On Top of the World (slide): Gigi's new swingset

Here are a couple of photos of Gigi's birthday present, a new swingset! It took Mommy and Mark about 6 hours to put together on a hot day (with indispensable the help of Auntie Jess who kept Active Girl distracted) but it was worth it--she loves it! Gigi could hardly keep still for one quick (and crude) sketch on Top of the World (slide).

32nd World Wide Sketchcrawl July 23 2011

Dede Harter, Bill Otersen and Jeff Zenick at the Downtown Market (Photo by Mary Sterner Lawson).

Here's the 32nd World Wide Sketchcrawl results: I will post drawings from the Tallahassee group who drew at the downtown market and in the Challenger Space Museum as I receive them; first in was Dede Harter's "Lunar Lander" (with the yellow moon background). My sketches are from closer to home (Green Cay Wetlands; "cormorant & gator", "contour drawing of swamp", and "raccoon with firecracker flowers and swamp potato flowers"). Mary Sterner Lawson contributed "Sketchcrawlers at Callenger Space Center", "International Space Station", "Listening to music", "Downtown Market Visitors" and "Dede's cousin".

Psychological Self-Portrait Show at Museum of Fine Arts

The Psychological Self-Portrait Exhibit at Florida State's Museum of Fine Arts opens Friday June 10th 7-9 pm and is up until July 8th. We artists will give gallery tours and talks 7-9 pm July 5th. I entered my large stoneware bottle with my poem-painting "The Story that is Me". I'll include a couple of greenware photos (top) since they are easier to see without the glare of the glaze.

Artopia and sketchin' with Jeff Zenick

I donated a lotus painting "Something Beautiful comes from the Mud" for Artopia [ http://bigbendcares.org/artopia11 ] from a hike & sketch trip with Jeff Zenick; my black and white trees are from our outing May 29, my first hike since I could walk again.

Stoneware Bottles

Some views of some of large (2 to 3 foot high) Stoneware bottles from the latest kiln load.

Fired Aniwah Sculptures

Here are some of my finished stoneware Aniwah. See this blog's archives ["Aniwah Workshop"] for a step-by-step on how I made the little 12 inch fish (at the top) in recent clay classes I taught at TSC and FAMU. The big (24 to 36 inch) Aniwahs stand vertically like the Japanese funerary sculptures ("Haniwah") that inspired these commentators on loss of species. "Aniwah" is just a punny nickname I came up with to suggest "Animal-Haniwa" and add some comic relief.

Artists' League Summer Annual June 10--July 8, 2011

Come out to see the show! I have one stoneware bottle in it--"The Story that is Me". The reception is at the FSU Museum of Fine Arts, Friday, June 10, 7--9 pm.

compositon as springboard

You can use a strong composition you recognize in other artwork as a springboard for developing your own original ideas and imagery. Just substitute different objects or creatures with similar forms as the master work, and your picture may surprise you with a story. Try to use the geometry of the abstract layout for tension to reinforce your narrative . (credit: illustration copyright 1907 Mary Hamilton Frye: "He grabbed the boy..." used for educational purposes only)

ice cream and apples wc composition

Here's a new watercolor of apples and ice cream, showing the steps from pencil sketching to ink lines, then masking followed by watercolor wash background; after that the masking is removed and the figures are painted in before a final reinforcing of lines with a fountain pen. I started with the simple idea of circle, triangle and rectangle and went from there incorporating a revision of a poem I wrote in the 70s.