Julie's Favorite Art

This isn't exactly how it went this week, but you get the idea! It began with humid, 80+ degree days. Wednesday was soggy and still fairly warm. By Thursday and Friday, it was in the 40's, and out came the winter coat and gloves for the second time this fall. *Sighs* I guess West Michigan doesn't want anything to do with "average" this fall.

West Michigan is pretty much at its peak of vivid fall color right now too: the leaves are turning, yet it hasn't frozen yet, so we still get to look at green grass and flowers. We're enjoying it while it lasts and trying not to think too much about how the Farmer's Almanac predicts a colder, snowier than usual winter for us this year.

Ugh, enough of that! Let's move on to some cool art!

Jelly Smack

These 4 jellyfish are digital prints on light boxes. I won't pretend to understand the process involved, but they end result was colorful, multi-layered, glowing jellies, and they changed colors depending on where you were standing to view them. From some angles they looked like they do in this photo, but from others they looked multicolored or like they were alternating fuchsia and turquoise.

Freeland

I love this painting's artistically messy edges: a refreshing change of pace from perfectly rectangular artwork. The dramatic colors and chunky blending work great together to depict this already gorgeous scenery.

A.N.T.S
The same artist who's made intricate scenes out of "recycled materials" (a nice way of saying "trash") in past years was back again. His entry this year was a collection of large-scale animal sculptures scattered throughout a landscaped area outside a museum, including many ants but also lots of other creatures. The ants are supposed to stand for the dangers of "automatic negative thoughts." Like ants at a picnic, a couple of negative thoughts that invade your mind aren't a big deal, but if left unchecked, they can multiply and wreak havoc. I found it hard to think of anything negative while looking at any of these guys, though, especially the little green aphids. =)

some of the ants

mosquito

ant with aphids

ladybug on a mushroom (and spider in the background)

snail

Lions

This family of lions is a hand-quilted masterpiece. If it looks a bit like a paint-by-number, it's because each different shade is a different section of fabric. The artist says the hardest part is finding the right fabrics for her projects: searching stores and sometimes dyeing material herself to get the colors she needs. 20 different fabrics were used in the male lion's mane alone!

Rescued!
This year, several artists entered ArtPrize with artwork of rescued pets. All of them were awesome, but I was especially fond of this collection of watercolor paintings. The wax-on-wood surface these were painted on gave them a unique, textured look.

Of course, Mom especially liked these two, since they resembled her family's previous dogs, Pepsi and Summer.

I only have one piece of HI2 news to share, but it's a happy piece. That little Eriskay mare that we've been holding onto since January? Well, it's finally official: she is ours for keeps! Meet Ebb! She looked good in every color we tried on her, as light grays tend to do, but we ended up choosing green and yellow. <3