Stitch--ed

Have been experimenting with thread lately. Top watercolor is from a childhood photograph from a Halloween in 94' while I was dressed up as a princess. Titled, "Missed Mommy".

Cut

watercolor, 8" x 11" 

I have been holding onto old family photos from years back and always felt there would be a time when I knew what to create from the images. The images of missed smiles of family shots or accidental flashes when not looking create a moment of truth. The image begins to truly speak for itself during this moment. Anyhow, I chose to paint an old family photo of myself and two cousins in Tennessee waiting for our family to take a picture near the overlook. Two pieces of paper were chosen as the ground to relate to the distant feeling of the children and the adults. 

Lindsay--AH!

Sorry, everyone for my lack of posts. See, I am trying to get myself (and art) ready for my solo show on August 4th...needless to say, there is a LOT of painting I need to do, a lot of press release business, and a LOT of schmoozing with people to try to entice them to come! YEESH. None of these things are easy to balance in a life with a full work-week. Boo!

Enough pouting. Here is a little sketch I did at work a few weeks ago after Lauren's suntanning woman picture. I did this lady MANY favors through artistic license. She looks 10 years younger and about 30 pounds thinner. Better than LIPO!

Long Beach Island, NJ

I spent two days in Long Beach Island, NJ this weekend and was inspired by many children playing with shovels, building sand castle while swarms of parents sit near the warm Atlantic ocean. Brightly striped umbrellas lingered across the soft sand. As many artists, I am often affected by a change of scenery such as this and will often use the new location's palette in my artwork during the plein air painting. Ocean colors such as peach orange, yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, and sea foam green, will seep into my pieces-- often soon after I am gone. Summer near the ocean or mountains of Montana will surely do that to an artist. 

7" x 7" watercolor

A collection of found sea shells in the ocean and scattered them about.

8" x 10" watercolor and pencil

A family couple was enjoying themselves at the beach. First was inspired by another brightly lit beach chair. Got to say, I am in love with those chairs. Quirky colors- Always! 

5" x 5" watercolor

Aunt's friend Allen sitting near personal sand moat on the beach. Cigar in hand. 

8" x 10" watercolor

Used a silhouette with color behind the bay to quickly capture the sunset in LBI, NJ. 

Experimenting, Growing, Developing

Here are some sketches that were done RIGHT after Lauren left. Of course, I have CONTINUED painting daily since--which means that I need to apprehend my mother's SUPERNICE camera to take some pictures of what I've been up to...I've also been doing some painting with my oils.

I am experimenting with different ways to use watercolor. Painting from a picture is ALWAYS easier than painting from life, and I suppose you can see that in this painting of a fisherman on Fabbiano paper (bought IN Italy when I lived there), 5''x7''.

A gentleman came into the park on a home-made motorbike (a Schwinn bike with his own makeshift motor) wanting to travel around Montana for the next few months. On the day that he left, he told us that he had to leave behind a bag and some clothing that were weighing him down. Inspecting what he discarded, we found a stack of family photographs (one that closely resembles this one, above) inside! Since we were going to throw the photos away, I felt that I needed to give it the afterlife that it deserves in the only way that I know how--through painting! 5x7 Fabbiano

Flew 2,345 miles to see a Minnich!

My oh my. ...Last Thursday, June 17th, I recently arrived back to the garden state with a bundle of new watercolors to show from glorious adventures in Montana. Lindsay Minnich and I plein air painted along side Glacier National Park and near many other incredible views. The landscapes all throughout the state never decreased any of my creativity whatsoever. Endless possibilities with compositions and color. 

(2) Plein air Glacier National Park. 5" x 5" watercolor and pencil 

Sinclar Gas Station in Babb, MT, 5" x 5" , watercolor 

Babb, MT, 5" x 5" , watercolor 

Old Church in Babb, MT, 5" x 5" , watercolor 

Kila, MT, 5" x 5" , watercolor. 

Used different paper than above. Cold press paper lighter pound. I noticed the quality of pigment on the surface immediately. More smooth and flat. 

Near Whitefish, MT, 5" x 5" , watercolor and pen

Used Lindsay's pen and drew inspiration from her continuous contour line sketches. Really enjoyed the free spirit of the line. 

St. Ignatius, MT, 4" x 4" , watercolor 

Well, after the bus from Kalispell to Big Timber, MT made the bus driver curse loudly to avoid a deadly crash, I had a great amount of time to sketch in St. Ignatius, MT. This navy topped farm house was located to the right of the bus and just was begging to be cared for or noticed. 

BACK!

I'm sure that Miss Lauren Whitney will one day soon post on this blog...but I'm sure glad I beat her to the punch!

HA!

She traveled the 2456 miles from NJ to MT to visit me a week ago. During that time, we had a chance to do a bit of plein air painting in this gorgeous land from which I hail.

Check-check-check 'em out below...

Lauren's shoes in the grass--I made them red instead of off-white to give them some sass.

We kayaked to an island on Flathead Lake, painting supplies in tow, and sketched out this area next to Somers, MT.

A church in Babb, MT --just outside of Glacier National Park.

...also in Babb, MT (across the street from the church).

