Weekly Quick Collage: Entradas

Again, all the materials came from the mess on my work table.

Entradas

ingredients: vintage map, notebook page, ledger page, school writing tablet page, and book pages; vintage lace; magazine cutout




I wanted to share this song by Jason Isbell, my new favorite singer-songwriter. Take a listen, if you're interested; his lyric are pure poetry.





Hope you enjoy!



p.s. Thanks to a comment on the last post, I figured out what was bothering me about Pink Dress, and took a stab at fixing it. Thanks to Jo Murray for noticing that the bright new swirl was out of place with the vintage papers. I really do appreciate constructive criticism, because it can help us immensely, if our aim is to become better artists. I sometimes wish we bloggers could do more of this, as it's nice to have another critical eye on your work besides your own.  So, I covered the swirl with part of an old bible page, and added some stamps, and I like it much better now. See what you think:

Pink Dress

Weekly Quick Collage: Pink Dress

Pink Dress                5.25 x 5.25 inches

Not a very creative title, I guess, but here is my second weekly collage. Everything I used in this one is vintage, except for the peach and green swirly design, and everything was found on my art table at the time.  It's pretty amazing what can be found in my current mess at any given time; even more surprising because I do usually clean up between each piece - otherwise I would never be able to find anything! Sometimes the sheer proliferation of "stuff" makes me want to go back to just painting, instead of working with mixed media. Does anyone else ever feel that way?

News: Art After Hours and Book Cover

I have some good news to share!  First, my work appears as the front cover illustration of the Spiritual Naturalist Society's Year 1 Anthology, which has just been released.  I'm very excited to have my work associated with this organization.  The book is available through lulu right now in both print and e-book versions, but will soon be available from Amazon.

Secondly, I'm happy to announce that I will be participating in the Campbell County Library's Art After Hours, which will be at the Fort Thomas Branch this year. This is a really fun event where local artists have a chance to show their work to the public. There is musical entertainment as well as food and wine, and all proceeds go to the library. I hope that any of you who are local will have a chance to come and join us.

Hope to see you there!

Roy G Biviolet

Violet is the color to find for this month's Searching For Roy G Biv, hosted by Jennifer Coyne Qudeen and Julie Booth.  Here are a few of the violets I found:

 wood violets - A bit literal, it's true, but no one can deny they're violet - by definition!

Book of Dreams, second page spread (monotype with mixed media)

downy lobelia

untitled watercolor

passion flower

The Blood Dimmed Tide (monotype with mixed media)

cat mint

Check out all the other violet posts by clicking the links here or here. Enjoy!

Play Time: Word Game

I've always wanted to keep a sketch book of daily drawings. I did this when I was in school, because sketchbooks were usually a course requirement. While working as a substitute teacher, which I did when my children were still young, I also had time to do this, often drawing in class while the students worked. But since starting my full-time teaching career, I just don't seem to be able to fit it in, as those few precious free moments are spent working on more 'finished' pieces.

So, lately, I have played around with the idea of doing a daily - or, more realistically, weekly - collage sketchbook, where I do small collages taking no more than half an hour or so. Just to play with ideas, to experiment.  I started with "The Cow Jumped over the Moon?", and then tried one that was mostly text.  I call it "Word Game."

Word Game                 4.5 x 4.5 inches

I  hope to do this as a weekly feature here. I think giving ourselves some "play time" is important, don't you?

Paradox II

Quantum Theory forces us to see the universe not as a collection of physical objects, but rather as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of a unified whole.
                                                                                                      ~ Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics


Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.
                                                                                                         ~ Nagarjuna (Buddhist philosopher)

Paradox II

ingredients: vintage book cover; vintage book pages, stamps, and other ephemera; vintage typewriter keys and game piece; pencil drawing; image transfers; watercolor pencils; gold oil crayon

In Eastern mysticism, the universal interwovenness always includes the human observer and his or her consciousness, and this is also true in atomic physics. At the atomic level, 'objects' can only be understood in terms of the interaction between the processes of preparation and measurement. The end of this chain of processes lies always in the consciousness of the human observer.
                                                                                                          ~ Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics



Like the Eastern Void, the 'physical vacuum' - as it is called in field theory - is not a state of mere nothingness, but contains the potentiality for all forms of the particle world.
                                                                                          ~ Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters



If you're interested in these ideas, here's some further explanation:









Something to think about, right?

Where I've Been, part 3

While vacationing in Florida, I couldn't help but be struck by the difference in vegetation. The plants that people in Florida routinely grow in their yards are what we in Kentucky might refer to as 'extremely overgrown houseplants.' The huge tropical plants, palm trees, and Spanish moss-strewn live oaks strike me as otherworldly. I also took a trip to Selby Botanical Gardens while I was in Sarasota, and thought you might like to see photos of some of my favorite flora.

 The front yard of the lovely home where I stayed in Sarasota...

 ...views of the garden...

 ... with its fantastic intertwined trees...

... and peaceful gurgling fountain.

 

Another couple of highlights...

 ... from my hostess's yard...

 I would so love to be able to grow plants like these at home!

 Live oaks and other plants...

 ...across the street...

 A nearby tree...

 ... whose red-orange blossoms always seemed to glow in the sun...

The canal at the end of the street.

 Selby Botanical Gardens was just gorgeous...

 ... so much to see...

 ... though I neglected to write down their names...

 I did find out that this is a 'little blue heron'...

 This sago palm was unbelievably huge...

 The koi would actually come up to edge of the pool...

 and allow people to pet them...

 It was like being in a very well-kept...

... tropical rain forest...

 

...complete with over-sized pitcher plants...

... and  beautiful blooms everywhere.

 The oddest were these corpse flowers. The larger bud here is about 4 feet tall, and they're said to smell like rotting meat when open...

 ... which, at the time, they were not.


 Have a great week, everyone! I hope you enjoyed my plant tour!

Just for Fun

Since my mind is kind of stuck in the surrealism mode, related to thinking about the Dali Museum, I thought I'd share something I did recently. I always thought it would be fun to try one of those magazine cut-out collages, you know?  Before I left for vacation, I was playing around with some things that were laying around, and came up with this strange little collage. Enjoy!

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon?         7.75 x 4.25 inches

Where have I been? The Dali Museum

While I was on vacation, I visited the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, which houses the largest collection of Dali's works outside Europe. The building itself was quite amazing.

 Looking down at the cafe from atop the spiral staircase...

Looking out...

Looking up...

 They had an exhibit about illusion which was really interesting; it explained why close up this is a painting of Dali's wife Gala...

... but from far away it's the face of Abraham Lincoln...

...and why this painting on the floor looks like a skull when reflected in the curved column.

Look carefully at the sculpture... (click to enlarge)...

The museum has 7 of Dali's 18 masterworks. I had no idea these paintings were so huge; you could stand in front of one all day and still not see everything that's in it.

I can't even explain to you how much is lost in reproductions of these pieces - just the colors alone show nothing of the depth and shading of the originals...

 

I was in awe. If you're anywhere near the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, the museum is well worth seeing.

I couldn't resist including these photos of Dali - such a character!

addendum:  I can't believe I forgot to mention that Dali and I share a birthday, May 11. Make of that what you will.