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Water strider

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Polypore Fungi, 59H x 41W x 2D, acrylics on canvas, work in progress. Acrylics painting started in June, hung and studied in the loose-phase state; cautious about overworking it. Plans this week: most everything will stay out of focus, with details only on the fungi (starting that next), using a little modeling paste to sculpt the fungi.

Watching the water-striders in the pond in our back yard pond. Interesting that it is so weightless, yet with enough mass to be able to walk on water.

Dandelions In the Tulips

Friday, October 19th, 2007

Dandelions in the Tulips, 16 x 20 inches acrylics on canvas with maple wood frame stained dark with red trim design, total size 22H x 28W inches. Available with or without the frame.

Simply “Tulips” as a title would have been too obvious. Dandelions are persistent. Likewise, I’m pleased to have persevered through the course of painting this one; it went through many changes and I learned a lot. Gradual build-up of textures and colors, layers of piling on, scrubbing off and reapplying paint — those parts show through. Painting with pure color in Firewheels, plus grey scale drawing earlier this year really contributed to finding a way to finish this painting. Next two thumbnails show phases of work in progress:

Firewheels

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

Firewheels 18H x 24W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted with scene extending onto the narrow frame.

Thumnails: masking medium, usually used for watercolor paintings, was applied with a toothpick, first image. After being painted it was rubbed off, revealing abstract scribbles and areas of pure color. A time limit was set for this one to be done by the end of today, something I don’t normally do, but the restrictions ensure that it doesn’t get overworked.Next, Firewheels finished and successful in that I was able to stay away from the desire to perfect everything.

This painting was showcased in The 23rd Texas & Neighbors Regional Art Exhibition, April 26 – May 24, 2008, Irving Arts Center, Irving, TX.

Firewheels work in progress

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Firewheels, 18H x 24W inches acrylics on canvas, started

I started a small painting last night that I’ve been wanting to do since Spring, of Firewheels (Gaillardia). Masses of them come back every Spring in a nearby field.

Male Cardinal

Saturday, October 6th, 2007

Male Cardinal at the Dallas Arboretum, Dallas TX, 24H x 24W inches acrylics and masking medium on canvas, trim frame. Sold.

Cardinals are one of my favorite subjects. On walks I see them in the open, but good photos of them are elusive, as they hide just beyond the branches so perfect shots are next to impossible. Branches here are partially in front, placed around the bird in the abstract shape of a nest. The cardinal in the painting really is that chubby. He is well fed at the Dallas Arboretum.
There were two separate applications of masking medium, used traditionally in watercolor paintings. Second phase: trying to highlight the bird’s interaction with its environment and hoping to find a way to do more than provide the expected sort of cardinal portrait. Adding Pthalos Blue wash changes the mood and the season, maybe even the time of day…interesting what one or two brushes of color can do.

One male Cardinal returns regularly to our yard with his mate who chirps quick, sharp notes. I discovered this when thinking that our air conditioner needed servicing, and going out to see what the consistent squeaking was. The pair laid eggs in one of our back yard bushes during May this year. I half-hoped the eggs would be red! The nest was made to perfection with a tightly woven bowl of dry grass, leaves, twigs, and pieces of plastic garbage, so artfully crafted.

North Carolina

Monday, October 1st, 2007

Alain and I flew to North Carolina for three days ( a little business trip and I tagged along—he threatened to take my camera with him and I was sure I could not manage without it!) We drove around the eastern countryside between Raleigh and Washington (NC) through old, old towns (it takes a looong time for wooden doors to shred, and a looong time for conditions to be just right for vines to sprout then twirl round and round, entwined and squished between panes of glass!) …old, old farms: tobacco, cotton, peanuts.. and an interesting gas station.

There is a lot of history in NC – fossil, human/settlers and Civil War history. We stayed at Kitty Hawk (first flight – Wright bros.) and walked the shores at various places along the narrow coast of the Outer Banks. We watched the sun rise and dolphins feed – too far away for good photos, even with the telephoto. As soon as the sun rose they swam away.

Along Cape Hatteras, groups of Grackles ate ripe grass seeds, bouncing up and down on the stems, their bodies too heavy for the tall grasses.

On Pony Island a large sand crab tried to buff up and look tough, but it was quite vulnerable there out in the open; all the other crabs scurried into holes but this one stayed, trying to hide in footprints, which offered no protection if we had been birds looking for a hearty meal.

