"Lotus"

I can't seem to get a proper photo, probably because of the central white image. The upper part of the background is more on the purple side, rather than the red that the photo shows.
Non mi e` riuscito di scattare una foto buona, probabilmente a causa del bianco dell'immagine centrale. La parte superiore dello sfondo e` più` viola che rosso come sembrerebbe dalla foto. 

"Lotus" acrylic on canvas, 50x60 cm

"Reaching"

This painting, completed last night, went through more radical changes than I care to remember. At one stage, in the next to the last image, it was almost finished, but so downright creepy, with birds with talons and feathery things coming off the fingertips, that I had to make big changes.
Here are some of the stages of its metamorphosis from beginning to end.
Questo quadro, completato ieri notte, ha attraversato più` cambiamenti radicali di quanti mi piaccia ricordare. Ad un certo punto, e lo vedrete nella penultima immagine, era quasi finito, ma lo trovavo talmente inquietante, con uccelli con artigli e cose tipo piume che fuoriuscivano dalle punta delle dita, che ho dovuto cambiarlo parecchio.
Ecco alcune fasi della sua metamorfosi dall'inizio alla fine.

"Reaching", acrylic on canvas, 12"x15.5"

Flora Bowley's inspiring e-course - L'ispirazione del corso online di Flora Bowley

I just recently treated myself to Flora Bowley's Bloom True e-course, and it was a blast! I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a boost of inspiration.
I have been drawing and painting since I was a child; continued in High School, in college, then at the Academy of Art college in San Francisco, have tried countless media, but for some reason until Flora's class I had completed only 3 paintings on canvas. All the rest were on paper or in a visual journal. When I started the Bloom True course at the end of September I had 3 canvases that I had purchased a year before, but that were still wrapped and propped up behind a door. I now have 11 completed paintings on canvas, ranging from small to large, and two small ones in the works. I may not be following her exact method for layering, mark making, and adding images, but I am following the spirit of her teaching, the essence of which for me is "let go, go for it, do the work, there are no mistakes". She definitely lit a fire under me, which I am now fueling by painting every day, but also by looking at other artists' work and by refreshing my dusty knowledge of art history, something I hadn't really done since my college days.

Recentemente mi sono fatta il regalo di seguire il corso online di Flora Bowley ed e` stato davvero stimolante. Lo consiglio a chiunque abbia bisogno di una carica di ispirazione. 
E` da quando ero bambina che disegno e dipingo; ho continuato al liceo, all'università, poi all'Accademia d'Arte in San Francisco, ho lavorato con innumerevoli media, ma per una ragione o un'altra, fino alla classe di Flora avevo completato solo 3 dipinti su tela. Tutti gli altri erano su carta o in un quaderno d'arte. Quando ho iniziato il corso Bloom True alla fine di settembre avevo 3 nuove tele che avevo comprato un anno prima, ma che erano ancora incartate e appoggiate dietro ad una porta. Adesso ho undici dipinti su tela, da grandi a piccoli, e due piccoli iniziati ieri sera. Forse non sto proprio seguendo alla lettera il suo metodo di creare gli strati di pittura, di fare segni, di aggiungere immagini, ma sto seguendo lo spirito dei suoi insegnamenti, la cui essenza, per me, e`  "lasciati andare, lanciati, lavora, non esistono sbagli". Senza dubbio ha accesso un fuoco sotto di me, che adesso continuo ad alimentare, dipingendo ogni giorno, ma anche guardando il lavoro di altri artisti e rinnovando le mie polverose conoscenze di storia dell'arte, cosa che non facevo dai tempi dell'università. 

This was the first painting I completed during the course, and probably my favorite,
Questo e` stato il primo quadro che ho completato durante il corso e forse e` il mio preferito, 

and this is the next to the last (I showed the latest one in the previous post). 

e questo e il penultimo (l'ultimo l'ho fatto vedere nel post precedente).

An added bonus to taking the course is that the students of each session have a private Facebook page in which we continue to exchange ideas, information, images and words of encouragement. In fact, it was another "Bloomer" who just last night told me about PicMonkey, a free online photo editor where you can alter photos and other images to your heart's content (careful it can be addicting!) Here's a sample below, on which I used the "frost" option. It's just a minor modification, but there are an infinity of choices, and within each one, endless possibilities. 

