tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86794559083759064642024-03-04T23:02:00.453-05:00Paintdrops Are Falling On My PantsAn artists' blog by Jaqui MichellsJaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-58427150143885518392012-03-18T16:35:00.000-04:002012-03-18T16:35:26.751-04:00A sculpture is just a painting cut out and stood up somewhere. - Frank StellaThat's about how I approach sculpture. I think of it as drawing or painting in 3D. If I can visualize it, I can sculpt it.<br />
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Recently, I took a part time job at Loblaws. For any of you who are not from here, they are a major grocery store chain. The particular store I work at, is the new flagship store, and as such has been designed to be like no other grocery store. We have all sorts of amusements in the store. Located in the old Maple Leaf gardens building, there is a lot of stuff to commemorated the Toronto maple Leafs in the decor. They have preserved part of the structure and the old walls show through. You can find centre ice marked in aisle 25 for example, or a giant maple leaf made up of the old stadium seats. We also have things like "The Wall of Cheese".<br />
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What captured my imagination the most though, was the giant block of chocolate. For one thing, I love chocolate. But tho block is huge - it has to be about 28 inches, by 28 inches by about 18 inches high. Massive!<br />
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I stood across the aisle in my own department, and watched the people working in the patisserie chunk off pieces of this block using a chisel, and all I could think was, "I have <b>got</b> to get my hands on that and carve it!"<br />
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Since we regularly have entertainment in the store, I figured seeing me carving it would be a great form of entertainment. So, I finally approached our director, and he loved the idea!<br />
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We eventually decided on a hockey theme, and set a date. After 22 1/2 hours of carving, it was as done as I could get it. There were a few technical problems, in that this block is made to be able to chunk away pieces. This made carving with the type of perfection I would have preferred not quite attainable, but overall, everyone seems to love it, so I am very pleased.<br />
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Here are a couple of still shots, and a short walk around video.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1eMKv4p12xc4hbZNTnRVniQHRB5WVOinxzSrZM_rWNKE5aOj28om5a2_v-hQCvAp84eVeiskuFe8CnqVRkQ15ZHT-QLN9EuQmy1AgoP7NRQHlJDPSnVHAm8pHz_usOcxKOWD9SsR3i7c/s1600/IMG_1337.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1eMKv4p12xc4hbZNTnRVniQHRB5WVOinxzSrZM_rWNKE5aOj28om5a2_v-hQCvAp84eVeiskuFe8CnqVRkQ15ZHT-QLN9EuQmy1AgoP7NRQHlJDPSnVHAm8pHz_usOcxKOWD9SsR3i7c/s400/IMG_1337.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/aSa5_XZcYPI/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aSa5_XZcYPI?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aSa5_XZcYPI?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>We are currently selling raffle tickets to win it, with the money raised going to the PC Childrens Charity. So if you live in the area, please come by and get a ticket or two. It's for a great cause! You don't need to worry about what you will do with all that chocolate - my suggestion: find a kids hockey association, and donate it to them - you'll be spreading the love even further.Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-24201921542170657462011-11-11T23:55:00.001-05:002011-11-11T23:56:07.766-05:00Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower. - John Harrigan<div style="text-align: center;">While I have been searching out materials for the next few encaustic paintings, I have not been idle.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I have been working on some jewellery concepts, so I thought I would take this opportunity to show you those.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">For years I have wanted to do a 3D lotus flower. Problem is, that it's really difficult to create that in a way that is easily reproducible. Sure, I can carve one no problem, but they cannot be moulded that way. I finally figured out a way to make it in 4 layers, which can then be reassembled each time. Labour intensive, but I think the result is very satisfying! The layers also allow me to use the same components to do more than just a pendant. I was able to do a ring and a bracelet as well.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7k5N3rpgyW-JAgDsP4ZFVx5GJqga7YQybm-uxTPmyEcBwuvNQaefkbTsgOaDLMp37jZVli28KApJvU7QdnPh5M1xubQ_eIj6-GdPvo3fw3-lJp6R0mQ7gyKxolkkKqqg24WKtNsIUVpo/s1600/Lotus+Flower+pendant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7k5N3rpgyW-JAgDsP4ZFVx5GJqga7YQybm-uxTPmyEcBwuvNQaefkbTsgOaDLMp37jZVli28KApJvU7QdnPh5M1xubQ_eIj6-GdPvo3fw3-lJp6R0mQ7gyKxolkkKqqg24WKtNsIUVpo/s400/Lotus+Flower+pendant.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Lotus Flower Pendant</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">This piece is about 1 3/8 inches in diameter, and the finished weight is roughly 11-12 grams in sterling silver.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgf6m0jzvbvlhzrrXAIBvQ3zrOR8XZHhb56QmJEFydGj46zOstTQwAzGMbYSK_1jyyIATcdhZuNRfoxK1ClzJtIFplkfaFvv5FKkkW7J1Uzplpgw7gJeCBZrf7YZdwr4cSx0MGgK0F1mA/s1600/Lotus+Bracelet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgf6m0jzvbvlhzrrXAIBvQ3zrOR8XZHhb56QmJEFydGj46zOstTQwAzGMbYSK_1jyyIATcdhZuNRfoxK1ClzJtIFplkfaFvv5FKkkW7J1Uzplpgw7gJeCBZrf7YZdwr4cSx0MGgK0F1mA/s400/Lotus+Bracelet.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Lotus Flower Bracelet</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The next piece I worked on was the bracelet. I cut off the bail from the back, pierced two of the leaves, and soldered on the chain and lobster claw findings.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrWPI5H7I0EAVMv0PsGlhEjlT3lgoctgIU2kqUMqv5rCvgMQ4FClIxDkC6_5zExKMDfQeI50XDUTBmepW5NePa4_VVl0Vd0eUdhFDyNdpZeIR5TNoTymiAdbtbell4A7OcEK6ls7i6yKw/s1600/Lotus+Flower+Ring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrWPI5H7I0EAVMv0PsGlhEjlT3lgoctgIU2kqUMqv5rCvgMQ4FClIxDkC6_5zExKMDfQeI50XDUTBmepW5NePa4_VVl0Vd0eUdhFDyNdpZeIR5TNoTymiAdbtbell4A7OcEK6ls7i6yKw/s400/Lotus+Flower+Ring.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Lotus Flower Ring</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Finally, I created the ring, using 3 of the 4 layers, in order to allow some "lift" off the fingers. I was concerned also about the diameter being too much for most peoples hands. Certainly, I can create a custom ring with all 4 layers if someone wishes it, but for now, due to the way I made the layers I wouldn't suggest it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">As usual, I also had fun writing the label that goes with it. Most of my pieces have a label with the meaning of the piece, and this one is no exception. Here is a copy of the meaning of the lotus flower as per the label I made:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">"In cultures from ancient Egypt, across Asia and into India, they have been used to represent the human soul, divine purity, enlightenment, wealth and rebirth.<br />
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Egyptians said the lotus flower represented the sun and rebirth. In one of their creation legends, the sun rose out of a lotus that had grown from a watery chaos.<br />
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For the Buddhists, the lotus represents rising above desire and attachment, as the lotus rises above the muddy waters. It's one of the eight auspicious symbols, and represents purity of speech, mind and body. Different colours represent different aspects of perfection.<br />
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In Hinduism the lotus represents prosperity, beauty, fertility, eternity and eternal youth, purity and divinity. The suggestion is that people should be as the lotus, rise above the muddy waters and attachment, and blossom. Lotus flowers are also used to represent the chakras.<br />
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In todays world, lotus flowers still carry their ancient meanings of purity and perfection, with modern reinterpretations. They symbolize life, new beginnings and the possibility of people blossoming into something beautiful."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I am really, really happy with the results of this latest project. Certainly everyone who sees it says they think it is stunning! What do you think? I'd love to get your feedback!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-75067628207474078622011-09-21T20:43:00.000-04:002011-09-21T20:43:44.539-04:00If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee. -Abraham Lincoln<div style="text-align: center;">Some people have "tea-time" and some have "coffee-time". So, I posed the question to my friends: what do you call it, if you don't want to call it "break-time" and yet you do not want to be exclusionary of either group?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">One of the suggestions was "Recess". I loved it right away, and decided that it would be the title for my series of encaustic multi-media pieces I am currently working on.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Not being a coffee drinker, I had to have a friend send me some filters. Those travelled from out west in Calgary, to Toronto. Then the old wood had to be found and the frame created. This series was planned for a good couple of months before I could start the painting process</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Here are the first two in the series.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55ZpP-520LrDydmFtrmCCasIOAg-Hl0YZqlWWMdY5Pyz-84wi5vS_r7sI3qNrEUTagfdIWtX2cXWl9TaMG6Acu6S1EFRC1SQc1rofqddq_Kv2Ll3vPw8flRJhrV79qhadoupR7QwzKKs/s1600/IMG_0754.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55ZpP-520LrDydmFtrmCCasIOAg-Hl0YZqlWWMdY5Pyz-84wi5vS_r7sI3qNrEUTagfdIWtX2cXWl9TaMG6Acu6S1EFRC1SQc1rofqddq_Kv2Ll3vPw8flRJhrV79qhadoupR7QwzKKs/s400/IMG_0754.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Recess, 22 x 22 inches, encaustic multi-media.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">With the background created entirely from mottled wax colours, you really have the feeling of coffee or tea with a touch of milk added. I learned also not to get the coffee filter too wet with the wax, as it went completely transparent, and had to be "rescued" so that it could be seen. the sprinkles of "sugar" seem to come out of the painting, and they create a pile inside the frame, but out of the painting.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bITIJjdYKR-hIrcOADkZEAC6R5Mu5fty1a6P4Xf5ga4bXUyt2CLJj12H1qzoYYnMDo5wQKGMIMNeJ475PLuCn8Zmfe6X4_d9tfX9x1Dqbiig9c8xkopflxUtLE9ZRF-J3kpJGeMREHs/s1600/Recess+Two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bITIJjdYKR-hIrcOADkZEAC6R5Mu5fty1a6P4Xf5ga4bXUyt2CLJj12H1qzoYYnMDo5wQKGMIMNeJ475PLuCn8Zmfe6X4_d9tfX9x1Dqbiig9c8xkopflxUtLE9ZRF-J3kpJGeMREHs/s400/Recess+Two.jpg" width="393" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Recess Two, 22 x 22 inches, encaustic multi-media.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">For this one, I wanted a very "kitchen type" look. I used the lining you can buy for shelves as my background, and painted over that with the beeswax to diffuse the pattern just a bit. Here, I only wet the center of the coffee filter, so it kept it's lovely stained look. At the top, I cut away a semi-circle, and made it look like sugar is falling down through the hole, cascading along the teabags and spoon, to create a small pile at the bottom.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This is turning out to be quite a fun series to work on. I have another two planned, and just need to create the frames in order to continue. I have been using the old "strapping" wood from inside our walls. We live in a house that is 106 years old, and when we pulled down a wall, this was the wood inside the walls. It's a perfect thickness to make the frame, and I love the old and weathered look to it. I sure hope I can find more like it to use in the rest of the series!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-1884827433760689592011-09-13T10:50:00.001-04:002011-09-13T10:58:30.677-04:00The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark. -Agnes de Mille<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Over the summer, I decided to take a course on encaustic painting. It has turned into a medium that I just love. I think it particularly lends itself to textures, and more loose renditions - though you can still control it enough if you'd like to get more tight and figurative with it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Starting off then, here are some examples of what I have been doing with the encaustic. I think when I lay them all out like this, I can really see a progression in my ability to control the medium, even though I may not always want to completely control it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzLqlb-4teqcEd4AhqmvoqbQjvd7SObJUQKIjSn_663gSCDj19etwfPEQSTRXNpvwp3pTECaUJWmbo-rnlSX4rG4wRpYilrCkPtZeK8meQPal_1Yx5iyDD1bH0ND4v6HY-9cgwPmi8_2Q/s1600/IMG_0463.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzLqlb-4teqcEd4AhqmvoqbQjvd7SObJUQKIjSn_663gSCDj19etwfPEQSTRXNpvwp3pTECaUJWmbo-rnlSX4rG4wRpYilrCkPtZeK8meQPal_1Yx5iyDD1bH0ND4v6HY-9cgwPmi8_2Q/s400/IMG_0463.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Approx. 8.5 x 11.5</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My very first encaustic painting. For me at this point, it was purely experimental, and making marks to get the feel of how the hot wax does, or doesn't spread as you apply it to the board. The same can be said of the second piece.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGWI7PGKnca9kh1enmkD3mEHTOw5GEAEb6e1HTAtZL_ZQFu6pwsFhnLj1pwniMY4ek6Pv7Tc8s_psYB0CTXRLCkRc1PGiXdDaK4x6Zb2MRP7BLO0psGOsSudfkUxON6WxDG_2fkpdEsQ/s1600/IMG_0462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGWI7PGKnca9kh1enmkD3mEHTOw5GEAEb6e1HTAtZL_ZQFu6pwsFhnLj1pwniMY4ek6Pv7Tc8s_psYB0CTXRLCkRc1PGiXdDaK4x6Zb2MRP7BLO0psGOsSudfkUxON6WxDG_2fkpdEsQ/s400/IMG_0462.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Approx. 8.5 x 11.5</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkv2CsUjCpWLcc1h5eWc1RxWC9E_9ZlfkmmwXW-b604_30IxgE-Lqlch4iYVJiVBp9-wzWI8csv25uBgzHs_taqfUfDv6rgolrADy_FLtxMJASIx5SmcuxVpbTJBINH13akLZzZfLag0c/s1600/IMG_0469.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkv2CsUjCpWLcc1h5eWc1RxWC9E_9ZlfkmmwXW-b604_30IxgE-Lqlch4iYVJiVBp9-wzWI8csv25uBgzHs_taqfUfDv6rgolrADy_FLtxMJASIx5SmcuxVpbTJBINH13akLZzZfLag0c/s400/IMG_0469.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Approx. 8.5 x 11.5</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">By the time I got to the second class, I wanted to see how much I could control it if I wanted to get more figurative. The above blossoms were the result.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Next, I decided to see if it would work well as a medium for ACEO sized pieces. I started with one session, in which I did 4 of them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfDP5BPdzC5Vn0tFz7c00SMH75Q9G9L5f3mrXbLFLW-sf7TDpU8a-hGNV2ZcYBAoBTm98XLqwIIjvyTtSUUIPxtH8-2__A_-Tj3oQ3rYehPm69FLT_8eoIt5R7RNWiW9vNDWL_rOqqy_E/s1600/ACEO+Spring+Glory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfDP5BPdzC5Vn0tFz7c00SMH75Q9G9L5f3mrXbLFLW-sf7TDpU8a-hGNV2ZcYBAoBTm98XLqwIIjvyTtSUUIPxtH8-2__A_-Tj3oQ3rYehPm69FLT_8eoIt5R7RNWiW9vNDWL_rOqqy_E/s400/ACEO+Spring+Glory.