Inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright's Liberty Magazine Covers

About 12 years ago, I took a class through UNKearney with professor Ray Schultz. This was a tour of art museums, sculpture, and architecture in and around Chicago. One day we toured the Oak Park Home/Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as homes he designed in the area and the Unitarian Church he built. I wrote a research paper relating his religion with his artwork, and came to love his work. The series of covers he did for Liberty Magazine are some of my favorites. I had found some stationary with prints from one of these covers and recently pulled it out to use for invitations to a party. As I worked with this print, I felt compelled to dig out my graph paper and colored pencils to try similar geometric designs.

This week I am playing nurse for my daughter's recovery from wisdom teeth extraction. Between making mashed potatoes and jello and watching lots of movies and extreme makeover shows, I haven't been able to paint in the "studio." But, I have been able to sit on the couch and play with this FLW idea...it's a bit like coloring graph paper designs in grade school. I've tried to use only three colors, which adds to the challenge. It's been a joy trying to vary the design elements, create balance, and centers of interest(and spend time with my daughter!) But, it's making me want to get out the old stashes of fabric and make some quilts...Try it yourself!

Sunflower Painting Process

Sometimes the creative process is flowing so well that it's hard to remember to take photos of the progression of a painting. But, I often look at a finished product and am amazed at how it changed from where it started. So, a concerted effort was made to capture the process with this painting...although I wish there were a few more shots of different stages! Here are four of the most distinctive stages, occurring over three and a half months...I have a lot of distractions!

This actually started with a "pour" of acrylic over gessoed masonite. The pour was not great, so the board sat around for at least 3 years. When we were in Reno for the Safari Club convention last January, I made a sketch of images around me at an auction. It included the silk daisy centerpiece with an American flag, giraffe and zebra prints, geometric ceiling tile, cowboy hats, and candles. That sketch was inspiration for this new addition to my sunflower series. It may be titled "Savannah Sunrise."
What do you think?

Plaster was used for texture, applied with a palette knife to form some background and the basic shapes of the animal skin spots and flower. Then, several layers of acrylic stain were put on and wiped off. The stripes popped out at me from the pour peaking through the background, so I painted them in more definitely. Metallic highlights happened after a friend viewed it and said she missed the metallic that is in a lot of my other paintings. I love the copper wire mesh, suggesting the seed placement in the flower. Both the mesh and the small petals (taken from a waxy, acrylic covered silk flower) were applied with 527 bond glue. A lot of shading and the white outlining was done with oil pastel. The painting is larger than usual for me at 24" x 36". Now my challenge is how to frame it!

New Painting--Merci

Today I finished framing Merci. The title comes from the small piece of German chocolate wrapper that is included in the collage. The purple in this is unusual for me, but very fun. This one started as part of a large (maybe 18"x24") landscape--somewhat stylized view of Enders reservoir with a yucca in the foreground! It wasn't working that way for me, so I cut it off and this is the first of what happened with the leftovers. To frame it, I painted a piece of masonite with some white gesso and quinacridone for the just right "mat" color. That was just too much, and the frame I had seemed too big. So, I used grosgrain ribbon to echo the corrugated cardboard in the piece, and "drizzled" some metallic thread around it. Still, not satisfied, I found some great beads in my hoards of stuff that finished it off for me...adding them to both the painting and the matting.

Art Sales

I sold a painting! High Plains Aerial #3 is now in the collection of newlyweds Beau & Mandi. It's one of my favorites. Now I'll get busy and do another aerial landscape to hang with #1 and #2. They look so much better as a tryptich! Beau actually grew up near where the photo for this painting was taken. I am thrilled to have them enjoy it.

It's been a busy month with graduation of number two child. Number one got engaged to a fabulous man. Number three is on his way to Africa with his Dad for a 10 day safari hunt. I am left to babysit the dog! Hopefully she will let me paint a bit too. Happy Summer!

Before and After

Updating inventory, I came across this before picture (on the left) of the Ancient Sunflower painting (finished work in right photo). I wish I had taken a photo of it even before this. It started as an aerial view of circle irrigation...fields and roads, but something wasn't working for me. This painting has a lot of texture, with plaster built up on masonite. The top right sprinkler became a sunflower and still has lots of that texture surrounding it. Rice papers, and painted orange tissue papers were added, as well as many layers of acrylic "stain" (painted on, and wiped off). I thought you would enjoy seeing a little of how my works evolve. I like this painting more each day...it seems to glow, and that makes me smile!

Susan Hart's Walkway Gallery Show

Was it already two weeks ago that I went to Kearney for Susan Hart's reception? It was a great day...guess I need to slow down, so I can reflect and share what is important. I know Susan from art camp at Halsey. The Association of Nebraska Art Clubs (ANAC) organizes an amazing painting fest every September at the state 4-H camp in the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey. Susan has been very successful in the last few years with her wonderful collages, mostly with painted tissues, using a lot of quinacridone gold, turquoisish colors, and her signature swirl motif. She has 22 paintings in a one-woman show currently in the Walkway Gallery of Kearney's Good Samaritan Hospital. One is shown on the left. (With permission from Sue Hart.) The reception was so nice--Lorie Line music was played live, the staff had even created very tasty cookies painted with frosting to match the artwork! My trip was so worth the effort. Not only because of getting to see Susan and her great art, but I ran into my UNK art professor, Larry Peterson, who told me about the third Thursday lecture at MONA which was happening later that night, and the Kearney Art Guild opening reception for their juried ANAC competition entries on display at Elements. I was able to take in all three events. I also met John Allen, CEO of the Kearney hospital, whose insightful photography graces the walls of that facility. Seeing his art helps explain why the hospital is so supportive and believes in the healing qualities of art. There are definitely some fine artistic spirits in Kearney. I am inspired.

Great Photo Display

>Last week I was in Lincoln, Nebraska for the state FFA convention. All three kids were involved. I sponsored the local chapter, and was so proud. During a break in activities, number one daughter and I spent about half an hour at the Sheldon Art Museum on the University of Nebraska campus. I don't usually get very excited over photography displays, but part of the current exhibit, Evolving Eden: Three Photographic Perspectives, has stuck in my mind...partly because of the insightful commentary inherent in the photos, and I'm sure in part due to the appreciative response from my daughter, who's journalism degree gives her some expertise in the medium. The installation by Hans Eijkelboom, a Dutch photographer, is titled Paris-NewYork-Shanghai. It includes large-format cityscapes with the identifying quirks of each city and snapshot-style grids of their inhabitants to reveal how similar one city is to another today. It is a satirical commentary about the globalization of our interests, habits, fashions, and problems. The exhibit has been seen in Aperture Gallery in New York, and is available in book form. Check it out!