The Place I’ve Been Before

 

The Place I’ve Been Before, by Rachel Urista, 2017   Acrylics, spray paint, origami papers, acrylic markers, colored pencil, oil pastel on birchwood panel.

 

This is the first finished painting from the batch of four 48″x48″ panels I’m working on. Rather large and heavy for me- but I felt the deep need to work larger than I have before.

The piece went through many transformations, as much of my work does. It moved from abstract color, texture and expression, to cities in the wind, to mountains where the wisteria grow, and sacred shrines are hidden. I felt the sense of place and atmosphere come together with this one- and felt it was a space I know. Curious feeling! Though not unknown, perhaps, by other artists and poets, whose work carries them to a certain obscure, yet familiar territory.

felt the sense of place and atmosphere come together with this one- and felt it was a space I know and have visited before. What a curious feeling! Though not unknown, perhaps, by other artists and poets, whose work carries them to a certain obscure, yet familiar territory.

 

Joyful • Art Journal Pages

Sometimes you have to let go of controlling your art, and let the color and forms carry YOU. These two journal spreads were a joy to create, and make me smile whenever I see them. You see, I wasn’t trying to capture each petal and leaf- I was capturing the beauty and freshness, growth and energy from the plants and the feelings they stirred up in me.
A closer look at the layers of paint, inks,  graphite sticks, gel pens.

Working intuitively with colors, I built up layer upon layer of acrylic paints and origami papers for the backgrounds. I love layering paint and scratching or mark making on top of it- it creates a sense of energy. From this, I glued in some fabric leaves, and worked with Dylusions spray inks and stencils to add depth and pops of color.

Tracing over the fabric leaves and adding stems with a waterproof black marker pulled them out to the foreground. I adore doodles and line work- so naturally, I had to add in fun bubbles, flowers and waves with a white gel pen.

The end result: joyful pages! Is this something you would try? Happy creating!

Nature of my Journal

 

 

 

Sunny days encourage me to venture outside, my  journal pages seeking sunlight. As energizing as spring and summer can be, it is also a time to enjoy the long summer days, pause in the shade of a tree, admire the millions of shades of green in the forest and garden, and enjoy natures creations. Summer colors and textures make their way into my journal, a collection of my observations and inner journeys.

This is the state of my journal this summer – soft paint splattered cover, insides bulging with almost one year worth of art, words, expression, tassels dangling like familiar jewelry, pages pliable, worn and loved… and now, witnessed by the garden,  summer sunlight and you.

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” ~Albert Einstein

 

“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.” ~William Wordsworth

 

Blog Hop and Giveaway • New Map Stencils by Jill Berry

Oh I have a special treat today!  YOU have a chance for a special preview of artist Jill Berry’s new Stencils from Artistcellar. All you have to do is leave a comment below and at the end of the blog hop I will randomly choose a winner from those who commented.

I was sooo excited to be considered for this blog hop! I absolutely adore maps and have been a fan of Jill Berry’s work, so when I saw the stencils, I was so excited! They are MAP themed!!!  Needless to say, I had a blast creating with them!!  I shared them in my Magical Mapping workshop  and the feedback was great. They are very versatile, and sparked the creativity of my students!

Below is a piece I made and incorporated the stencils. The designs are really unique and fit right in. I used brown pens and white gel pens to give it a scratchy look and show all the details in the stencils. They added that final touch of detail and interest to my pages, spurring ideas and spinning me into a world of ships, compasses  and journeys, mapped out amongst my pages.

You can find these stencils at Artistcellar:  http://www.artistcellar.com/stampstencil/acSignatureSeries.html

The official name of the stencils are:  Artistcellar Signature Series Map Art by Jill K Berry.

The individual stencil names are:

082 Angel Cartouche

083 Global Compass Rose

084 Bloomin’ Cartouches

085 Sunny Compass Rose

For a chance to win Jill’s K. Berry’s set of four new stencils by Artistcellar please comment below!

Check out the artists below in the blog hop! Comment on their posts as well to increase your chance of winning these creative stencils:

Up next:

May 14th – Jill K Berry – www.jillberrydesign.com

Be sure to check out these artists blogs and use of the stencils! Really inspiring pieces! 

May 9th – Artistcellar  www.artistcellar.com/wp

May 10th – Chris Cozen http://www.chriscozenartist.com/blog.html

May 11th – Jane Davenport  http://janedavenport.com/

May 12th – Orly Avineri http://oneartistjournal.com/

Thanks for visiting! It was a joy to have the chance to play with such creative stencils and share!

~Happy Creating!

