Changing things up

I'm back in the studio working on a new piece comprised of found objects and mixed media, and boy-o-boy, am I ever having fun!

It's something of an extrapolated portrait of a young man who is near and dear to me - he's of Dutch descent (Friesen, actually), hence the inclusion of imagery from Rembrandt, Van Gough, and Vermeer (with my apologies to these esteemed gentlemen).

Below are bits and pieces from the assemblage to date ...

Studio

As soon as I get a broom to strike down all the cobwebs in the studio, I'll get started.

Oh my, where has the time gone?!

EEEEK!! I see it's been quite a long time since I last made a post. Life has been very busy between Thailand, Christmas, my daughter's wedding, and now I'm out of town again. Soon I'll be back in the studio producing something interesting (I hope). I'm feeling inspired by the sights and activities of the last few months, so stay tuned ...

Thailand was fabulous!

Myanmar

Since my last post I had my open studio show & sale and traveled to Thailand and Myanmar and home again. Our trip was extraordinary - especially Myanmar where we stayed at Inle Lake and spent our days in long narrow boats taking in the sights of the floating vegetable gardens, floating temples, floating silk factory and silversmith. How clever to grow vegetables in a lake, where you'll never have to water your crops and the roots of the plants cleanse the lake water.

Here are a few photos I took along the way:

5th Annual Open Studio Show & Sale

Hi Facebook friends,

The last 2 posts show works by the artists involved in this weekend's 5th Annual Open Studio show & sale. I've been working day and night for weeks completing new works, making jewellery and planning & reorganizing my house (now mostly devoid of furniture to make room of all the works!). If you'd like to attend, the hours are Friday 4 - 9 pm and Saturday & Sunday 11 am - 4pm. For directions to my house, please e-mail me at barbararoden@hotmail.com.

Cheers,

Barbara

Teaser

Mixed-media works and paintings by yours truly.



Blown Glass by Robert Parkes



Shibori Silk by Deanna Welters



Outdoor Container Gardens by June Bergen-Holt

Teaser

Photography by Doug Kerr


Ceramics Fountains by Ernie Hall


Preserves by Jeanette Parkes


Vegan soap (Mermaid) by Kathy Neudorf


Glass works by Jill Hall and Freda Yeomanson.

Buzzin' round the studio

I have several unfinished works going in the studio as I prepare for my upcoming Open Studio Show & Sale later this month. I'm hoping to finish some next week and post images for you. In the meantime, I've been busy with administrative preparations for the show and am glad I started a few weeks ahead of time, as there's much to do and it's taking up as much of my time, if not more, as painting time.

Stay tuned ...

SPROUT

Here's Sprout, hot off the easel. I really enjoyed working on the papier mache surface (over a wooden cradle panel). The slick surface of the papier mache made for an interesting finished texture that's quite different than my works on canvas or wood.

For this work I was inspired partially by Germinate and partially by
Tree of Life, and with a little bit of a nostalgic feel thrown into the mix. It's smaller than my usual works, however, I'm enjoying the sense of intimacy I feel pondering this petite work (16x12").

More fish

I had such fun painting those fish in the last painting I posted they're now appearing in my new works. I'm experiencing pure joy experimenting with colours outside my usual palette. I didn't know dioxazine violette mixed with pthalo green could create such a range of interesting colour - obviously I'm not experimenting enough, happy as I've been in my comfort zone. Note to self: EXPERIMENT!

Update

I found my camera!



Here's the nearly completed piece. I'm thinking about reducing the size of the crescent moon ... I'll let it sit as is for a week, then look at it again.

Missing my camera

I went canoeing on the weekend, was bitten on the wrist by a wasp, had a bad reaction, gobbled anti-histamines, became dozy but paddled like hell anyway, returned to the dock, went home and slept round the clock and haven't seen my camera since. Turns out the evil wasp had been eating something nasty before he bit me, so my arm became infected, puffed up like a balloon, from the palm of my hand to my bicep. After several days, antibiotics and other pharmacy products, I'm able to paint again and would love to show you my progress, but alas, no camera - blame it on that nasty beastie wasp.

