Today was a day of inspiration.  I decided to work in my journal and do an acrylic painting.  The wonderful thing about acrylic paints are their versatility.  You can continue to paint over them until you get the right look you want.  She was fun and the first thing I painted.  I will use this for a completed work on canvas as I like the idea of the lady behind the flowers with the mixed media.  She is done in my Moleskine journal and their website has pictures from artists all over the world.  It is pretty amazing.  Some of my journal work is there.  I hope you enjoy the work.

Journal Pictures

This picture I painted today in my Moleskine Watercolor Journal.  There are bits of watercolor paper in the picture.  These journals are the only ones I have used for the last couple of years.  The watercolor journal has really nice paper.  It is a little lightweight but handles the paint quite well.  The pigments dry quite fast but there is a bit of room for adjustment. 



 

 

Then I decided to do a wash and add darker color to paint this picture in the watercolor journal.  On our morning walks here on California's Central Coast, the birds are singing every morning.  It is truly spring.  Yesterday, we saw 3 small hawks calling to each other and flying near Laguna Lake.  It is the first time I have been able to see them up close.  They are also quite lovely as is the calls to each other.  Lately we have noticed that many of the birds don't fly off including the larger hawks when we walk by.  Perhaps they see us as not a threat to them.  



Meadow Dance

Music is so special to our lives.  It brings happiness when we are sad, a memory of a time past and can allow us to escape into another world.  How does a visual artist express a song?  I found that thinking of an image of the sheet music flowing on the canvas with colors and flowers.  I love dance and movement to music.  So this vision was inspired by listening to music in my studio and she who materializes out of the music and she who dances to the music.  Outside I hear the sounds of birdsong and the wind rustling through the trees.  This must inspire musicians as I am also inspired. 

This painting is an acrylic mixed media painting.  The strings in the guitar are thread.  

Travels in Italy

From June to the 9th of August, we traveled in Italy.  Our first 2 weeks were in Sicily where we were joined by our friends.  They traveled with us for about 2 weeks.  It was a really fun time.  After Sicily, we flew to Rome for 4 days and started our journey to northern Italy.  Our friends left us in Rome, we spent the night at the airport with them and then proceeded to travel north again.  This part of my sketchbook was done in the car while driving and we went from Emilia-Romagna which is a flat plain that crosses the middle of the northern part to Tuscany.  This was one day of our travels.  

We would go somewhere for 2-4 days and then decided where we wanted to go next and find a room and then go to the town.  The whole trip it was between 90-100 degrees from the moment we landed until we left 7 weeks later.  So, there were times that the air conditioned car was a welcome respite.  After I sketched the first picture, I colored in the picture with pencils that I traveled with.  The second one is also a sketch from Tuscany done in ink and acrylic.

 

The Mother Goddess

The Mother Goddess is the Divine Connection of the Earth and the Moon to the Universe.  She is the keeper of our planet and the natural satellite of our Solar System.  Before the invention of the telescope, man just knew of the Moon - a round mysterious object that people would gaze up to in the night sky and the Day Moon, as well.


The Celestial body, the Goddess holds both the Earth and the Moon both of which are connected in to each other.  The moon has a noticeable effect on the earth in the form of tides, but also affects the motion and orbit of the earth.  


This painting is the second in the series I am currently creating in the Mother Earth series.  I felt that mention of the moon important in this work.  The Goddess looks at the viewer.  Her expression is knowing.  There are stars in the picture, the constellation Orion, Leo, and the jewel of the sky Venus.  Known in ancient times as the morning star and evening star.  


The goddess is a watercolor painting.  The backround is hand rubbed acrylic metallic paints giving the painting a patina as.  The work was created after the first of the year completed today, January 5th.  I imagine the sky to be many colors so in creating the painting I've used the various colors to create this piece.  

My People, My Land

At the advice of my sister, I decided to post this page from my sketchbook.  I did it October 2nd while we were staying in Los Angeles while Bruce was in the hospital at the VA. 

The inspiration for this sketch was from a face of a man I sketched while waiting in the hospital. He is all of us in a sense because we are all people of the land, the earth.  We are all caretakers of the planet.  He, dressed in white in the colorful surroundings of the world as he sings his song of freedom.  Is he free from illness or oppression?  Is he celebrating a recent victory? Or is he standing to march for something he believes in?  The point is he, this man is celebrating a freedom. 

In 1854, Chief Seattle of the Puget Sound Suquamish tribe solemnly handed over his territory and his people to the sovereignity of the United States.  this speech he gave serves as inspiration to all of us with our relations to each other and to our land. 

"Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother.  Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.  If men spit upon the ground, they spit on themselves.  This we know: the earth does not belong to man-man belongs to the earth.  This we know.  all things are connected like the blood that unites one family.  All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle 

It seems that this sketch as it evolved from my mind with inspiration will be part of the Mother Earth series.  Perhaps the father figure needs a place of importance in this body of work.  

The Universe Goddesses

The Universe Goddesses is the first picture in my Mother Earth series of work that I am currently working on.  It started out with an idea of the times of the day.  The mysterious night, the in between of dawn and dusk of the day and the light of the day.  The first goddess is one with the night she is partly covered by the night.  The second is beginning to see the change in herself with the start and end of the day.  The third balances the earth and life on the planet.  From her springs the life on Earth.  She carries the planet and walks the earth with her creatures.  

This picture contains sheet music, stamps, papers, watercolor pictures and acrylic paint.  They are combined to create the composition.  The painting was created recently during personal transition for me and my family.  I personally love the mystical and the color of life.  Adding each element to the painting is the fun of the work.  I hope you enjoy this series of work.