This morning when walking the dog I went off on a tangent to our usual routine, much to the joy of the dog. It reminded me that time spent walking in nature is so deeply necessary to not only my physical well being but to my mental, emotional and spiritual well being. We didn’t go that far out of the beaten path; just enough to test the ground. The dog was covered in burrs and grinning and gamboling about and I made plans to make sure I wore better shoes tomorrow. I’ll have to remember to bring my camera. Years ago I did a daily hike in a small park in Pennsylvania that was a few blocks from my home. I would find all kinds of wonders in there and took lots of photos back when film was the only medium. Today with digital it’s a bit more instant in the gratification of capturing images of little treasures, but no less wonderful to have them. I am rambling about here in this post – but that is the point. To ramble about and just be while exploring is food for anyone’s soul.

I can’t wait to go again tomorrow!

Morning Hike

I had not realized how much time had passed since my last post. It’s always easier to pick up my phone and snap a quick photo and throw it up on Instagram and type in a quick hashtags. Since the last post things have truly changed and my work has been both more fun and more intense. The bird series is still coming together and the Goldfinches piece was an incredible learning experience. In the next few weeks I will finally be revealing what I have been working on for the last several months. I have two Kickstarter projects in development and will be revealing them at Illuxcon this year in October. I am also working on an entire new suite of paintings that I will also be bringing to Illuxcon – I have been posting some of the sketches as I am very excited about the new direction.

I am also revisiting a favorite medium: Polymer Clay. I have been making silly creatures out of clay ever since I was a child and find myself coming back to them over and over. The Derp drawings has reawakened my love of the ridiculous and I am having a lot of fun with these. I have been posting a few teasers of the pile of these I have made and I can’t wait to show them all off in October!

Silly Dragon

Studio dog has been doing all of my resting for me!

Bella Sleeping

Goldfinches for me are the most exciting bird to return in the spring. We didn’t have them or perhaps they weren’t drawn to our bird feeders when I was a girl, so when I discovered them in New Jersey I was entranced by them! This particular painting marks a new beginning for me in my art. I had been planning a series on wild birds and had started with them; the Chickadee piece is in the Wild Bird gallery, I have a cardinals piece started. However I knew I wanted to tell more of the story, to have more hidden meaning in the image. I wanted to create puzzles with answers to the lives of these creatures.

Goldfinches is the first experiment in this deeper story telling. Using graphic elements, patterns, symbolic images and realism I’ve created a map, an inventory of scientific information but communicated in art form. I wanted this to be read without written language. Life cycle, food, patterns of behavior, nest shapes, eggs, all of these are important bits of information to understand  the nature of the particular bird. The inspiration also came from DaVinci and other scientific hand drawn manuscripts, the Voynich manuscript, and all those visits to the Carnegie Natural History Museum… even treasure hunt books!

The next one is already on the table!

Gouache painting – Goldfinches ©2017 Julia L Powell