September 19th, The Melting Planet

Day 19

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

I have a busy day tomorrow starting at 8:30am and ending at 11:30pm so I wanted to post this early. Here is another attempt at abstracts but this time I took advantage of the Golden Molding Paste. This painting actually was vertical but came up horizontal in my blog... I kinda like it this way so I kept it.

The Melting Planet

Alcohol Inks

12 x 24

$275

Buy Now 

September 17th, Yikes!

Day 17

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

Some days go well, some not so well. 
I've been dabbling with abstracts for awhile now. This one didn't work out but I learned something; you can mix the gold ink with any color to get a new glitter like color which is really quite neat.  I just couldn't let go of this painting. I had to keep on trying new things until it got kinda messy. 

What now? Well, I'm going back in with some white next. Why not? What do I have to loose?

Yikes!

Alcohol Inks

Not For Sale

Day 6, Cityscape

Day 6

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

I live close to the city of Rockford. It's quite a gem of a city with a bad rep. (It's been going through a lot of growing pains which started when  all the manufacturing jobs went overseas.) But Rockford has a wonderful community of Artists. One of it's studios holds a place near and dear to my heart. 317 Studio &Gallery  

 It's the home to many artists and many budding artists. This painting is from one of their Loaded Brush  painting nights where Director Therese Rowinski will take you through everything you need to know to create a painting. I teach alcohol ink classes there. Sometimes it's just good to sit back, kick off your shoes and just paint with the rest of the world.

City scape

Acrylics with a palette knife (and playing card)

16" x 20"

Not For Sale

Last post I spoke about a schedule.
Well that's been kinda shot but I am managing to get done the things I need to so far.
 I still have my schedule but have been busy with house guest and Easter dinners.

I dropped off 10 pieces to 317 Studio & Gallery this morning for the Spring Art Scene. I'm so looking forward to it. It was kinda cool to drop off my pieces knowing  that's it - I don't have to prepare anything else for Art Scene.

I Dreamt of You

Alcohol Ink & Pen

12" x 24"

I have been working out my piece for Unforgettable on April 23rd. I thought this would be a nice painting. And it would be IF I could do it in 6 hours. It's more of a 6 day painting. So, I have simplified  my design. 

August Afternoon

Alcohol Ink & Pen

11" x 14"

I found these wonderful canvasses that come framed at Michael's. I thought they'd be great for Unforgettable. This is a possibility. Although I did not sit down and complete this in 6 hours, it certainly is something I could do. I feel like the yellow flower is too large for this composition so again I will tweak the design a bit.

I am continuing to work with my client on the perfect design for her abstract commission piece.

Yellow Orchids

Alcohol Inks

11" x 17"

My orchid painting is completed, framed and hung.

See you at Art Scene April 15th and 16th!

 I'll be at 317 Studio & Gallery.

Day 25, January 30 in 30

Day 25, January 25th

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

Day 25 comes from a multi-media class.
Ink and watercolors on watercolor paper. This was a fun technique and something I'd like to try with my colored inks and watercolors. The interesting thing is the gold that photographed. There is no gold on the picture - that's all the camera's doing.

Intertwined

Ink and Watercolor

Day 22, January 30 in 30

Day 22, January 22nd.

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

And back to the abstracts.... which I struggle with. This one is a mixed media collage with acrylics and molding plaster. It has several layers.

Inner Circle

Mixed Media

20" x 20" on gallery wrapped canvas

Here are some of the detail shots to show the texture.

 

Day17, January 30 in 30

Day 17, January 17th

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

One thing that has been really great about these short little classes at the art guild is the freedom they have allowed me to explore. Being a business, so much time is given to commissions or work that is to be sold, not to mention marketing, bookkeeping, classes and shows. What seems to come last is exploration and experimentation. I feel my art changing, very slowly. I think if I scheduled more time for "art play and enjoyment" I would fine my true "voice" much faster.

So let me declare it right now. I will set aside 3 hours a week to make mistakes - make ugly art - and just enjoy the process of smearing some colors (or black and white) on a surface and see what comes of it.

How about you? Do you schedule exploration time, or does it just come natural to you? Please leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Circle of Friends

Pastels

September 30 in 30, Day 17

Day 17 posted on the 20th.

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

We lost power Thursday night in a storm and I haven't been able to open my computer since. Then, there was the Greenwich Village show this weekend. The show is over, my computer is dead and I'm working on Mark's mac. (I have a PC). So I'm behind a few days here. Oh well… what can you do?

Day 17 is a work in progress. 

