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Thursday, April 23, 2015

New Work: Span

Span
11" x 14" Acrylic on wc paper matted to 14" x 18" available

When I was a kid, my mom took a class in making stained glass. This was back in the '70's and there may have been some macrame in there as well. I seem to recall going somewhere with her and looking at pieces of glass and little colored pebbles. To the best of my knowledge she made and kept three pieces. They are geometric for the most part with a few curves here and there. The colors are pretty too. One depicts a stylized flower, another shows a leaf design and the last one shows a bridge. 

I mention the stained glass pieces as a way of introducing the above painting. It was made because of a confluence of coincidences. The first thing is that I went to UC Davis several weeks ago. On my walk through the arboretum I took lots of photographs of the various bridges spanning the creek. Secondly, I have the stained glass pieces that my mom made. The one with the bridge sits on my desk. Lastly, May 1st is coming up which is the 1 year anniversary of my mom's death. So, a series of confluences as I mentioned above. 

I can't say that this was exactly the idea that I wanted to get out but it's out and I don't hate it! I am most pleased with the brushwork, particularly on the lower right shape. I did the strokes one way and then went back in and created a kind of cross hatching. I have been experimenting with directional texture using the brush. I like the idea a lot and am wondering about tone-on-tone possibilities using texture. Kind of exciting.

Hope everyone has had a good week so far. If you don't already know, I started a new blog. The link is here. It's intended to be an uplifting and brief read.
Thanks,
Libby

3 comments:

  1. Span has such a nice balance. I liked reading the story about your mom and the stained glass. It's neat how something so long ago can influence today. Huge understanding hugs about losing your mom almost one year ago. During this time last year we were planning my mother's 80th birthday party. My brother flew in to surprise her. Lots of happy memories, but right now to think of them makes me feel sad. Enough of that though. Another hug for you Libby.

    PS: The garden photos were lovely. Looks like a beautiful place.

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  2. I think this is a perfect example of following the color wheel. Blues into greens into yellow with orange. Proportions perfect. I shared it in class. It was very popular for the strength of its design too, Libby. Good for YOU!

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  3. Very appealing! I like how you have merged flat poster type shapes with texture. Your words about stained glass and macrame' took me right back to those years (70's) when all that was so popular. Fun to remember how people shared doing those things together. I'll go over and check out your new blog!

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it! I reply back in an email if you are signed in and I can see your address. Otherwise I will post the reply here under your comment. I tend to cut and paste my emails too so that others can experience the back and forth which I think is integral to blogging.
Libby