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ACEO</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhefm9X8SKlLzlexqEc5HKji4kryrRNNZqO8lv48mmLWd2ekROuEsX6aoCCzjYEIN0oX44mzphdwOzMWpdrHrTP5v8QKded9zCJloDMu9GONL95u1XyIQBvR2OGYh3V8EqGTTeXBYwVhmc/s1600/ACEO+Fun+With+Flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhefm9X8SKlLzlexqEc5HKji4kryrRNNZqO8lv48mmLWd2ekROuEsX6aoCCzjYEIN0oX44mzphdwOzMWpdrHrTP5v8QKded9zCJloDMu9GONL95u1XyIQBvR2OGYh3V8EqGTTeXBYwVhmc/s400/ACEO+Fun+With+Flowers.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ACEO</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQuBDIGzuSRhLT1cWIYt-1bowI_4tyA0NYxi8mf8O5ONMqXSslSP4dR-TJp4d5Wz7vNArvpAnRsk-YoGgeHsH2tDb-XEyyLGcGszMypYdZGt_E_MTrYVfrjO-g5KULNoR_5DQxKOEm5Uo/s1600/Encaustic+ACEO+Purple+pansies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQuBDIGzuSRhLT1cWIYt-1bowI_4tyA0NYxi8mf8O5ONMqXSslSP4dR-TJp4d5Wz7vNArvpAnRsk-YoGgeHsH2tDb-XEyyLGcGszMypYdZGt_E_MTrYVfrjO-g5KULNoR_5DQxKOEm5Uo/s400/Encaustic+ACEO+Purple+pansies.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ACEO "Purple Pop"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigiiJ9euSw_79pZ5JctM59xMDh1qZG1aZdYEyXU1lAARMsFA28WJQcCg2wp0o1Weq9CbNzFgeseJTgbZavZ27P1_Tw2aKf1rvQIIfBpay9Hvvt_V2I_CsNNv3TO0npuDgfvNvQYH9qSbk/s1600/IMG_5044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigiiJ9euSw_79pZ5JctM59xMDh1qZG1aZdYEyXU1lAARMsFA28WJQcCg2wp0o1Weq9CbNzFgeseJTgbZavZ27P1_Tw2aKf1rvQIIfBpay9Hvvt_V2I_CsNNv3TO0npuDgfvNvQYH9qSbk/s400/IMG_5044.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ACEO</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Class was still going on, and we were next asked to do some collage work with the encaustic.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWZpO9w7VjW0i0bClbbOJLlk9c-6e3lomTeRpDXvsorKPG1P5xKmPkrlcztpts81vM7Zpv72RQoBS-yJ0lK2yjeG0YW5dWhWHRHIgtizYSnJr5MfjY5j-hIM7MfFECIHmS5fsNlt-suw/s1600/IMG_0614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWZpO9w7VjW0i0bClbbOJLlk9c-6e3lomTeRpDXvsorKPG1P5xKmPkrlcztpts81vM7Zpv72RQoBS-yJ0lK2yjeG0YW5dWhWHRHIgtizYSnJr5MfjY5j-hIM7MfFECIHmS5fsNlt-suw/s400/IMG_0614.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Approx. 8.5 x 11.5 "Falling for You"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Since I seem to just love shiny things, the gold and copper leaf were fantastic to incorporate for both the collage piece above as well as the smaller one below.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXJ9Y0UPETp5JFpVssfQxX3jzK92WVr6qOeDd-OxHilcDuP8VL29rcrpcWSwMp6EhrPxnOL-uv-Z4WJALipUVIzpjPtznlAzu_wFKSXX0mR4YGoVN6nEQ2j8xbjRSHOk_OMXM7ssCIp4/s1600/IMG_0612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXJ9Y0UPETp5JFpVssfQxX3jzK92WVr6qOeDd-OxHilcDuP8VL29rcrpcWSwMp6EhrPxnOL-uv-Z4WJALipUVIzpjPtznlAzu_wFKSXX0mR4YGoVN6nEQ2j8xbjRSHOk_OMXM7ssCIp4/s400/IMG_0612.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">5 x 7 This was the first one that I had done on Ampersands Encausticbord</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUTJMomngxGrY6PxB3P4vwgAeRJl7F9OC1AzQgg7s9Y8eZTHKKnGCed6OTQQWBKWiB1UWXDz0SqnMS4jJScvy0SEOEEpLK8vsGEhHDbfVnrTv8BIUbrBiINg3gO0a4uBCp3g6JsOrJu0/s1600/IMG_0615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUTJMomngxGrY6PxB3P4vwgAeRJl7F9OC1AzQgg7s9Y8eZTHKKnGCed6OTQQWBKWiB1UWXDz0SqnMS4jJScvy0SEOEEpLK8vsGEhHDbfVnrTv8BIUbrBiINg3gO0a4uBCp3g6JsOrJu0/s400/IMG_0615.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Approx. 8.5 x 11.5</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0XCz-bJFgtJygLOQ1yb6aPEJ3Wvbntr6FCrJsyZmpFO3ZhpPAlyUwrYpxF20zBmyZP0v2q_tOlr9-KRVtKFrC1-VSz9PdsgrNIfiZmLXtDZiwCWrmAV9VZylLX5R4Q_PBG5Q8QNKxJQg/s1600/IMG_0613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0XCz-bJFgtJygLOQ1yb6aPEJ3Wvbntr6FCrJsyZmpFO3ZhpPAlyUwrYpxF20zBmyZP0v2q_tOlr9-KRVtKFrC1-VSz9PdsgrNIfiZmLXtDZiwCWrmAV9VZylLX5R4Q_PBG5Q8QNKxJQg/s400/IMG_0613.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Approx. 8.5 x 11.5 "Day at the Beach"</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">For this one, "Day at the Beach" we were asked to bring in objects that could be stuck to the painting. I opted to make some fimo fish, dolphins and other sea creatures and objects. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I then went back to playing with ACEO sizes, and this time did them on Encausticbord. By then, I had also received a shipment of R&F encaustic paints. Within the shipment, was all the metallic colours I had been longing to try out.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiG9i0Xlm7M2FJh3sUtK9pjVWFejsWtDv22aljVsHjaW2fCspTe7wINsk9ea1laf5oynMrh0-DymxxiLVrtNpOexFELrY4IYTEKfdlq80t1viCjXe7H5i4e5PV9vhDMM9IGeRThR3pM9o/s1600/IMG_5034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiG9i0Xlm7M2FJh3sUtK9pjVWFejsWtDv22aljVsHjaW2fCspTe7wINsk9ea1laf5oynMrh0-DymxxiLVrtNpOexFELrY4IYTEKfdlq80t1viCjXe7H5i4e5PV9vhDMM9IGeRThR3pM9o/s400/IMG_5034.JPG" width="286" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ACEO "Royal Stems"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ZSrwhv7Lu2P_RVdIy3jnlz88y1yBaJj83j9MhtOK0t9Y5csNOeG5v6Wx0W16_BtQ7R1sW2fMz1-I1QfzhZmEqj1WUcAgBSJuAlnVlGYekiFwANwquptOAwu1Dgy9ek1g3wPgOfAS-9g/s1600/IMG_5035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ZSrwhv7Lu2P_RVdIy3jnlz88y1yBaJj83j9MhtOK0t9Y5csNOeG5v6Wx0W16_BtQ7R1sW2fMz1-I1QfzhZmEqj1WUcAgBSJuAlnVlGYekiFwANwquptOAwu1Dgy9ek1g3wPgOfAS-9g/s400/IMG_5035.JPG" width="280" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ACEO "Golden Red Rose"</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeSs6as2eOo0x82zLRZcTWxycAXT2dO1CboUpqwIkxtTNfMng9kSinPUt-eR6kycWe2GmwE7tXxAEUuZkRlxWAxuMi5JAuTieUiBS5j80DjXZpLDhf7Sf7LYmDfLlBlITYvcg7nyrSUzA/s1600/IMG_5036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeSs6as2eOo0x82zLRZcTWxycAXT2dO1CboUpqwIkxtTNfMng9kSinPUt-eR6kycWe2GmwE7tXxAEUuZkRlxWAxuMi5JAuTieUiBS5j80DjXZpLDhf7Sf7LYmDfLlBlITYvcg7nyrSUzA/s400/IMG_5036.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ACEO "Flowering Meadow"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Knowing that we were going to be asked to do a Bas Relief piece in class, I started preparing a cradled Encausticbord with layers of different colours. My idea had been that if I layered the darker flesh tones beneath the medium and then lighter flesh tones, that I could carve away my figure, and have the deepest carving areas be the shadow areas. It was a fun idea, but the reality is that the shadow areas are not always in the deepest carving areas - sometimes they are just on one side or another as the light "hits" the subject. I still need to paint in some definition to the face because of just this reason. As it stands, since the face is not in as much shadow, it lacks definition with just the carving.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wN-bES_PA3pS5jwilmWa6mn9nI_d77GG0nl8YFXoJQufKDZYRBwxT0pwrVikL2xDqaQ6MKW-1XQWrQhFL_YLinSuMsbTvqrjsUkcmOfyfVeCdKS2hmqCL0l1V01OZRH-55oAzCn1xLw/s1600/IMG_0647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wN-bES_PA3pS5jwilmWa6mn9nI_d77GG0nl8YFXoJQufKDZYRBwxT0pwrVikL2xDqaQ6MKW-1XQWrQhFL_YLinSuMsbTvqrjsUkcmOfyfVeCdKS2hmqCL0l1V01OZRH-55oAzCn1xLw/s400/IMG_0647.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">6 x 6</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I was then invited to take part once again in this years exhibition "Almost Edible". The next three are all on cradled board, and done for that exhibition.</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCAjeJp2_CYDb2jFvu7nu4FCcZk-onXOTTCeSgd4KcnLbMy1zOe-ftXFPaEfHfDHl1uiX6Nk4KrEEGMLsz5xEPMBnz7sijoJ63G0OZrkbkb4eEtvwBmEGTKsmoo-oF-ZSzFeAjAQ1lRU/s1600/IMG_0653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCAjeJp2_CYDb2jFvu7nu4FCcZk-onXOTTCeSgd4KcnLbMy1zOe-ftXFPaEfHfDHl1uiX6Nk4KrEEGMLsz5xEPMBnz7sijoJ63G0OZrkbkb4eEtvwBmEGTKsmoo-oF-ZSzFeAjAQ1lRU/s400/IMG_0653.jpg" width="298" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">9 x 12 "Summer delight"</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj24UqAKl5VRdrmYrnPktMhNSPGQETHDRsUTYNEiYAFKDgqoa3KOHetxDtY6Q3Sl657JDKkAIsJzUp2BcNHnnyByunrpg36Fh9-94FLu_O9tQNM2ARwoNF3BEm9O9aTbDlfvrEOZF2nggc/s1600/Bubbly+Goodness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj24UqAKl5VRdrmYrnPktMhNSPGQETHDRsUTYNEiYAFKDgqoa3KOHetxDtY6Q3Sl657JDKkAIsJzUp2BcNHnnyByunrpg36Fh9-94FLu_O9tQNM2ARwoNF3BEm9O9aTbDlfvrEOZF2nggc/s400/Bubbly+Goodness.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">9 x 12 "Bubbly Goodness"</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtIqk4ioYqhSUTW0cT5oPAfdQHwu9AZab8Zm9KaALurthzXyhLASwq0T6w4-RvcDY9AZ7N45yJE5E4kkhmr3A5Bb7EnU7OPAmadjtZZ4EF1goQr_pDNbRa3y5Wcb91gzQZO8XsXT5m4o/s1600/Encaustic+coffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtIqk4ioYqhSUTW0cT5oPAfdQHwu9AZab8Zm9KaALurthzXyhLASwq0T6w4-RvcDY9AZ7N45yJE5E4kkhmr3A5Bb7EnU7OPAmadjtZZ4EF1goQr_pDNbRa3y5Wcb91gzQZO8XsXT5m4o/s400/Encaustic+coffee.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">9 x 12 "Morning Delight"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I love it when, as Bob Ross used to say, you have a "happy little accident". While I was making the scrapings for the "Summer Delight" piece above, some of the scrapings began to resemble flowers. At this point, I then intentionally did a whole bunch of them, and they turned into this next piece, "Tropicana". I love the 3D nature of this one.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje-kuJycpmqRTC2HKI0MQ9Zxnkph2xBhzfaXLD5zjfFlL1Rt772xOoziVgn4Mx0TX8KDTVAVNTqMChHYztWTWtZQAq-E7OHYDuDE2e3nnhRYU68gphx855LlLD8sFfLX2FLPlVO0e7Bw0/s1600/Tropicana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje-kuJycpmqRTC2HKI0MQ9Zxnkph2xBhzfaXLD5zjfFlL1Rt772xOoziVgn4Mx0TX8KDTVAVNTqMChHYztWTWtZQAq-E7OHYDuDE2e3nnhRYU68gphx855LlLD8sFfLX2FLPlVO0e7Bw0/s400/Tropicana.jpg" width="325" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">8 x 10 "Tropicana"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Of course, the encaustics are not the only pieces I have been working on. While I have been working on those, I have also been working on new jewellery designs, and some pastels and some Scratchbords. I also opened a stall in an Arts Market here in Toronto - another leap in the dark for me. With luck, I'll see the light soon enough.</div><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-82879987098889693752011-08-15T18:19:00.001-04:002011-08-15T18:21:06.009-04:00As you can see, at my age – 48 – Art is still one big experiment. ~ E. J. Hughes<div style="text-align: center;">The above quote is so appropriate for me, it is easily something I would and do say. I love to play with new things, try them all out, and experiment in so many ways. In the past couple of months, I have been experimenting with at least 2 new mediums.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Spurred on by demo videos on the R&F site, I asked for, and was given for my birthday, a whole bunch of the R&F oil paint sticks. They are wonderfully, terribly messy to work with, so naturally, I love them!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I don't have a lot of pieces to show which have been completed with these, as I have found them to take a very long time to dry. I have a number of half done pieces, while I wait for things to be dry, so I can move on to the next part of the paintings. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Since I normally paint on canvas when I use oil, I usually find that the paint will dry in about 3-7 days. I switched over to Ampersands Gessobord when I went with the R&F paint sticks though, and have found that some take a couple of weeks or more to dry. I am not sure if this is because all oils take longer to dry on the Gessobord, or if it is due to the nature of the paint sticks.</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw4xyUA9obk8GbRF-97SBXMlcJPNk278g9zhYa0xoznSxD-ktohBllDvIPM2ttBDulp5KoSipUNyqMPDoH7fpy3BZjQBkG6cm5HKp0Yk3zDzIDunzTCX4JROHTtf3I4xCSrDRn-gfegxU/s1600/IMG_5086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw4xyUA9obk8GbRF-97SBXMlcJPNk278g9zhYa0xoznSxD-ktohBllDvIPM2ttBDulp5KoSipUNyqMPDoH7fpy3BZjQBkG6cm5HKp0Yk3zDzIDunzTCX4JROHTtf3I4xCSrDRn-gfegxU/s400/IMG_5086.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">What I do love about them is how immediate they are. They really lend themselves to gesture type marks and movements. Very spontaneous, they feel a lot like play when I work with them, and I find I am less tempted to get into fine detail, so while I can still work figuratively, I paint in a looser manner with them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In my next blog post, I'll be talking a little about the Encaustic painting that I started in the last couple of months.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In the meantime, have you ever used the R&F paint sticks? If so, have you tried them on regular canvas or board, and what was your experience? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-10482975197095854102011-06-13T18:15:00.000-04:002011-06-13T18:15:02.745-04:00Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a songbird will come. — Chinese proverb<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">So, what do <i>you</i> do when you have a bunch of leftover paint? I just cannot bring myself to throw it away. I pull out a canvas, or two if it's warranted, and find something else to paint. It's why I always have a bunch of extra canvases on hand. You just never know when there'll be leftovers that need using up. Sometimes, what happens on that canvas is, well, less than spectacular. And, sometimes it has a really nice feeling to it. On occasion, I might even get a spectacular piece.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">So, after I finished my round of self portraits, I found myself with two sets of leftovers. The first thing I had was a whole bunch of leftover oil paint. I challenged myself to do a still life, using ONLY the paints on the palette, and further, to use only my palette knife. I am quite pleased with the results. It's loose, but figurative. I managed to stay away form getting too tight with the rendering.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Untitled, 11 x 14, Oil</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">After that, I <i>still</i> had some leftover paint...it was coming down to the bare bones, but I figured I would have enough to cover a 10 x 10. I like the result of this one as well. There is a certain <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"je ne sais quois" about it. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2qDehKh1PPJHge_Y_9cWOAJ-1yp_FltiBZGt4wcvntbLlIDBu-1BB1SXRHkpY8PHZOza8LT4V8V368YjNy5dulDFj4LAV67gElJamjKl1t3W0ofm6AuDY-ZDSAcRygVdW8yrJJ2oKavk/s1600/IMG_0336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2qDehKh1PPJHge_Y_9cWOAJ-1yp_FltiBZGt4wcvntbLlIDBu-1BB1SXRHkpY8PHZOza8LT4V8V368YjNy5dulDFj4LAV67gElJamjKl1t3W0ofm6AuDY-ZDSAcRygVdW8yrJJ2oKavk/s400/IMG_0336.jpg" width="397" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Untitled, 10 x 10, oil</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The other leftovers I had, were pistachio shells. I had been munching on them over the course of a week or two while working on those paintings. I was about to throw them away, but the sheer quantity of shells made me think twice. What, I asked myself, can I create with these?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The resulting series of 5 paintings called Pistache Panache was born.