A Serendipitous Piece of Work

I've been so busy promoting my "PiCassieO" work (www.airedale-art.blogspot.com ) that my "real" art has sort of fallen by the way. Actually, it's all my "real" art - just different ways of expressing it.

The title of the above work (20" x 16", acrylic on canvas) is It Started Out As A Fish. The composition was horizontal at first, and was part of my Betta Series. Nothing I did would make it work as an abstract of a fish, so I finally decided to just play with it and see where it led. What you see is what I got - my first (that I can remember) non-representational work. It became vertical, and the black forms grew out of the existing shadows. I like the colors and the title makes me laugh; guess I found something I wasn't looking for while trying to be "serious".

Yet Another Tangent

Yep, I can't stay on one track for long, lately. This time I'm working in collaboration with my dog, Cassie the Airedale, and we just got a blog: http://www.airedale-art.blogspot.com/ . I love her style - she paints the way I wish I could! I'm photographing her work from her favorite windows and playing with the images in Photoshop. It is so much fun! I never know what she'll do next. Here's a preview: name that painting!

Another Tangent

Last time I wrote, I was "down on the farm". My direction has changed again, brought about by going through a bunch of my old designs. There was one I did from an ancient mosaic, which I scanned into Photoshop and started playing with. I've been wanting to work with color and shape without being too concerned with what's being represented; the little abstracts from the design were just the ticket. At the same time it's like looking at clouds - sooner or later you're going to see a lamb or a bunny or some other familiar form. In the case of the mosaics I started seeing crosses (maybe it was due to beginning the work around Easter). What do you see?

Mosaic 2 (Oil Pastel, 8" x 10", 2007)

Mosaic 3 (Oil Pastel, 10" x 8", 2007)

On the Farm

On the Farm, right side (4' x10', acrylic, 2006)

On the Farm, left side (4' x 10', acrylic, 2006)

One reason I haven't posted in so long is, I took on my first mural project last fall. While scrambling to complete it on time (first weekend in December), I got so far behind in everything else that blogging was the last thing on the list (and my mind). Anyway, this was the BIGGEST project so far: each is 4' x 10'. I painted them on muslin in my studio and now they're on the wall of the Cabarrus Health Alliance Dental Clinic in Concord, NC. The subject is a true 180 from my usual stuff; I got my idea from 15 years worth of textile design, with a lot of embellishment! From what I've heard, the kid patients at the clinic are really enjoying my depiction of farm fun! I had a blast painting it.

Detail: boy with sheep

Detail: school bus

Detail: boys on bales

Betta Ab 2

Betta Ab 2 (16" x 12", acrylic on panel, 2007) is my first experiment with painting on panel. It was a lovely surface to work on! I have several others in the works. This one photographs dark, unfortunately, but the actual colors are much more "Betta".