Letters to Eliza

     Last August we voted the new themed show of Impact Nebraska Artists to be "Nebraska Roots."  We will gather this weekend with 24 new artworks and it's been fun to see my peers posting their creations on Facebook. The challenge of painting to a theme and showing with other amazing artists is intimidating. It stretches my imagination, skills, work processes, and understanding of self and others.

     This painting has been a struggle. Started in September, it has been through many phases.  Some of the middle stages were better than near the end! I consider my strength to be balanced compositions, though graphic lines and symbols are often used as a crutch to create balance and focal points. 
     Years ago, I created a collage around a photo of
my great-grandparents and their four children (the hired man was also in the photo).  I had several prints of this small painting and used it in an early stage of Nebraska Roots.  The image became precious...thus, the struggle.  It's difficult to work around a part that you love in a collage, because it may become obliterated...or try to take over the composition. You can see here the photo fights the tree as a focal point. And I loved the real pressed leaves on that tree! They had to go.
       My brother had done a lot of family history work a few years ago, and mom had given him a box of family documents.  He emailed me some photos of letters our great-grandfather, William Vasey, had written in 1879 to"Eliza, my dear wife," who stayed in Iowa while he set up the homestead in Dawson County, Nebraska.  I made gel transfers of his beautiful handwriting (on the right), creating another "precious" problem.

     In the letters, he answers her questions about Indians in the region (1500 camped in the western part of Frontier County), tells of being cheated out of one site,  going over 50 miles to the Loup River to obtain cedar logs for foundation of their house, and says land is going fast.. "if there is anyone wanting to come out here, tell them they had better come soon."
     On the left, to balance the script on the right, I collaged a copy of an envelope addressed to Mrs. Wm. Vasey, Grundy County, Iowa.
     Here, in the fifth photo, I tried to lose the precious, but couldn't because that's what it was all about!  I had actually painted over my grandfather, and could hardly see the great-grandparents...so I cut out duplicate images of those three, making them more important (though still pretty small), and actually moved my grandfather to the place where the hired man was in the original.
     My son had a surprising critique for me.  He said I'm too subtle!  He saw color and missed all the hidden detail until I pointed it out. And he  That's sort of how I've always painted...using the layers of collage to hide secrets.
     I want to try another version of this theme and format.  If it turns out better, I may swap out this Impact piece. Check impactart-ne.org to view other artists' versions of Nebraska Roots, as well as our four other exhibits. "Skyscape" will be in Bancroft, Ne during April.   

Skyscape

I am honored to be a part of Impact--a group of 25 Nebraska artists with a mission to educate through outreach programs and thematic exhibitions.  Our newest exhibition package is titled "Skyscape."  The symbolism and meaning in my painting are begging for a little explanation of the way my brain works...and the things that define the age, space, and time that went into the creation of my Freedom Sky. 

When I heard "skyscape," my first thought was of Georgia O'Keeffe's Sky above Clouds IV, which I'd seen at Chicago's Art Institute on a University of Nebraska study tour in 1997. The painting is huge (8 x 24 feet!) The portrayal of distance in this work has always fascinated me.  On that same tour, we viewed some of the fabulous public sculptures in Chicago, one of my favorite being Alexander Calder's Flamingo located in Federal Plaza.  It's color and curves are a wonderful contrast against the straight grid lines of the Mies van der Rohe buildings surrounding it.  Then, two years ago, I made several trips to Chicago where my daughter was being treated for severe migraines.  On one of those trips, I encouraged her to deny the pain and see a bit of the city. We walked to the Calder sculpture, where we took selfies and other touristy pictures.  So, as I searched for skyscape ideas, and the Art Institute was on my mind, I pulled up the Flamingo pictures and felt drawn to this one because of the transition of the grey-blue across the sky, showing distance and atmosphere. The light is interesting, causing the Flamingo red to appear black, with subtle reflections of red in the buildings.

While musing on the skyscape image, I was also reading Sue Monk Kidd's historical fiction, The Invention of Wings, and was blown away by the realization that the movement to abolish slavery was also the beginning of the woman's rights movement, and they are similar problems in terms of human rights.  All this was going on in my mind as Donald Trump came to the presidency, with the Women's March and lots of civil rights issues...addicting Facebook posts, research to verify "fake news," fear and isolationism.  

