Can Life Get Any Crazier?

Faithful readers, I apologize. You've probably noticed I've been posting less these past couple of months. The reason? I haven't figured out how to add another day to the week. Here's what life has been like around here lately:

In April I traveled to North Carolina for a weeklong art workshop at the Kanuga Center just outside Flat Rock. It was a breathtaking setting for a truly wonderful experience -- taking a workshop from one of my most favorite artists and art instructors, Jo Toye. Jo is an amazing workshop instructor and I came away from Kanuga with so many ideas and new techniques that I thought my brain would melt down.

Two weeks after returning home from the workshop, Hubs and I flew to California to attend our niece's wedding and spend vacation time with two of my brothers and their wives. We hit some of the art galleries in Laguna Beach and enjoyed lunch in a restaurant there overlooking the Pacific. Sister-in-law Barbara and I did some serious treasure hunting (Orange County has awesome thrift stores!!), and got in a fascinating tour of a dichroic glass manufacturing company that's normally off limits to the public. (That's because Barbara, who teaches silver smithing and other creative skills, is one of their customers.) All in all, it was 12 days of pure fun -- and the wedding was the stuff of fairy tales.

It had been years since I had visited Southern California, and so I didn't really know what to expect. It took me about 10 minutes after de-planing to decide I loved the climate. It was great...No bugs! No humidity! The absence of those was enough to fall in love with SoCal, but the cost of housing in California is so outrageous that three quarters of the population can't qualify for a mortgage. Houses that sell here for $200,000 go for one million out there. With bidding wars, yet.

But oh, the food! It was amazing, and everything was so fresh. We had wonderful meals every place we went, from a hole in the wall taco place to a swanky Italian restaurant to a chain of restaurants called Avila's that served up Mexican food to die for. (We hit Avila's twice.) There was also an out of the way Chinese restaurant (I forget the name) that served out of this world Honey Walnut Shrimp. We went there twice, too.

You know how Californians claim to be so laid back? We got an upclose look at just how "laid back" some of them are. Thanks to California's lenient marijuana laws, you can buy weed everywhere. It's like buying bread or milk. One afternoon we stopped in at WalMart to pick up a few supplies. Our cashier at the checkout -- a ponytailed guy who looked to be around 30-- was so stoned he could barely function. His eyelids were at half mast, his speech was distant and slow and his moves were even slower.

The woman ahead of me in line had arranged her purchases into two piles so they could be handled as separate transactions. The cashier managed to ring up one of them, but seemed to be at a total loss as to how to ring up the other one. The logistics of ringing up two separate purchases for the same person threw him for a loop. After a lot of fumbling and mumbling, he finally gestured at the second pile of merchandise and told the woman, "Oh, just take them."

She, obviously being an honest person, protested and said no, she couldn't just take the stuff because it wasn't right. The cashier replied with "I don't know how to ring those up...go head, just take them." And he indicated for her to remove them from the counter. She tried to press some bills into his hand, insisting that she couldn't just walk out with the stuff, but he refused to accept the money. She tried again, and again he told her, "No, just take them." Shaking her head in disbelief, she gave up, added the items to the bag she was holding, and left.

Watching this exchange, Hubs and I were incredulous. I just wish I had thought to capture it with my cell phone. For our purchase this cashier somehow gathered his wits sufficiently to operate the register (it was a single transaction, we were paying with cash and we weren't buying much) so we were spared our own round of Fun with Puff. But we were troubled at what we had just witnessed. A giant retailer like WalMart might be able to absorb losses to greater degree than most companies, but an employee like this could put a small mom and pop operation out of business in short order. And one more thing: Come the end of his shift, he'd be on the road and behind the wheel, driving while stoned out of his mind. What a comforting thought. I can't help but wonder...when they made marijuana as easy to buy as margarine, what in the heck were California's lawmakers thinking???

Art Books I Can't Live Without

The reading nook in my studio. The bookcase just beyond the chair holds all my favorite art books .

As a mostly self taught artist, books about art are as important to me as brushes, paint and canvases. I have to confess: my addiction to them is hopeless. I troll the latest titles on Amazon, eagerly read reviews of new releases in art magazines, and browse the shelves at Barnes & Noble every chance I get. Given a choice between the gift of a luxurious designer handbag and a newly released book about abstract art, I'll choose the book. (Maybe that's why I'm not famous for looking like a fashion plate, haha.)

