Month: February 2015

february 8

02-08-15 "two geese on pond"
02-08-15 “two geese on pond”

This morning on my walk I added a nature loop down to the pond by the middle school. Several geese were honking and carrying on as I walked off the path closer to the pond to get a little better vantage point for a photo. The two in this shot were happy just to stand close to one another atop the frosty ice.

Occasionally along the way, I had to slow my usual pace because of ice patches on some of the sidewalks, streets, and driveways (even though it was above freezing when I left). At one point, I hit a hidden patch of ice with both feet flat-footed and found myself moving forward traction-free. It was an exhilarating few moments as I slid, my back arched and my arms flailing outward. But thankfully I stayed vertical.

As I arrived home, I took a few close-ups of snow and ice and garden detritus. I’ll put those in some future posts.

february 6

02-06-15 "iowa hills" copyright 2015 Jane Robinette | All Rights Reserved
02-06-15 “iowa hills” —SOLD—

3.5″x2.5″ mixed media

I painted acrylic over a piece of Iowa map paper and adhered it to a piece of 2-ply rag matboard (ATC size). Instead of hand-lettering my poem Iowa hills over the paint as I usually do, I decided to tediously search for the words in two old law books from 1881 and 1907 (given to me by artist Margaret Whiting, who has done some really cool artworks using old law books!). Some of the words I had to construct from letters in other words; for some reason the word “beautiful” (and a few others) didn’t make it into any easily findable printed opinion in these two books! Once I had all of the words, I adhered them onto the piece, then brushed some transparent acrylic paint over the words. I took the photo before I went over everything with gloss medium.

The poem is a golden oldie—I wrote it in 1978 and it was my first published poem. I’ve put it in several artworks more recently, but I don’t think any of them have been quite this small!

february 4

02-04-15 "oil and water don't mix"
02-04-15 “oil and water don’t mix”

Digital photo of glass, water, and background painting

The painting that serves as the background is acrylic on matboard. It originally was going to stand on its own, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. I also thought of ruining a glass using real ingredients—something I still might do some day. Instead, I positioned the painting behind the glass of water and took a few photos. Then did some editing on the computer to show just the glass shape.

february 3

02-03-15 "planting seeds"
02-03-15 “planting seeds”

3.5″x2.5″ acrylic paint and water-soluble ink on 2-ply rag board

I cut a new little block for printing today, and made several small prints with combinations of various blocks. I liked this one best. It has some of the original block I cut earlier in the daily janes series, as well as the new block I carved today, and then some inked brayer passes over that after striping the ink by running the brayer over yet two more little blocks. Clear as mud? I should have taken a photo of the inked blocks. In any case, it was fun experimenting with prints again—well, fun and a little frustrating, but mostly fun.

february 2

02-02-15 "walk in"
02-02-15 “walk in”

10″x10″

This is a re-purposed poem-painting, the last in the little series of three I’ve been re-working. I scraped acrylic over it first, but then used one of the little block prints I made last month with some acrylic paint to print some more texture on top. There’s a lot going on in this piece!

The title refers to two words I can still clearly see from the original poem. “Walk in” to my world!

february 1

02-01-15 "trapped"
02-01-15 “trapped”

After my early morning snowshoeing in the new winter wonderland that is Iowa, I stopped in our yard to take some photos. After making my way to the back of the house, I was composing these branch images. When I distractedly moved to the side to get a better vantage point, my snowshoes unexpectedly stepped right off the short rock wall of our patio (at an unhelpful angle). Down I went. But other than a slightly twisted ankle, a somewhat awkward time getting vertical again, and marginally damaged pride, I am fine. How we suffer for our art! 😉