Beginning Abstract

 Emerging Iris

12” x 16” watercolor

The Sisters challenge this week was abstract painting. I started out with a photo I took of three irises and some daisies in our yard. I started trying to sketch them in abstract. I was not very good at it. Eventually I got to a point where they started to remind me of Dali’s melting clocks. From there, I took off. We have a cow skull in our yard (from a cow who died of old age in the desert) who we call Art. I wanted to include him in a very realistic manner. If you look at some of Dali’s work, he often include realistic objects that just make you scratch your head. I also liked the straight lines of the fence, so I stuck some of those in. As I continued sketching, it looked to me like my irises were going from semi realistic, in front, to almost surreal, on the left, to completely bizarre. The distant right side iris seems to have dripped completely into a puddle with a frog sitting on a lili pad in the middle. I decided that worked. Somehow, I wanted to acknowledge the lovely daisies that seem to be taking over parts of our yard. I think the tubular things that come out of and go back into the ground must have come from a recent rereading of Frank Herbert’s Dune. 

Those are some of the ramblings that went through my mind as I was doing this painting. I have no idea what I will do next week. I wonder if I can abstract a barn.

Summer Cabins

 

Summer Cabins

9” x 12” watercolor

Julie Pryne sent me this wonderful photo of some summer cabins from her trip to Sweden. I loved the log structures with the metal roofs. I used several different techniques in getting the textures of the logs, decreasing the details as the cabins moved into the distance. The biggest problem here is my difficulty with trees.

I am trying to move away from painting tree symbols to painting realistic looking trees. I need to find more tree painting tutorials. I looked at a few today on YouTube, and one was very helpful for painting pine trees. That would have been good for this painting. I think I will start using the backs of older paintings, that I don’t like, to practice trees for awhile. Since most of my paintings have trees, they could only improve if I practiced trees more.

Hand Made

 

Hand Made

12” x 9” watercolor

Yesterday, I painted another still life. This time, I included several things from my studio that have been hand made. The straw doll is something I got at an art and craft fair in Redmond, WA, many years ago. The stand holding the brushes was hand made from a length of bamboo. It is from Japan. The brushes in the stand are handmade hake brushes. They are great for water washes. The wood block stamps are handmade in Indonesia, I think. I got them at Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, VA. The books are hand made. The two on the bottom are still empty. I made those. The standing book, that does not close because I have been filling it with small art, was a gift from the maker, Sally-Jo. It was fun to do a painting highlighting these special pieces.

I am feeling a need to clean out my studio space. The floor is dusty, as is every other flat surface. That is a Spokane condition. I also need to start weeding out all the stuff I don’t use anymore. Of course, the minute I get rid of it, I will need it. At least I can start with the dust. I don’t foresee a need for it.

Painting Clouds

 

Cloud Study I

9” x 12” watercolor

Photo for study

Taken in May, 2023

Five Mile Prairie

I love beautiful cloudy skies. We have been having wonderful formations lately, so I decided to learn to paint them. The trick, I was told, was to get soft and hard edges. Of course, you have to know where to place both. Next time, I will work on getting better grays. 

Today is Sisters, and I will be working on another still life. Stay tuned.

 Deception Pass Bridge

9” x 12” watercolor

Back in 2008, I painted this in pastels (see the blog post from 6/20/2008). I sold it a few years ago. I realized lately that I missed the painting. When I found a stack of photos I used to do several pastel paintings, I found the original I took on location. I decided to try it again in watercolor.

Deception Pass Bridge connects the mainland to Whidbey Island at the northern end of the island. It is a beautiful structure, and a well known destination in northwest Washington. 

There are many differences in my pastel and watercolor paintings. There is more detail in the trees in the pastel. The bridge is very similar, except that in the watercolor, I used a liquid mask to keep the color away from the structure. With pastels, I was able to put the lighter elements on top of the darker background. Learning to keep lighter places in a dark background is much more of a challenge with watercolor.

