Thursday, May 24, 2012

I went a little crazy

with texture.
 Passage 51, 12x12 mixed media

 Passage 51, detail
                                   
These two paintings are part of an ongoing series of textured mixed media abstracts that I've been working on for a while. Aside from landscapes and a couple of series involving social commentary, I love playing with different materials - papers, glue, paint, polished stones, texture gels, Styrofoam, tissue, whatever I can glue to a canvas. I just want to make something that's fun to run your hand over and feel the bumps, cracks and wrinkles. Fun!

 Passage 52, 12x12, mixed media

 Passage 52, detail



Wednesday, May 9, 2012


A Walk in the Park
16x16
acrylic on canvas

I decided to surprise everyone and do a landscape on something other than a red underpainting. This canvas had been painted blue with an abstract painting in mind. I decided to change that idea too. I think the early summer heat has me wishing for the spring temperatures to last a little longer. If I can't have the temps then at least I can paint something cooler.

One weekend Kelli and I took a girl's weekend and went to Hontoon Island State Park. It's an island east of us in Deland. We arrived by ferry and then spent the better part of the day wandering and taking pictures. This was one of the cooler areas. The nice shadowed trails were a pleasure with little bits of sunlight bouncing off the vegetation here and there. Other areas were more open and definitely hot. We were afraid if we didn't get off the island soon a park ranger was going to find our bleached bones scattered among the palm fronds. Maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but not by much. 

It's a beautiful place. I'd like to go back one of these days. I'll just plan on being a little smarter about reading the map.


Sunday, May 6, 2012

I've been bouncing back and forth between 2 different series lately. You know I've been painting landscapes like crazy and I'm still doing that but I also needed to get back to the Silent Voices series too. Here's the latest painting in each of those groups.

Calloway Garden
12x12
acrylic
This one is painted from a photo that my mother took in Calloway Gardens in Georgia. It's a little different than the other landscapes I've done. I hadn't done anything with such an abundance of flowers. It was a challenge but I loved it.

Below is the latest in Silent Voices. It's the most autobiographical in the series. Some of the pieces in this series now include prose. As I pull out the older pieces and sit with them for a while I may write prose for them also. I'm finding that it gives the paintings a new level of depth and understanding.

BFA
 (baby for adoption)
48x36
acrylic

Fractured and broken in shades of grey.
The stories are sealed, the secrets not lies.
A life hidden and changed,
kept in tidy boxes so as not to disturb
the shining image of others.

Black on red, the letters controlled.
The signs were there, sending two lives down different roads.
One life unknown, the other unseen.

Imagination and grief hold hands under the mask
until the friction chafes and burns
with the once a year flame.
The lids break open, the cracks widen.
The flames get higher, the ash deepens.

Take cover.
Let the fire heal and the wounds return
to the soothing shadows.