PLAYING WITH COLOR AND DESIGN....a 100 Day Challenge

Abstract Study #3 6"T  X  51/2"W
available at
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

                         

I always like to challenge myself......and lately I have be feeling very abstracted...... Late summer is always a slow time for me so I am able to play little more in the studio.  This is a great time to mess around with color, pattern and design.  My Itsy Bitsy Abstracts are a perfect venue to play with color and design on a small scale, to see if they would translate into a larger format.

I want to do a whole series of these during my 100 day challenge. A 100 Days will carry me into Fall and the Open Studio Tour but working an hour a day designing an abstract study is doable.

Abstracts are not that easy to get right.  I always feel a non-objective painting is hardest still because you can't catch the viewers eye with subject matter.  It is purely design and color driven.  I have always been drawn (pun) to a good non-objective abstract and I would be grateful to achieve a few really  good studies that I could than translate to a larger scale.

I will be posting more of these Itsy Bitsy Abstracts.  I would appreciate your feedback.... Tell me what you like or dislike about non-objective art...

If you see something of mine that you think I should blow-up..... HA HA.... please designate if you mean destroy or just make larger; give a shout out.  I will be posting these each day on my Face Book Page.

Hey, you artists out there..... I challenge you too!   Let's see what you come up with, and I will put my favorites of your abstracts on my Page.

MONSOONS ARE AMAZING.......bringing life to the desert

MONSOON SUNSET 14"T X 11"W
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I have lived in the Southwest long enough to know that liquor is made for drinking and water is made for fighting over.  With a seven year long drought in these here parts it is getting pretty dang dry........

All I can say is BRING ON THE RAIN!!!!!!!

I hold my breath every year when the spring winds blow and the heat rises, drying out the forest and parching the plants.  My trees begin to look like sticks with barely any life.  They brown up and drop leaves to preserve their energy.  This is forest fire time.  I think back to last year when we had two major fires in our area, and we lost our 19 hotshots in the Yarnell Hill fire... and I lament "Lord when does the rain start."

The month of July has brought us the blessed relief we have all been praying for, with the arrival of the Monsoons.  We have gotten about 4 1/2" at our house in the mountains north of Phoenix, double what is normal for this season.  That makes this a great monsoon so far with another month to go.

I feel the moisture coming back to the blush of my skin, my hair is full and soft; my eyes twinkle. My whole body drinks in the succulent drops of luscious nectar that falls from the sky. A joyful spring is in my step as I dance through puddles, and the 4 year old comes spilling out of me.

This is a MONSOON.

The skies crack open with the sound of thunder, dark clouds descend toward the ground as white tops billow above.  The wind picks up and swirls the dusty leaves, whirlwinds scour the desert floor and walls of dust form haboobs as high as a 747.

This is a MONSOON.

Billowy clouds turning crimson and gold as the sun sinks deep; glinting against the steel and glass of the high rise.  Phoenix at cocktail time.

This is a MONSOON.

MONSOONS ARE AMAZING.........

100 DAY CHALLENGE.....One Itty Bitty at a time.....

Rain Forest 14"T x 11"W
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

I like to think strategically as well as creatively..... I have 64 days before the 7th Annual Prescott Area Artists' Studio Tour so I thought what better way to get me motivated to complete some affordable art for all my peeps then by doing a 100 day challenge; this will spark the production of a whole lot of original art pieces in a Mini size.

The above piece RAIN FOREST was the first of many.

The second day I completed BOUQUET below.

Bouquet 8" X 8"

Today (Day Three) I was working on an abstract study on 5" X 61/2" Watercolor Paper.  These will be little creations that can be matted and framed by the new owner.  I call these my cash and carry art.
This will be art that anyone may afford...... I am so EXCITED an original that will be assessable to everyone.

Abstract Study #1  5" X 61/2"

I am totally physched to be able to offer these new little bittys.  Or itty bittys.... a size of a card.  OMG people can even send them in cards....... What a nice gift to give.  Super Neat Itty Bitty  Abstracts

I will be showing the collection on my Facebook Page  as I complete each new original.

VISUALIZING MY SECRET GARDEN......

BACKYARD GARDEN  24"T X 36"W
available at
www.pameladunmirefineart.com

Living in the South Western United States, I miss the green and lush backyard gardens of the Eastern part of our country.  Don't get me wrong my backyard is beautiful, though rocky and rugged with more lichen than flowers growing.  After the monsoons is our season of flowers with beautiful blue wildflowers springing up between the rocks and mesquite plants.  They are small but profuse like a blue carpet. But I do miss the lush big blooms of the perennials I use to  plant in my backyard in Michigan.

