FRIDA KAHLO "GYPSY WOMAN " CLOAK HANGERS

FRIDA "GYPSY WOMAN" CLOAK HANGERS

Frida "gypsy woman" cloak hangers

Since I’m suffering from Frida mania right now, I’ll be posting items as I finish creating them. I Just completed 3 Frida “Gypsy Woman” cloak hangers. If you’d like to see details of how I created them, please click here. I will sell two of them and keep the third one to place in the closet of the Tuscany Suite so that my students can enjoy it during the August sculpture class

Number 1 - I used antique lace doilies, canvas and digital image of my Frida

Back of number 1

Number 2 - I used digital flowers from my garden, canvas and oil paint

Back of number 2

Number 3-created with cloth and lace

Back of number 3

If you are interested in purchasing one of my cloak hangers, please e –mail me and we can go from there. I have priced them at $38.00. I’ll be glad to stop by the post office and get a shipping price for you to your particular oountry or state. Thanks so much.

FRIDA KAHLO!

FRIDA!

FRIDA MANIA!

Frida Kahlo Rivera-mixed media original oil collage

Mexican icon, Frida Kahlo, has been represented throughout the years in many different mediums. I never really thought too much about her until a few years ago when I had the pleasure of taking a tour of Mexico. While in Mexico City, I visited the museum of Diego Rivera. It was there that I became attracted to the busy look of his fabulous paintings. Frida attended the renowned National Preparatory School where she met Diago. He was painting a mural in the lecture hall. They later married only to have an on again off again marriage. I started to study their lives and now I see what all the fury concerning Frida is about.

Close-up

Diego Rivera's mural in Mexico City, Mexico

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 in Mexico City. She contracted polio as a child and walked with a limp because of the damage to her leg and foot. As luck would have it, she was forced to leave her study of medicine to begin painting after a terrible street car accident immobilized her. Being forced to remain in bed in excruciating pain for long periods at a time, she chose to explore the world of art and became quite famous.

Frieda is richly decorated in vibrant oil color and embellishments

In creating my own Frida oil painted collage, I decided to vicariously put myself in her shoes, pick up her palatte and see through her eyes as I painted. I chose to create a painting in the fashion she would have used. She said when interviewed, “I paint myself because it I know myself better than anyone else.” She created 143 paintings and of those 55 are self portraits.

Crackled flowers

I found an old frame at the flea market and painted it in bright Mexican looking colors. I glued digital images of flowers behind the area where I roughed in the face. I modge podged the flowers, crackled them and then oil painted several in and around the crackles to create depth. I then finished painting her face, neck and dress in oils.

Wooden palette

I was given a beautiful palette for Mother’s Day last year, but after taking an oil painting class, I found that it is much more cost-effective and much easier to use the disposable palettes. I decided to use my wooden palette as a focal point in the painting. I hand wrote two of Frida's quoted sayings in Spanish. I also added two paint brushes that were my father, James Galloway’s. He was a well known landscape artist. I inherited all of his art materials when he passed away several years ago. Some of the brushes were dried out and I wanted to put them to good use.

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Beautiful painting found at resort in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Another busy but beautiful painting

I wanted the painting to look very much like one Frida would have created of herself. I was also influenced by two paintings in the hotel where I stayed in Playa Del Carmen this past winter. Yes. "Busy" is in with the old Mexican artists and mine is certainly no exception.

Finished Frida oil collage measuring 36" wide x 66" high! She's larger than she looks here.

My Frida is standing rather stoic (that is the way Frida usually painted herself,) with the bright flowers and traditional Mexican dress she most often chose to wear. The look she conveys in her paintings is of a surrealistic nature. She said. “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.”

I printed her biography in Spanish and crackled it, placed it on the dress, used gesso to splash over it and little by little…she started to come to life.

She was a long time in the making but finally I can present her for show. I hope you like her. I plan to place her in my kitchen for now. I just know I’ll love the color and life she will add.

FRIDA MANIA!