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwTwv3LYP1tOc-VtSvh58WDn_6lPf4JB6CV7ACH2nUHwbLe4XiLQrM7sNgaYg9M4m4dyWm-Xiqu1h0eIZW7pHuvCXLT7yl-ufttmRL7iMrgB4cHuOZVwik6KL-YjWfnjjfpAvL-5EZISs/s1600/IMG_0341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwTwv3LYP1tOc-VtSvh58WDn_6lPf4JB6CV7ACH2nUHwbLe4XiLQrM7sNgaYg9M4m4dyWm-Xiqu1h0eIZW7pHuvCXLT7yl-ufttmRL7iMrgB4cHuOZVwik6KL-YjWfnjjfpAvL-5EZISs/s400/IMG_0341.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Pistache Panache #1, 6 x 6, acrylic multi-media</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pistache Panache #2, 6 x 6, acrylic multi-media</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7AJugjc5wF5lCfQcgCIVOZEhDMtzHAEedzTA8S1yRd8NiiT-oN6wfRgPoY9ZTpJs_RjN8uuClqlE_9jq-iSzHfql002UN3wkaH2WUVSPGlaXMVqarH3LmiszMGUbUcF6ArRvKlelcqXs/s1600/IMG_4977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7AJugjc5wF5lCfQcgCIVOZEhDMtzHAEedzTA8S1yRd8NiiT-oN6wfRgPoY9ZTpJs_RjN8uuClqlE_9jq-iSzHfql002UN3wkaH2WUVSPGlaXMVqarH3LmiszMGUbUcF6ArRvKlelcqXs/s400/IMG_4977.jpg" width="391" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pistache Panache #3, 6 x 6, acrylic multi-media</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLO5tUQQA3J6rumHekn21npAStakeOLDQsHMyuE2fkTxS0rnSsVz2KzFaygzzC9IkcTzh0q6mSaw5VgXCALELN6EBYkO2MA_tZDLgJXRkHY7BvS25cmRPuqEhDGlGhsHP9s5p_2aHDZQ/s1600/IMG_4960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLO5tUQQA3J6rumHekn21npAStakeOLDQsHMyuE2fkTxS0rnSsVz2KzFaygzzC9IkcTzh0q6mSaw5VgXCALELN6EBYkO2MA_tZDLgJXRkHY7BvS25cmRPuqEhDGlGhsHP9s5p_2aHDZQ/s400/IMG_4960.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pistache Panache #4, 6 x 6, acrylic multi-media</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4LFgHVT_r9XvEOIfDKYzlCUqfMPkldjUl0MrqoopQoopJGJp6NexyC6xDDV9unVSQHnQ2Jq4g6uc23gRvPNEr25tWGzW5dTDLMBQxAZLKiYyi4YcP0sqiDolTczfWS8AYlBBxFwLjSw/s1600/IMG_4978.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4LFgHVT_r9XvEOIfDKYzlCUqfMPkldjUl0MrqoopQoopJGJp6NexyC6xDDV9unVSQHnQ2Jq4g6uc23gRvPNEr25tWGzW5dTDLMBQxAZLKiYyi4YcP0sqiDolTczfWS8AYlBBxFwLjSw/s400/IMG_4978.JPG" width="391" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pistache Panache #5, 6 x 6, acrylic multi-media</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So, maybe it pays to think green, in more than one way. Not only good for the environment, but also good for my art. How green are you in your art practice? What green things do you do? Write a comment, I'd love to know!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><span id="goog_1515786605"></span><span id="goog_1515786606"></span>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-24115662604886316922011-04-05T14:22:00.000-04:002011-04-05T14:22:25.645-04:00Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. ~ Oscar Wilde<div style="text-align: center;">Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. ~ Oscar Wilde</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Ah, but in this case, I am both the artist as well as the sitter. So, as the current beliefs say, these portraits are even more revealing.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I started out with a self portrait I would never have guessed I would have the courage to do. Or at least, the courage to do <b><i>and show</i></b>. I was inspired to bare the reconstructed breast, while it is still in its WIP stage (Work In Progress). I feel it is representative of the fact that both the breast, as well as my life, are works in progress. I bared the breast, but kept my face hidden. I was playing with the idea of being both naked to the world, and yet hidden. A friend helped with the title, Life In Progress, because as she put it, "you are not only a breast".</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Life In Progress</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">12 x 18</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pan Pastel on coloured Strathmore 500 series paper</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The next painting was based on a photo that had been taken of me while I was laughing someones joke. I liked it, and thought it would lend itself to being done in oils, impasto style. I used more vibrant colours to give it more punch. I wanted it to be looser in style, and thought it might be good to keep my shirt on for at least one of the self portraits.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmL9gHefZ9IbNWXbFbaheTwixp48oxUyUNe9H1MsKYk2sZvuLr3J8KU-WEdVfNr_0VvVPw1j-tuHfg_sDghPjvYedEwsLshRYCQt8jm2IYo3RmFJm87u93iJChvGJebApofL9Q0bTX-M/s1600/self_portrait_impasto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmL9gHefZ9IbNWXbFbaheTwixp48oxUyUNe9H1MsKYk2sZvuLr3J8KU-WEdVfNr_0VvVPw1j-tuHfg_sDghPjvYedEwsLshRYCQt8jm2IYo3RmFJm87u93iJChvGJebApofL9Q0bTX-M/s400/self_portrait_impasto.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Untitled</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">16 x 20</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Oil, Impasto on canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The third painting was inspired after the second, but I actually started work on it in between working on the other two. Again, playing with the idea of being both naked and hidden. This time, though the painting is not as revealing, you can see I am naked in the moonlight, and yet still hidden by the mask. I do wish that in the photo, I could capture the details of the glitter that I embedded in the gold and purple details of the mask. In person, these details really "pop" as a result of that glitter.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4jM9sg-5MZERUGctYxtod_5zqAsEmMpnGbLqRMjxntU16JdDBNGRei8A0i9MB4yXXwGFLnTtBcU_cOYNHDWnzsKsFXVG653TssYqtm96UvvjTFNLtaOneYzkJ0mTkIVbRRVF-8weykPo/s1600/self_portrait_Masked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4jM9sg-5MZERUGctYxtod_5zqAsEmMpnGbLqRMjxntU16JdDBNGRei8A0i9MB4yXXwGFLnTtBcU_cOYNHDWnzsKsFXVG653TssYqtm96UvvjTFNLtaOneYzkJ0mTkIVbRRVF-8weykPo/s400/self_portrait_Masked.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Moonlight Celebration</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">16 x 20</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Oil on canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So, what inspired me to start with self portraits? I entered a contest called "The Power of Self" - an artists contest of self-portraiture. You can see my entries <a href="http://jaqui.see.me/aw2011">here.</a> Please, while you are there vote for me, by clicking on the stars at the top of the page. A click on the fifth star is the highest rating, on the fist star, it's the lowest rating.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I am looking forward to your votes - and to putting my shirt back on!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-28732544315924579382011-03-13T14:14:00.000-04:002011-03-13T14:14:53.617-04:00It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it. ~ Baltasar Gracian<div style="text-align: center;">While I have been waiting to hear from the university, I have been keeping myself busy with more exploration, and some other more familiar paths. I dreamt an abstract painting - well, at least I dreamt the main components of it. The size, and basic colours, and the basic look, with one corner of the painting standing out in the dream. How fortuitous that I'd been in the art store, and seen the exact colour I would be needing for this painting. Pthalo Blue is not an easy colour to find in a pouring paint!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Here then, is the series of paintings I did with Ptahlo Blue mixed directly into the plaster. The first of these is the one I dreamt, and the others were more playing with it after I'd done the first. I just love all the tones and shades with Pthalo Blue!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2dg46VYl3PpPnacvJ5uLfAJUleVX6ceXu-D-LMTUgeevCp1cIcb9Tie-HJGNciYWAYhxaBNRVS8sEKONjWC_UHsYOtMxzP4T-hws70Yl96HMCCXOc8AEPFFYrEkge-kvH4kaQE-3CY4/s1600/Midnight+Splash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2dg46VYl3PpPnacvJ5uLfAJUleVX6ceXu-D-LMTUgeevCp1cIcb9Tie-HJGNciYWAYhxaBNRVS8sEKONjWC_UHsYOtMxzP4T-hws70Yl96HMCCXOc8AEPFFYrEkge-kvH4kaQE-3CY4/s400/Midnight+Splash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Midnight Splash - 24" x 24" Mixed media acrylic</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmsiscO8_hTduSZOuj98VJUP7hSatVrTENgJvtTbARghExX-C9oKHo35wCeU-ATZEhzr79BtWSYhPBOUHs6xygSZiFDJ57gejDP8XBBYJYPy-d7N62fKs-Pj8ar0Hv7SUVUE8b-xQbKQ/s1600/IMG_4715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmsiscO8_hTduSZOuj98VJUP7hSatVrTENgJvtTbARghExX-C9oKHo35wCeU-ATZEhzr79BtWSYhPBOUHs6xygSZiFDJ57gejDP8XBBYJYPy-d7N62fKs-Pj8ar0Hv7SUVUE8b-xQbKQ/s400/IMG_4715.JPG" width="293" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Untitled for the moment - 16" x 20"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhEuqIeNrO9CKwoTswxdisVIwlytncvMxYQJAlnr9lfRqpz5A3PjGggQsEwe0z3fH1CmuFmpFNhf9N0P2F4mWF62AV0RVe4TU4rngK_nc3atxLhqESKAL44MX9fkiPFwUp8zlIGtmaOA/s1600/IMG_4716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhEuqIeNrO9CKwoTswxdisVIwlytncvMxYQJAlnr9lfRqpz5A3PjGggQsEwe0z3fH1CmuFmpFNhf9N0P2F4mWF62AV0RVe4TU4rngK_nc3atxLhqESKAL44MX9fkiPFwUp8zlIGtmaOA/s400/IMG_4716.JPG" width="310" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Untitled for the moment - 11" x 14"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1UlfMg1kZW3m92BT5ZTUFNIMWzt5Vdrx5kzbmEmZrxX-vAQldpEIavtusxWrv2atRDAQPGmwVUZZlDx2u5yBycIhR-FFccZY4OX8t-kwsENhfpYVQdCJFeDjIMqWezUVAPrl_zthM50/s1600/IMG_4717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1UlfMg1kZW3m92BT5ZTUFNIMWzt5Vdrx5kzbmEmZrxX-vAQldpEIavtusxWrv2atRDAQPGmwVUZZlDx2u5yBycIhR-FFccZY4OX8t-kwsENhfpYVQdCJFeDjIMqWezUVAPrl_zthM50/s400/IMG_4717.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Untitled for the moment - 10" x 10"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCWB_9P_dUU5AaqmU3f87tsvvBF91K4-eXI0OVptxnJJw9G1kzDwVQKVweJdrzTPoui9yJ-VjhX7PfjHop5tLtTWHRQJ6bdDHgxYHOx__zJTYDBsjPAi_MCFL6ZkOHI53cWx4t4tSK60/s1600/IMG_4718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCWB_9P_dUU5AaqmU3f87tsvvBF91K4-eXI0OVptxnJJw9G1kzDwVQKVweJdrzTPoui9yJ-VjhX7PfjHop5tLtTWHRQJ6bdDHgxYHOx__zJTYDBsjPAi_MCFL6ZkOHI53cWx4t4tSK60/s400/IMG_4718.JPG" width="390" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Untitled for the moment - 12" x 12"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Another thing I have been doing is working with Pan Pastels. After eyeing the set for a year and a half, my partner gifted me with them, and I have enthusiastically embraced them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKakBMm0QChaK62_QAg6x9nWhAvW99f4s35BHLkE7iyPhqk1YRqJBB6yMtvFjNwhgHkGtkLoDDff8pld8NzOVXCrXdapTBO_FzC9rwA8GGggG9BHKDLrl19u4mlBRt8zO7dHdgkgnCZE/s1600/photo-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKakBMm0QChaK62_QAg6x9nWhAvW99f4s35BHLkE7iyPhqk1YRqJBB6yMtvFjNwhgHkGtkLoDDff8pld8NzOVXCrXdapTBO_FzC9rwA8GGggG9BHKDLrl19u4mlBRt8zO7dHdgkgnCZE/s400/photo-14.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">6" x 8"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVkINVlLVXTAmspUIFXvnLV__esT8U_Xe5mnkSmoh6bRCJNQT1pfh02IjwbCbNdsZs6KSv56bB1T5sNe3XetXlpN04ngeHwyUgPqCBH0VlVvXghclf7GHP6qSCl54RoCqGMNtt3qmhad4/s1600/Salkantay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVkINVlLVXTAmspUIFXvnLV__esT8U_Xe5mnkSmoh6bRCJNQT1pfh02IjwbCbNdsZs6KSv56bB1T5sNe3XetXlpN04ngeHwyUgPqCBH0VlVvXghclf7GHP6qSCl54RoCqGMNtt3qmhad4/s400/Salkantay.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Salkantay - 12" x 18"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Yet another medium that I purchased, and started working with is Scratchbord. These are made with archival quality board and clay, and finally painted with black india ink, so that when you scratch through, the white clay is exposed underneath. You can then use the coloured india inks to colour in where you have scratched. You can re-scratch after applying colour, and colour again, allowing you to layer the colouring. This medium is reminiscent of etching, and really lends itself to wonderful textures!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The first one I tried was very basic, and allowed me to simply get the feel of the tools on the board.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxqSbPb-xP7sWrkCtdP5Uj1ZrFTWq-io98k8wVmyTp00r5Rc7KvfQ3gQlpu-eQElo0f4R_mm734Y16ZnHHoVZzHLNlvii9qjWX3q2EHYUFFJf3A_uzH0v-DoQKot1W-7jWjjh0b-iw2x8/s1600/Scan+110610000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxqSbPb-xP7sWrkCtdP5Uj1ZrFTWq-io98k8wVmyTp00r5Rc7KvfQ3gQlpu-eQElo0f4R_mm734Y16ZnHHoVZzHLNlvii9qjWX3q2EHYUFFJf3A_uzH0v-DoQKot1W-7jWjjh0b-iw2x8/s400/Scan+110610000.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Purple Aura 5" x 7" Scratchbord and ink</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Next up, I wanted to do something much more challenging. Considering I haven't done any animals in any medium (other than one abstract a few months ago), I figured this would do, as far as challenging myself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkYBg1Q2CYd_qpOAG6kxO_l6MfM332PuObRyF-Xhnt0Q9MNT5w61v9FBuWAgd10EG7htysaz6sORZeibK9HhSBCRMEKit_il5uJ7rMHBtQTWfOIorrEpgUGvheQ78YVuSmU7cQE17DeU/s1600/Scratchbord_lion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkYBg1Q2CYd_qpOAG6kxO_l6MfM332PuObRyF-Xhnt0Q9MNT5w61v9FBuWAgd10EG7htysaz6sORZeibK9HhSBCRMEKit_il5uJ7rMHBtQTWfOIorrEpgUGvheQ78YVuSmU7cQE17DeU/s400/Scratchbord_lion.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">5" x 7" Scratchbord and ink</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I have also entered a couple of art contests...next week, I'll post some of those entries, and show you the first self portraits I have done in about 28 years!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-91803204026349108112011-03-06T11:26:00.002-05:002011-03-06T11:30:54.000-05:00The world becomes fresh and hopeful and new, when we create. ~ Lynda Lehmann<div style="text-align: center;">Sometimes, life gets ahead of me. With all the best intentions, I have not made it back here to blog. Inspired to create, but not to write. Where has it been, my enthusiasm? It's currently residing in the hands of the administrators for OCAD University, where I applied to go back to school, and do my Masters of Fine Art degree.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">The application went in near the end of January, and I have been enthusiastically waiting to her back from them. It's about all I can think of. I didn't want to blog until I heard some news about it, but then, I had expected to be called for an interview by now. No such luck, but as ever, I am hopeful. While I wait, I boost my hope and feelings with creating.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">This semester, I am taking a class called Anatomy for Artists. Learning and studying the underlying muscles and bone structure is fascinating to me. We spent the first 2 classes drawing the skeleton, and the class after that drawing from a plastic figure that looks like a person who has had his skin peeled off to reveal the musculature. Since then, we have been drawing from life models, and what a joy it has been!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin81iecHT9NEU0HEJpot-xQ-eH-A9JGztEMxZaWVK2qtoLW3VRBiW-vwApHd14CvUCpWQ5q_tFwRk0mzHxnxg1JL-Z3mel4B0AGwh_Gpg_mkiSFqqQlc4Rn4ZTc2BBLZOmxrZT8gY4z_o/s1600/Male_nude_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin81iecHT9NEU0HEJpot-xQ-eH-A9JGztEMxZaWVK2qtoLW3VRBiW-vwApHd14CvUCpWQ5q_tFwRk0mzHxnxg1JL-Z3mel4B0AGwh_Gpg_mkiSFqqQlc4Rn4ZTc2BBLZOmxrZT8gY4z_o/s320/Male_nude_back.