water that at first you may not see.  But they're there.  She has changed the way I look and what I see.

It was fun seeing this more abstract stained glass painting in person...

...it's the one that inspired me to make the fabric stained glass piece.  I need to get back to that again....and now I have her blessing. I think I could do better.

Dreaming and scheming with an artist I admire ....PURE JOY!

February Shift

When February 1st rolls around I always seem to start a bit of a shift.  There's a lot of winter left to come...and I'm OK with that....but I start shifting away from it inside my home and inside my head.

The snowmen and wintery things get packed away and I pull out a few Valentine things to brighten up the February doldrums.                                                                                     


One of my February shift projects was a little needle felted heart for Margie's wreath.

It always starts with a little blob of wool roving.....and a piece of foam rubber and a felting needle.  

Lots of stabbing is oddly relaxing.

I kept adding wool and stabbing until I got the shape and density that seemed right....it's getting there.

 

I speared it onto a piece of wire and it was ready to tuck into Margie's wreath....just in time for the February shift.