Letters

June 15, 2011

I’ve been bogged down and feeling very meh about art in general lately. So I didn’t even get started on my piece for ARN! this month until Monday, the day before our June meeting. I had been thinking about the theme (letters) and I didn’t have any concrete idea.

I had just downloaded a free printmaking ebook from Cloth, Paper, Scissors and I knew I wanted to try some of the techniques. So I broke out the foam sheets I picked up at the Dollar Store and made an A+ stamp. I like that I can just paint on the foam with regular acrylics and not worry about cleaning it. It’s easy to cut and cheap – my favorite part of the process.

One of my son’s friends made a comment about one of my self portraits this weekend that gave me pause. “You painted a picture of yourself?!?!” I’m still not sure if he was appalled that I would do such a ballsy, self important thing. Or if he was impressed by the skill required. So I decided to try to get away from painting my own face so much.

I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. I think I was successful in making a piece that feels personal but isn’t obviously about me.

Leaving It Behind, Acrylic and collage on canvas, 12"x9"

And I have good news! I got a piece into the Narrows Baggage show!!! My friend Deb Carlson also got a piece in! Both are from the Sticks and Stones theme at ARN! How cool is that?