Most recent works

This here is Brittany Howard from the band Alabama Shakes, singing her heart out here. Alabama Shakes is a local band to us here near Athens Alabama. They're up for a Grammy this year I hear and one of their singles Hold ON made it to the top ten Rolling Stones list!

Now this dark bluesy fellow is non other than Tom Waits. Unique to this painting is the fingers and hand continue to wrap around the canvas on this  11/2" gallery wrap canvas. This painting sold already but prints can be made.

Now on to Cathy. My studio muse and I painted this praying form, never knowing that when she was to be finished two and a half weeks later, some madman would gun down Sandy Hook Elementary kindergartners and their teachers. I had always felt that the name Cathy was such an odd pick for this painting until I saw one of the victims faces. One little girl named Catherine V. Hubbard. To me, the resemblance was eerie. Cathy could have been the little girl had she had the chance to grow up, or maybe her mother or grandmother. In any case the family resemblance was just striking. So I auctioned off Cathy to raise money for the Sandy Hook Fund. 

Coming off the Easel this Week

 This fist showing of the Roosters is for a class I'm teaching in Roosters. This is all the prep work plus pictured on the chair is a rooster done on wood. My next student has a project featuring roosters on wood so I thought I'd do one to show her how easy it was going to be for her to do.

 Not sure where these Lily's in space are headed, stay tuned. they could be done or, a work in progress.

 This piece was inspired from a piece of crystal a friend of mine used that she incorporated into a prayer stick she made. The colors in the background are of the crystal, amethyst and aveturine lying on a spayed cad red. I asked my friend what were the certain powers of this crystal and she told me , prosperity, grounding, abundance, healing, connectivity, heaven and earth. Using a sort of visual artists word play, I began to sketch what these words would look like inside of me, to me and from me, as I only have me for a reference. This is what emerged.

And lastly, my friend Michele came over and we had a little creative time together. She worked on her dolls and I on this painting. It's a Japanese Noodle Shoppe.

Painted Bra

This years submission in the auction for the annual Liz Hurley Breast Cancer Awareness fund. I do hope it draws some bids. It's modeled after a 57' Chevy .

New Paintings

 

12"x24", "Forget Me Not".

 

16"x20", "Star Gazer"

                                                            24"x30", "Holy Apparitions"

The Farm

Blue Birds

24"x48"x1 1/2" gallery wrap acrylic on canvas

White Bird and Praying Monk

20"x30"x1 1/2" gallery wrap canvas.

This Weeks Production Whilst in Surgical Recovery

 This weeks selection is very, shall we say, very much the reason for the title of my blog Pick My Brains Art. You really get to see that quite a lot goes on in there left to it's own devices.Okay, first up is Feeding Time, an 18"x24"x1 1/2" acrylic on canvas. Koi swimming about at feeding tie done in the Flora Bowely style of art where extra markings start the canvas and then imagery takes over.This piece was also painted mostly with my fingers as instead of brushes in most instances.

Next here we have The Balcony, 16"x20" acrylic on canvas. She is of mixed media and was formed from palette colors applied to my canvas and spritzed and let dry. I go back later and see if an image appears to me. This is one of my ways of painting that brings me personal great joy and a use for paint not used in a previous painting. I just put up a new canvas when finished and apply the unused paints to the new canvas, spritz, hang to dry, and then it may be ready to work on next day or so. She came out with water color crayon on acrylic paints. I painted her in, well, what wasn't already there to start with, and added some finishing touches.

 I call this one The Story because everyone sees something different going on here than what I had intended when i painted it. Rather that force my vision onto you I'll just let you see what you want to see and let this painting tell it's own story to you.
 Again, this painting started off as a palette of mixed colors added to a blank canvas, spritzed and let dry. The Story told itself.. 16"x20" acrylic on canvas.

The Wise-men, 12"x16". acrylic on canvas. three, for lack of a better term, wise-men in the middle a camel on the left and a praying angel on the right make up this painting.

There you have it folks, week two of recovery from spinal fusion. Interesting to say the least. I wonder what week three will hold?

New paintings from the Easel

 This first Running Horse painting goes to my cousin Judy who has been stricken with a severe stroke. She has, through the miracle of prayer, made remarkable progress.She has and loves horses so God led me to paint this for her. Jim did the frame for her so this  is a true family gift .

 Now we get into the football themed paintings. Just getting ready for the art shows coming up that I hope to participate in as soon as i heal from my spinal surgery. This one features Bear Bryants hat.

 Next up is also another Alabama themed football painting.

 This is the last foot ball painting for Alabama holding the Crystal BCS Trophy.

Now here we have Aubie, the Auburn tigers mascot holding the Crystal BCS trophy.

Other Worldly

Latest painting off the easel is this colorful abstract piece.Very dimensional, if you look closely you can see layers of markings. This may be one of the last pieces I do for a while as I am going in for some major surgery in a few days time with a long recovery period to follow. I do believe there are angels and positive forces for good that dwell and reside in my studio at home where this piece was created. I say that because if I look at some of the other paintings that I have done from that studio vs the downtown studio, there is a striking difference.The home studio paintings are natural and done with ease and just "happen". The downtown studio paintings are tighter and more contrived. I cannot replicate this "happening"either. It really is a God thing.
 I hope you enjoy this painting as it was done with great love and peace.
 24"x24", acrylic on canvas

God -N-Me

20"x30" acrylic on canvas

Just Off The Easel

 30"x40" Guardian Angel on canvas

20"x24" Abstract Woman on artist board

Works in Progress

On the easel this week is this fairy girl with bird. She has a LONG way to go yet! I wanted to show you the process of development though. Again, this painting started out all colorful marks like graffiti. The first thing I painted was the fan! Then the hair, face, bird, wings and then all the rest came in at the same time. The graffitti was preserved in the dress and wings of this fairy/angel . I'm not at all sure why she is holding a parakeet except to say that when i looked, there it was, already formed like it wanted to be there so I painted it in more clearly. This painting I beleive measures in at 24"x24"x1 1/2" gallery wrap.

