Rice Paper Waves

I've been adding colour to one of the marbelized paintings. This one is going to be waves crashing against a rock. You can see the 'rock' at the far right with a bit of it's 'head' up above the main part. That's going to be in Burnt Siennas and Quin Burnt Orange and some browns. I've been trying to put lots of colour into the waves. Blues and greens and mauves and indigos. I'm losing some of the whitecaps as the colour seeps a LOT with this paper so I''m planning on using gouache later.

Once the rice paper is wet, it's almost like painting blind. Slow but fun. And I still say it's like painting on wet kleenex. (That little black dragon in front is just a brush rest that's holding the board in place for the pic.)

Hospice Exhibition, A & A Tour, etc.

I've been busily trying to get ready for the Apples and Art Tour which is on the 26th and 27th of September!

Some other good news is that last Monday, I was contacted by the people from the brand new Cornwall Hospice and asked if I would like to exhibit some paintings there! Would I? You bet! I had them there in time for their grand opening which was on Friday. I am going to have some prints made of a few paintings, mat and frame them and then donate them to the Hospice, which really made the coordinator happy.

I have been having some business cards made - found a great place online that is super good and the prices cannot be beat! 500 business cards (250 of each of two designs) and the price including shipping was about $30 for the two kinds! That was with some upgrades, too. I also had some oversize postcards made and a t-shirt that to wear for the two days of the exhibition with my web address on it as well as the sunflower which is the painting I'm using as the 'theme' to my A&A show this year. (I've blurred out my phone number and address on the pic above!) I've got some more regular post cards coming which I'll give out at the show. (Email me if you'd like a link to the company.)

The following pic (which, regrettably, is kind of small) shows the new FA calendar. This pic is a crop from the local newspaper. See that sunflower painting in the second row, middle? Look familiar?

Now, back to painting!

Apples and Art Studio Tour 2009

Library Exhibit

At our local public library, in the hallway of their main entrance, there are four (or was it five?) large glass window showcases. One is dedicated to a local Featured Artist - a different artist each month. I am Miss July!

Here's a few shots of the display. (Click on any for a larger view.)

Tools for the Marbelized Rice Paper

Here's all it takes to do marbelized rice paper. A shallow tub for a few inches of water, ink, a brush or stick, rice paper and some very old towels. (They're going to be stained so ...... )

Not all rice paper will work. The smaller sheets shown here are Unryu rice paper and it does not pick up the ink. Cheng-Khee Chee explains it all in his dvd. I couldn't find any here, nor in Ottawa, so I looked on the internet and found Blue Heron Arts. Look for Mulberry Paper. On his ebay link, he states that it is Kozo and that's what I needed. (On his ebay listings, there are several with youtube videos of him demonstrating his painting.) I received the order of paper within one week, from California to Canada! That's fast service!

Marbelizing on Rice Paper

I've been really busy creating these marbelized works on rice paper, a la Cheng-Khee Chee! What a lot of fun! Now I need to meditate with these pieces, let them talk to me, discover what I see in them and then add watercolour. After that, I'll be mounting them.

This one is my favourite - kind of looks like a little hobbit house in a big, old gnarled tree with heaps of interesting 'things' around. Zach, my oldest son, tells me that hobbits are not tree dwellers but I'm sticking to my story.




Below is a slide show of others;

Colourful Carrots and Cabbage

Here's a few carrot and cabbage shots. I picked up some fresh veggies at the Farmer's Market but, as always, couldn't resist photographing them for reference shots later.