From Final Product to Beginning Image

 Here is a detail from a piece in my new series based on a day's paddling in October with my Gratitude Girls buddies. After paddling and carrying our boats from Polliwog Pond to Follensby Clear Pond to Horseshoe Pond, we reached Little Polliwog Pond. Karen had told us it was the Place of the Magical Bog, and she did not exaggerate! We spent a couple of hours there exploring the pitcher plants, autumn-hued waterlily and watershield leaves, ripe wild cranberries, and the brilliant marsh vegetation set off by the dark spruce forest on the barely-drier borders.

The photo at the right shows the process, described backwards from the finished piece. I printed my edited and cropped photo on cotton fabric (with its freezer paper carrier sheet). Then I tore the fabric into strips of varying widths and fused them to my stabilized background fabric one by one. With dark blue thread, I stitched the strips down. The orange fabric and the printed pitcher plant image were added, and I did some free motion stitching on the image to emphasize the plant shapes.

You can see that the original photo for this piece was not great. I cropped and used the "contrast" and "saturation" functions in my photo editing program, Paint.Net, to turn it into a more colorful and interesting image.

I'm working on several more pieces based on my photos and memories of that beautiful Autumn day on the water. Next photo:

New Summer Lovelies

"Sprouts"

Since my last post, I have been doing lots experimenting, framing, and watercoloring. To the left is the results of one of my spring fiber (plus) experiments, now matted matted, framed, and hanging at our NorthWind Fine Arts gallery in Saranac Lake.

And below is one of the little bird collages made from the contested neck tie :-) (See my April posts.)

"Red-eyed Owl"

Yet another is the beginning of the piece I made for the "Life on the Lakes" exhibit (now showing at the Paul Smith's College VIC). I made a watercolor background, then inkjet printed over the dried paint. (It's an image of McKenzie Pond, showing McK Mountain way back there.) I stamped borders along the top and bottom, then added some collage elements over this. More about this piece later, with images of the additions I made. It was great fun to put together!

Preliminary view of "My Mountain Pond"

 Now though, I am off to Moravia, NY to assist the wonderful, fabulous Oiseaux Sisters with their week-long mixed media workshop. I'll be posting some processes from this week for sure! I feel like I just absorb the Creative Artist Mind while I'm with Caroline, Susan, and their creative students.

Provence en Plein Air - Part II

Cafe au Lait a Les Deux Garcons

Pepper & Plums

 Here are two more watercolor sketches from my Provence trip.  The Café Les Deux Garcons is in Aix-en-Provence - had to go there for its long interesting history of hosting many famous artists and others. I spent a pleasant hour there watching people and enjoying the atmosphere.

The Pepper & Plums is a sketch from my purchases at Le Marché De Cassis - one of the most beautiful open air markets imaginable. These luscious fruits were consumed shortly after the paint dried.

Both of these watercolors are in my new exhibit at The Left Bank Café, opening on Sunday, May 5th (4 to 5 PM) in Saranac Lake. On the left bank of the Saranac River. It will be a lovely party, especially if my young French-accordian player friend can come!

Provence en Plein Air - Part I

Bouillabaise in the Rain

This is one of the watercolors that will be exhibited in my show at the Left Bank Café in Saranac Lake on May 5th. For reasons beyond my control during my two weeks in October 2000 in Provence, I could not get myself a steaming dish of this classic Provencal seafood stew until well into my trip. And in Avignon - pretty well inland! I had spent the day (me and my cold) in St. Remy looking for traces of Vincent van Gogh. There was a van Gogh Museum there. All the work was reproduced from the originals, very few of which remain in France, but it was interesting and lovely. I also found a wonderful market and before they closed down had time to snag some lovely fabrics and my fabulous linen apron, made from an old sack, which still serves me well. As I rode back to Avignon on the bus, the rain started (and continued for the next 4 days, washing out roads and causing big problems in some places). When the bus pulled into the walled city, it was nearly dark and pouring rain. An outdoor café under canopies on the walking route to my tiny hotel was serving dinner, and my food arrived in several deliveries while I sat close to the ubiquitous outdoor heater. As the meal arrived, it looked so beautiful and luscious I did this painting. (I think I sneaked a few bites as I worked.)

The Blue Door

Very old blue door in Le Val, France

My Heart is Back in Provence

 As I prepare for the May 5th opening of my watercolors and sketches from Provence, I have been reading my travel journals from that trip, thinking about how to frame more work, and remembering what it was like to be in Provence in October. And where I saw this lovely blue door. It was in the small village of Le Val in the Var province east of Marseilles. I remember ancient buildings and beautiful faded colors.

The door grew wider as I drew it. Still beautiful.

Beginning of a watercolor sketch.

MiniPortfolio from Provence

April 13
I am preparing for a May exhibit at the Left Bank Cafe in Saranac Lake of the watercolor sketches I made while traveling in Provence quite a few years ago.

After I finished scanning most of my paintings, I wanted to keep track of them. I also wanted to make a little flag book, after being inspired by my students' little books last week. Sometimes great ideas collide!