Art on holidays

I am basking in the beautiful sun in Cancun. While it’s 6C at home, and pouring rain, the Mexicans here are complaining because it’s only 15C in the morning!!!! Hahaha. I hear it’s below 0F in Chicago. Yikes.
I’ve been painting alebrijes, after Teri mentioned them. What a gorgeous and colorful design those animals have. Here is my inspiration card for the exchange on Sketchbook Yahoo group. It’s going to Australia….

I’ve also been painting shells to go in my “Oyster” book, which I’m making in the style inspired by Gina Armfield, in her online class called "Song of the Sea". You pick a theme, then paint in a large accounting book, decorate it with poems, paintings, line drawings, anything related, and lots of pages tipped in with that marvelous washi tape. I just got a large shipment from Happy Tape, waiting for me at home when I get back. I use my acrylic paints as watercolors.
I also painted a small abstract picture. I just understood something that Robert Ryman was explaining: using white paint to make the other colors pop. It’s probably obvious, but since I’m completely self taught, I had not thought of that. I did the painting from an exercise I did in Steve Aimone workshop, abstracting from the environment. Unfortunately, I ran out of white paint half way through. So I’ll call this painting Work In Progress…


Next are pictures of Cancun where I”m staying, so for everyone freezing under tons of snow in North America, you may leave the blog at this stage, I’ll understand. ;-))