Backyard Birds

 

Featured image: Backyard Birds

Gosh where to begin?  I played around with this whole piece and everything in it. I think every part of an abstract or semi-abstract work is always experimental, as I rarely have much in mind when I start working. When I began this work last November, I started with a figure, washes, and colors.  I then stepped back and asked myself what the idea behind this work would be. I decided to make birds part of the composition, but how and where to place them became a major struggle.  I tried many ways, sizes, colors and shapes but always painted over them.  If you look closely at the work, you might glimpse the birds I painted over because they just weren’t right. It wasn’t until I put the red bird on the shoulder of the figure that I stopped struggling and felt comfortable with the marks and colors of the bird.  The rest didn’t come easily after that. I tried many birds flying around but that didn’t work for me. I finally settled on a bird at the bird feeder.

This whole work was extremely experimental for me and I learned a great deal from the creation and placement of the birds. I am ready to move on with what I learned to the next work and put these new ideas to work for me. The fun part for me as an artist is always knowing that even as I move on with new ideas, they are never the same in the next work.

Little Hummer

 

Featured image: Little Hummer

Yea! First Hummer at the feeder today!

Stillness

 

Featured image: Yellow Finch III

The finch's yellow 

song 

touches the 

stillness.

Masked by a grey sky 

  metamorphosis 

of the sun happens.

Enjoying the clouds

 

Featured image: A Cloud in the Sky

Just a minute ago I looked up

Toward the sky, puffy clouds

Slowly meandering across the 

Gray blue and white sky. I wonder

I listen. Eyes closed, I travel

Happily to a different place

With blue white sky and 

Puffy clouds. When I open

My eyes, puffy clouds have

Moved on to be shared with

Another, Minutes spend 

Enjoying the clouds.

Change

 

Featured image: Wonderful Flying Machine

Is it too late to change? Am I working towards that dream I thought I was called to do? But what I am doing is not what I imagined or dreamed. I am wondering, is it too late to change direction?  It is hard, change is, I know. 

But I do change – and I make myself vulnerable by putting my new work out there. I have the attitude that change is good, but hard, but imagination is fun and exciting. All the large competition pieces I have been working on this winter are different from other works I have done.  Change is scary. As I work, I think to myself is it worth even entering a competition with this one?  When artists change, they have no one to go to, to talk to about the new pieces. For me, if it gets into a competition, I say to myself well I guess it wasn’t that bad.

The thing about being an artist is it's about being intuitive, and listening to what the creative activity wants me to do. It is really what makes a work unique and original I believe. So I guess I am changing constantly – and I know I am always working towards that dream I think I was called to do.  At the moment, it isn’t what I imagined or dreamed but I get up, show up and have never, never given up. So I guess the answer to my question is – it is never to late to change, and imagine, imagine about this new day and what it is going to bring to you.

Geese

 

Featured image: Goose

Darn it, darn it! Those geese are back on my little island.  Well, it isn’t mine, but I like to think of it is mine, as many of my neighbors on this side of the lake also think it is their little island, or some call it Powder Puff. 

The geese came last year – and now they are back.  This used to be a loon’s nest and I saw them earlier, but they must have gone somewhere else. 

Anyway, the geese are there building a nest, making the little island full of slippery poop. The mom sits on the nest and once in a while the dad helps and sits.  Then, about a month later, we watch as the goslings are in the water swimming behind their parents. Cute? Yes, but darn it - they are on my little island.

Approaching Storm Accepted into Exhibition

 

Featured image: Watching the Storm Approach

I am truly honored to share that my work, "Approaching Storm," has been accepted into the prestigious Society of Watercolor Artists International Juried Exhibition. It is a privilege to have Juror Carrie Waller AWS, NWS select my piece for inclusion in the 2024 exhibition. This year's event saw a record number of entries, making the acceptance even more meaningful as only 55 pieces were chosen for display.