My Burridge Tree

While fiddling around on the Jerry's Artarama site, looking at brushes, I ran across the link to Artclick.tv, and was inspired to sign up for at least a month.  I've been looking at all the acrylic abstract instructions, and found a few I really liked.  Bob Burridge of course, and also Joe DiGiulio.  Joe does a lot of videos for Jerry's.  I don't like to buy instructional DVDs because I only watch them once!  So these online memberships are perfect for me.

As a result I've been trying some new techniques this week, and it's really fun.  Just splashing paint around seems to be the Burridge style, while Joe is a bit more confined in his approach.  But I did learn something new from each of them.

I have found that no matter how long I have been painting (in my case, 9 years nearly full-time) when I watch one of these instructional videos, the information I glean from them is quite different from what I would have grabbed onto five or even six years ago.  There is always something I hadn't thought of before.

So I'm sharing my "Bob Burridge Tree" which he demonstrates in his video.  It's quite simple, really, and involves using up all the paint on your palette at the end of a session, and then doing negative painting.

Like I said, it's really fun!

Now you can buy prints of my work...

Fine Art America has now set up widgets (see to the right) where visitors can order prints of my work directly from here. If you are interested there are lots of options for greeting cards all the way up to canvas prints.

I have completed about a dozen new paintings so far this year, in addition to working on art journals. I am beginning to participate in what is called "Project Life" starting next week, which involves posting something -- an Instagram photo, or detritus from the day, in addition to journaling about EVERY DAY of your life, no matter how short the note. I will see if I can keep it up. Heck, my 94-year-old father writes in his "diary" a sentence or two every night, so if he can, surely I can.

I continue to participate in swaps whenever I can, and continually learn from YouTube, which has to be the greatest invention since the Internet itself. How to use papier mache? It's there. How to use expandable paint? It's there. (You have to heat the back side. I just thought it would expand by itself and waited and waited and waited.....)

And all my new paintings have the new glaze techniques I learned from Chris Comer's wonderful book. It really has given my paintings the finished look I have been seeking. There's no such thing as a self-taught artist. We learn from others. My first teacher was my neighbor, Laurie Svec, and I have learned from Joseph Melancon and Bob Burridge and Cheryl McClure and Nita Leland... monkey see, monkey do. That's it.

I cut my own stencils on my Pazzles with the MakeTheCut software that I am always touting, then I am free to stamp or spray patterns willy-nilly.

It would have been so nice to have known when I was a child that I was a "visual" learner. Better late than never, I say!

It is H-E-L-L to have ADD!!

I have been painting up a storm in the past week, using glaze techniques and new skills developed recently, through the wonderful book I found by Chris Cozen, Acrylic Solutions. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear, or something like that.







Anyway, today I had planned to have a studio cleanup and reorganization, which HAS to happen after each marathon painting session. But I keep picking up something and remembering what I meant to do with it, and wanting to do that right now! So I have about ten projects right in front of me that I really want to work on NOW! I definitely need an assistant.

I made some bowls with newspaper strips (learned it on YouTube) that I would like to paint. I have more newspaper strips that I want to collage as a background for a grungy painting with corrugated cardboard and some great metal pieces I have. And rusty paint effects.

And on top of that, my favorite software, Make-The-Cut keeps sending free updates... it's now up to Version 4.6, so each time that happens I want to stop and try that out with my Pazzles, where I cut stencils and masks for my paintings from drawings I have done.

AND some supplies I ordered some time ago showed up yesterday, so I am itching to try them out. But I don't want to stop my organizing and like dessert, I am trying to save the fun stuff for after the work is done. But boy, I'm losing track of all the neat things I really want to do, so maybe I'll pile them all in a box. Which I won't be able to find later. (Seems like I spend an inordinate amount of time looking for stuff.) So I guess I'll make a list at the same time.

I was sure I had some self-leveling gel and got all set up to use that, then discovered there isn't any. That I can find, I should say. I am in dire need of an inventory, ergo, needing an assistant.

And yesterday I got the catalog from Discount School Supply, and really got jazzed over some products that are so much cheaper than buying similar items elsewhere. Should I buy a bunch and put them on my website for sale? Uh... no. I really am trying to get away from retail and concentrate on painting. But I have to remind myself of that. Maybe I should make a sign for myself and hang it above the computer. No more inventory until we get a chance to assess what's here.

So, back to work.