Artist in Mixed Media Mosaic Collage and Jewelry

Thursday, September 29, 2016

A LITTLE CHANGE FOR FALL ...





I thought I would get my Blog in to the Spirit of Fall.  :) 
It's definitely different than my normal Black Background.  Let me know what you think!



AUTUMN IS A SECOND SPRING, WHERE EVERY LEAF IS A FLOWER.
~ Albert Camus






'THE FIELDS SPEAK THEIR PEACE'

6 x 8" Acrylic on Wood Panel

More information on this Piece can be found HERE

This reminds me of our time living in Mount Vernon, WA.  It was predominantly all farming with miles of beautiful Tulip fields blooming in the Spring.  (It still is that way) 

Finalist Michael Brannan took this photo.  http://www.tulipfestival.org/multimedia
photo: Michael Brannan

We moved up there when our oldest daughter was in eighth grade.  At the end of the school year she came home and announced she wanted to go to work in the fields like the rest of her friends.  It seemed that most of the kids her age went to work rogueing spinach, picking beans or gathering bulbs out of the fields.  At 12, she was a year younger than most of her classmates but even at 13, I couldn't imagine her going to work in the fields.  As a New York City girl, work for me at that age was called 'babysitting'.   After much begging, pleading and our investigation, we relented.  Off she went the first day.  Her job was to walk the rows in the tulip fields and pick all the bulbs out of the dirt that had been loosened by the plows.  They got paid by the bulb.  If I remember correctly, it was 2 cents a bulb.  At the end of her first day her friends Mom dropped her off back at home. Covered in mud from head to toe, our daughter was literally unrecognizable.   One or two tears streaked down through the mud on her face and out came the statement "I don't want to go back!" 

After getting cleaned up, having dinner, and with things not looking quite as bad, we sat down and had a talk.  I explained how it cost money for companies to put you on a payroll and train you.  How, if she quit, they would then have to do the same thing all over again with another person.  That wasn't really fair to the company.  Her Dad and I said since she has made this commitment to the company we wanted her to stay for two weeks.  If, after the two weeks she still felt the same way, she could quit.  Besides the obvious moral to this story, I will tell you that at the end of the two weeks, and after having received her FIRST PAYCHECK, there was no longer a hint of her wanting to quit (even at 2 cents a bulb!)  It's always amazing what a little incentive can do!


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CLOUDS OF THE DAY . . .



Can you see the Eagles head just peering out from the clouds on the left? 
This is another one of those that if you look hard enough I'm sure a whole array of
animals would appear.


CHARLEEN

Saturday, September 17, 2016

FLOWERS FOR A SEPTEMBER DAY ...



Sometimes when we want flowers in our lives we just have to paint them ourselves.  I randomly painted this blue background and then needed to decide what I was going to paint on it.  Flowers seemed to be in order. 



'A BOUQUET FOR SUNDAY AFTERNOON'

6 x 6 x 1.5" Acrylic on canvas

For more information on this Piece Please Click HERE



Most of my flowers outside are bidding me adieu.  I do have one little Rosebush that does seem to be loving the weather ...


and even my Rhubarb hasn't abandoned me yet ...


but this once lovely 'Summerina', which I just bought a few days ago, and which I thought I would get at least a few weeks of enjoyment out of, obviously did not like the 29 degrees we had the other night :(

Fortunately it's a perennial so I'll still plant it and hope it comes back next year.


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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...




A FISH BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A FISH.



By all these lovely tokens September days are here,
With summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer. 
~  Helen Hunt Jackson

Charleen






Tuesday, September 13, 2016

INNOCENCE AND HAPPINESS ....



SEEM TO GO HAND IN HAND.



LITTLE SISTERS:
'HAPPINESS IN THE MOMENT'

8 X 8" Collage on Wood panel

For more information on this Piece Please Click HERE


I started this as a companion to the one below but never quite finished it in time because the one below sold right away.  :)

 
("I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT, BUT BIG PEOPLE JUST DON'T BELIEVE IN MAGIC.")

And, the backgrounds do match, but obviously not in my photographs!

A sister is both your mirror - and your opposite.
~ Elizabeth Fishel


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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...




                                                         Photographer: Unknown

THIS JUST LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING FROM OUTER SPACE!



CHARLEEN

Sunday, September 11, 2016

THERE WAS ALWAYS AT LEAST ONE SHOW-OFF IN SCHOOL ...



AND HERE WE HAVE TWO ...



THE FAMILY TREE: 
"I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO SHOW OFF."

24 x 36 x 1.5" Acrylic on Canvas

This is the Commissioned Piece I mentioned in my last Blog (which has now morphed into another Commission Piece  :)  I love working on a Black Canvas.  It just brings out the rest of the colors so nicely.  Probably goes along with my love of black walls in my homes over the years (Not all the walls! Just accent walls. :)  Yes, even had a black ceiling in a dining room in one house.  Very dramatic but it looked great.  :)


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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...



I thought I would include the whole photo this time, not just the clouds.  I took this on our way over to the coast passing through the high desert in Oregon.  The whole yard was filled with rusted old cars.  It was really rather sad.  So many dreams all reduced to a pile of rust.  I would have loved to have gotten some closer photos but it just wasn't a place that had the 'Come on in' feeling about it.  I'm sure you've all seen one or two places like that ...

By the way .... I see a Snail!



''No one writes as slowly as I do, I'm convinced. It's so hard for me.
I learn slowly; I make decisions at a snail's pace.'
~ Virginia Wolff


Charleen

Thursday, September 8, 2016

I HEAR THE MUSIC ...



AND, THEY DO TOO!


'HEARING THE MUSIC'

Pretty Pink Coneflowers keeping time to the rhythm of the Breeze ...

For more information on this piece Please click HERE


'ONE GOOD THING ABOUT MUSIC, WHEN IT HITS YOU, YOU FEEL NO PAIN.'
~  Bob Marley

I have been diligently working away on a Commissioned Piece which I just finished yesterday.  That's why I haven't been around lately to visit with you.  :)  This is another Pointillism Piece which I will post on my next blog.  I do like doing them but they are VERY time consuming. 

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...



I can clearly see the face of a wizened old soul up in the lighter portion of the clouds.  I also see a Walrus and I can also see part of an angry Bears head.  :(  What am I missing?  :)


Charleen