Provincetown

Posted on by
2

We had a great time exploring Provincetown today. The ferry ride took about an hour and a half from Boston Harbor. P-Town is a charming, quirky, arty, touristy, colorful place with a crazy assortment of architecture. My favorite gallery was the Tao Water Gallery on Commercial Street. The current exhibit there was The Calligraphic Gesture which included  some amazing encaustic works on paper. Here are a few photos with The New Camera, which did a good job (even though i kept turning it on and forgetting to take off the lens cap – oops, glad I bought that warranty).

New camera!

Posted on by
1

I’d been thinking about researching and buying a new camera for the last year or so – and today – wham! I walked into a Boston Radio Shack on Boylston Street with my friend Danny and saw this Nikon CoolPix L820 on sale for less than $250 – OK, so not totally cheap, but not $1000 either (and I did make a little money at the Beacon Hill Art Walk):

nikon copy

So far, this is an amazing camera. I set it up, zipped across the street to the Boston Public Garden, and gave the 30X Zoom a try. Check out these pics from waaaayyy far away:

And last but not least, a sleeping kitty’s ear two rooms away when I got back to the apartment (yeah, yeah, the rest of him was asleep too):

As usual, I don’t have any stock in Nikon (it would be nice), but I’m impressed with this camera. Danny bought one too, so we will be comparing notes. Sometimes people in my Digital Photo classes ask what kind of camera they should buy,  and I would not hesitate to recommend this little Nikon. So far, it’s a winner.

 

 

 

Beacon Hill Art Walk – ups and downs

Posted on by
7

 

aw3Hooray! There were many more Ups that Downs yesterday. The only little downs were the really strong winds that spontaneously rearranged the artwork every fifteen minutes, and the high temperatures. But hundreds of people turned out for the eighty or ninety artists who showed on the streets and in the courtyards of Beacon Hill.

 

Among the highlights – I saw an old friend from Chicago, Sharon Bostick. She lived on Beacon Hill for many years and happened to be in town for the show, looked me up, and voila! Sharon and her husband purchased several pieces. Thanks, Sharon! An unexpected highlight came from the Art Walk committee who visited my spot and awarded me with yellow ribbon for third place in show – wow! Not bad for this first-time non-Boston newbie. Thanks, Committee!

aw

I could not have done the show without friends Pat Semmes and Danny Sanchez who helped haul the stuff (including tables) up and down the brick sidewalks. I think after all was said and done I sold ten pieces, got a very nice award,  met some super artists (who said that it was more of a looking day than buying day, but still . . .) and will definitely apply for next year. I’ll be back, jurors willing and the creek don’t rise.  Here are some more photos:

Setting out to set up . . .

Posted on by
3

Today is the Beacon Hill Art Walk and my friend Pat Semmes and I are making preparations to get the artwork and setup stuff from Here to There, which is about half a mile up Beacon Hill. Another friend, Danny, will be the muscleman on the team and help us get the carts up the cobblestone sidewalks. Yay. Our location, which we will share with two other artists, is just off Revere Street in Bellingham Place, a shady courtyard – well, more like an alley :). This is gonna be fun! At least we’re pretty close to the Gelato shop.

Here’s the artwork semi-packed upbasket

Here are the art supplies, semi-cleaned up:

tablrart

And here is some additional Paper Cut-out Art from my Boston kitty who evidently thought I could use a bit more variety:

kittyart
Onward and (quite literally) UPWARD! Report to follow!

Hamburger Transformed

Posted on by
2

Sorry,  I’m probably “over-blogging” from Boston, but rarely do I have such a stretch of time to experiment with art and write about the weirdness of the process. For example, my Taos teacher Gwen Fox always says, “Start with a thumbnail from an existing picture.” So I found this hamburger in a magazine (fig. 1) – it looked interesting through the paper window (or maybe I was hungry). I turned it sideways and sketched in the shapes which started morphing into abstract figures. (fig.2). I tried to make the two figures balance and relate, but it became obvious that the figure on the left was dominant, so . . .whack! Off went the second figure to be used elsewhere. (fig. 3) I put a very few finishing tweaks on the left figure and, when matted, it is intriguing and colorful. (fig. 4). I think I will name it “McDonald.” Or maybe “Hunger and Evolution.” Isn’t art fun??