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">For this class session, we were focusing in on the torso - front and back. The mistake I made in the second drawing: I had only a rough outline of his face by the end of the pose, and tried to go back and complete his face after the class - from memory. Ugh! Wrecked the drawing!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb40ZYIiIRYvD6O0X-yhb2bs2o2OIyVe0GpB0nRcuISURoIqpjgHVZWZL9a_pr5gf9w7y1Rb4Vx9EmD0kEXJCh3SAQiJu_xot3PP3MT3MqigeIh9hqFx4uOGMd_tov35509hhUGiCuy08/s1600/Male_nude_front_torso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb40ZYIiIRYvD6O0X-yhb2bs2o2OIyVe0GpB0nRcuISURoIqpjgHVZWZL9a_pr5gf9w7y1Rb4Vx9EmD0kEXJCh3SAQiJu_xot3PP3MT3MqigeIh9hqFx4uOGMd_tov35509hhUGiCuy08/s320/Male_nude_front_torso.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The next class we focused on the hips and legs. I added as much detail of arms or torso as was needed to show his position, but tried to learn from the previous mistake and didn't fill in details of his face without him in front of me</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpg5qmU8MzpyRly-9ftmg4w2hnwiCpfmeWU12_49Jl9aGhfjJfhvU-6cGhagRG8g9J1_Pj0dThU8cx8mKfftg3CKYQtGbhzRud9dcNGYBrEhLG6qiRctaHaOiEMbIR3MkgKLFoWziReqA/s1600/Male_nude_legs1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpg5qmU8MzpyRly-9ftmg4w2hnwiCpfmeWU12_49Jl9aGhfjJfhvU-6cGhagRG8g9J1_Pj0dThU8cx8mKfftg3CKYQtGbhzRud9dcNGYBrEhLG6qiRctaHaOiEMbIR3MkgKLFoWziReqA/s320/Male_nude_legs1.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgmukLzhKm-ePZSTLOTTJjkLumGtmzL-OFdKvNH7qIPizfHDq8gjfKK1bIwmYLZdTVu1SEaQ4yzJ18HdIuGGaKBpone3lpfx-9SGyQDnupb_cJdqyppDGwdQZinaPS29JZdXT7KU49LlM/s1600/Male_nude_legs2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgmukLzhKm-ePZSTLOTTJjkLumGtmzL-OFdKvNH7qIPizfHDq8gjfKK1bIwmYLZdTVu1SEaQ4yzJ18HdIuGGaKBpone3lpfx-9SGyQDnupb_cJdqyppDGwdQZinaPS29JZdXT7KU49LlM/s320/Male_nude_legs2.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjGolAkb0KT-GbAuHQ95vPwpXL92C0dFbel-3ZqFzsQ0n36rNpkHWt3pmsAndGmzbUtv8J8Y4TiYBsrc2-ktJZoOc-dAiy_Cnn3M7T98nVAaHEZu5NQ9JPCMZSRnslwjiQTdYTTBYeIg/s1600/Male_nude_legs3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjGolAkb0KT-GbAuHQ95vPwpXL92C0dFbel-3ZqFzsQ0n36rNpkHWt3pmsAndGmzbUtv8J8Y4TiYBsrc2-ktJZoOc-dAiy_Cnn3M7T98nVAaHEZu5NQ9JPCMZSRnslwjiQTdYTTBYeIg/s320/Male_nude_legs3.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQKFuJGPLvwbG-wz8UiOOFE1_MaXh7Gi9p_LQ8Uu2BNyWGcqiaUXXw-X-DvthM1BoW50mvvU3gCuRL43icUnKNEtnJaa1_QN_hYCaF53qBwEDSfda2gRPKe5p0rJiFd9CJrHVYKTIzWU/s1600/Male_nude_legs4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQKFuJGPLvwbG-wz8UiOOFE1_MaXh7Gi9p_LQ8Uu2BNyWGcqiaUXXw-X-DvthM1BoW50mvvU3gCuRL43icUnKNEtnJaa1_QN_hYCaF53qBwEDSfda2gRPKe5p0rJiFd9CJrHVYKTIzWU/s320/Male_nude_legs4.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aelX5v0Ia9Sp9WZv5Qm2IAtKwyPxwxIfk1JbnKwH22otNMGvFiyBZlb5F0gworZF_Q4zIRepksLM8RLMB87c4N9ZyvQYgKXXAwGp7Wg2DVUL58sZpRLbHCL5zZVS_RFGu414J0EVn5A/s1600/Male_nude_legs5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aelX5v0Ia9Sp9WZv5Qm2IAtKwyPxwxIfk1JbnKwH22otNMGvFiyBZlb5F0gworZF_Q4zIRepksLM8RLMB87c4N9ZyvQYgKXXAwGp7Wg2DVUL58sZpRLbHCL5zZVS_RFGu414J0EVn5A/s320/Male_nude_legs5.jpg" width="157" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Next, we had a female model. A few shorter poses, before focusing in on the head and face for two poses.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JAc9i0730LfeZtrnOZP-L9OGBAMyv8E6AQ-dXortXB0WEm9gG6jvFni-zPQFmbnF_fzf96_-fGpmKg6pfJyXeYWH60A6CDySXeMTiT7UKEJmg7GgUHrYgwpqaDb-2gYaNoA6aKKZt80/s1600/Nude_female1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JAc9i0730LfeZtrnOZP-L9OGBAMyv8E6AQ-dXortXB0WEm9gG6jvFni-zPQFmbnF_fzf96_-fGpmKg6pfJyXeYWH60A6CDySXeMTiT7UKEJmg7GgUHrYgwpqaDb-2gYaNoA6aKKZt80/s320/Nude_female1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcQDCm-5_nSDP7-ruyeA7gILcu27fmMmB5qWNuUfuXBZ8kNYotCoZZVQPaubcAcCIsdVV3J_qZsfuf_8r8DC6fkLxRf4Y3ApUrRyt0pEjZ-ZGKN9J3UqoW_fQYwPBZdVu246DN5au7AkA/s1600/Nude_female2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcQDCm-5_nSDP7-ruyeA7gILcu27fmMmB5qWNuUfuXBZ8kNYotCoZZVQPaubcAcCIsdVV3J_qZsfuf_8r8DC6fkLxRf4Y3ApUrRyt0pEjZ-ZGKN9J3UqoW_fQYwPBZdVu246DN5au7AkA/s320/Nude_female2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHW3c_hcBgooRRshLbhTF27xg-ZafeC1EHw3JHxBn56GuBuHJZKNKDfg6Etoe7x55S8oIpmdnErMfU7h1Glq2T7nd_1W3M5ROqs-c5rgnTP-NW17p58tJmPp7JbdJ0QwF543lswVNEMpM/s1600/Nude_female3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHW3c_hcBgooRRshLbhTF27xg-ZafeC1EHw3JHxBn56GuBuHJZKNKDfg6Etoe7x55S8oIpmdnErMfU7h1Glq2T7nd_1W3M5ROqs-c5rgnTP-NW17p58tJmPp7JbdJ0QwF543lswVNEMpM/s320/Nude_female3.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVTRpjRx7XPZfuciwvAFbgk1LzuVRTy9WYOd9SfgwP_jHGt1x8VQaTy9Gfh_ajCT1GiQ9Bcsei5LmPtqE9VZUKB84vMhtCu2O5WD1Y0D39sLH2rzq5PL4MPltS7u-aOLohzM2A62aTf0/s1600/Nude_female4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVTRpjRx7XPZfuciwvAFbgk1LzuVRTy9WYOd9SfgwP_jHGt1x8VQaTy9Gfh_ajCT1GiQ9Bcsei5LmPtqE9VZUKB84vMhtCu2O5WD1Y0D39sLH2rzq5PL4MPltS7u-aOLohzM2A62aTf0/s320/Nude_female4.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofXsscIzQ5eZgg3scl8ik7gQc2xf7GHKIXPxEdKERZ3Qi2jVIT3oIgyc7C3HjdDqSjkgJ53M5fTUp1gHtpgfn5YF9a2nZ-2I7FGByOcFzmruzw3X_bOWJLCESHtwgsm-fZtora-oUydc/s1600/Nude_female5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofXsscIzQ5eZgg3scl8ik7gQc2xf7GHKIXPxEdKERZ3Qi2jVIT3oIgyc7C3HjdDqSjkgJ53M5fTUp1gHtpgfn5YF9a2nZ-2I7FGByOcFzmruzw3X_bOWJLCESHtwgsm-fZtora-oUydc/s320/Nude_female5.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">With a different female model in the next session, we then worked on arms, hands and feet.</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxae8su4iy7OXvcoP0jksf8oUjVPkdm9x4c6Vnm5MWU1OdZBPVWhzjYMgsZssgrtEHiCIVDsF4dGARnyehZy2_bwoKJPKNXTRnby5r9t2KU-PR-X0npIVYDo0lC5NnCu4lozTgL0ITPis/s1600/nude_female_torso2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxae8su4iy7OXvcoP0jksf8oUjVPkdm9x4c6Vnm5MWU1OdZBPVWhzjYMgsZssgrtEHiCIVDsF4dGARnyehZy2_bwoKJPKNXTRnby5r9t2KU-PR-X0npIVYDo0lC5NnCu4lozTgL0ITPis/s320/nude_female_torso2.jpg" width="273" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rIQs8cSn-TqsAvgK8jCqsXBCfj1ft-GY1y8nOWuPNYaqfYQfQgq8O9TopPqHSu1kYv7lEwEQBXOgv0JdWW_mqVlRnSwCT80xyJUZZO85krNyFJvMTMhgi6-lA_J_NjUqrIqh5bhlJHE/s1600/Nude_female_Torso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rIQs8cSn-TqsAvgK8jCqsXBCfj1ft-GY1y8nOWuPNYaqfYQfQgq8O9TopPqHSu1kYv7lEwEQBXOgv0JdWW_mqVlRnSwCT80xyJUZZO85krNyFJvMTMhgi6-lA_J_NjUqrIqh5bhlJHE/s320/Nude_female_Torso.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_psgC_XGq90gRPE92biCINIWmw8MCXDI4Lchtq1uWY4oAKBYElwGj6dmPVQtnKA2YnO47Z173dMoR5YKWtcrvw27ASJxzvE9ZE6uQcju2YUcC0PmH6oMrXUAYfpxZQPCCqT5plAxiz4Y/s1600/Nude_female_hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_psgC_XGq90gRPE92biCINIWmw8MCXDI4Lchtq1uWY4oAKBYElwGj6dmPVQtnKA2YnO47Z173dMoR5YKWtcrvw27ASJxzvE9ZE6uQcju2YUcC0PmH6oMrXUAYfpxZQPCCqT5plAxiz4Y/s320/Nude_female_hands.jpg" width="183" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtN7XTKWE3y9qM2s71dvtTgVA7naO0LnAJNnNKSsnBPxOayXjFXfschQunidmGSfdNDgSqeTAxy2Fi7ufBhyphenhyphenWvrEx1PCybgGCy6cAnz1WX0fJ-GiywacBTLhiOLBvyK3Sq0QSlAj39p88/s1600/Nude_female_hand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtN7XTKWE3y9qM2s71dvtTgVA7naO0LnAJNnNKSsnBPxOayXjFXfschQunidmGSfdNDgSqeTAxy2Fi7ufBhyphenhyphenWvrEx1PCybgGCy6cAnz1WX0fJ-GiywacBTLhiOLBvyK3Sq0QSlAj39p88/s320/Nude_female_hand.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHAa5RPS0fqhsQU3bbwoH6my5wS_OPXOmm72icXPkz0cmqe7pS3onEgFWoHZJOVDSRLaM2l8V2PgRN4Yv32G4A0W2nnO8_AMIooyYW1ucp0Zc-uHdI0BQNkPnYh5o84l_Km-l0sBJU78/s1600/Nude_femaleFeet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHAa5RPS0fqhsQU3bbwoH6my5wS_OPXOmm72icXPkz0cmqe7pS3onEgFWoHZJOVDSRLaM2l8V2PgRN4Yv32G4A0W2nnO8_AMIooyYW1ucp0Zc-uHdI0BQNkPnYh5o84l_Km-l0sBJU78/s320/Nude_femaleFeet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In between classes, I have been doing a variety of things. I have some new abstracts to post. I also just got a set of Pan Pastels and some Scratchbord, both of which are exciting new mediums to work with. I'll post those results in the next few days.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe align="right" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=Jaqui&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0823003035&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: right; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-74845847306037614612011-01-02T16:23:00.003-05:002011-01-02T23:51:07.265-05:00You can borrow all the flour you want but you have to bake your own bread. ~ unknown<div style="text-align: center;">So, it has been a while since I posted. I have been up to my ears in it to say the least! As you know, when last I blogged, I was about to have surgery - a mastectomy with immediate reconstruction using natural tissues. I was up for it, I was mentally prepared to lose the breast, to expect a certain amount of pain, immobility, but I knew I could deal with it. However, I was not prepared for what was to actually follow.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">The day after the surgery, a second emergency surgery due to a hematoma that burst inside of me, causing me to lose too much blood, too fast.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">The day after that, my partners heart failed, and he ended up in hospital for a total of 3 weeks, being tested every which way, in preparation for having the aortic valve replaced in his heart. He'd known he had a congenital defect in his heart. Doctors said that the stress of what I was going through, pushed him over the edge, and his heart failed. Luckily, he was able to get to the hospital early enough, and they were able to fix it with surgery after multiple tests.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Then just 3 weeks after my second surgery, the doctors said that the skin around the reconstructed breast was failing, and I might need yet another surgery, for skin grafts this time. We were in a wait and see mode. Sure enough, 2 weeks later, they booked the surgery, putting me back into hospital exactly 6 weeks after my fist surgery, for surgery number 3.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Through all of this, I have done my level best to focus on recovery, and to live as normal a life as may be possible. Naturally, I focused in on my painting. I had started a series of paintings before the surgeries that were to be in an exhibit called "Almost Edible". The idea behind the exhibit: evoke a sense of taste, or smell, or texture of food. Make the viewer look at the piece and think, "Mmmmm".</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Here is a look at the pieces that were eventually accepted into the exhibit.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCKuhZk1P-dAz7ZuqM3ptIdj8d0I5f8PhvkD12LivsIq6Xtw1fH0POPOT4MSh6s9GsigoxMn80rI3x7pASCLZ5TI43Q9oPcwIyDledLHiqdZoLJsWeRBQZxz96DFRfkFwbCGLcT0Fp8w/s1600/photo-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCKuhZk1P-dAz7ZuqM3ptIdj8d0I5f8PhvkD12LivsIq6Xtw1fH0POPOT4MSh6s9GsigoxMn80rI3x7pASCLZ5TI43Q9oPcwIyDledLHiqdZoLJsWeRBQZxz96DFRfkFwbCGLcT0Fp8w/s400/photo-11.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Inspired by Lindt</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">10" x12" Acrylic on canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9i9Rqfwif5oN0gh98tK1naWftEVvKOx-_tILy1Hp3rO60RvbkR_n9ivBnphzXbDpdUiqqW_SQE2L8QT-vVPBlplldmV9SLMlgWI1qrXYe30xcrnPVtzf-2BPXPpEpjWi_sRQvaFQGsYs/s1600/photo-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9i9Rqfwif5oN0gh98tK1naWftEVvKOx-_tILy1Hp3rO60RvbkR_n9ivBnphzXbDpdUiqqW_SQE2L8QT-vVPBlplldmV9SLMlgWI1qrXYe30xcrnPVtzf-2BPXPpEpjWi_sRQvaFQGsYs/s400/photo-12.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Taste & Sensation</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">16" x 20" Acrylic on canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNbZ4-aH4dd0g0J_3xgY106GeBpZ1U1UMrKSDCdppzcF6VLcdvc3nPCCT1mlX-oDLwqogowWC549SKDy-p8M6bjDR9Gg6a-B1voNU3HnKFZ3yj9WOwhu5cmuvS2uCDw06USaaIx1GRBE/s1600/photo-13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNbZ4-aH4dd0g0J_3xgY106GeBpZ1U1UMrKSDCdppzcF6VLcdvc3nPCCT1mlX-oDLwqogowWC549SKDy-p8M6bjDR9Gg6a-B1voNU3HnKFZ3yj9WOwhu5cmuvS2uCDw06USaaIx1GRBE/s400/photo-13.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Champagne Dreams</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">12" x 16" Acrylic/mixed media on canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3boq6AVnvTYGjHBCi0HtfGyULJzsSUkM64rCF1uqFoEll1R5iZQqw_KAjxaKQ5BMQl-_d2Ca5h8-9wFtM5xTUjuDTAQpddxzG7YV9fUMCrSWZI2-ICZ2BogrLoVGbEsSwGCqOVT8its/s1600/photo-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3boq6AVnvTYGjHBCi0HtfGyULJzsSUkM64rCF1uqFoEll1R5iZQqw_KAjxaKQ5BMQl-_d2Ca5h8-9wFtM5xTUjuDTAQpddxzG7YV9fUMCrSWZI2-ICZ2BogrLoVGbEsSwGCqOVT8its/s400/photo-10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Brie Nice To Me</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">10" x 10" Acrylic on canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Party Time!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Plastic sculpture, now mounted on gold colored canvas Approximately 10" tall</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOgnky9DxWEgQY4AkD9oWxrn6A6XkD0WXqOmLFIgZRn3XHgrIWiwVmpTL1Pl7gcmxuh5Rpk8BtXTFpJL9ChcGRH-mpbBSgaHdh_Iem1z58fXZRVtmApzOq2ayNrOBh0KClnHH25Joiwc/s1600/photo-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOgnky9DxWEgQY4AkD9oWxrn6A6XkD0WXqOmLFIgZRn3XHgrIWiwVmpTL1Pl7gcmxuh5Rpk8BtXTFpJL9ChcGRH-mpbBSgaHdh_Iem1z58fXZRVtmApzOq2ayNrOBh0KClnHH25Joiwc/s400/photo-4.jpg" width="298" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">Cookware Bouquet</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">Plastic sculpture, approximately 18 inches tall.</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here is a very short video walk around of it:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxhPxmUS0SVW85jDdK0D02rVj_LfhJAyhT4P_5b7_pqEuSMIr0R0ndOhWp-SUA9T6V0cSQtbHuNlG2r4pFnJw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu0JfklSLUJUz-s0UOMHBVuDRhZ4pgSjWYWPCbzDml1QGPdE7LGWdEaSABvuCOX0NxjqDGnRAzdqNx5ZQq-NeFPtcwb_cN1FQ2MZX5vu8OuRnYK396ZNMdB23WNzGgtqNFX3finmOU5gM/s1600/photo-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu0JfklSLUJUz-s0UOMHBVuDRhZ4pgSjWYWPCbzDml1QGPdE7LGWdEaSABvuCOX0NxjqDGnRAzdqNx5ZQq-NeFPtcwb_cN1FQ2MZX5vu8OuRnYK396ZNMdB23WNzGgtqNFX3finmOU5gM/s400/photo-8.jpg" width="186" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">Food of the Gods</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">Sculpture: ceramic/mixed media approximately 24 inches tall</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here is a very short video walk around of it:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxuTcG31uk4fhYuwAP3rXVY8husMQPg40S6WK9ViiAfp847cZdzkOR7dk1T2mCEZtP4HPwETvStOHkF6K8O' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Lastly, there was another painting that was included in this exhibition, though not originally created for this specific exhibition.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBYCRM7WF9_92JLtDYkkfh9TLUFoFiR5CkqOVb5eyOG7DyVh-9llwhi9aT3zph86_BX3XeSuqkO-1pMSgDgndXlA8Be4IwHcFJOlypzAcFcJ0q8kN5mLOim46Lj4VQzb1l_enoS36n8g/s1600/Owed+To+My+Father.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBYCRM7WF9_92JLtDYkkfh9TLUFoFiR5CkqOVb5eyOG7DyVh-9llwhi9aT3zph86_BX3XeSuqkO-1pMSgDgndXlA8Be4IwHcFJOlypzAcFcJ0q8kN5mLOim46Lj4VQzb1l_enoS36n8g/s400/Owed+To+My+Father.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Owed to My Father</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">11" x 14" Acrylic/mixed media on canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">These pieces are all still on exhibit at George Brown College, in the Hospitality building, until the end of January, 2011. The paintings are available for sale on my Artfire site, as well as through the exhibit. You can see the original blog post about this piece <a href="http://paintdrops-falling.blogspot.com/2010/09/art-must-be-expression-of-love-or-it-is.html">here.</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And, I will resume more regular posting now that I am over the hump, so to speak.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><h1 class="fsize18_b pad_title f_color1" style="color: #633790; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: left;"><br />
