The idea that life is slow in a small town didn't apply here this summer. Between helping to plan Guttenberg's Stars and Stripes Celebration, keeping up with RAGBRAI coverage, and teaching various classes at the Creativity Center, I managed to eek out a few paintings. 

I've been teaching Canvas Uncorked, a beginner's acrylic painting (and wine drinking) class, and so have been keeping brush to canvas on a fairly regular basis. Although I don't paint in the class at the same level I'd paint my 'own' work, I do think it helps me stay in shape. It's also been fun playing with acrylic paint, which lends itself to quicker studies than an oil painting. 

Anyway, here's what's been going on in my studio this summer. 

I got a set of gauche paints and am super excited about them. They're so bright! This is a painting I made as a wedding gift for a couple whose first dance just happened to be to the song January Wedding (by the Avett Brothers) - and around the edges of the canvas I scrawled lyrics from that very song in metallic gold. "My heart and hers are the same." 

This painting was commissioned by a local vintner. Her dog, Kirby, is the star of the new label for her Hound and Hare wine. Kirby dreams of Watership Down-inspired hares. After testing the wine (delicious), I chose the background color to reflect the wine itself. The version at left is the first sketch, and the one at right is the one that will go on the label (with text added by the vintner). 

She purchased a digital image of the final piece, but the original is still for sale. It will be featured along with Catmoon (my first gauche painting) in a cat, dog, and cow-themed show this fall at the Marquette-McGregor Art Center. 

My third commission of the summer was this sign for the Guttenberg Fish Hatchery & Aquarium's 75 year anniversary. I've always loved going to the aquarium here to see river fish and especially turtles. Plus, it's always about 65 degrees inside - so it's the perfect place to take a break on a hot day. 

It's been wonderful to get to know Kevin and Karen, the two DNR staff at the hatchery, through various projects at the newspaper, and I was thrilled to be able to contribute to their 75th anniversary celebration. 

There are a pair of antlers and a shabby cow skull bleaching in the sun in the front yard, and a box full of India ink jars is waiting for fall to come to my studio.

This bison skull got a colorful makeover during the past few months in my studio. Zentangle-inspired, the design uses sharpie, ink pen, and India ink all on gessoed bone. I had so much FUN! Henri likes it, too. 

Bone is such a meaningful canvas. It's organic. It's alive. It holds memory of a life vastly different from the one it leads now. I wanted the artwork to respect and honor the animal, and I found myself telling a story of life and death with ink and bone. 

A sundial notes the days that passed as the skull lived and died, and the phrase written on the cheek bones was taken directly from Masaccio's Holy Trinity, a fresco in Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Trinity is one of the first artworks to incorporate true, scientific one-point perspective (it was completed in the early 1400s). The latin inscription above the skeleton (and now on the bison) reads "What you are, I once was. What I am, you also will be." A good reminder, don't you think?

We (especially as women) mark time by the moon as much as we do the sun. We change as it changes, and we'll be connected to its phases as long as we live. I've been taking the time to howl at the moon lately, and I thinks she appreciates it. 

And finally, the horn-winged owl. For my second attempt at painting on a skull, one of my goals was to integrate the bullet wound into the design, giving it an important role rather than ignoring it. The hole became the open mouth of a screeching owl, in flight against the backdrop of the moon, giving new voice and new life to the long-dead bison.

My pace has slowed, and things seems to be taking a new direction. This summer I received a request for a painting on an unusual canvas - a longhorn skull. It took a few months, and a few different strategies, but both the patron and I were pleased with the results. I'm currently working on a bison skull for the same patron.

It took two trips to Colorado this summer for this project to finally reach completion. The patron requested the 'Trail's End' image be included, but the rest was up to me. The background was inspired by Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. Pictured are the North and South Gate, with Pikes Peak under a full moon. 

Once I got started, I really enjoyed following the curves and lines in the bone with the drawing. The three howling wolves are something I wish I had been able to do in my travels - a visit to the wolf sanctuary near Colorado Springs. 

Magpies are a personal mascot. I always take a magpie as a sign of good things to come, and I saw many in Vail this summer. So, one appeared in the painting! 

I'm not sure yet what it's called.

This painting is a highly personal commission for a friend of the family who currently resides in Seattle. He requested spirit hearts, dead hearts, and the main character, a battle-worn heart, headed for his final trip into the sunset.

I've never painted a sunset, and could hear the soothing voice of Bob Ross in my head as I brushed gently over the canvas.

Darker things to follow from the same patron.