squares

6x6", gouache and graphite on stonehenge paper.

Here's what I actually ended up putting in the two 6" frames for the gallery. I think this is the last of what I've been working on lately :)

fyi: that is some genuine old rickrack from my grandma's sewing box that I used for the reference photo. It even has the tiny little pin and the card it came on. Clearly my hoarding tendencies are genetic, which means it's not my fault that I can't throw away craft and art supplies that I might be able to use someday. I'm relatively tidy about many things but art supplies, crafty things, and books I always seem to keep. This is why you don't see that many photos of the inside of my studio, I guess. I can't stop hoarding in there but at least I know that I should feel a little shame about it :D

snow and moss

Digital collages, 9x9".

These are from some pictures I took over the last couple days - one set of pics of snow falling at night, taken with a flash. That's what all the spotty spots are. The other pics were the next day in the snow of some mossy trees.

I took a kitty out in the snow to look around and this is what she did when I actually set her down in the snow. Those little toes all spread out with claws extended mean she was not too sure about all this :)

collages

I scanned these little paper collages before I put them in their frames last week and forgot to post them so you could actually see what they look like :) And obviously I had the digital ones at the top finished before I printed and framed them, too. I've been fighting a cold and I'm not quite on top of things yet, I guess.

The two digital collages are 4x4" which is, let's face it, really tiny. I tried to keep them sort of simple compared to the big pieces so they wouldn't look too cluttered. Trying to keep some white space when there's only four inches to work in is kind of hard :P The purple is derived from photos I took of my hellebores which are just starting to bloom. The sort of scroll-y patterns are out of a 1920s or so copy of Pride & Prejudice. I've been re-reading (and re-watching) Jane Austen lately...very soothing, much like knitting and such to me.

oils

4x4"
4x4"
6x6"

Here's the scans of those new oils I was working on.

I couldn't resist trying a new color when I was at the art supply store a week ago. I hadn't tried Williamsburg paints before and I couldn't justify buying any when I already have plenty of paints...until I spotted this one. The top of the label is the actual paint sample and it's called Ultramarine Pink. Who ever heard of an Ultramarine Pink? I like it a lot.

new pieces

Here's what the studio table has looked like the past couple of days.

I have an opportunity to show some tiny wee little pieces in a small Seattle gallery and I only had a few things that were within the size guidelines. I put together some more oil paintings on a few panels that I already had and some little collages. I ended up having to order some frames online because I couldn't find any small enough that would let me put in a mat to keep the pieces off the glass. So I cut some really, really tiny mats - apparently I can cut a mat that's half an inch wide which I did not know before! Good to know :)

You've seen a few of these before...

...and these are new. These are 4x6" and 4x4".

Incidentally, these photos were taken during daylight hours. You'd never know it though...so gloomy today :P

painty paint

Oil on canvas on panel, 12 x 12".

I wanted to do a pink oil painting to round out the blues and greens. I think oil painting is very relaxing for me because pretty much the only thing I can do wrong is overwork it. I mean, if I were doing something more detailed or realistic there would be tons of things that could go wrong but with these, any bit of color or pencil or any stray brushstrokes can be blended away. And unlike watercolors, I've got, oh, about three hours to notice that I don't like something and change it :)

I use four or five brushes at a time - one or two for each color I'm using so I can just swap them when I want to move a color back and forth. And I don't get too worried if the colors start getting into other areas - I just let 'em go. I like the sort of scattered effect and I love the brushstrokes that show when this happens.