Picky Eater, Mixed Media...

My partner Neil is the "inspiration" for this piece entitled "Pickey Eater". Long story short, the inspiration for this piece was the very long list of "forbidden foods". So I have spent months with the seed of this idea. This piece is about 3 feet long. I incorporated: Painting, Drawing, Collage and Assemblage using, Acrylics, Oil Pastels, Pencil, Grease Pencil and an Antique Level & Sorry Game pieces.
The original concept for the style is called "inchies'. The concept is to have inch squares drawn, etched and or painted onto a substrate then images are added, painted and manipulated.

When finished the effect is not unlike an Elemental chart. Somewhat gridded and very graphic.

Nido con Dos Huevos

The last week of October, Art came together in my studio like crazy. I completed three pieces, some of which I had been working on for many weeks. The last of the three is this small sweet piece. Nido con Dos Huevos, or Nest with Two Eggs. It was painted over an image transfer piece I was not particularly smitten with. This nest was painted with many sizes of brushes in translucent layers with Golden Paint transparent acrylics. Two eggs, all cozy in a comfy nest, yes, we are ready for the big and cold Maine winter.

Encaustic Art=Bees Wax+Pigment...

Encaustic art is made by melting wax adding a pigment medium,(color) crushed or prepared and painting on one thin layer at a time. The result is a rich, vibrant, textural piece of art. Using a Heat gun to fuse and manipulate the many layers of brushed on beeswax, etching tools, along with oil pastels and ephemera to create the finished piece is a challenge, but wow is it cool and worth the extra effort.

I have been studying "Encaustic Painting" for almost a year. Books, other Artists and finished pieces in galleries have been my teachers. I was lucky to have been able to take a 3 hour tutorial with a superb artist, Helene Farrar. She answered all of my questions (poor girl I had many) and we created art. It was wonderful. She co-owns a gallery, Cerulean and has recently been asked to place her encaustic work in a high profile location. She was informed, efficient and showed me the ins and outs of Beeswax, materials, chemical reactions the + & - of the medium and we laughed alot. An amazing 3 hours and for me an art changing day.

My imagination is swirling with all of the possibilities. I now have a practical roadmap, know the approach I would like to take and have a vision of the first series of work I will create. It truly feels like a new frontier. I could not be more excited. Absolutely.

This featured piece (my first encaustic endeavor) is inspired by old Japanese brush art and incorporates Ephemra, Layers of Wax, Oil Pastels and much manipulation with the heat gun.
Fun, Fun, Fun...

Stratacaster Stack With A Percariously Perched Eagle...

Oh, yes, I finished a commissioned piece. Yippeee. I was asked to incorporate a Stratacaster Guitar and an Eagle. We all have a unique way of filtering directions as well as our own personal vision. Given the subject and my style I created a piece with the desired components but also added an assemblage of a Bridge, Tuner Keys and Electric Guitar strings. This painting was

an adventure and I also found it a challenge. It was fun and I especially like the unexpected moment of the painted strings mounted on the bridge and strung to the tuner keys at the top. Fun and somewhat musical in the visual sense.
Thoughts to ponder... Is the Eagle swooping down to grab and take the Stratcaster or is it trying to balance precariously on the unstable stack? Like the music industry it could go either way! Also incorporated into the piece is a 1945 map of Los Angeles/Hollywood. Rising up between the torn/painted hills of LA and the somewhat painted lyrics of Dylan's "A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall" is the foundation of the Stack of Stratacasters. (Seems a bit shaky considering it rests upon the LA music scene and LA!)
The Eagle is Audubon, Stratacaster Guitars, are Fender.
Thanks Nancy Coleman & Tom Babbit for commissioning this piece.(These folks are the driving force behind the band Funky Stella.)

To The Moon, an Empty Nest...

Finally, I have finished what turned out to be quite an ambitious piece of art. I have been working on this piece since August. This painting incorporates Assemblage, Layers of Paper, Antique Maps and opaque Layers of Paint. The piece measures 31 x 18 and is 3 inches deep.
The inspiration for this painting was the idea of an empty nest with clear


possibilities (egg= new life). The eggs are placed in a box all in a row, in an almost, but not quite, perfect line, a nod to Wabi Sabi, the line is just a bit askew. The large egg on top is merely a touch of whimsy.
The layers of paint for the nest itself were painted onto the canvas one color and one layer at a time. The effect is like that of a nest built one string and one twig at a time.
Then came the splatting of the paint,(fun and nerve-racking) using layers of the colors used in the nest and a bright pop of Blue created the wild energy I was going for. I then found a piece of paper from a book, published in the 1860's, painting a Robin's Egg on this paper, and then placing it on what feels like a trajectory to another dimension finished this piece.
The canvas is wrapped with string and ribbon to complete the "Nest Effect".

