Painting again... yay!

This painting is acrylic on 11" x 14" canvas, titled "My Heart is in the East"... but (sadly), I am in the West. L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim!

Reflecting on recent tragedy in India

A Poem

Of endless tears
Rain clouds form
and fall...
and fall...
A deluge of our own pain.

I finally painted something...

Developing pictures of the kids playing outside inspired this painting. I wanted to show the happiness in each child's face, and veer away from the likeness of a portrait by including only the eyes and smile. Having a lot of family time in the summer has forced me to reflect on my parenting style, and how this effects their happiness.

See painting to the right...
"My Children," 11" x 14", Acrylic on canvas.

Altered Books

I've wanted to make an altered book ever since I encountered my first one about a year ago, created by Donna Kaiser, my thesis advisor in the art therapy program at Albertus Magnus College. I decided that I want to find out more about this artform and then make one myself.

There is actually an altered book society (International Society of Altered Book Artists - ISABA) online, which gave me a little more info about altered bookmaking. It seems like you can do just about anything, as long as you start out with a book and use it as a base for an exploratory art project. Some artists cut and paste and paint, others cross out or add words to the text to create their own story. You can do anything - it's up to your imagination.

I think the process of making an altered book must be a freeing experience, since it veers entirely away from the traditional - "destroying" a book, albeit to create something new. It sounds like a wonderful form of sublimation to me. I hope to find out soon!

First time blogging...

I think that now is as good as any to get on the blog-wagon, since late is better than never. I'd like to use this to display my artwork, which I hope will inspire me to do more artwork! As a mother of 3 under age 3, time is a commodity...