Painting memories

Still Life with Quilt

9”  x 12” watercolor

 In Sisters, my painting group, we are doing still lives for two weeks. I did this one last Friday. We were supposed to use items that had meaning to us. I chose the quilt background because it is one my sister made a gave to me. We bought the fabric at Uwajimia, and took classes at the In The Beginning quilting store near where I lived at the time. It brings back a good memory.

The vase in front is from Korea. It reminds me of living there when I was in my early twenties. It was a great adventure. I have also made collage pieces based on my time there.

The carved wooden statue of the fisherman is one of my treasured pieces from Japan. My mother brought me up to appreciate, and love, Asian art. She was able to visit Japan many years ago, and this was a piece from that trip.

The red vase looks like a red lacquered carved cinnabar piece. I am pretty sure it is plastic, but it looks real enough, and makes a very nice candle holder. It was a gift from a friend, from when we lived in Hawaii.

This was great fun, so I will do another one this week. I’m already auditioning pieces to be included.

This last painting was also done last week. It is based on a photo by Julie Pryne.

Richmond, England - the home of Ted Lasso

9” x 12” watercolor 

Switching to Watercolor

 

Diamond Head Light

2023

9” x 12” watercolor

I have flirted with watercolor for the past 30 years, but I only got serious about it a couple of years ago. Every Friday, for the past two plus years, I have been painting with a zoom group we call Sisters. We are two pairs of sisters, plus one, who live on both sides of the US. We started out exploring acrylic painting, but ended up going with watercolor. I love it.

My favorite things to paint are buildings, especially barns. I hope to stay current in my posts, with older ones thrown in for fun.

Since I have not posted for many years, I am including a few older paintings in this post, then try to start posting more regularly. I’m happy to be back.

Barn

2023

Based on photo by Carroll with permission

The Med

2023

North Shore

2023

Based on photo by Tom

Kansas City with Mary Buek

On May 18, I had the joy and privilege of touring the best parts of Kansas City with online art friend, Mary Buek. I have admired her photographs of the interesting places she goes on her photo walks, and when I learned I was going to be in Kansas City, I asked her if she would mind letting me tag along. She was very gracious and even picked me up at my hotel. At first, she gave me a driving tour of the Plaza area where we were staying. We drove by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and saw some very interesting statues of heads coming out of the ground. No photos, but I don't think I will soon forget them.

The first stop we made was in River Market. We stumbled on a great old brick storage building that was being torn down, brick by brick. The photo ops were fantastic. We scrambled over bricks and skirted mud puddles to take photos of rusty equipment, chain link fence in a pile, empty doorways, and much more. There was even a wrecking ball just waiting to have its photo taken

Our next stop was West Bottoms. Where we stopped was filled with old brick buildings. Some looked occupied, most not. There was wonderful graffiti everywhere. We didn't wander too far, but the small area where we wandered was filled with incredible eye-candy of my liking. I discovered a large drain pipe on the side of a building that had broken in a few places. It created a very cool waterfall. There were several puddles of water where the buildings and the graffiti reflected hopefully. Here is another photo from that area.

After leaving West Bottoms, I was hungry, so Mary took me to a great Mexican restaurant where I had avocado enchiladas. They were really great. I am going to make them at home, if I can. After lunch, we walked across some train tracks under a freeway to an old brewery. I fell in love with what I saw there. If it hadn't been getting late, I would have wanted to stay there longer, in spite of the drizzle. Here are a couple of photos from there.

Our last stop was a grain elevator. So cool. I had a fantastic day with Mary exploring the parts of Kansas City I wanted to see. One day, I hope she will come here and I can show her where I found the rusty car in the woods. I leave you with one final photo from the grain elevator. I have many more to process, but these are some of my favorites.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine for Tom

10 x 10 mixed media collage

by Miki Willa

Happy Valentine's day, everyone. I created this valentine for my husband and actually framed it. It is the first collage I have framed. It is created with five layers of wonderful hand made paper, two hearts of scrapbook paper, and one of wrapping paper. I had great fun selecting the papers, hand tearing the hearts,and figuring out an interesting layout. There was no stress to this project, just joy. All creative projects should be this way. That is a big part of my artistic goals for this year.

