"Orad Sin Cesar" (final)

($150.00.....8" x 10"......Mixed Media....Mounted on a 2" Depth Clayboard)

As you can see, I have changed the title of this piece again. It is a Spanish title and translates into..."Pray Without Ceasing". The handwritten verse in the piece is from psalm 55:1...."Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me."

The quote was written as though it had been scratched into metal which goes along with the technique I used to make all of the other gestural marks. I also deconstructed the letters a bit by sanding with fine sand paper. It is so true that the art wants what the art wants!

I remembered that I had carved a stamp using my ruling pen letters as my guide. (The stamp was actually carved back in the mid 90's.) And that's the beauty of hand cut stamps. They can be used again in a dfferent work. I used Speedball Printing Ink for stamping and pressed very hard since I was stamping on an uneven surface. It immediately looked like the right touch because of the weight of the letters. It provided yet another contrast of weight in all of the lettering...including the text pages.

And that was when I discovered that it made sense to change the name of the piece. Besides all of that, we have a Spanish church within our church and it's nice that they can read some of the words in Spanish. So this is a good example of allowing the piece to guide you along the way. It also became apparent that the lettering needed to be "sketchy" and fit into the mood and look of the piece. So that's the capsule version of my though processes this morning.

It has been a fun piece to work on.  As always, I learned more things about technique, subtlety, integration, shapes, etc.  And that's why it is so important to create as much art as possible. Each art piece is like practicing all of those etudes and scales. It's the way art is learned! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Profusion of Color"

($60.00.....6" x 6".....mounted on a 1.50" depth clayboard)


"Love breaks open the heart in a profusion of color." This quote has meaning on many different levels. I'll let you decide the interpretation.

This is a wild, out of control pouring medium piece that was brought into an ordered state with a very straight line of lettering and a collage piece of line engraving.

I've become extremely fascinated with line engravings. There are several Dover Publication books with an array of these simple and powerful engravings that are copyright free. The one I used in these piece is from Baroque Ornament and Designs. There is a hand cut stamp of straight lines in the background that echoes the band of lines at the bottom. (The paper was stamped before the pour.)

I began by covering the paper with Titanium White + Pouring Medium. I then laid the paper where it would stay until dry and poured the solid bands of color on the left. Then I took a fork and ran it through a select area of the bands of color which created a profusion of color going in many directions. The contrast between bands of color left untouched vs. external manipulation is a very effective way of creating interest.

This piece is a great example of why I use Spencerian Script so much with Pouring Medium techniques. That one line of straight lettering is a powerful contrast and has a calming effect over the wild display of color. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Framed in Time"

($60.00.....6" x 6".......mounted on a 1.50" depth clayboard)


"There is space, framed in time, for a good friend." A person with no friends is living in poverty of the soul. We all need to make space for our friends.

In this piece I am experimenting, once again, with slight diagonals and transparency. The piece began with a blank sheet of Rives BFK. Using an old credit card, I covered the surface with gesso and spread it around. The gesso naturally "pools" where ever you stop moving the gesso around with the credit card. Some of the underlying lines are raised areas of this gesso.

I then printed out several different scrap pieces from my files of lettering and printing from long ago. Because I wanted some sharp color contrast, I chose to print over the gesso with a hand carved stamp and Blue Speedball Printing Ink first.  Most of it was sprayed with water and blotted to subdue the color. After drying and spraying with Spray Acrylic Coating, I was then ready to arrange and adhere the transparent layers.

The last step was to prepare the surface for lettering, think up a quote, and write. It still amazes me how sitting across the room from the piece almost immediately sparks the idea for the quote. There is no way I could have told you what the quote was going to be before the background was done. It really is the best way to work! Just a few more things to try or think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Purity"

($40.00....6" x 6"......mounted on a 1.50" clayboard panel)


"Prayer is a condition of purity." Communicating with God is a reflective and purifying process. It is a place of refuge and peace. Visually, it is best communicated with a lot of white.

