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Best of Show Won at 2013 Silver Dollar Fair, Chico, CA

May 29th, 2013

Best of Show Won at 2013 Silver Dollar Fair, Chico, CA

"Shadow" was the little doggy who could. He won me the Best of Show award for Amateur Art at the 2013 Silver Dollar Fair in Chico, CA on May 23. I exhibited seven entries and Shadow won a First Place blue ribbon and Best of Show. I also received First Place blue ribbons for "A Buffalo Sits in Yellowstone" and "Ardhanarishvara I", and Second Place red ribbons for "A Child Remembers the Beach" and "The Fates". I am very excited!

Photographing Artwork With a Dark Background Part II

April 23rd, 2013

Photographing Artwork With a Dark Background Part II

Here's the grayed image using the sliders under the graph on iPhoto adjustments. I have darkened the background but the texture of the paper is visible. The image gets all kinds of noise and parts drop out of it when I try to get the background completely black. Here's a compromise point.

Photographing Artwork With a Dark Background

April 23rd, 2013

Photographing Artwork With a Dark Background

This image should have been loaded along with my discussion "Photographing Artwork With a Dark Background". This is the gray photo of the artwork that has only had the image sharpened up using iPhoto adjustments. It was cropped and straightened.

Oblation

April 16th, 2013

Oblation

I put together this collage for the "Upcycle/Recycle" show at the Paradise Art Center's Wheeler Gallery. I had done a watercolor study from a photograph of a multicultural Mass with colorfully dressed people from different cultures, which I cut out. Then I took a piece from some early fingerpaint piece I had done with flowers. To round it off, I added some coordinating origami paper. This piece was donated to the Paradise Recreation Department Children's Summer Scholarship Fund Auction and Sale held on March 30, 2013. This is not a high-resolution image.

Undersea Scene

April 16th, 2013

Undersea Scene

This piece came out of wondering what the watercolor pastels would do. They go on much like crayons. Ripples of water intersected with the seaweed in my initial drawing. Then with a wet brush I painted over areas to create the fish, adding color to the edges to accentuate them. I gave this artwork to my sister for her house in Baja. This is not a high-resolution image.

My Second FineArtAmerica Sale

April 16th, 2013

My Second FineArtAmerica Sale

On April 13, 2013, I made my second sale on the FineArtAmerica website of "A Buffalo Sits in Yellowstone". It was exciting even though it was my mom who bought the print. Each sale creates another donation to A Seat at the Table. It's all good!

Sketchbook Project 2012

April 14th, 2013

Sketchbook Project 2012

In 2012, I took part in the 2012 Sketchbook Project of Art House Co-op. I gathered some of my small sketches and paintings and glued them into the approximately 5 x 7 inch, 32 page provided sketchbook. My husband did a fine job of binding the finished sketchbook, which I sewed together, in leather and marbled paper. I chose from a list of possible 2012 themes the title "Hope". Jungian psychology and Christian spirituality are strong influences in this sketchbook. Mine was among thousands of sketchbooks from around the world that were exhibited in the second half of 2012 in major cities in the US and Canada.

Here is the link to the digitized images: Go to Hope Sketchbook

Some of the images that go across two pages are unfortunately fractured in the center by the digitizing process. The original sketchbook is in the Brooklyn Art Library and accessible for viewing.

My First FineArtAmerica Sale

April 11th, 2013

My First FineArtAmerica Sale

I'm so excited! On April 5, 2013, I got my first sale through my new website via FineArtAmerica. It was a framed print of "The Mind of Michelangelo" (shown). I am hoping that it will lead to more. Sales proceeds for April will go to A Seat at the Table, a produce growing and distribution program for the hungry of Paradise.

Another Starry Night

April 11th, 2013

Another Starry Night

Here's an impression of looking out the window and seeing the large bright stars caught up between the night-darkened branches. The branches seem to reach for the stars. I did this piece with fingerpaints on canvas paper.

Desert Sunset

April 11th, 2013

Desert Sunset

This is another playful starry night - a sunset with stars above and lights on the land below. This was done on canvas board with fingerpaints. I enjoyed the rainbow effect of the colors. This is a low resolution photo.

The Fates

April 11th, 2013

The Fates

This piece started with me trying to do a face out of my imagination with white pencil on black paper. Then I added the other two faces and thought they looked like sisters. I remembered that there were three fates in mythology and looked up information about them. I found that they are often represented as sisters. The first fate spins the fibers of ones life. The second fate measures the length of ones life. The third fate cuts the thread which is ones time of death. This seemed like a good theme for my three faces, especially as I had just purchased a spinning wheel. I added the hands with each fate's appropriate tools. This is a poor photo which I need to replace. This drawing won a blue ribbon at the Butte County Fair in California.

Michele Screams

April 7th, 2013

Michele Screams

After getting some disturbing health news earlier this year (2013), I actually had fun painting this image - Michele's Scream (the website won't allow non-letters in the title of this blog). It is totally garish and the brush strokes and colors are strong. It was a good way to get some frustrations out. It is done in acrylics on canvas paper. Hats off to Edvard Munch! I submitted it to the "Oils and Acrylics" show at the Paradise Art Center during the month of March, 2013. This is not a high-res image.

In Old New Mexico

March 30th, 2013

In Old New Mexico

This piece is an abstraction of a historical photo of three turn-of-the-century girls posing in front of an adobe church in New Mexico. The elements of the photo are simplified and given saturated colors (the original photo was sepia). What interested me was the strangeness of such a small and organic-looking church building and the mystery of why the girls were posing there. All around there is a lot of nothing. This was submitted to the "Oils and Acrylics" show at the Paradise Art Center. It's minor but I like it.

Sunset Experiment

March 30th, 2013

Sunset Experiment

I did this practice piece in January 2013. I had seen a colorful sunset over the rice fields near Chico, and the image of the sunset reflecting off the flooded rice fields stayed with me. I wondered if I could render the sunset in fingerpaints while using acrylics to paint the dark elements. I found it could be done. The surface is canvas paper. This is a slight piece but I like the freedom of it.

The Other Side of the Sunset

March 30th, 2013

The Other Side of the Sunset

Looking back while driving towards a colorful sunset, I could see the clouds opposite were tinged with pink light. I was intrigued that the light from the sunset could produce such an effect. Here is a playful rendition of what I saw on the other side of the sunset done in pastels on colored paper. This piece was done in early March, 2013.