Tag Archives: Art

A Pandemic Diary In Pictures – Part 2

Posted on by
1

Days turned into weeks, then months. Still “sheltering in place”, still walking the Preston Ridge Trail early in the morning. Strength training at home. Still noticing.

Home Gym

No Children At Play

Shadow AM

Street Abstract

The Crossing

X

Have A Good Day

Closed Until Further Notice

Some things made me smile. Oh, happy day!

Over The Rainbow

Happy Birthday Henry

Happy Birthday Neighbor

Shout Out

Social distancing? Yeah, we got it!

Make Way For Ducklings

It was time to go to our farm. In the car, door to door, no stopping on the way. No one at either house but hubby and me. Spring had sprung!

Thankful For Small Favors

There’s nothing like a Texas sky to remind me to look at the big picture and a brilliant sunset to fill my heart with hope for the future.

Gratitude

At The End Of The Day

Maybe I’ll get a haircut soon.

 

Are We There Yet?

Posted on by
2

It’s more than 900 miles from Dallas to Arrowhead, Colorado in the Vail Valley. A nice, long drive away from the summer heat to the cool mountain air. One route takes us through New Mexico. Clayton, NM gets ready for summer with firework stands like this one.

Clayton NM

The Colorado mountain towns nixed their mega 4th of July displays this year because of the threat of more wildfires. Maybe New Mexico did the same.

The rest stop at Clines Corners welcomes us with an altitude of 7200 feet, Fresh Fudge, and more souvenirs than you need, but there’s no charge for looking.

Welcome to New Mexico

Another route (our new favorite) takes us through Oklahoma and Salina, KS. We gassed up here and saw the Great Food Pyramid. BBQ anyone?

Yum

Ovenighting in Salina gave us the opportunity to share (notice the word “share”) a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard. DQ complies with some regulation and posts the calories in all their concoctions. You don’t want to know, especially if you’ve been sitting on your duff driving all day. But, hey, a gal’s gotta eat!

DQ

Mountains at last, and some freebees.

Take It

Charming towns with cute shops.

Lavender and Lace

Vintage stuff to poke through.

Cheap Chic

And, around a corner, back alley signage with a little graffiti thrown in.

On the Wall

In Carbondale you can bike to brunch, then justify eating the heavenly peach pancakes at the Village Smithy.

Carbondale Brunch Fave

Or have a latte with or without chess. Good dog!

Time Out

Shop till you drop every Saturday at the Minturn Market. Believe me, it’s more than T-shirts. Good eats too, and Christmas in July on Main St.

Minturn Mania

Decisions, Decisions

Christmas in July

Lest anyone think we’re all about eating and shopping, here’s the reward we get for sore feet (knees, backs, whatever) on those hikes up to 10,000+ feet.

Aspen Glade

See you next summer, Colorado!

Do You Dream In Color?

Posted on by
2

Most people, except psychologists, don’t think a lot about color, except that they come to believe they “look best” in certain colors, some colors go together well and others clash. Today’s clashing colors are tomorrows hot new ones.  Emotions and tastes (as in the mouth) are color driven. Ask any advertiser or product developer.

I think about color all the time. Over the course of my life in and with art, much of my decision making about color has become intuitive so it’s a little disingenuous to say I think about color all the time. But color is often the driving force in my work. It happens. It makes other things happen.

I recently completed a group of prints, each of which is divided into three parts like this one.

#1245 Strip Show 1, monotype:etching 11 3:4 x 6 3:4" 2011

The top section is a monotype. It is a rectangle of color, almost pure color with just a hint of bleached out marks. The bottom is a small etching, busy and energetic. A thin strip of a monotype or collagraph print separates the two. Here is another one.

#1246 Strip Show 2, monotype:etching 11 3:4 x 6 3:4" 2011

The strip is needed to separate the top and bottom, yet hold onto the connection.

#1247 Strip Show 3, monotype:etching 11 3:4 x 6 3:4" 2011

The small etchings are re-purposed prints from my stash, ready to be used in new and different ways. Their colors determined the color of the larger rectangle. Of all the color choices available, why did I choose these? Intuition? Would you believe me if I said a certain color “felt right?” That I “saw” it before I mixed the printing ink?

#1248 Strip Show 4 monotype:etching 11 3:4 x 6 3:4" 2011

Why did I add the bleached out streaks and spots in the upper rectangle? The color would be too flat looking without them. Boring. It had to contrast with the etching but also have a connection to it.

#1249 Strip Show 5, monotype:etching 11 3:4 x 6 3:4" 2011

Color is an important tool in my toolbox, although not the only one. Here are a few more pieces in the series for you to consider.

#1250 Strip Show 6, monotype:etching 11 3:4 x 6 3:4" 2011

#1251 Strip Show 7, monotype:etching 11 3:4 x 6 3:4" 2011

#1252 Strip Show 8, monotype:etching 11 3:4 x 6 3:4" 2011

How do you respond to color? Think about it.

Stage Sets, Tsunamis and Sintra

Posted on by
2

I just saw my friend Terry Hays’ exhibit “Irreversible Change” at the MAC in Dallas. What a treat!

Terry’s expertise is in making stage sets for theater productions. His artistic creativity can also be seen in small, and not so small, 3-D sculpture.

Swimming to Salvation, escape from the water demons, Acrylic on wood, Sintra, 52" x 78" x 12.5"

Swimming to Salvation... Detail

He acknowledges that these sculptures are models for possible stage sets. I saw them as stand alone sculptures. They are to be viewed from the front, but the various layers can be seen from the side. The wood and Sintra surfaces are painstakingly and exquisitely painted. Seen from a distance they look like glass mosaics. As you come closer, you see the incredible painted detail.

