Light on Wings
Another painting..using the little clay faces (no so little). I wanted the sky to touch us living on this earth, for we are perhaps one with the earth and hopefully

you will feel the light and joy of being.
Mixed Media painting: 18 x 24" on 2" deep canvas  side painted, no need for a frame.

This is a little painting on fiber, fabric and what is on my table.  I don't know what the end result will be but for now the process looks like this.

There are new paintings completed...  with more waiting in the wings for my final approval.  

Thoughts

20 x24" Mixed Media Collage on canvas

I Have Heard

12x12"  Mixed Media Collage on wood panel

and a piece of jewelry made with the casting of clay with dangles.

The November stillness has set in.  Preparations for winter have been completed in the garden.  The studio has become my favorite place to be.  I have laid out many of my "starts", my ideas that just were not ready to be completed.  They are like bookmarks in a favorite book of mine, saved for the time I want to dig deeper into the thought. 
Calm in the Storm series: 
Calm in a Storm is the thought behind these three paintings. The smaller two are on 4x4" panels.
The third panel is 8x8"....and the reason for the name "Calm in a Storm" series.

moving to the calm

calming

I have been taking some great online classes this year.  The latest one is on making faces using air dried clay.  I had only a small amount of clay on hand and am waiting for my new order to come in.  Shown here is my first try at molding and making faces, remember I am experimenting with this process, some turned out well and some not so.  All of it is such fun and the ideas on how to use them are continually surfacing.

I would spend the all day in the studio but I have a yard, garden and outdoor projects to work on while the weather is still warm.  

Today is a perfect day to be in the studio...the weather is chilly, rainy, and gray. I have decided to work on my metalsmithing projects.  Just when I think I have a handle on soldering I make a mess....well guess that it makes the piece echo handmade!  I am still playing and experimenting, trying to figure out how to add a unique touch to each piece.  When I look at the catalogs and photos of other artists working in this medium I know I have a long way to go for that professional look, but I am still

going to share the process getting there with you.  Let me know what you think of them.

The Process:
The studio calls to me, one new painting and two that have been wanting to come to the light of day.  They haven't left home yet, as they need to be studied on and viewed with a critical eye and changes made.  After that I will decide on a name for each and hang each one on my gallery wall.

This holiday weekend I spent part of it playing with my new metal crafting...learning to use the torch and finding a design element that works for my skill level.

I need to learn how to use wire to make dangles that uses some jewelry making skills.  Where this will take me I am not sure.  I don't see myself becoming a jewelry artist, I tend to like the sculpture side of this but not in a big way.  I think I will use the altered bottles and maybe altered books using the metal crafting to enhance.

 
This I know, I can't go into the studio late in the evening as I tend to pick up something and next thing I know it is one-two o'clock in the morning.

Please add your comments, since sharing the artistic process is my way of using the language of art to promote making art.

I hope you will like my new improved blog site.  I hired Karen from Valentine Design to change the look.  Thank you, Karen.
Even though I am still creating art using paint and on canvas, I have now added a new media.
Recently I took an online course for the second year from Artful Gathering, this year from Riki Schumacher, who taught a soldering with a butane torch workshop.  I have so enjoyed working in this new medium.  Last year I learned a little bottle craft that could turn a plain bottle into an old ancient looking jug.
This is basically the same principle used to make jewelry but I am more focused on charms and dangling things to use to add "bling" to ordinary decor in our homes.
Last night I completed a bottle that started out as a clear bottle holding wine vinegar to which I added on to it, various paper, paint, and "junk", then I attached a little metal book I made from copper, soldering findings to it, then attached it to the bottle
My mind is a buzz with ideas.  

Birth of Spring

Birth of Spring 

3'x4'x2" acrylic and collage medium on canvas

Can be hung as is, as edges are painted.

2013 has been a long winter and spring has been slow in coming to our northern state.  The painful slow process with as spring takes it's time to show its face.  Most of this painting is the memory of, the yearning for the beauty of spring to come.

Where am I ?

Here I am wishing that someone else would post on my blog. Facebook comes easy with a comment here and there, while writing on my blog I feel alone and on display all at the same time. Is this why I also have a hard time journaling?  I love the pretty book covers, the feel of the paper and holding the pen....but revealing "me" in writing, well that is digging deeper then I can comfortably go, humm, what if I am only a surface person with no depth?  Where do I go?  Where am I?  "Me" happens when I enter my creative mindset,usually in my studio into the world of making art.  It is where I speak...

where I let myself crawl out of my barriers, where I can sing with no one listening. 

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Must decide what to sell on my soon to be Etsy store

I love birds....

Items that may go into the Etsy Store

This week I hope to set up my store on Etsy by next week.  The photos in this post are the art work I am considering selling.  Like or not. Any suggestions are welcome.