The sequins or diamonds idea came from the influence of seeing Li Chen’s sculpture at the Frye museum in Seattle. Eternity tableau, a clay-and-wood installation, that takes up a big room, has at its center a 12-root ruling figure holding sparkling diamonds in his arms. He, clearly, is the leader—  his entourage, mill around him. http://fryemuseum.org/exhibition/4306/

Under the tulips – collage mixed media 6″ x 8″

Moleskine sketchbook – graphite pencil 3″ x 12″ open

After seeing the Gauguin exhibit in Seattle, I was very aware of the trees in Seattle. One day we took the ferry over to Vaschon Island. It was farmers market day so we joined the people sampling and buying food while a local band played in the background. Children and a golden retriever puppy rolled around in the grass.

Red 8″ x 6″ acrylic and charcoal on paper

Graphite Aquarell 8B drawing in a moleskine sketchbook

The following conversation went on after my new internet friend commented on yesterdays post Responding to Gauguin

Andy ParkinsonFollowingApr 17, 1:13 am

I love it! Funny how in responding to Gauguin (both this one and yesterday’s are hot responses) you cannot not also respond to other things at the same time, like acrylics on paper.

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8″ x 6″ acrylic on paper

This one looks like they are having a conversation.

Drawings are from my moleskine sketchbook.

Deux Femmes/La Chevelure Fleurie (Detail) 16″ x 6″ acrylic on paper

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One hundred and ten years after Paul Gauguin was painting in Polynesia I  copied some of his paintings. Making some notations in my moleskine sketchbook,

Gauguin La Chevelure fleurie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was blown away by the way Gauguin used color, the way he drew space using shapes and line. I sketched very quickly and noted the color of his simple shapes with the idea of going back home and painting a little rendition of a Gauguin.

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Li Chen‘s work is on exhibit at the Frye Museum in Seattle. “Earth Piercing Fire” is made of clay, cracking with time, old pieces of wood lattice and some old wire. You can see Chen’s background as a sculptor in Taiwan where he made Buddhas. Later without any training he branched out into contemporary art pieces.

4″ x 6″ moleskine sketchbook,  graphite aquarell pencil

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The sun was shinning in Seattle and color was popping up everywhere. A friend stopped to say hello to us. She was in city dark clothing, but her arms cradled two large bunches of spring flowers and she had bright pink shoes on! Window boxes, filled with perfect red tulips, were placed under the police station. The building was painted a marvelous jewel tone blue. It reminded me of Yves St. Laurent’s garden in Morocco. His house was painted majorelle blue.  A lemon tree dripping with bright yellow lemons was in the foreground. The pots for plants were painted bright colors. A little green frog chirped in the  pond.

Eddy Davis - Musical Director/Banjo
Woody Allen - Clarinet
Simon Wettenhall - Trumpet
Jerry Zigmont - Trombone
Conal Fowkes - Piano
Greg Cohen - String bass
John Gill - Drums

Feet tapping to the music while he crossed and uncrossed his legs, Woody Allen played his clarinet. Woody Allen and his  New Orleans Jazz Band came to town for one night.The place was packed. Musicians and audience had a good time. Having an Artpen and moleskine sketchbook with me, I made some drawings in the dark. I love drawing this way, because afterwards there is a surprise for me.- abstract drawings which usually capture the feeling of the moment better than if I had tried to draw what I saw with the lights on.

My new years resolution is to post a short blog every day. The theme will be travel drawings and paintings. Come travel with me through my sketchbooks and artists books. I’ll take you to Bhutan, Paris – lots of places. Happy New Year !

I went to sleep looking at a plain, uninteresting  wall that needed some paintings or posters to perk it up. I woke up to this!

Canon PowerShot G11 ISO 100 13.0 sec at f/2.8. I used my small Gorilla tripod which is great for traveling ( my luggage usually gets checked.)  I’m sure it’s because of this black and white striped metal thing that has legs that curl around steady objects.The G11 is small too, perfect for me for all the time.

Each piece of art stands alone. What I see and present to the outside world doesn’t, necessarily speak to the viewer in the same way I see it. How we interpret what we see depends on our past  experiences and knowledge.  I’m always learning about my art through comments from others. When I took this shot I saw a composition I liked. After reading Tom’s comment on Facebook, I realized there was more being said than I had intended. This is cool. I like it.

From Trefethen Studios – I both love and hate this image. I love it for the juxtaposition and hate it for what it stands for. Hahahah. The juxtaposition of the Birkenstocks against the trendy “Pink” attire is fantastical and richly exhibits the culture clash prevalent in today’s malls. This clash is further echoed in the way the two figures stand opposing one another as if to say, “talk to hand cuz the ear’s not listening.”