Show opening in Bremerton

Last night was the opening event for my show in Bremerton, Washington. The venue was Cornerstone Coffee on the corner of 5th and Pacific. It was part of the monthly First Friday Art Walk in the downtown area. The photo above is of the main wall and the table we set up with edibles and drinks. I was really happy with the way the paintings hung on the gold wall. It is a very nice space.

This photo is of two small walls around the corner from the main wall. They can both be seen well from the front window, but are not in direct sun. This is the first time I have had the glass blowing series (minus 2) hanging together. I am very happy about the look they achieve grouped in this way.

There was a very small crowd last evening because of the holiday. Many people had slipped out of town for the long weekend. The people who did drop by were very kind and complementary. My family came to support me, including my sister-in-law from Virginia. (She was my first patron from this show, buying the stormy ocean painting you can see on the table in the top photo.) It was great to get the family together.

My show will be hung until July 31, so if you are in the area, please stop by. Enjoy the paintings and a great coffee or tea drink.

First one-person show opening

Glass Oven

12 x 9 soft pastels

by Miki Willa

You are not seeing things. I have posted this one before, but I wanted to use it to announce the opening of my first solo show coming up this Friday, July 3, 2009. The opening will be part of the First Friday Art Walk in Bremerton, Washington. My venue is Cornerstone Coffee at 435 Pacific Ave. It is within easy walk from the Ferry terminal. I will be showing my glass blowing series as well as my landscapes. The show will hang until July 31. I hope some of you will be able to join me for this great event. I will be serving wine and finger food, if my art alone is not enough to entice you to stop by. I hope to see you soon.

New acrylic abstract

Inside Over There

11 x 6 acrylic on watercolor paper

by Miki Willa

I really like working with split complements, especially this combination. For this painting, I started out with a mono-print. I applied the paint to parchment paper. I used pretty thick layers because I wanted some texture. I put a piece of watercolor paper over the paint. I used a rolling pin to get even pressure to make the print. I was really pleased with the textures that were created. Purple and Payne's gray made up the first layer of the print. After the print was dry, I applied the orange, blue, and magenta with a credit card across the texture so that it would be picked up on the ridges. I also used some Titan buff to add some lighter areas. I really like the areas where I left the white of the paper showing through.

If you are interested in winning a free original painting or professional photograph of a tulip image, be sure and hop over to Tom's blog, Tom's Images, and vote for your favorite. The drawing witll be on June 18 from the people who make comments and select a favorite. These are beautiful images, so don't miss out.

Painting for Different Strokes

Wheat Farm

8 x 18 soft pastels on Kitty Wallis Professional White

by Miki Willa

based on gray scale photo provided by Karin Jurick

I really enjoy watching all the wonderful interpretations of Karin's biweekly photos on Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. Every once in a while, I decided to try my hand. For this one, Karin provided us with a gray scale photo of a Pennsylvania farm and asked us to use our own favorite palattes. This was great for me. I loved the photo, and I knew it would lend itself to my favorite complimentary palatte. This was quite fun to paint. I really like the lost edges in the distance and the cripsness in the nearer buildings. I also had a lot of fun with the size.

Abandoned packing shed

The Packing Shed

12 x 18 soft pastels on Kitty Wallis Professional white

by Miki Willa

This painting has been kicking my butt. I think it is finally finished. The place is a lavender farm northeast of Bellingham, Washington. We were there on a very warm day, enjoying the lavender, the bees, and the beautiful surroundings. At one point, I spotted this old packing shed. Apparently, there used to be fruit grown on the property. The shed was still in relatively good condition as far as looks go, but I don't think I would want to spend much time under it. I love these old structures from a distance.

I started the painting with a gradient orange to yellow underpainting. It really kept the painting warm, which I think made for some of my problems. I finally decided to stay with the orange in the sky and work from there. I used the grayed out greens from my Terry Ludwig pastels for the trees in the background. I then used the warmer greens as I came forward. After fighting with it for days, I decided to kick back and have fun with it. Now, I like it.

I have decided to stay with more realism with my pastels and non-representational with the acrylics and collage. That decision has really eased my mind. I do really enjoy the style I have developed with the pastels, but want to expand my horizons. I think this will work out very well for me. I believe change can be very good, but I am of an age where hanging onto some of the old is very comforting.

Acrylic abstract painting

Blue Silo

12 x 16 acrylic on 300# watercolor paper

by Miki Willa

I finally decided to stop listening to that inner voice that tells me I cannot do something. I chose colors I like together, images that make me happy, and set to work on my first real abstract painting. The result is pleasing to me. It has the farm fields and grassland, the approaching storm, and the blue silo. You may see something completely different, and that is great. The best part for me is that I did it.

Creating non-representation art is very difficult for me. The box I think inside is pretty narrow. I have been able to stretch it somewhat in my representational art, but not to this extent. I expected to get more set in my ways as I got older, but it seems I am doing some rebelling at the present time. This painting represents more to me than just trying something different. It is me stepping outside my box and taking a chance. I am betting that my work in the Artist's Way is having some effect on my creativity. This is a great thing and I am really enjoying this divergent path along the journey.

One of the things that has happened to help make this happen is creating a new studio space just for collage and acrylics. We have a small rust-orange colored room I claimed as my own. I set my sewing machine in there along with a bunch of stuff we were storing. Last week, we cleared it out, bought a new table, and I moved things around to make it a wonderful studio space. Now I can work on my pastels in the studio I share with my husband, and not get glue or acrylics on my pastel paintings, or his. He set up his oil studio in the garage. It is so good to live with another artist.

Speaking of pastels, I have nearly finished the one on the easel. It will probably be posted here in the next couple of days. In the meantime, take a look at my newest collage at Miki's Collages.

Landscape in acrylic

Earth and Sky

6 x 5 acrylic on 300# watercolor paper

by Miki Willa

I had some left over acrylics on my palette after working on some visual journal pages, so I decided to paint a small painting. I tried a painting in acrylics years ago and really hated the result. I was determined never to try it again. Since I started my visual journals, I have found I like acrylics for that purpose. I still put too much paint on the palette and hate to throw it away at the end of the day, so I came up with this idea. It was fun to mash all the paint around with small strokes, creating a sense of some texture. I may get some small canvases to create more abstract pieces with left-over paint as I go. I may learn to enjoy acrylics after all.

In the afternoon, I worked on the pastel painting on the easel. I am happy with the direction it is taking. I do enjoy working with the pastels quite a bit. I would like to do more paintings that are less representational, but I am having trouble making the shift. I will get there, but it will take more time and study. My left brain is screaming for me to get back in line and stop all this nonsense. My right brain is working up to taking the leap. It is an interesting place to be on this journey, and a very funny one for me. A year ago, I would have bet money I would never be in this place in my head. One should never say never.