I've been doing that for a few months now with some of the paintings with which I am not completely happy.
Here is one of them:
This was originally titled "Where the Eagles Fly" and was created for the Biker's Reunion Cancer Fundraiser in which I participated last year. I finished this on a tight deadline, and was never happy with it. I never felt that it was finished, in spite of trying several times to do so. Finally, I decided that what it really wanted was to be an under painting. What a relief that was! This is what resulted after a few layers of acrylic paint and oil stick:
Maternal, mixed media on canvas, 8 x 8". Julie A. Brown
I'm very happy that I made the decision to rework the original painting. I like to think that the eagles are there in the background, supporting and giving strength to the mare and foal on their journey.
I've been falling behind with posting my Thing a Week Jewellery Challenge efforts, so here are a couple of more "Things" for you to see. Week 7: Another eco-friendly bracelet created from vintage copper wire. This one is very substantial, simple and rustic.
And something a bit different for Week 8: An adjustable leather bracelet. Created from leather scraps that were given to me, and a large leather piece with an embossed horse-head which I discovered in a box of odds and ends left over fr... Continue reading...
Across the road from our farm and house are gloriously tangled thickets of hawthorn trees.
I am always struck by the lacy, abstract patterns created by the branches and long, spiky thorns. Beyond the hawthorns stand groves of poplar and birch.
Their linear, upright trunks contrast beautifully with the hawthorns.
Last month I posted a work-in-progress shot of this memorial portrait of my daughter's dog, Tilly (you can also read a bit about Tilly in that same post). I tend to procrastinate when it comes to finishing things I create for my family, but we are going down to visit my daughter this weekend, so I pushed myself to finish it so I could deliver it in person.
A bit of tweaking, and the mixed media portrait is now finished and at my printer/framer to be scanned for future prints, and matted and... Continue reading...
My week 6 Thing A Week offering is a cuff, inspired by trees, and again created using metal from my scrap box, which means it is Earth (and tree) friendly, always a good thing in my book.
I stamped the inside with a secret message:
Click on the photos to read more about the inspiration behind this copper and sterling silver cuff, and to find out what the secret quote is. Continue reading...
Lately I've been on a real Alexander Calder kick. In fact, three of my five Thing a Week pieces have been inspired by his work.
Week two was this copper necklace:
Week four, a cuff:
This past week, I created another copper necklace, again Calder-inspired. I think I was channeling my inner hippy, too. Doesn't it look like something straight out of the 60's?
Maybe I've been listening to too much Bob Dylan lately. At any rate, I'm enjoying the challenge of creating something each week. The... Continue reading...
This is another painting I was working on before Christmas and couldn't show you because it was a gift. I painted this sheep for my husband from a photo he took of one of his favourite ewes before he took the plunge and sold our flock. He was finding the work involved in looking after over 100 sheep plus their lambs just a bit too much in addition to his full time job off the farm, and so made the tough decision to sell them.
I thought that this pastel painting was almost complete, needing j... Continue reading...
The last few months have found me floundering a bit creatively. Feeling a bit stuck and uninspired, in an effort to jump-start my creative flow I joined the Thing a Week Jewelry Design Challenge 2011 Flickr group. Each week we design and create a piece of jewellery, and upload a photo of it to the group pool. So, at the end of the year, we should each have created 52 new designs. I thought that participating in the challenge, with the accountability factor of posting something each week, ...
This was a Christmas gift for my daughter, so I wasn't able to post this before the fact. As often is the case with gifts I create for my family, I wasn't able to finish it in time (I have a difficult time saying no to last minute commissions from clients!), so I gave it to her as a work-in-progress. It is still incomplete, most of the individual images need finishing, and then it needs some tweaking to pull the whole thing together.
This mixed media portrait montage is of Tilly, my daugh... Continue reading...
And why wouldn't they? They are a thing of beauty. I love wellington boots the way some women love their Jimmy Choo's or Ferragamo's.
And these Hunter wellies are so red. And shiny. And sexy.
My old wellies (wellie wanna be's) are pink plaid. I loved them, too. We had some good, down and dirty times together, but after only two years, they are worn out. Faded and full of holes, they are finished. I've been wearing them anyway, because I could not find replacements in my small town, a...
I'm a full-time artist and metalsmith living a creative life inspired by nature, and fueled by tea and dark chocolate. When I'm not in my studio slapping paint around or pounding metal, you might find me trying to tame my jungle of a garden, or playing a rousing game of Chuckit with the dogs.
Catch Me at Riverside Farmers' Market from 8 a.m. to noon
I'm a full-time artist and metalsmith living a creative life inspired by nature, and fueled by tea and dark chocolate. When I'm not in my studio slapping paint around or pounding metal, you might find me trying to tame my jungle of a garden, or playing a rousing game of Chuckit with the dogs.