Frida sculpture and oil collage shown together in my studio

I used lavish embellisments to adorn her hair and neck

Now..here is where the real Frida mania comes in. I didn’t stop at the painting. I also sculpted Frida, I created journals of her, placed her on my “gypsy woman" cloak hangers, made art paper dolls and various other Frieda items. I’ll be doing a post of them soon, but for now, here is a picture of the sculpture I created of her, which is for sale. I have priced her at $300. She is 23” tall and 12” wide. I can ship her anywhere and give you an estimate on shipping price. Please e-mail me if you are interested and we can go from there.

Another view of Frida sculpture

And yet another view

GODDESS FACE PLANTERS

GODDESS FACE PLANTERS

I have named this exotic planter "Minerva" She is the Goddess of Wisdom, Medicine and Crafts

Finally! I have finished my Goddess clay face planters and have them ready to display and sell at our local farmer's market. Sales are usually very good for the planters but this year our market is under construction and I’m not sure if we will get our usual crowds. The renovation has been planned in segments. First, our market square building will be completely revamped. This building held some really quaint shops and restaurants but the building itself is ancient and in need of some major changes. Next, our Center in the Square Museum will be renovated to include a butterfly garden, an aquarium and a roof top restaurant.

Here are some of the planters all ready for their showing this weekend

One thing about life that we can be sure of is change. Even though most of us cling to keeping things constant, change can be a good thing. It has been a struggle down on the market for all of us. Many have lost their businesses because of the construction. I will loose the gallery that I adore since it will now become divided into upscale high end shops, and I will have to either find a new gallery or hope for some big market or Etsy sales when I remove all that I have displayed there. You’ll probably be seeing a lot of my gallery work on my blog very soon.

More glitzy planters ready for the market

Back to the planters. I didn’t mean to divert because I really am excited that I have the planters ready for Saturday. This winter, (I always sculpt the planters over the winter) I threw my heart and soul into these planters. They are very different. I probably should have waited to take pictures of them in my booth where they would be in full daylight, but I was so anxious to show them that I took all shots from my studio. You will notice that some of the planters are similar to the ones I will be teaching my students to sculpt this summer in my class. If you are interested in participating, please check out my sculpture school at the top of my right hand side bar. It will be an all–inclusive, meaning I have hired a chef to cook for us and I’m including all meals and beverages (including wine of course) and room accommodations, side trips and other instructors who will visit. Of course, I will be there 24/7 teaching. I have a swimming pool for evening swims. I’m accepting 5 students and have 3 already…so there are just two spaces left. Hope you will join us on August 8th-15th.

This planter is similar to the one we will make in my sculpture class

Back to the planters…there I go again. Anyway, I sculpted my planters using stoneware clay, fired them in the kiln at a high temperature and then adorned them with all sorts of embellishments I had in my studio.

Native American planter I have titled "Nampeyo"

I’m off and running now since one of my good customers is coming over today to get the first choice of planters for the year. Dreama says she likes the ones with the pot at the top of the head. I have several of those for her to choose from. I wonder which one she will take home to live with her.

Very rustic planter that looks as though she has been dredged from the earth. I've named her "Maeve" This is a Celtic name meaning mythical queen

Wiccan earth planter titled "Azura" meaning Sky Jewel

"Algoma" A native American name meaning Valley of the Flowers

"Tania" a fairy name meaning Fairy Queen

I added a bit of silver and gold to this one

Earth Angel

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY

COMPOSER SERIES II

Russian composer Pyotr (Peter) Tchaikovsky

I really enjoyed working on the Renaissance oil collage of Tchaikovsky. His music, such as Swan Lake and the 1812 Overture strikes a familiar note (excuse the pun) with most people. Once again, here is yet another composer who experienced a troubled life and who also died young at the age of 53.

Musical notes, using crackle technique, emphasize his "mind of music"

Tchaikovsky pursued a musical career by entering the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia in 1862. He had great success and was loved by audiences around the world. On a more personal note, he was said to be a misogynist (he hated women.) He married one of his students but he never did live with her and left her shortly after the marriage. He was depressed and emotionally insecure a lot of the time. Wikepedia states that the contributing factors were his suppressed homosexuality and fear of exposure. He also lost his friendship with a long time patron which added to his depression in later years.

