Organics Sketch 17
Acrylic on Stonehenge
7.5″ x 7.5″
©2010 Marilyn Fenn
This is one of my recent acrylic sketches exploring the structure of those organic forms in my head that I am currently fascinated to understand: in these images of interconnected solids among voids in a space of ambiguous depth, how are the parts connected; what is attached to what, and where? I paint in order to see…
I should mention that I don’t think the color is completely accurate. Sigh!
See more of these little sketch-paintings in my Organics Gallery. And stay tuned for more in the not-too-distant future.
<!–8e2f4ac98291446388de6f9af981f401–>
8e2f4ac98291446388de6f9af981f401
I just redesigned my Small Wonders blog on Blogspot again.
You know…my other art blog, where I often offer my small paintings for sale before I have the chance to update my database and this (WordPress) site.
I seem to have gotten stuck in an endless loop of revamping all my gazillion online presences: this site, my FineArtAmerica portfolio, my Etsy page, my Paypal shop, and my Flickr portfolio (so far). Then when I went to add some of my latest small paintings from this past spring to my Small Wonders blog, I noticed I couldn’t add another page there without also updating the design (or getting deeply into the gnarly Blogger code). Kind-a snowballed!
Plus, I have several other free online portfolios that are out of date. Yikes! What to do? Delete them and lose all the work I’ve already put into them (and the potential for other eyes on my art), or continue to spend hours and hours updating web portfolios when I’d rather be painting?
All that aside, the good news is, they’ve made some improvements in Blogger very recently, including making it much easier to add pages. So I re-did my visual design and code a bit to make it easier for me to continue making updates there.
I added a new page called “Gallery,” but it is really just a slideshow of a Picasa photo group—the one that contains all the images on my Small Wonders blog. Even with all the improvements on Blogger, true image galleries (with thumbnails and all) still do not seem to be supported. So about all you can do is add one image at a time, with slideshows from Picasa and Flickr in the sidebar, footer or on a page of their own.
Before
After
Check it out: Small Wonders.
I hope you like the new design. It’s more in keeping with this site, color-wise, and also a little less scrunchy than the previous version.
If you have a Blogger blog, check out the new capabilities and template designs they offer now.
(By the way, if you’re interested in a custom template design for Blogger, I work hourly at very reasonable rates, and can usually whip out a new design in 2-3 hours that can be easily uploaded to your Blogspot blog. Standard disclaimers apply).
Knot
Acrylic on canvas
36″ x 36″
© 2008 Marilyn Fenn
Another painting of mine has been included in a very cute Etsy Treasury, complete with a joke. Check out the whole beautful treasury, curated by Kendra of laylaloustudio, at this link on Etsy.
I have spent some time this past week reorganizing and tidying up my website. Everything is still here, but I’ve eliminated some top links for some of the less important items and items to be archived.
Try the Search box in the upper right if need be. Additionally, there’s a Site Index which has been moved under the “More…” page link, here: Site Index. It contains a regular index plus some sub-indexes of artwork, photographs and more.
I hope you find the slightly slimmer link listings easier to navigate. Let me know.
Organics Sketch 06
Watercolor Crayons on Canvas Paper
6″ x 6″
© 2010 Marilyn Fenn
A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. — E Hubbard
The day after the opening of my solo show last October, I was thrilled to stumble on a somewhat new direction while doing some sketches, a direction that it seems I’ve been searching to find for the past few years. Too bad this didn’t quite materialize in time for my show, but I’m sure the approximately hundred pieces of art I created last year prior to the show helped lead the way.
In these works, I’m exploring some lovely organic forms that—as far as I know—exist only in my imagination: images that consist of interconnected solids among voids in an abstract space of ambiguous depth, while other shapes float among the solid forms.
So far, I’ve only created a few small sketches in water media on paper or encaustic on wood. I also have a few larger oil paintings in the works, and I am very excited to watch how this work unfolds and grows.
Under normal circumstances, I should have created more works along these lines since last fall, but circumstances have not been normal since just after my solo show ended. At that time, my husband and I embarked on a house remodeling project which we still haven’t completely finished—one that turned my creative life upside down.
Now I’m back in the studio (and now I actually have one!), and the work is beginning to flow again. So, after what seemed like an interminable interlude of the disarray of remodeling, I am once again back in my element, and optimistic about the present work and the future work to come.
In the process of making a painting in an abstract way, the painter is in search of a reality. Not one of realistic objects, but of the complete end result. The painting is experienced as a whole, and must evoke in the painter the absolute conviction that this is how it should be and no other way. — Paul Burlin