New Art, New Year!

Ah, my familiar tools! My lovely ink pen and deliciously colored pastels…back in my hands, as they have been early on in my artful journey. But this time experimenting with pastel and ink- together! Although the materials are so familiar to me I have never combined them in one piece. Here’s to new thoughts, new directions, and a new year!

I also can’t get enough of line work and patterns. Something about it is very soothing. Tracing lines from nature, defining space as I ink fine lines again and again. This way of working can become very meditative.

Wrapping up the first month of the new year with many projects going on! Stay tuned for more new art and events!

Have a wonderfully creative, artful journey this 2013!

Art Filled Garden

It’s winter now, and the sky is heavy and grey. Temperatures are in the 30’s and low 40’s here, frosts have hit and plants are mostly dormant. I came across these photos taken just before fall swept in. The bright colors and lush growth brought me back to those last days of summer, with art filled afternoons in the garden.

Lets take a closer look!

“There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground” ~Rumi                                            “Hundreds of Ways” Garden Soil, Acrylic Paints, Printed images, Garden Plants, ink

“Heart of the Forest” Branches and leaves, Acrylic Paints, watercolor, ink, printed photos

“Pop Buddha” Newspaper, Decorative Papers & Acrylic Paints

What’s inside your journal? Do you ever step back and look at your notebooks or journals themselves? I find as we fill them and add our life to them, they turn into works of art in their own right. What do you think? Please feel free share a link below to some of your journals and pages. I’d love to see them!

La Pine Dancer Painting

Every painting starts with an experience… this one started in Bend this summer, while on a visit with my Aunt. This point is somewhere between Bend, OR and LaPine, OR. We took a new back road and ended up here! What a great surprise!

Though the real scene was more vibrant and bold, I painted from the calm serene feeling I had from the bend in the river. Though the water was almost at a standstill, the tree here seemed to be full of movement… bending slightly over the cliff to the river, it seemed to be frozen in a modern dance pose… The twisting grace of the roots and the texture of the trunk fascinated me!

The painting is acrylic and modeling paste, fiber paste and raised paper. Below are some photos of the process of the painting. I always enjoy reviewing how a painting progresses, and would like to share it with you too.

Acrylic & Mixed Media, 8″x24″ each panel.  SOLD

STASH – ART SHOW and LIVE PAINTING

Please join us and come check out this amazing shop in downtown Corvallis this weekend. Full of all things yarn and knitting related, PLUS handmade arts and crafts from local artists.
This Saturday will be a small opening show, where I will bring a bit of my studio into STASH and paint for the audience.
WHEN: Sat, November 19 6pm – 9pm
WHERE: Stash LLC, 110 SW 3rd Street, Corvallis, OR 97330
(541) 753-9276

 

Fall Candy Colors

The response to the small square paintings I have at STASH has been great! They are so much fun to make too! A new batch is at STASH now!

The colors remind me of this Japanese candy I used to have as a kid- Konpeito!

Kompetio | by Juushika Redgrave

金平糖bot (@konpei_bot) | Twitter

Acrylic Squares: 3.5″ x 3.5″   Rectangles:  12″ x 3.5″ each

Greeting Cards and Prints!

Sleeves are here!  Who else could get so excited about plastic sleeves?  But I finally was able to package up my beautiful greeting cards and professional prints of my work!

Now available at the beautiful store STASH in downtown Corvallis. Stop in and pick out your favorites!

Archival Matted prints are just about ready too!  I am packaging up selected professional quality full- color prints of a few of my favorite pieces! These bright, lovely prints are on textured paper (called “Bob Picasso paper” don’t you love it?)  Ready for framing! Add that  personal touch to your home or office!

Feel free to send me an email if you don’t see what you are looking for or have any questions.  Thanks so much for your support! 🙂

Moooooooooo Cards!

My Mini Moo Cards are fun, fantastic and finally here!  They are BEAUTIFUL! I love how unique the mini moo cards are. You can customize the back up to 100 images. It was hard to choose, but so much fun to design! I am thrilled to have tiny business cards. Anyone who knows me has probably heard me speak about moo cards for over two years. I am happy and proud to say, I finally made them!! 😀

Sakura Tree Painting 桜

The Sakura Painting is complete! 😀 I wanted to share some of the details.

I used pine cones and twigs to create organic textures for the blossoms, and built up the tree using various papers and fiber paste. The glass beads are hand placed and individually glued. I think all of this resulted in a highly textured dynamic piece! I am so pleased with the outcome, it felt like the tree was coming to life!

To see more images of this painting, from sketch to paint, see my post here.