Un valore aggiunto della classe e` che gli iscritti di ciascuna sessione hanno una loro pagina privata su Facebook, su cui continuiamo a scambiarci idee, informazioni, immagini e parole di incoraggiamento. Infatti e` stato tramite una delle partecipanti che proprio ieri ho saputo di PicMonkey, un sito gratuito dove si possono modificare foto e immagini in generale in una miriade di modi (attenzione - può creare dipendenza!) Eccone un esempio a caso, in cui ho usato l'opzione "gelata". Questa e` una modifica leggerissima, ma ve ne sono un'infinita` e all'interno di ciascuna, moltissime possibili varianti. 

 

Let's Dance! - Balliamo!

This is my latest, finished last night. It's acrylic on canvas, 24x31", and since my women all look like dolls anyway, whether they are Virgin Mary's or have green skin and text-book hair, I've decided she IS a doll, the horse is a stuffed animal, and at night they come alive and dance.
Ecco il mio quadro più` recente, finito ieri notte. E` acrilico su tela, 60x80cm, e poiche` tutte le donne che dipingo finiscono col sembrare bambole, ho deciso che e` davvero una bambola, il cavallo e` un peluche e di notte prendono vita e ballano.

Let's try again! Riproviamoci!

I thought it had been light years since I had posted here, in my poor little neglected blog, but instead it's been less than two months.
I've decided to try again and this time around I want to focus on art, of course with occasional snapshots of the world that surrounds me, and more.
After taking an online class with Flora Bowley I got the kick in the pants necessary to move my paintings onto canvases and I've been painting up a storm in the last two months, but more about that next time. What I would like to do this time around is to post several times a week about artists who are new to me, and maybe to you, or whom I have admired for a long time, some very famous, some less so.
This way, while I refresh my art education, I keep my blog alive. Sounds like a plan.

Pensavo che fossero passati anni luce dal mio ultimo post qui, nel mio povero trascurato blog, ma invece sono passati meno di due mesi. 
Ho deciso di riprovarci e questa volta vorrei concentrarmi sull'arte, naturalmente con qualche foto ogni tanto del mondo che mi circonda ed altro. 
Dopo aver seguito il corso online di Flora Bowley ho ricevuto la spinta necessaria per dipingere su tele anziché` su carta o nei visual journals e adesso non smetto più`, ma di questo ne parlerò la prossima volta. Quello che vorrei fare adesso e` di scrivere un paio di volte a settimana di artisti che mi sono nuovi, e che forse lo sono anche per voi, o che ammiro da tempo, alcuni molto famosi, altri meno. Così facendo, mentre rinnovo la mia educazione artistica, mantengo in vita il blog. Mi sembra una buona idea.

I will begin with Mel McCuddin, born in 1933 in the state of Washington, USA.
Inizio da Mel McCuddin, nato nel 1933 nello stato del Washington, USA. 

You will find many images of his work here and more images and a biography here.
Troverete la sua biografia e immagini dei suoi dipinti nei link qui sopra.

I've watched the following video several times and find it fascinating, among other things, because I too like to find images in the paint.
Ho guardato questo video varie volte e mi affascina, tra l'altro, perché anche io mi diverto a cercare immagini nella pittura. 

Creatures n. 2

All of these creatures, except for the little girl's head, legs and one arm, simply appeared in the layered paint background. I just pulled them out of the shadows (probably the shadows of my brain!).
Tutti questi esserini, con l'eccezione della testa, le gambe e un braccio della bambina, sono apparsi nello sfondo fatto con strati di pittura acrilica. Io li ho semplicemente fatti uscire dalle ombre (probabilmente le ombre del mio cervello!).

The entire 2 page journal spread. Le due pagine del quaderno su cui ho dipinto.

Close-ups. Primi piani.

I've done this a bit before, that is, looking for images in the paint, but only in the last few days have I done it a lot, and I think it is having an effect on my brain. Now I'm seeing things everywhere: tree trunks, rocks, food. For example, see those rocks down there, that I spotted this morning when I opened the curtains? I see the head of a large dog on the right, giving a speech to several animals who are lying down facing him. There's even a little cat to his right, just below the larger rock, which could be a crocodile. Time for therapy perhaps?
L'ho gia` fatto un poco in passato e, cioe`, di cercare immagini nella pittura, ma e` solo negli ultimi giorni che lo sto facendo di piu` e credo che abbia avuto un effetto sul mio cervello. Adesso vedo immagini ovunque: nei tronchi degli alberi, nelle pietre, nel cibo. Per esempio, guardate quelle pietre che ho visto questa mattina quando ho aperto le tende. A destra vedo la testa di un un grosso cane e mi pare che stia facendo un discorso a vari animali che gli stanno stradiati di fronte. Alla sua destra c'e anche un gattino, sotto una pietra piu` grande, che potrebbe essere un coccodrillo. Ora di ricoverarmi?