I'll borrow a camera and post some images soon.

Cheerio!

On the easel

Step 1 - red ground, conte sketch, slap on a little background colour.





Step 2 - paint in all the basic shapes in the darkest colours.

Q. Are those wine goblets or fish? A. Both - ponder that.





Step 3 - add mid-tones and a few layers of glazes without totally obscuring the goblet/fish.



Step 4 - take a break for a day or two and play with beads and buttons instead.

I'm pleased to report yesterday was a productive day in the studio. I started 2 acrylic paintings: one on canvas, the other on linen - I haven't worked with linen before and thought I'd experiment. I like the extra texture of the linen and am interested to see how it may affect the overall look of the painting once I've added several layers of paint, glazes and tiny details.

I'm feeling quite relaxed after taking most of the summer off and perhaps that's why my new imagery is all curves and rounded or oval shapes - quite unlike the sharp-angled works I usual create, like those below from the series Our Town and With Sturdy Shoes.





I'll post some images tomorrow, when my camera has charged.

Cheerio!

Studio time

After several months of not doing much in the studio, I'm ready to get painting. I've been busy sketching this past weekend and am excited to turn some of my sketches into paintings... stay tuned

Mini Tree of Life

Here's a photo of the 12x12" reproduction of Tree of Life (1/4 the size of the original). A collector of prints of my work has purchased this reproduction and is interested in others once I have the originals scanned. The ability to have high quality reproductions made one at a time, as they're purchased, is wonderful because in the past artists have had to order traditional fine art prints in quantities of 250-500 or more, which is not only an expensive proposition, but also creates distribution and storage problems, not to mention more than a little anxiety about when and if the remaining 249+ will be sold and the cash outlay recovered. With this reproduction process, the copies are not only incredibly true in colour and clarity, and may be created on canvas, but they're also affordable to a wider audience of art appreciators.

Only time will tell if sales of my imagery increase due to this process; later this year the company producing reproductions will take the project on-line and in the meantime they're pursuing marketing opportunities - cross your fingers for me.

Marketing

I haven't any images to show for the past two weeks, although I've been working diligently on marketing - the least enjoyable part of my art practice. I'd rather be up to my elbows in paint and sawdust, completely absorbed in a new painting or mixed media work, than trying to get out there and "get selling". Actually, though, I've been quite excited about the possibilities resulting from a new high quality process for creating reproductions of art work on stretched canvas. I had Tree of Life scanned and a "12x12" reproduction made on canvas - I'm thrilled to bits with the quality of colour-matching and clarity - if I'd had it done in the full 24x24" size of the original, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the reproduction and the original without touching the two to feel for texture. I'm in the process of having Winged Teacher With Sturdy Shoes and Community Advocate With Sturdy Shoes scanned as they're the most popular prints in my Etsy store and other venues - coming this fall they'll be available on-line in a variety of sizes - I'll keep you posted.

Working outside under the deck today to beat the heat!

Even though the heat was tough today, I was inspired to prep a few small cradle panels and a framed wooden canvas I made over a decade ago. I laid on several layers of torn bits from the local newspaper (classified adds and feature stories), painting under and over each layer with a mixture of matte medium and water to create a slick papier mache covering. The brilliant sunshine was just the thing for quick drying these foundations.



While I waited for those pieces to dry, I washed off the half-mannequin I liberated from a give-away-or-toss-it pile one Spring Clean-up week, also a decade ago. Garsh it felt good to cover up the poor girl's peeling and cracked skin with a couple of layers of Gesso!

I'm not sure exactly what my next step will be, but I'm pretty sure it'll be interesting ... I just need some cooler temperatures than these record breaking ones to get working in the studio again.

Too hot to work in the studio this week

Sorry, there probably won't be any updates this week because of this glorious weather - it's seems to be conducive to making one want to flop somewhere comfortable in the shade rather than work.