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.  

Sharing a Visit

This pandemic has been a difficult, trying and frustrating time, but I find it is teaching us some valuable lessons. One such lesson is, don't take things for granted.  Before the pandemic, I would make weekly visits to my daughter and grand-sons.  It's a fairly simple drive, half an hour on the major highway to Jerusalem. I took these outings for granted. Tuesday morning was art workshop day, Wednesday visit Yael. When they were much younger my weekly visits were helpful because that was the day Yael had evening classes to teach and I had to make supper, see that they took their bathes, and read before bedtime. It was a sleepover when they were still living in Aminadav, outside of Jerusalem. Since their move to Neve Shalom two years ago, the visits are easier, I can drive, and Yael usually is at home, so we enjoy a coffee together while catching up. The kids don't "need my help" but my presence is important to them. 

This changed with Covid, lockdowns and visiting restrictions.

So when I can make a visit WOW what a treat!  Noam wasn't at home because his school allows him to take part in their boarding school, two weeks at school, two weeks at home, but I had an enjoyable visit with Uri, 11, and Yael. Maybe next week Uri will start school. It was good to get out of the house in the fresh air! 

  

View from the deck

They built the house around the tree!

Zoom homeschooling

Caught Uri in the middle of his class, later went out on the deck to paint. A lesson in intuitive painting!

My creation

Gouache + oil pastel 

Uri's drawing

Uri's painting with a view of the garden

Uri's painting closeup

Gouache

Not going to take these visits "for granted."

New Work

WIP

Cut Canvas 19.75 x 27.5 "

Graphite Mark Making

WIP

Cut Canvas 19.75 x 27.5 "

First layers using prompts

colored pencil oil pastels oils

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" 

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

Tread Lightly on the Stones

“ The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way you use them.” American

Treading Softly on the Stones

WIP

20" x 20" FSC Organic paper 350gm

Acrylics and Mixed Media

Bossypants#4 on toned canvas

Lost My Way in Storyland

“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” - Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal

I Seem to Be Lost in Storyland

WIP

20" x 20"  FSC Eco Paper 350 gm

Acrylics and Mixed Media 

Start 

I thought that this would develop into an abstract floral but using the prompts of Bossypants #1 it went into another direction. Used a limited palette of Chrome Green and a vibrant orange, a magenta colored ink intense pencil, oil pastel forgot which color, and graphite pencil and crayon.  This will sit for a while till I decide what story or stories I wish to tell. 

Purple Skies

“The sky is already purple; the first few stars have appeared, suddenly, as if someone had thrown a handful of silver across the edge of the world.”
― Alice Hoffman, Here on Earth

Color mixing never ceases to surprise me.  Just the choice of what 2 colors to use in my intuitive process is exciting. Today I chose a fairly dark Magenta and a bright turquoise! This along with a watercolor pencil, oil pastel ( most often randomly chosen), and graphite pencil or crayon make up my limited palette combined with black, white, and titanium buff!  So what a surprise when I combined the two colors and got a really bright purple! There is such a wide variety in a limited palette and a wide variety when using a set of prompts.

Found Myself Gazing at the Purple Skies

20" x 20" FSC Organic paper 350gm 

Acrylics and Mixed Media

May lighten the bottom section to create more contrast. Thoughts?

Saturday

Posted Instagram
Now to blog
Feed cats
Pool
Bourakitos
Brunch at Yael's

My last post  Days Follow Days posted the WIP which I have maybe resolved or not! I feel it may need more simplification.  I have two new starts!

I wandered through this Hidden City

20" x 20"

Heavy FSC Organic Paper 350 gm

Start WIP

added some graphite lines

Start WIP

Palette Mono-print

Have since added buff titanium shapes

( new favorite color) 

from another palette

My starts sit on my table and sometimes I just turn them around, and add marks sort of on the go!

Days Follow Days

Days follow days
today is Thrusday how
do I know..
appointment for Lily 
at the eye vet clinic

My last post, Early Tuesday Morning, was actually on Monday. Who noticed, who cared? Days melt into days.... tomorrow is Friday.... Saturday Brunch at Yael. Special occasions, like weekly shopping, vet appointment, an occasional family gathering, break up the routine of chores, meals, Lily, the pool, and time for creativity and blogging. Lily's appointment has given me the time to do some blogging. Decided not to try to break up my morning into too many small bits.
Lately, when I finish a session of painting I use the leftover paint for a new start! Sometimes using the brayer and sometimes just mono-printing the paper palette or sometimes both.

