Michele Ridgeway - Artist

I've been blogging, and was surprised that I had an entry for September-the days are flying now that I'm back teaching and preparing a classroom. I've cleaned the studio and am working in it. 

My goal is to get in there at least 3 times a week. Every night would be even better, but we'll see. At least for an hour. Tearing paper, gessoing stuff, painting. It would be great to get out there. 

So, last week of the course. I've decided that my series is going to be "secrets". Any sort. Secret thoughts, secret messages, secrets that are cring-worthy, secrets that make you smile. Secrets emotions, secret dreams, secrets. 

Here are some examples:

(sometimes the calligraphy is even a secret from me)

I'll have to start doing research on secrets, on calligraphic paintings, cave paintings? historical markers. Paint? I'm not at all sure where to begin. I will. Colors? 

Until next time.......

experiments with color, saturation, tonal contrasts, marks contrasts....very fun, very experimental, not sensing where this is going but pretty much loving the work. Thank you. 

more done. 

for the first time in a long time, an image showed up in a dream. Tree, leaning, iron spikes. I'll keep exploring this. That's what I do. 

the work is a combination of stitch, paint, line, and message- thinking and writing while I paint has created a dimension I hadn't thought of before. Painting is so much about the message-I decided to be literal and write a message. And yet, it's not a message. 

Still playing with contrasts, trying collage and paint, mylar and paper, print and paintbrush, dark lines and paint. 

As I'm continuing with the painting experiment to Find My Joy, I'm taxed with the assignment to employ contrast. "Choose two contrasting things that you love in painting and use them together." 

Today I chose bold line and brushy paint. I have used bold line frequently, but not brushy paint interacting with the line. 

The hand is very much in this work as I smudged paint and redrew lines. A worthy experiment. 

Also, new words for the work :

"I paint representationally but not of appearances. I paint representational pictures of emotional experiences." 

lifted from Howard Hodgkin......

It's just Wednesday of Integration Week, and I've been IN IN IN the studio for two days. Yay me. 

Learning about color, layering, effects, and taking my time to play. 

I'm drawn to thoughts of meditaiton, and what it looks like inside my eyelids. I'll just go with it. 

Smiles for Miles.