Trail of thoughts

This is the second of the same series. I used the same techniques but I created the focal point outside of the melted wax. The granit paint gives it a spark. The picture does not do it justice. In reality, the white lines stand out a lot more (on my wall anyway).

I am happy with these two last pieces because they came out as I wanted too. I am also thinking about working more on dark background (brown, dark blue, grey) because of the effect it has on colors.

So far, this one is my favorite.

Too much to think about.

I found black canvases at Deserres the other day. Of course I had to have them. Colors would look so bright on a dark background. There I was, alone in the house, with my paints and my music blaring. I had bought granit paint and a new fresh block of wax. I started by melting gray wax all over the canvas. Then I poured melted wax on top and blew on it with a straw. It created a different surface, like a crater. I used that as my starting point and I painted on top of it.

Type A Personality

This piece took me a few weeks to complete. All the squares or reactangles are made with a different color and a different texture. They all represent our limits, our boundaries. The choices we make and those that are imposed by our environment. Very hands on piece of work I would say. The kids spent many minutes touching it. They had a blast.

Now, I need to find a way to hang it on the wall... Well, it s a 36 in X 36 in and quite heavy canvas to put up.

heartbroken

Here is the last project. It took me a while to figure out what to do with it. I had experienced melting the styrofoam a little and I built this wall on canvas, thinking about something else. Then, the wall idea came up... reflecting on all the walls surrounding us, women of all kinds, barriers, violence, survival. So many of us, stuck in front of a wall... too frail to break it down.. no door to knock on... No escape...

Poem

Here is one of my last creation. A poem I wrote to Jay a few weeks ago. The colors chosen represent organic matters. I also melted styrofoam and painted it before mounting my sentences on it.

I chose to represent our relationship as something alive, something that we have to nourish, something alive, on its own. Hence the reason behind bloody red work...tears and the skin like color in the background.

Blizzard

The last one of the 4. It`s also Jay favorite. I wanted to represent all seasons and decided that blues/white/grey and a little black would suit the tone. It feels icy cold, definitely. It took me more wax to work on these 3 painting because the canvas was pretreated with gesso and it made the wax move around a lot more. The effects were also different. I was not sticking to the canvas the way it did with Cold night in October. After a few minutes, I got the hang of it and was able to move the wax where I wanted. I am just a little disapointed that the pictures are not really showing the beautiful designs created by the wax.

styrofoam

Yes, I melted it and painted it and attached sentences of a poem I wrote for Jay.
Pictures will come later.

I also prepared Nuit d'embacle.... Will be finished at a later date. Kids needed mommy for a little while. And we needed dinner too.

Fresh

Here is Fresh, the third wax/tempera experience. I really like this one but the picture does not show the details quite frankly. Much better IRL, according to my opinion. Made that one, this afternoon, listening to Elisapie Isaac. Maybe her poetic voices carried me... even thought the kids were running around and Jay was out with his band (the 1st show is in less than 2 weeks, so excited), I was able to concentrate long enough on my canvas.

Then I took it outside to look at it in the sunlight...The effect was stunning.

Epoxy

I met a very interesting artist last weekend... She uses epoxy to cover some of her work... The effect that she gets looks like a hand made tile. I liked it too, whenever it comes to plastic, I am in. But the effect I got needs a little refining. I will have to research a little more.

Another cool idea, someone I met online uses silicone... Now we are talking... so many ideas, so little time..

Indian summer

Decided yesterday that I wanted to get back to the wax/tempera experience. The 1st painting had so many good reviews on a different website that I went back and tried the recipe in a different color. Talked to Jay about making a sequel to Cold night in october. Well, I started playing with yellows and oranges. The day was warm and beautiful. It inspired me. I like this technique because every time I use color, the mood changes. I just stop adding when I feel it's right.

Solitude

This is the 2nd of the journey serie

Sometimes, i believe that, wanted or not, loneliness takes a large chunk in our everyday lives.

I also wonder if loneliness sparks creativity, despair, anger, sadness, love, craziness and beauty.

Journey through motherhood, through love, through breakups, through soul searching, through identity, through new relationship

Journey through life. And through loneliness, i believe i found identity, self-esteem, confidence, love, joy and art.

Mel

Sometimes, i stop and reflect on the way life has its very own path... and many interesting surprises.

Jay and I decided to go to an art show in Nepean today. Once there, i realized that I could probably fit into that group of artist using many different media to express themselves.

