Some more blooms from my lanai

This morning I was greeted by this crazy orchid gone wild.

It is about 10 years old, I have lost the name.  Twice we have divided it but it was such a big job then I am sure we couldn't tackle today.  It is about 3 ½ feet wide.

It is covered with buds and blooms and each bloom measures about 7" wide.

Another nameless cattleya but it has a beautiful scent.

Here we have two orchids, Momilani Rainbow and Tokyo Rose.

All of these (and a few more) are blooming this week.  They are my babies.

I crave their vibrant color!

Merry Christmas (Florida style) and Happy New Year!

Circles

This was an experiment a few weeks ago using matt board as the base.

Part of it was discovering if I could texturize regular paper like I do yupo.

The answer is yes.  The base textured color here is blue, texturized with a dry cleaner bag.

The rest was done with stencils, just like I do on the yupo.  It is hard to see here but I was pleased that the background texture under the white, beige and grey shows quite well.

This is my "dump" from last week

 And here it is this week.  Sorry for the shadow on the left side. 

Knowing I will be otherwise occupied for the next couple of weeks,
I want to wish all of my friends on PPF a very Happy Holiday Season.
I will see you after the New Year.

Ooops, I forgot to share the latest bloom on my lanai

This is a purple vanda orchid

Abstraction

This week I pulled out my old gessoed watercolor paper

and with a class from Jill Krasner, I tried to create an abstract.

It is so easy for me on yupo with stensils and my roller and most importantly, my control.

This is an entirely different ballgame.

I created a small sample of what I wanted to do on the big paper.

I never took a photo of it until after I had reworked it a few hours later.

Then I went to work on the full sheet of watercolor paper.

I had done a second coat of gesso to create texture for the background.

I also used a dry cleaner bag squished onto the paint to get more texture.

Not abstract but it was a lot of fun to do.

You can see above where the old floral was before it got reworked.

And waiting in the wings is a new background done with the acrylic paint "dump".

No idea where this one will go.

And from the lanai this week...

One of my very favorite cattleyas, Chocolate Drop.
I shared it last week but it is even more gorgeous this week
Happy PPF

Grids

A little plug here for Carole Ohl's calendar.

Working full time these past few years hasn't allowed as much time for creativity as I would like.

However, I have always found time to day my daily calendar.  Sometimes I cheat and have to do three days at a time but it gets done.  

When Laura mentioned grids,  in her I am the Diva challenge, I knew I had a page of grids that really came out nicely and I found it!

I pop in and pop out, but I am always lurking around the Diva site.

Collage?

Time is flying by

and this week there wasn't much time for art.

I have been watching as many of Jane Davies videos as possible

(and watching The Crown on Netflix)

and then I grab a piece of gessoed paper and go to work.

I even gessoed some old watercolor paintings that were blaaaaa.

I love the "idea" of collage but can't seem to figure out how to make it happen.

So this is a tentative start...three small circles.

Stay tuned, I may get inspired by what you all do.

Wishing everyone a happy PPF

Orchid Mania

I know that this is an art site...sort of

but it is also called "Scattered" referring to my mind

and the variety of interests that seize me from time to time

My orchid collection consists of slightly more than 100 plants of all different

varieties and colors.  They live in my pool cage and at the side of the house.

Recently I have put the brakes on purchasing new plants.  I have too many to do a good job attending to them.  The attack of thrips last year taught me that.

However you can't be good all the time, right?

Today we went to Jim Roberts'  Florida Suncoast Orchid sale

to support a fellow orchid society member.

He had an amazing selection of all types of plants.

I think I did well to escape with only two.

Meet Cattleya Waianae, Leopard "Ching Hua x Enc Orchid Jungle

and Cattleya Red Tips

Fortunately our Sarasota Orchid Society orchid show isn't until January so I think this is the end of

my orchid mania for now

It's Paint Party Friday!!

How is it that Friday comes 'round so fast?

If the weeks are flying by, so are the months...and years.

This week I was digging around under the bed in the "file cabinet" and 

pulled out a couple of old starts that needed to be finished.

The first was a background that I tried to do drips on, but failed

So I pulled out the trusty stencils and went to work

This one never came together for me.  I couldn't decide if I needed to 

paint the notes black or what. They just seemed to be scattered and floating.   

Then I decided to add the lines for the notes and I think it works now.

We are moving in to the blooming season for my orchids .

Here are a few samples of the lanai this week.

My first ever brassavola orchid, a portion of which is hanging on a date palm.

One of my favorites, Cattleya George King Serendipity always has lots of twin blooms.

