Wrap Up

30 Paintings in 30 Days, hosted by fabulous artist Leslie Saeta.

 

Day Five:  "Wrap Up"

 

 

I think I should do a couch series. My life has been an overload of heavy things lately, which mainly has to do with those terrible illnesses in my family and all the worries that come with them. There are other concerning things going on but I'm not going to touch on that right now because I need to think uplifting thoughts to stay sane.

 

Anyways, in one of my old Life magazines (1965) I came across a double page ad that was full of sleeper sofas. The photos are perfect for clipping - what a fantastic find. I used one of the couches for yesterday's Green Room. For this one I chose a larger orange sofa for a couple to sit on. Yes, that's right, the woman and the telephone. They can't talk to each other anymore, they are completely disconnected. But still, they are trying to save their relationship by getting some therapy. They are so fixated on their own issues that they don't even notice the aggressive gulls above them.

The uplifting part about this piece is that it doesn't have to be like this. It's a choice to stay in a certain situation or to call it quits and move on. 

 

 

"Wrap Up"

Watercolor, ink, clippings from vintage storybooks and Life magazines, on watercolor paper, 15" x 11"

 

Green Room

30 Paintings in 30 Days, hosted by fabulous artist Leslie Saeta.

 

Day Four:  "Green Room"

 

So, I made another transition piece, this time set in a Green Room. 

 

I like the idea of a space where performers can hang out and relax before or after they have to be on stage. Or during a show when they don't have to act for a while. How symbolic.

Let's have a "Great Green Room" for all us people who are tired and overwhelmed for this or that reason, who just don't want to deal with things for a while, who want to breathe, and feel safe and powerful and good about themselves.

 

Thank you, "Goodnight, Moon," for giving me your line.

 

"Green Room"

Mixed media: yellowed edges of book pages, clippings from a storybook and an old "Life" Magazine, acrylic, ink, on canvas panel, 10" x 10"

 

 

 

Intermission

30 Paintings in 30 Days, hosted by fabulous artist Leslie Saeta.

Day Three:  "Intermission"

 

 

This is about a moment of transition. Something has ended and something else is about to begin, thus the Janus head. I added a pair of eyes/glasses to bring the two faces together. She's clearly seeing now that things - her life - are going to change. 

 

For the black and (yellowish) white I used fly leaves from vintage books, the blank pages at the beginning or end of a book. The black fly leaf came from the end of a book, the white one I took from the beginning of a different book.

I used the "Notan" concept to cut the bodies. I like the Japanese idea of seeing both the positive and the negative spaces as parts of a whole, as in Yin and Yang. The opposites complement each other, everything is well-balanced.  

"Intermission"

Mixed media: fly leaves and clippings from vintage books, acrylic, on canvas panel, 12" x 9"

 

I Love You I Need You

30 Paintings in 30 Days, hosted by fabulous artist Leslie Saeta.

Day Two:  "I Love You I need You"

I could have named this one "Let Go" as well. Or even make it my theme of the entire challenge.

Anyways, the skinned man is embracing the shell of a well-dressed woman. Sounds like the perfect match.

I do remember such relationships when love for someone got severely mixed up with expectations. Not healthy, people.

The red coat that I've used is part of a 1940s paper doll set that I found at a little antique shop a few years ago.

"I Love You I Need You"
Mixed media: fly leaves and clippings from vintage books, 1940s paper doll die cut, acrylic, on canvas panel, 12" x 12"

Let Go

30 Paintings in 30 Days, hosted by fabulous artist Leslie Saeta.

Day One:  "Let Go"

I feel good about this piece, even though I went in a completely different direction with it. I meant to do something funny or uplifting but it turned out looking a bit sad or depressing.

I named it "Let Go" because that's what I have been doing all year. Letting go of stuff, lots of stuff. It's my birth father walking there. I don't know if he's still alive. Even if, it's unlikely that I would meet him. That's okay. I'm good now.

"Let Go"
Cut-up book pages and clippings from storybooks, colored pencils, acrylics, ink; on canvas panel, "16 x "12.

Illusions

My sample

Illusion is no longer possible, because the real is no longer possible. (Jean Boudrillard) 

- Let's think about this for a minute.

Okay then. 

Mona's, inspired by her pet pleco

The summer was long and short at the same time. We started out with severe actions of home improvement because we were expecting company from Germany for a stay of three weeks - my mother-in-law and one of our nephews. 

The initial idea was to move a few pieces of furniture from one room to another, just to make our house more presentable and more practical. But then this harmless little idea turned loose and all of a sudden we found ourselves going through every closet and every drawer, throwing out things with no mercy. The daily harvest was quite impressive.

Jacob's piece

All this house business took away so much time which I would have liked to have used for teaching summer art camps to make some income. But, oh well, when our company finally arrived everything looked splendid and new and spacious. So it was worth it. 

We had a beautiful visit. My husband was able to spend a lot of time with his mother, and our kids were happy to have their cousin around. We did plenty of sightseeing, dived into anything that this little town and the region have to offer.


To my delight I was able to schedule at least one art camp after all, and it even filled up immediately. Twelve students between 8 and 14 in my cosy little studio. It took place at the end of the summer break when my nephew was still here to join in the fun. 

The theme was "Illusions." It was dealing with various aspects of what "illusions" can be. The first projects focused on perspective, on ways of how to make objects look 3-dimensional, and how to create the illusion of movement. 

The last project was less about technique but more about imagination: I asked the campers to create a human face that is composed of both positive and negative spaces. They came up with some fabulous illusions, for real. Just showing a few of them.

 

Dinglehopping

So my daughter Mona had a small part in the junior production of the local community theater again. After last year's magical Lion King experience, there was no doubt that she would try out for this year's Little Mermaid. I didn't watch her audition because I had a Plein Air painting competition during that time. But my friend, who took her to the stage said that she did quite well. Mona said, auditioning felt different this time. She said she was nervous, because she really really wanted to get in. And she did get in.

And I got a part, too. I was asked to make a nautical figure head for the main set piece, a ship front. So I built one from masking paper and cellulose, nearly life-size. She looked like Bob Marley first, mainly because I always place the eyes too high even though I know what the correct position is. Something in me makes me do that every time I sculpt a face. Even after I had corrected Marley's eyes she didn't take on a mermaidish image, and especially not Ariel's. I'm glad and honored
that everyone seemed to love Marley, the Mermaid.

Mona danced in the Under the Sea fish ensemble, and later she was a frog during the Kiss the Girl scene. Of course I was proud. My baby, up there.