February 30 in 30, Day # 11

30 paintings in 30 days.

Today is a commission piece.

I had a great time at the Nicholas Conservatory last night. We were painting orchids as a part of the In Full Bloom; The Orchid Exhibit. It was a great opportunity to tell people about the Rockford Art Guild and JR Finally Art.

Crab Apple BlossomsII

Alcohol Inks and Pen on Yupo Paper

11" x 14"

NFS

New friends, Jim and Vicki

Pam, The Guild President

Cristi

Beth and John, the Vice President.

February 30 in 30, Day #10

30 paintings in 30 days

In celebration of  In Full Bloom; The Orchid Exhibit at The Nicholas Conservatory, The Rockford Art Guild wild be hosting a  Make and Take this evening, 5:30 -7:30pm. Come on down and paint an orchid on Yupo paper with alcohol inks. It's free to everyone that has purchased a ticket for the exhibit. These are the sample orchids hopefully showing the many varieties and colors they come in.

Be sure to visit the Conservatory again next week as the Rockford Art Guild has a show of art February 14th - 25th.

Nicholas Orchids

Alcohol Inks and Pen on Yupo

The exhibit runs through March 11th. 

For More Info on the In Full Bloom- the Orchid Exhibit click here 

February 30 in 30. Day # 9

30 paintings in 30 days

Today's post in in honor of Galentine's Day. Galentine's Day is the day before Valentine's Day. It's an opportunity for women to celebrate their gal pals. Downtown Rockton will be hosting a big party with lots to do at each shop. Their will be photo booths, waffle bars, Margaritas and a lot more including a chance to win a 16 bottle wine refrig filled with goodies from the local shops. JR Finally Art will offer two Make and Takes. A friendship bracelet and these Love Tiles.

Love Tiles

Alcohol Ink and Pen

Come on down to JR Finally Art Tuesday night and make on yourself for $5.

JR Finally Art Studio & Gallery

210 W. Main Street

Rockton

February 30 in 30, Day # 8

30 paintings in 30 days.

Do you remember spin art when we were kids? You dropped paint onto a paper that was spinning and all the colors would expand out to the edges of the page in a really unique design. I've been wanting to try that with alcohol inks for some time now. So I asked for a Spin Art set for Christmas, $10, Walmart. The 30 in 30 gave me the perfect chance to try. I will say the Spin Art has gotten really cheap since we were kids. It is no longer battery operated. You need to pump a button to spin the much smaller paper. The paints they give you to use are pretty useless too. BUT, I was able to try it using Yupo paper. Here are the results. Okay, I've had enough. A bit disappointed but that's okay. It's just that I remembered it so much cooler than it was. Maybe I was thinking about Creepy Crawlers.

Spin Art

Alcohol Inks on Yupo

February 30 in 30, Day #7

30 paintings in 30days.

I had a hard time with this one. I will admit it. It started out as a piece about recommitting to goals and not letting little stumbles get in the way of the directions you want to move in. I wrote myself a lovely little pep talk in silver across both pages knowing that enough of it would be covered up and that my private pep talk would stay just that. But then I lost the direction when I stenciled with molding paste. I like them very much but they are way too centered and there's four of them, an even number, I know better than that. Anyway, I was never able to get back to any kind of a focal point after that. I decided to stop trying so hard and doodle my way through the rest of it. So I let everything dry and plopped down in front of the TV and casually doodled. It still doesn't have a point of interest, but I'm okay with it.

Celebrate the Ordinary, See the Extraordinary

Mixed Media

February 30 in 30, Day # 6

30 paintings in 30 days.

This is a commission I was working on.

Dahlias II

Alcohol Inks and Pen

11" x 14" on Yupo Paper

February 30 in 30, Day #5

30 paintings in 30 days.

When I do journals I never know what's going to happen. I like it that way... I think it's good for me to be spontaneous and problem solve on the spot. Some of these journals seem to take time between the layers. Time, not just for the paint to dry, but to get away and see it with fresh eyes.

This page had a self portrait that I drew with Conte' crayons several years ago. It wasn't very good but my intentions were to keep it and have the eyes showing or some recognizable face part. I kinda lost it as the layers pilled up. I knew I wanted to use leaf cut outs but I wasn't sure where I was going. It became fitting to use the dragonfly, the symbol of change, metamorphosis, as my face morphed into something else totally different and unrecognizable. I liked the poem. It's from an unknown author. I'm liking using words as an added texture on the paper. I'm drawn to cursive handwriting - something that will be obsolete at some time, as school children are no longer taught it. I like the idea that if any of this survived 50 years or so the journal would have some secret long forgotten language on it. How cool would that be?