So while my country settles, I focus on what I love and shut out the rest.

Wishing you all a happy PPF

Rise and Shine

Rise and Shine!

Yet another way to use a "dump"

The canvas was covered in the rooster colors, running and blending as they do.

I made a stencil of a rooster, put it down and painted around it.

His sky is a splatter of paint.

The random colors worked out beautifully.

A little bit of abstraction here.

The background is the acrylic "dump"

Wishing everyone a happy PPF

Stormy seas

Living on the Gulf of Mexico has it's own special beauty

(now that hurricane Matthew has come and gone).

I love watching the scores of birds fluttering above the water hoping for a glimpse

of dinner.

This was another one of the acrylic dumps I do

and then added the birds and called it done.

This closeup shows how happy accidents happen.  I had hoped the purple

would spread throughout but no, it settled.  Once it dried, I liked the added interest of the 

purple pool.

The past three weeks we spent some time on the road in search of fall foliage'  

We headed north through the Great Smoky Mtns all the way to Saratoga Springs, NY.

We covered 13 states and saw all sorts of spectacular color.  It truly was a feast for our eyes 

as each area has it's own "color personality".

So, this is my fall impression.  This was one layer of gold acrylic paint,  I added leaves and different colors until it was "done".  A week later I added a last glaze of a gold color to tone down the original gold.  Now maybe it is too dark but I can't go back.  

It must be done.

Hope those of you living in the "northern climes" are enjoying your beautiful surroundings.

We sure did.

Happy PPF!

Dreamcatcher

Back after a long hiatus.

This pattern caught my eye.  Such clean, simple lines, I am sure I will use it again somewhere

in my art.  

It is so good to see Laura's boys are blooming in that "warm" Saskatchewan sun.

New beginnings...

After 33 years of selling real estate, I am retiring

for the fourth time.

This time I will make it stick.

Too many things have happened this year to show me that it is time.

So now I get to find a new niche and I know it will include lots of creative activities.

This week I found a piece of heavy poster board stashed under the bed

I decided to try some of my yupo techniques on it.

I prepped it with gesso and then gloss medium.  I used gloss because on yupo the paint sort of slides around on the surface,  It doesn't soak in.

Then I painted it with a transparent acrylic paint and covered it with dry cleaner plastic.

I squished it around and let it sit a couple of minutes.

I removed the plastic and had my textured blue surface.

The rest was stencils and paint

Wishing you all a Happy PPF

Lost mail

In many ways, this has been a growing year.

When you are growing, it isn't always pleasant or easy

My best friend was diagnosed with lung cancer and after four months of incredibly debilitating treatment, she elected to stop.  Four months later she was gone.

And two weeks later her husband elected to end his life.

My husband and I are devastated but we woke up this morning and it is our mission to enjoy the moment for those who can't.

Many of you who have followed my art journey know that whatever I do, it is usually lite and bright.

Imagine my surprise when I started a mixed media piece in bright blue and yellow and it evolved into a dark moody piece (for me anyway).  I guess it reflects what is going on in my life right now.

I don't mind it, I just find it curious what our muse can do when left alone.

Back in May I posted a cut up yupo piece.

 I was never happy with it and decided, early in September to change it.
So the one above became the one below and really made me think of 9/11.  I had hoped I could somehow save the color of the yupo bits but oh well, it was not to be.

Today I pulled out a background and hoped by now my morbid muse had been replaced by my old familiar muse.  And here it is

She's Back!

Happy PPF

Putting my art "out there"

Our local art center has ongoing juried shows each year.

I finally summoned up my courage and entered three of my paintings.

All were accepted and last night we attended a reception and public viewing.

That was a new experience!  

I am accustomed to cheering my children, and their children on in their endeavors.

Time to be my own audience.

We will see where it takes us.

This was one of the paintings that I entered

And this is my "salute to fall"

It was hard to get a photo of this.  It is layers and layers of leaves.

The bottom layer was gold.

And Fall is upon us (still 92 degrees here) 

In Florida, fall means school starts and hurricane season.  It has no impact on our temperatures.

Wishing everyone a Happy PPF!!

My beautiful cattleya 'Mario Lanza' #16 is covered in buds.  When it is done I think we will

have over 60 beautiful orchid blooms.

Layers, and layers

This started out as a watercolor on yupo background.  Then I rolled it with acrylic. 

Then I stamped it and used stencils

It was a fun project and I got to use one of my ho-hum backgrounds and turn it into something.