Asbury Park

Over the last couple days I have been painting photographs from a recent beach trip to Asbury Park, NJ. The area of Asbury used to be very desolate, dirty, and yet still housed memories from a time of local amusements through a thriving boardwalk, ferris wheel, games, and roller coasters. For years, the boardwalk of Asbury was empty, but now after 25 years or so, shops and cafes are reappearing. I went to Asbury in hopes of seeing the new change and hopefully erase old memories of my mother telling me never to walk through, ride my bike, or even drive through parts of Asbury.. ever. It was an avoidable area that I was not allowed as a child. Anyhow, in the next posts, I plan on posting more sketches from that day and more observations.

 watercolor, 6" x 5 " Asbury Park Lounger 

Watercolor, 6" x 5" New Jersey U turn or infamous 'jug handle'

Here, I was in the car and decided to take photo of a flat piece of land with wild dandelions in the grass near an overpass. Yes, I know this isn't quite as exciting but why the hell not. New Jersey's 'jug handles' annoy the hell out of me and maybe I needed to paint away my aggression toward their idiotic reasonings. Below is my color palate inspired my Ms. Lindsay's color grid in the previous post. 

watercolor and pen, 8" x 6"

Sketched during a family talk.. Yes, that is a crab bib. 

Musicians at Crush

I went with my boyfriend, David, to Crush Wine Bar in downtown Whitefish, Montana on Tuesday night to listen to some of his comrades play jazz. I accompanied him in hopes of scoring some sketch time--lo and behold, I sought, I scored. In fact, a woman came over to watch me draw, ask me for some tips (she's a new sketcher), and to "learn techniques by watching" me. As she was leaving, she scurried over to give me her business card ("If you have a local show, please email me because I would love to see your work."). You're in luck, Tammie; I am going to have a show in July! *fingers crossed*

Color Studies

I had forgotten how wonderful color could be! I learned about "color averaging" (taking a segment and figuring out what the "average" chroma would be) when I was in Light, Color, Design at Pratt. Signor Carbone is by far the most incredible man--THANKYOUSOMUCH! I don't know HOW after that class I managed to detangle myself from this color love affair, but I'm sorely disappointed that I had. It's so wonderful to be chasing the elusive, ever-intersting, animal that is color!

-The first was a color average of two mountain goats in Glacier National Park.

-The second is of some of the woods outside of the pay-booth at the State Park where I work.

-The third is a color average of a bouquet of dying flowers.

Lauren- Friday

Today, I wanted to play with color paper and collage a drawing from the weekend. I remembered that artist Mickalene Thomas used similar ideas to create paintings. Instead of many paper scraps, she only uses pigments from acrylics and enamels to describe mood or emotion of the figure. Below, I used an old home and garden magazine that I stole from my aunt. She will never know! I tore colors from ads and then used colored pencils and ink over top to keep my previous drawing intact. 

And below is my boyrfriend, Jonathon Todd's watercolor. Wanted to throw that in there. 

Lauren- Voter Registration

Well, today I called motor vehicle center in New Jersey to ask about car registration renewal. While I was listening to the hold music for 10 minutes, I began to sketch the trees from my bedroom window on a scrap piece of paper. After the call ended, I continued to paint the landscape and added a little bit of pisaz to the scene.

Lauren- Car ride

As Jonathon and I sat in toyota plether seats, my family drove us to dinner in Hamilton, New Jersey. The sun began to set during the drive and soon created specks of light amongst any object or figure in its path. Along Jonathon's face I notices a perfect time to draw my observation.

Lauren-Buffalo

Like Lindsay, I too moved from Brooklyn into a rural area a few days ago. Yes, New Jersey doesn't come close to Rocky Mountain landscapes, but the area of East Windsor/Princeton, New Jersey is quite flat and rural. During the summer months along RT 35,  you can see small vegetable and flower stands, farmland, and apple picking advertisements. Unlike Lindsay's landscape, East Windsor has a flat landscape with a faced paced attitude. Sprouting up 40 miles of New York City will do that to a town. But the roads still are pretty empty without too many buildings, but of course the traffic is congested near rush hour. Nonetheless, the town has trees, lakes, and a great sculpture park nearby ( grounds for sculpture). 

As for the art..

Maybe I feel like this buffalo; standing in a field with small amounts of grass or feed, near a relic of old Coney Island.

Lindsay -- My New OLD Place

Lauren and I discussed doing a painting/sketch/drawing a day (1) and a response piece to what the other person has posted (2) for two pieces per post. Here are my very first posts...I think that I'm finally getting into a nice enough rhythm to post more often.



Taking from Lauren's cue, I depicted my new and OLD location. Originally from Kalispell, Montana, I am a native to this area--but after living in the hustle and bustle of New York City for the past nearly 2 years, coming back to this slow pace of life makes me see things from the eyes of a first-time visitor. This IS a small town and I'm enjoying the "lazy river" pace. A water color sketch in my 6"x12" sketchbook.



Another place that I've decided to depict is my little lunch spot at my job. I work at a State Park and have the devine pleasure of taking long breaks to sketch and soak in the natural beauty. This was a quick sketch done on my lunch break with watercolor and ink pen in my 6"x12" sketchbook.

Lauren-Falling over

Just moved to New Jersey and wanted to express my emotions through symbolic suitcases. I pictured myself as the top green suitcase leaning over the edge.