The final three, together at last

Here are the final three 12"x12" landscapes.

I gave you a sneak peek of the center painting on in the previous post.

I didn't have to do too much to enhance the dried, pressed leaf.  The colors were already perfect.  Before I collage these leaves to the paintings, I seal them on both sides with matte medium to protect them.

I also collaged some dried grasses to the center painting.  Love that texture!

Everybody who does landscapes seems to be painting birch trees lately, so I had to paint at least one.

Years ago we had quite a few in our neighborhood, but they have all died and been cut down.  I actually like how dead trees look and have been taking pictures of them lately.

I added a fainter, paler purple line along the horizon of the birch painting.  It reminds me of how the fog sometimes hovers over Lake Michigan, while the shore area is sunny and bright.

acrylic (faux) encaustic, acrylic, mixed-media, collage, pressed leaves

The light was perfect this afternoon, so I took advantage of it to take these photos outside.  You can probably see how the first painting, on the left, looks a bit mellower.  That's because of the acrylic (faux) encaustic finish I experimented with.  I'll be doing the same to the other two paintings the next time the natural light is bright enough for a longer period of time.  Then they'll have a more muted, organic look, too.  The leaves will also have additional protection after I do this.

I want to do something completely different next.  There are so many things I want to try, I'll need to see which idea pushes its way to the top.

"It is the spectator,

and not life,

that art really mirrors."

~ Oscar Wilde

A sneak peek

Here's a slightly blurry sneak peek at the landscape I'm currently working on.  It's been very overcast here, so my camera wasn't letting me get crisp photos.  This leaf/tree has only been pressed, the colors have not been enhanced yet.  Isn't it gorgeous?!  It's a leaf from the forsythia bush after it was touched by frost.   

This painting has more texture than the previous landscapes I've done recently.  I do love that texture!  But my challenge to myself is to keep it simple, and that's not as easy as it sounds.

Today I'm working on adjusting the colors quite a bit, so it can be a companion to this painting,

which I described in a previous post  here.

So, when this one is done, there will be one more 12" x 12" landscape to finish before I begin to work on something more portable.  When I paint these acrylic pieces, I need to move everything to the kitchen table, and then put it all away again.  Something easier to work on in short bursts would be a nice change.

Before and after

(detail)

I think this landscape is finished now.  I didn't do too much more to it.  Just highlighted parts of the leaves with a little oil pastel, adjusted some of the colors, and added some texture to the bottom portion.  It has an acrylic encaustic finish, to protect the leaves and to give the whole piece a warm, more organic feeling.

(detail)

The broken purple line along the horizon reminds me of Lake Michigan, of how it looks when you're driving toward it and suddenly catch that first amazing glimpse of the water along the horizon.  It never looks the same twice, ranging from the palest gray to the most intense Mediterranean blue.  And it's gorgeous every time.

This landscape is my interpretation of Wisconsin's golden corn fields, the Lake, and the short but glorious fall foliage.

So here it was before:

and here it is after:

Wisconsin Landscape

acrylic encaustic mixed media collage with leaves

on 12 x 12 wrapped canvas

Two more 12 x 12 landscapes to go, and then - who knows?

:0)

Interior landscapes

I came across this quote recently, and it really made me stop and think.

Excellence can be obtained

if you:

care

more than others think is wise.

risk

more than others think is safe

dream

more than others think is practical

expect

more than others think is possible.

~ author unknown, 

(although I suspect it may be the words of some motivational speaker)

:0)

I'm more than happy to let go of striving for perfection.  I'm certainly never going to do most things perfectly.  Perfection is so subjective anyway.  But excellence.  That's something else.  That's something I can work toward in life and art.

I already care, dream and expect a great deal, for myself and others.  But risk - that's a tough one.  When I started blogging, I think I really began to open up to risk more than ever before.  I put my ideas and art out there, for better or worse, for all to see.  So, yeah, I'm taking more and more risks, trying ever-more new things.

Spreading my wings.  I'm even back on facebook. 

When I started working on these three 4"x4" canvases, I thought it would be easy to quickly paint something on them and move on to something else.

Ha!

These little canvases had other ideas.

Interior Landscapes

textured abstracts

acrylic, found papers, oil pastel

on 4"x4"x1-3/8" wrapped canvas

For weeks, I kept returning to them.. Tweaking this. Covering up that.  Trying something else.

But, man, did I learn things!