I've been wanting to do some more abstracts. (Quite a challenge for me.) I have also wanted to collage- even though you can't see it anymore. This is a 20" x 20" in acrylics. I thought it would be fun to all abstracts for the Fall Art Scene on October 2nd and 3rd. I don't know if I'll make it. This may be a much bigger challenge than two weeks will allow. But I'm going to keep working on this and see what happens.

Moving forward I'm going to post day 21 tomorrow and go from there. 

What about the 4 days missed? I'll try to make them up.

What about my computer? So sad, hopefully it will be fixed soon and I will be back to my old schedule.

What about the show? Best, most fun ever, and it's in my backyard! Imagine that. Thanks to all the friends and family who came out to see me. And HELLO to all the new friends I made.

September 30 in 30, Day 14

Day14

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

I wanted to play with abstracts a bit. Circles seem to fascinate me. I use them often in abstracts. As I was painting and thinking about circles I came up with "talking in circles". We all seem to do it at one time or another. With politics heating up for the upcoming election year it seemed appropriate.

Talking in Circles 

 Alcohol Ink on Yupo Paper

11" x 14"

$95

The Final Ink Drawing

As many of you know, my friend William Ball won the ink drawing give away. He presented me with a photograph of his that is one of my favorites, a circular photo he created using a program which rotates the picture on a axis.  I originally thought, "Oh great, how am I going to change this enough to recognize where it came from while making it my own at the same time?" 

Dreams of Flight

Here's my process. 


 This is Bill's photo.
 It's a pretty wonderful picture.

Using Yupo paper and pencil, I started drawing out the pattern. But I decided that would take a long time and leave to many pencil marks so I just used masking fluid to draw the image.

When the masking fluid was done, I painted over with alcohol inks.

I like the picture without the masking fluid and considered stopping here. But in the end, I decided that this was a pen and ink drawing so I added the pen. I used a thick lined pen and then a much finer one for more detail. At first, I didn't like the thick pen but then it took on more of a stained glass effect.

Anyway, it certainly seems like a direction to look into for the future.

 Thanks Bill for the inspiration.

Day 29, Oils, Blended

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

Today I got the oils out again and enjoyed myself. This is a small abstract on an art board with some of that wonderful molding paste added for texture.

Blended

Oils 

6" x 6"

$20

For day 29 I wanted to get back to some of this month's paintings that I wanted to change when the paint dried.

Daylilies, Day 21;

I felt like the background of the fence was fighting with the flower too much.

Counterbalance, Day 23;
I wanted to add a lime green color to the painting and well, once I got started I couldn't stop.

Day 23, Oils, Counterbalance

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.



I'm having a good time playing with abstracts. Multiple layers of paint and textures really interest me. I'm already thinking of adding another layer to this painting... a lemon green by the dark green sounds good. First this layer of paint needs to dry. I'll keep you posted.

I did a makeover of this painting on the last day. (1-30-15)

Counterbalance

Oils

12 x 12

$60 

Day 18, Oils, Second Chances

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

Second Chances. We all need a second chance at some time. It can make all the difference. 

Second Chances

Oils

12" x 12"

$60

This is an abstract that I reworked. I loved the texture of the original but found the colors to be too dark. I'm much happier with it this way.

Day 14, Paper Collage, Connected

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.





Another great thing about doing a 30 in 30 is the opportunity to finish previously started work. When my son needed a poster board for a school project we used some of my scrapbook paper to decorate it. Not wanting to waste the paper, I kept it knowing that I've seen some paper collages that have inspired me. So I started doing an abstract by gluing rectangular shapes on an art board but I wasn't happy with the glue I had for it and put it away.

Connected

Paper Collage

9" x 10"

$50

It occurred to me that I could use my circle cutter to add shapes to the picture, so I picked it back up yesterday. It was fun. I'm enjoying doing a few pieces that are not my norm. I didn't crop the photograph of this piece like I usually do because I didn't want to cut any of the edges off the photo. They are important to the composition of this piece.

 To purchase this paper collage go to http://www.jillraefinallyart.com/30-in-30.php  Or just hit the "Visit My Web Site" button on the right of this blog. When you get there go to "My Art"  then "30 in 30 in the pull down menu.

Day 8,Acrylics, The Climb

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.


I continued to work with the modeling paste trying to figure out how I want to use it. Today I worked on an abstract landscape after coming back from hanging works at Emerson House with two other artists. I felt inspired by their work.

The Climb

Acrylic

12 x 12

$60

I saw this as a mountain landscape. Thinking that it needed something, I added the red. I like it on the left but feel I overdid it in the center and also feel that signing my name in red was a bit much, maybe purple? I hope to come back to this after living with it for awhile and making a few changes. But as for the 30 in 30 onward and upward.

