I almost named my post "Master Pieces And Bought Art" all in humor of course, but then I thought, well, I AM mastering something, I'm mastering FUN!

I have a whole list of ideas for art to try. One of them was to make several B & W pieces. I have made one or two before and I love how the details stand out, like when you change a B & W photo from color to black and white. So many things you see that you might not have noticed in color. I'm all for bright colors, that is for sure, but I can still appreciate black and white.

When I began this piece last night, I still couldn't quite leave it all B/W. Even before I started I had some collage papers that were dark orange with black markings and I knew I'd have to put at least one tiny piece in on it somewhere. Well, as you can see there is more than one tiny piece included. All of this is papers I have painted in some way except for the door. There nearly center you can tell on the orange part that it is a door, but actually that is the top of the door and the lower part of the door is mostly black and blends in. I didn't care that the door did not stand out though, I only used it because it was floating on my art table and the colors were right. I guess the black and white only ones will have to be done later.

It's odd, but I suppose that is not unusual for me 😄 After it was done, on the upper left, it sort of looks like a profile of a woman's head. Only a woman I think because of the massive black hair flying around, but I admit, parts of the face aren't too feminine, so I may be wrong about the gender and the "nose" maybe be a clown nose.

You never know what is going to show up.

This piece was started night before last and finished last night. I did not start out to only make it B/W, but the beginnings were still more on the dark color side. It has some interesting pieces I think and a lot of open space, "negative space" the other artists like to call it. For some reason, I like it too.

I realize it makes a difference that I love the papers and the designs on them, so I know I see it with different eyes. Not just because I have an artistic eye, but because I made those papers, so they have a deeper feel to me. It simply can't be different on that.

I actually almost stopped when the above piece looked like this. Minimal, but for some reason I liked the different shapes and the way the 5 pieces played with each other. I had not glued down the piece with music and black circles when I took this photo.

I made this one a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure if it was finished. I'm still not sure. I thought it might need a disruptor. Maybe one will show up one day. Again though, I love these papers, the colors, the designs and how some have many layers of paint.

I watch multiple collage and mixed media artists on youtube. I like seeing what they do and their thoughts behind it. Last week, one of them said that it doesn't take talent to make a collage. She said that it's like when you pick out the clothes you are going to wear for the day, what items, what shoes, what jewelry. She said it's like when you decorate your house, you know what you like and choose how you want to put things together and to her, it was just like that. I understood where she was coming from on it.

Of course after you seeing my art, you may wonder just how DO I dress and what my house looks like.

🤣

I almost didn't include this one. It has been around for a while with it's mostly pastel colors accented with a few bold. Since it still lives here, I decided to throw it in. It might be a little quiet, but it has a few good bits here and there.

I bought this little piece from an artist on DPW (daily paint works) It's a small 5 x 6 piece. I know... what on earth?? When I saw it, it made me giggle. I thought "Who paints the hose pipe hooked to the yard spigot??? Then I decided I was going to buy it and I laughed as I thought "and who would buy it???"... ME!.... that's who. From more of a distance, it looks more realistic and not so fuzzy and the light playing off across the ground makes the spigot pop a little.

It's amazing how many little dab, dab, dabs of paint there are on it. So many layers of color to present this painting of an every day thing that you use, but never give a lot of thought too. The artist is Mitchell Freifeld.

Here's another little piece of art I bought recently. It was created by a process called Canotyping. I have seen some before, but have not studied any details on creating these, I just know that it uses inks or paints and some chemicals and whatever you want printed on them and they are put out in the direct sun to make the designs appear. This was made by artist Cindy Reed, also on DPW. She has some lovely ones there, but this is not the only type of art she creates. I chose this one because of the leaves and it is now Fall here. The actual art is 6x8, but Cindy mounted it in the black mat making it fit an 8x10 frame perfectly. I happened to have one handy that I picked up at the thrift shop, so it worked out well. I actually love it and may have to have more.

I saw a piece of art that looked like buckeyes to me, but turns out, that's not what it was. Thinking of buckeye seeds though, it reminded me that when my Dad had a stroke, many years ago, one thing that had been found in his pockets was one of these buckeye seeds. We thought it was strange! So later, when he was in the hospital, someone asked him why he had it in his pocket and he said he had read that carrying one in your pocket would bring you good luck and then he said, "I guess it's not true".

Now my Dad was just carrying it in jest really, he was retired living a fairly content life. Thing is, I'm not sure where he got it? Did he buy it from the garden market? I never remember seeing a buckeye tree here, although when I goog'd it, I did see that they can grow on North Carolina, so.... I don't know, but for sure this was never a tradition I was taught growing up and never really heard anything about it.

Funny how one little thing can bring up a past memory like that.

Ok... that's all the hogwash I have for today. Time to get dressed and go to the pharmacy to pick up my megadose of Vitamin D. Seems my vitamin D tank is quite low and my doctor wants to pump me up. LOL !! That sounded funny.... didn't it? I am sure it is because for some reason, my skin became very sensitive to the sun this summer and it would eat my skin up, red blotches, itchy for days! So.... I didn't get enough of it. Gah.....

Hope you are all doing well and that your hearts are happy.

Love you!

Jacey