</h1>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-53896583072027107762010-10-31T11:44:00.001-04:002010-10-31T11:59:45.908-04:00To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist. ~ Schumann<div style="text-align: center;">Over the past couple of months, as I have been going through this whole ordeal of being diagnosed with breast cancer, and now approaching my surgery date on November 1st, one of the things that has been repeatedly said to me, is that people are surprised how positive my attitude is.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">For the most part, I agree. Once I got over having heard that I have cancer, and got over the thought of losing a breast, the only real option, in my opinion, is to focus on what happens after. I refuse to live my life in misery because of this, and I do have that choice.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Do I have some fears about this? Sure. I am more afraid though of the actual surgery, than I am of dying of cancer. I am not even that afraid of pain after the surgery, though no one likes pain. Pain is temporary, as is the cancer. It's the actual surgery itself that scares me. My grandmother died on the table when I was 17 years old, and even though I know intellectually that they were operating on her heart, whereas they won't be going anywhere near my life dependant systems, I have that fear. Irrational, I know.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Once the surgery is over, I need to move on, and I need to live my life. I have prepared myself as best as I can, finding photos of post operative reconstructive surgeries, and reading about various patients' experiences. I have looked at the scars, I have cried, and then I have told myself that I can do this.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I have previously joked in this blog about how my paintings have had boobs showing up in them. Of course, I have had the surgery very much on my mind. Keeping my sense of humour has helped me keep things in perspective.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Somewhere along the line, when I was doing the found objects projects, I found some of those plastic egg containers that you can put toys or treats inside of, and once again I was thinking boobs.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I started a painting - one that was my way of saying goodbye to my breast. When my teacher saw it, he suggested a different approach, saying I didn't need to be quite so literal. He suggested "lots of feathers". So, I have done the art pieces both ways, because I really wanted to express this the way I originally saw it in my minds eye, but also thought that the other approach was worth trying as well.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Using the egg cups as breasts, but also as symbols of renewal, I gave them golden wings using gold leaf. </div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9z1jLszVTyJPmbOqglAsdABZL40DEM95LtDRZstuMtyjtMyMtW7Go3SWgI_K-YwmFn0TKG1Nle6udLl2Yiz6nGHIIULECfJz5msXkS3nH5YVlpTsNVF5x02zaB1eVJobpSRshb_mvGxc/s1600/IMG_4574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9z1jLszVTyJPmbOqglAsdABZL40DEM95LtDRZstuMtyjtMyMtW7Go3SWgI_K-YwmFn0TKG1Nle6udLl2Yiz6nGHIIULECfJz5msXkS3nH5YVlpTsNVF5x02zaB1eVJobpSRshb_mvGxc/s400/IMG_4574.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">With Golden Wings To Fly</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">16" x 20" Acrylic and plastic on stretched canvas</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Next, I used found feathers from the lakeshore, and the remaining pink egg cups to create another way of saying it.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTfJxalpqhskJgKt1UTwCXpLIYd7xhUh3EeKkUYEwfOt1aDZCPD3dGGV1MlpWwbtlK0239wn5OCkFzGvoR2eJAOc0J_ISFx_ILjwvH4PnZDl29kmE4iBhhYLUwAeejmk5csRKPXG1-Oow/s1600/73435_10150283714900032_501435031_15410170_6290923_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTfJxalpqhskJgKt1UTwCXpLIYd7xhUh3EeKkUYEwfOt1aDZCPD3dGGV1MlpWwbtlK0239wn5OCkFzGvoR2eJAOc0J_ISFx_ILjwvH4PnZDl29kmE4iBhhYLUwAeejmk5csRKPXG1-Oow/s400/73435_10150283714900032_501435031_15410170_6290923_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Thinking Beyond Pink</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">16" x 20" feathers and plastic on stretched canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It has been suggested to me that I should put myself in a place where I can be an example to other women going through this. To help them to have the same positive attitude that I have. I am not sure how I can do that, or even if I am the greatest of examples. I cannot choose their attitude for them. But I hope that maybe my work can show them at least one way of dealing with it. Maybe in this way, I can help send light into the darkness of someones heart, somehow, somewhere.</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-38378035446114161982010-10-06T10:13:00.002-04:002010-10-30T14:58:01.020-04:00The world is perfect. As you question your mind, this becomes more and more obvious. - Byron Katie<div style="text-align: center;">After enjoying the found objects project so much, I felt like it would be great to repeat that kind of exercise. So, of course, I was quite pleased to find an amazing little "bird cage" made of wicker, with a little plastic bird attached on the outside.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">What was the first thing I thought of doing with it? Well, put a cat in it of course! I came home to our kitten, and wondered if she would allow me to put her inside. Sweet thing that she is, she sat quietly long enough for me to grab a picture of her, then I lifted it off her, while I laughed maniacally, and uploaded the picture to Facebook for my friends to see.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicF98UvV8Tyh_4CxjstNGYUWK3p9v8-3Hqj49IkKRXm4i22cblVoPi4NjUYj9d3dtxBB6TQYVFPCF1daUR-frJPQMdvdPL8sAFAbW0vcht4E5qRXg3locYSnfOjaJErehXRNMaSs5VO0Q/s1600/IMG_4556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicF98UvV8Tyh_4CxjstNGYUWK3p9v8-3Hqj49IkKRXm4i22cblVoPi4NjUYj9d3dtxBB6TQYVFPCF1daUR-frJPQMdvdPL8sAFAbW0vcht4E5qRXg3locYSnfOjaJErehXRNMaSs5VO0Q/s400/IMG_4556.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">I wasn't done though. I still wanted to put a cat in it for my found objects project. Now, I just needed to find the components to do that. On the day of my class, I still hadn't found said objects. Which is why, when my son came racing down the stairs for the fourth time in the past couple of weeks, saying he was late again, and needing a lift again, I was frankly peeved. I wanted to spend my morning figuring out my project.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Reluctantly, I agreed to drive him to his friends place, telling him to look out for peoples garbage at the end of driveways, or garage sales. As life would have it, just around the corner from his friends place, there was a house with a large Home Depot container for renovation garbage. My son thought I was crazy, but I rang their doorbell, and asked if I could look through their container for stuff to make my art project with, and - bingo! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Which just makes me smile and say, ain't life perfect sometimes?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8uyiGrco-aTr5OIRhMulQ4azVFoAuA3hDaJQ1ncAozYDZzh2vIQC_cPnLAG95g70GzEm6grv0OEeilr03BXXIdVy7Arw6Yjl01UjjFjACHN-M2przuNnIuEDXbc9MqswhGd-UQTf5pHw/s1600/IMG00119-20101003-1547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8uyiGrco-aTr5OIRhMulQ4azVFoAuA3hDaJQ1ncAozYDZzh2vIQC_cPnLAG95g70GzEm6grv0OEeilr03BXXIdVy7Arw6Yjl01UjjFjACHN-M2przuNnIuEDXbc9MqswhGd-UQTf5pHw/s400/IMG00119-20101003-1547.jpg" width="342" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"Humbled"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">L-12" x W-12" x H-14"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2vSx69MUrB_hdabeiiy9zDMIRg_Yxx90-55IoYJwkkxHrLsFjsxbwyxyHrrh-y96I1lDwqgUf4kTgVadk6wmh5x6zRB1IN_gJkiUpk94Ar8mWQbaRk5pXYBNdtaAe0u3YC7mWigdEjNk/s1600/IMG00123-20101003-1549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2vSx69MUrB_hdabeiiy9zDMIRg_Yxx90-55IoYJwkkxHrLsFjsxbwyxyHrrh-y96I1lDwqgUf4kTgVadk6wmh5x6zRB1IN_gJkiUpk94Ar8mWQbaRk5pXYBNdtaAe0u3YC7mWigdEjNk/s400/IMG00123-20101003-1549.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-78980249662186485162010-10-04T18:38:00.001-04:002010-10-30T14:51:25.770-04:00"The nude portrait is only incidentally about the naked person in the middle of the room." - Paula Brook<div style="text-align: center;">I love the quote that I have used to open this post, and these examples from the past two weeks are great illustrations of it.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">In my first class this semester, we were discussing making art with found objects, and the upcoming work we would be doing with it. Not having any objects with us, with which to start though, we were told we could go to the studio next door, and paint from the life model who was there.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">So, off I went to sketch from the life model, who was a slim man with well defined muscles, though not overly built. I figured I would do a fast sketch, then bring the canvas back to the other room, so as not to be overly influenced, and stray too close to realism. I wanted the finished product to definitely look like a portrait, but an abstracted one. Once I abstracted from the sketch though, in place of his pectoral muscle, was a glaring boob! I thought I was done with the boob paintings, that I had expressed whatever I needed to about my current circumstances, but clearly, my unconscious mind has decided I am not.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I really like this painting though. There is something in the colours and freedom of the painting, and it just feels right to me.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCLOKfzfHW6N644bdJ6o0Suo-jGOmhQKdKlCSsoait1Yyd_BXRfOOkIzrYixEAX2y67ZbY8tae-rfsolebTNLpiIACu9pZEP2gu3-w5cDAvNftocmQ6Zx5JYii9bYim03AgjXRkRatZuE/s1600/IMG00112-20100926-1534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCLOKfzfHW6N644bdJ6o0Suo-jGOmhQKdKlCSsoait1Yyd_BXRfOOkIzrYixEAX2y67ZbY8tae-rfsolebTNLpiIACu9pZEP2gu3-w5cDAvNftocmQ6Zx5JYii9bYim03AgjXRkRatZuE/s400/IMG00112-20100926-1534.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Abstracted Figure</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">18 x 24 Acrylic on canvas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Next came the Found Objects project. This was fun, as you don't really know what you'll be creating until you find something. First I found a cabinet with glass doors, so I took the doors off to use them for my frame. Next, I found a leftover container from a Kinder Surprise toy. Naturally, given my circumstances, that reminded me of boobs - again! So, I went with the flow, and allowed the idea that started to form take life. A couple of shoelaces, some string, a little wire and a light switch later, I had what I needed for this one. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I had thought I would look for some material to use as curtains behind the glass, but my teacher said we should look at it against a white background. When we did, the lighting revealed some really interesting shadows and effects, so I decided to leave it as is. By the way, yes, the light switch <b><i>does</i></b> go up and down. </div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEOPnuGjknhuNTkYu9xPD6k6UCdgGsREVCxxFxvMsm4AQkk71_SDvc_zwH_k3d-UNck4jNqLQ4m4QTkB2SZdQwrOR1nSenqFLURQ7ES5W2VYImqjmGiK6toZRt8Vz3R8veNs2oob5CDB0/s1600/Opening+Doors2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEOPnuGjknhuNTkYu9xPD6k6UCdgGsREVCxxFxvMsm4AQkk71_SDvc_zwH_k3d-UNck4jNqLQ4m4QTkB2SZdQwrOR1nSenqFLURQ7ES5W2VYImqjmGiK6toZRt8Vz3R8veNs2oob5CDB0/s400/Opening+Doors2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here is a second picture with the table in the background, so that you can see the lines a little bit better.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1YEVwje-O_WUw_WjijDn-0T89vYlSfqg0j2noLb9WpwRb-jWdGS2DY7z0oR45C_Ps7Ds6enL8lfVrRdD71atzLrm4xQOcSDJJ18wo4MLDYOL_upyqdXyybE9-C5x7GCG7DIvG2YuQtgU/s1600/Opening+Doors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1YEVwje-O_WUw_WjijDn-0T89vYlSfqg0j2noLb9WpwRb-jWdGS2DY7z0oR45C_Ps7Ds6enL8lfVrRdD71atzLrm4xQOcSDJJ18wo4MLDYOL_upyqdXyybE9-C5x7GCG7DIvG2YuQtgU/s400/Opening+Doors.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Opening Doors</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Approximately 36 x 24, glass, wood and more.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">After all this, I thought, really thought, that I would be finally done with the boob paintings. But, wait 'till you see what I came up with next....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-67795317831872933412010-09-12T21:58:00.009-04:002010-09-13T00:48:47.638-04:00Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing. ~ Marc Chagall<div style="text-align: center;">A couple of months ago, when I started my abstract painting course, our teacher advised us that the dollar store is the abstract artists friend. He encouraged us to look in the dollar store for things that we could stick onto the canvas, and find ways to be more creative.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">The night before, I had been watching an episode of "Chopped" on the Food Network. Four chefs compete with mystery baskets to create the best and most creative food. In the dessert round, one clever chef took the giant ostrich egg they had given him, and made a custard and peach dessert. He turned a half peach upside down to look like an egg yolk, and surrounded it with custard to make the custard look like the egg white. Thus the entire dessert looked like a fried egg, but was instead peach in custard. With this episode floating inconspicuously in the far reaches of my unconscious mind, I went off to the dollar store to see what treasures I could find. Then, when standing in front of the styrofoam balls, a number of things clicked into place, and my idea was born.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I did not at first follow up on the idea, as I was busy doing the paintings for my classes, traveling, and pursuing other ideas in my work. It came to me recently though, that it was time to complete this painting, preferably before I have my surgery. Somehow, I thought it would have some sort of healing effect on me.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">To understand where the idea for this painting comes from, you need to know the background story, and why such an idea occurred to me when in the dollar store that day.