The beard was difficult but I finally got it

In creating Tchaikovsky, I painted entirely with oils in which I used the Renaissance Oil method. This method includes painting a first coat with oils. This is called a campitura. The next coat is called a dead painting, with a first and second painting after that, followed by glazing. It’s complicated but I feel that I can achieve a painting that has more “soul” than by using straight oils or acrylics.

Tchaikovsky was a fan of Shakesphere and created Romeo and Juliet symphony

Along with working on my composer series, I’m painting my first “Freida,” which I hope to post soon. She will be very different from my composer series. I am, however, using the Renaissance oil method again and I’m trying to convey as much emotion as I can into the face of this wonderful Mexican icon. I’ve started a sculpture to go along with it. They both are coming along very, very slowly. I feel like I must jump into her life and experience her agonies and joys vicariously and somehow show her passion for art and life. I must have corrected the sketches I did of her face at least 10 times now. I will continue until I’m sure I have captured the essence of “Freida.”

Claude Debussy

CLAUDE DEBUSSY

COMPOSER SERIES

Finished Renaissance Oil Collage painting

What I love about being an artist is that whenever I decide to start a new series, I feel the need to learn all I can about the subject matter in which I am about to embark. Take this new composer series I have started for instance. Claude Debussy was the first composer chosen and as I stated in an earlier posting, he is the first painting I have ever created using a male as my subject. (I have sculpted males though) The reason for this is because most of my paintings and sculpture are accompanied by a story I have written and quite frankly, I don’t think I could write a "man" story. I don’t understand them well enough to capture the essence of what they are about.

Crackled musical score

In creating the painting, in which I used the Renaissance Oil method, I turned up my CD player and listened to “Clair De Lune” the entire time I painted. This piece, composed by Debussy is one of my favorites. It took me back to the early 1900’s when Debussy was composing some of his finest pieces.

Debussy started playing piano at the age of 7 and by the time he was ten, he showed very promising musical talent. By 1900, he had achieved great success in Paris with his opera, Pelleas et Melisande.

Old time sepia of a woman depicting the women in Debussy's life

I added a sepia picture of a young woman to the collage to represent the women in his life. He had two wives and several other entanglements including women. One can only read between the lines to know that after marrying twice and with one wife and a prior girlfriend both trying to commit suicide, he had to have led a complex life.

Close-up of depressed expression on Debussy's face

I painted a heavy brow to depict Debussy’s depression, which continued into his later life. He died of cancer at an early age in 1918 at the young age of 56. He was working on a series of chamber music at the time of his death. I wonder what magical compositions we have all missed because of his early death.

GYPSY WOMAN CLOAK HANGERS

GYPSY WOMAN CLOAK HANGERS

Batik hanger

In my efforts to create beautiful items to pamper my students for my upcoming sculpture class, I thought about making cloak hangers. Not just any old coat hangers but “cloak” hangers. I created a few of them awhile back and really love using them.

Close-up of batik hanger. I created it by using a crayon batik

I found sturdy wooden hangers and cut canvas to fit. I attached the canvas with Yes glue. This is the best craft glue I know of for drying quickly and holding heavier papers together.

For the above hanger, I used photo copies of the labyrinth in my laundry room plus one of my Celtic planters.

Once the hangers were dry, I covered them with digital images of my work and quotations using Modge Podge to adhere.

Last, but not least, I added some spiffy looking jewelry on the top of the hanger and the gypsy comes to life. What fun it is for your guests to hang their coats, robes or even negligee’s on these fanciful hangers. I hope my students like them. I’ll be creating more with an Italian theme to go into the Tuscany Suite and others with a beach theme for the Cabana Suite.

Music Was My Refuge

Maybe you remember my crackled painting from a few weeks ago. I used a photo image and recrackled the hanger. This time I certainly got the crackles I was looking for.

I may offer some of the cloak hangers for sale if I find the time to create more of them. I'm thinking of creating several Freida hangers. Can't you just see her with flowers all around her face and a large colorful flower at the top of the hanger?