Great fun to watch the behavior for a while. It’s clearly outlined crab-shaped shadow following it everywhere, creating a few graphic photos that are perfect resource material for drawings and paintings but do not stand alone as good photography because it was moving so fast.

Just off the 2 1/2 hr. long ferry at Swan Quarter, and sunset with a short, wide rainbow after a storm that we managed to escape and watch from the better side.

NO OLF – we were curious about this sign in many people’s yards. The following website shows a video describing how the U.S. Navy has purchased over 30,000 acres of land near the eastern North Carolina coast, planning to move their pilot training program from Virginia.

Part of the huge controversy is that over 75 families would be forced to leave their homes, many of them farming that land for generations. The human issues are enough, but the cause and effect on the wildlife and ecology would be drastic and irreparable. Thousands of ducks and large flocks of snow geese that feed in the area annually would no longer have sanctuary. The large birds would also be a danger to the jets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDmC1LD1Kc

A tale of two drawings

Friday, September 21st, 2007

Northern Delights 01, Banff, Alberta, Canada, 14H x 11W graphite, water-wash pencil, oil pastel, colored pencils on paper. 3-inch-wide white double mat and 26H x 22W inch white custom-built white wood frame with crackle finish.

and

Redbuds 03, Eastern Redbuds blooming on a foggy Spring morning in Coppell, Texas. 14H x 11W oil pastels, graphite, water-wash graphite, colored pencils, eraser on paper

Browsing for pieces to enter in a juried exhibition, I came across two drawings started in March that have a lot in common. Both scenes are low-light situations that were achieved by lots and lots of layering, scraping, redrawing, and using the eraser over pastels for blending as well as erasing. Both are experimental re: oil pastels vs. paintable water-wash graphite pencil.

Milkweed Melody

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

Frame detail images:

Milkweed Melody finished. Oh, the joy of color! 27H x 33W inches Oil Pastels on 140 lb cold pressed premium on WC paper. Has brassy-gold frame painted with an extension of the drawing, frame detail images above. Below: work as it was in progress.

Peace by our back door

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

This is the second time around for doves nesting in the wreath by our back door. I’m sure it’s the same pair who devotedly cared for two eggs, taking turns in shifts as they are now. The chick in the second thumbnail is from the first brood hatched in May. It mysteriously disappeared after two days and the other egg didn’t hatch. There was no trace of that chick anywhere..no body, bones, feathers..nothing. It was not old enough to fend for itself – could the parents have eaten it I wonder? Maybe there was something wrong with it, or the parents were first-timers. The lizards and salamanders around here are too small to eat a meal that size, and other birds would not have been brave enough to come so near to the door I don’t think. Nature takes care of itself though, so no tears. Hopefully these ones will survive and we can watch them mature.

Sept. 3rd: One of the chicks hatched! There were about six Starlings on the roof overlooking the evestrough, which is not usual for them – at our house anyway- so I’m thinking maybe they are interested in robbing the chick from it’s nest. Maybe they were the egg-robbers from the first nest.

Sept. 4th: The chick appears to be so much larger today, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it so exposed. It seems so vulnerable on that small flimsy nest.

Sept. 5th: The chick has been left on its own a lot in the past 24 hours, also becoming quite vocal. The other egg is unlikely to hatch.

Sept.9th: The nest is overcrowded. The chick ruffled its feathers and snapped its tiny beak at me when I took these photos – the instincts are strong – how sweet is that?!

Sept. 11th: When the parent sitting on the chick is up in the air above the nest, it’s time for little chicky to leave! That’s what I thought the day before the chick flew away, and sure enough it was time. It’s so funny when the parent sits on top of the chick trying to hide it – there is hardly enough room for two in the nest, and she/he is not fooling anybody!

Sept. 12th: Fortunately I walked out just in time to see the chick fly from the ground to the fence nearby. There it remained for about 90 minutes then it was gone. That night I wondered where it would be sleeping, and if it was truly on its’ own now without parents, how it would survive. Less than a month before it was not even in the form of an egg!!

Sept 13th: didn’t expect to see it again, but while sitting outside at dusk, there they were, the mom (or dad) and chick. It was so pleasing to see them sitting on the fence together.

Sept 16th: I still see the little one come into the yard, much bigger now. It is smaller than an adult, and I’m sure that must be the same chick. Full circle!