Jennie's Art

During the past couple of years, I have had the pleasure of meeting and learning from Jennie Martin Tomlin.  She is the unofficial resident artist of Harrisburg, NC and her artwork is splattered all over the town. Especially government buildings like the town hall and library.
I have attended workshops and classes she has taught.  It is amazing how much I have learned from her, and have grown as an artist because of her influence.
She loves nature, flowers, and especially Trees!  She is a kindred spirit to me.

She was an Airforce wife as well,  so she has been able to give me a lot of advice in that area, as well.  She lived in Turkey for several years.  (I hope we are stationed overseas as a family, I think that would be a great experience.) Her website is :  http://www.jennietomlinartist.com/

The other day i bought a couple of prints of her artwork. 
I love her Koi fish painting....

 Her many paintings of trees are beautiful.  I love the fall foliage captured in this painting.

 The last two are cards with prints on them. I plan on saving up and buying the original of the purple iris.  It is simply magical.

Flowers and landscapes with alcohol inks

Right now, I am so in love with alcohol ink painting. I am plodding away with the medium, learning new ways to control the unpredictable beast.  And learning to letting it be free when I need, as well.   I am planning on getting prints made of a couple of my favorites, and matte them, and possible make some into card sets to sell on etsy.
Today is Gustav Klimt's 150th birthday.  I love his work, and the Art Nouveau movement as a whole, and his work has influenced my style.  And as far as style, I mean in everything....interior decorating, clothing style, and painting.  His colors, unusual usage of metals, and his flowery, whimsical, sometimes brutish style.  I love it.  I need to write soon about him and perhaps his painting Tree of Life.

Here are some recent pieces...

The Winedown in Harrisburg, NC

For some time now, I have been wanting to blog about the local businesses which sell and display my work.  Living in the area for 7 years (incredible for us nomads), we have become part of an incredible community.  And I am sad to be leaving our friends and neighbors in little over a month.

One of our neighbors, Steve B., opened up the Winedown last autumn.  It has become a favorite place for a lot of people around here who want to relax with a fine glass of wine.  In addition, he has some excellent musicians play on Friday and Saturday nights.  The wine tastings are so much fun, as well.

Steve is a carpenter by trade and actually built the wine racks and cabinets at the bar. The wine bar has a sleek sophisticated look with grays, blacks and red.

The silverish/gray faux finish on the walls behind the red couches was painted by my good friend and neighbor Kelly.  She has created her own business painting faux finishes and decorative painting.  She creates some fantastic finishes.  I like her stone and leather finishes the most.

 This is my wall of paintings.  Last week, my largest painting sold!  It was a Picasso imitation I made for the Art Guild's Fantastic Fakes competition last year.  I have to recreate it now for my husband, because he really liked it and wanted to hang it in his office.  Although, I would prefer my originals would sell more, I am happy with this sale.  Picasso is considered a Master for a reason.  And I am not arrogant enough to think my own compositions and paintings compare to his.  And it is fun to copy and add to make something new.

My Son the Knife Forger

My 14 year old son Ransom recently learned how to make a knife.  My dad took him to the local "dump" and they found an old metal bedrail.  They made knives out of it.  As you can see from the photo below,  Ransom is now ready for the Zombie Apocalypse when it comes.
From scraps of leather they made leather sheaths.  Pretty cool, I must say.  Upcycling AND  protection from futuristic dystopian catastrophes.

Another Tree...and landscape

So, I am getting VERY addicted to this alcohol ink art.  What happens is I get mesmorized with how each layer reacts with the next and for the first time in weeks, I am relaxed.... in the "zone"... totally right brained.   And I need it more than the left handed artists which have the right brain access a little more naturally. If you don't know what I am talking about, read THIS BOOK.
Here is my tree in a larger format

and an alien landscape

Exploring Alcohol Ink Painting

This medium is so much fun.  I went out and bought a bunch of colors yesterday, I still need some more green, but Rose and I had a ball playing with colors.  It is really difficult to predict or control the inks... they spread unpredictably depending on the surrounding dyes.
I have to find my camera card, because my dslr takes much better photos of stuff like this, but here is my first landscape...

My attempt at a peacock feather.  I added some micron pen for detail lines.

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And Rose, once again, creates a masterpiece with effortless energy.  I think its partly because she is not trying too hard, she lets it happen.  I will work on that, less control..

Alcohol Ink Painting

My daughter and I went to my friend's studio today and we created some alcohol ink paintings.  This technique is sooo much fun and it is so gratifying watching how  the ink reacts with alcohol and the other colors.  We used Yupo paper, which is basically a thin plastic watercolor paper.