When younger artists ask me how they can advance their careers, I tell them to do two things: spend as much time painting as possible, and take advantage of the incredible universe of knowledge found in art books. (Yes,YouTube is a wonderful resource also. But only a book allows you time to read, mull over what you've just read, and dream up ways to apply it, even making notes in the margins.) I consider art books to be an essential part of an artist's development. Read enough of them and you'll get an education to rival that of attending art school. Maybe even better.

I paint with acrylics, I paint abstracts, and I also work in mixed media and collage. There's no shortage of terrific books out there covering every conceivable aspect of these topics. Here are some of my favorite titles. They're the books I read for information and inspiration -- the ones I consider studio essentials:

Surface Treatment Workshop by Sandra Duran and Darlene Olivia McElroy
Abstract Explorations in Acrylic Painting: Fun, Creative and Innovative Techniques by Jo Toye
Create Perfect Paintings: An Artist's Guide to Visual Thinking by Nancy Reyner
Abstracts in Acrylic and Ink: A Playful Painting Workshop by Jodi Ohl
The Art of Expressive Collage: Techniques for Creating with Paper and Glue by Crystal Neubauer
Gelli Plate Printing: Mixed-Media Monoprinting Without a Press by Joan Bess
Alternative Art Surfaces: Mixed-Media Techniques for Painting on More Than 35 iDifferent Surfaces by Sandra Duran Wilson and Darlene Olivia McElroy

This is by no means a complete list. It just happens to be a list of the titles I happen to have at hand right now. If adding to your skill set is your aim, you can't go wrong with any of these titles. So grab a good book, a cup of tea, and let these authors lead you to improvements in your work.

Image and text ©2018 Lynn Edwards

A Must-Read for Abstract Painters

Every once in a while a book on painting techniques comes along that really fires up my imagination. Abstract Explorations in Acrylic Painting: Fun, Creative & Innovative Techniques (2016 North Light Books) by Jo Toye has ignited a bonfire. The author certainly delivers on her promises in this nicely photographed, well written book, making it easy to follow the tutorials. And what an interesting menu of techniques she presents!

Gather up some razor blades, masking pens, contact paper and a hot glue gun, along with pipettes, a resist pen, a dry erase marker, chalk and clear tar gel. You'll need these, plus a few more items, to experiment with off the wall techniques like drawing "sparkling" lines with a razor blade and India ink; creating stencils with hot glue and achieving a stained glass look with a resist pen.

You'll learn how to give a dud painting a whole new look with masking tape, gesso and foam rollers. And how to paint stunning (and easy) abstracts using gesso, fluid acrylics India ink and -- again -- a razor blade. These and others in the book are excellent jumping off points for taking the techniques further, combining them or going on to develop more that are uniquely your own.

I've had a blast with this book. Jo Toye's writing is lively and engaging, and her droll wit and sense of humor are refreshing. Scattered throughout its pages are nuggets of helpful information you rarely find elsewhere, such as how to choose and use a Resist Pen, get gesso and paint to flow smoothly from an applicator bottle, and tips for using a mouth atomizer successfully.

When tools like these are combined with the techniques Ms. Toye includes, some very interesting art results. One of her techniques that called for using tar gel prompted me to paint the piece shown below, using Liquitex's version of that product, which goes by the name String Gel. Previously, my jar of this product had done nothing but sit around gathering dust.

After completing this painting I went on to experiment with several concepts involving String Gel/Tar Gel that had spontaneously popped into my head as I worked on Land of Enchantment. Some of those proved to be quite promising, giving me ideas for even more works in the future.

"Land of Enchantment," 18x24 acrylic on cradled wood panel    ©2017 Lynn Edwards

By the time I was done, there was tar gel all over me but I was having a ball so who cared?
And that's the whole point, says the author. Have fun. Experiment. Don't be afraid to push the envelope, and yourself.

I enjoyed this book so much, I'm hoping Ms.Toye will publish another one soon. Meanwhile, there's no shortage of material already on hand in Abstract Explorations to inspire. This fine book is definitely a keeper!

Text and images ©2017 Lynn Edwards