Category: Paintings

Art, Collage, Paintings, Poetry

The Tree of Mercury

Shelly

Tree of Mercury
The Tree of Mercury
oil on canvas
48 x 67 inches

I started this painting a couple of years ago and didn’t completely finish it. It’s ginormous, so physically maneuvering it is a little tricky. Since I’ve been rephotographing and measuring everything, I thought I should dig this out and try to shoot it, too. That was an, um, adventure.

I love the twisty, viney bits and have based a few other pieces on it.

The Keeping Tree
The Keeping Tree
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
collage on paper, with pennies, cork, hat pin, and yearbook photos

To Blossoms
To Blossoms
9 1/2 x 12 inches
collage on paper, with 35 mm film, dried ironweed flowers, and yearbook photo

To Blossoms
by Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
Why do ye fall so fast?
Your date is not so past,
But you may stay yet here a-while,
To blush and gently smile;
And go at last.

What, were ye born to be
An hour or half’s delight;
And so to bid good-night?
‘Twas pity Nature brought ye forth,
Merely to show your worth,
And lose you quite.

But you are lovely leaves, where we
May read how soon things have
Their end, though ne’er so brave:
And after they have shown their pride,
Like you, a-while;–they glide
Into the grave.

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We’ve had on and off clouds all day, but it’s been dry. That’s due to change soon, though. A line of storms is heading our way. I looked out a little bit ago and saw that the sky had darkened. After the cloud had passed, I took a photo of it. The sun was in the west and the cloud in the east. It’s amazing what a change in perspective will do. While overhead, it turned everything black, but with the sun on it, it looks soft and benign.

And, an instant review. Soy Fusion’s Matcha Green Tea is excellent. It sounds kind of gross (soy milk and green tea), but it’s nummy stuff. Then again, I love lots of soy milk in my tea, so this isn’t much of a stretch.

Art, Drawings, Paintings

And More Art Excavations

Shelly

I still can’t find the painting I’ve been looking for. I know it’s here somewhere, but lord only knows where I’ve put it. I found some more old work, though. I also spent most of the day tweaking style sheets and researching and writing copy for the new website. I think my brain is ready to implodiate. I started with one of my altered books, thinking that that would give me a nice, finite test project. What I didn’t anticipate is how much better my scanning and correcting skills have gotten. Unfortunately, that means I’m going to have to re-do most of my older scans. It’ll be more work, but I think it’ll be worth it.

Collage
Collage
watercolor on paper, mounted to board

Grid
Grid
watercolor on 140lb cold press watercolor paper

Pumpkin Dance
Pumpkin Dance
watercolor on 140lb cold press watercolor paper
10 x 11 inches

Umbrella
Umbrella
watercolor and oil pastel resist on 140lb cold press watercolor paper
22 x 8 inches

Inside Pandora's Box VI
Inside Pandora’s Box VI
watercolor on 140 lb cold press watercolor paper
27 x 20 1/2 inches

These were all done for a watercolor class. As you can see, I’ve wasn’t very good at it and my watercolor handling skills haven’t improved with time.

Palm Tree
Palm Tree
embossed 140 lb cold press watercolor paper
13 x 7 inches

I did the embossing in high school. It was done with simple braided yarn, but I’ve always loved the way it turned out.

Nude I
Nude I (AKA Mount Breast)
Prismacolor on charcoal paper
19 x 25 inches

There are some anatomical weirdnesses in this drawing.

Art, Paintings

More Art Excavating

Shelly

Solar Wind
Solar Wind
oil and acrylic on board
42 x 18 inches

I had completely forgotten about this painting. I found it while I was rearranging furniture last weekend. It’d been stuffed behind my bed, for some reason. I did a whole series of these bright, stringy paintings. My mom has one that I need to get good photos of. Next time I’m there, I need to remember to do that.

I also need to get photos of the drippy painting my brother has. It’s a little like this one, only much, much nicer. It’s full of lovely blues and teals, with little bits of alizarin crimson. I think another one in that series went to a family friend, so I need to get photos of that one, too.

Maps 3
Maps III
oil on canvas
24 x 24 inches

Hmm. See, this is why I don’t try to sell my stuff. I feel like I’ve left a string of poor little orphans in my wake.

Art, Collage, Paintings

I Shall Not Go to Heaven

Shelly

WCC01-1

WCC01-2

I Shall Not Go to Heaven
I Shall Not Go to Heaven
assemblage (bone and mirror) with acrylic and ink adhered to watercolor paper
5 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches

These are three steps in the collage process. I started with one of the uglier paintings, figuring I could hardly make things worse. I added a bit of metallic gold ink, which didn’t do a whole lot to help matters. The hand print was a step in the right direction, though. I like the way the metallic gold ink shows through the black ink of the hand print even though the black ink is on top. (And, for once, the metallic quality of the gold ink is actually showing up.) With the addition of a piece of mirror and some tiny chicken rib bones the piece is, I think, complete.

