Spirited Intersections

Hi there. Well, I have actually been playing with paints again. I know all my fans have been waiting with bated breath. Recently I took the first in a series of watercolor workshops in Bellingham, presented by my longtime friend Lois (you can thank me for not calling you my oldest friend!). She totally inspires me and it's fun to experiment with a medium I have not used in many years. I wanted to play with mixing colors and overlapping images, so here is my toast to lives that intersect.

Newspaper... not just for lining birdcages anymore.

Ever since my first Design class at CBC, I have been in love with newsprint as a design concept. I had actually just cut out these shapes to help plan the positioning of the birds in my other bird piece. And then the newsprint pieces looked so forlorn just sitting on the counter top, begging to be made into art, too. What's a girl to do? I did stop myself at this point and decided that any more birds would get just too creepy.

Flock of Birds

Our new apartment is calling for some new artwork for the walls. The bedroom is done in bright orange (for those of your who know me.. this can come as no surprise). I made some curtains out of some great IKEA fabric with birds all over it. Taking from this theme, and all the while trying very hard not to turn it into something Hitchcock-ian, I made a couple of wall pieces. This is a bold graphic design done in black and white (even thought the background photographed as rather gray).

Radishes on my mind.

I attended a training on "Supporting Individuals with Autism in Employment" this week. When the doodles overtake the note-taking... what does that say? I've been a little obsessed with the radishes (and I don't even like to eat them) this week. But, hey, where did that eggplant come from?

Back in the saddle again.

Now, admittedly, my Radish Art ("Of Mice and Mushrooms") might not be the dramatic re-entry into my art blog that some of you might have come to expect from me. But, they do make you smile, don't they? And it means that my creative process is back at work. It's true, I have been decidedly absent from my blog in the past few months. Not that anyone has asked for a written excuse from my mother (who is certainly smiling down from her perch in heaven as I write this), but (and here is the excuses section) there were the holidays, a trip to Thailand, the excitement over a new grandson who is due to emerge in the next few weeks, the current grandsons that always liven up my life, moving to a new apartment and ... did I mention I met a boy? We could just title this "Melanie in Love" and everyone would understand.

So... we needed a companion piece to join my Big Tomatoes on the new dining room walls, so I set out to find inspiration in the produce department at my local friendly supermarket. I found this little bunch of radishes that spoke to me. I did some photo work with them and made some sketches. Then I carved them into mice and mushrooms. I know there is a painting somewhere in the radishes.