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">When I was 13, my breasts, were of course starting to develop. As friends started getting their first bras, one of them pointed out that I should probably do the same. So, I went to my mother, and told her I thought I needed my first bra. She said she would take me shopping that weekend to buy it.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">When that weekend arrived, however, my father wanted to do a big clean up. He wanted the garage and the house cleaned, and he wanted me to stay at home to help. I explained that I could not stay to help, as I had to go shopping with Mum.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">"Why?" he asked, "Can't she just get what you need?"</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">"No," I explained, "I have to go with her, because we are going to buy me a bra."</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">"Can't she just pick it up for you?"</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">"No, I need to go with her."</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">"Why?"</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I remember wondering how it was that he would not know why. Perhaps he didn't know anything about women and bras? "Because, Dad, I have to <i>try it on!</i>"</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">"What, try it on? All she has to do, is tell the lady behind the counter, 'two fried eggs'. "</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">It is precisely this sarcastic, wonky sense of humour I have, which is <b><i>owed to my father</i></b>.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">And so, I present to you, my latest painting:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRF7AC9Wdn6L7vSoZdTMc6HNKlQRN-OavlzyJAb6mTw0fGDB2AUFJOITDGkYqQSzMd-EwVIlCPu2210j6u16w4YJXFFJdIVC4vEpPdpZbzUSF6Hk97kEY8IvsKklFA8s_kbMYnsmQEHbo/s1600/Owed+To+My+Father.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRF7AC9Wdn6L7vSoZdTMc6HNKlQRN-OavlzyJAb6mTw0fGDB2AUFJOITDGkYqQSzMd-EwVIlCPu2210j6u16w4YJXFFJdIVC4vEpPdpZbzUSF6Hk97kEY8IvsKklFA8s_kbMYnsmQEHbo/s400/Owed+To+My+Father.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>"Owed To My Father"</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">11 x 14, acrylic, styrofoam, and a little bit of organza w/ribbon, on stretched canvas</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Now, a couple of men have pointed out that <i>these</i> eggs, are, well, slightly larger than the height of regular fried eggs. To them I have answered this: "Yeah, well, the unspoken message, is that I was larger than fried eggs too."<br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-85113634680587884232010-09-07T01:02:00.001-04:002010-09-07T01:44:12.720-04:00Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. - Thomas MertonThis has been a busy, and difficult few weeks for me. After the Toronto CGTA gift show, a show at which wholesalers display, and hopefully sell their products to the stores, I have a few orders to be filled for some of my jewellery designs. I started to plug away at that, figuring that I would get quickly done, and return here to continue the blog, and show you a painting I did on my last class in the summer semester of which I am quite proud.<br />
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However, an unexpected diagnosis from some tests, turned my life upside down. I have spent the better part of the past 12 days grieving, being brave, then grieving again, on the phone to family, to friends, planning, on the phone to doctors, convincing myself that a second opinion would be different, then convincing myself that that the recommended course of action is the correct one. Well maybe not convincing myself, but allowing myself to see and feel the truth in it. In general, coming to acceptance of what has to happen to save my life, while NOT allowing myself to "accept" being part of the group of people that has cancer. It's a tricky balance, because I need to keep positive and keep thinking that it's already beat, to accept the recommended course of action, so that I can help the doctors to help me to beat it, yet at the same time I mustn't accept being part of "that group", if you know what I mean.<br />
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I need to keep being grateful for the silver linings, and for the positive aspects of this - and, yes there really are some. I am grateful that this was caught so early, that it is a stage where it can almost be considered pre-cancerous. Almost, but not quite. Stage zero, is about as early as it can be caught. I am grateful that our healthcare system will pay for the reconstruction afterwards. Not only that, but they will, ummm, do both sides, so that they'll match afterwards, and I'll get to be "perky" again. I am even grateful that this is on my... less sensitive side (gasp, I said it!) I am grateful that it can be treated "easily", though I have to say that the thought of losing a breast is no fun at all. I am also grateful that they have told me the prognosis for me is the best one they can give a patient, and that they do not expect for me to need either chemotherapy or radiation afterward.<br />
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Lastly, I am grateful that I have worked so damned hard at being aware over the past years, because in the last 12 days or so, it has really helped me see some important things about myself, which need to be addressed in all this. One of the big ones is allowing myself to really express myself, my feelings, with no apologies, and with no particular hold on the outcome of that.<br />
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Interestingly, the last painting I had done in my class, before I had the diagnosis, can be seen to have something to do with that. At the time, and even now, I really think of this one as being all about <b><i>emergence</i></b>. When I displayed this painting at my show this weekend I had a variety of opinions. Some people thought the poor guy was trapped behind the burlap, but I feel he is on the verge of <i><b>breaking out</b></i>, he is about to <i><b>emerge</b></i>, and this is almost like a birthing process. Which I think is exactly where I am in my painting, in my verbalization of my thoughts and feelings, and hopefully in my being.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivhYXFVG3hxKRSpYkmvlISTpKTuR3QMHxpiWmkHDn0apl7PPplrzmcnoKETd8TvhDfTg32uT8eE2Oas6oZfafresCpovWsaJD85Fpr6dpJaa-1djqUm9iNgRrpyafq4d3dUf94m60WURc/s1600/IMG_4424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivhYXFVG3hxKRSpYkmvlISTpKTuR3QMHxpiWmkHDn0apl7PPplrzmcnoKETd8TvhDfTg32uT8eE2Oas6oZfafresCpovWsaJD85Fpr6dpJaa-1djqUm9iNgRrpyafq4d3dUf94m60WURc/s400/IMG_4424.JPG" width="316" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"I had this idea, and it just had to get out"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">10 x 12, acrylic and plaster on canvas.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-25769364161290929022010-08-13T20:49:00.002-04:002010-08-13T21:30:28.404-04:00Let us not be too particular. It is better to have old second-hand diamonds than none at all. ~ Mark Twain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I am not much in a writing mood, so just an update on the latest designs, and the reaction to them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here are some more ART TO GO Series 2. Sized the same as the last ones, with the square ones being 2.5 cm square, and the larger rectangular ones being 2.5 cm x 3 cm, not including the bail heights.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMGbgVNYp4Z4KxQ31CNeyUBUFF0IF9sYmAB5rfS0nCNqLpwlpMgtHJsanUzkS4sqqcvNPsmOzSDJQpy6q_SqioN92aOAbEKBvzU897e6J75MU0FZiui7zzF4TFEutZBrpZHh4xQTrGwmI/s1600/Art_to_Go_SER2_18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMGbgVNYp4Z4KxQ31CNeyUBUFF0IF9sYmAB5rfS0nCNqLpwlpMgtHJsanUzkS4sqqcvNPsmOzSDJQpy6q_SqioN92aOAbEKBvzU897e6J75MU0FZiui7zzF4TFEutZBrpZHh4xQTrGwmI/s400/Art_to_Go_SER2_18.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOuNnoMXKKDpgB5-d7R86bba48lrsrMeq7R1Mzafi-odBnr339g6cRPC5n62h-jLWt5mUNe_biCBrRq3Y5Sath4-twX_fvKU33wcsE1lesB0Fh9h4sTid5zVrJZUiDViEakgQkhdxxwXI/s1600/Art_to_Go_SER2_19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOuNnoMXKKDpgB5-d7R86bba48lrsrMeq7R1Mzafi-odBnr339g6cRPC5n62h-jLWt5mUNe_biCBrRq3Y5Sath4-twX_fvKU33wcsE1lesB0Fh9h4sTid5zVrJZUiDViEakgQkhdxxwXI/s400/Art_to_Go_SER2_19.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This past week, I purchased a few more enamel colours. I got myself some bright pink, some deep chocolaty brown, some violet and some copper. The copper has not been too successful, as it doesn't show well on the sterling. Too bad, I thought it had great potential. Just above, all the rainbow colours with a little bit of the pink to "punch" it up.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2y6WOujRcj6KpVEUOP4Ftb0ERFVG4mJkCUrAPQCR77BdrYw-uY-wM0fFopr10ANmQfM0nidK14ty3pSkEseiwDj-CG8MAVAiRtLjDDAPY-YocRx98c_ln6hjbwko-GkPH6DMGS0vw4rw/s1600/Art_to_Go_SER2_20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2y6WOujRcj6KpVEUOP4Ftb0ERFVG4mJkCUrAPQCR77BdrYw-uY-wM0fFopr10ANmQfM0nidK14ty3pSkEseiwDj-CG8MAVAiRtLjDDAPY-YocRx98c_ln6hjbwko-GkPH6DMGS0vw4rw/s400/Art_to_Go_SER2_20.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here I introduced the brown, with gold copper and green.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here the brown with the black and gold was quite effective. I had the black before, but had shied away from using it. No more. I think it works very well.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">here I used some of the white which I'd had as well. Used in small bits to contrast with other colours, it can work, but is more effective when overlaid on another colour.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Above and just below - loving the pink with the other colours!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I finally took the plunge, and did a completely black background with a few bright colours overlaying it. I love the result.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6QrEWgNRpF-9Sv7wkdPAfUkP6a9XU6tvRWTePXNHr5t-D-g9fRwWEORQt43MKXRU3e-1s-RDH1cgqjCSPlBtk8FfKWgCiP5n4s5w9vuf0qRrqveYYt6Hf62vyf1N8WpLlXrMF1k8FaIU/s1600/Art_to_Go_SER2_31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6QrEWgNRpF-9Sv7wkdPAfUkP6a9XU6tvRWTePXNHr5t-D-g9fRwWEORQt43MKXRU3e-1s-RDH1cgqjCSPlBtk8FfKWgCiP5n4s5w9vuf0qRrqveYYt6Hf62vyf1N8WpLlXrMF1k8FaIU/s400/Art_to_Go_SER2_31.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The ART TO GO Series 1 and Series 2 have been very well received, as have been the Tree of Life designs. This past week at the gift show, I took orders for quite a lot of the Tree of Life pendants. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The ART TO GO Series 1 was not shown at that show, however. I have sold a couple of them and people are loving the uniqueness of the designs. In person they show extremely well. Some better photographs <b><i>may</i></b> help, but mostly I think the 3-D nature of them is not captured well enough in the photos, and it's a shame.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">As for the ART TO GO Series 2, everyone loves them. I have a sold a couple in retail sales, but so far no wholesale orders, in spite of the fact that everyone who sees them says they are gorgeous, they love them, and they think they have huge potential. Go figure. When I see an idea of which I think those kinds of thoughts, I <b><i>jump</i></b> on ordering them. Maybe it's just a matter of time, and the orders will come. Currently, none of them are in my Artfire store, as the entire display has taken a trip to Edmonton, where they will be on display at the Alberta Gift Show from Sunday the 15th of August to Wednesday the 18th of August. If you are there, check them out in the ShantiOm booth: Hall E, booth #2235</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">If you would like to order one of the ones pictured, drop me a line, and I'll reserve it for you, and ship when the displays are returned from Edmonton.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Meantime, I have now been applying the ART TO GO Series 1 technique to rings, and it looks fabulous! Can't wait to get those ones cast, and show them to you. New paintings too when I next update.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-31513707563798327492010-08-04T14:32:00.003-04:002010-08-05T11:38:42.924-04:00One essential ingredient for being an original in the day of copies is courageous vision. ~ Charles Swindoll<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So, last week I promised to show you ART TO GO Series 2. I am very excited about this line, and when I had them at my show this past weekend, they got great reviews!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ART TO GO Series 2 is all about having a miniature, abstract painting on sterling (and maybe eventually on gold as well), which you can wear on the go. One-of-a-kind pieces again, so that no two will ever be the same. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I started out with 2 pieces of leftover sheet sterling, and experimented to see if the enamels would behave the way that I wanted, and if I would be able to achieve what I had in mind. Hence, they are strangely shaped, which is artsy and I think effective. However, in the effort of keeping the prices low, I have, for the time being, opted to go with more traditional square and rectangular pieces, more similar to canvases. The labour on creating oddly shaped pieces would triple, and therefore the price would increase significantly. Having said that, if someone would like a custom piece, I am more than happy to oblige, and will create oddly shaped pieces for those customers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUJvaa7t4nOoHVJZz2OVYB9b_7UDHrC-iznFhx-4Mo1yTsAZj4XQU0bsH4iwNFwb1U6_UwPn5F6w-BCEXZVHirGpDhgaBizH9ipu8pAQ-cg5MQnYd0ci7719ec_4fodgMyQcPzb-6hdDw/s1600/Art_to_Go_SER2_1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUJvaa7t4nOoHVJZz2OVYB9b_7UDHrC-iznFhx-4Mo1yTsAZj4XQU0bsH4iwNFwb1U6_UwPn5F6w-BCEXZVHirGpDhgaBizH9ipu8pAQ-cg5MQnYd0ci7719ec_4fodgMyQcPzb-6hdDw/s320/Art_to_Go_SER2_1b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Piece #1 is about half an inch wide and with the bail included the height is 2.25 inches.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmJLRWNgQOs2NcWJVk3dN5ovc4I1o3YxdrOev3Tuy-nA4ROYpJzkihnGhF8z905pgoNyb6ZBeqUkZGwrMNNNpr-7dQn3g0M2YtEEa-Zq7AzmYW0wxivfxn7aJaqBOsf5TJNISlA2Dqss/s1600/Art_to_Go_SER2_2b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmJLRWNgQOs2NcWJVk3dN5ovc4I1o3YxdrOev3Tuy-nA4ROYpJzkihnGhF8z905pgoNyb6ZBeqUkZGwrMNNNpr-7dQn3g0M2YtEEa-Zq7AzmYW0wxivfxn7aJaqBOsf5TJNISlA2Dqss/s320/Art_to_Go_SER2_2b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Piece #2 is about half an inch wide and with the bail included the height is a little more than 1.75 inches.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pieces 3 through 8 (above) are 2.5 cm x 3 cm, not including the bail height.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYCysNKITwdaFsdhrc0FRN7lZx-jQ_cC_IDmUECUNcFu_rWNAqrJTCtAih2oz0TS80sJpeRMqbCnaPpTBmFfpKmuUZFpQHONby_cZGophVaK6KTk-yZ2_y8FGfdFgSDMf6rMAws_SmAA/s1600/Art_to_Go_SER2_17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYCysNKITwdaFsdhrc0FRN7lZx-jQ_cC_IDmUECUNcFu_rWNAqrJTCtAih2oz0TS80sJpeRMqbCnaPpTBmFfpKmuUZFpQHONby_cZGophVaK6KTk-yZ2_y8FGfdFgSDMf6rMAws_SmAA/s320/Art_to_Go_SER2_17.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pieces 9 through 17 (above) are all 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm, again, not including the bail height.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I love the way some of these have great texture with the enamel, and the way it has swirled and mixed. They'll be added to my Artfire studio soon. Please let me know what you think of them, I'd love your feedback!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-24291145358312990712010-07-29T17:55:00.000-04:002010-07-29T17:55:33.233-04:00Jewelry takes people's minds off your wrinkles. ~ Sonja Henie<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;">Inspired by my recent rash of abstract paintings, I thought of an idea that would allow me to apply the same type of unpredictability to jewellery. I came up with several ideas for One-of-a-Kind pieces. I am calling them ART TO GO Series 1 and Series 2. I now have a total of fourteen pieces for Series 1, and am working on Series 2. here are some first examples from Series 1. They are called ART TO GO, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">because it is art you can wear on the go!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
