We’ve had a stormy and winter-spring-winter-spring-winter-spring month, and finally we are finished with temperatures in the 40’s and any possibility of snow. Chicago springtime is always a roller coaster, and without fail there is one last snowfall in early April. This year was no exception. I took a walk around the yard this morning and was happy to see daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses and tulips – one in full bloom and others almost ready to bloom. This time of year smells so good! Our neighbors’ blossoming magnolia tree is so pretty and smells like heaven.
I’ve had paintings in a couple of spring exhibitions, including the Student/Instructor show (ended last week)and now the 105th Anniversary Annual Spring Members Show at the Oak Park Art League. I love that my piece, “Two Moons and a Garden” gets to live next to a ceramic piece with a bunny top. It is a beautiful show and will run until May 3.
I am working on a new series of paintings to submit to upcoming summer exhibitions. The new paintings are inspired by the natural world and filled with foliage, blooms, and ephemera I find on walks around the lake or in a local forest preserve. More to come on those soon … : )
Spring classes are also in full swing, with the last class of the Spring 1 session coming up this Friday. The next session, Spring 2, begins the following week, and I will continue to teach Working With Mixed Media: Experiment, Play and Create on Friday afternoons from 1:00-3:00 and 4:00-6:00. Here are some images from the last four weeks. We painted our own collage papers and then cut out shapes to arrange on a loose grid structure, based on the artwork of Ruth Chapman. Then we began a Spring-inspired set of maquettes, in which we used paint, drawing implements, stencils, and a wide variety of collage papers to create layered pieces that are essentially a contained series of studies or a larger painting made up of small studies. This Friday we will end the session with experimental edges and textures.
The next session will feature working with gel plate printing, dyeing papers with coffee, tea and inks, drawing and painting on transparent and translucent papers (rice paper, deli paper, tea bag paper, wet tissue paper, tracing paper, and medical exam paper), and creating a piece of artwork out of recycled materials.
