Undulating Terrain

I have always enjoyed sewing and it was fun for me to combine that with my passion for painting.  These canvases were completed for the "Be There and Be Square" Exhibit at The Artists Gallery, a cooperative in Virginia Beach that I have belonged to since 1996.

The canvases were cut apart, stitched back together with some areas backed by cotton muslin.  A small slit was made in the areas that are backed and those areas are stuffed with polyster filling and the slits stitiched back together, sort of trapunto quilting style.

 
The canvas is then stretched onto a stretcher frame and each area painted with oils using shading and highlights to make each area appear three-dimensional.  The trick is that some areas are actually three-dimensional and some areas are flat, but are painted to look three-dimensional.  Each painting was placed in a floater type frame and they are meant to be hung as a group. 

Frida Kahlo

I have always admired and been intrigued by the art and life of Frida Kahlo and loved teaching my students about her.  Unfortunately, all some people remember about her is the uni-brow or the fact that she was the wife of Diego Rivera. 
I admire Frida for her stamina and courage to pursue her passion.  She endured much pain and sadness, which would have been overwhelming for most, in her life.  She was studying at the National Preparatory in Mexico City when that horrific streetcar accident occurred, but she always said that was not the worst accident in her life....Diego Rivera was much worse. 
Painting was Frida's salvation and a visual diary of her life.  We, the viewer, can see and feel her pain, caused by everything from childhood polio to the streetcar accident to a problematic marriage to the inability to have a child and to finally, the consent to have her leg amputated.  Gradually, it just wore her down.
The fairly recent interest in Kahlo has been the impetus for large exhibits of her work, including one in Philadelphia that I had the privilege to attend. 
For these reasons, I chose to copy one of Frida's portraits for our "Fabulous Forgeries" Exhibit at The Artists Gallery.  The one I recreated is entitled "Self -Portrait with Thorny Necklace and Dead Hummingbird", painted by Frida in 1940 after her marriage to Diego had ended.  Life without Diego is expressed in her downtrodden expression....heavy eyelids, the hostile cat and the monkey that tugs at her thorny necklace.  The dead hummingbird is a symbol of woe and echoes the arc of her eyebrows and her exaggerated mustache. 
For further information, there are many books about the life of Frida Kahlo.  I recommend the book, Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver which has a great deal of information about Frida and Diego's life in Mexico. 

The Great Escape

This past weekend was the Artful Women's Second Annual "Great Escape" Retreat at Sandbridge in Virginia.  Nine very creative women spending a couple of days at the beach for relaxation and renewal. 

We had a beautiful initiation to our creative spirits, lead by Donna Iona Drozda, a fun evening with "round-robin" ATCs, and a day of jewelry making with Allie-Blue Everett. 

We each brought a special token piece for an altar and my addition was an ink drawing that at one time belonged to my grandmother.  It is entitled "Winter Sunset in West Virginia Mountain" and dated 12/18/43. 

 I remember as a child admiring this drawing and thinking about who might have lived by the stream in this neat house with the logs stacked in front, ready for the warmth of an evening fire.  I was born in West Virginia and now that the drawing is mine, it reminds me of my childhood days in the mountains and of my grandmother.  She is really the reason that I am an artist.  Her encouragement and praise gave me the courage and inspiration I needed to pursue my passion.  She was a short lady, not much over five feet, rather round with large breasts and snow white hair.  She was a great cook and proficient semstress.  When you say the word "grandmother", she is the picture that comes to mind.  I didn't live with her, but I spent many wonderful hours at her house. 

So, it was a wonderful weekend to remember, reflect and rejuvenate.   

A New Year

It's a new year and a time to again resolve to be more diligent about writing my blog.
I have spent some time re-reading my notes on blogging and pondering just what my blog is about.  I chose the title for my blog "In the Moment" to write about not just my painting, but about what I am doing, thinking, making, and discovering at any given moment.  I have spent most of my life planning the next day, the next week, the next month, but as I get older, I want more and more to just be in the moment.....to appreciate the here and now. 
Mostly my blog will be about painting, my passion.  But, I also love to knit, crochet, bake, work in collage and mixed media, and try lots of new things.  I have a new grandson who is occupying a large portion of my heart right now......so my blog can be about all of those things.

My newest project which turned out a little funky is felted flowers that you see pictured in the post.  I love the colors and curly petals, but they didn't turn out exactly as I had expected.  The movement of the petals is simillar to the movement that I capture in my paintings, so I think they relate.  I am going to work on them a little more and make pins for my artsy friends.  I hope they like them.  Check out the patttern for Lion Brand Wool. 

Vanishing Bees

A few weeks ago, I saw a movie entitled "Vanishing Bees" and attended a discussion afterwards where I learned about the vanishing population of bees in my local area and around the world.  Our food supply is being adversely affected by this problem because we are dependent on a healthy and populous community of honey bees for an affordable and fresh supply of fruits and vegetables.  Unfortunately, in Virginia, as well as in other parts of the United States, beekeepers are loosing 30% to 40% of their bee population every year, as compared to 10% to 20% just a short time ago.  Beekeepers can not prove, but are reasonably certain, that the use of systemic pesticides is the cause of our vanishing bees.  The EPA, created to protect the public from harmful practices that threaten our environment, has inadequately tested the long term effects of pesticides on  honey bees.  One farmer in the movie referred to the EPA as "pestitutes" because of their illicit behavior when it comes to protecting the public from harmful pesticides. 
Unfortunately, the use of pesticides has increased over the years with the increase in mono-cultural farming.  Most of the problems could be solved with the return by farmers to diversity farming where a variety of fruits and vegetables are grown, creating a more balanced eco-system.

We, as consumers, are all beekeepers and can help sustain the bee population by simply making the right choices three times a day.  The right choices are, whenever possible , to eat fresh, locally grown food and to buy organically grown fruits and vegetables.  I have chosen to really make an effort to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables (so easy in the summertime) and to buy organic foods as much as possible.  The painting I have included in the post is of a pomegranate that has a flower that has to be pollinated in order to bear its delicious fruit. 

Round Robin ATCs

At the Artful Women's Retreat in Sandbridge that I wrote about previously, we created Artists Trading Cards to share.  It was fun to see what would happen when each of us started with a couple of cards, added a little "something" and passed it along to the next artist.  When the two cards got back to the original person, each had been touched by eight different artists who had enhanced them with their own personal aesthetic.  The result was a beautiful collaborative work of art.  I especially love my cards and have included an image of them.

New Birth

Last week, my first grandchild was born....a little boy, so sweet and so small.  I think about him all the time and every time I close my eyes, I see his little face.  It was love at first sight!

I follow Donna Iona Drozda's blog, Following the Moon, and in her last post she wrote about celebrating the arrival of a new natural year and about renewal and the birth of new things.  I can not think of any better way to celebrate a new year than with the birth of a child and I find it a perfect way to reflect upon the experience of rebirth and renewal.  To associate that with my ART/LIFE, I purchased a Visual Journal sketchbook and plan to use it to capture images of  the new grandson, Owen, as he grows.  I will photograph or sketch him each month for at least the next two years creating a visual journal of his early life to be given to him on his second birthday (or maybe I will continue it longer?).  The first of such images is pictured here as the first installment in the series.  It was created from a photograph taken shortly after his birth.  Charcoal was used for the preliminary sketch, then collage materials and finally acrylic paint.  I will post others as they are completed.