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Curiosity 4"x6" DAY 30 - celebrate, celebrate, celebrate.  This wasn't as bad as some of the challenges that really seemed to go on forever.  I think I could still go on, but then after having done so many challenges, I already utilize a lot of the benefits every day anyway.  But always the good news is that you see so much wonderful work and get connected with new friends.  Will take some more time now to go through the pictures and just enjoy the work and creativity. This is another miniature, 4"x6", and had a lot of fun with this little guy.  A friend, Julie Hollis, has done some butterflies landing on adult male lion noses, and they are an adorable story.   When I saw the pose of this little cub I thought the butterfly would be the perfect addition to tell the story.  I also wanted to try to tell the fur story another way without actually doing fur, so instead it is roughed color splotches.  I think it still reads as fur.  I used the saran wrap again

The Cyclist 4"x6" Well Val, you called it, for DAY 29, here is my first official miniature.  The Cyclist is 4"x6" and acrylic.  Again one of those things that started out one way and ended up another.   A miniature is something 4"x6" or smaller, max is 24 sq inches.  They had both 4x6 and 5x7 mini canvas at the dollar store so figured I would give them a try.  Some things I learned that is pretty necessary, is that these need to be sprayed with water on the back and let to dry - makes it taunt again.  And, also plan on adding additional gesso, at least 1-2 more layers if you like to work on smoother surfaces. Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Dryad Day 28, since I am still working on a miniature I needed to repost something for today.  So I picked Dryad, done on March 1, 2016.  I did a combination of references for this piece and it was one of my first out-of-the-box pictures.  It combined my love of portraits with something that gave it a more abstract, contemporary feeling.  This is done in acrylic and is based on a photo by Alex Lee Johnson, a photographer at PMP.  I think the eyes say it all in t his piece and she represents the true soul and spirit of the trees. Thanks for taking a look.

Spark w/mat Spark Unmated Well for today's hot scheme I had this in the middle of paper with borders around it, thinking it might not buckle as much and that it would look like it was already matted having the clean edges.  However, it wasn't the best paper so it buckled anyway and then when it ran it ran down over the border, which was already dirty (where did that come from?).  So I might, clean it up by painting the border all white, or just cut another "mat" that fits on top of this, just to see what it looks like, but hadn't done that before I posted this.     Ok, I just shamed myself into cutting the top mat because I figured if I didn't now I never would.  And, this faux mat will probably end up being quite useful in the future. So I started out putting the square in the middle of a sheet of paper, put on a base coat and then just added color and design from there.  I added another piece of failed print as a collage piece and tried to see if

Red Egret DAY 26  Bad Feather Day - Having lived in Florida for so many years I thought I had seen a lot of water birds.  We used to have herons and egrets in our back yard.  But when Sandy Scott, a photographer from PMP, posed this red egret I had to give it a try.  When I do references of things I don't know a lot about it makes me want to research, and I found that the habitat for this bird is the Caribbean, so no wonder I hadn't seen one in the wild.   The next thing I wanted to try to bring some life and looseness to what would normally be a static picture.  So I took some liberty with the bird's coloring, wasn't so particular with the feathers and added some additional colors and slights foam in the water to make it appear it is a windy day.   Actually his unusual spiny feathers are probably mating plumage.   I also wanted to try working colored pencil with pan pastels - so primarily this is a pan pastel picture with some of the detail coming from color

1950s phone 1970s Disco Queen Day 25 For the Art Sherpa ATC club this month's theme was something retro from 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s.  Boy have people really been having fun with this one.  It always amazes me how much info you can get onto a 2.5"x3.5" card. Anyway mine were hard to choose from because some of the people really got started earlier (yes, I have been procrastinating) and took some of the great ones.  But am still seeing people post things that are just incredible and bring back lots of memories - from lava lamps to VW beetles and vans, you name it.  I ended up with the Disco Queen (all that hair and bell bottoms) in colored pencil  and ball and a 1950's style telephone done with markers.  Will have to get them in the mail tomorrow.   Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Overview DAY 24 Today is one of those days where I had no clue what was going to come out on the canvas, but I swear some of these paint themselves.  Sometimes I see images and then I can negative paint (or try to) and other days, well, it is what it is.  I like the color combination in this one and felt I just had to add that spot of red.  I called this overview because it reminds me of being in an airplane and looking at the ground.  It is all sectioned out, different colors and textures.  But, I also see a door and debated on whether or not to put in an address in the transom area, but then thought that might be too leading to the viewer, so it's your choice what you would call this piece.  I used both my palette knife and dollar store color shapers and enjoyed how the paint moved differently versus the palette knife.   I did like the texture result too. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Sailing Today's abstract turned into a seascape, loved how the different blues blended together to give the ocean interest.   I also am really happy with how the sky turned out as well.  This one was totally palette knife.  Wish I could say I am becoming  more comfortable with it, but think it will take quite a bit more practice, and I will kindly oblige it by doing more. Thanks for taking a look.