Art, Collage, Paintings

Boats

Shelly

Little Gold Boat
Little Gold Boat

Little Red Boat
Little Red Boat
acrylic wash and Prismacolor on paper
3 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches

These are a couple of finished pieces from the watercolor collage experiment. The backgrounds were done with watered down acrylic on 140 lb watercolor paper. I used Prismacolor to darken and alter the color of selected areas. The gold boat was made from a piece of Burpee catalog paper coated with metallic gold paste. The red boat was made from origami paper.

Art, Artist Books, Collage, Paintings

Pandora’s Jar

Shelly

Pandora's Jar
Pandora’s Jar
acrylic, Neocolors II, and collage on paper

This is the second spread in the Blue Journal. The background is acrylic, again. The jar was done in Caran d’Ache Neocolors II. I also used Neocolors II to color the fortune cookie slips. Like the previous spread, the tealy colors in this piece did not scan well. I ended up knocking down the saturation and contrast, which helped a bit, but the color itself is still off.

This spread could’ve doubled for the Vessels book. I may end up repeating it there, using a different color scheme.

Art, Artist Books, Paintings

Rain Bird

Shelly

Rainbird
Rain Bird
acrylic on paper

I spent over an hour Photoshopping this spread and the color still isn’t quite right. Tealy-aquas are a pain in the ass to reproduce, especially when there are metallics involved. Grrr. This is the first spread in the Blue Journal, which is for an Art Erratica round robin. I was supposed to get this stupid thing mailed out yesterday, but held it back so I could make scans. I figured I’d have plenty of time to get them done this ayem, then I’d run into town and pop this puppy in the mail. Now, it’s looking like that’s not going to happen until tomorrow, which will make it two days late. I suppose I could send it out as is, without getting scans first, but it’s going to be traveling for almost a year. If it gets lost or damaged, I won’t get a second chance. Who knew that it’d take me as long to scan and tweak as it did to make the bloody thing in the first place?

Anyway, this particular RR is color based. Everyone picked a color scheme that appealed to them. Mine is “underwatery blues,” so everyone who works in my book will work primarily in shades of blue.

Obviously, the Rain Bird is not anatomically correct. He’s sort of half bird, half betta fish, with feathery blue fins. I used quite a bit of metallic paint, hoping it would give a “silver lining” sort of effect. Metallics don’t scan well, but the original is nice and shimmery. Oooh, shiny!

Art, Collage, Ladybusiness, Paintings

Vessels: 3 x 9

Shelly

3 by 9

3 by 9 (detail)
Vessels: 3 by 9 (with detail)
mixed media on paper

This is the latest installment in the Vessels series. It’s a combination of Pitt pen, Koh-I-Noor watercolor pencils, Neocolors II water-souluble wax crayons, and collage on yummy Cartiere Magnani paper. I’m much happier with this piece than #17–not so much because I think the final image is all that much better, but because the process of getting to the end result was more satisfying.

I’m especially happy with the leaves. I usually don’t enjoy the process of cross-hatching. It’s a bloody pain in my behindermost parts to get the sort of result I want. It’s a little difficult to tell, even from the detail, but there there are layers upon layers upon layers of cross hatching, which gives a velvety depth to the drawing. The paper held up very well to this sort of abuse.

Art, Collage, Paintings

Vessels: Conceiving the Plan

Shelly

A Book of Vessels: Conceiving the Plan (before) A Book of Vessels: Conceiving the Plan
Vessels: Conceiving the Plan
mixed media

I called my mom this morning and spent three hours talking to her. Where does the time go? While I was on the phone, I took another look at the watercolor I did a couple of nights ago. Ugh. It was just as bad as I remembered. I figured, since I was gabbing and my hands weren’t busy, I may as well try to salvage what I could. I diluted some gesso and splashed it over the paper, let it sit for a bit, then blotted up the excess. That lightened everything and left a milky, mottled cast to the image that I quite liked. You can see the remains of the effect in the lower left-hand corner.

I then got out my Pitt pens and played with the shading. I did some cross-hatching, which helped, but not enough. However, I made a discovery. I was using my grey brush-tip pens and decided to do some washy shading on top of the cross-hatching. The under layer of ink melted and smeared. Hmmm. Pitt pens are permanent when water is applied, but apparently the carrier in the pen itself will melt already-dried ink. That makes sense (otherwise the ink would dry up in the pen, right?), but it hadn’t occurred to me before.

So then I played around with laying down dark areas and using the lightest brush tip pen to melt and redistribute the ink. Oh frabjous day! I really like how the final image turned out. It’s not perfect, but I’m pleased that I was able to salvage it. I think it’ll make a nice addition to the Vessels book.