Still working in my art journal - Altri dipinti

Been working non stop in my art journal and this is what I've done since the Argo painting.
Sto lavorando assiduamente nel mio diario artistico e questo e` quello che ho fatto dal ritratto di Argo ad oggi.

Coco

An angel

Untitled

Sow your seeds into the womb of the universe (from a Deepak Chopra online meditation)

Spargi i tuoi semi nel ventre dell'universo (da una meditazione di Deepak Chopra)

The House? The Manger? - La casa? La mangiatoia?

Big Dog, Little Dog

Untitled

I finally discovered where to buy art supplies in this area, so I couple of days ago I visited a store in Martina Franca, about 25 minutes away, and bought more gesso, more acrylic paint and a couple of canvases. As soon as the journal is finished I will start work on a canvas. 

Ho finalmente scoperto dove comprare materiale artistico in zona, quindi un paio di giorni fa sono andata a Martina Franca, non lontano da qui, e ho comprato del gesso, altri colori acrilici e un paio di tele. Appena avro` finito le pagine del quaderno iniziero` a lavorare su una tela. 

I wonder what will show up on my pages today?

Chissa` oggi cosa apparira` nel mio quaderno?

Painting this was fun! Mi sono divertita a farlo!

I was already starting to think that maybe painting dogs was not such a hot idea, then I watched a lot of videos by Kerrie Evenson, an artist whose bold and carefree choice of colors and painting style inspired and influenced me to use colors I really like. You'd think that would be an obvious thing to do, but I guess not. 

So last night a painted this in a couple, maybe three hours. I enjoyed the process and the result makes me happy. Even on the morning after!

Gia` cominciavo a pensare che dipingere immagini di cani non era poi una grande idea, quando ho guardato tantissimi video di Kerrie Evenson, un'artista il cui spensierato e dinamico uso di colori e stile di pittura mi hanno influenzata ed ispirata ad usare i colori che piu` mi piacciono. Sembrerebbe una cosa ovvia da fare, ma si vede che per me non era cosi`.

Quindi, ieri sera in due o tre ore ho fatto questo dipinto. Mi sono divertita e il risultato mi fa sorridere. Persino la mattina dopo!

It's my dog Argo, who showed up here on July 25 close to death and now weighs 88 lbs and is doing great!

E` il mio cane Argo i quale, apparso qui il 25 luglio vicino alla morte, adesso pesa 40 chili e sta benone!

Who is she? - Chi e`?

As soon as I had made a pencil sketch of this face I "saw" a head scarf and cowl, or wimple, on her and drew it in. Now I'm stuck because I don't know who she is and what she wants to do. If I am going to paint women's faces again I need to use images of real woman as models, otherwise they end up looking like this one: sort of a Barbie version of the Virgin Mary! I painted a similar image a couple of years ago, and at least this one looks more human and happy.
Quando ho fatto lo schizzo a matita di questo volto, ho "visto" un velo o soggolo che lo circondava e cosi` l'ho aggiunto. Adesso non riesco ad andare avanti perche` non so chi sia e cosa voglia fare. Se dipingero` di nuovo volti di donne dovro` usare immagini di donne vere come modelle, altrimenti finiscono come queste: delle specie di versioni Barbie della Vergine! Ho dipinto un'immagine simile a questa un paio di anni fa e almeno questa sembra un poco piu` umana e felice.

I think I should draw dogs. A certainly have a vast supply of models.
Credo che farei meglio a dipingere cani. Certo che di modelli disponibili ne ho un'infinita`.

Mine. I miei.

Two from the pack of strays. 

Due del branco. 

My house...

This morning I woke up still thinking about my current constant thought, "where do I want to live?", which I wrote about in yesterday's post. So I decided I needed to make an "affirmation" page about it and, following up with what I started here, I painted the background, then added the words in Photoshop Elements 6. I have trouble writing directly on my journal pages or paintings, so if I create the background in a journal or on drawing paper and add words in Photoshop, I can always change it. No commitment.

I will print the version with the words as a 4"x6" card and place it near the last one I made. I like the image better without the words, but I felt it was important to get the thoughts down on paper.

Maybe it will help me stop wishing I were somewhere else, and not knowing where that somewhere is. I don't think I've ever felt quite like this before.

P.S. Another version with more text in a different font and color.

Who's the Predator?