Visualization is a great tool to use when you are in a slump or as I call it (my summer snit; when it is hot and dry and dull brown) and I want to move to a more beautiful GREEN place. As an artist I like to take my visualization and turn it into a more permanent visual picture.

So my creativity takes over to bring the rich color of a hidden garden, smack dab in the middle of the South West.  You will find many of my newest paintings with this theme; eye popping color and gigantic flowers as I visualize what I wish I had.........   Growing flowers like these would definitely bring the Javalina..... they would make a tasty treat for those pesky critters.  So I must only dream.....

PAMELA PONDERS.........What if YOU take a peek?

PEEK A BOO 6" X 6"
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Some times artists are timid to show their talents to the world.  Though they could shine brightly the fear of failure forces them to hide away where they perceive safety.  Their thoughts keep creativity hidden, afraid to take that first step.....  they become invisible.

Pamela Ponders........

One should never come from the side of fear, but come from resiliency, if you fail....no big deal.  Any successful person will tell you that they failed many times before they became who they are today.

Like the marigolds peaking from behind the grasses, let your colors shine.  Let your creativity pollinate and spread across the land.... Create the thought, step into the action and expect to win.

You don't have to be an artist to let your colors shine....................


This little mini is being offered in my Etsy Store.

NEW MINI PAINTING......a Totemic gift.

TOTEMIC  6" x 6"
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Have you ever heard of Totemic?  It is a system of belief in which each human is thought to have a spiritual connection or a kinship with another physical being, such as an animal or plant, often called a "spirit-being" or "totem."

I have come to believe that we are all connected by an energy source that permeates us all.  We are one with all, a direct link to God.......  A totemic connection to everyone and everything.

I believe that is why I have gravitated to paint the world of nature in my own abstract way.  It is my connectedness with the world.  It is my way of spreading God's beauty and spirit to the observer.  My gift to the world using the gift that God shared with me.

This is a small gift to the world but totally heartfelt as all of my designs are.......

If this touches someones spirit, all is good, and I have connected with another soul, I have done what I was meant to do.....bring joy into this world.

SUNNY THOUGHTS...... A NEW MINI

SUNNY THOUGHTS 10"T X 8"W
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Another new MINI in my Floral series that will be featured in my Etsy Shop.  I just love doing these little minis for the new art collector.  They are just the right size for a small niche, or over your cubie at work or any place that you want a punch of color or a happy splash of sunshine.

For the Art lover who can't afford original art, but loves functional art......you will also start seeing these MINIS in my Love Your Life Designs; on ipad covers, coasters, yoga mats, and many other surprises.

This is a new dimension of Pamela Dunmire Studios, a chance to bring you lots of wonderful new products.  Let's have some fun shopping.........

PAINTING WITH A CHILD'S HEART........ letting the wildness out.

WILDNESS 40"T X 30"W
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Now this is color......... wild abandoned color........ This piece was started as a demonstration project for a workshop I was conducting in February.  I was thinking red at the time because it was near Valentines Day.  I started the piece as usual, very intuitively, just throwing on color mostly reds, yellows and oranges.  My students that day were having trouble loosening up so I was showing them it was OK to be WILD, SPONTANEOUS, and full of abandon.

Finally I said "Grab a color from your pallet, come up here and throw it on this painting".  One by one they came forward; timid at first making small marks. Than I asked them to do it again.  I made the first bold gesture and encouraged them that it would not ruin the painting.  Once again they each stepped forward and with a bit more gusto they added their mark.  Finally on the third try large swatches of color began to appear. Laughter, dancing and childlike play followed.  Each student had made their bold and beautiful mark.

The painting began to come alive.  We set the piece aside and all day long students would spontaneously add to the mix of marks. Their 4 year old child was stepping up to that easel, and mischievously adding their personality.

I took it home and several days later I refined some of the movement, corrected some of the colors and let it take shape as this magical wild garden.  I still see much of the brush and finger strokes that the class had added.  Although 80% of the painting is definitely my hand, 20% reminds me of the wild abandon and joyful, childlike students that made their marks.  By the end of the workshop each one of them had created inspiring work and had found their child within.

This piece is now hanging at the Mountain Artist's Gallery for their ADVENTURES IN ART, exhibition in the Main Gallery.  Starting today July 2nd. and running through September 27th.  Stop by and see this beautiful piece.    It was a true ADVENTURE to paint.