Here is one my daughter did.  She has a natural instinct with color, and her contrasting values came out very nicely.  

Make Good Art

"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."  (The Princess Bride)


I went to a follow up critique for the pastel workshop I attended recently.  I brought these two and I was asked if I was emotional when I drew them.  The diagonals apparently indicate high emotions...very interesting.  My response is "I am always emotional".  Although people generally think I am calm and serene, I often feel things intensely inwardly.

Sometimes I wonder why we expect life to be full of roses and daisies.  I think that there is a sense of entitlement that we Americans sometimes have, that life should be easy and fun.  And no pain, struggle or suffering should ever be allowed.  In my husband's library are a few books that deal with the age old question of why God allows suffering if he is a loving God and all that.  The ironic thing is that it seems (and just google these ideas if you don't believe me) that the richer people are, the more depressed and dissatisfied they become.  Children of extremely affluent parents, often turn to drugs and other modes of escape in an attempt to overcome their apathy.

Anyhow, even here, in American suburbia, where each of us live in a house that in any other country would be ample space for 50 people, there is so much pain and suffering.  Cancer, death, heartache, loss of jobs and hopelessness.....

I am not sure if we can ever truly understand the answer to why these things happen, or if there is even a purpose. But I truly believe that there is a purpose and reason why things happen.

This cartoon came up on my facebook wall today.  It is based on a Neil Gaiman speech, which is also linked on the cartoon. 
 Make Good Art

I love this.  The most meaningful, beautiful, and truthful art has always been created out of distress and hardship.  It seems that we humans thrive in stressful conditions, that we rise up to the occasion.  War, disease, loss of loved ones, abandonment, rejection....
It doesn't make life easier for anyone.   But it gives meaning to hardship.

Otherwise, the only art that might be made would be Thomas Kincaidish....

And as C.S. Lewis said:

Art... (among other things)  "has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival"

I found Narnia...

Sometimes, you discover an artist whose art totally speaks to you.  My friend who truly understands me, sent me a link about Kirsty Mitchell.  Ms. Mitchell was a fashion designer, and has in recent years become a full time "independent" artist.  She is a photographer who has woven a fantasy world and tale with her images.  They are not photoshopped.  They are planned, she creates the sets and costumes, and when you read about HOW she creates her images, it is amazing.  She is creating magic.

I could go on and on about how much I admire and love her work, but she says it so much better herself.  This project is dedicated to the memory of her mother who died of cancer.  Her mother was a teacher who loved books.  Hmmmm...

Anyway, her website with images and blog...
Wonderland

 The original story where I learned about her....
Her Story.

And a few images, the first reminds me of my daughter Rose.  I named her Rose for a few reasons.  My grandmother's name, Rose Cotton from Lord of the Rings, and also because the Princess Aurora from Disney's Sleeping Beauty was named Briar Rose by the fairies when they were hiding her in the forest.  This looks like a Briar Rose.

Yes, this is Wonderland, and yet, I can't stop thinking that these are Narnian. And there are snow images with a snow queen.

 And I can't stop thinking about the following quote, for some reason, pondering about magic and supernatural beings and talking trees and beasts.

 "It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know"

What makes Art "Good"?

I have been pondering this age old question for the past few weeks.  Of course, I always think about this, but I keep coming to the fact that no matter how much I want to say that there is a standard of beauty that is universal, there is always an element of subjectiveness, no matter how neutral one tries to be.  Judging student art work recently pushed me to admit this.

What makes art aesthetically pleasing?  I have always thought that if you take a piece of art you enjoy, and broke it down systematically and analyzed it using the Principles of Design, that there are reasons why a piece works.  And this is true.  I always taught my students to critically look at art and think about it in this way.  Take Starry Night by Van Gogh, for example...

This is one of the most beloved pieces of art ...ever.
It works because the positive and negative space is well proportioned, there is wonderful sharp contrast with values and colors, he created a sense of movement with the swirls in the sky.  In addition,  the texture adds depth and interest.
But that all takes a magical piece of art and breaks it down to boring information and facts.
I think its good to critically view art this way, for many reasons, but there is another element that should not be forgotten.
It is an unquantifiable quality of "magic".  I think it may be credited to an individuals set of memories and tastes (some people prefer red over blue, for example), but it is that essence when you look at a piece of art and your heart stirs and you don't want to look away.  It speaks to you.

My husbands favorite piece is this... The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg

Although it could be analyzed by values and space and balance, this painting captures a commonplace moment and renders a supernatural beauty to it.  That is the real power of it.   And quite frankly not all good art needs to be pretty to be beautiful.

So, I am off to discover the secret of how to capture that essence myself.  I want to create beauty and magic.