Art Show, Monoprints, and Trees

I listened and I heard the trees speaking of stories long ago...

Copyright 2011 Delorse Lovelady

Art Show
Many local talented artists will be represented at this show. My latest paintings above and below will be included. All paintings in this show are small or miniatures making them ideal for gift giving this time of year.

December 3, 2011 - January 25, 2012

"Miniature Masterpieces and More"

Kaewyn Gallery, Bothell, WA

Monoprints

These latest paintings are a result of experimenting with monoprinting after a recent class with talented artist Lisa Snow Lady. I may post my class paintings later. Monoprinting is an interesting technique and for me will take a bit more practice. It involves transferring and drawing an image onto a painted background. It's challenging trying to determine whether the paint is the right level of wetness to transfer but not totally blacken your surface. It's a surprise to see what you get as a result and moving towards more abstractness.

Copyright 2011 Delorse Lovelady

Trees
Trees are a recurring theme in my paintings. I love their shapes, the colors at different times of the year. I imagine they have been listening to all our stories, holding them, and are repositories like ancestors. They shimmer in the sun with diamond dewdrops, standing elegantly in their roots while reaching to heaven, and whisper to us with the wind.

Photoshop Art, Flight Museum and Collage

Sifting through photo's, mixing colors, shapes... mixing it up...
PhotoShop Art
Above is a Photoshop composite of 3 photo's taken at a recent visit to the Seattle Flight Museum. I used layers, inversion, several other adjustments and filters to combine the 3 photo's: looking into a jet engine, the bottom of a hot air balloon, and butterflies.

The Museum of Flight
The Museum of Flight is a fascinating place. I'm not so much into technology and machines, however, the concept of flight, the history, the airiness of the high glass ceiling lead me into the land of imagination. A fun afternoon spent with visiting family, including the open eyes of a six year old, cannot fail to inspire. I especially liked the room devoted to lunar exploration and pictures of nebula's. Isn't this spiral shape stunning?
More Photoshop Art
Another altered photo follows, I used inversion and color adjustments. It is a rhododendrun blossom at Snowqualmie Falls. I'm drawn to the shocking green. It's fun to color outside the norm, play with my choices...
Collage
A friend and I had a great afternoon about a month ago making 5x7 "soul collage" cards. I've made many collages, however this is my first soul collage card. There is a book prescribing the techniques in using them for those who want to follow a system. I believe any art we make is a picture of who we are at the time, an expression of inner goings-on that we may or may not be aware of. It's good to pay attention to what shows up in our artwork, to ask ourselves about it, to notice and listen, this is what I learned when I trained to become an expressive art therapist a few years back. Noticing, listening lead us up the path of self-awareness.

Painting Preview, Art Show and Plein Air Painting

Still painting those undulating shapes...

"The Sun Held Court Over the Whispering Seas" 16x20 mixed media
Copyright 2011 by Delorse Lovelady

Seattle CoArts Art Show
The above picture is a small peek at one of my two paintings that were juried into the Seattle CoArts Show "The Joy of Art!". This is one small portion of a larger abstracted seascape painting.

"The Joy of Art!" is a beautiful show with a variety of artists and styles. The show runs from May 16 - Jun 24 at the Mercer View Gallery, next to the Luther Burbank park. The Gallery is in the Community Center at Mercer View, 8236 SE 24th St, Mercer Island, WA (206-275-7609). Gallery hours are Mon-Fri from 6:30am-9:00pm; Sat from 8am-10pm; and Sun 11am-6pm. Here are more examples of what can be seen there:
Plein Air Painting
We've had some glorious weather here lately in the Northwest, partly sunny, partly cloudy, cool - my favorite. I heard a couple of days ago, that so far this year, Seattle has only gotten about 6 days of 60 degree weather. We are having a remarkably cool rainy year so far (wish I could send some to my Texas relatives who are in severe drought). Anyway, on a particularly sunny day, my friend Beth & I settled in a secret spot by Lake Washington and spent the day painting and sketching, such fun... Here's one of my pieces.

Abstract Floral, Do Over, and Experimenting

Sometimes changing direction is just the best thing to do...
Do Over
Once in a great while I might wonder if a "do over" of a life situation might have been better. But not very often, as, I generally am content and consider myself blessed in many ways. Why am I talking about this? Well, I recently discovered what "do over" means on painting. Having used watercolors for so many years, I didn't see many opportunities for those. But, with acrylics, "do over" is a definite reality.

I was painting in my studio recently and I kept glancing at an annoying painting. It was a crane of some sort, and I really did NOT like it. The shape was wrong, too much of a certain color, wrong feel, you get the idea. I can't remember painting completely over a painting, but I decided to work with it. And I tried out a different style of painting for me. It came out great. So my lesson was, yes, "do over's" do exist, especially in the art world. And sometimes I need a little annoyance, like an unresolved painting, staring me in the face waiting for the fix and a fresh coat of paint.

