Farewell CWOS 2012

What a fun show it was! Lots of visitors, family, and friends came, among them my fabulous teacher Jane Davies of Vermont, who happened to be presenting a workshop in the area and drove over from Guilford to see the show!

Yours truly with Jane

My wall of abstracts

Working Large #1 - Tuning In

Color studies

Two more color studies and a color-wash-line painting

Shape studies

Working large #2 - Mooncircles

Self-portrait series

Video Preview of Erector Square Studio

Day one of City Wide Open Studios was a lot of fun and very busy. I shot this quick tour of our studio on Saturday morning before all the action began.Take a peek! The show is open today (Sunday 10/14) from 12pm to 5pm. Come on over!

Setting up at Erector Square

A sneak peek. We will be in Building 7, 2nd floor, Room 7.

Prepping for CWOS 2012

New Haven's annual City Wide Open Studios 2012 event is in full swing! I visited the West Cove venue yesterday, and enjoyed viewing the work of several awesome artists. This coming weekend, October 13-14, I'll be at Erector Square (Building 7 / Floor 2 / Room 7), showing these small collages and two larger works.

My small pieces, varnished and drying

Art Show Receptions

I'm exhibiting on Oct. 13-14 at Erector Square, during the middle weekend of New Haven's annual  City Wide Open Studios (CWOS) event. The opening reception last night at Artspace was packed, and it was a lot of fun to see my little collage up on the wall along with the other artists' work in the main show. So exciting! My piece at Artspace is called Red Sky At Night - it and a few of the others I'll be exhibiting at Erector Square are displayed on my CWOS artist page.

Yours truly and friend Val at the Artspace reception, with my little collage "Red Sky at Night" up on the wall between us.

The Fairfield U show was a lot of fun, too! There was a good turnout in spite of the downpour. My self-portrait series was well received and generated a lot of interesting dialog.

Self-portrait series - LGBTQ and Allies Art Show at Fairfield U.

An Abundance of Art in Connecticut

I'm participating in two art shows this month, and both are holding receptions this week. If you are in the area, please consider attending!

On Thursday, October 4, from 7:00pm to 8:30pm, the LGBTQ and Allies Art Show at Fairfield University will have a meet and greet with the artists.

On Friday, October 5, from 5:00pm to 8:00 pm, the annual three-weekend New Haven City Wide Open Studios (CWOS) event will open with a reception at Artspace. Although I am exhibiting on Oct. 13-14 at Erector Square, CWOS opens this weekend, and each of the artists, myself included, has one piece in the main show at Artspace.

Fairfield University Show

I am delighted to be participating in a showcase of Connecticut artists at Fairfield University as part of their annual LGBTQ and Allies program of events. The show runs from Tuesday October 2 through Thursday October 4. There will be a reception on Oct.4 at 7 p.m. where you can meet me and the other artists - hope to see you there! See the Fairfield U link for directions. I will be showing these self-portraits that I did earlier this year in Jane Davies' Exploring the Self-Portrait course. It seemed fitting for this event to show work that relates to personal identity. Here they are:

India ink using a pipe cleaner, 2012

Watercolor with white crayon resist, 2012

"Albert Nobbs", collage and acrylic on watercolor paper, 2012

"Lady Butterfly", collage and acrylic on watercolor paper, 2012

"Sprinkler", collage and acrylic on watercolor paper, 2012

A bit about how these pieces were created

More on Collage Journeys in VT

As I mentioned in a previous post, I spent a fabulous 5 days last week at Jane Davies' Collage Journeys in Vermont 2012 workshop in Rupert, VT. One of my classmates, the talented Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, an accomplished artist and teacher in her own right, posted tons of great pictures here on her blog. Check them out!

CWOS 2012

Save the date! I'll be participating in the Erector Square Weekend (October 13–14, 12:00–5:00 PM) of New Haven's annual City Wide Open Studios event this year. My friends Val Seldon, Thea Ernest and I will be at Erector Square, Building 7, Floor 2, Room 7. For more information, please visit http://cwos.org/event_information.

Collage Journeys in VT 2012

I had such a good time at Jane Davies' Collage Journeys in Vermont 2012 workshop this past week in Rupert, VT. We created a lot of painted papers to add to our paper stash. We did studies, both small and large. I took the plunge and started a few 22" x 30" works. Here's a sampling of my work and a few scenes of Rupert and environs:

Painted papers and some small studies

Black, white and neutral 18" x 24" studies

Working large: Untitled #1, 22" x 30

Working large: Untitled #2, a work in progress, 22" x 30

The Rupert Post Office

View from my guest house

Circles and Lizards and Pears, Oh My!

