Category Archives: Interiors

A figurative and an interior collage, for more fun

I wandered off on my own again and created a collage based on a photo from ‘back in the day’ when two of my little sisters, Susan and Mary, were swimming in the back yard pool (pre Hurricane Camille). I’ve always loved that photo and had earlier done a fairly abstracted version on the iPad. After my collage class, I decided to do a second version using the paired color technique I’d learned from Rotem Amizur.

A hard thing about this method is that Rotem encourages us to use whatever papers we still have on hand, rather than painting new ones that hew more closely to the reference underlying the image we’re trying to create. Here, that hot pink on the two girls is jarring, but . . . whatever.

I’ve been trying to paint more interiors lately, so I decided to try a collage construction based on the view of our living room from the kitchen table. The first cut was pretty dreary, so I layered up the background with a bright pink. Granddaughter Maya was around as I was critiquing the first version and she too agreed I needed a hot pink wall in the background, rather than the lavender I had already used.

Living room in wonky colors and with an imagined painting on the wall beyond the windows.

Day 5 of the Challenge ~~ Be Safe

Day 5 brings another experiment off my beaten path. We were told in a workshop to draw a wandering line around our canvas without looking — and then turn it one way and another to see what it might suggest. We developed and painted expressive compositions out of our simple lines. I like how this turned out. I imagined the figure on the right as a mother and the other figures her sons, heading outside. She’s saying ‘Be Safe, My Sons!’ Now she’d probably be saying: ‘WEAR YOUR MASKS — and be EXTRA CAREFUL!!’

Be Safe, My Sons! Oil on Arches Huile Paper. 15 x 11.5

Day 3 of the Challenge ~~ Decayed Beauty

My Day 3 painting hearkens back to a trip to Havana a few years ago. This striking statue guards the ornate staircase of a decrepit mansion, now serving as home to a dozen families. We trekked up four floors to reach an avant garde ‘paladar’ (privately-owned restaurant permitted by the government in an experiment in capitalism). It was good, but not as memorable as this ‘Decayed Beauty’!

Decayed Beauty – Havana. Oil on Linen Panel. 16 x 20.

Doodles While Traveling

We flew to California for Christmas this year and, as usual, I occupied myself at the airports and in-air by some iPad doodling.  Thought it would be fun to share some of those from this and earlier flights with you.

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Dog I ~~ CJ

My brother has a gorgeous Labrador, who is about as majestic as the recumbent lion in the last post.  I couldn’t resist rendering Regal CJ on the iPad.  I did this on the long flight from Los Angeles to Japan a couple of months ago.  Couldn’t sleep so I figured I’d do something productive instead.

CJ. Original iPad Painting. 1:1 aspect ratio. 2017.

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Pre-Teening at NIH – iPad Figurative

I had the privilege of hanging around NIH with a dear cousin while he had a consult or two.  While waiting in the lobby one day, I saw this darling girl in her summer frock, talking on the phone with her mother nearby.  I couldn’t resist taking a covert photo and then painting her up with Art Rage on my iPad as soon as I got home.  So sweet.  Took me back to my own girlhood and crisp cotton dresses.  You don’t see scenes like this every day.

Girl on phone

Girl on phone

Rubber Ducky in Gouache and iPad

While in Maine, Ceci and I stayed in an aging (i.e., inexpensive) resort hotel which had a beautiful waterfront view.  Another delight (for me, anyway — Ceci thought I was a bit nuts) was a cute little rubber ducky.  I couldn’t resist positioning him here, there, and everywhere around the room for a series of silly photos.  Later at home, I  memorialized him again by painting him in gouache and on the iPad.  Here are the paintings, followed by some photos:

I'm nuts!

I’m nuts!

love that fish pose!

love that fish pose!

Selected poses.

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Biloxiana Sketches ~ in Line at the Waffle House

at a Biloxi Waffle House

At a Biloxi Waffle House.  original iPad painting.

On our last visit to Biloxi, we grabbed a bit of breakfast goodies at one of the many local Waffle House restaurants.  We didn’t really believe they’d have us seated within five minutes — given the long lines of seated and standing wanna eat patrons.  But the efficient staff delivered in fine style.  Here’s my iPad take on the scene.