Wednesday, October 31, 2007

CHRISTINE'S BIRD BOOK

















I finished this piece last night, just in time to submit it as my entry for our group show for Point Reyes Open Studios. And I managed to take the photos with my new digital camera, and download the software, so I could put them on my blog. YEA! This is a major breakthrough for me. I am so excited! (Please excuse imperfections--I am still figuring out how to use the camera)
And THANKS to that wonderful Angel of Art Fun----Judy Wise, who inspired me to do this piece in the first place! I think it is going to be the first in a series. It's mixed media................
6.5" x 7"x 12".....acrylic paint, gold leaf, photos of some of my paintings, collage, fabric and feathers on board.
Thanks for checking in!



Monday, October 29, 2007

COMMENTS



If you have visited my blog before--tried to comment & couldn't--my apologies! It was brought to my attention (thank you, Tammy!) that my comment settings were limiting access. I was unaware of it, being the Newbie I am to this whole world of blogging. It has been adjusted, so please feel free to try again. I appreciate you taking the time to stop & visit & check out my work!


I am in a whirlwind of activity, finishing a piece for our group show for Open Studios, updating my mailing list for a big mailout, and frantically making cards, magnets, blank books, and mounting prints for my fast approaching holiday shows. So I am going to get back to work now......hope yours is a happy & productive day!




Image: "Underground" gouache on paper original in private collection/giclees available

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

STOLEN PAINTING FOUND IN THE TRASH

This headline caught my eye today on my MSN homepage as I was logging onto the internet. It concerns a 1970 painting by Rufino Tamayo (whose work I have always liked) that had been stolen 20 years prior to being discovered in a pile of trash on the street in New York City by a woman named Elizabeth Gibson. The painting was titled "Tres Personajes". She claims not to know anything about modern art, but she apparently felt it might be something valuable, because she researched it & it came up on the "Antiques Roadshow" website, where it had been featured after it was stolen. It was then that she discovered that the painting was stated to be worth 1 million dollars today. The article stated that the painting was returned to its original owners, who remained anonymous. The painting is to be sold at a Sotheby's auction in November.

Now, what I want to know, which of course they didn't say, was ---what about Elizabeth? Did she get a reward for finding the painting? And why were the owners wanting to sell it after they just got it back? Very mysterious to me. Of course, they DID say that the owners had originally paid $55,000 for the painting, but they didn't say when it had been bought.

Whatever happened to "Finders keepers, losers weepers"? Just kidding! It's the old idea (hope) of finding something really valuable in someone else's discards. And it DOES happen. That phenomenon keeps all the used book dealers getting up at the crack of dawn (or before) so that they can stand in line at a Friends of the Library booksale. (I know about this firsthand, cause I have done it myself!) Another day, another story........

Sunday, October 21, 2007

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE



The weather has been so beautiful here, with Fall coming in. I hadn't been to the beach with Joey (my St. Bernard) in a long time. So we headed out to Limantour Beach on Thursday, before the rain started up again. It was lovely out there...hardly anyone around. I was throwing a tennis ball for Joey, and we were making our way down the beach slowly.


I happened to notice a wine bottle sticking up out of the sand. I thought--"that's odd--I usually don't see glass bottles here". I pulled it out of the sand--it had a cork in it, and as I looked closer, it had something inside of it. It looked like money! The cork was stuck down in, and I had a hard time getting it open. I had to find a stick to get the rolled up paper out--and there was still a little red wine in the bottle, too. So when I got it out, and unrolled, it was a one dollar bill, and written around the edge on one end was "Dear Africa, Hope this helps. Love, Simon"




Nice thought/wrong ocean. It's been that kind of week.
Image: "Turtle" Gouache on paper by Christine DeCamp

Thursday, October 18, 2007

THE POWER OF PAINTING


Are you aware of the power of the act of painting? Sure, it feels good to be doing it, especially when the results turn out well---but what about its effects on the world around us? Hmmmm?

I just read a post on Tracy Helgeson's blog called "The One Where I See the Future", about adjusting an image of a barn in her painting, only to discover, that it was mirrored in the "real" world. Check it out here.

Here is my story about the same phenomenon: I was frantically working on the painting shown above, trying to finish it the week before my show at Thanksgiving. As I worked, I thought--"people are going to think it's a bit strange to see this big sea turtle image with the background of Tomales Bay (we don't have sea turtles here--the water is too cold) I managed to finish the painting and get it hung for the show.