Noise I have noticed, now that we live out of the hard core suburbia, how much we get quiet.  I mean actual quiet, no kids, no dogs, not cars, not motorcycles, no sirens, etc. etc.  How many waves, noise carrying waves, go through our bodies every day.   Phone, radio, tv, fiber optics, microwave, etc. etc.   Can that really be good for us? Anyway, I never know what I am going to get and this was a pretty quick one since I had a big time work day, for me.   But I got some really clean windows - am really ready for Fall, wish the temperature could understand how ready I really am for Fall!!. Thanks much for stopping by.

The Sun Day 18  This started in a totally different direction and then when I turned it went another direction.  This, believe it or not, had a strip of aluminum foil going through the cloud layer.  I was hoping that it would still be reflective (you can see hints of reflections in real life), but I wasn't able to really pull that off, so I added the white clouds to cover the edges.  There are quite a few layers to this piece and I am learning not to get too precious about anything that I like in the first layers.  To get the texture you have to build up.  Also when using the gloss medium it tends to make everything translucent, so I have to figure out more strategically where I really want to use that layer to protect existing layers. Thanks much for stopping by to take a look.

Under The Sea Well want to work on a new technique of negative painting.  I like taking the abstract painting and trying to find some internal image and develop it.  So that was today's experiment.  Yes I am using the saran wrap technique in this ( actually did a couple of layers of this), but also wipe out and just color layering, negative painting and a little splattering.  Also I am using layers of gloss medium to seal areas that I want protected, and it also aids in wiping areas out (but it also really slows the drying time, so beware of trying to go fast, but it also extends being able to play). Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Searching Well Carol, I am going with your suggestion that you should name it something that you think it makes you feel.  This piece certainly has plenty of incomplete areas and goes from hard to soft, so I think Searching is appropriate.  This is a more complex piece than I  have tried before and has several more steps to it.  And there are lots more things to try with some of these techniques.   Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Flash Today was all about playing and well, my wild side is creeping out.  Changed up the paper on today's abstract and boy, did it ever open up a whole new world.  Crazy what a bit more texture can bring to the party.   Lots of playing around here, mostly used acrylic inks in this piece.  Used a toilet paper inner roll (both to stamp circles and roll paint) just flopped a brush around from side to side and used alcohol and gravity to move the inks. Thanks much for stopping by.

Well now I understand why the titles of abstracts in the museums are so inane, like Red, well yeah, the canvas is red.  How do you name and really describe these things?   I  guess I am feeling the influence of the hurricane as I think this is Shoals and all that energy is going inland.  Oh, well, who knows, but thanks for taking a look today. I had another really runny paint session and the teal on the left is part of the paper towel that is under my glass palette, it got drenched with the teal so I cut it up and added it on and then put the black over the top and wet is as I really like the  run effects that you get.

The Dance Well here it is, already DAY 13 and I see I am not the only one who is floundering.  Didn't have as much time in the art room but did get to play a bit.  I had gessoed a couple of sheets of paper and put them on top of each other, and of course when I tried to separate they lost some of their layers in places.   Thought it would be interesting to see what the paint did with that.  You an see some of the darker spots is where the paper was damaged and the paint really settled into those areas.  Yes, it is an effect, but I learned the lesson to not put wet papers on top of each other any more.  Also got some practice with a fine liner.  I had purchase a couple but really hadn't use them, so now fill the second one with black and I will be good to go. Tanks much for stopping by.

Tooter Ok, so I am working on something else right now and wanted to go back to one of oldies but goodies.  Tooter didn't get a lot of love, but I really like this one and enjoyed doing the background.   This is from the performers series, which is probably how I got to wanting to try my hand at abstracts in the first place. Thanks for taking a look.

