And now it is time for the next exchange of questions with the incredibly talented Dotty Seiter! My next question for Dotty: Dessert - what is the sweetest, most decadent and delicious part of your creative life? dessert dessert for the poet as she walks rue saint-denis in montréal is a mamie clafoutis oh mon dieu croissant, a classic flaky buttery french pastry filled with a substantial core of rich chocolate ganache, drizzled with dark chocolate and dusted with confectioner's sugar. dessert for the poet as she listens to an audio novel while she walks her own massachusetts neighborhood is the italian word fermata, a word new to her that might never have caught her ear had she not had a nearly finished draft of a poem awaiting final tweaks for which fermata becomes its oh mon dieu croissant! --dotty seiter
I've been following the monks who are walking for peace, and find this so comforting at thiis time.
And so I leave you today with their words: When peace, compassion, and loving-kindness shine in our hearts, all the barriers that seemed to divide us simply dissolve-- and what remains is the beautiful truth we might have forgotten: we were never strangers, only family and friends who hadn’t yet recognized each other. May you and all beings be well, happy, and at peace.
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About the art: beginning with an old acrylic painting, I slathered on some gesso and then carved through it with a rubber wedge to expose parts of the underpainting and to create texture. Then, inspired by a sunset photo and the idea of a city hidden in the distance on the horizon, I began laying in swathes of color with a brush and thinned oil paint. I built the layers on this piece over a number of weeks, seeking dark darks and vibrant color. Butcher paper blotting to create sky texture and the trailing path on the lower left. A tiny brush and RESISTING over-definition for hints of a city. Chopsticks through paint for more texture. There are just two more weeks to enter the October Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be entered. And please do leave your suggestions for future Reader Giveaways - I take each and every one of them to heart. Thank you!
It isn't always easy, of course. It is, however, always messy. Werewolves just aren't that neat, and we don't expect them to be.
The July Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art - free!
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Which sent a flood of awareness coursing over me - all the people whose benefits, jobs, housing, education, food, utilities, medical care and citizenship are at stake now. First a trickle, then the flood. But we see you, human monsters. We see you and we vote. We protest, we write letters and send emails and make phone calls. We see you.
But back to the quote at the beginning of this post - I absolutely live in the gap. What I imagine and what I paint are two different things. But I am relentlessly determined to have my skills catch up to my dreamscapes. Probably they never will. But there is always the next one. Which is a lot like hiking. What's over the next hill? Around the bend? Across the stream? Always curious about what's coming next. Always willing to go and look. About the art: beginning with a piece of art board (donated by my artist husband while he organized his studio space) I roughed in a mottled sky using a palette knife and thinned oil paint. Using the side of the palette knife and some dark paint, I roughed in a landscape in a V shape with a couple of hills. Working quickly and abandoning preciousness, I build layers of paint until there was some texture to it. Grabbing a piece of butcher paper, I pressed it into the paint to lift some of the layers, then pressed the paint-laden paper in other sections, creating a rocky ground look. Carving back into the paint with a rubber wedge and creating some "treeness", then adding color to those verticals with the palette knife. Inspired by hikes in the waterfall section of the Columbia River Gorge. The June Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art - FREE! And thanks for your comments and your support!
The April Reader Giveaway begins today! Leave a comment on any blog post in the month of April to be automatically entered to win an original piece of art - FREE!
I'd love to hear what you're relentlessly pursuing! Leave a comment below. About the art: beginning with a gesso-primed gallery-wrapped canvas, I pressed leftover wet paint palettes against the canvas over a period of weeks, never mind color, consistency or pattern. This creates a lovely uncontrived texture and pops of unexpected color coming through the final piece. Once thoroughly dry, I drew a rough sketch with a wet brush covered in thinned dark paint. At this point I am not wedded to the composition, just exploring. Working top to bottom with a palette knife, I applied paint in thick layers, allowing the colors to blend in some places and making sure to preserve a thin line of the dark under sketch at the border of each shape. Once the neutral base layers were in, some drying time and then the pops of pinks and reds were added. I carved back through the nearly dry paint with a chopstick, creating trails meandering down the canvas. Walking away before my neat and tidy side can overwork the textures. It's the final week to enter the March Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment on any (or many) blog post (s) this month to be automatically entered. Someone will win a piece of original art - FREE!
About the art: copper panel makes exploration deeply satisfying, and this piece was no exception. Beginning with a rough sketch with an acrylic paint pen directly on the copper, and slowly adding thinned layers of oil paint. Working from that single eye outward and keeping the color palette very limited, I followed the paint as it moved. With my perfectionist's hand tied behind my back, I pursued scratchy, rough emotion with chopsticks, rubber wedge, fingers and dripping brush. Keeping the paint wet allows the copper to be easily exposed by dripping paint and by scratching/carving techniques. This one moves me.
The March Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art absolutely free! Winner will be announced on March 31st right here in the blog. Ready? Set? GO!
About the art: this piece is inspired by an image the AI bot created, which was a surprise interpretation of the prompt I had supplied. But I often find those random, wonky images are just exactly what I needed (but didn't know I was looking for). When I saw this one, I connected with her right away - somewhat masked (the eyes) and stern looking, but with torn tights and mismatched gloves and a tutu that was clearly falling apart. Ha ha! As usual, the Yupo allowed a pretty rapid building of the layers of color, and the ability to create texture within the paint. Keeping a nice mixture of hard and soft lines was key with this one, along with varying the reds just enough that her chair stood out but did not distract from the figure. A bit of paint thinner was added to the edges of her skirt to allow some runs and smudges. Kind of a modern version of The Thinker. The September Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment (or several) this month to be entered to win a piece of original art! The winner will be announced here in the blog at the end of the month.
The ballgown bots are something I stumbled upon that delight me and seem to feel effortless under my hands. But it is a rarity, this sense of ease in the paint. As I gaze upon the pile of canvases and boards to be painted over (my share of duds) I am decidedly grateful for a wizardly moment with the paint. About the art: this is a paint-over of a very old acrylic piece on crescent board. Though I chose the underpainting because of its color and depth, ultimately none of it remains in this new painting. The focus of this piece is that small section of skin against the dark background - a wee bit of humanity within the monstrous. After a light pencil sketch, I began layering the darks, painting around the form until the shapes were just so. Resisting the desire to overly define the skin shadows, letting shapes speak instead. Layers and layers of pink and gold for the dress, wet into wet so the edges slightly blur into the dark background like gauzy silk. Mixing the darkest darks for bodice and underskirt (while avoiding actual black) and then a slightly gray-brown dark for the background. Playing one dark against the other. Allowing a small shape within the headpiece to say "eye" and a dark shape to say "ear" and leaving the rest to the viewer's eyes. This piece makes me smile. She's a badass for sure. It's the final week to enter the August Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment to be automatically entered to win a free piece of original art! The winner will be announced in next week's post.
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AuthorLola Jovan 
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