I'm taking another fabulous Jane Davies online art class and recently made these studies in shape for one of our lessons. Jane and my classmates are so supportive. The third of these, the one with the lizards, wasn't going so well, and I was ready to give it up. With their encouragement, I took another crack at it and came up with something I like - a lot! Jane's blog can be found at: Collage Journeys

"Circles": August 6, 2012, shape study (one shape), 6" x 6", collage and acrylic paint on watercolor paper.

"Electric Pears": August 6, 2012, shape study (two shapes), 6" x 6", collage and acrylic paint on watercolor paper

"Circles and  Pears and Lizards, Oh My!": August 7, 2012, shape study (three shapes), 6" x 6", collage and acrylic paint on watercolor paper

More Yummy Color

For the final week of Jane Davies' Unlocking the Secrets of Color class, we created collages to convey warmth, coolness and emotions.

It's Hot as Hades, 6x6
Warm Abstract Landscape
Stamped and acrylic-painted drawing and deli papers on watercolor paper

Magic Mountain, 6x6
Cool Abstract Landscape
Stamped, acrylic-painted, spritz/blotted drawing papers.
and acrylic-painted deli papers on watercolor paper

Cold Winter Night at Poulnabrone, 8x10
Construction paper, pencil
The Poulnabrone Dolmen is a neolithic portal tomb in
the Burren area of County Clare, Ireland.
This wasn't done in Jane's class;
it's a favorite from my personal archive, 2009

Sweet-Tart, 6x6
The background is a paste paper from my stash.
In the foreground: stamped and painted drawing
and deli papers on watercolor paper.
This one went all over the map.
My original intent was quiet joy. It wasn't being
so quiet, so with the addition of the blue-green-yellow
deli paper at center right between the two circles,
I was going for bittersweet. Well, I added the green
and red circles, and wound up with more of a
sensation that an emotion, but no matter, I like it.

Sketchbook Practice HIghlights

This spring I took a great class with Jane Davies, called Sketchbook Practice. Here are some of the highlights of that class:

Color and Wash Study with line work, acrylic paint, watercolor paper, 6x6

Paint/Collage/Line Study, acrylic paint, painted paper, Pitt pen on watercolor paper, 6x6

Wash and Line Study, acrylic ink wash with gel pen line on watercolor paper, approx 5x8

Wash and Line Study, acrylic ink wash with India ink line on watercolor paper, approx 5x8

Grid Study, acrylic painted papers, watercolor paper, 6x6

Grid Study, acrylic paint, painted papers, gel pen, watercolor paper, 6x6

Color, color and more color

My latest work in the Color class I've been taking with Jane Davies:

Analogous color study, acrylic paints, watercolor paper, 6x6

Spring Rain, acrylics and painted papers, watercolor paper, 6x6

Red Sky at Night, another analogous color study - I love the red-to-yellow range! This one is mostly painted papers with a few touches of acrylic paint, watercolor paper,6x6

Sunset Flight, gelatin print background, paints and painted papers in the foreground, printmaking paper, 6x6

On Your Marks

In Jane Davies' Unlocking the Secrets of Color, one of our assignments this week was to create a collage exploring the full range of a single color. My answer to that challenge is this 6"x6" collage of purples, made with my own painted papers as well as a couple I had purchased some time ago.

Printmaking Without a Press

Back on April 27, I attended a very fun all-day workshop, "Printmaking Without a Press", at Jerry's Artarama of West Hartford, CT, taught by artist Patti Mollica. Here are a couple of my efforts, done on printmaking paper with Golden Open Acrylics, using an Ampersand Gesso Bord as the printing plate, and hand pressure.

Sketchbook Practice

I have been having a lot of fun in Jane Davies' SketchbookPractice course. I created this circle study on my iPad:

Many Faces

I put together a slideshow look at my many faces, which I produced this winter in a very fun online class with Jane Davies called "Exploring the Self-Portrait". You can get more info on Jane's classes here

Drawing with a pipe cleaner

As part of Lesson 2 in Jane Davies' Exploring the Self Portrait class, we were asked to use India ink with a pipe cleaner (aka chenille stem). This is not exactly a good likeness, but it does have character:

Exploring the Self-Portrait

I began a new online class last week, Exploring the Self-Portrait, with Jane Davies. So far, it is a lot of fun, but (as Jane reminds us) is also a major lesson in cultivating acceptance. Lesson 1 involved tracing and drawing over photos of ourselves.