During the process, I found this quote:

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then,

is not an act,

but a habit.

~ Aristotle

(384 BC – 322 BC)

This is why I love quotes!  I know some people don't like them, but I really, really do.  When you find the right quote, at the right time, you know you're not alone.  You don't have to recreate the wheel.  Someone else has put your feelings into the right words for you already.  You can say "YES!"  or "AH HA!" and move on, knowing there are others out there who have felt and still feel just like you do. 

So while my art will never be perfect, I will gladly devote the rest of my life to creating something excellent whenever possible. 

After all, I also found this quote, just this morning;

Excellence

is not a skill.

It is an attitude.

~ Ralph Marston

Oh yeah!

 

Me a la Chagall

"Art
seems to me
to be primarily a condition
of the soul."
~ Marc Chagall

I found this early self-portrait of Marc Chagall in an art book recently. It was done in 1914, oil on cardboard. I'm always fascinated by early works of the masters, and Chagall was no exception in that his art changed as he grew as an artist.

Since I had cardboard and oil pastels, I decided to try another quick little self-portrait, this time a la early Chagall. And since it is a self-portrait, I took some liberties with reality, and made myself as thin as I hope to be again soon.
:0)

As I start trying new things, I'm going to try to remember another quote I heard recently:

"I didn't fail.
I just found 10,000 ways it didn't work."
~ Thomas Edison

I think my next attempt may be something in papier mache. See? This is what happens when I push aside my "artistic" creativity for decades and get a little encouragement after I try creating something artsy again! Thanks, everybody! I'm having a wonderful time trying to find my niche.
:0)

I also would really like to thank all my followers - those who have been with me for a while, as well as all the new ones who have signed up recently. I really appreciate your interest, comments and friendship!

You never know who's listening

A few months ago my husband, Mr. C, received a coupon in the mail for a free hearing test at a nearby clinic. We are suckers for coupons for almost anything free, so he made an appointment. Not wanting to go alone, he generously made one for me, too.

:0)

We went together and took our tests, which included being hooked up to all sorts of contraptions and even being put in an isolation chamber. They had tests to determine levels of ability in hearing as well as listening. As all women know there's an important distinction between the two.

:0)

It turned out that my husband's hearing was very good, it was his listening that was less than perfect. On the other hand, I had quite a bit of scarring in both ears from childhood ear infections and a bad case of the measles at 18, which had taken some of the hearing in my left ear. Anyway, my results were that while my hearing wasn't as good as his, my listening skills were much better than his. Perfect, in fact.

Is anyone surprised? Is anyone with a husband, son or significant male in their lives surprised? We women have known for years that men don't listen as well as we do.

Ha! I've had scientific proof ever since we took that test. And, yes, I mention it to my husband on ocassion. Can you blame me?

Don't get me wrong, though. I love the man to bits. He's my one-and-only and my very best friend. (I just tend to repeat myself when I talk to him, sometimes!) I wouldn't change him for the world!

:0)

In my last post I mentioned that I might be looking into working with children with autism. A few years ago I had looked into the possibility, but wasn't able to follow through because I ended up needing a total hysterectomy, which meant I had to be very careful with all lifting and sudden movements for close to a year. During that time, an acquaintance and I talked about how we both were interested in this kind of work.

Well, this lovely woman and I don't really see each other very often, but just the other day I received a call from her. She had just started working with autistic children and the organization she works for is looking for more therapists. And she thought of me! So, of course, I contacted them right away and now I have an interview!

I am approaching this with an open heart, and if it is what I'm meant to do, it will happen. What a privilege it would be to help an autistic child reach his/her potential in life by being a small part of an early intervention of this horrible affliction.

One more thing while I'm on the subject of listening. When my daughter was a very little girl, she spent a lot of time playing outside with her little brother. They especially loved playing among the trees behind our house. Her bedroom is located along the back of the house, too, so she loved to listen to the sounds of the crickets, birds, squirrels and cicadas. She always said it sounded like a jungle at night, and I guess it does.

One breezy day when we were all outside, she looked up at me and said, very wisely, "Mama, when the wind goes through the trees it always sounds like the trees are whispering something to me."

Isn't that something? Maybe they were whispering to her. I wish we could all hold on to that innocence of childhood, where everything is magical and anything is possible.

An open heart is a good thing. I hope you listen to the whispers in your life. I know I'm going to try.