Suddenly, the perspective lines of the Federal buildings pointed to the center of the Flamingo, which became a spirit tree, with concentric tree growth rings telling the history of civil rights.  In The Invention of Wings, a slave girl tells about re-enacting her mother's story of her grandmother wrapping scraps of red thread to an oak tree, and ceremonially giving their spirits to the tree.  So, when the Flamingo became a spirit tree in my painting, it required red thread.  Another part of the grandmother’s story told how the stars fell from the sky the night the grandfather was sold to another slaveholder.  So, the stars in Freedom Sky…while suggesting the states symbolized on the American flag, are also falling from the sky.

Many days of Internet research on human rights went into my painting.  The rings of words tell some of the major events in United States history that have affected human rights.  On the gallery wrapped edges of Freedom Sky, I included letters and numbers…initials to honor some of the major players and legislation in the story of human rights in America, as well as those that influenced my painting (Kidd, and Calder).     

Federal Plaza is not in Nebraska, but, it is a pretty cool and unusual view of the midwestern sky.  The buildings and sculpture contrast in the same way federal laws and human rights clash…or rural (Chase County) and urban (Omaha) lifestyles differ...or like conservative and liberal viewpoints seem so at odds in these difficult days. We must look at where we've been and fight for our ideals, yet work and change together.

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Farewell Dear Friends

Two of my favorite paintings sold last week to some good friends here in Imperial.  It was so fun to see them in a different setting.

Impressions of the Frenchman seemed to glow on the green wall in their house!  And it means a lot that her family is from the area where my inspiration photo was taken.  This has been part of my Highway 6 Series and depicts the Frenchman River near Hamlet, Nebraska...with artistic license!

High Plains Aerial #2 was also inspired by a photograph taken from our airplane, towards the eastern part of a line between Denver and Imperial.  It's the last to go in a series of three coordinated aerial landscapes, that were all framed alike.  All three are owned by people in Chase County!  I loved them hanging together..they are all in a square format and have the same papers, and colors.  But, they are perfect individually in their new homes.   

I am honored to have others appreciate and purchase my art.  I know there is magic and mystery in the unique responses people have to art, and it is a blessing to connect with people in this way. 

My Hiding Place

Life has been happening a lot lately.  In two months this Spring, I made two trips to Kansas (Dad's birthday, then he broke his hip), two trips to Aspen (daughter's health, then surgery), three trips to Lincoln (son's award ceremony, and gallery work twice), and one trip to Omaha (nephew's graduation)!  I am excited to stay put for a while, but after all that travel, it's hard to figure out how to just be home.

This painting happened quickly.  Earlier, I'd been practicing piano...trying to perfect "You Are My Hiding Place" for an upcoming worship service.  So, the song was stuck in my mind.  In frustration over a social situation, I escaped to the studio.  After playing with a portrait idea, the flowers (like I used to doodle in the margins while taking notes in high school) started growing ...I guess as a fallback to mindlessness.  The song started taking over and became the theme of the painting...as if I realized that I tend to hide behind my art, rather than communicate.  This sounds like a sad commentary on my psyche, but I'm okay with the metaphor.  Sometimes, I hide behind art, sometimes it speaks for me, sometimes I use it to escape, sometimes I deliberately create statements, but artmaking is intrinsic to who I am.  The circles, flowers, grids, and music keep me grounded.  I like how they are working in harmony with  the layers of this piece.

1-2-3 Grace in ANAC Travel Show

1-2-3 Grace

1-2-3- Grace is making it’s way around the state of Nebraska as part of the 2013 Association of Nebraska Art Clubs travel show.  I got to see it at the Noyes Gallery in Lincoln this week.  It will be in Falls City after Thanksgiving, and Fremont from December 11-28.  You can get the full schedule through June at nebraskaartclubs.org

So Much Inspiration in Eight Days!

Two weeks ago I was at Autumn Art Workshop, in the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey, for a 3 day mixed-media workshop with Kathleen Conover.  It's always fun to spend time there with artist friends from around the state.  We learned about using "gesso juice" on watercolor paper for interesting textured backgrounds, and practiced creating good compositions with value studies.  This was an indictment of how stuck one can get in a certain way of doing things.  I struggled with the watercolor, and "cheated" a lot with acrylics, but came away with a lot of great backgrounds and inspiration for new art.  The photo shows all my wonderful gesso juice starts from camp.

