Beads, beads and more beads!

Here are some of the beads I've been making in my glass studio lately. I'm having so much fun playing with fire....I swear I was a pyromaniac in another life! I put a bunch of the beads I made in the past month or so together in a bowl and here's the result. Don't you want to just run your hands through the bowl and play with these little guys??

Actually they're all annealed in the kiln which makes them strong so I think I might just go and do that!

Dancing in the Stars

If you look closely (or far away without glasses on) you can see the tiny dancer dressed in pink as she's nervously glancing out into the audience, waiting for her turn to perform. There's a yellow cross in her background which is like her guardian angel that's whispering in her ear "you're a star!" This painting is 14" x 18" and finished with a glossy acrylic varnish.

Dawn of Morning

So.....here's one of my do-over paintings that I completed after I returned from Mendocino. This canvas had been painted over at least 3 times and I feel I finally captured the colors and design I had been trying to achieve. It's 10" x 10" and is called "Dawn of Morning." This abstract cityscape was done on a canvas board with acrylics and finished with a glossy acrylic varnish which really makes the colors pop!

Moo See

Here is a painting that I did in my Mendocino workshop with Robert Burridge. In the beginning of the workshop Bob instructed us to paint with intention and to use this intention in developing a body of work. I tried like mad to come up with something intentional and at the end decided to do my normal cityscapes. Instead my muse took over and lo and behold -- my works became mostly figurative and included numbers, angel wings, and pieces of a measuring tape. Apparently my theme had to do with body images and how we see ourselves given today's society for the perfect Kate Moss look-alike. (NOT!) Here is one of the paintings I painted that first day in Bob's class. It's called "Moo-See" and is 10" x 10" done on Fabriano 300-lb paper with acrylics. The zeroes and letter "M" inspired the "Moo" and the picture of the eye nailed the "See." My muse has a sense of humor!

Yoga Angel

One of my favorite paintings that I completed at my Robert Burridge workshop is called "Yoga Angel and is the first of a series of abstract yoga poses that I'll be working on. It's 10" x 10" and done on Fabriano 300-lb paper with acrylics. Here's "Lotus Pose."

Bird on Tree

A few days after I returned from my intense 5-day workshop with Robert Burridge in Mendocino I spread a bunch of the unfinished paintings on my kitchen table and attempted to finish them. Without the artistic energy that was flowing freely in the workshop I have to admit it was more difficult than I thought!

This painting had been started in the workshop and was lacking that certain "something" that says "I'm done." So....I added some yellow and a bit of red and stepped away.....in fact I left the room and started doing some housework. When I came back I saw what looked like a bird sitting on a tree -- hence the name "Bird on Tree." This painting is 5.5" x 7.5" and is painted with acrylics on 300-lb paper.

Fallen Angel

My goal when I started this blog was to post a new piece of artwork every single day. What was I thinking??? Life has been getting in the way of my art and I've fallen behind.....that said here's another painting done in the Robert Burridge workshop. It's called "Fallen Angel" and is 10" x 10" on paper.