Don't Forget to Wear Clean Underwear

I don't mean to make light of this, but my Uncle Jack had a stroke while driving this past week and flipped his car. It was what you might call a double whammy. He didn't survive.

There's nothing like losing a family member to make you feel really alive...... or just plain lost in a senseless world. I'm feeling a mixture of both that could be best described as a roller coaster ride. Hey, that's life in a nutshell. Crazy, snake loving, dog loving, God loving, Uncle Jack will be missed. I know he's in a better place now and smiling.


Other news; I'll be running my Creativity Workshop in Arden on Sat. February 20th. You can reserve your space by dropping me an email at linda@lindacelestian.com You can read some testimonials on my website.

Come out and have some fun to lift your spirits in the duldrums of winter. Write, move, paint, laugh and let loose! You won't regret it in the morning, I promise.

Here's a new fiber piece I finished last week. It's a painting on broadcloth, layered with dyed and nuno felted silk organza. It's 15 x 17 inches and titled "Living"

New Fiber Work

I've been playing in the studio. Well sort of, play means to take part in an enjoyable activity simply for the sake of amusement. Since usually I'm working towards some goal, an exhibition or juried show submission there seems very little time for play. Intellectually I know play and experimentation are important ingredients to innovative work, it's just hard to make the time and space for what sometimes feels frivolous. I mean no one wants to look like a fool or waste time or supplies. Even though I'm working to have some finished pieces to enter in a juried show I'm trying to remain open to new ideas and to play. I feel like I'm on the verge of something wonderful but I continue to fall a little short and sometimes I really hate what I have at the end of the day. This is something I have on the wall right now but it's still a work in progress. My friends come in every day and encourage me with kind comments. I tell myself "Keep going, it's too late to turn back now."

This is a painting on broadcloth stretched on stretcher bars, covered with dyed silk that I ironed and then a crinkly piece of dyed silk pinned on top of that. It's interesting and getting closer to something I might call finished.

I listed 5 hand painted wristlets on my Etsy site.

If you're new to Etsy you can check out my favorites to see some really cool things.

Artist's Inspiration

If you asked 10 different artists where they get their inspiration from you'd probably get 10 different answers. I believe that artists are always being inspired by their surroundings either consciously or unconsciously. People usually choose to live in a surrounding that they find interesting or exciting in some capacity. City people like the vibrant social and cultural stimulation that is readily available in a city. Country folk like natural landscape, animals and the sky for instance.
I didn't paint nature until I moved to Arden, DE. When I moved here from center city Philadelphia it was like coming home. I grew up in a rural area and spent hours walking or just daydreaming in and around fields, lakes and rivers. Summers were spent literally living on our family boat. What a great way to grow up. My inspiration is nature and it never ceases to amaze me and stop me in my tracks. I'm really inspired by seasons in nature, the way a familiar landscape is always changing. I like the way you can see more of the sky in the winter and the way the bare branches look against the sky. Just in the past few weeks I took these photos of the sky through my skylights.

Here's my kitty named Winter, looking out at the snow. She showed up at our door 2 years ago in the winter and once she got a taste of the warm indoors she wasn't going anywhere.

This is a painting of a winter landscape inspired by how the sky looks through the trees when the sun is lowering on a hazy winter day. If you click on the title you'll see the progression of this painting, and how it evolved layer by layer. It took 14 layers before I called it done.
The link takes you to my progression page to see Winter Sky you have to click on it, it's the last one on the list.

Winter Sky

It is hard to know when to stop and sometimes I want to take it off the wall and add more trees or something. Hmm, I feel a winter series coming on.

New Year

Happy New Year! I had a great artist's reception today at Sweet Basil Thai Cuisine. Thank you to everyone who came out, and a special thank you to Griselda and Paul. If you missed it my paintings are up for a few months so you have plenty of time to see them and have a meal, I can't say enough about the food.

Almost as soon as I got home from New York state where I spent Christmas with my family I started nuno felting. I had a few parties on my calender and I'd always prefer to make something than to go shopping. Here's some of my new bracelets. I even managed to get a few on my Etsy site.

I'm excited about the color scheme and the new techniques I tried. I'm leaving a lot of the organza showing in more defined shapes and I really like the look. The colors look like the winter landscape that I love so much. I even photographed some on a bit of snow left in my back yard.

There is something about the limited color palette of winter that I find very beautiful and peaceful. On the trip to upstate NY, I stared at hours of black shale with icicles frozen in mid motion and acres of white birch trees. Ahh...