Pin-up

Acrylic, 30×40….

I finally finished this.  As you can see I made a few changes.  I’ve been told that this flower is a “Pin Up Flame Begonia”.  Thank you Karen Gentry from Hidden Lake Gardens for looking that up for me.  

Flores del Jardin

  I’ve been working on this acrylic floral (30×40) for a few weeks on and off.  I still have a few touchups to do but I thought I would post the pic anyway.  I’m a little burnt out on this painting and need a break.  I may display this in the Hidden Lake Gardens Show starting in February.   

Spotlight Show

Myself, Janet Graham and Gerry Church will be exhibiting artwork at the Image Gallery located at 126 South Main Street in Adrian.  The show runs from now until February 15th.  An artist reception will be held this Friday, January 18th, 6-8pm.  The reception is open to the public.  Cheese, deserts and punch will be served.”Hendrico”, “Golondrina” and “Cloud Watcher” are all new work that has not been exhibited until now. For more information about the show go to http://lcvamembers.blogspot.com .

Hendrico

This is also collaborative piece.  The title for this comes from Hendrickson, which is the name of a Mayfly.  It was fun trying the scraffitto technique but I am moving on to other methods of decoration.  I did one slim pot using a cuerda seca technique but it didnt turn out.  I used too much glaze in some areas and not enough in others.  I’m going back this weekend to give it another shot.    

Golondrina

This is a collaborative piece which has been in the works for a few months.  James Freeman has graciously allowed me to use his studio to play around with pottery decoration.  I used a scraffitto technique for this swallow design.  After researching New Mexican pottery and speaking with New Mexican potters it occurred to me that their motifs basically come from things reflecting local landscape, animals or religion.  Since I dont know their landscape, animals or religion as well as they do, I decided to add my own personal Michigan motif for this particular pot.  The birds are Swallows/Golondrinas.  The band design comes from the wing of a nymphal Mayfly.     

Sandra Chaparro Pottery

Sandra Chaparro is an artist/potter from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico.  Kayleen and I visited there in October.  I sketched out this design for Sandra.  She made this after we left and shipped it to us.  This is a typical design of Maria Martinez who made this pueblo famous with her pottery expertise.

Notes on a Warm Winters Day

Today it was somewhere in the mid 50’s which gives me mixed emotions.  I love the snow but now it’s gone.  I should be depressed about that but the warm weather feels really good too..ha!As for art I hope to have some pictures of some pots that I decorated for a local artist, James Freeman.  He’s graciously allowing me to use his studio to play around with some of my designs on his pottery.  Wednesday I’m heading over there to pick up some finished pots using a scraffitto technique.  Saturday I’m going back to play around using a cuerda seca technique.  I’m also currently working on large acrylic painting for the Hidden Lake Gardens Exhibition which starts in February.  It’s a large floral which I’m painting in the style of Georgia O’Keefe.  I would much rather use oil but I cant seem get over the smell of turpentine which makes me sick.  I’m hoping to build a new studio soon with adequate ventilation for oil painting.Next week I install some linoleum relief prints for a three person show at the Image Gallery in Adrian.And, when I’m not working or making art I’m reading.  I just finished reading, “The Fly Caster Who Tried to make Peace with the World”, by Randy Kadish.  I write reviews for all the fly fishing books I read on Amazon.com