Note to self – quit while you’re ahead

Posted on by
5

Having all of these fantastic new art materials to try is great, but I keep making the same old mistake  – trying to fix a painting or collage by adding more stuff. Arg. It’s really tempting when there are a zillion colors to choose from, especially when you’re working small like I am on a dining table in my temporary Boston “studio.” . Here’s an example of a really awful painting that I tried to save by piling on more layers of color, scratching into the layers, adding gold leaf, spraying with walnut ink – all the usual tricks. I even cut a hole in it! Ewww. What a mess.

abstract4Here’s the next one – it might not be finished, but it isn’t overworked.  I simplified the composition and the palette, and then stopped. Sometimes less is more. (Except maybe for gold leaf, walnut ink, chocolate sorbet and Diet Dr. Pepper. :))

abstract2

Beacon Street

Posted on by
5

 

art copy

Hooray for my daughter-in-law – she thoughtfully stocked my temporary Boston digs with art supplies.    I have a new set of Caran D’Ache water soluble wax crayons and also a set of Derwent watercolor pencils. I had never used any of these before so I was curious to try them – wonderful stuff! It’s very interesting being in an unfamiliar space with unfamiliar materials, but it’s a good exercise. How a wax crayon can be water soluble beats me, but the colors blend beautifully and are vibrant and intense. I experimented on a couple of small pieces on watercolor paper, kimono shaped with some metallic stamping. The crayons can be used to make lines or textures, and then all or parts can be blended together. Here’s the first sample:

kimono copy Of course, I had help from my grand-cat who is obviously an art connoisseur – he sits on the table and watches me. He tends to fall asleep a lot,though – hope it’s not a commentary on the artwork.

tribble

Tomorrow the cold, rainy weather is supposed to be clearing up here so it may be time for a walk in the park! The cats stay inside, though – Boston is definitely a dog town!

Workshop-O-Rama!

Posted on by
1

OK, so maybe that’s a little hokey, but I did want to let you know about three cool June workshops before I leave for Boston. Here’s the Amazing, Stupendous lineup:

shellsWednesday, June 12, 6-8 p.m. at the Studio: Shards Pins  – This one happened kind of by request, and there are three spots left, so if you want to make some really pretty wearable art ornaments with earthenware faces, come join us that Wednesday evening – here’s the link to the description (tuition same as usual, $55 and all materials included)  and here’s where to sign up.

trioSaturday, June 15th, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.at the Studio: Shard Faces and Cabochon Beading: Master Class with Eileen Achorn (Beginners Welcome, Too!) This will be a rare and wonderful opportunity to work with Guest Artisan Eileen, whose beadwork is astounding. She’s a wonderful teacher, as well – heck, she’s a prof at UTSA. There are five spaces left at this point. Tuition $65, basic materials such as backings and face shards included (except for beads-BYOBeads :)) Optional: Eileen will be at Ann Pearce’s next door to the Studio to help you select beads with Ann before the class from 10-11 a.m. Here’s a link to the description and to the signup.

ladsmSunday, June 30th, 3-5 p.m. at the Studio: Digital Transfer and Painting Workshop
I’m really excited about this technique and have used it for all of the work I’m taking to the Beacon Hill Art Walk. We’ll use TAP paper to transfer the images, then incorporate them into a mixed-media work with paint and other media. Five spots left for this workshop (which will go fast, so even though it’s over a month away, you might want to sign up now). I will probably repeat this workshop in July, just FYI, if it goes as well as I think it will. Here’s the link to the description and here’s the link to sign up.

That’s all for now from Workshop-O-Rama Central. I’m off to practice my Boston accent so the natives will understand me – lets see . . .“I pahked my cahr in Hahhvad Yaahhrd . . “ OOh, wicked good. 🙂

Pins R FUN

Posted on by
1

Dunno why I don’t make more of these cool little magnetic collage pins – they are really fun to put together, they come together quickly, make unique gifts,and you get to try different embellishment techniques. For example, on these I used a non-fire ceramic finish from Duncan glazes called Red Granite that I found at my earthenware supplier, Clay World. You can brush it on heavy watercolor paper and it looks all granite-y. Nice!

pinone pintwo

Anybody interested in a  pin-making workshop when I get back from Boston? We could do it some weekday evening at the Studio. Email me if you’re up for it. Speaking of Boston, the link is up for the Beacon Hill Art Walk’s participating artists, including me – betcha I’m the only one from Texas.  I sorta fudged and said I had a “summer home” there so I could get in. Gulp. But I guess it counts if I visit the kids in Boston in the summer. OK, go forth, Y’all, and be creative.

3-PART ART #1

Posted on by
4

So I was thinking about new workshops and such, and I thought it would be fun to share some quick and easy techniques that you can do with just three “ingredients” (there are a bunch of cookbooks like that*). The first of these is a Reanissance-esque little collage on watercolor paper that can you can use as a card or a cover on a box or – whatever you can think of. Here are the three ingredients (yep, they include my favorites):

  • Walnut Ink (made by Tsukineko, available at Michael’s and Jo-Ann’s or online)
  • Fake gold leaf (ditto)
  • A black and white page from an old art catalog or art book from Half-Price Books or wherever you can find pages to recycle

Here are the steps:

Idea – if you have an art “ingredient” that you bought and don’t know what to do with, tell me what it is and I’ll see if I can figure a three-ingredient project to use it with. Hey, and don’t forget about the Sacred Ground show today!

*PS If you want my favorite three-ingredient food-type recipe, click here 🙂