Speaking of goals, part of my life coaching group homework this week is to work on setting a goal and creating a plan to achieve that goal. I am excited about creating a series of visual odes (see this post) about places I have visited or lived in that left a strong impression with me. In addition to the visual piece, I want to share a story or two about the place. As I get more clear about the goal, I will post about it here. Part of the plan will include an accountability piece. When I was doing a painting a day, I set up this blog to keep me accountable. I think this will be part of my accountability system for this project as well.

I am still working on my artistic freedom manifesto. I will have more photos in the next post.

Commissioned Painting - Mt. Rainier

Royal Peak

8 x 10 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

by Miki Willa

This is my first commissioned painting in a long time. The patron wanted mountain and purple. The mountain I see most from my neighborhood is Mt. Rainier. It has many moods and vistas. This is from the north, slightly east. I wanted to make sure little Mt. Tahoma showed its peak as well. I do love working with purple and I enjoy the challenge of mountain peaks. For all you mountain climbers out there, this is my interpretation from a long distance away. It is not meant to be a climbers guide.

I can now say I have sold two paintings in the great northwest. My studio is ready for more creativity. I am working on preparing myself for more creative time. Just working through some of the nay-saying inner voices. One of my goals is to be more active on the blog again. It may take on a different tone, but it will be a place I will continue to share my creations and my creative process.

Enjoy the beautiful fall.

Art Contests - a rant of sorts

Uptown Glassworks

12 x 18 soft pastels on Kitty Wallis white

by Miki Willa

Plein Air Painting

" Create an art piece between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on August 22, 2009 in the Art Walk vicinity."

How would you interpret that? These were the instructions for a "Quick draw" contest held in conjunction with an art show this past weekend. While my husband, our son and his wife set up and manned our area, I set up my easel to do a painting of a local landmark "in the Art Walk vicinity." I had a great time painting this wonderful old building, working on perspective, and trying to make it look the way I wanted it to look. After a few hours, I felt it was done and got it ready to enter into the auction and contest. We framed it in the prepared frame we brought for just this painting. I took it down to the entry table to turn it in. I should have suspected something was amiss when the people manning the table had no idea what they were to do with the painting.

It turns out I really misinterpreted the rules for the contest. "In the Art Walk vicinity" meant only that you had to paint whatever you painted in the area that day, but it really didn't matter what you painted. It didn't have to have any relationship to the area whatsoever. I don't mind not winning art contests as long as I feel that the same criteria have been applied to every entry. Perhaps I should have verified exactly what they meant. Now, I can see just how vague the statement is. I also didn't realize that friendship counted. Being new in the area, I haven't established friendships in the local arts groups. Oh well, live and learn.

We will be moving on from the venues in this area. There is a good market there for our son's glass art, but none for our pastel art. It will take time to learn about the local market. In Hawai'i, people bought art with different things in mind than people in the PNW, it seems. It also doesn't help that the economy is affecting art purchases. I have observed that art that serves a second purpose is more marketable right now.

In the meantime, I will add the painting of Uptown Glassworks to my glass making series. I have a nice collection of Hugh's glass, and Tom hung some of the paintings above the mantle where a few pieces are displayed. I like the way it looks as it is all tied together. While I had a difficult time with the contest, I had a wonderful day painting and adding to this series.

Patterns in Wood, Art Shows

Door in the Wall

14 x 20 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

by Miki Willa

There is an old lumber complex on Lake Washington near the southeast end of the lake. For years there were log booms in the lake where the mill got its raw materials. Later, it was occupied by a wood product manufacturer. Now, it is abandoned. On a recent artist field trip, Tom and I found ourselves wandering these premises to gather reference photos. As we were walking back to the car, I caught sight of this door in the middle of a wall created with concrete and varying wood panels. The window panes in the door reflected the bright sun that was out that day. I fell in love with the colors, shapes and patterns on this wall. I loved the patterns in the wood and the concrete and how they worked against each other. I really liked the brilliance of the reflection in the windows. I relished the challenge of capturing all of this in pastel.

