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| One of my first painterly ones |
I have been on a quest to grow from a cut and paste collager to an artist who paints on canvas. In 2014, I took a wonderful on-line class by Kelly Rae Roberts. It was such a benefit to see how she lays papers, paints and words onto a canvas and comes up with awesome complex backgrounds, sweet, fun and touching themes and beautiful mantras. One of the best things that came from that class was the community that we created as all 200ish of us shared our evolution. From blatant beginners like me to accomplished artists, each dared to try new things, and bravely posted our pictures on our facebook page. We continue to share and encourage each other as friends do. Sometimes we even meet each other and we already have so much in common that it is just like seeing your bestie after a long time away!
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| Still stuck on collage, but starting to play with paints. Sold it! |
My aim is not to become a landscape or a portrait artist, but to use my intuition and put my feelings out there in a way that others can relate to. I LOVE it when people come to my art show booth and laugh and show my cards, collages and paintings to each other. I LOVE it when people get me.
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| A bit anal with the rubber stamps! |
Well enough about me, already...How about my studio? Older posts tell about moving into Dad's very dusty old carpentry shop. He's been gone for 11 years already and the 3 brothers had ravaged the shop and filled the corners with their own stuff, spare pianos (the piano tuner brother), big carpentry machinery and lots of sawdust (the carpenter brother) and old lawnmowers and icky old gadgets and gazillions of recycled screws, nails, and broken old stuff that my old Yankee Dad didn't throw away. Ever.
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| Playing with drippies and stencils. 12" square. Sold this one! |
After all those years of sawdust, grease, spiders, mouse residue, old nasty chemicals and scary old liquids in cans and bottles...well you can imagine how daunting that room was. The good things were: the size, a large L shape with some oddly angled walls, plumbing for a sink, lots of electrical outlets and high ceilings.
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| I love how this came out. It is a big one, too. |
I hired Jim (the welder brother looking for work). His first project was to build an addition to the garage to house the stuff that no one could get rid of. Then after lots of cleaning and insulating, the room was boarded in with bead board paneling, the fluorescent lights taken down and replaced by overhead LED directional lights, I painted and painted it all white and Jim installed a kitchenette (donated cabinets with sink along a short wall). I put down a vinyl stick-down tile floor over the concrete and moved in. The wall over the sink and one stretch in the middle of the longest wall became soft turquoise. In came lots of storage-wall shelves and Ikea cubicle shelving units. I dragged Dad's old metal workshop bench in, which he had painted turquoise years ago (industrial chic!) and filled up with my art supplies. The room is now kitchenette, studio, office and sitting area with a back door overlooking a small yard and acres of woods. I love it!
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| My favorite so far. The layering effect I learned from Kelly Rae Roberts. |
Mom and I live in harmony, each with our own living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. We use separate entrances and driveways, but our spaces are open to each other. I work one mile down the road at the Senior Center 15 hours a week and do freelance desktop publishing. I am starting to really feel balance in my life!
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| Art Show this weekend, Old and new things |
I hope you will visit me here soon and often. I can't wait to hear "what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" (Mary Oliver)
Hugs,
Sherry
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