Glenwood Hot Springs Pool

The aspen were at their peak in Aspen! So, new art had to wait.  After two days at home, I headed west to visit my daughter in her new home, driving over Independence Pass into Aspen. We spent a day in nearby Glenwood Springs, where Megan changed her identity with a Colorado driver's license, and we celebrated the beautiful afternoon in the world's largest hot springs pool.  Right next to the pool is the Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts, where Terry Muldoon teaches mixed media classes in a small room with lots of supplies.  The facility includes a gift shop, a ceramic studio, and space for dance classes.

classroom, Glenwood Springs Art Center

On the way back to Aspen, we stopped at the Ramada Inn where the Glenwood Springs Art Guild was having their annual Fall Art Festival.  Of course, a huge percentage of art in this area involves images of the local scenery--mountains, rivers, and Aspen trees.  But, there were some mixed media pieces...maybe an entry for next year's show would be good reason for another visit!

Earlier in September,  the Aspen Times, where Megan is a copy editor, had a job listing for director of the Wyly Art Center in Basalt. This led to checking the Wyly website and noticing a free class offered on the night Megan was working while I was in town.   Mary Morrison, a working artist for Golden Acrylics had been at the Halsey workshop a few years ago, and at the ANAC convention in Alliance last summer.  I was thrilled to have this time to catch up with her in Basalt,  get paint samples, learn some new tricks, and meet other artists.  When I told them how I'd discovered the class, they asked if I wanted a job!  Ha...if only I lived closer.

Maroon Bells, White River National Forest

On Saturday, we took the RFTA bus (Roaring Fork Transit Authority).  We have laughed in awe of the advertising meeting that thought up the logo/campaign, Veloci-RFTA with velociraptors painted on the buses.  Someone must have been watching Jurassic Park the night before!  So, we rode RFTA into the White River National Forest to see the Maroon Bells--two 14,000+ peaks about 12 miles southwest of Aspen.  Their reflection in Maroon Lake makes this area the most photographed site in Colorado.  Professional photographers, with tripods, lined the lakeshore.  One from California told me he'd been there in late September each of the last ten years and this was the best he'd ever seen it.  There was no wind, making the reflections mirror-like.  Snow the night before made for great contrasts with the shadows and changing aspen colors.

Constantine's World

I was back in Nebraska late Saturday night and left on Sunday for Lincoln, to work at Noyes Gallery for two days, and spend some time with my son.  It was my favorite time to work: end-of-month change day, and prep time for First Friday.  Nearly every piece of art gets moved to a new location and I get to connect with lots of artists who bring in new work during this time.  My new painting, Constantine's World, is on display for the month of October.

More of my eight days of inspiration will be in another post.  Blessings!

Tate Gallery

Ja-was? –Bild (Yes-what? Picture), 1920

While visiting my daughter in England, I was able to take in an afternoon at London's Tate Gallery.  The featured exhibition is about Kurt Schwitters and his artistic ties to England after exile on the Isle of Man for being labeled a dissident by Nazi Germany.  He was one of the first great collage artists, known for his series of "Merz" paintings...named for the collaged use of a clipping from an ad for the Kommerz Bank. A lot of his work became sort of strange, and I'm not thrilled with most of his assemblages, but this painting brought me to tears.  Titled "Ja, was?", the shapes, colors and depth, along with the use of the corrugated cardboard as found in many of my own paintings, hit a nerve and I can hardly wait to share it with students in my upcoming classes at Mid-Plains Community College (ARTS2990).  

Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway, 1844

The Tate has a large collection of works by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) described as perhaps the greatest artist England has produced.  I love the color in the landscape shown here.  There was a special exhibit on color theory as used and taught by Turner, where I learned about a book by the poet/philosopher Goethe, Theory of Color. Turner approved of Goethe's (1749-1832) theory of color being at the edges of dark and light, and rejected Isaac Newton's theory that light alone was responsible for color.  This special exhibit also included a great timeline of the colors Turner used according to their availablity and invention of paint tubes.

ANAC Conference

We had so much fun...so much success...and so much rain in Aurora, Nebraska last week for the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs Conference!  My friend, and fellow member of The Art Society, Tina Simeon won Best of Show with her drawing of three young boys looking through the fence at their upcoming rides for the Mutton Busting contest (the sheep rodeo for kids, so popular  in county fairs around here).  Susan Hart, a friend from Cozad, won the Museum of Nebraska Art purchase award.  

View from classroom at The Leadership Center

The juried competition is a highlight of this event, and Paul Leveille had the difficult task of choosing 24 pieces of art for the show that will travel around the state throughout the year, as well as 24 honorable mentions from over 300 entries.  Paul drove all the way from his home in western Massachusetts to teach portraits in oil, watercolor, and pastel.  All those art supplies wouldn't fit in the limited luggage allowed on an airline!

