An Angel Made From A Banana Leaf

I found this image of an angel I did some time ago in my archive of photos.

I was inspired by dried banana leaves in the yard. They have this beautiful shape that looks like angel gowns and many other things to me. Her hair is made of left over twine, her wings made from left over silky twine, her hands and face made from sculpy clay, baked and painted. Upholstery tacks hold the leaf in place. She is mounted on a piece of found wood, I painted some detail around the edges for color and character. Her halo is a piece from an old camera.

The Latest

Today is the second bought of fall/winter weather here. For us tropical types, 50 degrees (F) is chilly. So, here is the latest FIRE piece to warm up to....

Returning To Fire

This image isn't very good, but it was my first 'fire painting'. It's done in oils, deeply textured, painted with a knife. The inspiration was seeing people buy 'red canvases' on EBay. This painting is called "Lava". I didn't just want to do a 'red canvas'. I wanted to paint FIRE.

Someone let me know I was on the right path by buying this from me right away for $150. Most of what I had painted before sold for under $80.This was a fortune for a painting to me. I had just started painting abstracts. This was also one of my first oil paintings.
I tell other people 'what you do that comes easy to you is probably what you're best at, but often we dismiss this and beat our heads against the wall trying things we find challenging.' I don't follow my own advise. Painting fire comes easy to me.
I need to do it more often.

I spent the day painting two paintings and then looking up some old images. It's been a bit of a humbling, emotional experience. I don't claim to be the most talented artist, but I sometimes forget all the different chances I've had to be creative. I can't believe I ever stopped painting for a while. I think of all I could have learned in that time. I forgot how enjoyable it is to work on a painting and see it transform, see all the possibilities. Each thing you do to the painting changes it forever. And they all take on a life of their own. I have yet to begin to create something, have an idea in my head as to how it will turn out and have it actually turn out that way. They always take their own path.

More Stuff Going Up Soon....

I have access to my storage area soon and will put up 'offerings' from there up on Ebay soon. I'm too tired to go get the code for the clickable banner to put below this post, so please click the one from the previous post to see what's available, thanks

Tropical Angel

This is a very 'GREEN' Angel. She began a long time ago with a collage background made from old posters. I wish I could remember which ones. Later, looking to create art and use up items that I had on hand, I came across the background again. It didn't make sense to cover it over. But the background was too busy to add to as a regular painting. I remembered an angel I made from a banana leaf a long time ago and decided for some reason to try it again. Plus, I could use a little looking after right now.

Anyway, the rest is textured material made from recycled paper. Even the hair is made from recycled paper (poured onto a screen to make it like 'homemade paper') The center has a 'belt' of left over craft wire.

To see artwork for sale, click the banner below:

Flowers and Glass

Here is a new painting (well newly dried) Oil paint mixed with Sand (the background). Sand mixed with Acrylic Paint (on the bottom) with broken pieces of glass pressed into it. I hate to waste anything and had too many jars around. I knew I wouldn't use the jar. I could have recycled it, I suppose, but I wanted to try an experiment. I put gold metallic paint in the jar and swirled it around. It coated the glass. I let it dry, then broke the jar and picked out the big pieces. They look cool, with the gold metallic paint behind the glass (but the paint won't stick to glass long term) so they had to be put face down to seal the paint, and the sharp edges. I buried them in the sand mixture to secure the sharp edges. The flower is made from textured material made from pureed junk mail. I haven't done florals for a while and I was in the mood to do something big and colorful for Ebay. This sucker's heavy, though.
To visit Ebay and see if it's still for sale or see what else is running, click the band below: