Marked By Nature

Here is the start of my nature tribute.

Marked By My Ancestors

Figure 2

I added string and the face below. My plan is to add a golden string face above.

Stepped On

I found 3 more faces within the paper.

Marked by memories

This one came together quickly.

Excavation Marks completion

I applied an apocalyptic edge to the black with smashed technology.

 

More Marks

More marks for week 5.

While things dry....

Hello,
    Last time my husband came to visit he took photos of me working in the studio so I thought I would share. Pieces are all wet at the moment, not the best time to take pictures so I will try and post this evening.

Marked by my ancestors

This one is for my husband (well it is one of my favorite small pieces also). He said he thought the purple profile would be very powerful if it was large. The metallic background looks great but is difficult to photograph. I have a lot of images within the head that I will be adding with paper pulp. I will then go over the head with the rich, dark purple. I will outline with the yellow and gold beads.

Stepped on

Here is another piece of discarded paper that I have decided to work with. I needed to spray paint a plastic rosary black so I used the paper to protect the floor. I liked it and hung it on the wall for 4 weeks. I now plan on having images of children in pain; the footprints as if they are being stepped on and other ways thye are stepped on.

Figure

I really love this pose and decided to create a painting of her in fabric. I will be adding the details using red string. The wood of the panel shows through the background.

I can't believe there is 1 week left

Wow! I am starting my last week here at Skidmore. I have created 28 small 4"X4" canvas panels, a large 4 ft X 2ft piece, 11 paintings of various sizes, and 3 failures. Sometimes things just fall into place. This one may be finished.

Rebirth Finished?

Here is what I think is the completed painting. I added more definition to the angel/spirit and added fabric to the background. I also added the purple in the sky and color highlights.

Marks 27 and 28

These are the last 2 for week 4. The first is based on drawing multiple poses from the life drawing sketches students have hung in the hallway. The purple Venus is made up of my fingerprints.

Mark 25 and 26

Drawing with string. This has been really fun. These are 2 females from the life drawing sketches.

Art Show at Skidmore Case Center

More marks will follow but here are photos of my artwork in the gallery. Our opening is Monday and I will post more pictures from the event. The gallery is open 9AM-5PM Monday-Friday. We have an Open House Friday 6-8PM. Then I come home Sat. morning.

Scroll Women

I have added my black string Madonna. I will now be playing with the negative space and tying the figures together with wispy, shadowing figures in watercolor.

Marked Women II

I'm back to liking this again. The gold ties the wing areas together. I have 30 pieces of gold that are raining down on the right. The have different words for women within each coin, except for the Chinese coins. Thinking of adding some gold beads.

Marked Women II

 Some days are a struggle. I fought with this all day. I added the first layer of green and went to lunch hating it. I came back and layered more greens and took a break at 4pm mildly detesting it. I then came back at 7pm (we had a fire drill in the dining hall) and added more, you guessed it, green. I also added the face, messing up the ear twice, and defined another figure I found on the left. My plan now is to add the shear gold material that has been cut into feathers and soften my wings while still allowing all the imagery to show through. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Marks 23 and 24

Both of these were made from left over material. The wet paper pulp was  the first one and the dried paper pulp that I scraped out of the container was 24.

Scroll Women

I bought this scroll in China in 2000 and I finally got inspired to use it. The geisha will be added after it drys it is made of string and thin cut material. I plan to place it above the blue figure and then have a sheer gold madonna layered on top of her.There are crouching women within the gold and the black silhouette is black lace.

Marked Women II

I have begun adding color to the large figure with decorative paper. I painted in the geisha and am now cutting these feathery shapes from material that will fill in the top. I will then add some definition to my figures and designs within the circles. I will have a green behind them and some sheer gold material layered over them as longer feathers. I added a sheer gold Madonna like figure in the center of the circular women and a figure made out of string in the lower right.

Marked Women II

Here is stage 2. It may be difficult to see the white modeling paste. I have ancient goddess imagery and discs. I have some very cool translucent images that are drying that I will be playing with. I need to decide if my large female (angel, goddess,spirit) will be flesh colored or a different color.

Mark 22

It is the start of week 4 here at Skidmore.

Footprint

I have placed some paper skulls on the surface. Do you like them? I added some feathers at the bottom near the tree stump. I am  thinking of adding a twig on each side, making it look like a scroll and bringing in another natural element..

Marked Women II

This is the largest piece I'm working on; 2 ft X 4 ft. I have just started. I plan to have lots of layers and translucent imagery this time.

Trees In the Sky

This is a softer palette then what I have been using. I went into a wonderful quilt shop in Balston Spa and they had a sample of prints called soft stone. I used some of the fabric for the leaves.The leaves on the far tree are difficult to see in the photo. I'm now going to play with the roots.

Trees In The Sky

This one sat for 2 weeks and I now have an idea. I have the ink drawn trees in the sky. I am thinking gold metal birds as the leaves??? Any other ideas? I have just gessoed 2 large boards and am going to do another variation on Marked Women.

Excavation Marks

Hello all,
   I'm looking for some suggestions for the final layer. Should it be futuristic or apocalyptic? What imagery do you see there?

Three weeks worth of marks

Here are 21 small 4"X4" paintings. Three weeks and two to go.

Marks 19 20 21

These three are related to the footprint drawing. I love the translucent face on the last one. It's hard to see but the center is a traditional Vermont landscape with a big black footprint in the center. I may go back into the drawing with some translucency drawings.

Footprint 3

Here is what I have completed. For Linda I added the tortoise. I have one more footprint to decorate. Do you think I need something else? I did not reformat so if you want to see details, click on the photo and it should get larger. If that does not work, right click on the image and open in a new window.

Footprint 2

I have antiques the open areas of the paper and have now added drawings and notes like  scientific journal entries. If you read them you will see that they are set in the future, noting that they are extinct,  on the verge of extinction, or so far removed that the species is unremembered. The drawings are all ink. I am really enjoying the drawing and the attention to the details.

Marked Women

I got a wonderful surprise visit here at Skidmore from my husband. I was thinking that this piece was complete but Pedar thinks I should create a 3-dimensional face for the Madonna, possibly out of clay. What are your thoughts? I added the 3 graces, a veiled woman, and a Goya transfer.

My favorites.....so far

This was a tough question; which piece is my favorite. I put the images below. For me I think it came down to concept, color, and movement. Which one is your favorite....so far?

 

 

Footprint

This was a piece of paper left behind from some student here at Skidmore. It was lying on the floor and after looking at it for 2 weeks I decided to use it. I have simple, decorative nature motifs inside the shoe prints. I have an ink drawing of a skeleton foot stepping down into the page. I have then torn up copies of maps, traffic jams, dumps, smog, cities, and deforestation. I am now contemplating how to fill the spaces. I am thinking botanical pen and ink work, almost like a notebook documenting what is lost.

Mark 17

For all the time I was struggling with mark 16, this one came together really fast. I love the image I created in the large painting and decided to give her center stage.

Mark 16 Ugh

This piece has just become more and more of a mess. It is a play after a drawing piece. Let me know if you can figure out what is going on. I will leave it alone for awhile.

Why the birds

I have finished the work below and I have been asked "why the birds?" I have always been drawn to birds. When I was little I thought that if I ran fast enough I could take off and fly like one. I dream about birds and I feel they are a totem, especially ravens. I feel they can touch the spirit world and could be messengers from beyond. I feel calm when I create birds.

Spirit Marked 5

This one has been slow going. I added more definition to the faces abd the blue birds. I'm thinking of continuing some of the line imagery into the black paper with a gold pencil.