New Painting

Every 2 or 3 days, a new painting pops out of my studio. Gouache, 8.3x11.7"
Title: "Stabbing Mother Earth II".
The Tibetans believed that mining is no good; it might stir up negative forces from inside the earth. They would only take what the earth gave them. Even benevolent observers like Heinrich Harrer smiled about this naive attitude.

My Etsy Shop is Back!

For a long time, I did not have any items on my Etsy shop. It did not seem to be very rewarding, and after all, it is real money you spend for showing items. Recently, I heard words of encouragement to display paintings, so now my shop is back. It displays 10 items, one is an embroidery, the rest are paintings, most of them on a black background. They are gouache paintings of approximately letter format (A4). Now you find the shop, too, on the right column of my blog.
Or please click here.

Painting and Collecting

"Copper Mine", size approx. letter

Some bits of my color pencil collection

 Colour pencil on black cardboard works fine and is not as dangerous as gouache when being used in the living room. You might remember: I started embroidery and quilting to have something to do while my husband watches tv in the evening. We need to be together during the few hours of day when he is at home. -- My collection of color pencils is much larger, but I am ashamed to show the whole bunch. Stash collectors... Well, I'd probably not collect things that cannot be transformed into something else.

Painted Diary, Gouache

At night, I carry on with my gouache paintings. I use a small book -- about half letter size -- to create a painted diary with comments. 

The Black Waters of Loch Ness

African Dance

Merry Xmas, Mr Vassily!

Happy Boomerangs

Age of Paint

Like some alcoholics who are periodic drunkards, I let my passion for paint run freely for the time being. The needle goes cold in these periods, but never mind, it will be picked up when the time has come. You may have wondered (if you saw the series I showed as a guest blogger on Rayna Gillman's blog) why I work mostly on black. Does this show that I'm in a critical phase of life or depressive? Well, I started painting on black when I was 3 years old and had my first paintbox. My access to black was positive. It provided the perfect background for dreams, it gave an amazig brillance to my favourite colors . The color cups in my paint box containing yellow, white and light green were the first to be empty. My mother generously provided a new color box, everytime one was up -- and they did not last long. I remember how thrilled I was when I received a larger paintbox with names of the colors for my 8th birthday! Indian yellow, raw umber, turquoise -- only apple pancakes could have pleased me more.

Painting on a black backgroud, you can make something rise ever so softly out of the dark, whereas on white it is in the limelight right away. I love the process of letting something secretly emerge from the depth of space, just like dreams and thoughts do.

How to build a mobilé

After Chris suggested a tutorial, I thought how to show the way it works. The metal parts are black, the threads are red. Such bows can be bought, but also be made of wire or small rattan canes. Please start with the bottom part, building it up step by step. The most important part of the job is finding the balance, and this is something I can hardly explain.

The dangling objects are pieces of stiff cardboard I cut in geometrical shapes and painted with gouache, but I guess I'd rather recommend acrylics because the surface of gouaches is quite vulnerable.

... and the edges
better get painted, too!

In the second picture you can see the very easy method of building the objects. No glue is used to keep the parts in place. It is crucial to make a precise cut, not too thin, not too wide; if you cut only once, the space is too narrow, and the pieces will warp when being shoved into one another. If the cut is too large, they will drop apart. The width of the cut and the material thickness should be the same. -- Have fun making your own mobilé!

And if you do -- I can't wait to see your results. Please let me know!

WIP: Each Side Up

 

As the title says: This painting can be turned upside down as well. May the light reach every house and beyond. More rays and more houses should be coming soon. Size: approx. letter format, gouache.

Almost feeling normal, just a little weak and having to keep a low fat diet.

Creating my hues

 I like to blend larger quantities of my favourite paints. This is gouache. I like them to be different from the shades that come directly from the tube.


Do you find it decadent to use antique Japanese sake bowls for my paints? I believe they inspire me. 

Sunshine and joy on a roof

 A blue sky and cold wind. It was nice to sit in the sun, but in the shadow, my nose got cold at once. We had our winter tyres exchanged today. Crows were enjoying the sun under a label saying "for birds" -- at least, this is what they believe the golden chap is for.

 Just a little glimpse of the sunshine and shadow play.

 I don't have a design wall, but today I decided to occupy this window between corridor and living room for my paintings.
The one below is about wind and sun power dominating over nukes, at least this is what I hope will happen. It is color pencil and gouache on black paper.

And also this one is about windpower. I love it, but not the machines; I think they are an insult to the eye. They should be designed like this, I believe.

Japan is in the news every day.

Japanese calligraphy on fabric

"A walk in town"

One of my fabric treasures is this print by Rayna Gillman. I was very happy to get this. It will be part of my museum quilt. And I started a painting again, using a piece of cardboard from a packing. A shirt or what. Very plain brown paper, stiff enough to paint on it. I'm eager to get such material, it is a lot more inspiring than clean white sheets. Of course, I will leave parts of the surface uncovered. It is simple, it is primitive. I hope it will influence my style.