These are literally designed "in the air", and no two will ever be the same. Plus, they cannot be moulded due to the way they are made. In buying one of these, you truly will own a one-of-a-kind piece!</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwCj1oKStH7-SatRD-rBrDvnlgTDNDMhgox4GwsZIavIrPBztvJHERw7MWCY8OJUE9NxSAR19RbRN-wldcQT_lSCkSlOxnFm9R76wkzAVbhuzLCoX3NKKUCsDT-CnU-N0m24sMLYWOiTM/s1600/Art_to_Go_S1_1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwCj1oKStH7-SatRD-rBrDvnlgTDNDMhgox4GwsZIavIrPBztvJHERw7MWCY8OJUE9NxSAR19RbRN-wldcQT_lSCkSlOxnFm9R76wkzAVbhuzLCoX3NKKUCsDT-CnU-N0m24sMLYWOiTM/s400/Art_to_Go_S1_1b.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Some, like the one above, have several places that they can be hung by. In those cases, I have used a sterling snap-on bail, so that the purchaser can hang the piece how they most prefer it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Some like the one directly above this writing, don't even need a bail, but if a person wants one, it will be provided. Again, this piece has numerous places from which to hang it, allowing you to completely change the look of the piece. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">There are a few that have built in bails, which I did while in the midst of designing them, like the one directly above.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And finally, some have soldered on bails, like the one directly above, and the next three pieces below.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The one directly above, and the next few have got the snap-on bails.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This one is flatter and less 3D than the others.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Coming soon: the same One-of-a-Kind concept applied to Tree of Life Pendants, and Series 2 of the ART TO GO sterling pendants.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Of course all of these are available at my Artfire store:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&sc_id=89851&seller_id=27056&op=new">Please click here to see these on Artfire.</a></div><div><br />
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</div></div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-58766885862480884442010-07-26T13:11:00.001-04:002010-07-26T13:14:53.913-04:00Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. - Stanley Horowitz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">One of the other projects we were asked to do was The Four Seasons. I had a great idea in mind, when we were then told that it should be a photo-collage. So, naturally, I did both. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The first one is the first idea. I mounted all four paintings onto a canvas board. I was thinking about how time is cyclical, and so are the seasons. So, while I tried to make all four be paintings that could stand alone, I still wanted to mount them in such a way as to be reminiscent of a clock. At the top, Spring, then to the right, Summer, then to the bottom Fall, and finally to the left Winter. Each one holds elements of the season before and after, as there is a natural blending in the seasons. I do wish the plaster textures showed a bit more.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZoZh6-02fTK2wADrpi3tCZx2CtuQO8UVv21iokQVkNaTlAwfFReLEOGFyOechRtbzCdmS9K5Jewncwzx4kBF7SjRZA7H8FaG8FYLoihcfrisTV1ZCGo4WamY0yQqEOBnLHuJVnBSZLc/s1600/IMG_4244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZoZh6-02fTK2wADrpi3tCZx2CtuQO8UVv21iokQVkNaTlAwfFReLEOGFyOechRtbzCdmS9K5Jewncwzx4kBF7SjRZA7H8FaG8FYLoihcfrisTV1ZCGo4WamY0yQqEOBnLHuJVnBSZLc/s400/IMG_4244.JPG" width="396" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">After that, I kept the clock in mind when doing the photo collage versions of the seasons. Since we were asked to use photos of people, I decided to make it "The Four Seasons of My Emotions", and used my own photo. I used the same photo for all four, distorting and altering the picture for my needs. I placed my photo in the appropriate position of the clock, keeping that these going.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So, First, we have Spring - Hope. I wanted to give the feeling of growth, so I splashed upward, and without realizing, made it quite flower-like. I did not alter the photo for this first one, as at the time that photo was taken, I was in a place in my life where I had a lot of hope. I then used colours that I felt were appropriate for Spring.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiae04KYwUoFxjS0YJDb7kl0RKqk82778d2Hn4WUMDk_GnHL0AZ1nzb7BFYY8FvM-MzmSrPKqtyUTWZiYlA0wobXA1coDrVDLa3I2Zc-Oelioi6hff2Rg0hpYIXYPQYEAgm-2mF3cb8z3s/s1600/IMG_4246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiae04KYwUoFxjS0YJDb7kl0RKqk82778d2Hn4WUMDk_GnHL0AZ1nzb7BFYY8FvM-MzmSrPKqtyUTWZiYlA0wobXA1coDrVDLa3I2Zc-Oelioi6hff2Rg0hpYIXYPQYEAgm-2mF3cb8z3s/s400/IMG_4246.JPG" width="330" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Next, we have Summer - Joy. Here I intentionally suggested a flower, and altered the photo to bring bright glowing colour to the background and myself. When I am in joy, I think of myself as "glowing", so it seemed appropriate. The photo is to the right, as if it were in the same place as the number 3 on a clock. I used colours that I felt were appropriate for Summer - lots of bright, flowery colours.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcs7StDefyulVpb0S6Pk1Mn-ODA_-ShCZkKCvnYwBjWFJ_ZUCVXKFBIeOguOplWkkPYAoPkkUm4S1hSosoB_-foKfj90nHfQzbXDnUa-cpXe9DBAcjfYrZ3fWbTJsdtaszvLxqAzPozeE/s1600/IMG_4247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcs7StDefyulVpb0S6Pk1Mn-ODA_-ShCZkKCvnYwBjWFJ_ZUCVXKFBIeOguOplWkkPYAoPkkUm4S1hSosoB_-foKfj90nHfQzbXDnUa-cpXe9DBAcjfYrZ3fWbTJsdtaszvLxqAzPozeE/s400/IMG_4247.JPG" width="337" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Next up is Fall - Doubt. Why doubt? Well, doubt is the opposite of hope, as fall is the opposite of Spring. I faded the picture of myself and used Photoshop to get the "negative" of it, because doubt is negative, and we fade away when we are in doubt. The photo is in the same position as the number 6 on the clock. I used colours that I felt were appropriate for Fall, reminiscent of the foliage at that time of year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw4Z3WC8VK6sZc_qdXMiWb_40b0ZC7QQK7OtKhzjlA4BXjvr0IfJZqzJkbeHVQ3mcfCYNVm_HacmSAYBK_dMdmpwuoPBN6GR9liNxMEcBCF9Ypbu0sxP4FpFA_UMVO30_218WWGiZ3rc/s1600/IMG_4248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw4Z3WC8VK6sZc_qdXMiWb_40b0ZC7QQK7OtKhzjlA4BXjvr0IfJZqzJkbeHVQ3mcfCYNVm_HacmSAYBK_dMdmpwuoPBN6GR9liNxMEcBCF9Ypbu0sxP4FpFA_UMVO30_218WWGiZ3rc/s400/IMG_4248.JPG" width="332" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Then there is Winter - Despair. Again, the opposite of Joy, as Winter is the opposite of Summer. Here I really distorted the photo, turning the smile into a grimace of pain. I used wintery colours, and build up the plaster to create snow-like drifts. My picture is in the same position as the number 9 on the clock.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiib4JrzgiSkp88zZ5okBbVX-IeKYvbDkf974YMvmqU7qXWRdQ9b07RPWHu1KbGd98QI3GZ79uqMvKSswEoj0GpcS_QW9yq7O-Ak7-zUFIFSY3sXYBXpP-2igReI4DZzH6Fy8UdylW5UA4/s1600/IMG_4249.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiib4JrzgiSkp88zZ5okBbVX-IeKYvbDkf974YMvmqU7qXWRdQ9b07RPWHu1KbGd98QI3GZ79uqMvKSswEoj0GpcS_QW9yq7O-Ak7-zUFIFSY3sXYBXpP-2igReI4DZzH6Fy8UdylW5UA4/s400/IMG_4249.jpg" width="322" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">When I first presented these, a number of people said, "Wow, you really hate winter, don't you?"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">While I admit to being a spring and summer girl, I really don't hate winter or fall all that much. I was really just thinking in opposites. The winters here in Toronto are not anywhere near as bad as they are in Montreal. So, ever since I moved here, I no longer cringe at the thought of winter. </div><br />
<span id="goog_1670726468"></span><span id="goog_1670726469"></span>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-43339693704144948712010-07-24T22:49:00.002-04:002010-07-31T21:47:03.588-04:00I make no excuses for Abstract Expressionism, but some of it was 'splash and hope.' ~ Jack MadsonTime for more of the paintings I have been up to in recent weeks. Sorry it takes me a while to find the time to update the blog, but life is busy, so what can you do?<br />
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For the past couple of weeks, I have been working with the same techniques as before - pouring and throwing plaster and paint of the canvas. here are some of the results:<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Glitter Wave, 8 x 10, acrylic & plater on canvas. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The lighting for these paintings is a little bit difficult, as I have used metallic colours, iridescent colours , and even some glitter. These don't show as well in photos as they do in person. This one is very lively and the sparkles just light it up.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKNICNnjOPHtLA-PkS1iEuKUvFmZJpJuuVxEs8XQUr9HoC6d0n15qjJaPqvnMX__rA-CMYaOO0KotVNsJV0R2THX3DuqKtxhKtisYJU6uSWSornT1rBdhy7v1mUcLAdxLmy08bugCleA/s1600/IMG_4239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKNICNnjOPHtLA-PkS1iEuKUvFmZJpJuuVxEs8XQUr9HoC6d0n15qjJaPqvnMX__rA-CMYaOO0KotVNsJV0R2THX3DuqKtxhKtisYJU6uSWSornT1rBdhy7v1mUcLAdxLmy08bugCleA/s320/IMG_4239.JPG" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caught in the rain, 8 x 10, acrylic and plaster on canvas. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I just love the textures in this one, and the way the colours run together. I called it "Caught in the Rain" because as I looked at it once it was dry, I could see "people" in the dark purple at the bottom, and it looks to me like like they are running to get out of the rain.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Joy to the World, 8 x 10 acrylic and plaster on canvas. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is quite a bit more texture than you can see in this photo, as the painting is quiet 3D. It is very lively, energetic and joyful in the colouring.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHdWVdObdoZXdNheoMvXU2KIhssVu6dCeygPch9iQIzvfWpD4lp4BTJpMyKGkf5ho8yTAcq2XmQRm5xtThq-KmktjqXfbjXGp8L5Mne7YDJN-kKK_1jQtfkYL_yKDCyswo5gnZ-Gf-jc/s1600/IMG_4250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHdWVdObdoZXdNheoMvXU2KIhssVu6dCeygPch9iQIzvfWpD4lp4BTJpMyKGkf5ho8yTAcq2XmQRm5xtThq-KmktjqXfbjXGp8L5Mne7YDJN-kKK_1jQtfkYL_yKDCyswo5gnZ-Gf-jc/s320/IMG_4250.JPG" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spirit Essence 1, 12 x 12, acrylic and plaster on canvas board. The lighting for these paintings is a little bit difficult, as I have used metallic gold, and even some glitter, just like the one above. The great thing about this series is that there is no way to reproduce another exactly like this, so they are truly one of a kind.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Spirit Essence 2, 12 x 12, acrylic and plaster on canvas board. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Firefly, 12 x 12, acrylic and plaster on canvas board. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have used metallic colours, the pink, purple, blue are all iridescent and metallic colours. These don't show as well in photos as they do in person. Though I had not intentionally created a firefly, the shape started to suggest it as I was working, so I went with it, but loosely, and in a more abstract way.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Cotton Candy, 6 x 8, acrylic and plaster on canvas. Another one using the sparkles, and iridescent colours, which unfortunately don't show up as well as I would like in the pictures.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Powerfull Pizzazz, 6 x 8, acrylic and plaster on canvas. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This one is extremely full of energy and pizzazz! I love the textures in this one as well.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjdSe23PZheBSIfOwvcC8-i8MdhadE3PHTxND0QICia0a3xzR7_3QkwhbBqXwfSJJRMvV27ImcIJ3vlwiVUxy69M5el_9WzsfWkhESOHQapDFZpJvywhgA-fxGoWzCIPa5b1iM3QoAX8/s1600/IMG_4253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjdSe23PZheBSIfOwvcC8-i8MdhadE3PHTxND0QICia0a3xzR7_3QkwhbBqXwfSJJRMvV27ImcIJ3vlwiVUxy69M5el_9WzsfWkhESOHQapDFZpJvywhgA-fxGoWzCIPa5b1iM3QoAX8/s320/IMG_4253.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Midas Touch, 6 x 8, acrylic and plaster on canvas. This one takes a more literal turn compared to the others, and the picture is deceiving, in that it makes it appear like the hand is convex on the canvas, but it is instead concave. A LOAD of plaster is on this canvas making it quite heavy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">These are all of course available for purchase in my Artfire store:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.artfire.com/users/Jaqui">Please click here to purchase.</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I have lots of other new ideas and work that I have been busy with for the past few weeks, and I will do my best to update the blog sooner this time. Meantime, don't stand too still - there exists the very real possibility that you'll become a part of my next art project, covered with plaster and paint!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-47643556949718321102010-07-15T09:38:00.003-04:002010-07-25T00:35:57.053-04:00Do not copy nature too much. Art is an abstraction. - Paul Gauguin<div style="text-align: center;">So, while I have been off galavanting around, I have been forming ideas, and paintings in my head. I came back from vacation just in time for a class about the Jackson Pollock style of painting, and this has been quite wonderfully freeing!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">We were asked to do a series of four paintings, on either the Four Elements or the Four Seasons. I chose the elements, and then added a fifth element: Spirit.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">We started off throwing some plaster onto the board first, then once it was dry the process of throwing, pouring and dripping the paint began. The first one I did turned out to be Earth. As I threw plaster onto the board, thought I didn't have any plans, I noticed that a handful of plaster smacked onto the boards, reminded me of the Andes that I had just come back from. Another glob of plaster which I stuck my thumb into, suddenly reminded me of the volcanoes of Peru. I poured the paint appropriately, and this was the result.