Checking In

 Wishing you all Happy Holiday Season and a Happy and Healthy New Year! Stay well!

Have really been absent on this blog but have been putting time in my studio creating and doing other creative activities, online lessons, Cold Wax Academy which is a year extensive program and will continue year two. This program, although the emphasis is on ColdWax techniques, has a lot for every artist. I often listen and watch videos from past session concerning every aspect of art. Both Jerry and Rebecca are very thorough in their presentations. Once a month, they share their lessons with the wider community. So if you belong Cold Wax Community on FB you can join in. 

I am presently doing a series(5) for critique, if it is chosen, based broadly on memories of my trip to Morocco. Still struggling!

WIP Morocco Memories

14"x16"

Oils and Cold Wax on Paper

Clown

10.5"x14"

Charcoal on Paper

Bye Bye Workshop

 I really don't know how long I have been going to this workshop, I think for at least 10-12 years. A long time! Now it seems that it just fell apart. My first instructor was Heleni. She had to leave for personal reasons and then came Reuven T. First year went fine, although there were a few drop outs. Second season not so well, third with the pandemic was a disaster. Last part of the year when we did resume, Ariel saved us because Reuven T didn't find it feasible for so few students. Ariel couldn't continue this year, so our "director" found us a new instructor, Eitan Fried  Long story short, did not work out for me, told me outright that he wouldn't be able to help me with critique or direction. Others also felt the same. Group sort of dispersed till we can re-organize hopefully.

Had a few hard days digesting it all but I am sure we will find someone, or I may look for a private mentor.

I commissioned myself to do 2 paintings for my kitchen. I want to some combine still life and abstract. I listened to a zoom presentation by Edmond Praybe on Still Life: More than Nature Morte, at Winslow Art Center, which was the inspiration.

Kitchen WIP

28" x 14"

Oils and CWM

on organic paper

Kitchen WIP

28" x 14"

Oils and CWM

on organic paper

WIP

14" x 14"

Oils and CWM

on organic paper

News From My Studio Happy New Year

 Happy New Year! Wishing you all a healthy and creative new year! I actually love that the fall is the beginning, harvests are over, time for inner reflections for our new personal harvests.

With the holidays over, slight temperature changes, weekly workshops have been renewed. All these have seemed to put new wind in my creative life.

The holidays were really dragging on for the entire month of September. Wonderful family gatherings, good food (too much) but juggling shopping, preparations, and Shabbats in between took so much time from the studio. 

Although Covid is still with us and will be for sometime, somehow we have learned how to live with it and take precautions, masking and social distancing. Most I meet have the green pass, third shot behind them. Do shopping early when there are fewer people. Even went to a play with daughter and family.

Our weekly workshops have begun, a new instructor, Eitan Fried, who in grounded in academia. I hope I will find my place. It was so good to get our of the house and meet my artist friends.

Been working during the summer, took a course with Melinda Cootsona. An excellent teacher and great material. Taking another this November Answers in Abstraction.

Clown

Oils and Cold-Wax on paper

14" x 20"

Mounted on cardboard

Seated Figure

Oils and Cold-Wax

14" x 20"

Mounted on cardboard

Teasing out a Figure

 

Fall in love with the art of living.

Fall in love with letting things be.

Fall in love with listening.

Be still in the sun,

where the winds ever-gently blow,

knowing it is here,

in moments like this,

you are living,

and you will grow.

Morgan Harper Nichols, from All Along You Were Blooming

First, I have changed my subscription manager to Feedio. See side panel. I hope FeedBurner will continue to send out to my subscribers until Feedio imports them. Who needs all this tech stuff!

I am continuing my series using a collaged substrate I love this process and in in this next one even teased out a figure. Hope to do at least 12-15 pieces! 

Orignal Collaged Substrate

Sunbathing on a Bright Afternoon WIP

14"x20"

Organic paper 350 gm

Oils and Cold Wax

Sampler I

 The most important blog post

It is on the most important blog.Yours.

Even if no one but you reads it. The blog you write each day is the blog you need the most. It’s a compass and a mirror, a chance to put a stake in the ground and refine your thoughts.

And the most important post? The one you’ll write tomorrow.   Seth Godin

When I think of the past year, I feel I have to divide it up. Some areas were very fruitful and others with dread, fear, apprehension, loneliness, lethargy, laziness, etc. I could probably come up with more adjectives but not going to waste too much energy. 

One big decision I made this past December was to go back to my oils and cold wax so I will put my acrylics aside for a while.. I really feel that I don't have the basics in this medium and haven't taken advantage of the special qualities that this medium offers. So I jumped into the Cold Wax Academy. A huge learning curve!

