A New Series in "My Style"

These two paintings are the first in a new series I have been working on lately.  This style combines collage, printmaking and mixed media painting on canvas. For years I have been experimenting with many mediums and techniques and this is the end result!  For some artists, myself included, it takes a long time to develop an individual 'style'. I now feel that all the time spent learning is coming together and I'm very happy and relaxed painting in this way!

More to come!

The Joys of Competition

Well, the short list is as far as I got this time. From over 1300 entries to 37 on the short list and then down to 5 finalists! I really had fun imagining my painting featured on a wine bottle and being on display in the Liquor Store for all to see! I will definitely give it another try next year! Although I am disappointed, I am happy and proud to have made it as far as I did!

I have one little photo to add to this post. Linocuts have been calling to me and I tried one last week. It is quite crude but I will hack away at it and give it one more go. After purchasing some new blades and lino (the ones I used were about 15 years old) I will try it again. It takes a bit of thought to be thinking about negative space. I am comfortable with the direct methods of drypoint and etchings but I know with some practice the linocuts will work for me.

There is an International Mini Print Exhibition coming up this spring and I am itching to get started on some new prints! I love entering juried competitions - it keeps me on my toes!

Good News

This morning I received some really good news. A few months ago, I had entered some images of my printmaking in a contest run by the Hillebrand Winery in southern Ontario for labels for their 'Artist's Series' of wines.

From over 1300 entries the jurors selected a 'short list' of 37 entries and my "Textures of Life #1" was one of them.

I am very excited and nervous as now I will wait on pins and needles until the judges choose the winning 12 entries.

The last few months have been very stressful and upsetting so I am very grateful for some good news!

Organic Collagraphs

I finally finished the two 'organic' collagraphs today and matted them up ready to frame. With some advice from a good friend they have been cropped so the images don't seem to be floating around. It's amazing what you don't see when you are looking too closely at an image. Once she made the crop suggestions I instantly remembered a composition rule about having images touch or go off the edges. I just love the internet and e-mail!

Monotype & Collage

I spent some time yesterday working on some monotype prints from a few weeks ago, adding colour and some collage elements. I'm not sure if I like the result so I am posting photos of 3 of them in hopes of getting some feedback.

My next project is trying to collage dried plant material onto a collagraph plate. Again, I'm not sure how this will turn out either. I dried some flowers and leaves this summer from the garden to try this with and now the test comes. I'm hoping that gel medium will stick them down and seal them and then I think if I weight the plate down for a day or so it should flatten enough. I will post again when I have something to show.