F is for Fungus Five Ways

As the rainy season commences here, I've been noticing mushrooms popping up all around the park where we walk our dogs.

Between yesterday and today I could see that several of the clusters had grown in size, or changed in shape, appearing to bloom out. In an open field I could see an huge cluster shining yellow in the dry grass. There were also new groups clinging to rocks, and a variety I had not seen before growing in the bark mulch. So I asked them all politely to pose for pictures, and then grouped their portraits into a collage. Fun with fungus today.

S is for Something Sunny

I needed something cheery today. I've drawn this image several times.  I love the shapes, the colors and the memory of the great weekend visit to Denver and the Botanical Gardens there to brighten my day.

P is for Pretty

And the power of Photoshop.

Its been a busy week making art, teaching art, planning art and prepping for a sale. So, today, I need time to play. This image is a pink rose which I decided needed a better background. Several filters later I arrived at this.

This image reminds me of a portrait - no longer pink, but so pretty.

D is for Drawing

This spring, I was reintroduced to a practice I had forgotten about – contour drawing. (Another idea for an all season C post.) Drawing only the exterior shapes, and focusing intently on the shape of the lines that create the form, and using only Sharpie pen, was intimidating at first, and then fun.

After the class that I took, and which resulted in a handful of new work and ideas for me, I introduced this technique to my students, young and old. They were all successful with this approach.

This summer, with my garden a riot of floral shapes to inspire me, I drew and drew, striving to recreate the curves and patterns. Somehow  and at some point, this morphed from trying to be realistic, to seeing opportunities for abstraction. Today’s piece started out as clover blossoms …

I like the delicacy I've achieved. It feels like summer. Its pen, marker and watercolor on watercolor paper. 

Y is for Yellow

Yellow is sunshine and daffodils and springtime and warmth.

Yellow flowers are all of these things and a perfect way to celebrate all the things I am thankful for on this practically pumpkin and turkey feather day.

This image started as a drawing and finished in Photoshop to push the color and contrast. I was seeking to show the light against the darkness - kind of the way I feel these days. There is so much to be grateful for, and so much that is dark and scary out there. Flowers sooth the soul.

Happy Thanksgiving - peace, joy and plenty to all.

X is for eXpression: Creative that is

CREATIVE 

ADJECTIVE

1. relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work: 

This Art Everyday Month Challenge is fascinating. 

Every year it is an opportunity to see, admire and be inspired by the creative work and ideas of a highly diverse group of people. This year especially, I am noticing artists from around the world.

 How wonderful that people of different ages, styles and skill levels are all brave enough to express their creative selves to the world. 

To keep within my X theme, I would say that the work is eXcellent, eXciting and eXtremely well done. 

I appreciate the eXtraordinary effort involved in being creative every day. So, for today, something 

eXtra lovely to share- flowers - a digital photo from a summer walk-through at the Farmer's Market. 

V is for Vibrant Violet

I was out walking the dogs yesterday when I noticed an incredible cluster of violet berries on a tree. I took lots of pics, because I knew they were the perfect solution to the question, what is for V day? Sometimes creative thinking is done for you - if you remember to look. So, maybe V is also for Vision  (and I am grateful for mine.)

Does anyone know what these berries are?

R is for Red

Roses are red, and I live in the City of Roses, but I love amaryllis. Roses grow in my garden, but I grow amaryllis bulbs in a sunny garden window. They seem to thrive on my gardening style, also known as benign neglect.

Every year (not at Christmas when they are supposed to bloom, but in deep winter when their beauty and color are most needed)  they thrill me by producing a fabulous circle of huge, glorious red blooms. I have about ten plants that somehow manage to bloom in sequence (clever beauties.)

Year after year I photograph them from every angle and in every light. This piece, created by combining several photos, is my absolute favorite.

So, in honor of R day -  one of my favorite subjects - my beautiful amaryllis.

I love the abstract yet realistic effect - do you see this as flowers?

B is for Background

I am experimenting with new ways to apply and work with acrylic paints. Thanks to methods I learn about in books such as Art Effects  by Jane Drysdale Green and in YouTube videos, I have been rubbing, scrubbing, scraping, sponging, salting and dabbing with alcohol. (Kinda like preparing a chicken.) The idea is to create an interesting background on which to develop the "stars" of the show.

Just to add to the challenge, I am doing this with old paintings that do not deserve canvas and closet space. These flowers were built on an abstract pattern that bored me. I began to layer paint and rub it back - a sort of glaze. As I repeated this process new lights and darks began to take shape. Suddenly, magically, a vase and flowers appeared. I am very happy with the results. I am fascinated by the background effects in the vase. Now the challenge is to figure out how to do this again.

This painting is 12"x12". Acrylic on canvas

Art Every Day: F is for Flowers

Tell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty is its own excuse for being
~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Rhodora"



I grew in up the Bronx. My concept of flowers included daisies, roses, scrawny sprigs of lilacs, the creamy gardenias my mother grew in a huge pot on the fire escape and thevivid yellow forsythia bushes that bloomed in the park across the street - the neighborhood harbinger of spring. I noticed flowers, but I never really looked at them. Then I moved to Oregon.

Flowers are everywhere. Flowers are gorgeous. I own a digital camera. I love to take walks. See where I am going with this? I have taken 1000's of digital photos of flowers. We are known to seek out botanical gardens when we travel ... with my camera.

As much as I love to look at, pose and photograph flowers, I think they are difficult to draw. Some of the images I would love to paint are too complex and I am too impatient to diddle in teeny tiny details. But, in honor of this challenge, I drew (is working in color pencil drawing or painting?) this beautiful 'sport' dahlia I found thriving in its new home on a recent trip to Eastern Oregon. When a flower has "sported," (I am told) this means that is shows two colors because its seed is trying to revert to its original color.

This is color pencil on rice paper.