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMLjBb8kfothlc6AXP6hJ31oLwiNF5VcacJnLLrwGY3HJs8NAL-9aOxD7quab1rERfZfYGjbj_PqjcEmBiEh3RsO_vk1Q_kqLPksppjA4335DyscOWdvjg1B4aC6Wl62M4_48yjJSjZME/s1600/IMG_4225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMLjBb8kfothlc6AXP6hJ31oLwiNF5VcacJnLLrwGY3HJs8NAL-9aOxD7quab1rERfZfYGjbj_PqjcEmBiEh3RsO_vk1Q_kqLPksppjA4335DyscOWdvjg1B4aC6Wl62M4_48yjJSjZME/s400/IMG_4225.JPG" width="397" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I wish some of the 3D effects could be seen n the photo, such as the golden jewel at the top left, the volcano at the bottom right, but I think you can see the overall effect.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Next I thought I would do Fire, and started the process again of building a giant volcano on the board, but once there was a ring of plaster formed, I decided that it felt more like a pool of Water, so I poured and coloured appropriately for that, and this was the result.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzeo_YRVn2dibfKfZHH9kpNLn5bI-MLJ0tWzpKP4YTEMmbAao75hQqF_eLwCiqc_YsmFNGfj_EadBGUw0YymKk5PIY_vYgxshs97ht98lEd5vzPxVl9EYA55NzPH75SdnrvJIhCTR7p1g/s1600/IMG_4232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzeo_YRVn2dibfKfZHH9kpNLn5bI-MLJ0tWzpKP4YTEMmbAao75hQqF_eLwCiqc_YsmFNGfj_EadBGUw0YymKk5PIY_vYgxshs97ht98lEd5vzPxVl9EYA55NzPH75SdnrvJIhCTR7p1g/s400/IMG_4232.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I really like this one, it is soothing, and yet not completely still.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Next up was Air. I painted a traditional sky then put the plaster as an overlay. Now, truth be told, once the plaster was on the board for this one, I would have loved to leave it just white with the background paint showing through, but I knew the assignment was to pour and throw paint, so I added the coulours in. The result is this, and I do like it very much.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The next one that I tackled was Fire. This turned out to be one of my favourites. I love the spontaneity, the colours and even the joy in the piece. I love the yellows zipping across, like little sparks flying and popping in the fire.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Now with this one, I was smart enough to take a couple of detail pictures of the textures:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Finally, I did Spirit. For this one I first painted the background black, then added the plaster, and the paints. I do quite like this one - I would say it is my second favourite. Again, I have a couple of detail photos of the textures. I used a lot of metallic colours here, which are difficult to photograph, but again, I think you get the overall effect.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I have plans to do a series of these, in smaller sizes, and I have some new stuff to add to the painting to get the effects that I am after. this should be interesting. Soon also, I will update with a bunch of others that I did in this style, that were not part of any assignment. But first, in the coming week, I will update with the Four Seasons which I did after doing the Four Elements. Enjoy!</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-20960156365155151222010-06-01T10:17:00.002-04:002010-07-17T16:18:53.063-04:00Hellooooooo, is anyone out there listening?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's hard to keep on bloggin' when the silence is deafening, so by all means, please feel free to comment, or follow.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So for the past few weeks, I have been busily working away. I have been doing a lot of pen & ink drawings, which can mostly be seen here at my Artfire store: http://www.artfire.com/users/Jaqui You may want to check it out, I have a number of pieces that are on sale until Friday of this week, at 25% off.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I did 2 commissioned pieces, both 4 x 6, both pen & ink. I had found some watercolour postcards, and I love the weight of the paper, and how it doesn't warp when using the pen & ink. So, now I have switched to a heavier paper for the 5 x 7's as well.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are the 2 commissioned pieces: </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This first one has an interesting story behind it. I was asked if I could be commissioned to do one for a couple of friends who were staying at a womans place for the weekend. They wanted to give her a gift, and I was happy to help with that. One of my two friends asked me what I was going to paint. I said I thought I'd do a tree, and she replied that yes, she liked the trees I've been doing. She asked what kind of tree, and I said my gut was telling me it should be an oak. She replied that yes, she likes the oak, because of the strength it has. When I was looking for reference photos, I found one with the sun shining through, and a little voice in my head said, this lady who is being gifted, needs hope, so I should do something like that. When I was done and showed it to my friend, she gasped and said how fantastic it was, but later an even more interesting story came back to me. It seemed, the giftee, needs a healing of some sort, and so indeed does need some hope. Later a third woman asked me how I did this. I started to reply, "You know, layers...." No, she wanted to know how I had decided on this picture, so I related the above story. She then told me that there was a special story with the lady who was being gifted. She wasn't allowed to tell me said story until after June 30th, because of some confidentiality issues, but she said, "What I will tell you is that the picture you have chosen to do, is a picture that shows exactly what this woman is going through, and you couldn't have chosen a more perfect picture." Cooooool! I love stories like that, and can't wait to hear the rest of it!</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After seeing the first of these two pictures, another friend asked me if I would be painting more trees, and of course answered that I would be. She said she'd know the right one when I painted it. This was the next one, and she loved it, so it became hers.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the meantime, I promised pictures of the pottery that I did.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-27015154873612961262010-05-08T18:53:00.001-04:002010-07-17T16:18:42.248-04:00If you make pictures you are bound to be an abstract painter on some level. -George GreenThis week, I started my latest class. This semesters class is about abstract painting. We started looking at the earliest abstract artists, so naturally, we looked at Cubism. Now, previously, about 30 years ago, I had a class that very briefly touched on the same subject, and we did 2 "cubist" paintings. So, these first 2 paintings are from wayyy back then.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This first one works I think. It has a good feel to it. The next I don't think is as successful, and has less abstraction (at least to me).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">Finally, we get to the one I did last Thursday in class. For this we were asked to keep it monochromatic, and I like this one quite a lot. The more I look at it, the more pleasing it is to my eye. I find myself exploring the textures and spaces, and my eye wanders over and around it as if I'll discover something new, even though I painted it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">This sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, and I have some interesting ideas brewing, things to paint over the coming weeks. I may not be posting all that much as I also have a lot of traveling we'll be doing for business, but I'll keep up as much as possible, and hopefully you'll enjoy the posts. :)</div><div><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-45540969675818444472010-04-28T14:56:00.007-04:002010-07-17T16:18:33.924-04:00A busy week, with lots of stuff to show you.<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I finally got around to trying out some abstract ideas, based on the book I bought: </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><h1 class="parseasinTitle" style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span id="btAsinTitle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"Painting Abstracts: Ideas, Projects and Techniques".</span></span></span></h1></span></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I really like the first one:</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/RockingtheBoat2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/RockingtheBoat2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It's a 10 x 12 inch oil. I like the way it developed, from simple random straight lines, I suddenly felt like curving some, and from there it reminded me of waves, which I then chose to enhance a little, while keeping it abstract. I am calling this one "Rocking the Boat".</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">After that I did another, adapting the exercise in the book to work with the materials I wanted - oils.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/IMG_3272.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/IMG_3272.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one is an 8 x 8 inch oil. I am not as fond of this one, though my kids both like it. I haven't come up with a name for it yet. My daughter suggested "The devils rainbow", which I kind of like. My son suggested "Last Nights Omelette", another friend suggested "Pizza Nebula", and finally another friend suggested "Cupcake with Sprinkles". Clearly, my friends are hungry.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a busy week for me. Aside from my foray into abstraction, I did a little 10 x 10 inch oil of a toucan, which I called "Toucan Do Better Than One"</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/Toucan-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/Toucan-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I touched on some acrylic work:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/29637_385588033810_708518810_408599.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/29637_385588033810_708518810_408599.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I also kept up a few little pen & inks:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/magnolia_tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/magnolia_tree.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/PurplePansies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/PurplePansies.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And, finally, a little bit of pastel work on coloured stock:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/26145_385552238810_708518810_408553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/gem-n-i-gemstonz/26145_385552238810_708518810_408553.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Anyway, please feel free to leave a comment, or I'd even love a suggestion for a name for that orange abstract painting. I will see you soon enough with more paintings/drawings!</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">By the way, if you are interested in purchasing any of my works, you can do so through my Artfire studio <a href="http://www.artfire.com/users/Jaqui">Here</a></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</span></span></div></span>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679455908375906464.post-40983166935102378212010-04-20T00:55:00.004-04:002010-04-20T01:46:15.500-04:00My current works are abstracts cunningly disguised as landscapes. It is the Canadian way. - Ted Godwin<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">That title is for my friend Janet. I know she'll appreciate it. She loves to tease me about how I should let go, and not have my paintings be so "tight".</div></div><br />
While I wait for my abstract art class to start, and while I ponder what I can do for my first exercise in abstract art from a book I am reading, I have found a handy little way to distract and amuse myself. I unpacked the technical pens along with the indian inks, and started to do some quick sketches.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNlBck9MW3veVyDgWUDxG1O0XrwiN7lYk_U8tj9wntKaZAbYXXYp7L8yxY8-L6iqN-xvqVHOlf9-tTDQ6ynHzfSTS3nmYJdFK_NjTU6CkZ4uCnw-ddPDMzUUX1o0HP10YxGixHZcuIhyphenhypheng/s1600/Magnolias.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNlBck9MW3veVyDgWUDxG1O0XrwiN7lYk_U8tj9wntKaZAbYXXYp7L8yxY8-L6iqN-xvqVHOlf9-tTDQ6ynHzfSTS3nmYJdFK_NjTU6CkZ4uCnw-ddPDMzUUX1o0HP10YxGixHZcuIhyphenhypheng/s320/Magnolias.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Inspired at first by the Magnolia tree down the street from us, I started with this one.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Xc6D5fueQPonF6aNzBU3nYoFwu-9bYxmDcSeGEHlEg_BKsp7EPQf2nuLNJL03x0V-jlczYESJpMZyu0X7RsajUfJO079lBMoSvM3OUiwDpYv_WjA-Y9YyrthokVTltZ-kbZeMXHhVxg/s1600/Sunset_plumeria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Xc6D5fueQPonF6aNzBU3nYoFwu-9bYxmDcSeGEHlEg_BKsp7EPQf2nuLNJL03x0V-jlczYESJpMZyu0X7RsajUfJO079lBMoSvM3OUiwDpYv_WjA-Y9YyrthokVTltZ-kbZeMXHhVxg/s320/Sunset_plumeria.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">From there I remembered being in Tahiti, and how the look and the smell of the flowers there was so intoxicating. So, I then did a little sketch of sunset plumerias.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After that I walked around the block and saw these intensely coloured red pointed tulips. They quickly became the subject of my 3rd sketch.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwyg9RP9gFRsbDzwpAEomOQqCpAxl2k76Jo2fycuwYH1bckByfFTJUS1dMvBtNE9dFt_9xWyuz3TnkmR7dl_RRaPLPeQafEGda_I7kEXVOsxXLKvW3Hanyy0sfmzOFR6CXD_SZJ8UI5L4/s1600/Red_flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwyg9RP9gFRsbDzwpAEomOQqCpAxl2k76Jo2fycuwYH1bckByfFTJUS1dMvBtNE9dFt_9xWyuz3TnkmR7dl_RRaPLPeQafEGda_I7kEXVOsxXLKvW3Hanyy0sfmzOFR6CXD_SZJ8UI5L4/s320/Red_flower.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I enjoy the speed with which I can do these, and somehow just telling myself they are only little sketches allows me to feel free with them. I don't feel the need to tighten them up so much, and I think that is having a positive effect on the sketches and my work.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This week I plan to try my hand with the abstract techniques from my book, and I'll let you know if I find the book helpful, or not.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Oh, yeah, and as for my current abstracts being currently disguised as landscapes, here's one of those:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrnYD81aMc6YYsjbJx5S4_pPwm3ND-5-Ehlc6EZ5hKPgSG7R-Xag6mhv5j7xIDpFI4N3YAEwvQebza9xRHEVnsLUezW7tg8cYXJk3iULEs-l9Y0D_ssloRyYKO1B6r8KYD0uTfgGN8nM/s1600/24895_384318693810_708518810_4059617_3034313_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrnYD81aMc6YYsjbJx5S4_pPwm3ND-5-Ehlc6EZ5hKPgSG7R-Xag6mhv5j7xIDpFI4N3YAEwvQebza9xRHEVnsLUezW7tg8cYXJk3iULEs-l9Y0D_ssloRyYKO1B6r8KYD0uTfgGN8nM/s400/24895_384318693810_708518810_4059617_3034313_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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</div>Jaqui Michellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861144491440085645noreply@blogger.com2