Open Studio and Award

Tomorrow night, Thursday, May 29 from 5-9 p.m. my studio at Bristol Art Museum will be one of the featured open studios for Bristol Warren Art Night, anyone who is local please stop by! The Art Museum also has a wonderful juried member show on exhibit and will have live string music. The other featured open studio artist is painter Jane Dever of Alta Luna Gallery and studio. 

I am really excited to learn that my handmade book Windows of the World received second prize in the sculpture category at the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Annual Member Exhibit being held at the Salmagundi Club in NYC.

My Latest Drawing "Rebirth"

I have finally finished this piece in which I titled Rebirth. As I noted in the last posting, this is drawn on a 12x16" grey Ampersand Pastelbord panel. My idea for the drawing came from a nest that I had photographed which had so many twigs and small branches wrapped round and round. I took some time to look at photos of butterflies and choose two, the blue that I changed to make my own "species" and the white which is actually a white plume moth.

I chose to extend some of the twigs of the nest to the borders of the composition and to wrap them around the blue butterfly to keep it from being separated from the rest of the composition. The nest itself is very brown but I added color to the twigs in various shades of purple, pink, orange, yellow and blue. I really enjoyed working on this drawing although it took me quite a while to finish the piece. I will now varnish the piece with Krylon Kamar Varnish (spray) and frame the piece.

Nest and Butterflies

Here is my latest drawing in colored pencil. I am working on 12x16" gray Ampersand Pasteboard with straight colored pencil, no solvent or any other materials. I have a reference photo of this nest which is much less colorful and more intact. I chose to liven up the colors of the twigs and to draw the nest with twigs expanding and reaching to the borders of the surface so that it didn't look so intact. I really had fun with the shape and composition of this nest.

I'm happy with the little white butterfly (can you see it?) but still working on the blue butterfly. I feel as if it is a separate subject which is taking attention away from the nest not supporting the composition. I'm going to let the piece sit on my drawing table while I keep looking at it and thinking.