Art is a Verb by Linda Jorgensen

I taught classes in altered books and collage, and am so pleased with the student results.  We worked on history, composition, criticism and techniques.  They got an overload of Patti Digh, and other people and things I love!  This painting shows the Patti influence. We were able to frame several collages by Saturday.  What a thrill to take something home, ready to hang! 

Now it's time to clean my studio so all those traveling supplies can fit back in!  This was an amazing growth experience for me.  It was overwhelmingly intimidating to be teaching my peers.  The situation required overtime planning and preparation, which led to success.  Can't wait to figure out what comes next!  

A Work of Giants

I just finished an exciting painting that will be entered in the NebraskaLand Days art show in North Platte this week.  The theme of this collage is (subtly) railroad.  You may not guess it if I didn't point it out.  But, it has a nearly hidden image of the Union Pacific crest, tiny words "Pacific Railroad Act", and the date 1862 stamped on it.  Once you hear railroad, the vanishing lines with cross bars become obviously, tracks.  This one has abundant colors and textures.

Also this week will be the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs Conference at the FFA leadership center in Aurora.  I will be teaching altered books and collage at this event!  Much planning, practicing, and preparing has been required, and I think I'm ready!  I hope it will be a blessing and inspiration for every student.  If you are interested in attending, you can still register.  Check out the ANAC website, or call  Jean Cook at 308-382-5591.

Threshold

This painting will be included with the show in the Focus Room at the Noyes Gallery in Lincoln through the month of February.  In preparing work to take east, I was stymied by titling this piece.  Last night I was down to "Doorway", but not satisfied.  Today, listening to American Public Media's Being, I heard an interview with John O'Donohue, an Irish poet, philosopher, and Catholic priest.  One of his books, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, is reviewed at Amazon by Kerry Walters, who quotes the introduction:

In our overly busy culture, he writes, we frequently race over the "crucial thresholds in our life" without pausing to take note of their significance. We no longer have "rituals to protect, encourage, and guide us as we cross over into the unknown" (p. xiv). A blessing is precisely one of those protecting, encouraging, and guiding rituals. It memorializes our transitions, connects us with a wider community (since none of us really ever travels alone), and strives to "present a minimal psychic portrait of the geography of change it names" (ibid).

I am struck by this spiritual use of the term "threshold"...so much more descriptive and less cliche than "doorway to the future".  This painting is one of my simplest collages.  The background is created using Citrisolv to alter the printed images on clay based magazine papers and create the ethereal pathways and bubble formations.  Black marker highlights some of the shapes.  The large rectangle and cross-hatched lines are from my favorite tissue, painted with black gesso and dry brushed with copper acrylic.  The texture of this tissue suggests tree roots, or blood vessels.  Serendipitous results of the experimental techniques used here could be symbolic of "crossing over into the unknown"...to a changing geography. 

It brings to mind a friend who is in treatment for cancer.  A month ago, she was afraid of the unknown, but now, 4 weeks into treatment, is realizing a wider community of others who are experiencing the same things, and others who are there to help her.  We should have created a blessing ceremony or party to recognize the threshold she had to cross as she started into this chapter of her life.  It's never too late to start a ritual.

HOPE

Hope is the latest collage.  This was created for use in the Imperial United Methodist Church Advent Devotional which should be printed and ready for distribution by next week!  It is a great little booklet with one page daily devotions for Thanksgiving through Christmas written by members of the local church.  In addition, our pastor wrote descriptions of each of the 5 candles on the traditional advent wreath, and four church members created nine original works of art for this publication.

The first candle of the advent season is to remind us of the HOPE of the coming of a savior as prophesied in the book of Isaiah.  My collage includes some hand-painted tissues, Citrasolv papers, rice papers, cardstock, acrylic paint, part of some jewelry from the collection of Margaret Uden (a dear friend taken last month by invasive cancer), and some musical notations from the hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

My art and the Cancer Therapy Artist's Mandalas will still be at the Meadowlark Gallery in Grant this weekend! The gallery requested an extended showing to provide a backdrop for the opening of a pottery show by a Kansas man with ties to people in Grant.  So, get on over there!  It is open 6-8 Fridays and Saturdays, and will also be hosting an open house on Sunday, October 2nd, 12-3

Meadowlark Gallery

This is the last weekend for the show at the Meadowlark Gallery in Grant, Nebraska.  The gallery is open Friday and Saturday 6-8pm.  On one wall, there are 24 framed mandalas colored by cancer survivors and family members.  Another wall has sunflower and non-objective art.  In another area, you can see 10 of my postcard sized collage paintings.  It's a great little venue...sure hope you can get there!  And, thanks to all of you who have stopped in already this month.  It's been surprising to those Grant people to have so many visitors from Imperial!

