State Fair 2011 Art and Summer Learning



"Connections" at Iowa State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit 2011

 Sunday we attended the Iowa State Fair Fine Arts reception where we got to preview the amazing art that will be on display during this year's fair.  This was the third time I've had a painting juried into this show.  It's a thrill to get the bright colored postcard in the mail and find a check marked in the accepted box.

You'll find the Fine Arts display on the first floor of the Cultural Center.  It's on the hill on the east side of the fairgrounds.  If you want to see my painting, it's located in the SW corner of the fine arts room on a half wall.  That's not an ideal place to view it.  I'd prefer it be hanging higher and with more space to step back from it to take in its subtleties and depth.  But I'm still very pleased to have a painting on display.



Swan Love

 Another hobby of mine is digital manipulations.  Even though I've been playing with them for several years, I still consider myself a novice since there are many digital tools that mystify me.
The only good thing about Borders Books going out of business is that there are some great bargains.  I found "Digital Imaging Workshop" by Rick Sammon and paid just over $2.00!  Yes, it's a bit dated since he was using PS Elements 2.0 and 3.0.  Some of my tools are different in the PSE 4.0, but I'm still benefiting from his tutorials.  Last night I randomly chose a so-so image I took a couple years ago.  I often save this quality of shot just for the purpose of painting reference.
I learned a couple of new tricks from the book and added a couple things I already had up my sleeve.  Digital magic!  I know this image still has problems.  The distant swan in blown out a bit by being over exposed.   Even so, there are still many things I like about the results and I'm encouraged to keep learning.

Summer Treats Palette - GPP Crusade No. 53

Virtual color palette extracted from scanned paint reference journal.

 A little scanning, Photoshop Elements, and imagination came together to come up with my Summer Treats Palette.  This month's challenge from the Green Pepper Street Team was the motivation to take a new look at my paint reference journal.  I use spiral bound watercolor paper tablets to develop palettes for many of my paintings.  I like to use a limited number of paints from the tube and develop a range of shades and tints so my paints will have unity.  This is one example of how I may proceed.

Scanned paint reference journal page.

These are smears of acrylic paint - Liquitex and Golden brands - that were applied to the page with palette knives.  Some colors are pure from the tube and others are blends.  I also added titanium white to some of the blends.  I write notes around the smears to help me recreate the colors.

I developed this palette last year while planning a painting for Unforgettable Art.  I used much of this palette for paintings of purple coneflowers.  Sadly, one of the paints is no longer available, so I'll need to do another version of this palette to come up with a good compromise.  Sounds like fun to me!

Be sure to visit the GPP Street Team blog to see how Michelle Ward prompted us for the challenge.  Maybe you'll be inspired to join in.  Even if you don't blog yourself, try this.  It was lots of fun.

New Jewelry to Premiere at Linn Creek Arts Festival this Sunday

 I've been busy creating new jewelry with some of my favorite beads.  You can see these and much more in Marshalltown at the Fisher Community Center this coming Sunday at the Linn Creek Arts Festival from 10:00-5:00.

This set was inspired by a gorgeous set of polymer beads created by Chris.  Her artistry and workmanship are top notch.  I found gorgeous orange garnets to coordinate with the polymer focal bead.  Red tiger eye and gold fill beads were added for accents.

It doesn't show on the photo, but the dark background on the floral beads has a hint of sparkle.  The white spots are reflections from my spot light.

Freshwater stick pearls were the inspiration for this triple strand necklace.  They're a beautiful shade of red-violet that perfectly complements the tourmaline and grossular (green) garnet beads.  Sterling silver and Swarovski crystal elements were used as neutral accents on this beauty.  The necklace is finished with a sterling silver clasp.

These earrings match the triple strand necklace.  You can see the fun texture of the freshwater stick pearls on this shot.  Sterling silver and Swarovski crystal elements complete the design.

Jasper comes in many varieties.  This necklace features a Fossil Coral Jasper pendant.  Picture Jasper and sterling silver accent the denim blue sodalite necklace.  The sterling silver toggle clasp closes in the front for an added design feature and ease of wearing.

More Fossil Coral Jasper... this time in marquis shaped beads.  I added Brazilian Petrified Wood beads and sterling silver to make a versatile necklace that can be worn extra long as one strand or wrapped to make a comfortable double strand necklace.  The matching bracelet closes with a beautiful toggle clasp.