Metamorphasis

Mixed Media

Febrary 30 in 30, Day #4

30 paintings in 30 days

I had a freebee with my newsletter this last month.
If you sent me a picture of your pet and I would randomly choose one of those to paint.  Pat Bryan's name was chosen. She submitted a cat.

 

Pat's Cat

Alcohol Inks and Pen

8" x 10" on Yupo

Don't miss my next giveaway. 

Sign up for my monthly newsletter here.

More info on pet commissions here.

February 30in 30, Day #3

30 Paintings in 30 Days

A day back in my comfort zone. Today's apple blossoms were a bit of a challenge, to keep the whites and soft colors using alcohol inks which are known for their vibrant colors.

Apple Blossoms

Alcohol Inks and Pen

8" x 8" Canvas

$185 +S&H

Buy Now

 

February 30 in 30, Day #2

30 paintings in 30 days.

Continuing with the art journaling I now have found a home for all those cool incidental pieces of art that you can't quite throw away but you don't know what to do with them.
This was a quick demo on what alcohol inks can do. I saw a face in it, drew it out then thew it in a pile.( You know the pile... we all have them.)

On a side note, I have to say, I'm thrilled to see how great pan pastels are for journaling. It's so fun to be able to so many supplies at one time.

I wasn't happy with this piece. I wasn't sure how to finish it. Then the song "The Impossible Dream" popped in my head and I decided to write the lyrics on the page. I found a U Tube of Susan Boyle singing the song and proceeded to write the lyrics. As I did this,  I remembered why I loved this song so much. My mom loved music and had a lot of classical music but also some show tunes. When I was 6 my folks got a new cassette player and started collecting music. My favorite was Man of LaMancha. I spent hours dancing around the living room and singing the songs. "The Impossible Dream" was my favorite song. So I wrote the lyrics and all of a sudden the piece felt complete.. and I liked it. I was happy to have recaptured that memory.

Let Your Mind Wander

Mixed Media

(Sorry, I see that the large picture isn't so clear.)

Feb 30 in 30, Day 1

30 paintings in 30 day challenge.

This year the 30 in 30 is being held in February instead of January. There's good and bad to that. I wasn't quite ready to jump back into a 30 in 30 right after the holidays but probably should have. And, of course the Olympics are starting in 7 days and I love, love, love watching the Olympics. Painting??? Maybe, I don't know, as long as it doesn't interfere with my TV time.

So having said that, this 30 in 30 is important to me. This is the month that I devote to creating
Ugly Art! So before I offend everyone let define "ugly art". I've been creating art for what, 5 years now, and there is always that pressure to make the piece look good enough to sell.Commissions need to look good, there's always new shows to get ready for. There's a lot of pressure to produce and that's okay. But sometimes the creativity gets a bit lost. And let's remember, it's in the creativity where we get swept away in a wonderful bliss... the high. Anyway, I'm feeling like it's time to try new things, to explore without worrying about the consequences. 

So I'm telling you now, this may get ugly! And I kinda, hope it does. I hope I can explore a few things fearlessly.
Let's make some mistakes!

So here's the deal; I still have commissions to do this month and shows to get ready for. I will still do those and I'll be happy to crawl back to my comfort zone from time to time. But I'm hoping that at least half the time I can do some exploring without concern if it will "work out" or not.

I've decided to start an art journal. After resisting for a long time I feel this will be a great introduction into mixed media for me. I grabbed one  of my many half used sketch books and started gessoing the pages. Some of the drawings I'll keep and incorporate into the journal, some I won't. I'm pretty pleased about repurposing this old boring sketch book.
 
I should let you know that when I was eight I experimented with mixed media in my sketchbook.... it was a disaster! I always thought it the ugliest page in the book. It has taken all these years to recover from it.(lol) I'll post it if I can find it. And YES I still have my sketch book from 1968. Don't you have your old sketch books?

So this is my first journal page. I have to thank Laura for coming to paint with me at the studio and spilling the yellow alcohol ink. In the process of cleaning up, she created the most beautiful paper towel. It became my inspiration. I think I used just about every journaling technique I found on U Tube.

 A Little High A Little Low

Mixed Media