Pembina Highway - Acrylic on wood, Sintra 52" x 44" x 19.5" - detail

Terry says, “These models draw heavily from current events such as the tsunami in Japan, earthquake in Haiti and wind driven fires in California, all natural disasters of unimaginable scale.”

He uses a special saw to make his precise curved and angled cuts out of the Sintra, only slightly  softer than plexiglass.

Terry recycles, too. This piece incorporates tree roots, cleaned and painted. Survival in the midst of chaos.

Irreversible Change, Acrylic on wood, Sintra, 5' x 12'

Irreversible Change - detail

Some of my favorite pieces are grouped on one wall. They are small and more monochromatic, mostly browns, black and white, but boy, are they powerful. They are very high relief, very complex and very compelling.  Think desert flora, Native American ritual objects and African headdresses.

Souvenir #3, Acrylic on wood, Sintra, 11" x 11"

Untitled, Acrylic on wood, Sintra, 19" x 24"

Detail

The show runs until July 7. Catch it if you can. It’s a great way to start your summer.

Thank you, Terry, for giving us such beautiful and sensitive works of art.

Glorious Glass

Posted on by
5

 

Dale Chihuly , master glassmaker,  has come to Dallas!  Chihuly at the Dallas Arboretum is a must see exhibit. This man-made spectacle consists of fifteen glass sculptures situated among the Arboretum’s sixty-six acres.  They soar into the air like this one, a blinding burst of colorful spikes wired to a tall armature.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Some surprise you as you come upon them nestled in a small water garden. So much of Chihuly’s glass is brightly colored that seeing these white “macchia” forms placed among the lily pads is a nice change of pace and feels just right.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Water is used as a setting as much as open space. Two skiffs, one filled with float balls, the other with wild and crazy shapes, sit on a small pond with White Rock Lake in the background. It’s easy to imagine Venice.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

There are sharp, reed-like spikes and gently curving Heron forms rising out of other small ponds.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Some sculptures resemble out- of- this -world flora.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Or fantastical sea creatures.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

As you enter a more enclosed garden a sunburst atop a tall pole greets you. Brilliant reds, yellows and oranges bombard the senses. You stare in wonder. How can glass be so fragile, yet so strong?

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Is this guy having a bad hair day?

There is no end to the surprises.

The exhibit runs through November 5, 2012. It’s worth multiple visits. The sculptures will look different by day or night and in different seasons.

Go West Young Man

Posted on by
6

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX. Photo by Cecelia Feld

Only 35 miles separate Dallas and Fort Worth, so after (or before) we take visitors to the Dallas museums we hop on the freeway and high tail it to Ft. Worth to do the museums there.

The Modern Reflections. Photo by Cecelia Feld

Recently, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (a mouthful, shortened to The Modern) was my focus, literally.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

When architect Tadeo Ando came west he brought an eastern sensibility with him and gave the city not only a building worthy of a significant collection of modern and contemporary art but a piece of art in its own right.

The spare and unembellished steel, glass and concrete building  floats on a 1.5 acre reflecting pond. Inside and outside are connected. I wanted to capture the play of light against the building, the cast shadows, shimmering reflections and the vertical, horizontal and diagonal patterns. Always going for the details.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Inside, you exit a gallery, turn a corner, and catch a glimpse of the water outside. Lovely. Refreshing.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

Café Modern, with its elliptical dining room surrounded by water, is the place to take a break for coffee or lunch and “float” for a while.

Photo by Cecelia Feld

The man knew how to make us feel cool on a hot Texas day.

 

What’s In A Number?

Posted on by
4

There’s something about a visit to the Dallas Arboretum during “Dallas Blooms” that gets my creative juices flowing. 500,00 (that’s 1/2 million!) spring bulbs blast their color right at you. In your face red, yellow, orange, white, purple and pink. Now that’s Flower Power! If that can’t inspire me, on a gorgeous Texas spring day, when some parts of the U.S. are still thinking “maybe only one more snowstorm”, nothing can.

Lest you think tulips are the only attraction, take a look at this flowering cherry tree, blazing white against a brilliant blue sky.And, let’s not forget the azaleas.

Back in the studio I’ll be working on combining collage with painting on paper. Maybe I’ll try to capture the movement of thousands of tulips swaying in the breeze or just the riotous swaths of color. Can I express the essence of what I saw, what I remembered, of the experience? How will you respond to the finished works? What if you did not know where my inspiration came from?

 

 

 

My Neck of the Woods

Posted on by
8

“Every day’s a new day….” That’s what it’s like when I enter my studio. Whatever the medium, paint, paper, etching ink or digital files, no two days are ever the same. That open-ended process of day-to-day or week by week (yes, even year to year) flow is what i would like to share with you. It’s a journey full of starts and stops, moving along smoothly or hitting the proverbial speed bumps. Along the way you may gain some insight into why and how I do what I do.

I have been at this thing called “art” for a long time. Many people have been encouraging (urging?) me to write about the “how” and “why” of my life in and with art. So, here goes.

If you would like to hear from me from time to time, please subscribe to receive the blog via email. Check out the newest stuff on my artist website www.studio7310.com. Share with friends. Let me hear from you. Making art is a solitary endeavor. It doesn’t have to be lonely.

And remember – make your life a work of art.