Transformation 47

I seem to have amassed quite a bunch of art works that I haven't yet put online. There are several reasons for this, including the lack of a good camera to take photos of art, too much other stuff going on, and frankly, I forgot about some of them. Also, I thought I should wait until I could put them on my new website, for whatever reason. Yeah, I know - blah, blah, blah - it doesn't really matter, does it?

The Transformations series has been ongoing for a long time. I you want to know how it all got started, go here.

Transformation 47

monotype collage with mixed media, 7 x 7 inches

I can't believe I'm at number 49 now, and still going! I will post numbers 48 and 49 soon. I hope you enjoy, and I hope everyone is having a great summer (or winter)!


Since my website is still down, I probably should add that if you're interested in buying this piece, please contact me through the link on my sidebar, or message me on facebook. Thanks!

Transformation 46

Transformation 46

The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see ...  No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, as vital to our lives as water and good bread.   - Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

It is only when we are aware of the earth and of the earth as poetry that we truly live.  -  Henry Beston, 1935, Herbs and the Earth

Transformation 44, with a little help...

Thanks to all of you, here's Transformation 44.

Ingredients: Rives BFK, litho ink, handmade paper, metallic oil crayon, Caran D'Ache crayons, watercolor pencil, help from my friends.

Transformation 44, undecided & unfinished...

This piece isn't quite finished, but it's getting there.  My main problem at this point is that I can't decide which way it should be oriented, vis a vis the whole up/down, top/bottom thing.  As usual, my pathetic indecisiveness has left me to ask you, my blogger friends, for your opinions.

So, here we go:

This way?

Or this way?

Thanks for the help!

Transformation 42, coming along

This is what I have so far for the next piece in the transformation series.  It still needs some tweaks here and there, but I think this is close to its final form.  I'm hoping to do one more before sending the photos off to the client who requested them.  (More about my commission conundrum here, if you're not familiar.)

Let me know if you any advice about the tweaking, please, if you don't mind.  In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend and holiday!

Art on Demand (RecyclingTime)

I've been trying (I emphasize trying, here) to work on something for a woman who bought two pieces from my ongoing Transformations Series back in the Fall.  She had originally wanted three, but when she went back to get them, someone had come in and bought the one she wanted.  She didn't like the pieces that were left in the gallery, so the gallery owner put her in touch with me.  I sent her photos of the remaining pieces I had, but none of them were really what she was looking for, and didn't go well with the ones she bought.  So I told her I'd come up some things that might fit the bill, send her some more photos, and hopefully she'd choose one of them.  No problem, right?  Wrong.

I'm finding it more of a challenge than I'd imagined.  For one thing, I usually just make whatever strikes me at the moment, with no particular goal in mind except to make something.  If it fits into the series, fine; if not, fine.  But now I have to limit myself to a specific size, color scheme, and subject matter. She wants something with plants, and the colors need to coordinate well with the other two pieces.

Here are the ones she has:

        Transformation 12

          Transformation 22

So I fiddled around with some things for a couple of weeks, but nothing came of it except some wasted time and considerable frustration.  What to do, what to do?  Time to recycle!  I had some old monotypes in my "scrap works" drawer that I'd been avoiding cutting up for collage, probably because I had harbored some subconscious notion that I'd be able to "fix them", and maybe shouldn't give up on them just yet.  But, being uninspired, and running low on good collage material, I finally said "what the hell" and threw them into the bathtub on Friday.  Yes, I did say the bathtub.  My old pieces have various  mixed media layered onto the monotype surface, and much of it is water based.  I can't get everything off, but after it has soaked for a while, I wipe off as much as I can.

I've come up with one new piece so far; here it is:

    Transformation 41

I think it could use more work, but this is what I have so far.  I have two questions.  One, what else does it need?  And two, does it "go with" the other two?  Thanks, in advance, for your help!