Links Today's abstract reminds me of Links and connections that we all have in our lives.  Lots of circles (for me until I get it right) and lines crossing with the highs and lows that keep life interesting.  Just played with a lot of textures in this piece experimenting to see what results there might be. Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

DAY 10, wow it seems to be flying by this challenge, ok I didn't get in until late, so I guess hitting my personal wall will be later as well.  Again, this is another mixed media piece, I guess that is correct when it includes some collage.  I tried the little print and wasn't happy with the result but decided to tear it up and use it in some abstract pieces.  The rest is all paint, and I used some stencils to jazz up the pure white areas. Thanks much for stopping by.

Today's piece is a perfect example of just letting it happen.   The more I hear and read I guess you really don't have a plan, abstract is reacting to what is happening.  You  make the choices of what to add, when and where.   This is an experimental collage piece, added some napkin pieces in several spots.  This time I peeled off the 2nd layer which is all white.  I then added a piece of paper towel that was under my paint palette and had a spreading pattern from really wet washes that had gotten between the glass.  Then black and turquoise paint was added and I laid back pieces of the white layer of the napkin on top of the wet paint.  I sprayed that tissue as it lay on top of the wet paint and it became translucent and kind of made the spreading pattern that you see.   Thanks for stopping by.

Selkie's Song 11"x8 Acrylic This piece originated with Cinnamon Clooney, The Art Sherpa.  She has what she calls an art quest and does a different theme each year.   For this year it was mermaid, fairies, etc. and she licensed the most beautiful reference pieces.  I always learn something when I watch her videos, even though I don't always like the style she ends up with.  She basically expands my mind's ideas. Since I try hard any more not to copy, although I have learned much through the years doing just that, my Selkie's story deviated from Cinnamons.  First Selkie folk is Scottish lore, their version of a seal that can shape change into human form.  If you have the seal hide the person is indebted to you, until they find their seal skin and then most leave hearth and home and head back to sea.  Some say they are mermaids, sirens, mermen or mermen, meows, etc. I decided to put my selkie into the night, on a cliff, high above the sea, but still she hea

In The Garden Original painting Well, thankfully I have some folks who tell me what they think.  I value their objective opinions very much and appreciate that they feel strongly enough to tell me when they feel something is off.  In the original painting no one liked the addition of the yellow flower, and felt it pulled the eye and overshadowed the focal point.   Well, I sat on it a bit and starting playing with how I could work it back into the composition.  I wanted the third flower, but I couldn't just really dull down the yellow.  As you an see I ended up making it darker in shadows and then burying it into the foliage.  I like it better because it now looks, to me, like it is part of the picture instead of just being put on in the corner.  Moral of the story, fix it first because it is hard to come in and match colors later. What do you think of the changes - for better or worse? Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Friction DAY 6  Well this kind of felt like it was throwing off sparks, so hence the title.  It was a lucky accident that I had this taped to a large piece of cardboard.  So when I squeegeed the first layer on it picked up the texture of the cardboard underneath.  It shows quite a bit more in real life.  Then I used a credit card that I cut like a comb to make the circles.   Since it didn't show enough alternative color I went back in with the turquoise and white to give it a bit more flare.  Still seemed a bit dark and drab so went with increasing the yellow and added more cad red to pump it up. Thanks much for stopping by.  Any comments are welcome as I am just learning about abstracts and got no clue.   Just following the impulses.

Mountain Stream DAY 5 Well I never really know where the month goes to and it is already 5 days into this one, then it will be 3/4ths of the year and yep, the holidays are just next week.  Or so it seems. Anyway, guess what snuck in while I was thinking about those pondering thoughts,  Just trying to do a loose abstract piece here and saw the shapes so decided to develop it for today's project.  A little use of staining colors and there you go. Thanks much for stopping by.

The Door DAY 4  This is symbolic of the rest of the month as I am going to try to learn to do abstract or else.  So The Door represents the opportunity and the roadblocks that might prevent me from being successful on this journey.  As you can tell I have lots to learn on this subject.  So right now I am looking at videos and trying to figure out color combinations, how others put paint on and where they add the color.  It should be non-stressful and lots of fun.  One thing I really am going to enjoy is the use of color without abandon. Hope you enjoy