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Not moving after all

Well, I didn't like Wordpress, so I'm back to this one. I had to imbed this video of Bansky's now-vanished piece in the Village somewhere, so back to work here.

Moving -- gradually

I'm shifting my blog over to Wordpress, although it will take a little while to get things like my blogroll transferred. For the time being, I'll post both places. The address is http://bettycbowen.wordpress.com, and that's where the link on my website will go.

I like Blogger just fine, but I need to be able to quickly update my classroom blog - instructions for projects, etc., and my school blocks Blogger, but not Wordpress. So, its easier to have them both in one place.

see you over there!

A sounding board

I don't really know what a "sounding board" is, but I know it is important for artists to have at least one. Somebody who has known our work for a long long time, and whose aesthetic judgement is solid and trusted. In my case, that would be Mary Dryburgh Gustafson. I just wanted to share a shapshot Mary sent to show me one of her new paintings. I don't know the title, but it is the black crow on the yellow ground, an homage to Baskin's crow. Mary (the tall woman) has worked with images of crows off and on for 20 years or so. We visited this weekend and talked about the art we are working on (and not working on) and she was feeling like she wasn't getting anything done. I encouraged her to do a series of relief prints. Mary's woodcuts are always very powerful things, and she hasn't been doing enough of them lately (in my opinion). We also discussed how I am apparently unable to successfully work in black and white, which is her strong suit. After seeing this crow image however, I think she can add yellow.

Where is she?

I've begun making a mosaic for the backsplash of my newly remodeled kitchen-in-progress. I think it will be pretty close to the picture in my mind, eventually. The large spaces will be filled with tile I've started making at the Lachenmyer Art Center here in Cushing, under the patient guidance of Art Center director Rob Smith (who is currently having a solo show at the Ponca City Art Center).

This 5 x 5 box mosaic was my practice piece. It will be given to the Tulsa Artists Coalition fundraiser the 5 x 5, which is May 5, 5:55 p.m., where it will sell for $55. The 5 x 5 is quite an experience, and worth standing in line for.

Verticality

The weekend flew by, I don't have my new web page published yet, but here are a couple of the paintings I'll be adding. The green one was in my show at the Tulsa Artists Coalition last March, and the red one "Rising" is new. These photos were just snapped where the paintings are hanging, so they are cropped slightly.

New Paintings

It has been a busy week or so, the whole-house remodel is still coming along, the new windows are in my studio, the bathroom has walls. Soon I hope to be back to work, but for now I can finish up a few small things.

We spent the weekend in Austin, and I joined both "Women and Their Work" non-profit gallery, and Women Printmakers of Austin, both of which offer an online portfolio. I'll get my work on the Oklahoma Visual Artists Coalition portfolio soon, I sent it in last year and they lost it (they are usually very efficient, no harm done).

In the next few days I'll be putting up about six 10" x 30" paintings on my web site. These work well in those weird narrow spaces of a room where a little piece wouldn't be quite right. I also really like working with this shaped format. This is a snapshot of one of those paintings, I'll have a better picture of it for the website. The colors are warm and fun, and it is not as linear as a lot of my other work.