I’ve been studying composition, and making collages to that end. I work with the Golden Mean, outlining it.
The first two are painted on canvas boards, 16x20. The last one is canvas, 18x24
This last one just doesn’t work. Not sure why. I should try it upside down.
I have been reading Lorne Ladner’s “The Lost Art of Compassion”, as well as “Taming The Mind” by Thubten Chodron. The two books inspired me to paint Buddhas.
This first one is 28x36, on paper. It has some collage, and gold paint.
There are actually only 3 more, the 4th one, I don’t like at all. Here they are.
These are projects that I’ve been wanting to work on for months. I’m glad I finally got to experiment.
Next, I’ll be working on composition, with collage. Taking myself through my own art school, I guess.
This one is based on enlarging a photo many times, then incorporating it into a painting.
I had a picture of the boy and half the hand, so …. here it is. I added the rest, and painted it, with the earth under him, and colors I love. I’m thinking of adding a small text.
It’s quite tall, 44x18. I just received my stretcher bar from Dick Blick today, so I’ll be stretching it next.
The next two paintings are left over for the weekend, they were out drying.
I like this last one. Organic. Like a rock face.
I’ve been inspired by a wonderful book I just found at the library, Maxine Masterfield’s “Paint The Spirit of Nature”. She uses acrylic inks, which are so vibrant, and combines them on thick watercolor paper.
Here are my results for the weekend. I don’t usually paint landscapes, and I can’t say that these started out as such, but this is what some of them look like.
These first three paintings are the result of my studying the work of Barnett Newman through an online class I’m taking with the Museum of Modern Art. I totally get Newman. I just love his work. His ‘stations of the cross’ are awesome. His work is very sparse, but intensely spiritual and very inspiring to me.
So talking of spirituality, I gave myself ‘permission’ to do one from the heart.
This
last one if from last week. Very soft. Hard to photograph again. I love my winter studio with its perfectly white walls. I can hang all my paintings side by side, and… get a general impression of the inside of my head, I think. Very interesting.
It’s been a while since I’ve uploaded some photos. Here is my latest work.
Another oyster.
This one reminds me of Australia. Go figure.
I call this one “Conversation”. 
This is in “Untitled”
And finally this one, which I am still trying to photograph. The colors on it are amazing. But it has a lot of texture and it’s just too hard to capture.
After settling in Palm Springs for moments, I flew to Boca Raton for a painting workshop with the inimitable Eydi Lampasona. She teaches through the Boca Raton Museum School of Arts and she is a fabulous teacher. She is relentless, she is funny, she is loud and outrageous and the 3 days were filled with laughs, great instructions, experiments, diving in Golden products which she represents, and all in all, a very worthwhile trip.
It would be a bit hard and boring to get into why I went there, let us just say that I followed my intuition, and it turned out that it was a great move.
I learned to focus on design and construction in my paintings, rather than my usual ‘stream of consciousness’ of painting all over the place with wild abandon. The operative word here is ‘wild’!!!
She introduced us to the pleasures of tar gel, which makes these lovely thick and gooey lines when handled properly. I love it and will use it, discriminately, again.
Being in Florida, it was a thrill to be able to paint outside, although it did get TOO WARM rather rapidly!!!! Love that… Golden products were available galore for us to play with. What a treat!
This last one really needs to be stretched. I was painting on canvas just taped to a piece of board, the easy solution for taking my work home on the plane. This one shows the ‘traditional’ composition, which I accentuated with dressmaker tissue paper. I HAVE to make it obvious for me to follow the instructions, I’m not so good at following formats and structures.
I did learn to blend my colors better, and to mix them directly on the canvas, which is great fun.
As always, it was truly inspiring to paint with others, and although the styles were immensely varied, seeing or witnessing the direction of their work helped direct my own.
The pieces below are from Jane, a view of our studio, a piece I love from beautiful lady and generous chauffeur Dee. I could have taken each of her pieces home, I love her style. The last one is from my easel partner Susan, who was going way out of her comfort zone for the duration.
DJ Pettit certainly put on the ritz for her workshop in Jacksonville, OR, last weekend. You be the judge:
This is what the room looked like and our work table when we came in. She had also prepared class kits in the utterly gorgeous little packages you see at the forefront. Below are some candid shots of the class and my new friends.
Back cover
Part of the secret for a yummy book is to find luscious lace. Since the workshop was taking place in the back room of an antique store, finding lacey treasures was not so hard. Although one is always on the lookout for more finds, and if your closets are overflowing, think of me!
This book is not for sale as it is my prototype and contains images generously given to us by DJ. However, others are available. They will contain original paintings. Contact me by email: imagine.her@gmail.com