The Thin Veil

Was working in my home studio the other day and I often times get angels that appear in my paintings when I work there. Well, in order not to waste any paint I took my palette and smeared it onto a canvas and spritzed it with water and left it. When I came back I saw most of what you now see here. I added a few touches here and there but all the images that appear were there already! Freaky, huh? This one I call The Good Shepherd. It measures 16"x20" acrylic on canvas.

On the Easel

Currently on the easel, Praying Angel. 30"x40" acrylic on canvas. I was just letting this painting paint itself. First the angel appeared and then the planetary spheres and stars. I have no idea what the angel is on yet but I think the angel is praying for us.

New Works and Ideas

This painting has already sold, Birds on a Limb, but it is in the same Flora Bowley style of painting that I have explained in earlier blogs entries. This painting is a 16"x20" acrylic on canvas.

April's class info

Upcoming Class

Off The Easel

Swimmer,30"x40"

Lotus and Cocoon, 24"x48"
Peacock, 36"x48"

Paintings on the Easel

Recently I signed on to take an ecourse with a few other fellow artists. This course has had us marking our canvases and moving through some yoga and meditations. I say marking, meaning making random marks onto the canvas with odd bits of tools and brushes, even my fingers. Staining or tinting the canvas with translucent paint colors also has been an interesting technique.

We have also been instructed to journal our surroundings in sketch form, and then transferring, if we wish, those images onto the canvas. When we do this all the beautiful marks that have gone on before, show through the imagery. One of the images I had sketched onto this canvas was a huge bubble with smaller bubbles in it.When I stepped back and looked at the other marks coming through they had all come together to form a face. So, that is what is happening here. Obviously more work remains to be done, but you begin to get the idea?

On this canvas I have the hands of God supporting what represents Me, the flower image. If you turn the canvas upside down, you get a peacock! Which one will I pull out.....?

Hendrix Collage

Feb, 24th Class

Assemblage Art

Here is my first assemblage piece. Made from the gifts given to us from our foreign exchange students from Japan in the year 2001 when they came to visit us. All those bits of beautiful things they brought us stayed in a drawer, never to see daylight. It was a shame really. Now with assemblage art, where you put together a piece of art with recycled materials and odd bits of unique things, you can salvage and use these old treasures and bring them to light again.
This piece is three dimensional and multilevel-ed inside the box.
come down to the Gallery at 16 main in Madison to get a better look at it.

Cruciform Abstract on the Easel

Here is one example of one style of abstract that I was learning. This is in the Cruciform style. There are a lot of considerations to take into account when building this form. This one is not finished and is still under construction. Some of the considerations for the cruciform are that all the corners be different, and that there be an area of slight interest and I think I've begun that with the ink in a circular motion in the center of the form. Also, the form itself shouldn't be to straight forward in it's shape and design. Mine is here. I have some plastic wrap in the upper left corner drying with some paint to add a pattern in the paint. I'm still very elementary with my instruction yet. I have introduced many textures and colors for interest so we shall see in the future how this painting morphs!

New Works and Ideas

I was recently invited to attend a workshop taught by the woman posed in between myself and my friend here , Joan Blackburn. She is one of the most gentle spirited teachers yet boldly honest in her appraisals of your artwork during class which I greatly valued. She taught watermedia abstracts. Abstracts in the classical sense. I had no idea there were so many considerations in building and an abstract piece! Well I have no art training to help me or build upon in class as a base of knowledge so the one thing I do know is educate yourself! I struggled to keep up but enjoyed every moment at the same time. Joan poured fourth her knowledge , no holds barred. I came away a rich and more expansive person.

Winter Birch

This painting is an oil on canvas, 16"x20". It's framed in the actual barn wood from our barn that was lovingly taken down this past summer to make room for a new one. My husband saved some of the wood to make frames for just such an occasion as this! So.... I did the painting and husband did the frame from our old barn. A"True" family affair! hehe.

Indian Falls

The Ta-Da moment has arrived and the painting is finally finished!
20"x30"x1 1/2 , acrylic on canvas.
Indian Falls

On the Easel

This is another couple of new paintings I've been working on with this new technique of very thin layers of highly tinted acrylic paints. I have been simply randomly placing color on the canvas, wetting it down with a water spray to let it run and get drippy, then let dry.
upon gazing at the dried canvas, the images of what's to be painted on the canvas sort of just appears on it's own if you let it. I begin to see what the canvas is telling me and I paint that out. With the first one I saw a sunset beach and just let that happen. On this second one I saw a magical land mass in the sky with it's own sunset, below that a snowcapped mountain range feeding into a lake and below that even a a painted Arizona-ish style landscape. So much to see! In any case, this one is not finished as I can still see an American Indian's head and shoulders in a waterfall under the floating landmass in the sky. Do you see it?

Birds in Paradise

Newest painting coming off the easel.... 20"x24' acrylic on canvas, "Birds in Paradise".
I really got into doing this one. It's a whole new technique for me , completely different style from the past. I hope to explore many more like it in the future!
Whaddya think? You like it?