Yesterday was black and ink. Today is white and purity. This piece satisfies my desire to create a piece in whites and muted grays. Tone on tone can sometimes be weak depending on what the surroundings are. This would be a stunning piece on a mid to dark gray wall. It would, of course, disappear on a white wall.

Another way to handle this type of tone on tone technique would be to introduce several different textures. It would not be interesting if it were simply painted one color. It is very important to have some intrigue in the piece by have some subtle value changes without going too far from the white end of the gray scale. In addition, the attention to shapes and designing the corners still needs to be a strong consideration. Just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Simplicity" ($40.00)

(adjusted price.....$40.00)


"Good design favors simplicity." In my own life, I tend to get bogged down in endless detail. So once again, a principle that applies in art also applies in daily life. Deleting unnecessary things and details is the path to freedom through simplicity. It also keeps your house clean!

Most important things are not completely learned in the first go around. That's why going back to the basics is always a good thing to do. It also develops your aesthetic. I have found this to be especially true in the area of design. Even though I can rattle off the elements and principles of design, I keep learning more about it as I blog every day. Most of the oil painters and instructors in oils suggest that you really cannot make great progress until you've completed at least (100) small paintings. It is only when these (100) are done, that real progress begins.

Having said that, I am close to having completed (200) small paintings on this blog and I am still stunned at how much I keep learning about design. So today I want to list the principles of design. Look at design as though you are making a cake. The elements of design (from yesterday's posting) are the ingredients for the cake. The principles of design tell you how to mix the ingredients and bake the cake....or artwork. Unity is a sense of oneness. Dominance is one characteristic of a design element dominating. Contrast is the opposite characteristic of a design element. Balance can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. Gradation is one element going from large to small...small to large...light to dark or dark to light. Repetition is repeating any of the design elements. Alternation is alternating any of the design elements.

It sounds simple, but in the beginning, it can seem overly complex. The only way to become adept is to create artwork..and lots of it and analyze your work to see what you did with each design element. It will eventually become intuitive.  Hence, one of my reasons for blogging. Just something to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Rio Grande" (unavailable)

(unavailable.....in the permanent collection of dee day)

This quote is so appropriate since there are two rivers that form our western and northern boundary lines. Besides, I just like to say and write "Rio Grande". There is something about it that has a tremendous amount of grandeur and presence.

This piece was created with overlapping forms and a progression of built up texture. The first layer of color was applied wet into wet to form diffused and gradated edges of color with minimal texture such as the vertical gestural marks on the right. In the second layer, white gesso was added in upper left and lower right hand corners with expressive marks written in the gesso followed by additional color added to those areas only. The third layer was created with overlapping forms such as the stamped image of Rio and the pencil drawing of the state of Texas. Finally, the quote was added.

This posting was designed for my class in Houston. They will be creating a (6" x 6") tomorrow using geometric forms.

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"A Day Called Manana" (sold)

(sold)

This is a week where I could use another manana. Unfortunately, the last time I looked at the calendar, there was not one day called manana! It's an illusion..."pie in the sky" thinking. The only way to get things done is to schedule only what can be done in seven days a week. It's the only way.

This piece will wake you up on a Monday morning! You might not have noticed at first glance, that the zigzag black marks in the background actually spell manana. It was first written with a ruling pen, enlarged and reduced on a copier. Stamps were cut of this image in all three sizes. So what you see here is a portion of the word stamped in three sizes. The black lines at the bottom are also a hand cut stamp. But what really makes this a bold and aggressive piece besides the color are all of the hard edges from the stamp. The hard edge can work if your desire is to communicate aggressive drama. The texture created by the stamp will offset and break up the edge a bit which is one reason I've always been drawn to stamped imagery.

As you can see, I do a lot of experimenting with creating different moods by the way I handle the elements and principles of design. Perhaps you might feel a bit creative today and think about painting a dramatic piece.