Wednesday, October 31, 2007

One Rainy Hilo Day



Aftershock
10 x 14
Mixed Media

So what do you do when the rain won't stop, the humidity is high, and you are a watercolorist who feels the creative urge?

This is what happened yesterday. When the humidity is super high here, even 140 lb. paper is limp like a piece of fabric. If you paint, your painting stays damp for hours, or days. I can easily imagine mold growing on it. Wet into wet--forget about it!

So I spent a little time feeling super frustrated, then I went into my materials and grabbed some rice paper I'd painted for collage work, my pen and inks and gouache paints. Then I looked over my stack of failed paintings and chose one I felt I could only improve on and went to work.

I did like the horizontal lines of the painting, but the colors had gone all wrong. I started with my collage work, covering the foreground, creating texture. Then I took my pen and ink and responded to the horizon, more of the same with gouache. As the bottom part of the painting took shape, I realized I needed a dark sky, so painted that.

I felt so much better. Did I create great art? I don't know, but I did experience the joy the creative process brings.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Winning Entry

This painting of Rainbow Falls will be exhibited in the East Hawaii Cultural Center Fall Festival Show for the next month. For those of you readers in the Hilo area, make sure to get to the Center to view all the wonderful art there.

Friday, October 26, 2007

East Hawaii Cultural Center Fall Arts Festival

Tomorrow I'll be taking 3 paintings to the East Hawaii Cultural Center for their juried Fall Festival. Each artist can take 3 pieces in, but since it is a juried show, I don't know what pieces will be accepted. All three paintings are based on Hawaiian themes. The first, Rainbow Falls, is a waterfall very near downtown Hilo. The second, Hawaii Charm, is an imagined setting with a version of a real house placed in it. The chickens in the yard add a bit of humor and authenticity. The last painting, Waipio Valley, was inspired by a daytrip we took down there when the mist almost covered the view of Hi'ilawe Falls and the tulip trees were in full bloom.
Last year they accepted 2 of my 3 entries.

Let me know via comments, which entries you are betting on.




Rainbow Falls
20" x 17"
Transparent Watercolor




Hawaii Charm

14"x20"
Transparent Watercolor






Waipio Valley
17" x 20"
Transparent Watercolor

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Thanks for the comments!

This is a reply to a comment regarding Textures of Assisi, the painting posted 2 days ago.

You can read the comments others have left by clicking on comments at the bottom of a post. Of course, if it reads "0 comments" there have not been any left on that post. You can be the first! A comment has to be okayed by me to be posted. I'm only filtering out computer generated stuff or inappropriate comments. I welcome helpful feedback.

Hiloguy,

Your comment is very valid. I see your point, however, the vibrancy of the watercolors really pulls at me. So I have two options here. One is risk losing the original painting, because putting washes over this piece could really make it muddy or lessen its appeal. This is a constant question--when is a painting done? On the other hand, working on it further, darkening the walls and "aging" the surroundings could create a more powerful painting.

The other option is start from scratch and go for a different painting on the same theme.




Monday, October 22, 2007

New Look to the Blog

My wonderful web designer, Judy, has just come to my rescue with a new look to my blog. This is one that ties in nicely with the website that she's building for me.

Please give me some feedback on the before and after.

I'm very happy with the new look!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

On to Italy

I was lucky enough to take a trip to Italy this summer, where I found one interesting/lovely image after another. I came home with 1000+ photos to work from in paints. In searching for a subject matter, I was looking for something that would work as a vertical painting to put in the rotation of images that will eventually rotate through my Home Page once my website is up and running.

The photo I chose to work from was one of those unexpected moments you can capture because you just happen to be there at the right time.

What I saw in this photo was an opportunity to have a lot of fun with creating texture, the texture of a medieval city, along with this small window of modern, yet foreign to me, life--the group of nuns.


I have opened this blog to comments, so if you tried before, you should now be able to post a comment by simple clicking on "comment" and typing in the letters you see at that point.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Fussin' Around


So, this is how it goes for me. Since yesterday's post, I've been thinking about the splattering I did to the path. It didn't work in my opinion, so I lifted it out last night. Today I added a little color, put a bit more detail to the edges of the path and I'm ready to frame it, or put it in a stack of paintings I consider "done."

I apologize for the poor color of this image, but you can see the path changes. Better management of my photo colors is yet another thing to work on!

Friday, October 19, 2007

You be the Judge

I have 2 different things you can weigh in on if you choose.One is somewhat silly. My neice responded to my new blog and after seeing my self portrait, she stated that I was much prettier in person. So here you go, you be the judge.

The second issue is to view two paintings. For me this is, of course, more serious. Often what I do is look at a painting over days or weeks before declaring it finished. The painting I posted yesterday had two small things that bothered me--the path was too white, and the bike in the grass was too isolated. So this afternoon I splattered the path to create a bit of color and texture. I'm not so happy with that, so I may go back and lift those splatters off and try a new approach.

To address the bike in the grass, I simply added some more texture to the foreground, creating more grasslike areas. I think this was a successful solution.

Let me know if you want to weigh in on either issue.




by MargArt
6:05:00 PM
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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Welcome!

For years I journaled every day, finding it a great way to stay centered, clear my head, get rid of distracting thoughts and focus on my art life. Now I am going to use this blog to do much the same.

I welcome old friends and new friends, family, people interested in art, people interested in struggles and successes, readers of all sorts to view my posts.

In the next few days, I hope to learn a lot more about posting photos, arranging the space, and making this a more interesting and inviting blog. I have a web designer working on a Web Site for me and she is going to help me make this a beautiful spot to post my thoughts, paintings and photos

Keep coming back.

Aloha