I hope to see you Sunday at the festival. I'll be in booth #45. 

GPP Crusade No. 52: Seasonal Wardrobe

Cover art on Strathmore Visual Journal

 This month Michelle Ward challenged Green Pepper Street Team participants to share seasonal "wardrobe" changes in our art.  Do I change my color palette with the change of the seasons? 
How does the changing of the seasons affect my art?

I tend to work with a limited color palette and usually prefer saturated colors.  But looking back at the past winter months I see that I played a lot with softer colors, especially aqua.  Maybe a desire to be at a warm beach during the long cold winter was influencing me.

Lately, I've been experimenting with bright green.  Today's project was to embellish the covers of a Strathmore Visual Journal.  They have a tough, shiny cover that I sanded to give more tooth for the paint.  Then I applied gesso that I distressed with waxed paper.  While the gesso was wet, I lay a piece of waxed paper on the surface and lifted it off.  The gesso dried with an irregular texture.
Next, I painted a thin layer of lime green paint on the surface and dabbed some off with damp cheese cloth.

The special seasonal touch to this cover came from the leaf masks. A short storm left bunches of leaves and twigs on the ground yesterday. I picked up a few and pressed them over night.
I laid the leaves on the covers and sprayed a couple colors of diluted Liquitex Acrylic Ink.

I really like the results of this project so far and have started a similar project on canvas.

This crusade has me thinking about the influence the seasons have on my work and I can use that awareness.
 When I get stuck for inspiration, I can let the unique qualities of the season spark ideas.  The bright green that I'm working in seemed too intense when the ground was covered with snow.  But now the outdoors is bursting with green and it just seems natural to be working with it.

Triple Galaxy Painting at Octagon Art Center

I'm happy to announce that this painting was juried into the current Community of Artist exhibit at the Octagon Center for the Arts in Ames, IA. 

I previously posted about this painting when I was contemplating whether or not it was finished.  Honestly, I don't think I added anything more than my signature.  I took it to the critique group that I was attending and we all agreed that this orientation of the painting was best.  Sometimes when I work abstractly, I end up hanging the painting in a different orientation from how I did most of the work.  This is one example.  Most of the time while working, this painting was in a horizontal position on my easel.

I haven't been as productive with painting or making jewelry as I'd like.  The Linn Creek Arts Festival has invited me to return this coming July and I look forward to being there.  One of my creative outlets has been making lots of cards...  graduation, birthday, sympathy, etc.  I was introduced to the Martha Stewart scoring board which has been a great tool for creating cards and matching envelopes.  Tri-fold cards are so simple to make with the board.  Heavy scrapbook papers make a great base.  I should have photographed some to share with you.  Maybe I'll do that with future cards and a future post.

Earlier this week we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary by spending an extended weekend in the Twin Cities.  We stayed at the Bird House Inn in Excelsior which is just a few blocks from Lake Minnetonka.  What a wonderful time we had and my artistic juices were renewed as well.  The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is just a few miles away.  The peonies and yellow lady slippers were glorious.  I definitely want to revisit this place.

I hope to post here more often.   Thanks to all my faithful followers. 

Art at Snus Hill Winery on April 30th

I've been making some new earrings to prepare for the upcoming art sale at Snus Hill Winery this coming Saturday.  The event is part of a multi-community celebration in honor of the High Trestle Trail.  Read more here.
This grouping features different stones and sterling silver.  I've been shaping and hammering sterling wire.  That's lots of fun.
So is hanging out with fellow art lovers.  I hope you'll come out this Saturday and see us at Snus Hill Winery.
We'll be there from 10-5.


Turquoise and Sterling Silver Earrings



African Chrysocolla and Sterling Silver Earrings



Just a few of my earring creations.

Hope Rewarded

Digital art from my painting and photography

My computer is operating again.  Hooray!  I need help from Hubby to tweak a few things, but I very happily played with Photoshop Elements this evening.  I really missed using it very much!

I combined a face that I painted following Sharon Thomlinson's class last year and a photo of daisies that I captured last summer.   Over the past several months, my computer was behaving very badly and I quit manipulating images on it.  Most recent pictures that I've posted here were edited on my smart phone using PicSay Pro.

Now I'm happy to say that my hope of having a faster running computer has come true.  I created several layers and many adjustments to my images.  There was no slowing down.  That is why this post is titled Hope Rewarded.  Thanks Hubby! xo