It's Not Complicated

 Things might look confusing, but it's not complicated to tell reality from fiction.

More Birds and a Raft

 Top to Bottom:

1.  Soft Landing: Red Crow on a Magnolia Flower - 8x10 oil on linen

2.  Bald Eagle Flying over a Fractured Rainbow - 8x10 oil on canvas

3.  4 Parakeets in a Arthur Dove Inspired Sunset - 11x10 oil on canvas

4.  In Process:  Three Girls in a Raft - 8x10 oil on linen

Two More Quilts for 2020

 The perfect snuggle size 56" x 72" each.  Last two quilts of the year! They are always more work than they appear!

Top:  Crow, Flamingo and Dodo birds in red, black and blue

Bottom:  Funky Birds and Bugs in purplish blue, and yellow

Flannel backs for both (not shown here.)  Made for two very special people!

Two New Bird Quilts in Process

 Top two birds will make their appearance in a Crow, Flamingo, Dodo Bird Quilt; bottom 4 Funky Birds are set to show off in a Funky Bird and Bug Quilt.  My Style continues to be messy, creative and imperfect- just like the birds!

#14 of my top 31 photos taken in 2018

Carmel by the Sea.  Photo taken while daughter Amber ran the Big Sur Marathon.  The Crow eating beach goers was added later in Photoshop.

Bird Art for MOS (Part 3 of 3)

Mixed Media (collage, woodcut, gum arabic transfer).  Top to Bottom:
1.  Woman with a Bird on her Head:  collage with cut up photographs, papers and original art on paper.
2.  Crow Olympic Rings:  One of a series of digitally enhanced woodcut prints with various painted backgrounds.
3.  Crow's Nest:  Gum Arabic transfer on paper on board with R&F oil sticks and graphite.
All these and more at my Marin Open Studio the first two weekends in May:  https://marinopenstudios.org/artist/631/

Evolution of an Bird Inspired Idea

I seem to flit from media to media, as evidenced by the evolution of the above bird art.
From the bottom to the top:
1.  A 100% digital painting done in 2005, with an old painter software program.
2.  An oil painting done in 2006, recreating (kind of) the digital painting but adding a Vincent van Gogh sky.
3.  Another oil painting, this time in 2006, with a different bird and a pink cloud in the sky.  Sold to a friend.
4.  Fabric applique of a crow drawing in 2016, on a T shirt.
5.  The same applique crow, under a pink cloud and starry night sky, now done by cutting up photos and adding various bits of ripped Mulberry papers, all glued onto 100% arches cotton watercolor paper - just finished yesterday.

Mad Crow on a Tin Roof

In the Neighborhood

Crow Contemplating His Next Move

Photo collage

Bird on a Wire

The crows in Seattle must have had nests near to be so set on getting me out of the neighborhood. But not before I photographed this bird harassing me!  The shot that got away was a vision of two crows chasing a bald eagle over Puget Sound.  Obviously the eagle got too close to the nest too.

Crafty Weekend

Top Three:   Simple Ecology brand organic cotton canvas grocery bags with original art quilted panels: Black Bird in Marin, Parrot with Baobab Trees and Tokay Gecko
Bottom Two:  Two new T shirt applique designs (not yet embroidered):  Blue Jay and Crow

Gum Arabic Transfer Collage

I recently took a fun workshop with Heather Wilcoxon and learned some new techniques to further my interest in printmaking and collage.  Continuing on my themes of bugs and birds are three new items:

Top two: Collage on cradled wood panels 12" x 16"
1.  Bugs in a Bottle
2.  Crow's Nest
Bottom:  Collage on Rives BFK paper 11 1/2" x 15"
3.  Crow's Shadow

Recent Crow Woodcut Prints

Above are three of eight recent prints (EV or Edition Verite - meaning I used the same 9x12 woodblock for all 8 prints but experimented with a different technique when printing each one). These were done in a recent woodblock cutting class at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley.  Top two prints are examples of Chine Colle, using different Japanese kozo papers.  Prints are 11" x 15." Prints 4/8, 7/8 and 8/8 are variations on the black ink theme (as in 3/8 above).   Print 5/8 is another version of Chine Colle, seen above in print 2/8, and print 6/8 was given to my very knowledgeable Kala teacher Claire Kessler-Bradner.  There is no intentional symbolism related to the 7 circles behind the Crow, although I could make something up if provoked.

Something Old and Something New

No, I'm not getting married (again).  I'm repainting old landscapes by changing background elements and/or adding birds.
"Crow in Marin," originally painted in 2009, got a partially new background (oil on canvas 20x24)
"Roman Arch, Pink Tree," originally painted in 2011, had a title change to "Roman Arch, Spanish Storks" when I added the birds in 2012.  (oil on linen 22x28)
"Yellow Road," originally painted in 2011, had a title change to "Wild Turkey," when I added the Guatamala ocellated turkey in 2012 (oil on linen 22x28)

The Day After

Crow Has a New Shadow

I did this oil painting a few years ago but it still needed something.  Art teacher extraordinaire Chester Arnold helped me see where to put Crow's shadow.  Now the bird is more grounded (always a good thing!).

Crow is Soaring Over the Red Poppies

Digital composite for Illustration Friday's weekly subject SOAR.

Poppies were an original pen & ink & marker illustration which was then scanned and printed at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley on rice paper. Crow was added later.

Check out Kala's website for great classes at http://www.kala.org/mission.html