New start

20" x 20"

Heavy Organic Paper

WIP  from start

20" x 20"

Heavy Organic Paper

New Start 

Finally got it up

Have done some editing but not just there yet.

Well 2 out of 3.. can't upload another image. Hope Blogger will get there site working! The new format has much to be worked on, so back to Legacy which today is also not so well. Maybe my connection.... will give them the benefit of the doubt!

Early Tuesday Morning

The blinding sun from my window
The cool air without AC
The sound of building site across the street
Boker boker tov!

This has been on my table since the middle of July.  Sometimes I would add a mark or two, turn it around but never really got to me. I seem to be great at making messes. Too much going on. I need to focus, clean up, simplify. I really love minimalistic art but it seems to avoid me.

I was really in a bad spot, my angry, frustrating really bad personality was taking hold. Sometimes she just overcomes me where I freeze.  But I also felt some compulsion to resolve the issue. That was my problem solver coming to the surface. Maybe this is a good mix.

New Vistas

20" x 20"

Acrylic and Mixed Media

350 gm organic paper

Note: Bought some new paper through the printer's where my daughter works. Light cream and dark brown. Seems this paper is made from organic material and is FSC ecological certified. It is quite strong 350 gm and has a slight texture. Haven't yet tried it with oils

See Saw Margery Daw

The work becomes important when the meanings contained are greater than what the artist had in mind when he or she created the work. Ambuity helps the work transcend itself. Audrey Flack Art  & Soul

That's the general feeling nowadays! Up and down. Media makes it more confusing! Trying to keep busy and not let my thoughts run away. This week flew!

One of the most difficult parts of creating for me is after the first starts is how to continue! Especially now with my new journey into more intuitive painting love just picking up the paint and following the prompts... and then I just freeze... total blackout!

Well took myself in hand! Added paint, oil pastels, even some white charcoal! Not the best of photos!

Dreaming of New Lands

Acrylic and Mixed Media

19.5" x 19.5"

Cartridge Paper

Brayed color start on cartridge paper

Acrylic 19.5" x 19.5"

After the prompts

The Underpants

Should I have just left well enough alone?

Corona August Summer Slump

To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

“In Blackwater Woods” by Mary Oliver, 

Been having a hard time concentrating, staying focused and the summer heat hasn't helped much! Lots of new stuff but can't remember how they got started and really what is going on. Guess I will just have to move on and what is there is there.  Really doesn't matter how I got there.

Isolation

19.5" x 19.5"

Acrylic on 240 gm bristol

Sometimes We Need a Push

We are now experiencing a second outbreak which has really got me down. Not a complete lockdown but they closed our small community pool, which was a sort of lifeline. Diving into the cool water, swimming my 16 laps, resting, and reading for another half-hour really helped me get through the day, it was almost a ritual. And then they closed the pools except for hotel pools which really p....d me off! I felt safer there than when  I do my weekly shopping at the supermarket!

Well after lots of discussions and shouting higher up they are opening again at 14:00 TODAY!

Some more good news is that I have an AC unit in my small computer/studio YAY!

I ordered some new paper through the Printing place where my daughter works. I was getting down to the last heavy cardboard substrates that I got from when they emptied Archie's studio. The new paper is not as heavy but quite sturdy, 250gm. Bought 10 sheets in offwhite and 10 sheets in dark brown. These sheets are 28.5" x 40" so had them cut in half.  Have a great supply!

Main colors where Ultramarine blue and chrome green. Collage pieces from dried palettes. Added some pale gold and lots of mark making with graphite, colored pencils, and oil pastels

Just Wanted A Touch of Orange

28.5" x 20"

Brown paper 250 gm 

Acrylics and Collage

The start!

