Celebrating Spring and a Wet Winter

Full Reservoirs, mixed media on board 12”x12”x1.5”

My newest mixed media “landscape” to celebrate the end of the drought.

Droughtscapes

Droughtscapes (approx. 5"x4" each)

The droughtscapes are my latest series of mail art.  They are going out today.  Over the last few years I have been looking for ways to make my own collage material.  With these new pieces I used different types of black paper and painted them with bleach.   Until I got started, I was not sure how the paper would react due to the different dyes that are used in paper manufacturing, etc.  I like the effect and was immediately reminded of an aerial view of a dry landscape.  Right now in California this relentless drought becomes a grim inspiration.

I also owe a big thanks to the artist Dorothy Yuki who showed us examples of this bleach technique at this month’s Correspondence Coop meeting. 

                  

Tuolumne Meadows

Tuolumne Meadows, mixed media, acrylic on paper, 9”x7”, 2014

One of my favorite places, I used this image for this year’s holiday card.  Below is the message form the back of the card:

Over 200 miles to the east, 8600 feet high up in Yosemite’s Tioga Pass, is an amazing place called Tuolumne Meadows.  Every winter it fills with snow.  When the snow melts, it makes its way to our faucets in San Francisco.  It’s a magical place and the source of the water that sustains us.  Let it snow…

And now, it’s happening, as we wait for the big storm to roll in.