Cay Denise

A dear couple to me recently held a weekend filled with fun events and great food for their friends -- to celebrate a combined birthday and anniversary with them.  I was privileged to be among those who attended the delightful weekend! To reminisce after returning home, I cut out letters and phrases from two magazines (Tate etc. and Oprah Daily) to create this word collage as a memento of our wonderful and joyful times.  

This book is about the flourishing of an artist who started the art oeuvre she is known for -- at age 72 -- and continued this work for nearly a decade.  She lived in the 1700s, was born into a fairly well-to-do family, was raised/trained in propriety and the social graces (for a potential court position), had a friend in Handel (yes, the composer) and in a Duchess, and would eventually befriend a King and Queen in her elder years.   The writing is well done.  That said, the author includes personal reflections at the end of each chapter about how the botanical image chosen to start each chapter and/or the narrative -- triggers certain recall of her life experiences that she believes are similar or relate in some way.  That part of each chapter could have been eliminated, in my estimation, without affecting the overall biographical portrait of her subject. That said, of the 14 chapters in this book -- I loved #1, #12, #13 and #14.  You may notice that this means...

This post's title is part of a larger quote by E.V. Lewis in which he comments on the value of being candid instead of deceptive.  I've taken a portion of his quote -- to literally mean 'show your hand'. Wendy MacNaughton is an artist, illustrator, visual columnist for the NYTimes, and an author.  She is also the Creator and Drawer-in-Chief of DrawTogether, a participatory drawing show for children, and Grown-Ups Table, lessons and a community for drawing-minded adults delivered via Substack subscription.  I've just recently signed up and have been able to access some older articles. In her Nov 5, 2022 piece about how to look at art as an artist, she profiles two inspiring artists one of which is Bisa Butler, an amazing fiber/quilt art designer and maker.   See Bisa Butler's Portfolio here     As part of the article, Wendy included a fun audio exercise of using torn paper to create a hand from your imagination (palm, fingers, fingernails).  I love fun ...

Sometimes you've got to shake things up...do something different. While perusing art work to decide on what I could rework or sacrifice for a class I'm taking, I found a collage start from a couple years ago.  I decided to work on it again.  Finding the 'bones' were there, it just needed a fully-fledged idea.  The added elements have resulted in an intriguing snowflake mandala with the theme of surrendering.  The quote in the piece, by Epictetus, reads, "Don't explain your philosophy.  Embody it."   There was a word that I was toying with adding (Sparkle), but it seemed more like a distraction from the tone set by the other written collage bits.  Overall, this has become so much more than it was and sings in particular because of the pink and purple elements.  I'm satisfied.

An image of Jean Dubuffet's work is the juicy background for this word map with descriptors of Christmas and winter from my point of view.  The center has a collaged Christmas tree that looks more like a lava lamp though.  How many of the words in this would you use in creating your own Christmas collage?  What other words resonate with you when you think of the holiday or season?

I was going to do one of my art lessons today...a surrealism journey.  But there were so many videos involved in the instruction, and the project was going to take way too long.  So, I opted for organizing my collection of collage materials and then chose some of them to create this collage--a bit surrealist to boot.

There is much more in this collage than what you see.  It started with finding a few images that seemed to want to be 'together' and setting them aside -- while working on a totally different project. This morning, this piece actually came together in a very unusual way.  That said, its so amazing to see what happens when you give up control and allow the process to be the ultimate guide.

Its a journal page...creating an intention for the group that is getting together for this online retreat.  What fun!

A fun collage with a lovely handmade paper pouch for secrets sharing.  The hand-drawn face is one I did a long time ago but didn't have a way to use until today. Her hair is made from a magazine image.

'Blue Moon Madonna' - January 31, 2018 I've finished the work in progress from the weekend.  The digital drawing printed on a book page was completed with collage, gesso, paint, Gelatos and pen work.

After weeks of procrastinating in doing any painting or drawing for my new online art class this year, I started a piece tonight by prepping the substrate. Even though I didn't work further on that one, I found a magazine image that just called out to be drawn.  So, I made an outline of it, scanned it in to the computer, and then worked on the color and shading digitally.  What I did next I've never tried, but it was based on another magazine idea of drawing an image on newsprint.  So, I printed my drawing on a book page, and the result has great possibility.  Next, I'm going to gesso and collage over a part or all of the book page and see how it turns out. Piece in Progress

The week's lesson was on expressive arts collage.  I've done two today.  The first is the Live Fully piece followed by the Lucid Dream piece.  They were very easy to do though auditioning the placement of images is good to do before glueing them down. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org .

This activity was to take a single magazine and cut out pictures that you like and create a new collage covering an entire page of background paper.  This is what I put together. A second portion of the assignment to be completed a day later was to cull through the magazine for words that you cut out and create a poem from --- about the collage.  This is what I came up with. wild kitchen on an adventure to bring alive senses what to taste? air moving in the trees? red maple? gold of the oak? all fall bounty can produce magic stories you can feel excite the fantasy with lush meals of beauty, whimsy and movement. Result of lesson as part of 2016 Woman Unleashed Online Retreat founded, organized and facilitated by Amber Kuileimailani Bonnici.

This was more of an artful exercise than art making.  It has to do with setting boundaries with the various people we may meet in our lives.  The painting came first, then the Henna-like dots, and the collaging on of phrases.  Thank you Melody Ross! his piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org . This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

The instructor for Week 17's lesson is Roxanne Coble, and her lesson theme is 'Your Story, Your Altar'.  My interpretation of the lesson was based on my recent trip to Michigan and what it meant for me. My first effort for this lesson went awry in that the background painting didn't work.  My second effort didn't work either because the background painting got lost because of too much collage work. This was my third effort.  In working on it, I liked the use of the white gel pen for outlining as well as for some other finishing touches (in assorted pen colors). I'm still getting air bubbles when collaging and haven't yet been able to remedy that.  It happens using Liquitex Matte Medium and Golden Gel Medium.  I'll keep practicing and hopefully get better at it.  It seems to happen most often with the use of pages from magazines. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, ...

Week 7's project was to create an Affirmation Board.  My finished one looks very Carmen Miranda-ish, don't you agree? Since I wanted to get the assignment finished in a single day, I found I I didn't let each layer collage/paint dry completely. So, some layers peeled away revealing earlier layers. To work with the problem, a variety of colored tissue paper was added to complete the background (around the painted face, too).  Then the other images and words were collaged on top. It is definitely a bright and fun piece! This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link:  www.willowing.org . This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

This lesson involved some personal work aside from just the painting.  That work involved coming up with a list of the wisdom we have achieved over the course of our lives.  That took the most time and effort, and there is much more I came up with than is apparent in the box.  I just wanted to keep the piece simple and highlight the word awesome. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link:  www.willowing.org .