April, 2023
I don’t have to go far back at all for this month’s Thankful Thursday Artist. I’m just finishing off the series I worked on during Cat Rains’ Collage Joy on-line course – some final finishing to do, and some good advice to follow as I decide how to mount.
So many things kept me moving through this course when so many others I have signed up for are still waiting. . .
I really appreciated the combination of making papers and making pieces. I really appreciated the “color palette first” approach – color is almost always my spark – and the focus and coherence that comes from finishing the palette.
I’ll take titles more seriously and keep a notebook of marks. I’ll make small studies. I’ll think more about warm and cool.
At least I hope I will!
November, 2022
Another #thankfulthursday post for my art teachers and inspirations
My “work” life has involved maps and geography for years and the Map Haiku workshop with @valeriegoodwinart gave me a way to cross it over into my art life.
Don’t judge her work by photos of mine – she is masterful, I’m still experimenting. Looking forward to learning with her again at @craftalifenapa for Monoprint Map Collage
August, 2022
The series of 10 collages based on views through various windows that have been meaningful to me is finished – pretty fast for me considering I began it during a class in June and there has been a lot of away time since then. On the left, what I see everyday from my window high up in a Chicago lakefront studio. On the right, seems appropirate to close the series out with a sunset scene, again from the beachfront window along Route 30A in the Florida Panhandle.
August, 2022
The series continues. This “window” collage is from the Montreal Botanical Gardens, a really magical place, and is my interpretation of a view from inside a little pagoda-type structure in the Japanese Garden, I think. I highly recommend spending a half-day or more here – it’s vista after vista of differently themed gardens, and our visit in early July was particularly well timed this year – beautiful weather and beautiful blooms.
July, 2022
I think this series – which I’ve called “All My Dreams Flew Out the Window – in the best possible way” – will run to about ten pieces.
The piece of the left is inspired by a beautiful cherry tree that bloomed in the spring in the side yard of our home in Atlanta. It cost us an absolute fortune in arborist fees to keep it healthy, but it was worth it every time we saw the display, and since we’ve left I’ve often thought that I hope it is still going strong.
The second piece represents another place I spent a lot of time – looking out the window of an airplane, though usually from an aisle seat. This is what I saw one night as we approached Chicago from the south, just before the whole skyline comes into view – kind of jewel-like, really.
