Lingstudion

I am so excited to announce that I have been invited as one of the juried visual artists to participate in the 2016 Salem Oregon Art Fair and Festival. I had declined most of my summer show invitations to try to relax, spend time with my family and attack some personal projects but I couldn't say no to this jewel.   The festival is mid July and is a beautiful setting in a wonderful part of the country I've never explored. Information about the Salem Art Fair & Festival

"Clergy" 6" x 9" Mixed Media Drawing on Antique Dictionary Page I have been asked repeatedly to create a page to honor ministers.  I learned long ago that I've got to limit and carefully edit the images I draw due to the business of the dictionary text already on the page so creating something with too much detail really muddies up the drawing - creating a book page with loads of text does just that. I've challenged myself to create a page using a religious text and think this one works well.  I love the definition of Clergy found on this page that describes the vocation as one who guides us in a healthy spiritual journey.  I stewed about what images to use and decided eyeglasses for seeing clearly, a magnifying glass representing close study and examination, a pen for writing and communicating insight and a pocket watch to symbolize the dedication of a pastor's time in service to his congregation.  I have to admit that I omitted a cross or other symbols...

"E is for Elephant Exercising in an Elevator" 8.5" x 11" Mixed Media Drawing on a Children's Antique Dictionary I'm having a ball building an alphabet of illustrations on this precious, children's dictionary.  What I am enjoying most is that I can be silly and totally inventive with these drawings.  In this case, my happy elephant can be any color I want and even dressed in workout clothes. I hope to reproduce this series in small cards when I am finished.

I included information about my process of working on antique dictionary pages on my blog a long time ago - it all begins with a sepia ink drawing on the page.  I have always loved to draw so this stage is my favorite. I believe these ink drawings could stand alone without adding any color but I continue to paint each piece to have a unified series of my work.   One of the challenges of this stage in my work is composing my drawing around the definition on the page.  A lot depends on the placement of the definition - if it is high, left or right or smack-dab in the center of the page.  I particularly love finding an illustration already on the page to feature inside or around my drawing. I think drawing skills are essential to creating all kinds of arts whether it be painting or sculpture or what have you.  I emphasize it in my classroom and have developed a curriculum that can teach anyone to draw.  I rely heavily on the art teacher's Bible "Drawing on the...

"Flower " Mixed Media Drawing on Antique Parchment 18" x 24" I have loved working on large pages.  Thanks to a wonderful friend who works at a local print shop, I can work on these 18" x 24" old sheets of fragile parchment that she has carefully digitized with a page from one of my dictionaries. I got very nostalgic working on this collection of flowers.  Many of the flowers I chose for this piece have significance particularly to the memory of my mother.  She grew up in Kansas and always referred to herself as a sunflower.  She loved to garden but always had an uphill battle to get anything to last in the strong prairie winds with little to no rain. For this piece I included lilacs which grew around our farmhouse, heavenly blue morning glories which covered our white picket pence in the backyard.  I had to include a group of wild roses to remember the roses my grandmother brought in a covered wagon to plant on our homestead - they still grow there.  I als...

Spending an afternoon in my happy, little studio I love looking at other artist's blogs and websites.  I envy all the inventive layouts and bells and whistles that most of these creative sites have.  I have tried to "gussy up" my blog but sadly, I lack the digital know-how to do much more than follow the established templates.  Anytime I try to jazz things up and do something different, I lose patience and go back to the tried and true look my blog has had since the beginning. I appreciate everyone who stops by for a look or to leave a comment.  I am still blown away that my work is noticed by folks across the globe and I am extremely grateful for your attention. I have been ridiculously busy the past few months and have ignored posting but I'm back in my studio building lots of new pieces and I'm looking forward to sharing - even if my site doesn't have interactive video highlights with push button podcasts and digital workshops options.