This gives you a peak at the original background

Work has been so crazy lately and my best friend has been in hospice so there has't been much time for art.  Sadly, she lost her battle a couple of days ago.  Not an art friend but one that I shared just about everything else with.  It will be lonely without her, for sure.

Wishing everyone a Happy PPF and treasure every moment.

Idaho weekend

A long weekend in Hayden Lake, Idaho inspired me to have another look

at a background I had done on massa paper months ago.

I am only starting as you can see on the right, I will negative paint out the trees on the left

and have a great memory of our time with friends in Idaho.

I have another massa hiding under the bed and am thinking of retrieving it and maybe creating some geraniums in a pot...we'll see.

Another sample of my geometrics.  The yellow was the base color.

This base

became this.

I really am not happy with the results but maybe if I stash it under the bed, it will appeal more in 6 or 7 months.  Speaking of stashes, the collection of stencils I have made for various projects is growing to the point it could be a fire hazard.  I keep thinking I will reuse the stencil...NOT!!!

With many thanks to our Paint Party Friday hosts Kristin and Eva,  I wish you a Happy PPF!

Random Paint Dumps

Many of you are aware of the many backgrounds I create with different types of paint on yupo paper.
One of my favorites is just wetting the paper, dumping acrylic paint on it and letting the colors work together.  For me, that is the most enjoyable, just watching the colors mix and move.  If I don't get just what I want, I tilt things a bit.  So this is one of my random dumps where I didn't plan, didn't move, just let the paint play.  And from where I see it, I got a bouquet of roses.  What do you think?

I framed it and it now resides in my office.

Wishing you all a happy PPF and  for those in the U.S., a safe 4th of July.

Acrylic background

This was sort of a dump of acrylic paint on yupo paper.

It seemed to convey the heat of the summer skies in Florida.

So I mixed up a thick batch of watercolor and painted my hill and palms.

Too simple, but the background gives a dramatic affect and the watercolor does it's own thing
on the acrylic which is always interesting.

This was the stencil I made and used on the picket fence painting last week.
I wanted the background to show faintly so just rolled the white over lightly.
When we lived in Colorado, the arrival of the hummingbirds meant we were done with snow for that year.  Their arrival was sort of a celebratory thing at our house.
I don't believe I have seen one hummingbird in Florida, but I haven't forgotten them
Wishing everyone a Happy PPF

Surprise!

The best thing about raising orchids is if you ignore them, they present you with gorgeous surprises.

Last year I had a thrips infestation so this year I am diligent about spraying them with

dishwashing soap and water or neem oil to keep the "nasties" away.

At this time of year I get wonderful surprises almost weekly.

One of the joys of being a Florida resident.

Finally got this matted.  The original was the yellow and I added layers and layers, and layers of circle stencils.  The foggy white layer was the last and seemed to pull it all together for me.

What do you think?

Awaiting inspiration!  I have a vague idea about a dragonfly.  

Happy PPF!

P.S.  What a surprise!  I wrote my blog, went to post it and there was my hummingbird...and I was writing about surprises.  Thank you  Kristin and Eva! and the random number generator.

Reclamation projects

By now you are familiar with the multitudes of yupo backgrounds that reside under the bed

in the front bedroom.

This was a project to use some of those.

Am not sure if it is done or not.

I'll probably hide it for a few months and then take another look.

This was a weave using strips of old discards.
I discovered Rosie Kaplan on Facebook and she does some amazing circular weaves.
Couldn't figure them out but did come up with this .

And last but not least,
this was a background and I cut out stencils of the flower and the hummingbird and put them where the colors worked best.  I rolled it with green acrylic.  YUK it was way too green.   Another home made stencil of a picket fence (reversed) and I rolled it white.  Done, I think.
Happy PPF

Dancing Ladies

My apologies for the recent absence.

Work has kept me busy.

That said, I always reserve Wednesday afternoon to splash around in my paint.

This is acrylic paint on yupo.

When it dried I covered it with a thick watercolor mixture and this time for some reason

got the beautiful background as the water color paint reacted with the acrylic paint.

It has never done this before but I hope it does again!

When the water color mixture is dry you can sketch your design on with chalk and then with a wet brush lift away the watercolor paint  using bits of paper towel to blot away the color.

This is one I did a while ago.  The red is the watercolor and the gold is an acrylic background.  You

can see that only my brush strokes show in the bottom one, no reactions.

Here is a background (complete w/blue tape) awaiting transformation.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ooooops!  I forgot a bloom for you

I smelled these before I saw them, they are so tiny.  They have a wonderful coconut scent.