Study # 19 and So Long

Study # 19: Watercolors on khadi paper

This blog is going to hibernate. I need time to work without thinking about blogging, without spending precious moments checking blogs, even the ones I dearly like and enjoy. Occasionally I will visit here and there and  perhaps even leave a comment but basically I will stick my head down and concentrate on my own artwork.
Also my volunteer work is extremely important to me and must take precedence always over time spent online.. Pinterest and Tumblr remain areas of interest to me and therefore I will tend to them with affection:)

On another topic we came back from Florida yesterday with hardware well deserved in my estimation.
Steve got a silver in the 5k but had to scratch the track events due to his achilles problem. As for me, 4 events, 4 gold medals in the 5k, 400m, 800m and the 1500m events. After my toe fracture this summer followed by a persistent inflammation in the toes of that same foot I was able to run well and give it my very best. God is good. Indeed. I am humbled.

# 18

Acrylic on St. Armand paper

Silence is golden.

16 and 17

Acrylic on khadi paper

Watercolor on St Armand paper

Frustrated because I have tons of paperwork (mostly filing things that have accumulated over the past 6 months or so) to do before I will allow myself to go back to my art work. I HATE piles of papers! So I am posting works that I did a while ago and that were already posted  somewhere else like Flickr for instance.
Also I am training a lot these days for races (5k and several track events)  in Florida at the beginning of December. Because of a foot fracture in June I could not qualify for next year's Nationals here in New Mexico so I have to travel to Florida to do that.........

Addendum:  And yes, I am 70 years old:)

On a Totally Differrent Note...

Acrylic on Canvas, 16" x 20"

I decided to post this painting that I did a long time ago (over 10 years ago) on the subject of meditation. As you can see I had a lot of fun playing with my imagination.

Last Day of October......

.....is a good day to post these 2 little paintings. I thought that I had posted them before but no:) An easy explanation: they were posted on my other sites.

Mixed Media on khadi paper

Mixed Media on khadi paper

I had drawn shapes on gampi paper (extremely fine paper). I used some of these to collage onto the khadi substrate. Once dried they almost  appear as if the shapes are drawn directly on the khadi. I really like that process which enables me to play with the placement of these shapes prior to gluing them.I also drew directly on the paper.Mostly watercolors were used.

Petit Dessin 14

Petit Dessin 14 mixed Media on St. Armand paper

 

Nothing much to say these days, no precious words of wisdom falling from my mouth or my pen . Other blogs certainly fill that void:). Fall is beautiful, my work is coming along, happy.

Three More

A Pinterest picture(pine needle) was the reason for this foolish enterprise, could not finish it:)

Both paintings are mixed media on khadi paper.

Contrasts

The one above was done while visiting my sister in Paris recently (for her)

This one was done back home on my khadi paper. One kinda busy, the other one an experiment in restraint!
Less feels naked:)

More Khadi Paper Work

Mixed Media on khadi paper

Same format, which I love, 8" x 8". I wanted to see if I could recreate the fun/feelings I had when I worked on my junk mail pages but the experiment did not quite work for me.

Watercolor collage

Watercolors, pens, inks

Going right along with my 8" x 8" khadi paper. I am totally enjoying doing those relatively (for me) free little paintings on this wonderful paper....still in love with it.

I had forgotten this one (above) which is a mixed media collage utilizing my drawings on lokta paper.

These are very small watercolors sometimes with inks. They measure 8" x  8" on khadi paper. One could call them  exercises. I have been trying to loosen up....not an easy thing,  I repeat not an easy thing ,but I have made some progress.

collage

These are very small sketches/paintings from my sketchbooks. All but the last one on khadi paper.

More....

...is better (at least for me:) I started adding watercolor as soon as I began working on my khadi paper sketchbook. I simply LOVE this handmade paper. See here and here or here . 
I find it, well, voluptuous!
I have bought the heavy rough type in various sizes.I also have the same paper in loose square sheets. They have gorgeous deckled edges on 4 sides..Hiromi seems to be out of these right now but they tell me that they will be getting some more. Next I will try the smooth one.
Enough for the sketches, next,  soon, some tiny paintings, mostly watercolor but some collages too.

About Time....

...that I go back to my blog!
What happened?

At first I felt that I was going in circles with my work, nothing new, nothing exciting so I decided to take a break.....that,  and the fact that the running and racing season had started and with a new running coach I wanted to train seriously.
Then busy living, a broken toe, a trip to Paris, , etc...life is good, very very good.
And of course I could not stay away for a long time from my sketchbooks (a lot of Haeckel).

Woman With Scarf

9" x 12", watercolors, oil pastels, acrylic, bits of my hand printed papers,commercial stamp on vintage paper collaged on watercolor paper. Drawn with non-dominant hand.

i took zillions of pictures but cannot get the real colors so now i am sick of it...time to move on...very distracted lately with family affairs such as husband' s work, daughter-in-law's illness and my going back to training and running seriously....life is good, always interesting with its ups and downs...life is good...LIFE.

Junk Mail Book....The End

watercolors, chinese white, on junk mail paper

detail

Finally......done! Pursuing the work until the end was, quite frankly, difficult as my head was on other things by then....but i said i would finish it and i am very stubborn! quite happy actually .... learned a lot while working on these pages. As i said before watercolor is not a medium i am familiar with. Before starting on this i was working on a woman's face so now i will happily go back to it, it's been staring at me from the corner of the room. 
PS: More dots...dots...dots....dots.. d....zzzzz....

Junk Mail Book Pages 16 and 17

watercolors, liquid acrylics on junk papers

Okay, i'll admit, this time i knew no boundaries, i just "let it all hang out" and while i know that i have gone mad, i feel rather good about it and i had so much fun. No one has been hurt! i know close to nothing about watercolors and so i made so many mistakes and had to learn the hard way but learned i have...a thing or two.
Our roof is being redone and my studio walls, furniture and mess have been covered with plastic sheeting, weird feeling when i go in.. So since it will stay that way until late Friday, no working in the studio on the remaining pages for now, i will see this weekend. 
PS: The funny looking blue "thing" on the right page with a funny stripey tail is the continuation of the cheetah's tail (previous page), did not take much time thinking about it...

Pages 12 Trough 15

The fish on the right is a box fish and if you look closely you will see who is lurking on the next page

Watercolors, liquid acrylics on junk mail papers

i tell you, friends, it's getting worse, my "maximalism", i mean. Now i sometimes use a magnifying glass even! But the truth is that i am having fun, so where is the sin? Go ahead, shoot me is that if your inclination, but, hee...hee...you're too far from me....i have been asking myself whether i will finish this book or not and the answer came today: yes, i will. i do not like unfinished business. Mariesel, my sisterette in Paris has closed her book, done, finished, here for your perusal. But i am  stubborn, very stubborn.
So to the left more strange sea creatures and facing them the fastest land animal, Sir Cheetah who seems to have had a slab of the box fish transplanted on the rear of his back:)