Sketchbook page 11/11/23

 My husband and I belong to a book series fan club called The Royal Manticoran Navy.  While we were attending a recent convention called WindyCon in Des Plaines, Ilinois, and working the FanTable for our group, I decided to work on a sketchbook page.  Here are the results.

A New Art Journal

 Back in March, I started a new art journal, with the plan to continue it during my trip to Europe with my husband, Chuck.  Well, I completed a few pages in the lounge of the ship during "down time", but didn't quite finish the pages until yesterday.  It turned out to be a Very Eclectic Journal, with some watercolors florals, some leaf prints on fabric, and several abstract collages. Here are pics of a few pages. 8x8 on 140lb watercolor paper.

Art Journal "Sequences"

Lately, I've been working/painting/creating like there's no tomorrow. I have a gallery exhibition at Gallery 2622 along with the other Martini Girls, and it opens in June.  We have all painted in our favorite media, and the paintings will make for a very cohesive show.  

The plans for making more of my Art Journal creations are coming along nicely.  I finished one book recently, and titled it "Sequences".  There are 3 covers with loose pages waiting in the wings, and I hope to finish at least one more before the middle of summer.

The Art Bar Mini Show 2013

It's time again for the Art Bar Mini Show.  This is just one of the paintings I submitted for sale at the Mini show this year.  I chose not to paint any birds, so instead I did several mixed media pieces on canvas.  Some are nudes, and a few are roses.  We'll see if they sell this year.  I've had good success selling at the mini show for the last 5 years.

Celtic Sunset Mixed Media

This painting was kind of an experiment.  I had been reading the book How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill, and I liked the Introduction so much, that I printed it out in script on the computer to use as a crumpled paper background on this pastel.  The words are barely visible in the painting, but the texture adds quite a bit of drama.  Pastels were applied over the paper after it dried, and then I sealed the painting with final fixative.  After that was dry, I applied spray shallac to the whole thing to really seal in the pastel.  I was awarded an honorable mention for it in the Wisconsin Pastel Artists "Summer Wrap Up-Fall Ahead" exhibition.

http://www.fineartamerica.com/marciahero