Safari Sunflower

Safari Sunflower

Safari Sunflower #2 happened because a friend saw Safari Sunflower on my website and challenged me to paint another similar, only larger and with different colors. That first painting had been a response to my love of sunflowers, my husband’s love of hunting wild animals, and our recent attendance at the Safari Club International convention.  Part of the challenge in #2 was to limit the cost and weight of such a large painting.  Using canvas on a partial masonite mat addressed both issues, as did eliminating glass.  However, no glass, required less texture because of concerns with dust control.  

My paintings don’t usually start with a particular end in mind, and it was difficult for me to get past the big white canvas!  I took it outside and poured on thinned acrylic.  Then I used a palette knife to apply Liquitex light texture medium into the basic design.  The flexible canvas required a more forgiving texture than the plaster used on the masonite of Safari Sunflower #1. The next step was to paint a base color over the texture of giraffe spots and sunflower, collage in some paper with printed zebra skin designs, and sketch in some possible swirly tendrils.  At this point, the poured background became very distracting.  Using a brush between the textured places and bouncing a sponge across the open spaces, I softened the background and created a wave of blue behind the sunflower.  This color became a bit of a problem as it was too close in value to the brown of the giraffe spots. The spots have many layers of different colors of acrylic put on in an antiquing stain fashion—paint on, wipe off ...lots of rubbing and polishing.  Each color addition changed the balance of other colors in the painting and required multiple adjustments. Notice how the flower center changed from reddish to blue-black...shadows and highlights had to change, too!  

The horizontal stripes are mostly covered with a wonderful red-iron-oxide, hand-painted paper, and further outlined in another of my favorite painted papers made with black gesso on tissue, and wiped with metallic copper paint.

 A couple different rice papers were added in the upper left and lower right with a wash of quinacridone gold to highlight the texture.  Copper mesh is glued and wired onto the flower center and copper wire is actually sewn in a whipstitch along the top line from the left and trailing into the mesh.  This hardly shows, but will be great with good lighting.  Oil pastels and metallic copper acrylic in a liner brush are used to highlight and outline different areas. A pencil is used to create a grid in the flower center, extending to all sides.

Safari Sunflower #2

The “mat” is painted on masonite and attached with screws from the back into the wooden stretcher bars. Pencil lines and sponged wave are extended onto the mat.  The masonite is larger than the dimensions inside the frame rabbet, allowing the painting to be screwed into the frame and the rabbet to create a shadowbox effect at the depth of the canvas. 

This painting can be seen in the September/October issue of Nebraska Life Magazine (p.110) and at the Meadowlark Gallery in Grant, NE through the month of September, every Friday & Saturday 6-8. On Sunday, September 11th, I will be there from 11-3.

Sunset at Memorial Stadium

This piece of illustration board had “a pour” of pink, teal, and gold (watered down acrylic) and was waiting patiently for direction.   Cue the window salesmen, hopefully knocking on our door, leaving estimates and advertising magnets after hail damage.  One magnet was a very useful schedule of the Cornhusker’s football season, but I really didn’t want all the advertising and photo taking up fridge real estate.  So, it was chopped off.  The remains were on my painting table when I set out to tackle the next postcard collage.  The colors of the pour jumped out at me as they echoed the colors of the magnet photo.  I sliced the magnet and peeled off the photo strips...can you see the upper press box of the stadium?  Also, notice the shadowy silhouette of the Nebraska State Capitol inspired by graphics on UNL admissions papers from my son’s impending flight from the nest.   Once the jewel-toned image became all about Lincoln, it couldn’t exist without some red, so the corrugated strip from an old American Girl doll box was included—even split and sliced to underline the stadium images.  I really never know what the end result will be when I start painting, but it is a joy to realize the influence of a higher power.  

This little gem and 29 of my other paintings can be seen at the Meadowlark Gallery in Grant, Nebraska throughout the month of September.  Gallery hours are 6-8 every Friday and Saturday, and there will be an open house on Sunday, September 11th.  Also in this show will be over 30 pieces of art created by Imperial's Cancer Survivor's Art Therapy class.  It's a great show!  Hope you can get there to see it!

