Painting on Cardboard

This is Clarice.

 

Trying out a new surface: Cardboard.

Picasso did it, http://www.wikiart.org/en/pablo-picasso/embrace-1900 and so did Miro, Vuillard, Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas, along with many others.

 

I love the texture of the cardboard. And of course I had to use my Perfect Portrait mix. It's a wonderful skin color. Every color I used in this painting was mixed with a little PP. I heart acrylics.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. Just a little bit of art to post to start the weekend off right. A limited palette of two analogous colors and one complimentary. And a little bit of "spice" in the sky!

Monoprinting inspired by Chagall

 

A monoprint inspired by Chagall. First try at monoprinting, I think I will do more!

Willie's Wife

Everyone at my house thinks this looks like Willie's wife, hence the title. Of course, this is just a person out of my head but let the crazies think what they want! This is pastel on Fabriano Tiziano.

First snow of the year, my evergreen loves it!

My evergreen after the first measurable snow this year. But that's okay cause it's supposed to be 67 degrees today. If you don't like the weather in Kansas City, just stick around till tomorrow, it'll change.

At the home of Thomas Hart Benton

This was my second trip to the home of Thomas Hart Benton. The photo above is a vintage figurine that is in his wife's bedroom. If you are in the Kansas City area or are planning to be, it's a must see. You can learn all about his life and see many original paintings and drawings through out his home. The carriage house was his studio which is where he died in 1975. The parks department left his studio just as he left it. For more info: click here.

Browne's Irish Market and Deli

What an amazing place! I feel as though I have stepped back in time. And who knew this treasure was right under my nose? Browne's was established in 1887 and is the oldest Irish business in all of North America. They serve delicious Irish food (the potato soup is a must eat) and have an awesome market where you can browse through all kinds of Irish imports and handmade goods.

I was so impressed by the friendliness of the owners (still a family owned business) and staff (Hi Wendy!) that I created this piece using their brown paper gift sack... the same sack I had filled with items I had to have from their market. So if you are visiting the Kansas City area, or if you are a native, you must visit here... you will be welcomed!

For more info on Browne's go here.

And here it is...

 My work was published in Somerset Studios Gallery Magazine, Summer 2012, in an article that Misty Mawn wrote. I just got my copy in the mail but it won't hit newsstands till June 1st. Doing a happy dance!

Time Triptych

I've been consumed with time lately. It's the one thing you can never have enough of and once it's gone, you can never get back. My huge 32x48 year-at-a-glance wall calendar is mocking me at this very moment, knowing that June is a milestone birthday for me. Ugh.

A visit to the new art supply store in Kansas City, Artist and Craftsman Supply, was just what I needed to get me out of my funk. I bought all kinds of art goodness. And then there it was, sitting by the cash register were  bags and bags of watch parts. I knew I had to have them even though I had no idea what I was going to do with them. It was that time thing again.

And so my "Time" triptych was born. This is the first piece in the triptych and I used up a half a bag of watch parts on it. I also deviated from my usual palette of bright vivid colors. I like the muted neutral tones, it kinda matched my muted mood. So I'm off now to work on the remaining two.

A New Year filled to the brim with possibilities.

Sometimes you can just feel it coming. I know 2012 will be filled with good things and I thank God in advance for that. I bought a huge dry erasable year at a glance calendar. It fills most of my wall. I almost didn't buy it because it somehow scared me to look at a whole year at once. Daunting yes, but I don't want this year to get away from me like last year did. I will plan ahead, fill up my calendar and be happy. So I wish you, my dear blogger friends, a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. May your cup overflow.

New series - "FacePage"

This is a series I am currently working on with mixed media on book pages. These pages are taken from "The Passing Bells" by Phillip Rock, circa 1978. For this series, I plan on working through the whole book, 433 pages in all.

The title of each piece will be taken from words already on the page and still visible through the paint.

Also, each piece has it's own story line. The story will be what was running through my head before, during or after I painted it. Because there has to be a story.

And here are the first nine pages:

 Title: "Coming on Like the Wind"
The story: She could feel it in every breath she took. She was about to be set free from her past and all that entangled her. A change was coming on, coming on like the wind.

 Title: "Summer 1914"
The story: Best of friends, the girls would always spend their summers together.

Title: "Feminine Glow"
The story: She reached for the stars...and got one.

 Title: "Mr. Blythe"
The story: His daily commute included Starbucks. That's when he did his best thinking.

 Title: "Full of Mustard"
The story: Being high-spirited and a bit edgy, Grandpa George said she was full of mustard.

 Title: "Foxe"
The story: She painted her lips Botox Red, just to show them off.

 Title: "A Very Pretty Girl"
The story: She still loved her kiki, even after all these years.

 Title: "Burgate Hill"
The story: As she peered out over the wall, she was surprised to find the grass really was greener on the other side.

 Title: "Sacrifice"
The story: Her deepest desire was to help others. She made the sacrifice. She became a nurse.

