WEST Austin Studio Tour, Austin TX

Put us on your WEST 2012 map!  www.austinartspace.com

  Red Oak Winter, original 36 x 48 x 2.5" acrylic on canvas, sold

  High quality giclee prints on canvas, paper, and metal available

  Limited Edition 12/15 @ 36 x 48 x 2" gallery wrap canvas

Hill Design + Gallery featured in luxe.interiors + design

My painting Agave Forest II, from my Agave Series is pictured in the 7/16/2012 edition of luxe. interiors + design ad for Hill Design + Gallery!  All originals are on view and available for collection from Hill Design + Gallery. These images are fabulous at a large size.  They are positively luminous on metal.

Work Notes : A Thing as Lovely as a Tree and the Moon

Gessoed substrate with moon element

Added element of tree form

"Solitude" by Marilyn Rea Nasky, 16 x 20" original oil near completion

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.~Eckhart Tolle

Creative work takes on a life of it's own!

"Moon Mistress" under painting on Ampersand board with gesso

Sketch on board applied with white charcoal

Today I continued work on my new series of mixed medium pieces centered on tree images, the moon, and  earth elements.  These are not meant to be photo realistic, but rather to express a feeling.  They are representational, however.  I only work from my own photos and sketches when I compose a painting. the trees I paint all live on our little patch of earth here in Central TX.  I will often spend 3-4 hours in photo shop after I have sketched my subject.  I like the undo button.

Thoughts on Solitude

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.-Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British politician

"Solitude" 16 x 20" Acrylic under painting on board

 

Most days I am OK with the solitude necessary to being a visual artist.  Other days, like today, I have to force myself to face it.  I have to will myself to accept it.  I want to go out and do anything but be alone in my studio all day.  It takes everything I have to stay in and paint. I wonder how I have ever done this...and why.  

Then I begin.  Once engaged in the process, the weight of solitude shifts, the muse settles in for the time being and I sense how amazingly odd it is to pull something from my soul and set it out on canvas. For the time being, I am not alone. 

Today I continued work on my new series of tree and moon images.  I had painted over the "moons" which I had previously mono printed onto the substrates.  I used four Chroma Interactive acrylic pigments for this step.  I love the versatility of this product.  If you don't like it you can reactivate or remove the pigments. My final step will be to paint a layer of oils over the acrylic under painting.  I'll post the final paintings on my website.  I am going out now.  Enough solitude already!

A Thing as Lovely as a Tree and the Moon

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web. -Pablo Picasso 

born Pablo Ruiz Picasso - Malaga, Spain - 25th of October, 1881 / Died - April 8, 1973   

As promised, I am making note of my ongoing process for the 20 + new paintings that are about trees and now trees with the moon behind them, above them, or reflected in water below. This is the influence of the last Full Snow Moon which rose on my daughter's birthday and has been visiting my artist's mind ever since.  Yesterday it was a grey and rainy day here in Central TX: great to see and feel after the extreme drought of the previous summer.  Perfect weather for studio work!  As I was working on applying gesso to 6, 24 x 24 x 1.25 canvases, I opened a new jar of gesso and pulled off the liner. I accidentally dropped it and when I picked it up I saw a perfect moon like impression left by the monoprint of gesso stuck to the liner.  You see the results of this happy accident!  Next step is to sand the moon image back to a "ghost" with my favorite new tool. I love to see the work as it starts to take on a life of it's own.  Monoprinting the moon image into the work had never occurred to me until the muse stopped by studio yesterday.  This is why artists must stay in process. 

New beginnings: Guest artist and new series start up in the same week!

2012 is getting off to a flying start! The entire body of original work from my Agave Series is on view and available for collection from Hill Design + Gallery in Georgetown, TX, through March 31, 2012. If you live in the Austin area treat yourself to a visit to this lovely hill country venue. If you are not in the area, you can view the series online.  Each of the images is scanned and proofed for high resolution giclee prints.  Visit my site link for more information on prints.
I also have a wonderful guest artist, Marilyn Fenn, in my studio at Austin Art Space Gallery and Studios, Austin, TX for the 7th Annual "For the Love of Art" Exhibition and Sale. 
I love the excitement and energy that a guest artist brings to my space. Of course, that means that I have to remove some of my work to make room for my guest, but this seems to me to be a useful tool in the process of new beginnings.  It always inspires me to get back into process, which is where the magic happens.

New work from guest artist, Marilyn Fenn

New Beginnings for Tree Series

I worked for several hours in my home studio today putting colored gesso on 17 substrates, 16 x 20", and 24 x 30 x 1.25".  This application process is a new concept for me and I am excited to continue with the process. I will be adding an additional 5, 24 x 24 x 1.25" canvases to the "batch" this weekend.  For me, this is an exciting step, when each canvas has wide open possibilities and potential.  I am continuing with my series based on tree imagery from the Rockies to Central Texas.  At this point, the canvases and boards are color fields, but as I view them now I see that each one has a personality.  I will post images as they evolve. 
Meanwhile, here's to new beginnings!