I started this painting by blocking out the shapes. Then I added the darks in the woods so the grain would work. I added lighter values as I came to the surface of the wood in places where the lighter grain showed. I added the door and the light fixture to the left of the door last. I pushed some of the colors to capture the emotions I had when I first saw this wall, especially in the windows. I am happy with this work.

We have done three art shows this spring and summer and have been very disappointed at the outcome. It is hard not to think negative thoughts about my art at this point. I know the economy is not in the right place for people to be buying art that does not serve another function, like serving bowls or quilts. That doesn't help at the moment. Another problem has been the venue in two of them and the timing in one. That, also, does not help. We have two more shows coming up. I am working on being optimistic about both of them. One of them is part of a show billed as an art show. The second one is in an area where I know quite a few people. There is a lesson to be learned in all of this, or probably many lessons. One of them has to be about marketing. Hopefully, I will figure it all out soon and the next shows will be better.

The next show is in downtown Renton, The Arts and Antique Walk. It is next Saturday, August 22. We are on Third Ave. in front of A-1 Locks, across the street from the Western Store.

On September 12 and 13, we will be in Lake Boren Park at Return to Newcastle Days. If you are in the area, I hope to see you there.

Does art have to have deep meaning to be good?

The Warehouse

soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

by Miki Willa

There are so many people out in blog land who have much to say about what art is and what makes good art. There are quite a few people who have differing opinions on the subjects. I didn't want to be left out, so I decided to jump into the fray.

There is a rather large camp who think that a work by an artist must make a statement about the state of the world in some way in order to be considered "real" art. It is not good enough to be sell executed, or to be visually appealing. As I came across these opinions, I wondered what grand statement about the human condition my art makes. So far, I can't see any.

There is another camp that says to be considered good art, it has to be technically well done. It has to follow all the rules. And, it has to convey the feeling of the artist about the subject at hand. I do try and put my feelings into my paintings.

There are also a group of people who think that anything that smacks of realism is not true art, but merely copying. This seems to have been happening in the world of academe for a while. I have known a few people who were not accepted into university art programs because their art was too "predictable and inside the box." But I like realism. Does that mean that what I like isn't art?

I do have more questions than answers in this discussion. However, I have come up with something I think is important. I think art should be celebration. I should celebration human emotions, the beauty of the small stream or majestic mountain, the ingenuity and resilience of humans, and the ways in which the earth reclaims what humans reject over time. There is much more to celebrate in art, and I guess that is what I think my work does. I celebrate the earth in my landscapes. I celebrate the power of water in my waterscapes. I celebrate glass art makers. Not everyone will agree with me, but that is okay. What is a discussion without opposing viewpoints.

The painting is a celebration of a landmark in Renton, Washington. It has survived earthquakes, fires, and the gentrification of the neighborhood. I took the reference photo on a glorious fall day because I loved the colors on the hillside, and the plume of steam and smoke against the brilliant blue sky.

Acrylic Landscape painting

Sedona Morning

4 x 4 acrylics on clay board

by Miki Willa

When I was in Sedona during my mentoring workshop with Michael Chesley Johnson, I was not really happy with any of the paintings or sketches I did there. I still have trouble with plein air painting. I get overwhelmed with all the possibilities, and my brain becomes so over stimulated I forget all the basic rules of painting landscapes. I will keep working on this problem, but will keep painting in the studio in the mean time.

This small painting is my first attempt at a landscape in acrylic. I have long been fascinated by the brush strokes I see in oils and some acrylics. I really have trouble with the smells associated with oils, so I decided to try acrylics. I painted with them straight out of the tube, and am quite pleased with the results. I love the way I can scumble in a sky and clouds with pastels, so I tried the same approach with acrylics. It worked pretty well. I also like the way the colors could be layered and blended with ease. Of course, I used my fingers at times along with my brushes. That made it really fun for me. I am happy with the way this turned out. I wonder if I can create something I like on a bigger canvas. We shall see.

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.