Michigan J. Frog
6x6 Oil on panel, black floater frame.
Michigan J. Frog was a Merrie Melodies character. The ongoing gag was, that a talented frog gets discovered by a man who hoped to get rich. He soon learns the frog will only sing and dance in front of him, and no one else. My mom could probably relate to this guy, since even though she paid for years of piano lessons for me, I always refused to play in front of other people. Sorry mom. But also, my piano teacher was a horrible woman. (Dolores Umbridge, from "Harry Potter", was most certainly based on my piano teacher). I still have an irrational fear of Wednesday afternoons.
About my Hallmark Ornaments Series
This oil painting was done from a Hallmark Christmas ornament. My entire Christmas tree is cartoon ornaments. I’m not immature, YOU’RE immature.
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Saturday Morning Cartoons
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6x6 Oil on panel, black floater frame. Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird.
This painting perfectly captures childhood Saturday mornings for me, eating cereal in front of the TV. Probably too close to the old cathode ray tube TV, which may, in part, explain why I never had kids? But it was the 70s. We didn’t even wear seat-belts, and we’re all just fine. :-/
Our television was actually a very large piece of furniture, with a radio on one side of the cabinet and record player on the other. That's right kids. Our TV's were FURNITURE. And our telephones? You could hit an intruder over the head with one (assuming you had a long enough chord), and then take your sweet-assed time rotary-dialing the police. Try sitting on your fancy flat screen TV, or knocking out an assailant with an iPhone. Pfft.
Saturday morning cartoons consisted of classic Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbara and characters like Hong Kong Phoey and Marvin the Martian. All in color, I hasten to add. I’m not THAT old … jeez.
About my Hallmark Ornaments Series
This oil painting was done from a Hallmark Christmas ornament. My entire Christmas tree is cartoon ornaments. I’m not immature, YOU’RE immature.
Conjunction Junction
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6x6 Oil on panel, black floater frame.
Conjunction Junction was one of the animated shorts, in the "Schoolhouse Rock!" series of educational musicals. It’s also how I learned the words “and, but and or” were conjunctions. This show also had episodes on American government, science, and math. I should probably watch the math series again. I’ve completely forgotten how to math.
Frankly, someone should revive "Schoolhouse Rock!" and offer educational segments for older folks. Like features on where you may have left your car keys, or how to remember what it was you just walked into the kitchen for ... Never stop learning, is all I'm sayin'.
About my Hallmark Ornaments Series
This oil painting was done from a Hallmark Christmas ornament. My entire Christmas tree is cartoon ornaments. I’m not immature, YOU’RE immature.
Gossamer & Bugs Bunny
5x7 Oil on panel, black frame. Looney Tunes: Gossamer and Bugs Bunny. Hallmark ornament.
Piglet, Pooh's Best Friend
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6x6 Encaustic on panel, black floater frame. Piglet from Winnie the Pooh.
From my original Instagram post:
6x6 encaustic on encausticbord
further adventures in @ceracolors #encausticpaint
For this toy painting, I was really thinking about "less". By less, i mean, saying just enough, for the painting to still read well, without having to describe every detail.
The encaustic paint I'm using dries really fast, so it's hard to get color puddles mixed that will stay workable for long. You can reactivate them, but it seems like the color isn't as highly pigmented when you add lots of water after they have completely dried. With this constraint, I thought I'd try keeping just one color puddle wet, that I could then shift into warmer or cooler variations. This is a bit different from how I work with oils, where i create a few color mixes, which, opens up my palette (and I can dip into different, cleaner mixtures).
I ended up enjoying this way of working, and may try the same technique on an oil painting. It creates a nice tonalist (in this case, mid-tone heavy) painting, and the sense of atmosphere works well when painting toys, I think. It better represents a memory of the toy, as opposed to the actual toy itself. I like that quality, and the resulting subtly. Boiling a subject down to it's essence is friggin hard.
#winniethepooh #pooh #eeyore #piglet
#art #encuastic #womenartists #encausticpainting #painting #ceracolor