This image is from the tray that I created-I added extra lace to the hanger

Close-up of the lace added

Picasso Art Chair

PICASSO ART CHAIR

Picasso Art Chair

Several weeks ago, Ro Brun of Ro brun Art posted a fantastic chair that she had re-furbished. I was so impressed that I immediately e-mailed her and asked for permission to downright copy her idea! She was so gracious. Actually,I tried hard not to copy what she did. I tried to do my own thing by using squares but they didn’t look right. I also made a point not to even look back at her post but those circles she used kept popping into my head. I have to admit the two chairs do look similar.

Close-up

Basically what Ro did was to take an old rundown office chair (mine was a leftover from my parents bar) and go to town painting it with acrylics. After the chair dried she used a mat varnish on it and it’s ready for many more years of wear. Now that is what I call recycling. One of Ro’s friends had just taken a similar old chair to the curb for pickup and when she saw what Ro had done, she brought it right back into her house to paint. Thanks for the inspiration Ro, you’re the greatest.

Back of chair

COMPOSER SERIES

“MUSIC WAS MY REFUGE”

“Music was my refuge”

"I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness" By Maya Angelou.

I’m working my way up to creating a new series. My son, Cameron, has commissioned me to create several large collages of famous composers. The first one will be of Claude Debussy. He composed Clair de lune, which happens to be my favorite classical song. Cameron and his girlfriend own “Singing Strings” They both play the piano and Nakisa plays the violin and teaches classes. They like the idea of placing paintings of famous composers all around their home and music studio. This series will be a challenge since the paintings/collages are to be quite large. I’m not sure whether to have musical notes peeking through the face of Debussy or whether to paint the portrait of Debussy using my newly learned technique, which is a very, very old technique, of Renaissance painting. I’m taking a course in it now and I was extremely surprised at how difficult and labor intensive this method is.

"Dead painting" My rendition of Joris Van Son's painting

The method includes starting with a campintura, which consists of darker tones and then works it’s way into what is called a “dead” painting and then goes on to two additional coats of paint. The old masters used natural pigments, which they had their assistants grind. At least I was able to use artist grade store bought oils for mine. I went through that pigment grinding technique when I was working on my 6’ fresco. Whew! My body still hurts from that challenge.

View showing wooden cradle

In the class I am taking, we were required to do a rendition of one of the Rennassiance masters. Joris Van Son was chosen. I worked for so many hours on this painting that it would be impossible to sell it. I’m not sure I could part with it anyway.

I’m going to continue to experiment with my women collages until I am sure I know which direction I’m heading with Debussey and then, after probably several attempts, I will create my first Renaissance style painting/collage of Debussy, which will be, by the way, the first male I will ever paint.. Should be interesting.

Side view- Notice how the notes drift through her face, making her look as though she were a zentangle

In the meantime, I’m offering for sale “Music was my Refuge.” She is 8x10” I painted her onto a birch paint panel that has a cradle edge for easier hanging. I hope you notice the crackles I was able to finally achieve on this piece. It is amazing how long it took me to figure out how to place crackles over paper so that the background shows through. I was always able to attain great crackles when I used paint in the background, but never when I wanted it clear. It took the help of several blogger friends. I want to thank Terra Sheridan, from
Terra Sheridan’s Musings Terra advised me to use Deckle One Step Crackle Gel. Diane, from My Art Journal uses Tim Holtz’s crackle paint. Lynn Stevens at Trash to Treasure has good luck with Tim Holtzs' paint too, and lastly, Moriah Butterfly from MLB Studio who not only sent me a detailed e-mail but who is going to create a video on how she crackles her wonderful folk art dolls.

Let me know if you are interested in this first original painting in my composer series. I realize “refuge” is not a composer but I'm sure you get the drift. I have priced her at $55. You can e-mail me for shipping details.

Oh, one last thing. There is an added bonus to my completing this painting. Cameron promised to learn how to play Clair de Lune for me. I'll definitely be working on it.