Artist Renee Mak

Happy Saturday!  Today the studio is buzzing with excitement... at least for me!  These works in progress are finally getting stretched! As in every project, the right tools make all the difference... like a corner vice to help hold the perfectly cut corners of the stretcher bars in place...  and wood glue, a hammer and something to wipe the  extra glue... and this little baby... which is just the right size for my small hands!   It will be good to finish up these paintings in time for the first open Gallery Night   of the year in  Historic Valley Junction ... which is just one  week away! As always, I'll post WIP pics as they're available! Have a fabulous weekend... Happy Easter! xoxo

It's that time once again... Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday!  I love both of these groups because I get to see what other fabulous artists from all over the place have been painting this week! Today I'm sharing a painting that's been finished for a while but has just been photographed proper... This piece is a 36"x36" mixed media acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.   It was originally part of my "After the Blues" series I blogged about here .  At the time,  I only finished three of the four paintings in time for the show and had this one left... unfinished. I set it aside knowing that some day I would just know what it needed. And that's exactly what happened.  One day, I saw brightly colored abstract flowers growing wildly!  Standing straight up as if shouting... "look at us!" So I painted it like I saw it and here it is. And the full meaning didn't even occur to me until just now. The original series, After the Blues, symbo...

Week Four was all about being BRAVE!  Read Part one here ... And so... after a complete act of bravery that equalled pouring paint all over my work and letting it drip down randomly, I began doodling and trying to find the life of the painting. I found some wonderful circular shapes and then my painting absolutely blossomed... literally! I then came back and started blocking some color! And discovered I really liked using my cobalt teal against the warm background colors! I also began using a tiny bit of violet... And that's as far as I got on this one! Below is a sneak peek at my studio and my "in progress" paintings! I'm very excited to begin the fifth and final week of the  fabulous Flora Bowley's    Bloom True eCourse and to finish up what we've started!  As always, you are invited to follow along with my progress and comment anytime! You are greatly appreciated here... happy painting! xoxo

Happy Friday everyone...  and a special welcome to all of my  Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday friends!  You are deeply appreciated here! What a busy week I've had... I only got to paint twice! But I'm heading to the studio soon, will paint the day away  and post my  Bloom True   progress tomorrow, so stay tuned! {read tomorrows post here!} All week I've been posting about what inspires me and asking the same questions of you.   I posted about inspirations  outside , with nature, and about  the "pops" of color I found  inside  my home.  I celebrated another fabulous Birthday... and posted my  Birthday Bash Giveaway ...  in case you missed that post, you can read all about it here ! To celebrate my Birthday week  I'm giving away three original pendant necklaces that I've created... {It's not too late to enter!} My grandmother always told me to  count my blessings one by one.  This week h...

Happy Paint Party Friday! and  Sneak Peak Friday! Painting by my daughter Monet! This week has been really busy but I'm thrilled to be taking part in the BLOOM TRUE workshop by artist Flora Bowley and would love to share my  progress with you! This week was all about letting go of all inhibitions and covering the canvas with paint! I learned two techniques... My first canvas is 36" x 36" and has warm colors mixed with water! I'm always amazed by how the paint flows... where is decides to go and where it avoids going! For the second technique I decided to tack primed canvas to the wall of my studio! I put on some music, a blind fold and painted with my hands . . . per Flora's instructions! Here's a short video clip (unedited!!!) This was really fun to do... like finger painting back in preschool!   I again chose to work with bright, warm colors and will probably have this canvas stretched before ...

   Flora Bowley! As part of celebrating my birthday all month long,  I signed up for an amazing painting adventure with artist  Flora Bowley !  Her new studio!  I'm so excited for class to begin  because I really love her work and also love learning new things about myself and painting!   Her eCourse is called "Bloom True" and it's about being  brave with art, exploring intuitive painting and  having tons of fun in the process! Here's the video introduction to the class... Flora Bowley Paints Online (2012) from Diggable Monkey on Vimeo . She travels all over teaching her fabulous style... her blog  often showcases the people she meets  and the beautiful places she goes. Book by Flora Bowley, 2012 Like many of my favorite artists, she has just finished  a book, pictured above, that I'm sure will be a great asset to my art library!  It's called  "Brave...

Hooray... it's once again Friday and time to  meet up with happy painters from all over the world through Paint Party Friday ! Because I just finished up my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project I'd like to share some of the bright pages I painted before I filled it in with my doodles! My theme was HOPE. I simply collaged works onto the dry pages. After that I added colored prints of my original artwork. I then doodles on the prints! I just let my mind go and doodled away! I like how it all came together... and will share more of the finished project soon! Have a fabulous day and happy painting!!! xoxo