Market Volatility

Yesterday was stressful for lots of people.  The stock markets were at their lowest in several years.  To escape the gloom and doom around our house, I went to my studio to paint.  This postcard collage was started a couple months ago and had failed to find a direction.  The antique coin (a gel transfer from a magazine advertisement), the yellow stamping on the left, the green on the right, the cruciform dark lines were there, and I suddenly knew the next step was to include a historical line graph of the Dow Jones Industrial Average! 

I printed one from the internet onto tracing paper.  But when I tried to apply it, the ink smeared.  So, the next one I put on upside down and backwards!  Alphabet stickers spelled out the news of the day..."up, down, DJIA" (with the D and J also upside down and backwards). Today, the graph was enhanced with acrylic paint along the highs and lows, the lettering softened with some rice papers, stenciled circles and some extra yellow put on with markers.  Market Volatility will be shown in the postcard collection at the Meadowlark Gallery during the month of September. 

Show Up!

A big series of "postcard" collages has me excited and making art every day.  I Have Decided is the latest. Inspired by a person who loves God, water, and music, this image includes the melody and words to the hymn, "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus". The song is not related to this person, but is there because I played it for church two weeks ago!  It was stuck in my mind and sitting in front of me. The black circular edge on the left is there because of experimenting with cardstock to use for framing the mandalas from our cancer therapy class for the September show in the Meadowlark Gallery. The scraps were sitting on my worktable and it was the first application to this collage. The "bubbles" on the right half of the image make me smile. The last addition to the image, those little circles were started to symbolize this person and her family. Then more circles were added for extended family and friends, which turned into floating bubbles and became notes on the musical staff lines. Many of the papers used here were painted nearly five years ago. Also included are some rice papers and a  lightbulb wrapper, pieces of which have been used in other paintings from over ten years ago! This creative process never ceases to amaze me...the evolving and layering of thoughts, scraps, papers, and history into a balanced and pleasing work of art. There is a magical, wondrous, awesome power in charge. The more I show up to do the work, the greater the power. And, that thought can be applied to every relationship and task in life.  Show up. Be there.

Art in the Most Unlikely Place

Nancy's train station at Sedgewick.  

Judy's princess bird

Shirley's beaded shell

Sheila's horses with medium still not dry

Wow.  What a great day in Lewellen, Nebraska!  We had 4 fabulous women come together to play with collage in a 3 hour workshop.  Thanks to Sheila, Shirley, Judy, and Nancy for sharing your afternoon with me.  ELEVEN paintings were created (4 shown here), and lots of information exchanged in the comforting atmosphere of The Most Unlikely Place (bistro and gallery).  Cynthia is amazing as the hostess/waitress/owner of this wonderful place.  Try the beautiful fruit water...the salads and sandwiches are delicious and healthy!  The Ash Hollow Festival is happening there next weekend.  It's a great time to visit and see work by their new guest artist, Cindi Egging. Thanks MUP for hosting my art, and my student's art in your gallery for the last 2 months.

Here, on the left is the latest postcard collage, titled Moonlight Sonata.  The music in it is a gel transfer from a line in Beethoven's fourteenth Sonata.  I am amazed at how beautifully this turned out.  It sat for several weeks in the confusing, unfinished state shown on the right.  I couldn't decide what to do next...that's the miracle of art...and especially of collage...it appears and evolves.  I wonder how and why I make the brushstrokes and additions of ephemera that I do.  There is definitely a Spirit leading the process. Patience and flexibility are essential.

Make your reservations (308-778-9557) at The Most Unlikely Place for dinner Saturday night.  If you can't make dinner, the George WIlliam Ray Band will play from 6:30-8:30.  You will love this great venue for art, music, food and fun.  Moonlight Sonata will be a part of my show there through the month of April.  They are open 8-2 Wednesday-Saturday.

The Vote is In! On to Lewellen...

Thanks to all of you who voted on what I'd enter in the postcard contest with the National Collage Society.  I was amazed at the response.  The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of #4 Tropicalfleur.  This painting is in the mail to the gallery at Kent State University.  The other five collages are framed and ready for the exhibit at The Most Unlikely Place. It's going to be fun on Saturday night, April 2nd!  Come to Lewellen, Nebraska for good art, good food, good music!  Call 308-778-9557 for reservations if you are wanting to eat...dinner served from 5-7, George William Ray Band from 6:30-8:30.