Sri Threads Exhibition of Ema

Sri Threads, the Brooklyn gallery which is known for Japanese and Indian textiles, is exhibiting a collection of Ema at Douglas Hyde Gallery (here) in Dublin. Ema are plaques that people made as a ritual gift at Shinto shrines to represent a prayer or request. I like the simple materials used in creating these works, and the directness of the subject matter. I wonder who collected the plaques from the shrines when they were meant as a gift to a Divine being?

Small Drawings

You thought I was gone forever I bet. But no, here I am again showing you what I've been working on. Small drawings for upcoming open studios at the Boston Center for The Arts on September 21 and 22. I will be in my friend Suzanne Merritt's studio on the 4th floor. 

Benjamin Allains Indiegogo Campaign

I did not know about Indiegogo, a crowdfunding program like Kickstarter, until the other day. So my husband and I started looking at what people want money for, and found this young artist who is doing a campaign to get some help to do a first run of archival prints of his drawings. His campaign is over today at midnight, so we were just in time to participate. Take a look at this video he made about his process. I love his passion!

I was Guest Blogger on Etsy Today!

Check it out here! I was lucky enough to be asked to be a guest blogger on the Etsy Blog. My post on curating an art wall went up today. It was lots of fun to do, and the folks over there are very professional and sweet. There is plenty of wonderful art on Etsy, so if you don't frequent that space, give it a look.

Keiko Koana

This is the work of Keiko Koana, a Japanese artist, website here. What I love is the subtle washes. They are watercolor and acrylic. I've been working lately with acrylic ink washes, so I appreciate the control this artist has over her medium. I can't find anything she has done lately. These are all from a few years back. 

Ruan Hoffmann

I've been a follower of Ruan Hoffmann's work ever since I first saw it on Pinterest. The way he uses the clay as a painting and drawing surface is masterful. I especially like the thin and casual form  he achieves with his ceramics. He puts some political, etc. messages on the works also. See more here.

Sati Zech

Just in case you don't know German artist Sati Zech, here is a good introduction. And there is more here. What I respond to is the abandoned experimentation.

Lately

I've had little time in the studio, but when I am in there I've been experimenting with inks. All kinds of inks and papers. I'm interested in how they behave when I wash them after letting the ink dry for various times. So far I like the watercolor inks and the old-fashioned Pelikan fountain pen ink the best. 

And this last one is a poured acrylic painting on stretched canvas. I've worked through lots of issues with this one, but I'm satisfied now. My husband calls it the waffle-iron.

Carlo Zinelli

Just in case you don't know Carlo Zinelli, and just in case you thought I've abandoned this blog, here is a post. Carlo Zinelli was an Italian self-taught outsider artist. He was born in 1916 and died in 1974, having spent much of his life in institutions diagnosed as schizophrenic. I like what Dubuffet said about outsider artists: " Isolated from society they create their own feasts." Dubuffet also said he collected art brut and founded the Compagnie de'Art Brut because he "wanted to discover art that addresses itself to the spirit, not to our eyes." And as to my absence from this blog...there is just too much gardening to do! I'm sorry, but it will not wait. It may be slim now and then, but I will continue to blog.

Looking

Ky Anderson

Karl Bielik Pram

Vincent Hawkins

David Quinn

Susan Skilling

Just some artists I've been looking at lately. The world of Pinterest has opened my knowledge of artists more than I could have imagined. I have many pins of artists, studios, and sketchbooks over there.