I Try

A Home for the Soul...The pleasure of the soul appears to be found in the journey of discovery, the unfolding revelation of expanded insight and experience. (Anthony Lawlor)

I try to go to each painting with an open mind. I hope that each painting will somehow bring out what is hiding inside me. I try to recognize in the painting the signs that are reaching out. I try!

Art-itude xi Start

20 x 20"

Collage and scribbles

Art-itude xi WIP
20" x 20"
Oils over collage on cardboard

Archie II

I am not a mystical person. Capricon has me pretty grounded! But I do have a treasured deck of Oracle cards my late sister designed.  She always dreamed of publishing them but sadly it didn't happen. I received copies in high resolution from a close friend of hers and did print up several decks for family and friends. I also have her written guide describing all the cards. I like to play around with them and have come to the conclusion that every card will and can touch everyone in one manner or another whether consciously or unconsciously. So, in that way they work, getting one to think about issues in a new light. I also like reading her guide as some sort of connection. Pretty mystical for a Capricorn! Today my card was luxury!

Meaning: To have joy and take comfort in the things that one has is not a sin. As there are always those who have more than us and there are always those who have less, our enjoyment must come from the experience itself. A man who has lived in the streets will find luxury in a simple clean home. So it is more the perspective you bring to the situation then the situation itself that causes one to call a thing luxurious.  Asha

Flying to Outer Worlds

21.5" x 15"

Oils on cardboard

Off to the luxury of our community pool!

Please forgive me Archie

Archie was a neighbor. Archie was a friend. Archie was an artist, mainly sculpture but did paintings, sketches in lots of media. I inherited a lot of substrates, drawing blocks when the person that bought his house from his son, started cleaning his attic studio and threw them in the street. In some of his drawing pads, there are still some lovely charcoal sketches. On one of the boards, there was an abstract acrylic painting. I didn't have the heart to throw away. At one point I did cut it half and found one half and decided to use it as a background. It will still live on as part of new work. I am sorry that I didn't photograph the original. Now, where is that other half?

Started a few art-itude prompts Palette teal, chromatic black, white, and buff. Orange oil pastel for my first marks. Background Archie Talor! haven't really decided on its orientation,

WIP

21.5" x 15"

Oils on cardboard

Art-itude IX Castles in the Sky

 " Studio Ghosts: When you're in the studio painting, there are a lot of people in there with you. Your teachers, friends, paintings from history, critics...and one by one, if you're really painting, they walk out. and if you're really painting, you walk out." Audrey Flack Art and Soul

Re-posting this quote. Yesterday we discussed in feedback something on that line. I said that sometimes I don't know who is doing the painting, and he replied that's a great state to be.

Great day at my workshop yesterday. Finished a piece, at least till I decide to fuss some more. Separated diptychs, Reuven agreed that divided and with a small mat they are best and made a new start. So grateful to be able to have this workshop. Meeting my artist friends and working together.  We may continue in July!

I Want to Fly to the Castles in the Sky

Mixed Media

Acrylics Oils Oil Pastels Graphite Pencil

20" x 20"

Light cardboard

Don't know what came over me the other day! I was in the middle of an art-itude and was cleaning my palette of some dark grey with water and decided to pour it over like a milky wash. I didn't like the drips so with my roller went over the whole mess. Desaster! It was like something took over kept going with oil pastels, smudged with oil, and graphite pencil. Finally, put it aside.

Took it to workshop and discussed it with Reuven, who usually doesn't like to make suggestions referred me to an Israeli Painter by the name of Moshe Kupferman who uses flat painted areas to contrast busy sections

Diptych in Purples

Art is a rare pursuit where participants have to learn to ring their own bells.

Robert Genn

When working in oils I usually work one two or more pieces. This allows me not to get bored or wrapped up in one painting or in one section. Putting work aside and looking at it even after a few minutes often allows a fresh look.  Sometimes in my workshop when I take a coffee break, way across the room, and look at the work really from afar I also get a new perspective. So I worked the green diptych together with the purple one using the same color palette. Only the underlying collage pieces were different. The color palette is Azo Gold, as close as I could get, black, usually chromatic, white, and buff titanium. These were the colors given by my "bossy" instructor!

WIP
Each panel 6" x 18"
Oils on cut canvas
Collage
Digitally Framed

Collage Start

WIP

Still unseparated