The Little Free Library Hits the Newsstands!

http://www.grossepointenews.com/Articles-Features-i-2012-06-07-247178.114135-A-novella-library.html

The Captain

A new painting to be raffled off at the Navy League Ball in early June.

...and a detail...

Bubbly in a Brothel

Enjoying a glass of champagne "Under The Poppy"...

The Seashell

A companion piece to the last mermaid. Already privately owned. Acrylic on canvas board. 61 x 91 cm. (24 x 36")

The Siren and the Storm

Our new tenants in my ex-studio came to us from a very tiny house previously in which they had to put their washer and dryer in the living room and put a piece of plywood to hide it. They feel very rich in a 900 square foot house. So rich that the lady of the house wanted a painting to decorate her living room wall. And she wanted me to do it. I have painted a mermaid for her because her couch is a dark red-brown and the Caribbean blue will stand out but she is not obligated to buy it. I was able to keep the price down and I have a frame left over from years and paintings ago. She'll see it this weekend.
Acrylic on canvas with mother of pearl, pearl and paua shell fragments. 61 x 122 cm. (24 x 48")

The Flat Earth

It is said that if a mariner travels too far from the sight of land, his ship will tumble over the edge of the world into a universe filled with hideous monsters. This is only partly true. The monsters that a man may meet in the abyss on the other side of the world are the ones he carried on his vessel – stowaways he did not know were aboard. They are the monsters that condemn him to seeing only in black and white, only in shades of grey. The landscape in that lonely place is frozen and he drifts endlessly in the small areas of open water around the pack ice, plagued by doubt. Above, the known world is filled with color, warm sun, and light, variable breezes.

Acrylic and gel medium transfer. From the leather sketchbook.

My Little Library

My Little Free Library is in place!!! I am really happy!

Beyond the Mast

Beyond the Mast there are Angel guides and Compasses, Charts and serious descriptions of voracious and destructive Sea Monsters. One is instructed in the precise location of the very Edge of the World and with such guidance a mariner need never fear. Listen quietly to the voices from beyond the Mast.

Acrylic, cotton, silk, linen, photo transfer, mica and 23K gold leaf. From the leather sketchbook.

Sugar and Spice and All Thing Nice

I took a trip to our downtown Eastern Market to buy spices and then made paintings. Some spices included garam masala, curry powder, raw cocoa, Hungarian paprika, turmeric, crushed spearmint, dill seeds, lavender flowers and more... The drawing is done with coffee (Medaglia D'Oro Instant Espresso) and there are touches of 23K gold leaf and patent leaf on some. The whole house is fragrant.

This painting reminded me of a Byzantine icon:

A detail of the spices:

A spicy profile:

The first full-sized spice painting. Kind of Buddha-like:

Lash

She's married to the sea, no matter where she goes. Lashed to the mast, suffering the pain of lashes, gazing out across the waves from under curved black lashes. Some ties bind forever and ever.

Acrylic on paper, with gel medium photo transfer and mica. From the Leather Sketchbook.

The Sailmaker's Hands

Sometimes our fate hangs on the slenderest of threads.

Acrylic paint with gel medium photo transfer and pearl-colored mica. From sketchbook.

Sketchbook pages

I recently indulged in a luxury sketchbook from Renaissance Art Fine handcrafted leather books. I had been hankering after a certain kind of rare sketchbook which could not be found commercially and finally found it in their books. My book is black with antique green marbled end papers and filled with Arches Text Wove paper for the body of the book. I feel very inspired by this book and it can take the vigor and the unusual materials with which I paint. Here are my first few pages...
The title page. I gold-leafed the white side of the marbled paper.

Then a spontaneous painting made with acrylic paint, tobacco, leather, silk, dried lavender flower buds, printed t-shirt material and paua shell fragments.

A ship flying the flag of frugality sails toward an island where a lonely man curls up in a very small cave. On board are the Gamblers. Acrylic paint with silk, paua shell, cotton/linen, kuba cloth, playing cards and reproduction 18th century gazette.

The flag (a fortune from a Chinese fortune cookie) tells us what we should do.

A mermaid floats on her back and gazes serenely at the stars above. She is oblivious to the warship on the horizon. She knows how to chart her own course. Acrylic paint with gel medium photo transfer and mica.

Maiden Voyage

You have all come along with me on this one so no explanation is needed, I think.

