New Work hung at 2nd Helpings Gallery

Hello Friends,  I've been working pretty hard the last couple of weeks.  Finishing some work and started a couple of new works.   And our little painting group, the Double Line Painters of the Blue Ridge, hung a new show at 2nd Helpings Gallery yesterday,

Here are a couple of my pieces that I finished last week.  "Mother Earth Awakens" is the title of the show, hence all the bright, beautiful colors I love.  Flowers and more flowers with a few birds thrown in.  Several pieces are collage, like the one below, but the one above is straight paint work.

Collage is such fun.  If you have never tried it you should.  And we, the DLP, are planning another collage workshop.  Probably in July but it something we just started thinking about yesterday.  Lots can change between now and then.

I'm so..o..o..o.. very happy that spring is almost here, I can barely contain myself.  I see little pink buds and want to take photos that won't quite show the color yet.  But it's still joy.  Can't wait to get out and paint.

Hope you make it to our reception at 2nd Helping on Sat. April 13th.  Would love to visit with you !

Happy Trails
Travel Well

More Stamping

 Hey Friends,  Still having fun making stamps and attempting to use them creatively !  Above are the same fish from the last post.   That's a jelly fish in the top left and the small seahorse in lower right.

 You can barely see it but I've got another fish drawn on the big piece of rubbery pink stuff - at the very top.  And a different fish already cut out at the bottom.  This would be a perfect photo to use those little arrows you see other people put on their blogs.  Anyway, that bit of green you see on the left is tape around an octopus' head.  I was going to use a stencil or mask type cut-out for the Octo instead of making such a huge stamp.  Didn't work so well so I just used masking fluid  to keep the Octo clean while I put washes of ink on the whole ampersand board.  Love this surface too, reminds me of Terra-Skin.

So here is the upper most section of this painting.  I only put a few of the jellyfish strings/tentacle's on the stamp because they are so tiny.  But I like it as is.  I used two sizes of pencil rubber holders for the suction cups on the Octopus along with smudging and a watery brush.   Such fun.  Hope to finish it today !

The Double Line Painters will be meeting at 2nd Helpings tomorrow, Thursday.   So come out and visit with us and have a fabulous lunch in the Cafe.!

Happy Trails
Travel Well

Fun with Collage and Stamps

 Hey Friends,  I've been having fun for days.  I have carved some of my own stamps, above and below.

 Much easier than you would ever think, if you buy a cheap set of little tools for cutting block printing linoleum.  I used to try doing this with a razor blade or an exacto knife.  Much easier with the little wooden handled tools.

 I made this fish painting with my newly carved stamps (two sizes).  It is on Terra-Skin, which I love.  My last post was about Terra-Skin which is made from stones !  And just so ya know, you can't heat Terra Skin it gets all buckled and contorted.  I tried doing a smaller version of the fish painting and I wanted to emboss the fish lips and fin.  You have to use a heat gun to emboss and that's when I found this little peculiarity.  This will work just fine on ordinary watercolor paper or a wet canvas.

 This painting didn't involve the stamps but collage and cut out paper dolls, one of me favorites from childhood.

This painting involved some stamps, collage,,and cut outs again.  Can you see the bubble wrap stamp?
I've so enjoyed this creative weekend and if you can believe it I also did a couple more.  We are hanging a show at Second Helping the first of April.  To be called "Mother Earth Awakens" so I'm trying to be ready.  Got a few more to go !!   And we (the Double Line Painters) have been working on the www some lately too.   We have had some blog classes and DPW store lessons coming up and hoping to learn more about Pinterest.   It just isn't enough to be an artist anymore........you need to be a computer germ also.

Happy Trails
Travel Well