Sampler I

20 x 20"

Oils and Cold Wax

Crush Favini Organic Paper 350 gm

(those little black marks are from layer 3)

Beginning Layers with Texture

Topography Layer

Cool Layer

Warm Transparent Layer

Probably 2-3 more layers

Didn't like the Orange Blob

Simplify

Rotated

Two New Spiral Watercolor Pads

 Ink

Watercolor

Gouache

Water

Fingers

Brushes

New water color pads or small pieces of watercolor paper

Paper towel

1/2 1 hour

A few new Intuitive Sketches

Stones and Arches Lead My Way

Ink Watercolor Gouache

7" x 7"

Watercolor Paper

Bird Watch

Ink Watercolor Gouache

7" x 5"

Canson A5 Spiral Watercolor Pad

Traveling Through Space

Ink Watercolor Gouache

7" x 7"

Watercolor Paper

I Glimpse Into My Fantasy

Ink Watercolor Gouache

7" x 7"

Watercolor Paper

Beyond the Fence

Ink Watercolor Gouache

7" x 7"

Watercolor Paper

Have finished some various scrapes of watercolor paper and now on to my 2 new Canson 300gm spiral watercolor pads, A4, A5.  Have even started one, and on the first page. 

I use the technique I learned from Stan Kurth last September, which seems like ages ago, called Intuitive Painting with Watercolor, Ink and Gouache. I block out the size on the pad and start with a water-soluble ink pen, making intuitive mark-making, wetting with water and my finger to make smudges. Sometimes wet the paper and put ink marks. One can use watercolor pencils, water-soluble graphite and other mark making tools. Using watercolor washes over the ink, also intuitively. Going back with pen and editing with more opaque gouache. Stan does this complete process in one sitting, as his demonstration, but I like to work doing a few ink starts. Next day adding watercolor, and then another time to the editing process, which is the most difficult. As soon as my thinking process kicks in, I am in big trouble.

Study in Orange

Purposely left a small piece of cut canvas taped to a kappa-board on my worktable.  It called out to me. 

Cadmium Red + Yellow Ochre  Paynes Grey, my new black, white, and Buff

Ice Cream Anyone

15.5 x 15.5 "

Oils on Cut Canvas

Another underpants

 Work seems to come in spats... than a lag.. then another push.  As I write another cut-canvas awaits on the table and a few watercolor sketches also waiting to be finished or not. Too much time and not enough PUSH! So here I am instead of painting, writing!

Looking Toward New and Greener Pastures

Oils on cut canvas 21.5" x 15.5"

Collage

Decided to choose two colors of the same hue for my main color choice along with Paynes Grey, instead of black, white, and buff. The orange is an oil pastel. Felt good with this one so gave it a title influenced by Milton's Lycidas

And now the Sun had stretch'd out all the hills,

And now was dropt into the Western bay;

At last he rose, and twitch'd his Mantle blew:

To morrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures new

Hard to Decide

 Back to working on cut canvas and oils. I based this on BP#1. When I finished all the prompts, I felt it was a disaster.  Like I usually do. Thought that after a year I would have learned to accept what comes out.  Put it away because I knew I had to stop and not continue. It will continue to be a WIP until I give it a title. Did get a good review from Joan.

WIP

Oils on canvas 19.75 x 29.75"

Just a short rant. I know it is a difficult time for all, especially artists that usually have one to one workshops. But sometimes it gets to be a bit too aggressive. Not going to mention names, but I do expect that a free webinar on zoom be live and have more content than just selling.  

Stream of Consciousness

  Creativity means thinking on your feet, making adjustments and sorties as you go along, advancing commitment as well as erasure. Unless you express your wishes, however modestly or timidly, you may never know your power. Your general overall theme may be audacious, even simply audacious, but it is the final, well-planned flourishes that will help your work to fly.  Robert Genn

 Sometimes I feel as if I am on some roller-coaster ride! Sometimes high and then very low, nothing in between. Although I made some starts, really haven't been able to push myself to move some further. I have even placed most face to the wall. Now really, Carol, what's the point! I wake up with lots of good intentions, but then find one and million things to do instead. 

I bought a new book to help me get over myself. The Artist's Journey: Bold Strokes To Spark Creativity. By Nancy Hillis. Her process is intuitive, much like John Fullerton. She talks a lot about "The stream of Consciousness, "  creating art in a state where you try to remove all traces of deliberate steering of the creative process.

Stage I

Stage II

Acrylic paint

Stage III

Added tone

At this stage I have removed the papers and see if there are some I want to move forward with.

 

Just Some more Intuitive Sketches

 

Have really lost track of what I have shown here. I have been publishing mostly on Instagram.  So here are a few since my last post " A Bit Fishy" 

I still have a lot to learn with these exercises. One, best to work on light paper. Tried a few with a brown paper and found it difficult to get what I wanted. Lots to learn about simplicity of shapes and colors. What to leave and what to take away. That's all part of the process. I love process! 

These are not in any special order!

Hey! Haven't you heard about Social Distancing! 

Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

 Watercolor + gouache

Chagall animal dreams!(I wish)

 Intuitive sketch 4"x 5" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

 Watercolor + gouache

Fall Melody 

Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

 Pen +Watercolor + gouache

Lots of Goodies

 Intuitive sketch 8"x 8" FSC Organic paper 350gm

 Pen, Watercolor, gouache, charcoal pencil, ink intense pencils

On Dark Paper

Hidden Cities WIP 

Intuitive sketch 8"x 8" FSC Organic paper 350gm 

Pen +Watercolor + gouache

Dark paper with clear gesso

Oranges and Lemons Abstract Still-life
Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

 Pen + Watercolor + Gouache

Silly Pooh! Christopher isn't under there!

 Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

Pen + Watercolor + gouache

Watching Over You

 Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad 

Pen, Watercolor + gouache

Not going to bother you with all the thoughts running through my head. Difficult to get that awful critic out of my studio!

Love for Carmine and Turquoise

 With a few new cut canvas pieces from my friend Traudi. Back to oils and prompts!

Hidden Face. Adorned with happy flowers!

Oils on Cut Canvas

10.5" x 15" 

Traveling. Through Floating Galaxies and Stars

Oils on Cut Canvas

10.5" x 15" 

Six Word Stories

 Just read an interesting newsletter by Susan Flanagan describing this process. Can't find anything on her site/blog so can't show a link. She decided to use this formula to describe some of her recent paintings. What a fabulous idea... wonder how that will work on my abstracts? Shouldn' be hard to find 6 words!

Two Figures Standing. The open field.

7" x 5"  in watercolor pad

Intuitive Sketch 

Watercolor and Gouache

Getting Used to Small

 The day you stop doing the small things is the day you think you're above everybody else. Kevin Hart

 

I found this small sketch pad hidden on one of my shelves. Think it's A5 size with real heavy watercolor paper perfect for my small intuitive sketches. 10 more pages YAY! 

The Oracle

8" x 5"

Watercolor Pad

Abstract Landscape

8" x 5"

Watercolor Pad

Green Abyss

8" x 5"

Watercolor Pad

Lot's of Fruit

8" x 5"

Watercolor Pad

Some More Intuitive Sketches

 Learning is different. Learning is something we get to do, it’s a dance, an embrace, a chance to turn on some lights.

You don’t take a workshop. You are part of one. Seth Godin

 

From the one day online workshop with Stan Kurth

A bit late, but who's counting!

 

Hey! Have you seen Alice?

8" x 8"

FSC Organic paper 350gm

Let's Visit the Aquarium

8" x 8" FSC Organic paper 350gm

 

In Middle of the Night

Intuition comes very close to clairvoyance; it appears to be the extrasensory perception of reality. (Alexis Carrel)

Our weekly workshops have started, masks and all. So great to meet with my artist friends. We are so fortunate to have a huge space for our meetings and having a relatively small group. I hope it won't be cut short with this second wave, which is totally out of control here!

Took a cut canvas, my prompts, and oils. Great to work in oils again. This is what Joan calls the underpants. That is no editing after the prompts! As usual, I took it home and placed against my chest of drawers, guess I must have flipped 180. Looking at it fresh this morning I saw that my friend Jen had crept into my painting in the middle of the night!

A Secret Visit in the Middle of the Night

17.5 " x 25"

Oils on Cut Canvas

Detail

Learning to Cover Up

 

My goal is to surprise myself. (Peter William Brown)

I just love starts. They are the 3 Fs! Free Fast Fresh! But they are mostly NOT done. What to add and mostly what to hide, cover-up!

This was one of the sketches I did for Stan's Intuitive Sketch workshop. What a mess, but I liked it. Sometimes I just freeze with fear, not the best word! Today I took myself in hand. This one took 3 layers!

Love Having Tea with Friends

Final Cover-up

Intuitive sketch 8" x 8" FSC Organic paper 350gm

Ink Watercolor Gouache

Start

I liked the figures that started to show.

A Little Cover-Up

A Little More