Opera and Adding Words to Art

So last month's theme for our art group seemed to touch on the opera again. This time it was added to a book and because of the journal-like format, I decided to add a small poem.
The poem reads:
"Too much
my story
for mere
whisper word.
May the thralls
of every once
abandoned soul & instrument
now be heard."

Madame Butterfly - More Art of the Mask

For March's theme, the subject was "Tragedy", so I chose a tragic opera, "Madame Butterfly" to depict my seen in a diorama. This can be hung on either side. One side shows Madame Butterfly as she meets her demise, on the other side there is a depiction of her with a mask with song coming out of her mouth.
Around the mask the names of some of the scenes are written in gold paint.
I got very attached this one and it was a bit sad to give it away; although, I hope the artist that receives it enjoys it in her home.
One thing I garnered from this project is how much I love doing dioramas.

I definitely see doing more of these in the near future, especially with the combination of box, clay
and paint.

Art of the Mask

I've been afforded the opportunity to join a team of amazingly talented women in the creation of collective art books. These are no ordinary books. Most of the women are mixed media artists, so the treasure boxes that the artwork is stored in are in themselves works of art. There are thirteen of us in all. This years theme is, "The Art of the Mask". Every month a new sub-theme is chosen. Each artist has created their own box and provided the substrate on which to work on. It then goes off to a new artist each month for them to add their own creation. At the end, each artist will have their box returned filled with a piece of art from each artist.

Here is my November contribution for a religious mask. I chose to work with an image of an Iranian woman who wears a mask for religious reasons and to block the sun.

Then here is my December contribution which is meant to be a humorous theme. For some reason I couldn't get the image out of my head of children and capes and cookie jars. Must be the mischievous child left in me.

 

Working with these women is such an inspiration and I feel myself stretching and reaching to go past my artistic limits - also to enjoy my art more. I can't wait each month to see what the others have created. While I only get to see a portion as the monthly box travels, at the end we hope to get together and share all the boxes and art. This is an opportunity I will always cherish.

Leucadia ArtWalk

So I did it! I survived my first art walk. It was quite an experience, more angst in preparation for the event than necessary – and a lot of fun. I learned a lot, sold a few prints and jewelry, and was invited to be part of an artist's collaborative project in which I'll likely end up making some great friends, as well as received an art commission the day later by someone who picked up my card. So even though I didn't sell much, I felt it went really great.

There are also no stories of wind or of the tent toppling over. No mishaps all day long, except for the electricity going out in our home the entire evening before. Good thing we had already finished our preparations.

We were worried about our set-up looking a bit hoaky as we can't afford display walls yet, but Gary managed to rig a hanging system with chains. Everything fell into place so nicely, we were even offered the chain we were going to spend seventy-five dollars on, by another customer at Home Depot for free! Wow! We've been really lucky lately.

Definitely going to attend other events in the future.

Art Giveaway

A lovely woman has done an interview with me and posted it on her blog. She is also offering a giveaway of my artwork. Stop by and visit alifesustained

New painting in progress

This painting is directed towards inspiration. It's based upon a sketch I did a while back that was actually somewhat different. I approached the painting with the sketch (only in mind) as a foundation and applied it to a canvas of totally different proportions. So it seemed fitting that if the meaning is 'inspiration' and I was seeking a more painterly spontaneous look - that I let the paint and the idea form more intuitively. So nothing was drawn out on canvas for this painting, and I simply just begun and let the paint and the artistic passion dictate. Basically, I gave in to more abandonment.
Part of the impetus in this was pulling out old paintings that were done more spontaneously that had a painterly quality that I liked more. Some of it is from the influence of a local artist, Donna Butnik,  who seems to start just with paint on the canvas and take the image where paint leads her. You can see more of her work here http://www.artpaintings4decor.com/
So we shall see how this painting ends up as ideas are formed. I post the finished product soon:)

Miniatures

Been creating a lot of small paintings on wood for my Etsy shop. These miniature paintings seem to leave way for extra whimsy and I keep coming up with ideas for more of them. Some humorous too, but could a monkey in a diaper be too much. I'm seemingly haunted by the image of the old woman who used to push a monkey in a diaper, sitting in the toddler seat, throughout the grocery store as a child. The monkey kept preciously trying to pull items down from the shelf. Just like a toddler, or maybe a monkey. Anyway, you can see how these pieces leave way to creative tangents.
Miniature images on Etsy