SHOW at the Cornwall Library

My Anxious Chickens are running across the walls of the library in Cornwall CT. Please stop in and ask Ellen about them.

Hen and Butterfly
Encaustic on paper, on wood panel
6 x 12 inches $200

As the students returned to campus

they found that the wildlife was not limited to their summers. Resident peacocks fluttered down from lofty branches and slowly grazed by the art room door. Painting students were sent out to scavenge the paths and flowerbeds in search of dropped wayward bird feathers. Armed with an assortment of plumes and a sharp razor, the kids sliced angular tips and dug wells to craft their personal drawing tools.

The first project of the semester involved creating sacred circular designs, called “mandalas” in Sanskrit. These were required to have some reference to their passions and past times. The students brainstormed symbols that alluded to their various hobbies and talents. Then they scouted the art room in search of templates to trace their giant circle outline. This shape became the boundary that contained their symmetrical designs. Working from the center of the circle out, the artist’s focus radiated along with the symbols on the surface. Once the designs were drawn in India ink with the hand-made quills, the artists used hatching and cross-hatching marks to create a varied value scale across the designs. The goal was to combine an awareness of their new environment with the soul-searching-centered symbolism that expresses who they are.

Toad stools and other wilderness details

A friend advised me to seek the wilderness once in this new urban environment... well...here is a photo of some toad stools outside on my patio. NO KIDDING. Google them! I think it was laid by the proverbial giant poison toad that can, with the toxic ooze from their back, take down a dog. I am still looking for a home for my cat Smokey in NY. (He's in a temporary home now. Really sweet... too sweet for Florida)
The golden orb spiders are everywhere, spinning webs between my parked car and the condo wall. Apparently they grow easily to the size of my fist and open hand.

The third picture of wilderness is actually my dining room floor. Like a beurocratic maze, I can't get a phone or internet hook up until next month...and there is too much paperwork for me to cut through.

Where is the art?

LANDED in a great adventure

Students arrive tomorrow at 8:am. Don't know who is going to learn more, me or them.
Can't sleep! Can't wait!

Painting Toenails on the Move

It's about as artsy as I can get these days!

PS. Made it to Miami!