10.11.10

I love block printing, and I used to block print often after Beezus was born and before Lucy was conceived. That was the only art, really, that I was doing in the first few years of her life, before Lucy died. I was asked to be in a Day of the Dead ATC swap, and was psyched to do it. I feel Day of the Dead deep within me, and not only that, but it also marks one year of connecting with other artists via Mother Henna's swaps. I took two of her courses in the spring, and loved them and her, and was still finding my artistic footing, or lack of artistic footing that became my footing. (Does that make sense?)

Anyway, I had been wanting to try a block print for this swap, and then I saw Ines doing one, and Kara herself used an amazing stamp. I know nothing about stamping, but her work is amazing. My first instinct is to say, "Well, they are doing printing, so I won't copy." Or whatever you say as an adult that boils down to that sentiment. But having had a busy busy weekend, and not got to paint, I thought that I would just love to pursue this. My first idea. I'm going for it. So, I sketched out a 2.5"x3" skull with minimal design, some, but minimal. I wanted to give my calavera a tear and a heart, for obvious reasons. (Well, obvious to me, at least.)

I had my camera near since I was taking pictures earlier, and I was also spread out on my kitchen table for some reason that annoyed my husband. So, I took some during picture. Burnishing, then printing on card stock, then I lined them all up like a Warhol except the one messed up one I turned to the side. Then I used some cool markers and decorated them like sugar skulls. Though the orange were difficult to use markers on, so I left them just printed. Then the lining up of the ATCs made me think of doing a full sheet of skulls for my sister to frame. She collects Day of the Dead stuff for her house, and has my art in almost every room, from practice still life watercolors, or illustrations of her children, to block prints I did years ago. She is my biggest fan, so I am hoping she isn't peeking over here to see her surprise.

09.20.10

All is Full of Love ATC Series.
"Heart trade"
2.5" x 3"
Watercolor and India Ink.

Close-up on the second one.

All is Full of Love.
ATC.
Watercolor and India Ink.


This one is actually for me. It didn't turn out wonderfully in person. I chose a yellow wash, and it detracts from the power of the painting, I think. This is actually a meditation painting I do when I know one of my babylost mama friends is coming up on the hard anniversary of one year, or when I need to remember that the root of grief is love. Usually I make my own painted cards and they are always a kind of meditation on the person and their loss. It is part of a tonglen painting meditation practice I have been trying to cultivate since my daughter's death. This painting literally is 365 Xs that make up the heart and 365 Ox that make up the background. A year of remembering your child is like 365 days of hugs and kisses.

I also redesigned by main website. Still not sure how it fits me. I love the series the photographs come from, which is called Squared Circles, and it is part of a type of enso search through a photographers lens.


I am also working on two short stories and three essays. EEP. And they are for contest deadlines in the next week, so I might have to filter that down a bit, but for now, it is okay.

08.23.10

Beezus and Thor.
2.5" x 3.5"
ATC
Watercolor.















Beezus and Thor.
2.5" x 3.5"
ATC
Watercolor.

I love painting my children, and I love painting ATC, so this is a natural pairing. I actually have been thinking about painting Thor so much lately because his default facial expression right now is so much like a cartoon (see right), I am always thinking about painting it. I have about fifty pictures of him in this exact facial expression. So, this weekend I gave it a shot. The top one is the first one I did, and I was not happy with it. I stopped using ink to outline my ATC illustrations. I don't know. I just like the look of all watercolor and realized it was more a function of my crappy brushes than my abilities, so I bought a good brush for outlining my figures. Anyway, the mouth of this one ran a bit and I "fixed it", if you can call it fixing it when it still looks wonky. Beezus also claims that she has too much hair and it is not yellow enough. (Critics come in small packages.) So, I painted another one between bathtime and bedtime, so it is a quicky. 

I also did a few needle felted projects this weekend, which I am thinking of listing on my Etsy site as pins, or magnets. I haven't decided.







Bacon and eggs.
3.5" x 2.5"

Calavera.
2.5"x 2"

Maguro Nigiri Sushi.
2" x 1"








And to wrap up, I would give a (small) finger for some sushi right now. So, after posting this, I am starving--Maguro Nigiri. Get in my Belly.

08.04.10 Talking about ATCs.

I have been wanting to do this for a while, but today, I received an email from Ines with so much excitement for Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). I love them too. I wish I had more time to create more of them, and explore more detailed smaller works. We did an ATC trade a few months ago, which was really awesome. I love exchanging work. Anyway, I just had been leaning my ATCs against various things on my desk, or hanging them with a magnet on my metal filing cabinets. I wanted to show y'all what I am doing with my beautiful ATCs, received and made.

First off, I found ATC size matted frames at Michael's for some ridiculously small amount of money, like less than four bucks. I have this very strange space between two windows and had intended on hanging some ATCs there, but haven't quite gotten around to it. So, for now they are on my sideboard.

For the rest of them, I found this incredible ATC journal on Etsy. It was very reasonably priced. So, I bought it. And here is what I got so far from trades, the ripple project and my own creations. You may recognize some of these from posting on here or my blog.

















I taped a small envelope on the inside of the front cover to house the ATCs I meant to trade, am still working on, or in this case, the ones I donated on ripple, but no one bid on them. So sad. (Not the least bit surprised, but still sad.)

I also tape them on top, so that I can lift them and see the information of who it is made.  And in my ATC searches, I found a very cool ATC information stamp, which I am now using for the back of the cards.

08.01.10

Little Bea. 2.5"x3.5". Watercolor.

A wee artist trading card for my beekeeping friend who I love. Just wanted her to have a little something in the middle of the summer.

Meditating Banshee. 9"x12". Watercolor and ink.

I began this piece as a traveling journal sketch, playing with perspective and flow. I didn't like the movement of the figure eight, but I love the prayers and poem flowing around her. And the names of all my children which comes from her. One of the poems reads, "I prayed for each of you like whispers on the wind."

Travel Journal II. 8"x 9.5". Mixed Media.

I actually began this piece thinking it would not be mixed media at all, but as I began layering colors. i thought to layer images that were important in my grief journey--calaveras, myself painted as a calavera, jizos, ladybugs, moons and solstice images, mexican lottery cards, then bits of paper, silver paint. I also didn't intend for the flowing of energy from the arms to be an upside down heart, but when it began revealing its shape, I went with it. The writing around the edge reads, "This may not always look like love from the outside, but turn my days upside down and it is always a heart with all of you right in the center. Even when I have no intention of talking about you, my words tied together, turn upside down and become a huge love knot to you and your sister and brother. always there is love."
Of course, I drew the page limits for the travel journal, and began painting, and it is too big, so I have to do another paintings for the journal. Phooey.

Travel Journal Sketch. 8.5"x 11". Ink.

This was the original sketch.

You are my Sunshine. 24"x48". Acrylic and Mixed Media.

I bought this two foot by four foot canvas at the craft store for my huge dining room wall. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I wanted it to be bright and bold and not much else. I was going to work on something with Beezus, but ended up just taking the brush and rollers and some gold paint and going to town. The top right corner says, "You are my sunshine." It is a song we sing to each other often in our house. Here is the painting in context of our larger kitchen/dining room experience. We knocked down the wall and redid our entire kitchen a few years ago. Actually, we started the renovation the weekend after I found out I was pregnant with Lucia. I remember being afraid of the dust. We just wanted it done for her. That was 2008, I suppose. I am not sure why I am telling that story just that the art was the last thing we thought about and now it is hung.

07.01.10

Anatomical Heart. Watercolor. 

I had this idea for a painting/mixed media thing. I had painted something using the e.e.cummings poem i carry your heart. But I wanted to use an anatomical heart, antique it after watercoloring it, then hiding it behind kite paper and pinning it to a canvas, so it looks like it was dissected out of a body and covered, inside one of the veins, I was going to hide a little drawn cartoon-y heart. I wanted to cut the lines of the poem out and use them in the paint of the underneath canvas. I found some medical books of my husbands and began sketching and painting. This is the first anatomical heart I did. You will see the second later. This just was not good enough for what I wanted and too detailed to be interesting in a graphic way. TOO LITERAL. I did this earlier in the week.

Trying again, I made quicker sketch and used marker to color it in so it would be very graphic. Then I gessoed some foam core board that I had laying around and painted it with a combo of black, grey and blues, with red in there. It looked awful. Ditched that idea without putting the poem into the paint.

This morning, I let my daughter paint on my grey background and she did some cool bright colors on there. And I pinned my heart onto it.

Anatomical Heart. 17"x20". Acrylic and marker.


Not exactly what I was going for in the beginning, but I love doing art with my daughter and it was fun for her to pin it in there and do a piece together. Plus, it is pretty big for a three year old.

From art journal. Audrey and Bea Swim. Watercolor.

I carry your heart. ATC. Mixed media.





I love the last stanza of this poem. And so I cut it out and mixed my mod podge with gold paint and stuck in atop an anatomical drawing of a heart made by da Vinci. (Hell might as well steal from da Vinci, if you are stealing art.) This was in response to Kara's call for small. I had already done part of this painting larger, and thought of how it might look small. I love this one the best, perhaps because I drew nothing in it and I am full of self-critical words right now.

6.18.10

But I want to be the Queen. Marker and pencil. 8"x10"







Bee-girl. Watercolor. 2"x3.5"









Painting my children makes me happy. Beezus always wants me to paint her, so here are some Bee pictures. I am not crazy about the last one, but playing with some techniques. Pulled out my markers for the large Bee-girl one. I did paint one, which was stunning, and went to ink it. It was wet and the ink blurred the entire face. It was so disappointing and stupid. I really should consider a second cup of coffee in the afternoon. The top one I drew and left on white marker paper, then when I went to sharpen the picture in my photoediting program, there was an antique film setting. I clicked it and thought it looked pretty cool. I also liked it sepia, ut kind of defeats the purpose of the color markers, though it does make me want to do some sepia drawings.

6.16.10

I don't want to go to bed. 2.5"x3.5" ATC. Watercolor.

06.04.10

i sing sad songs for you. 2.5"x3.5" ink, acrylic and mixed media.