Sharing Winter Work on a Snow Day....

( I have not blogged in …..a very long while. Sometimes it felt like i was just shouting into the void. Feel free to shout back in comments if you like....)

I told myself I was going to spend the month of January in the office getting my sh*t together, organizing, purging, and catching up on ginormous piles that have a accumulated in the office. Taking photos on my exercise breaks at the forest preserve and cooking have been my creative outlets.

Even though i did get a lot accomplished, turns out I couldn’t make it a month…



The Midwest is experiencing a lovely winter storm right now- this is our view out back!

Although I’d rather be in the studio making paintings with my blowtorch, i thought a snow day was a fitting time to share my new winter works with you. it’s always fun to hunker down with my honey, my animals, and big pot of soup….

i have always had a fascination with and affection for the night sky.  in winter there is less to look at on the ground, so my gaze turns upwards. (Plus I have a thing for blues of all shades and tints...)
I have done work celebrating it in the past-  a Night Sky series came out of work commissioned by the Sisters of St. Francis, like minded women who value our environment.  “Sister Moon”, as St Francis referred to her.  I hadn’t done any night sky paintings in a while, but was kind of itching to go back. I posted this video on my business fb page a hill back - http://bit.ly/astronomyvideo

so….with all the hype surrounding the event of a Super Blue Blood Moon, i was excited to view it- but unfortunately we did not have clear skies and wasn’t able to get  a good look.  however -  I found myself up at 4 AM the next morning (which if you know me at all – never happens willingly –) and Hershey and I headed out to try and get the best view of the eclipse. In an effort to find a view unobstructed by powerlines and buildings, i kept driving and found myself pulled to my favorite forest preserve,  which i realized after i got there-  has a high hill making a good vantage point for viewing. I really was there just to see and experience it, but then found I wanted to capture it in a visual.  I snapped away photos with my iphone- a camera not equipped to photograph the moon. However, as the sun rose, I  was delighted with the gorgeous pastels of sunrise acting as a background to the silhouettes of many trees.  this familiar forest preserve took on a new light  for me- literally.

 

That day I abandoned  the office and headed to the studio where I created many studies of the night sky in encaustic, incorporating my tree silhouettes here and there.  I haven’t made any night sky paintings in over a year, and was feeling the itch to do it. Although I like to make art celebrating the season I’m experiencing, my winter pieces are few and far between.
Here are some of the pieces that have come out of that. 

Many have phosphorus pigments that will have a subtle glow when the lights go out. 

None are done. 

Most will become the focal point of assemblages that incorparate limbs of trees, birch bark, torched wood and ecoprints. 

….or at least that is what i am thinking this week. 

that is always subject to change……

 

in the light....and the dark....

...and the snow parts!  tracks coming next....

Wedding Art

It's that time of year –I always end up making a little bit of wedding art during the summer months. This year however, things took a little bit of a different turn when my niece Angie and her bride Maria asked me to create an alternative guestbook for them. At first we talked about using barnboard, but I thought the surface would be too rough for people to sign legibly. So they let me go off on my own tangent and make whatever I want. I loved their invitations, and thought it made sense to incorporate them. I contacted their friend who is the graphic designer who created them, she gave me the font types, and I made a slightly larger altered version to include on their guestbook. Their colors were orange and blue– which initially I found very challenging. But I thought fall rust leaves, and went with that. It was kind of hard to not get textural-but I like the distressed two dimensional effect. I think they did as well. And once I saw the old lodge they were having the reception, it fit perfectly!

"auditioning" the placement and size of the logo before silk screening, and embellishing with inks. 

The"final" piece- before signatures of course! 

Then it was onto the actual wedding gift! These two met in the Army, so that had to be included cause it's been a big part of their life for years. They met in San Diego, so a map of that was included as well. I included part of their wedding timeline on the side and use their wedding colors. 

Encaustic paint encapsulated the whole thing so would last as long as they do!

.... and just when I thought I was done, while  I was helping to set up the reception hall,  they asked me to do some last-minute signage for them. This saying that they wanted cracked me up!

Needless to say, shenanigans did ensue...

But I love my big crazy extended Dougherty family!!

                                     

 

UPDATE- the finished signed "guestbook"

Waid's Woods Mixed Media Series done!

I ran into a lot of technical difficulty, but these are finally completed!

 

Here is a video talking about what each one contains....

A Video Sneak Peek at Residency Work

I am trying something new here- a video! 

This shows you some of the new pieces I completed while at my residency in Virginia....

Little Houses Series- a pictorial development

So this week is a visual of how one of the little houses series- "Trees Waiting for the Blooms" developed. More pictures, less words. If you are reading this- you are probably visual too! 

I started out with a version of song lyrics written on raw wood, then coated with beeswax. 

added some encaustic paint and pastel....

  

  

"Auditioned" a tree sketch I had reduced to fit on this house...

transferred it on...

Then added those written words again- but use graphite paper this time so they'd be more legible, prominent.  I also used the graphite to emphasize parts of the tree. The tree is in the stage right before it starts to leaf out, as are the trees outside right now. I had the 10,000 maniacs song “These Are Days” playing in the background. This verse inspired the text inscribed them around a tree: 

You’ll know it’s true that you are blessed and lucky

It’s true that you are touched by something

That will grow and bloom and you

so I wrote "Waitin for the rains to end, and blooms to start."

  

A little more encaustic detail on the side (and an ice pack to help speed cooling- yes, I am impatient.)

Now to prepare for the roof. 

  

I LOVE bark- but it can be challenging to work with! 

I had to clamp it down two days in row to get it to behave.

I cut up several branches to find just the right feet- 

  

...and the finished piece. 

All the wrestling with the bark for the roof was worth it! love the "modern rustic" look! 

PS- I can feel my writer friends cringing at the long, run on sentences with horrific punctuation and capitalization. Yes, it was intentional. 

I am experimenting with focusing on the images rather than the writing....

Available now on new Etsy shop!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/286851901/little-houses-tree-waiting-for-blooms?ref=shop_home_active_2