Up'n'at'em

Well, if I had any regular readers they've probably abandoned me by now; the last post was nearly 10 months ago. Lots of flaps n fusses have deterred me from regular posting, but I HAVE done some painting.

Corn Maiden

Here's "Corn Maiden," a combination collage and painting I did for the NMWS-SC fall show last year. I challenged myself to use a repeating shape -- the fret shape on the pot/raven's beak/leaves on cornstalks. Some of the cornstalks in the background are painted on; the nearer ones are cut from a handmade paper to which I added crumbled dried red chile. I had a lot of fun juxtaposing the very different shapes and values. What wasn't so much fun was trying to keep track of the fret design on the pot. I now have even MORE respect for the long-ago folks who sat in the dirt painting on these complex designs with a yucca brush and crude slip paints.

In this case, the inspiration was a combination of some of my favorite things:  pots, ravens, and texture, plus the challenge of repeating shapes.