Abstract Floral
I will show that painting in another post, as I have more to say about a different subject with that painting. But meanwhile, I remembered the painting below, an abstract floral, that also languished for a while in my studio. Until one day I took my pen out and doodled all over it, the finished (for now) version posted at the top, a very different look.
Experimenting
This week I continued my pantry experiments with fabric dyeing. Last week it was avocado skin. This week I have an earl grey tea muslin and a stunning tumeric yellow (canary color) fabric. I tore off a scrap and put it in a glass bowl with each, set it in the sun in a window overnight and voila! What's next? Maybe chili powder? Such a lot of fun. Pictures to come soon. I am getting ready to take a Jude Hill (Spirit Cloth in my sidebar) class on hand stitching soon. She uses natural fibers, many hand-dyed.

Today I painted the edges of 2 large bird canvases. And gessoed 3 small ones to add to the 3 mini bird canvases I already finished. These will be entered into a miniature show this weekend.

And looking about I found another "finished" canvas and started repainting it too. Now I've got my eyes looking for "do over" possibilities... let's see, what do I have sitting in a drawer, a back room somewhere with a sad look, that only needs a new look and fresh coat of paint...?

Sunday Meditation
This photo was shot out of the windshield at a stop light, I couldn't resist that luminous sky, always at the ready with the camera for possibilities.

May the direction you are going, be the one you consciously choose.

Sunday Meditation, Shibori Dyed Fabric, and Patterns

A deep bucket of creativity filled the circle within...
Shibori Dying
Our machine embroidery group got together this week (Thank you yet again, to our talented June), and this is what we brewed up in a big bucket of dye. To start, we folded, scrunched, twisted, and more to the plain white fabrics. Some were tied onto a pvc pipe, other stuffed in those net bags that oranges come in, and others just folded and tied up and dropped in.
Patterns
This process has quite a chaotic feel to it, but in the end, there is vast amount of creativity in that process and that bucket. It is another adventure into randomness, because, you can never predict with certainty what will emerge into the cloth, but the patterns are always organically beautiful and unique. Kind of like people. Sometimes I'm sure we ourselves feel scrunched, twisted and folded, stuffed into the midst of our ever changing lives, and dropped into the bucket of chaos. But like the strength of the cloth, we withstand the treatment and hold the markings of life. And like the cloth, if opened, unwrapped, we relax. And then, we emerge yet again into another pattern that has been imparted to us - like another unique and beautiful cloth.
Look here if you want to see more examples (in bright colors) of my shibori dying.

More Dyeing and Experimenting
I had read a while back about dyeing with natural items, which would be more environmentally friendly, and have wanted to try it. In particular I read that you can get lovely pinks with avocado skins. So I did put a skin and a small portion of the flesh into a pot, boiled it and dropped in a test muslin piece. Here is what I got, the original pure white on the left, and the soft beige on the right. It doesn't look pink to me, perhaps I'll try it again with more than 1 avocado and without the flesh. I have it on my list to try things like beets, tumeric, and onion skins, among others.
Sunday Meditation
Here's a little nod to all the beating heart's in the world... may they all be full of love, good intentions and open to life's blessings, such as, unexpected freedom. What a wonderful condition, freedom, having choice, access, a voice, many voices being heard, making changes, weaving a new cloth, a new pattern.

Here's a little Valentine I created a few years back with fibery things.... enjoy your day.

Sunday Meditation, Abstract Painting, and Possibilities

"When I'm painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It's only after a get acquainted period that I see what I've been about." Jackson Pollock

Abstract Painting
This is a portion (maybe a third) of an abstract painting I worked on a couple of weeks ago. Very vivid colors, including gold which doesn't always photograph well. I believe I may be working on a series of this kind of abstract, as half a dozen more along this line sit in my studio. I'm in the "get acquainted" phase that Pollock mentions, and am discovering the meanings for me.

"You begin with the possibilities of the material."Robert Rauschenberg

Sunday Meditation
This so inspiring well done video is worth viewing. It was created and is copyrighted by Elia Saikaly in an attempt to share the spirit of a man who carried a message of hope and understood life. Sean Egan died on a Mt Everest climb in 2005 living a dream. Sean said "How sad it is, for a man to grow old and not know the beauty and strength of which the body is made. Your soul and the body function together." He encourages us to live in our bodies, enjoy and appreciate our environment, as he did in a grand fashion.

What had promised to be a very busy packed week, instead became a week of rest, contemplation, tea and soup. I am finally feeling over my flu today, it's time move about, go for a walk, maybe enjoy the hummingbirds in our yard feeders from outdoors instead of from behind the windows and look forward to the possiblities of spring coming.