Still Life w/ Fruit and a Foot - Take 1, Dec. 08

These little labels we find stuck on our apples, bananas, oranges, and other produce items help tell a story - where our fruit comes from. They also create interesting images shown collectively - on their own.

Lunch Test Strips No. 4, 2008

Lunch is served.
Ketchup anyone?

It might be cut up pictures of food
arranged on a new plate on
a white tablecloth, or it might not be.

You be the judge.

Green "Lotus Blossom" collage design

I'm getting behind on my art postings. My goal was 2 per month. I am still working with this same arc cut out shape. Cutting out a series of these same basic shapes from various patterns, colors and objects is like creating your own set of paints to work with. Lots of possibilities. This is just one more.

By the way, the faint pinkish "rays" emanating from the design are a total accident. They are essentially lines created from slightly buckled/warped areas around the design from - I presume - the glue drying.

More leaves, in bright finger paint colors

I'm drawn to leaves...what can I say. All the leaves used in this painting were from my yard. This was another one of a series of leaf-related paintings I painted several months ago (about the same time I did the green painting of leaves below...(See June 5, 08 entry.)

Fork and Leaves - Magazine Picture Cut-Outs

I cut out two distinct images -- a hand and a fork -- and put them in various positions on the scanner bed (and added some real leaves in two of these). So simple, yet somehow gratifying. All these collage practice squares need are silly titles.

In counter-clockwise order, starting with bottom right:

1.) Hand and Fork in the Country (using reverse side of magazine pages)
2.) Tussling over the Green
3.) All Points Bulletin
4.) Finger & Fork Weave, w/ some Leaves

Collage experiment #2: Hair Beyond Words

Collage Experiments, cont.
I'm experimenting with layering and materials here. The base coat is acrylic colors on a cut sheet of canvas paper. As the paint was drying, I laid cut magazine pieces on the semi-wet paint, so they stuck. Then I tried painting over this with another (watered down) layer of acrylic paint. So, I may want to go out and buy some gel or top finishing laquer layer of some sort to give this an overall sheen and glue the cut papers down more permanently.

Re: Composition itself
I need to incorporate some actual art skills here to make whatever the focal point is of greater visual interest in these collages. A pencil sketch ahead of time wouldn't hurt. I'm continuing to use the cut-out crescent shape motif. I could be arranging these pieces in a more visually compelling way.

Re: subject...As I looked at this the next morning, I realized that seeing hair like this on a reddish background invokes a bloody scalp - yechh. This was certainly not my intention. Maybe I should paint a gold halo around the hair? Better or worse....hmmmm. Time to move on to something else I think.

More Green Stuff...I like leaves

I picked up some leaves outside, and painted over them. This was the result. I did a series of these. They look like fabric patterns. I'm debating whether to leave this painting as is, or to add some kind of gold or silver metallic highlights.

What do you do when you hit the point in a painting when you're not sure whether you're finished or not? I tend to ask myself, Do I keep working on a painting and risk "guilding the lily," or going overboard? Or, do I stop, and leave something bare simple? Will it be better or worse? Digital manipulation is great for developing alternative scenarios; maybe I'll find time one day to use my Adobe software to try this.