I made this journal page tonight in response to the comment by the first hunter to "bag" a wolf today in Idaho, after wolves were delisted as endangered in that state. He mentioned what a rush of adrenaline it was after he killed her to have all the other wolves circling and howling.

The article is here.

Sometimes I am ashamed of my species.

Not a Madonna

I just finished this mixed media piece, using acrylic paint, colored pencils, ink, gesso, molding paste, paper, stamps and stencils on wood, for one of Suzi Blu's online classes.

She was originally going to be a Madonna, but by the time I had finished adding the embellishments she looked much more like a dancing harem girl. Whatever that means. Probably an image I have in my mind from a bad movie I saw as a teenager.

I was going to write something on her, but that would have meant making a commitment to Madonna or harem girl, so she is textless. I do, however, feel like I could add something like bits of white paper or more stamps on the bottom right corner and left side, but what exactly that would be is not coming to me. So there she sits, staring with an air of detachment into space. Wordless.

It's hard to know with mixed media when the heck to stop. I mean you could add and subtract so many times that in the end one piece could have been five different ones.

I like how she looks in the dappled shade. Or is that dappled sunlight? This probably means that I should add something else to her, maybe even across her face. But I doubt if I will. It's time to work on a different image. Maybe a sweet dog.

Deeper Roots

Deeper Roots
Originally uploaded by Anna Maria Stone

The final lesson in Kathryn Antyr's online vision journaling workshop had to do with making a collage or mixed media piece about nurturing our passion. I haven't really had time to get into this class very much (I'm into too many things at once, as usual), but I had made a card for the first lesson and wanted to make something for this last one. My dilemma, however, was "how can I work on nurturing my passion, when I don't know what my passion is, and when it is constantly changing?"

Since Kathryn's suggestion was to more or less start putting together images almost unconsciously and then seeing what meaning might develop, I did just that. I tore a piece of a page out of a pamphlet, glued it down, painted over it, and when I had finished the background and face I looked to see if anything jumped out at me. The words I saw most clearly were the ones I darkened with a pen: the letter "M", "deeper roots" and "garden". So I added roots and branches. I thought about it and decided that this meant that I needed to quit flitting from passion to passion and drop my roots down deeper so that the plant, which may be drawing and painting, or something else, can grow and flourish. I need to think about this some more.

I'm finally learning how to play around a bit with Photoshop Elements (the cheaper mini-version of Photoshop), so the image above is the result of adding an effect called "dark strokes". The original scanned version is below.

P.S. The style of the face owes a lot to Suzi Blu, and the idea of drawing and painting over the glued down printed page to a Tamara Laporte video.

Canvas Cover in the works

Canvas cover
Originally uploaded by Anna Maria Stone

It's Saturday, so of course after walking Eden in Golden Gate Park I'm home messing with paint.
This is acrylic paint and spray paint on canvas and will be the cover of the journal I am making in Mary Ann Moss' Stitched and Stenciled class.

Below is a mixed media Madonna (maybe) on paper, attached to a wood panel. I don't know if she will recover from the orange mess on her forehead, created by matte medium brushed over some Prismacolor pencils that bled. I plan to do more with her, hopefully a lot more. I say "hopefully" I always seem to get to a point where I have a difficult time taking the next step.

Think I'll take a nap. I always say that, but I never do.

How much can I fit into a Saturday?

Before anything else, I took Eden to Golden Gate Park for our Saturday morning walk.

When I got back home I made myself a delicious breakfast of pancakes with blueberries and walnuts on top, then I decided to work on a mixed media painting I started in one of Suzi Blu's workshops, but not wanting to miss the chance to enjoy some sun since I spend most of the rest of the week indoors, I took my redhead into the garden and sketched a wolf in the background.

I somehow found myself watering and cleaning up around the garden, when I suddenly remembered that it was Saturday, the only day during which I could set up a spray painting station in the backyard and add stencils to the painted backgrounds I had made for Mary Ann Moss' Stitched and Stenciled workshop.

When you find yourself thinking the stencils look cooler than what you're working on, that's when you realize you've been wearing your mask around your neck instead of on your face. I won't be doing that again!

My favorite ended up being the one I "messed up", when the black paint sprayed sideways and went where it was not supposed to go, so I tried to cover the black with red, then stenciled on top of that.

As if I hadn't done enough damage to my body, I had a glass of wine with my neighbor while we sat in the sun and discussed plants and life.

OK, it's almost 4 p.m. and I've still got more painting to do, a podcast to listen to and some reading to fit in.