Halloween

Re-Post, I think, of a journal page from a couple years back. Original drawing, commercial stamps of birds.
PS: Monday Nov 1, I edited this post to change the pic from scanner to photography, much more accurate! My drawing of the little pumpkin was poorly rendered  by the scanner.

Salvia is Here

9"x12" watercolors,gouache, casein, graphite, oil pastels on vintage book page on watercolor paper and YES, these are my stamps used for stamping the border.

Detail to show relief (colors off)

i took countless pictures but could not achieve the real colors. i like the real thing much better. for some reason i was seeing red and fell into the lure of all the different delectable reds of my Sennelier oil pastels box. i was in a frenzy of red reds, rose, pinkish reds, purplish reds, maroonish reds, orangish reds. By the time i was done it was a bloody disaster so i started darkening the borders and practically worked my little finger....to a blister:) In the end i like it pretty well but, who knows, i might put a slight coat of whitish over the border after all this! Poor little pinky!

Another Face From the Studio

Laelia, watercolors, graphite, oil pastels, gouache on vintage Chinese book, 9" x 12"

Her name is Laelia, (beautiful Autumn flower). This paper is gorgeous but oh so fragile! i had to handle it with great care, collaging it using Golden medium onto a 300lb Arches watercolor paper. One can see worm holes to the right of her neck, very decorative:) The designs shown in and around her head are patterns for bound feet shoes.

We Love Our.......

......D I A B L O !...
just a reminder,  pure ART!

Plaster Experiment # 5

6" x 8", watercolor, oil pastels, casein graphite on plaster on wrapped canvas

i call her "La Reine Folle", just came to me....That was an interesting experience, kind of fun, cracking and re-cracking the plaster, you know, the opposite of "Oh, don't touch it, you might break it" kind of thing.......or perhaps, dear readers, you were the type of children well-behaved  and polite, always saying "yes, mother", "no, mother"......unlike this one, I might add:)
PS: i know, i know, my blog has been put in the washing machine with a gallon of bleach.

An Apple a Day?

left apple: 4,5" diameter, 13" circumference, right apple is a normal medium size apple

Not like this one! This is more like an apple for a family of 4...

Plaster

i started our next project, cracked plaster applied on a substrate using burlap. Because i am an idiot i quickly applied the wrong surface (plaster) down on my canvas heavily covered with glue! i went into panic mode but was able to remove most of the glue. The plaster is not yet fully dry. You can see some yellowish glue spots still. Talk about a humbling moment.....

Pebbles in our Pond

Finished Works

i went back to Protea and collaged her onto a watercolor sheet and filled in the borders with oil pastels (a lot!). Then i stamped a few areas with my hand carved stamps. To soften these i put a layer of oil pastels on top, thicker in some areas than others. i liked the results. The new face on the block is Aster whose borders are treated in the same manner. i have not been able to get good pictures!

I exaggerated  the light to show you the texture of the oil pastels

A Glimpse ......

...at the work in progress. Yes I know it's a very tiny glimpse, don't want to reveal too much, keeping you on your toes... so you'll come back! lol

Hello Woodpecker

This type of bird seeds in a netting bag  has worked beautifully for us!

Plaster Work # 4

Plaster gauze on fabric, collage, acrylics. The more I worked on this one the more I became frustrated and the worse it started loooking. It's only later that I realized that I spent way too much time on it and that this was not the point , it should have been just an exercise!Grrrrr.....OK, you get the good, the bad and the ugly, why just keep the latter just for myself?