This painting can be viewed in the Main Hall of my home at Melcher Place.
This is the first in a series of exploratory painting integrating Assemblage, Paint, Paper, Canvas.



Click on the arrow below to view slide-show of the process of this piece being created.

Sara Cox and Delilah Pottery...

My friend Sara Cox is an inspired ceramic Artist, her company is Delilah Pottery. Sara is inspired by nature and the work of William Morris. (Morris was an influential designer who was part of the 1860's Pre-Raphaelite movement and is the creator and founder of the "Art's & Crafts" style, that we still love today.

Sara's work reflects her deep love and passion for nature

and the natural world. Her studio is nestled in her large overflowing and flowering garden. The garden is filled with butterflies, and many different types of birds. Her studio is organized, and filled to full with her beautiful work. She has created a "Woodcut" style in designing her beautiful Vessels, Bowls, Plates and Vases. Whether it is porcelain or terracotta pottery the effect is dynamic and absolutely hers. She throws her pots and vessels and then painstakingly etches onto the somewhat wet clay her nature inspired designs. Using a simple color palette suits her designs and creates a strong graphic look. She is a talented and charming person who shows her work around the state of Maine and is blissfully happy in the environment she has created to live and work on her "ART". Sara Cox can be reached through this site, send me an email today. I love, love her work, loverly!

CLICK ON ARROW TO VIEW SLIDESHOW....

Ice Skating on a Goldfish..

This was a fun piece from start to finish. For a few months prior to painting and assembling this piece I was able to roll the image around in my head. Ummm delightful and always made me smile! I finished this piece a few months ago.

The components of old money, advertising, paper and paint along with some image transfer make up this small 8x8 piece. The fish swimming on the top are temporary and at this time are purely for my own amusement.

4 Paintings in 2 Weeks...

I have been on a painting tear. Two weeks ago I started with a whimsical Green Heron that has a Kingfisher perched upon his head. (I do this for my own entertainment!)
They are both studying the lyrics to "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" while a dragonfly keeps the lyrics aloft. The light is sunny and bright. I smile when I look at this happy piece.
I then went on to do a Bird Eating a Butterfly. I wanted to feel like I was seeing them in the light of a magical forest. When I was finished I started to think about the fact that it really is a Bird Eat Butterfly World out there.





Moving on to the Squirrel's Playing on the forest floor. There are many species, all converging onto a fallen trunk that has landed on the forest floor. Know that you would never see this in the real world, only in my personal magic one. Each grouping has their own dynamic happening. I am not quite done with this Squirrel piece, I will give an update in a week or so.










Then the other night I saw this very graphic and modern image, it emerged quickly in my mind, I sketched it and the next day gathered my components for this mixed assemblage modern piece. The thought behind the image is a Balanced and Level Life. I am delighted to be able to mix it up and do a surprise piece that does not fit my other work style. It is fun, I love making ART!!!

Nest on a String...

Nest's have always peaked my curiosity. For as long as I can remember I have photographed, collected and incorporated nest's into my work. I sketched and did the pre-work on my latest piece last Autumn. I have been studying various eggs and the nest's in which they reside. This painting has a starry night and a quiet, dreamy and ethereal clutch of eggs.



This painting is a bit abstract in the nest and has elements of paper adhered and painted on the canvas. It was a joy to create this mini (8x8) jewel of a piece.

Art in Dribs and Drabs...

Life seems to be moving at a brisk clip.
Even so, I managed to create 2 pieces this past week.
I have been contemplating both for a while.
The new JOCO Box is Eggs, Balance and a Heart rock.
I particularly like the escaped egg on the top with a
small level set on top of the escaped egg. It is funny and unexpected.
Life is like an egg, we need to be careful to keep it on an even and level keel so all that is inside of us can come fully to life.
It is not always easy and can seem a bit precarious but it is worth all of the adjustments to work on the balance and the fragile nature of life itself.

My Painting "A Pelican & A Lobster are two unexpected partners on a canvas. I giggle to think that in real life a Pelican (who lives in the warmer regions & a Lobster who lives in the coldest region) can share a canvas. This is mixed media with Paper, Paint and Image Transfer.

Art SHOW...

KDB Art is featured this month at the Green Rice Gallery in the NODA Art District.















I have several paintings/mixed media pieces hanging. Eiffel Towers, Lovers, Birds and Butterflies. Not a big departure from the typical KDB Collection, however it has an underlying message of love and possibilities.