Underpainting with Dots

For once I took photos when starting a painting...and I found GOLD! It's just the very beginning of my under painting, but I love the energy and the colors, the drips, the light and then with a funky pattern on top...delish.

More Miss Chamois

I've been busy here at Tasman Studio, and I must've been making more noise than usual in the studio yesterday and woke Miss Chamois up from a nap. I've got half finished paintings everywhere, all kinds of books stacked up, sketches taped on the wall, it's humming.

I am readying for the Art Guild Clothesline sale that is coming up right up on Saturday, Aug 4 in Corvallis. I am also finishing up some design projects from my class with Rachel Taylor and working on some large pieces for my art shows this fall. I'm so excited about my new paintings, I can't wait to show y'all, but they are not ready yet, and I don't like to show my in-progress paintings, there is so much that happens in the studio that I don't want to subject to real or imagined public opinion. Easier to hear and follow my intuitive instincts, and let the paintings rest when they need to, for as long as they need to. So we will make do with Chamois photos and stories for now.

Love the head on the floor, looks so uncomfortable, it's one of her favorites.

Catching some sunshine.

Love this poem....

design by me  )

Two Color - Succulent Inspired Tea Towel

I love color, so to limit myself to two colors on a project was very challenging
...and quite a lot of fun.

Editing

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love or hate it, and while they're deciding, make even more art."

-Andy Warhol 

Today I got "called out" by my good friend Claire, who noticed that I said I toned down my colors in my India inspired print...editing for what I think is public consumption. So since I am practicing listening and following my intuitive creative inclinations I am posting the original colors that I love out of respect for my personal aesthetic.

Yeah, nice and zingy. 

Might be interesting to see that this complicated pattern is based on some very simple sketches. Here's my first sketch of my idea. I scanned it in and mirrored the two pieces, cleaned it up and made sure where the designs meet each other made sense and I have this. Which I work some magic on in Illustrator. Then I decided it needed the smaller piece and some random flowers, so I sketched those and repeated the process.

India Inspired Pattern

I'm trying to get better about posting on my blog and on facebook regularly. So, short post, big picture. I created this design from a very very simple sketch, and I was pleased to find out what I could do create with these little sketches. I'm very interested in complex damask, Indian paisley, and brocade patterns, and this begins to reach into that territory. The colors initially were pretty zingy, I toned them down a notch from my original idea (bright pink and orange, my current weakness).

Summer Windowsill

I keep some kind of flowers or leaves on my windowsill above the kitchen sink all year long. Makes me happy. Currently, my two most favorite colors are orange and pink, preferably together. These sweet peas grow wild all around western Oregon right about now, and I always pick a few bunches. The orange Salpigloss is from my garden. While we're at it, I love that ultramarine blue too!