Albert Bloch - Winter in the Dead Wood

Albert Bloch
American, 1882-1961

Winter in the Dead Wood, 1934-1938
Oil on Canvas

After returning to the United States from Germany in 1922, Albert Bloch became the head professor of drawing and painting at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He painted Winter in the Dead Wood early in his 25 year tenure there. Rendered with a stark palette, this bleak winter landscape suggests haunting desolation and Bloch's own pessimistic world view. The scene depicted within its thick, encrusted surface evokes not only bitter cold, but also memory and loss. Bloch titled the painting after a poem by the Austrian poet Karl Kraus (1874-1936) written in protest of World War I. Lacking explicit references to war, the painting may, nonetheless, reflect obliquely Bloch's horror at the rise of Hitler as well as the despondent mood of Depression-era America.

The original work can be viewed at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
Photo by me, text references by the museum.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, David with the Head of Goliath

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called II Guercino
Italian (Bolognese), 1591-1666

David with the Head of Goliath, ca.1618
Fresco

This David and Goliath is an early work by Guercino painted in fresco, a technique in which paint is applied to fresh plaster which, as it dries, bonds with the pigment. A good portion of the tree on the right, however, has been painted on top of the dry plaster, using pigments bound with glue or egg. Fresco painting was normally used for large scale, architectural decorations rather than individual, smaller scale works such as this. It is possible that Guercino did this painting as an exercise in mastering the fresco technique. It depicts the Biblical story of David, who against all odds, killed the Philistine giant Goliath and beheaded  him with the giant's own sword.

The original work can be viewed at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
Photo by me, text references by the museum.

Bernado Strozzi, Saint Cecilia

 Bernado Strozzi
1581/82 to 1644

Saint Cecilia, 1620-1625

The classical columns allude to Saint Cecilia's aristorcratic Roman family who secretly practiced Christianity. Her martyrdom is symbolized by the palm frond in her right hand. Cecilia is flanked by an organ and a violin, her attributes as the patron saint of music.

This work can be seen at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
Photo by me, text references from the museum.

Vincent van Gogh, Olive Orchard

Vincent van Gogh
Dutch, 1853-1890

Olive Orchard, 1889
Oil on canvas

This is a late work by van Gogh created at a time when his style was at its most agitated and expressive. It is one of a series of olive orchards painted while the artist was a patient at the asylum at Saint Remy de Provence, where he had committed himself after a series of mental breakdowns.
Van Gogh refers to the painting in a letter of July 1889 as an orchard of olive trees with gray leaves, "their violet shadows laying on the sunny sand". These shadows admirably convey the scorching heat of the Provencal sun, and the repetitive, rectangular brush strokes establish curving patterns of energy that heighten the emotional effect.

This work can be seen at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
Photo by me, text references taken from the museum.

Paul Raphael Meltsner, Paul, Marcella and Van Gogh

Paul Raphael Meltsner
American, 1905-1966

Paul, Marcella and Van Gogh ca. 1937
Oil on canvas

This self-portrait by New Yorker Paul Meltsner features not only likenesses of his stately model, Marcella, and charming wirehaired terrier, Van Gogh, but also a view of one of the artist's industrial scenes, which brought him considerable fame in the 1930's. Holding a hammer instead of a typical brush and palette, Meltsner expresses identification with workers like the one included in the painting behind him. The composition's smooth and volumetric forms, which appear like products of an assembly line, tie Meltsner more subtly to proletarianism, a celebration of workers' culture that attracted many American artists throughout the period. Meltsner's style translated easily and successfully into the widely accessible medium of printmaking, a pursuit that further strengthened his affiliation with 1930s proletarianism.

Original work can be seen at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
Photo taken by me, references taken from the museum.

Stuart Davis, Hotel de France

Stuart Davis
American, 1892-1964

Hotel de France, 1928
Oil on canvas

Hotel de France is the first painting Stuart Davis completed during a 14 month stay in Paris beginning in 1928. The bright palette, jaunty composition and picturesque street scene convey the American artist's delight in the city's unique sites, particularly in the area of Montparnasse, where he settled. Vertically oriented, the composition calls attention to the white hotel facade, red pissotiere (public urinal), green advertising kiosk and black lamppost. Signs of the influence of French Cubism are evident in the interplay between two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional space as well as in the inclusion of prominent textured forms. The visual rhythms of Davis' work approximate the syncopation of American jazz, which enjoyed international popularity for its rebellious and youthful spirit.

This work is part of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.

Thomas Hart Benton

 Thomas Hart Benton

American, 1889-1939

Persephone, 1938-1939

Tempera with oil glazes on canvas, mounted on panel

Benton’s Persephone appears as a sunbathing farm girl. Hades is shown as a lustful, aging farmer with a rickety cart for his chariot. His facial features appear similar to Benton’s own, although he used a local model.

Note: It is rumored to be Benton and his wife in this painting.

This painting is displayed at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.

Fisher Woman Fountain

This is my favorite fountain in Kansas City, located downtown on Main St. It has a big bottom part to it but I elected to crop it out to make a better photo.

Kansas City Fountain

This fountain was in an odd location- just inside of a parking garage. I couldn't get a good angle on it (because the garage was in the way!) so I took the best shot I could and then replaced the background with one of my own in Photoshop. I call her "Lady in Bronze".