Playing Favorites: face to face

Kristy Christopherson
http://kristychristopherson.blogspot.com

"5 Senses"

This piece is a favorite of mine because of its meaning. My daughter was my inspiration. My daughter suffers from a Sensory disorder, and I wanted so badly to create something related to the 5 senses. Because of her disorder, it has made me realize how important the 5 senses are in our daily lives. Smelling, tasting, touching, hearing, and seeing. The child in this piece resembles my young daughter.
In the piece the 5 senses are obscured behind a bit of paint so they are not as obvious, so the child is the main focus. To me, it symbolizes that despite her disorder, she is still just a child, like every other child. To me, this is an emotional piece, and it was created at an emotional time, shortly after learning more about her disorder. It was a great release to create this piece at that time.

"California Girl"

This has to be one of my favorites, solely because of the work I put into this. I started this piece close to a year ago.........and put it down due to lack of interest at the time. I just didn't know where the piece was going to go. Not to mention it was alot of work, and at the time I just lacked patience to finish. I picked this one up again recently and was determined to finish. I am always up for new things and always love to try something different. This was completely "out of my norm" so it was exciting. Originally, I didn't know what I was going to do with the other part of the canvas when I was done with the image of the woman. Looking at her made me feel like she was relaxed........so I pictured her being near the ocean, which is something I always associate with being relaxed. The sea breeze, the sound of the ocean, the beautiful blue sky. So, that is how I finished her off. And, her hair-I wish I had her hair!LOL
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Gwen Buchanan
http://gwenbuchanan.blogspot.com

William Morris...... A watercolor I did last week.
approx. 5" x 7"

Morris' talents were vast... Designer, writer, poet, architect, pattern-maker, painter, social activist, the Arts & Crafts movement, hand craftsmanship, the Kelmscott Press, the Kelmscott Chaucer , tapestry revival, jewelry, stained glass, etc. etc. etc........ He was forever dedicated to quality craftsmanship and beauty.
He did not discriminate between craftsman & artist... to him they were one, on a level playing field & should be treasured, valued & encouraged.

His influence was far reaching.

He has always inspired me......

A true Artist..... William Morris (1834-1896)
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Jen Worden
http://jenworden.com

"Circle of Life"

Why I chose this piece: it started out as a statement on old age. I'd seen the image of the woman in my stock photo catalogue and loved it because the face is so enigmatic - is she happy? is she crying? are those tears of joy? Or sorrow? She'd so obviously lived a long interesting life yet there was this palpable tension.

I drew the face on with graphite, sealed with gel medium then quartered the canvas and used loose acrylic washes in Sap Green and Quin Gold over the bottom quarters, Hansa Yellow and Green Gold over the top quarters. I was experimenting with texturized backgrounds at the time and used a technique from Claudine Helmuth's first book, "peeling paint" for the topmost coats and stencilled in the title "Torture of Growing Old" on the right side.

But something didn't quite gel. It sat and sat in the studio while I ruminated on what exactly was the problem. It was unbalanced. I knew that. Needed something in the upper quadrants. And the woman's face was SO sad. It struck me that someone that had lived such an interesting life (my judgement) shouldn't be so sad. I then thought about how what her life might entail, what that expression might mean and came up with a more thoughtful approach.

I started reinforcing the drawing with more graphite and then started playing with another face above the old woman's. I found a baby's face that echoed the woman's and created a gel transfer. Before applying I found old text from books and transferred those to represent passage of time and of knowledge. I texturized the background with sequin waste and varying thicknesses of acrylic being sure to mask the woman's face. I then applied the transfer of the baby's face. Did another light "peeling paint" technique to bring both old and new visions together. A circle or two and the painting was almost done. I stamped the words "Circle of Life" around the baby's eye. A few lines and "marks" with black pen and it was finally complete. The entire piece took more than 2 years to finish, "Circle of Life" was purchased by a dear friend and every time I see her she comments how much this painting means to her.
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Sarah Fishburn
http://ragtagsf.blogspot.com/

WHY CHEAP ART?
So 2 out of 6 of my choices are self-portraits. . . what can I say, I had never even done a single sp until last year! I love this one because it's totally digital to begin with, then turns traditional mixed-media. . . I took, on three consecutive days, photos of myself with my iMac's Photo Booth cam, using the comic book effect. I highlighted the reds in photoshop, then laid it out in narrative format over the Why Cheap Art? manifesto spliced twice, side by side. I printed it onto a page from an old fire station ledger - had to cut the page to fit it through the printer. It's mounted on watercolor stock, with the edges lightly spray-painted.
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Karen Cole
http://karencole.blogspot.com/

I am a multi media artist. I am an art college graduate, a former art teacher and have worked in a variety of businesses. Art has always been a part of my life, but because I have "dabbled" in so many media, by choice, I haven't had the opportunity to sell many things. I become attached to everything. I think one has to have a concentration in one particular art form in order to sell well. Because most of what I create stays with me, I took this challenge to choose my favorite as an exciting adventure, frightening, but a good exercise.

The pieces I chose are particularly meaningful in very different ways. These two are all about my mother.

One is fused glass. It measures 18" x 12". It is based on a photo taken by my daughter. I've worked in glass for about 5 years, everything from fusing to casting and blowing. The glass is meaningful to me because of it's fragile nature. It represents the fragility of our lives. My mother has not been well and there has been a role reversal that has taken place, I'm taking care of her. Fusing glass is like painting in glass. Cut pieces are put together and then I fire it in my kiln.



The other is a drawing using oil and regular pastels, charcoal and colored pencil. It's all about the mood.




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Sarah Whitmire
http://caspiana.com


The first piece is a watercolor and charcoal drawing that I did recently. When I am feeling down nothing is more therapeutic for me than “going back to basics” and just painting or drawing. I love the sad eerie quality of this one and I love the comment someone left on my blog about it. She said it was “like looking through wet glass”.