The next issue of the Point Reyes Light (our local weekly paper) had a picture on the front page of a sea turtle coming out of Tomales Bay onto Shell Beach, on Thanksgiving Day! The guy who took the picture just happened to be someone who worked with Sea Turtle Rescue efforts, and just happened to have his camera! I couldn't believe it! The article went on to say that sea turtles are hardly EVER seen this far north blah blah blah..................insert the Twilight Zone theme song here.

You just never know............
Image: "Turtleback" gouache on paper by Christine DeCamp

Friday, October 12, 2007

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN


Beautiful, soft steady rain. Tree limbs are bending down with the weight of absorbed moisture. Tree trunks are clear and dark. Mosses and lichens are fluffing up. And the cows are having their babies! I saw two cow babies playing like puppies this morning! Play bow, jump! Chase....but in their funny stiff legged way--running like hobbyhorses. Mist is rising from the trees on the mountain and disappearing into the greyness of the sky. Looks like we'll have a green Thanksgiving. I am itching to paint, but am at work (my part time job) today.
Image: "Tree House" Gouache on paper by Christine DeCamp

Friday, October 5, 2007

PAINT AS YOU LIKE AND DIE HAPPY!


I rolled out of bed this morning in the cold & dark, to go outside and take a hot hot shower under the twinkling stars with the moon's crescent smiling down on me. Sometimes getting up in the dark isn't so bad.


My new digital camera is on its way--and this blog is about to improve! I am very excited about learning how to use a digital format!


I just finished reading some Henry Miller, and decided that it's a good day to talk about "The Paintings of Henry Miller: Paint as You Like and Die Happy". The book is beautifully arranged between sections of text and black and white drawings printed on heavy grey paper, and blocks of reproductions of his paintings from each decade: 1930's up to the 1970's. Henry Miller had a true passion for painting, and he always approached it with a childlike glee. I credit him for getting me out of a painting block that lasted for about 10 years. I was so unhappy in my freshman year of art school that I changed schools, changed my major, and stopped doing art for awhile. I had been drawing and painting all my life. I stuck my toe in the waters of art again with batik and fabric design, which lead to weaving, ceramics, and sculpture, which I finally got a degree in. But no painting. I had the desire to paint again, but wasn't sure where to start. Miller's writing and love of paint, and the examples of what he had done gave me permission to start again and to play. It was very freeing. Here is an excerpt from the book:


"Since 11:30 PM this evening I've been carried away by the discovery of yellow ochre! Marvelous color! I put it in the sky and get dawn, put it in the grass and I get a golden light. Since twilight I've been shuffling back and forth between two watercolors---the same theme, different treatment. In each there is a tree (always the same tree, like the one I did in front of St. Augustin's), a body of water--tarn, creek, lake, river??--and hills, green as the hills of Ireland. I used sap green hoping to get a faint gold, but got Irish green instead. A little Prussian blue near the tops of the hills and they glow with all the metallic ores deposited there and guarded by the seven dwarves. Trying to through the reflection of the hills into the water I had to go over the water so often that there is every kind of blue and green in it."

I don't know about you, but he makes me want to go paint!
Image above: "Balancing Act" Gouache on paper by Christine DeCamp

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

OCTOBER ALREADY?





I have been so busy....getting ready for upcoming shows, continuing to do Farmer's Markets, and working my part-time jobs. This time of year is catch-up time for the business side of my art. Updating my mailing list, getting an announcement printed, getting all the recent work photographed, scanned, CD'd, etc. It has become very complicated, but in the future I am going all digital, so that should streamline the process a little. And I am starting to use a real database for my mailing list---all of my updates are going on the new format. I won't have time to switch my whole list over before this mailout (I can't believe I have almost 1000 people on my old list!), so that is something I will work on in January when things are slow.



I was inspired by Judy Wise to make a journal in a hand made book format, and I have started on that project. Unfortunately, I still don't have a digital camera, so I can't post the visuals in progress yet. I have been looking at different cameras--still haven't decided what it is I need.



For my journal/book, I am using some paper I had on hand--140 lb. Arches watercolor paper--which is what I usually use to paint on in my gouache pictures. I am doing an accordian-type book, with front & back boards that are not connected, so it can be spread out for viewing. (We'll see--this is my first attempt at anything like this, so who knows? But so far I am having fun with it)Onward & upward! My intentions for the future are to stretch my boundaries on a regular basis & to have fun with it!
Image shown above: "Vegetable Heaven" Gouache on paper by Christine DeCamp