Landing Maneuver

"Spaceship Landing". Gouache painting, letter format.
Sunshine and warmer temperatures, distinctly above freezing point, even at night. I'm so relieved. It may go colder, but the sun is definitely stronger now.
Most of the time, I spend on compiling a book on modern art, a kind of "how to identify artwork" for the 20th century. I promised to do it for my husband, and it is a lot of work. I cannot publish it for copyright reasons of the artwork. Just a glimpse! It has 128 pages, on which each term like "impressionism" or "colorfield painting" is illustrated by featuring a few artists and 2 or 3 paintings by each of them. It is crowned by maps of origin and connections, a table of mutual influences.
As you see, my husband has a special liking for schemes and tables, so he compiled this one.

Painting again

I'm back in my little studio. Gouache, 15x10 cm. Title: Townscape. Awful light, sorry for the blur.

Update: The second show, the memorial one, will be performed on Thursday night, but the work is finished, and I can go back to my painting and needlework. Which is a recreation!

While I was painting...

 ... I tried to keep you entertained with other things until this would be finished. Gouache painting, approx. letter format. The sad story of the end of the Tatzelwurms ancestor. George stabbed him to death and became a hero. This scene is painted from the Tatzelwormic view which explains the color of the aura. No Tatzelwurm ever was named George which is easy to understand.

Do you find yourself sometimes involved in your artwork, thinking of blog reactions in advance? Does it influence/inspire/disturb your working progress? I have a serious problem with rising vanity thru blogging, but addicts can't just stop.

Dad is a babysitter

While Mom is shopping. Gouache, unfinished

The Tatzelwurm Invasion is on

Here is a nosy red one, not yet finished. This time, the flower is a lotus. I started a try on a print: I made a drawing with ink and a brush and scanned it. I printed the drawing out in black and white, and now I have something I can color with pencils, so it is a print and an original drawing at the same time:
Or I can use water colors.
What do you think? Do you see such a mixture of print and coloring as an original?

In order to play, I can color that thing in the good old electronic way with PhotoShop:

Nocturnal Garden with Visitor

Plants and sky are finished.
The next one will be on a white ground because I think I'll try another fabric design or t-shirt. For cloth printing, the black background is a disadvantage.
Painting plants on a dark ground reminds me of nights under trees. Plants breathe like plants at day-time, but like animals during the night, consuming oxygen, as we do; could it be they sleep at day and are awake at night?

"A Rose is a Rose is a Rose",

said the Tatzelwurm. Now we know why there is such an expression on his face. And we understand that some who are believed to be monsters have a very fine sense for the beautiful things in life. And maybe they are not even monsters.
The painting is not finished yet. Progress is slow due to so many tasks in between.

No Stitching Today

This weekend, I can't go on stitching because of a little cut in my finger, very small though, it will be gone tomorrow. It's okay because it made me paint this: I took a sheet of my beloved black paper and started another tatzelwurm in gouache.
On Saturday, we took a walk in one of the lovely parks in our town. The scene with the artificial lake is very picturesque. In this pavillion, they can buy drinks or rent a boat, there is a public pool, and after its is closed down, people swim in the lake.

News from the Tatzelwurm

I varied the theme in another gouache painting. The Tatzelwurm lives in a lotus pond.
I'm not sure if I should continue according to the painting. It is an experiment. The free motion of my pencil on the white cloth gives me a wonderful freedom. I'm not scared of the space; it used to block me in the past, and I started my paintings with acts of serendipity like giving the painting board (I never used canvas) a print with a crushed piece of paper, dipped in paint, by covering the board with torn scraps, soaked with glue; these procedures made my phantasy wake up. This is quite different; the white space is so inviting to define it by the motion of the beast.
I noticed a bit late that I joint jude's beast theme.

I seem to be proceeding rather fast. Probably this is due to a both-hands technique with my right hand under the frame and the left one above. This reduces the time of stitching to about 20 or 30 stitches per minute. Of course, cutting the thread, splitting it in halves, threading the needle and fastening the end on the reverse without a knot takes a bit more time.

New method

I guess it is time for a little shift in style. The palette is limited on 7 colors: Chili, vanilla, mint, eggplant violet, clay, deep sky, stone grey. Most of it is handpainted with gouache. Digitally finished. Inspired by modern classics like Paul Klee. The panel on a fat quarter: here
One of my readers wrote to me that she wasn't able to send a comment. If this happens to you, please let me know, I'll ask Blogger to fix it.

Slow Europe

Gouache painting of the Iceland volcano, gouache ornament, computer graphics.
The volcano has prevented almost all flights in Europe during the weekend and Monday.
15.000 travellers got stuck on holiday islands with no chance to go home.
My Spoonflower prints haven't arrived yet; certainly it is because of the flight traffic restrictions at the moment.