Still here..Still painting!

WOW! I can't believe it has been this long since I have made an addition to my blog. It seems as the weather warms up for summer I become more full time in the gardens and only part time in the studio. I guess all that matters is that life is good! Still having fun Tuesdays with the group. Probably the only reason that I get into the studio at all. I've included my most recent project for the challenge "that item does not belong", I call it "beautiful flower". the next project is called "creating with color". Well its august and cool weather will be here before we know it so I promise...I'LL BE BACK!

New card, new project!

Well, we had another great group last week, and I did get to complete a second response to the art project "Total Opposites". At first thought, color came to mind, and when I think of opposites in color, right away I think of black and white. Now since I usually work with the figure and keeping in mind black and white, I ended up planning an interracial couple. As a second part of the total opposite project, the symbol of yin and yang kept coming up. I decided to do a interracial couple and have their arms hopefully create a yin and yang feel in their design. At first I was worried this card would be too suggestive for my web site, but I'm going to give it a try anyway. I have the site set up in categories and I'm sure this one will find a restful home in one of them!
Again there were many great pieces of art at this month's meeting, but the one which wins my own personal grand prize was done by a woman in response to the project "Total Opposites". (nobody did the project "Bargain Basement") She started out with an old hollow piece of log pulled directly from the woods. One end had an old dead oak leaf draped over the edge of the log, three acorns trapped on top of the hollow area, one of which had started to sprout showing the fresh green leaves of a new baby oak tree, and as a surprise to the viewer when you looked into the other end of the hollow log, hiding in the shadows and camouflaged amongst the brown tones of nature was an alert but hiding spring peeper frog. Except for the log itself, everything else - the leaves, the acorns, the baby tree and the frog were all photo realistically sculpted. She uses a air drying clay called "das", available at most craft/art supply stores. The piece was amazing and beautiful and represented the "Total Opposites" of life and death. Death being the log itself and life being the newly sprouted tree!
The next group project will keep you thinking awhile, but the act of walking around and living our life with the idea of a project in our head is probably the biggest part of the creative process, after that it's just execution. The project is: "The past will intrude upon the present." Hope you have fun with it!

Full support for every gender.

I can't believe it, this tuesday is fun day again! A whole month has passed already! Hopefully I am going to do two responses to the group art project this month. As I'm sure you remember, the two project options we had were either 1-"Total opposites" or 2-" Bargain basement". Actually this piece works well for both depending on what you pay for your under garments. I did the card of the jock strap awhile ago and had always intended to do the female version, so what better time than with the project total opposites. Even though there are many similarities, they are so opposite according to gender as well as the body parts they are intended for. As a card design they work well as a card of support with a touch of humor. Possibly from a close friend or family member in support of ones life style, but also for the numerous life occasions which gladly call for support. Most of those occasions probably also welcome the giggle the card hopefully causes. As all of my cards are, this design was done in a mixture of pen and ink and watercolor. The grainy texture in the background was done by sprinkling salt onto the wet paint. the salt is rubbed off once dry. The texture comes from the salt absorbing the wet paint leaving "spots". I used table salt for a fine texture, but if your going to try this, try different salts such as kosher salt, sea salt, and rock salt. Each one gives a different effect.

You Animal !!!

There isn't much to say about this new design. Again it's a mixture of two creatures like in "Hey there tiger", but this time I'm showing the beast within! I hope it's a big hit with the Bears and Cubs in the gay community. Actually I hope it's a big hit with everyone - No matter how timid we are, there's a little animal in all of us! Grrrrr!

Hey there tiger!

Before getting into card design I used to concentrate on fantasy art. You know, faries, creatures, and a world you could only imagine.
One of my favorite ways of starting a painting was to take two animals and combine them into a new form never seen before. The options are endless and incredibly fun. I have always loved the beauty of the human form, so many of my "creature creations" started there. I've done half man - half goat, half man - half iguanna, and one of my card designs, half man and half tiger. Picking the best qualities from the animal like the beautiful shaggy fur around a tiger's face, the cat eyes, and the dramatic stripes, I give you... "Hey there tiger!"

