FADING INTO THE NEW YEAR

© Oil, 24 x 30, Tsunami. St.Germain

Overwhelming overpowering waves
wiping villages away from the map
water 
- force of life
- force of death

my cousin was supposed to be there
on her honeymoon,
last minute decided to go to Egypt
that week I painted this, 
being a Sunday painter*

*Referring to my blog post Sunday painter on my main blog.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

© 9 x 12 , Oil, St Germain

Strange that it were shepherds,

the ones who were looked down upon 

by the religious  and the ones with status

 attended a free concert of a heavenly choir

the first ones to hear about "the long awaited one"

Strange that the King of Kings was born 

in a barn where the animals were

The only clue for normal folk were Magi 

visiting from a land afar and bringing exquisite gifts 

Every Christmas I paint on a little 9 x 12 canvas a scene 

from the Christmas story, to remind myself 

where my gift comes from

adding the package to the ones the Magi brought

PASTEL PAINTING OF AFRICAN ELEPHANT

Notes

-  recap, this is Jose Hernandez photo 

on his blog Jose E Hernandez World
of an African elephant

- Colorfix pastel paper

- most of the important features

- no sketch beforehand,

because form depends on value of color

- solution for other ear

- expand sky

-numerous trips to garbage 
 container to get pastel dust off 
- rounding off body
- change shadow left front leg
- blur edge of trunk right side

- forehead wider 
- more work on shadows

- adjust background

© African Elephant, 16 1/2 x 13 1/4, Pastel, St.Germain

- for a lead into the scene
- don't forget to sign 

 

MAKING OF A CHRISTMAS CARD

What are YOU making? The most often 

asked question of the evening. 

In between gutting out the linoleum, "How do you make an angel, 
how do you do a cloud?..."
wondered why the kids kept asking me,
there were 20 other parents in the room...

munching on apple crisp
a bowl of chili
cookies and chocolates
potato chips

a wonder I didn't get sick

In one hand the gutting knife

in the other a glove in case my knife slips, 

chips falling left and right

there were a whole lot more chips laying here!

a few times pressing a "proof" 

to see how close I was to the end

And here they are, with my thanks to John 

for hand printing the wood cut. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

Beyond The Veil

Sold, but available in print

Notes

Dazzled by pure white light 

she stands in great amazement

on top of the holy hill

gaining access to the Gate of Pearls

with purity of heart and hands
greeted by an angel of great stature
invited to the most exquisite dinner 
of all times
© Poem &; Oil, St.Germain

© "Entanglement" 18 x 24, Watercolor, St.Germain
Sold, but available in Print (see sidebar)

One of my first official sales of my paintings. 
It took me totally by surprise, because I was in Sacramento on a woman's retreat doing a workshop on art .
When I gave a little intro to the general audience about my workshop, I showed this painting to illustrate my point.  
The main speaker Ms. Wanda Walker, author of a book  (can't remember the book's name), saw it and bought it on the spot, with frame and all. 

She said, "Because I think it will help me teach." Her book was on abuse.
An official sale, because her secretary wrote out the check at her office. 

NOTES
-   Inspiration:  knots in the fabric and threads  

from an old frayed shawl of my daughter. 

-  a picture where the boundaries 

of the fabric have gone haywire

-  The threads were covered with liquifilm till done with all the colors.

   - The basket(s) is a play on words of the phrase "basket case." 

- The fabric of life looks "frayed" or frazzled 

-  things may hang on by a thread.

At that time I had several clients dealing with boundary and entanglement issues.  When boundaries are blurred or continuously ignored,things start spilling out of their basket.
It is not their fault, but the "stuff" (not necessarily their stuff either) becomes too much to contain. 

It's good to get untangled, so our basket is able to contain our "stuff." 
Wow, talking about psychology shaking its hand to art, or...visa versa!

Scratchboard

 My painting

- my try-out on paper  (not finished) 
Sorry for the bad pic:(

with a layer of india ink over it 

- tools to scratch out the upper layer of india ink 

- white claybord covered by india ink 

is another possibility  - photo, p. 56*

photo p.57

- the scratching out technique

combined with acrylic 

or other painting mediums

to read text, click to enlarge image

* last two pics were taken from Charles Ewing, The New Scratchboard. 2001. New York: Watson -Guptill Publ.

Scratchout Tools

My scratch out tools

fit perfectly in my mustard jar

it says "real Zaanse mustard"

(from Zaandam,

a town in North of Holland)

some artists make this

their main art medium

I'm still just experimenting

with it. I'll show next week

what I'm working on.

I''LL BE BACK AFTER Thanksgiving Weekend

That is, if I'm recovered from sugar shock of all the pies I ate on Thanksgiving day! 

Hope you had a good one!
I'll leave the black background color on till after the weekend to see if I like it.

Am not sure yet how I like to arrange and organize the paintings, but today I'd thought to synchronize it with my primary blog post.     Happy Monday!  
 P.S. Click to enlarge (if you like).

© My Neighborhood, Oil, St. Germain

NOTES

- view from my kitchen window

-canvas propped on the blue-tiled counter

-snow on Big Bear mountains down to 4000 feet

-snow and sky are almost same color value

-dream of my house being on the country side

-trying out this particular mood:

cold and warm and....? in the same scene

-the Cerulean blue of the forest background

repeated in the windows

- I like the simplicity of it

-fits with the inches 16 x 20

-so, what do ya think?

NOTES

Notes jotted down - 
anyone who is creating something makes use of it. 
It could be designing a bridge, 
constructing a door, 
prescription for medicine, 
a calculation for a custom made armoire (cabinet/closet), process notes for a patient.
I have an ongoing journal where I write down 
how I came to paint a particular painting, 
anecdotal notes, 
which colors I used
describing the painting style, 
method and process,
what I learned 
reactions of viewers. 
So far so good.