Acrylic paint on canvas, polyester and cotton with silk, glass, bone, ceramic beads, labradorite, quartz, amethyst, pearls and other stuff. 122 X 183 cm. (48 X 72")

Painting in Progress (My Treasure Box)

A shot of my very own treasure chest - the big fold out box that holds most of my beads and little collected gems and jewels that I use to glue down to my canvases and works on paper. Those bone half discs I found at the Salvation Army Thrift Store will make perfect scales on a mermaid's tail.

Painting in Progress (Treasure in the Sea)

The faux coral made from silk strands and red paint worked. I laid it into the beach debris under the woman's arm, then added jewels and mica.

The doll surrounded by treasure.

I will continue to add jewels and mica until no more is needed.

Painting in Progress (Tiny Bubbles)

So that the illusion of the surf isn't totally dependent on the sponge painting, I added some bubbles in the surf by brush.

Another bubble...

This is the silk fringe of the old piano shawl. It serves a lot of purposes. The other day I made it into seaweed and doll's hair. Today I attempted to make red coral with it by mixing the silk strands with red paint, gel medium and a little bit of sand.

These are the bits of faux broken red coral. I have an actual red coral necklace, made of rough, unfinished, natural pieces, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice it so maybe these will work instead. The pieces available as beads are dyed bamboo coral, not genuine red coral, and since they are dyed I thought that the color might not last. This faux silk imitation is light weight in addition to being more lightfast than any dye. We will see how it works once it dries. It will hopefully echo the red color of the woman's hair and that of the doll.

Painting in Progress (Flotsam and Jetsam)

Here I am laying in the gel medium molds onto the canvas and adding a rough sand and gel mix to fill in any empty spaces around the uneven molds. The rough sand will help give the impression of the sand bottom under the waves.

Some "wreckage" that has swirled up and collected in the nook of the woman's arm.

I'm gluing down some long silk threads from a vintage piano shawl that I bought at a flea market. It wasn't in good condition, so no loss! It serves as "seaweed" in this case. (It has served as "mermaid's hair" in the past).

The same "seaweed" is tangled up in the detritus under the woman's arm.

The "seaweed" is painted light green.

The silk threads also serve here as doll's hair. The doll has been lost to the waves. Seaweed is tangled around the gel medium "coins".

To be continued...

Sea Foam (Painting in Progress, continued...)

I'm beginning to paint in the gentle waves...

I'm dipping my sponge glove into the paint...

Getting a light coverage...

And pressing it onto the canvas for a sea foam effect.

This is the beginning of the gentle surf.

I bought some natural sponge and will begin to make further definition of the gentle surf. I will also add more molded details in the water and on the beach.

Painting in Progress (Black Beach continued)

The sand and shell mixed with gel medium makes a nice, beachy texture. I have painted it black, allowing some mother-of-pearl bits to shine through.

I placed some of the molded coins on the "beach" and gilded and painted them. You can see the mother-of-pearl bits more closely.

Painted the molded shell in natural color...

...as well as the seahorse.

Painting in Progress (continued)

I've laid in the sand and broken shell mix. After it dries I will paint it black and allow some details to show through.

Getting up into the contours of the body, as if she has washed up onto the shore...

Here are different types of aggregate that I am using. Haven't used the larger broken shell yet. I will glue that down later, or may forego it completely. I also have some broken paua shell I can scatter through the black paint.

I am adding some of the details in gel medium such as the mold of this tiny seahorse which my son found on an actual beach some years ago.

A Painting in Progress

I don't normally show pictures of paintings in progress, mostly because I get too busy to take photos. But I thought you might find this interesting.

This is the full sized painting with background laid out and painted in. I made a sort of "print" of the nude body of my friend on silky fabric. It looks like a female Shroud of Turin. I glued down the fabric to the 48 x 72" canvas (1.22 x 1.82 for my international friends), along with a lacy skull from an old t-shirt turned inside out to see only the outline of the skull, then began to paint in the details.

The more detailed face with the skull stitchery showing through the paint...

The canvas is now laid out on a table where I will glue on sand and broken shell pieces. I will also glue down gel medium molds of certain nautical objects - the flotsam and jetsam of a shipwreck or a beach after a storm.

A sextant, the mold taken from a sextant, and the result in dried gel medium.

A piece of coiled rope ready to glue onto the painting.

More later...