I'm telling the world

This card was created shortly after my web site www.knordesigns.com was created. I had hired a young woman to do the job but after a very long and frustrating year and a half we parted ways with only the home page done! My older brother then steped in and showed me the computer talents I never knew he had. He had my site up and running in about three weeks! FINALLY! I was so happy and excited I wanted to tell everyone and this card was born. I felt there are so many times in life like this, I decided to keep it in my card line. I hope it will be able to be used for a new job, a new adress, an art show, coming out, the options could go on and on - so I won't.

A new card for a new home

My nephew and his wife just bought their first home! What an exciting time in their lives. I don't always need my group for inspiration, often life sends its own artistic challenge. I need a "congratulations on your new home" card.
I came up with a group of fun, wacky, playful figures I call "colorful friends". They are done in the gay pride colors and represent the importance of the circle of friends in our lives. With that said, I feel family can be friends just as much as friends can become family. This makes number four in the series. So here's to a home always filled with colorful friends!

Ooops!

Can you tell that I'm not all that computer savy! I tried to include my finished "19" in my last entry, but I quess that didn"t work out. Lets try again. Just incase anyone wants to think along and possible incorporate group projects into their own work, we have the choice of two this month. Pick one or try both! Project #1: "Total opposites" Project #2 "Bargain basement"

My solution to "19"

We had a great night on Tuesday! At first we all hated the project "19" but it was amazing what an array of work it produced. Surprisingly few people took the same approach. Our group was about 10 people. We never get 100% attendance, its close to impossible to pick one date that would work for everybody so 10 was a good turn out. Just a few examples of the way a project causes a diverse body of work: One woman went with roman numeral 19 (XIX), she punched a faceted series of X and I and painted each angle a different color and tone so as the piece was moved every angle was a different color. One man did a series of leaves altered in the computer and collaged with drawn and painted elements, and yes... he did 19 of them. Another woman did a painting of her dog and cat on a tiled floor, they were viewed from behind each drinking from a bowl side by side. The larger dog created the straight up and down of the number one and the smaller cat with it's head in a good sized bowl created the number nine. It's always so fun to see what people will come up with! For myself, I always try to make my designs work into a card idea for my new buisiness (www.knordesigns.com), and since Febuary is love month...it was a Valentine card. I divided the page into 20 squares, and put a heart into only 19, hope you like it!

Tuesday is fun day!

This Tuesday is my art group. That's what I call it since we don't have a formal name (even though we have been meeting for over ten years now!). I started this group with a college friend and we were talking about how productive we were in school with a profesor handing out assignments. So... we started to give each other assignments, and slowly others wanted to join in on the fun. Full attendance of the group now numbers around eighteen artists. We vary from painters, photography, doll makers, potters, wood carvers, etc! What we do is to give the group a challenge, and then gather the following month to view the body of work, share thoughts, talk about new methods, up coming events, and of coarse some good food and a touch of wine. It is a simple concept which has been incredibly rewarding. Thinking about one idea over a months time has made me come up with things I never would have done with out "my group"! Plus the insight to the creative process is amazing when you look at eighteen different works, all starting from the same idea-or challenge. I highly recommend you stsrting a similar group in your area if you are an artist, but if you don't I'll share me project with you. I'd love to see what you come up with. Remember to keep the projects generic so it can fit into any medium. This month the project was "19". I'll show you what I came up with on my next post.

What to say???

i'm so tired of giving cards that i have to cross out words so that the needs of the card fit into my GAY occasion! Being an artist,i've decided to fill the need of appropriate cards and created knordesigns. along the way i hope to share the origin of how my ideas grow into my finished work, and hopefully fit the needs of someone else out there! To view my collection of cards, i hope you get to visit me at www.knordesigns.com