To purchase this painting go to http://www.jillraefinallyart.com/30-in-30.php  Or just hit the "Visit My Web Site" button on the right of this blog. When you get there go to "My Art"  then "30 in 30 in the pull down menu. 

Win a Custom Ink Drawing. 

I will create an Ink Drawing from a photo that you email me. It could be a favorite vacation place, your house, or anything - just not portraits (they aren't really very distinguishable.) The art work will be between 8x10 and 11x14, depending on the photo and will take about one week to complete.

 

All this is to introduce my new Monthly Newsletter coming out at the end of this month. It will include what's currently happening at JR Finally Art along with some deals exclusively for my newsletter readers. Each month this free newsletter will be emailed to you so you won't miss a thing.

All you have to do to enter the Custom Ink Drawing Giveaway is to subscribe at

http://eepurl.com/SHx-f  or just hit the subscribe button to the right of my blog. I will draw a name from all new subscribers on January 9th. You will be contacted by email and asked to send a clear photo via email within 5 days of winning. After about a week I will sent it out in the mail to you, no shipping charges, no taxes. It's free!

This has a $65 value.

Good Luck and thanks for subscribing.

Day 4, Mixed Medium, Doodle 1 and 2

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

One of my favorite things about doing a 30 in 30 is it's a great time to experiment. I see so many great ideas to try on Pinterest and save them all on a board, "Interesting Art Ideas" for a time such as this.  Today's work came from a U - Tube video. The artist used molding paste and acrylics to add layers of texture. Something I have wanted to try for a long time. So.... seeing that Michael's had 50% off paints this week I purchased 8 new acrylics and paste. I love oils but they are difficult when one is trying to do a painting in one day. It's time to give acrylics a chance again.

Doodle 1

Mixed Medium on Canvas Panel

9" x 12"

$40

Doodle 2

Mixed Medium on Canvas Panel

9" x 12"

$40

I am constantly doing something with my hands, painting, writing, typing or doodling. I use sticky notes all the time to write notes to myself or doodle. There was a time that I thought some of them might make interesting abstracts so I started saving them. Imagine my office with several sticky notes pasted to my computer screen, now add  a pile of sticky notes and odd paper scrapes all over. It wasn't pretty, They had to go. The molding paste gave me the opportunity to doodle as an art form. This isn't quite the direction I want to move in but I think I learned enough to continue on with different shapes.

To purchase this painting go to http://www.jillraefinallyart.com/30-in-30.php  Or just hit the "Visit My Web Site" button on the right of this blog. When you get there go to "My Art"  then "30 in 30 in the pull down menu. 

Win a Custom Ink Drawing. 

I will create an Ink Drawing from a photo that you email me. It could be a favorite vacation place, your house, or anything - just not portraits (they aren't really very distinguishable.) The art work will be between 8x10 and 11x14, depending on the photo and will take about one week to complete.

 

All this is to introduce my new Monthly Newsletter coming out at the end of this month. It will include what's currently happening at JR Finally Art along with some deals exclusively for my newsletter readers. Each month this free newsletter will be emailed to you so you won't miss a thing.

All you have to do to enter the Custom Ink Drawing Giveaway is to subscribe at

http://eepurl.com/SHx-f  or just hit the subscribe button to the right of my blog. I will draw a name from all new subscribers on January 9th. You will be contacted by email and asked to send a clear photo via email within 5 days of winning. After about a week I will sent it out in the mail to you, no shipping charges, no taxes. It's free!

This has a $65 value.

Good Luck and thanks for subscribing.

Day 4, Mixed Media, Childhood Dreams

30 in 30 hosted by Leslie Saeta.

Childhood Dreams

Mixed media on Yupo paper

11" x 14"

$35

I love Pinterest. I love collecting all sorts of art related boards. Under watercolor tips, I have a board that demonstrates using watercolors on Yupo paper and lifting the paint in areas so that it is white again. Who knew? I see all these great ideas that I want to try but I have other works that I must finish and usually don't have the time. 

To me, that's what this 30 in 30 is for, to try new things, to paint those pictures that have been begging to be painted and to push myself out of my comfort zone. That's what abstracts do. I love them. When I see one I like I think, "Boy that looks so fun and free." When I try to do an abstract it is anything but free. They just look that way, they are actually very difficult. But I did have fun with this one, even though the voice in the back of my head kept saying, "Don't mess this up, it's getting late."

To purchase this painting go to http://www.jillraefinallyart.com/30-in-30.php  Or just hit the "Visit My Web Site" button on the right of this blog. When you get there go to "My Art"  then "30 in 30 in the pull down menu.