Many interesting conversations and friendly faces. Good advices and tons of laughters

and..... 1 invitation to become a member of their group....

very interesting indeed

(p.s. pictures will follow later)

mel

Alone

A week-end without kids...
For the 2 of us....

Mhmhmh

Soulmate

do you feel
my fingers running slowly on your face right now,
on your soft lips
around your eyes.... getting lost in those sexy lines
can t get enough... of that skin of yours....
addictive warmth accompanying me to the deepest night
breathless, waiting for your return,
your hands
contain my world....

for my soulmate, my companion, my equal, my lover....

thanks for being there

Also addicted to coffee

Now, I know why they invented that wonderful and hot beverage....

it's for nights just like the past one...

I think the cold/flu season just hit home...

Mom is going to need a lot of coffee

Timmie's gift card anyone....
Mel

The coming out

1st of the Journey serie


Horizon Between Heaven and Hell

a treashold, a point in time...
Calm, quiet and still.
A journey through life
Contrasts...
The beginning or the end...
Perspectives on a single mom's life...
Sometimes, i am not leading the way...
Sometimes, i just can't...
Going back is impossible... looking forward is hard...
Loneliness is a journey...


This idea stayed in my head for a few days. When I started, I used rubber cement to cover parts of the canvas, but ran out and the results was not pleasing, to me anyway. So I used PRIMER (hahahaha) and restored to it's original pure white state...

And waited again... I had explained my concept to Jay but could not yet translate it to a picture, until now.


The best thing... my baby, who is 5, took part in it. She helped me mix the colors and even applied some to it.

I am very pleased about this piece because it came out as I saw it. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to create something that exists only in your mind...
Mel

A nice surprise

A cold night in October....

is a total accident.


I had planned a two pages mix media pieces to cover all of what Hurricane Katrina had left in my mind and.... well, i could not find the right composition.

So I worked on one canvas and left the other alone for a few hours... Mischievous things, you know, canvases... They have a life of their own, and when you leave a slightly touched canvas alone for a few hours... well you know... ideas come along and things happen. That was the case I brushed the wax with tempera paint. Just to see what could happen. I did not care about messing up because I was already happy with the other that I had just finished.

So I used my fingers and got dirty.... when I decided to really look at it... I was speechless.

and I only 1 thought in mind.... I was now addicted to painting... badly...

Needless to say, when Jay came back from his jam session. His jaw dropped... He had never expected this. (to see his baffled expression was actually what made me the happiest on that day)
Mel

I gave myself the permission

The 1st attempt...

The baby who took 3 years to finally come to life... thanks to an indicible fear of messing up.. of not rendering the reality... you know... THE fear...

Well... After many thoughts and after an incredible afternoon talk with Laura Starkey (artist living in Merrickville, Ontario), I decided to try... I gave myself permission to make a mess and mistakes and turned my kitchen into a painting studio (cause my actual studio was too small to welcome a such thing). And got going... The kids were out with their other parent, Jay was with his band, jaming and Boots, alseep on a kitchen chair, looking at me like he wanted to say... don't you even dare...

I did....

and this is what happened on that sunday:

Remnants of Hurricane Katrina (yes, I lived there at the times)

Mix media with plastic bag, joint tape, metal hinges, screws, debris, safety pins etc. I first painted with a sandy color, then melted wax all over the paint. I glued pictures and papers clippings onto the canvas... It took me a few hours but the demons were out...

In honor of those who where not just fighting Mother nature at the time but a real messed up american system...

Mel

Intro to the Muses

Hello artists out there...

My name is Mel. I am based in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. I created this blog to exchange with other artists around the world. Je parle aussi francais couramment y un poquito espanol. With 6 kids, ranging from 5 years old to 13 years old, a black cat named Boots and a base player as a husband, my life is everything but boring. I am not set into one specific medium. I paint, mostly abstract, (with wax, acrylic, tempera paint, glue and add other pieces to my canvases like metal or plastic pieces), make mix media boards, scrapbooks or memento albums and write. I am very eclectic art wise and very curious.

I am inspired by many things: the smell of coffee in the morning, my little 5 years old cuddling with us in bed, a gull flying accross a grey sky, the pink sunrise that I admire almost everyday and sentences in different songs.

Inspiration always strikes when you least expect it. Be ready... at all times
Until the next time, take a few minutes, be creative.
Mel