Cay Denise

I finished this piece last night and am pretty pleased with it, especially considering all the phases it went through.  What an adventure!

Neat work (that takes alot of time).  I'd love to see the paintings he does indoors!

PYHAS 2020 Student Artwork from my mini lesson ❤️ from Sara Burch on Vimeo . This is an impressive slideshow of student work from my class on one of the first mini-lesson of this year-long online art course!

...in frolicking 'doodle code'.

Anahata does amazing work!  She has a unique aesthetic that is both etherial and mystical (whether intentional or not).  Here are two examples:   I looked her up today to see if Papaya, her company, is still in business and found her website displays a slideshow of some art journal pages she has done over the years.  I'm so intrigued by them because you can see the formation of her stylized voice.  To see the slideshow, click on this link and enjoy. http://www.anahataart.com/art-journals1/

This journal page started out with spreading purple, flourescent yellow and white acrylic paint blobs on a 9" x 6" art journal page.  Then some of the shapes were outlined with purple and green Posca pens, and after that --painted circles in an orange-yellow acrylic were added as a next layer, then a layer of florescent pink circles, and later -- dots and yellow pen lines were added to the circles. This piece is busy and colorful and just feels good to me.  It was inspired by a small leaf shape left over from a totally separate project that has a nice color combo (light blue, orange-yellow and pink-fuschia pink. Aside from that, I was thinking about bubbles while working on this journal page, and some of the circles were filled in with lines for that reason. Happy Thursday!

This is 'Pizza Mandala'...the first of two warm-up exercises I've completed for PYHAS 2020, the new online art course I'm taking this year.

Austin Kleon's latest newsletter mentioned an 8-page zine he completed in response to a challenge from someone he follows on Twitter.  I just finished my zine that looks back from 2010 through 2019, prompted by the idea. Cover and Back Pages To try it yourself, here is a link on how to do it (YouTube video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Ixqr9e3wCxI Do it quickly...that's the whole point!

https://mymodernmet.com/download-free-posters-belle-epoque-art/?fbclid=IwAR3xEKyaIxefPsAb6tWcpiCd4GuTm9dWQ09rQ1DobYA_xKNUcKAd5rMNUm4 Link is no longer valid per 6/25/2024 check.

My work-life balance in 2019 was less healthy than 2018.   Surprisingly, though, there were more art accomplishments  over the year than I expected.   Those arts-related accomplishments for 2019 include having: *Made 29 Blog Posts *Completed a video log (VLOG) for every day in February! *Produced 2 iMovies of art piece processes *Continued my art journal practice and completed 43 pages *Watched and totally enjoyed these movies:  The Biggest Little Farm, Rocketman, Pavarotti, The Public, Knives Out, and Aeronauts *Created about 40 new shimmering ornaments   *Visited the wonderful Mosaic Tile House in southern Cailfornia with a creative friend  *Enjoyed a Creative Club art-making session (to decorate wooden bird houses) *Attended a special Chris Botti trumpet concert at a local outdoor arts venue *Made 2 collages in 2019 Woman Unleashed Online Retreat (Winter solstice)   *Kept an Awesome Jar and have reviewed the contents (se...

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!

Ingredients:  Poster board, buttons, metallic tape, alcohol inks, adhesive crystals, beading wire (22-24 gauge), specialty papers (including Japanese paper), beads, and glue. They don't always look good during the process, but the beading wire and button selections really add that sense of whimsy and delight!

This is a 6" x 9" watercolor journal page.  It started out with a few blobs of color because of bleed-through from another page.  Five of the round shapes have been added.  Can you guess which ones? All the color has been done using watercolor crayons, and additional embellishment with black pen.  I decided I wasn't going to spend hours on this project, so it ended up taking about 30 minutes.  I like it...seems quiet to me.

The above photo is from the first chalk art festival that I've participated in...and it was a great day for doing so!  The 4'x4' piece was my chalk 'take' of the Telemadera piece framed by a paper background that emulates a center 3D piece...recently finished. Little did I know how challenging this process was going to be...drawing on concrete.  It is no easy substrate to work with.  The work is hard on the back and knees with all the stooping and kneeling...but I did it.  Thankfully, my neighboring artists didn't show up until mid-day, so I was able to walk around my square (using their spaces for my footfalls) to fill in areas more easily than if I'd had to lean over the piece to do so.  I was grateful for this not so small favor. Would I do it again?  I don't know.  To do so, I'd like to practice technique.  As it was, I didn't use water to ground the chalk and/or help with blending, and I'd like to get better at shading and highlig...

Recently, I rescued a box of scrapbooking supplies from storage that haven't been used in years.  Inside, a VersaMagic Chalk Ink pad never opened...until tonight.  Well, it hadn't dried out and was totally luscious to use!  I applied the actual dew drop ink pad on paper to create flower petals.  It was a bit messy but it stamped very smoothly.  The coverage is great while a bit on the translucent side.  That works very nicely for layering and allows a bit of the background to show through.  The product takes a bit of time to dry, but after drying--it won't rub off.  I love the richness of this chalk ink and look forward to using it again in future projects.  It is a terrific product!

A central elliptical wood plaque (look closely) was created a number of years ago.  A Telamadera technique was used on it (acrylic paint base painted over the wood with fused fabric added and then embellished with decorative elements) with a few coats of varnish -- though still needing more. So, I took it the center piece out of the garage where it had been stored up until the time I finally decided to complete it.  The next steps included adding many more layers of varnish.  Then, I created a collaged paper background to mimic the central design--but in 2D--to create a mandala like effect. I'm very happy with the paper colors.  They work perfectly and complement the Telamadera piece very nicely. A shout out and thank you goes to Alma de la Melena Cox who developed the Telemadera technique and does some very neat work of her own!

This article is a well worth reading to learn about the philosophy of the artist and the messages he worked to convey through his tree silhouette art.  https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/08/06/trees-at-night-art-young/?mc_cid=b6aca43034&mc_eid=e315ba8731

Using magazine images, paint and ModPodge, this is my decorated birdhouse.  It was a delightful Creative Club project done with a group of my creative friends earlier this month. All the birdhouses were different sizes and shapes.  Mine had hexagonal sides - and each one I decorated with a different background image.  The hexagonal and tiered roof was too much of a challenge to collage, so I added tissue paper for texture and painted over it.  The base (blue wavey pattern) is from a storm image that just seemed to work. 

What more can be said?

This beige and purple painted background has been in the studio for a while...waiting.  Tonight, I doodled a female face with a straight up-do...with some color here and there.  Quick fun, and it's even ok that the features lack symmetry.

This is the first two-pager I've done by taping the paper seam together and painting over it. All my other journal pages have been done two by two, but laying in the journal with no way to connect the seams. Now that the remaining blank pages are free of the binding, this is a great way to increase the workable space for a journal project!

Painted these lovelies last night at a VinoPaint art party!  Tonight, I finished baking the glasses to harden the paint and make the glasses washable by hand. Good class, good company and good wine!

Working with some of my images taken this morning in different Photoshop ways (cropping, filters, layers, and combining photos).  In some cases the photos didn't come out all that well, but playing with them gives them new and inventive life!

Great article and effort to support a cellist with talent and quite a story...check it out! https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/04/24/ive-been-crying-all-dayhappy-tears-young-cellist-with-tormented-past-is-disbelief-donations/?utm_term=.e32ffbbb6ce5

This exhibition continues through April 23rd at the Guggenheim in New York City...

My art journal has a hard cover.  The cover transformation started out with two colors...florescent orange and purple...painted on randomly and then some white was added.  Everything else are embellishments using a variety of pens and glitter glue.