Sunday, February 02, 2025

I Ching Hexagram Painting Series So Far

This is a series of 64 paintings, done on expensive heavy watercolor paper. It is a series that could take the rest of my life to complete.

Progress



 






















Heaven


























Grace


























Darkening of the Light


























Fellowship

























Inner Truth


Progress / Flourishing / Recognition - I Ching Hexagram #35

Chin, Jin, Qian, a Chinese character meaning progress, flourishing, recognition. The hexagram shows the sun rising above the earth. I have been painting my interpretation of these hexagrams, using heavy watercolor paper and putting a white border around the acrylic and collage paintings. I have usually asked the I Ching which hexagram to interpret, but this time I wanted to portray the light growing, because so much darkness has seemed to pervade human society recently. Below are two ways of drawing the character.














Monday, January 27, 2025

Golden Fire

 I was going to add collage and marks but this is so lovely. It might be a way to start a new I Ching painting; anyway, I want to leave it as it is.

Golden Fire


Saturday, January 25, 2025

... But Beautiful

Sketchbook spread January 24, 2025. A little scattered, but beautiful. The title refers to a Billy Holiday song by the same title, with the lyrics:

"Love is funny or it's sad
It's quiet or it's mad
It's a good thing or it's bad
But beautiful ..." 

But Beautiful

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Evil Inevitably Destroys Itself ...

This photo has a lot of glare. In the morning, I will shoot another pic of this spread and I am sure it will be much better.

I Ching Quotation


 

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Coppery!

Today's collage sketchbook spread. Orange and red violet, what a pair! Plus all the copper. I like it.

Uplifting



 

Monday, January 13, 2025

Jumble collage today






I worked on these 10x8" paintings yesterday, and I got to this point and did not know what to do next. They are very dark, with lots of pattern; plus collage papers that are thick and make the surface very uneven. So I printed them out on my inkjet printer, coated them with matte medium (using the gel plate), and attached them to my collage sketchbook. Today I added a lot of collage elements that are much more in the blue-green / red-orange spectrum. I am not sure that would work on the original paintings, but it was fun to do. Looks like a jumble! 




Chaotic Feelings

Friday, January 10, 2025

Collage Sketchbook Spreads

January, 2025, working in my large sketchbook. Each page is 8.5x11", so a spread is 17" wide. I am working on these as two-page spreads so far, although I did do the red one to face an existing gel print page which has gold with red-orange shapes.

Lunar New Year


May You Be Well


Peachy


Regal Circles

Thursday, January 02, 2025

Huathe / Hawthorn January 1, 2025

I put a yellow glaze on the painting with contact-paper masks to make it lighter and brighter. I find that I really like it at this stage. Lots more to come of course.

Huathe / Hawthorn

 

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

"Rising" Series

 When I get to a certain point in my paintings, I don't know what to do next. Is it, are they, finished? Do they need something more? At that point I have to wait to find out. I look at them and ask that question mentally, and immediately I get and answer. Should I do more to this piece, this series? No! Wait! Let it rest (on the president's desk?)! These may or may not be finished. Enjoy!

Rising I


Rising II


Rising III


Rising IV


Rising V


Rising VI



Ethereal Spheres

 "Ethereal Spheres" is an experimental painting using interference paint. It looks different depending upon the angle of the viewer. It is 24x24x2", acrylic and collage on cradled wood panel. It may be finished?

Ethereal Spheres



Green Bay I and II


"Green Bay I and II", abstracted landscapes, acrylic on canvas, 36x24x1", available. Contact me at ellecoyoteart@gmail.com to purchase. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a short drive from the actual bay. I took a photo of this view of the bay, looking south from the eastern shore of Door Peninsula, and these are the second and third paintings I did from it. I added so many abstract shapes and patterns that the landscapes are fairly obscured, but they are visible if you look for them.

Green Bay I


Green bay II


 

Friday, September 20, 2024

Dancer I and II (II reworked)

I was satisfied with Dancer I but II for some reason I could not get to work out. I kept thinking it was the color of the background, and I kept changing it. Finally I realized there was not enough contrast and color variation in the circular collages, and I changed those. Now I love both of them!

Dancer I

Dancer II

 

Monday, September 02, 2024

Alder / Fearn and Willow / Saille Finished!

These two paintings have taken a lot longer than I expected them to! They are the first couple of a large series of paintings that start with the ancient Irish alphabet, known as the Ogham Tree Alphabet. I don't know the trees by their UK names or sometimes even by the species of tree, so I use the North American equivalent to start the underlying drawing/painting. The Ogham letter is incorporated somewhere in the design. These two are Alder / Fearn and Willow / Saille. The paintings are acrylic and collage on canvas, 30x30.

Alder / Fearn


Willow / Saille

 

Doors of Perception September 2024

This series is about our individual viewpoints, symbolized by small circles; there are sixteen circular or circle-related collage areas in each painting, in a grid format; each one is unique. Surrounding them are very loosely painted soft grey-green brush strokes, lots of line work, and some black and white marks to set off the colors. Doors of Perception I - IV, 20x20", acrylic and collage on cradled wood panels, unframed.

Doors of Perception I


Doors of Perception II


Doors of Perception III


Doors of Perception IV


Monday, August 19, 2024

Doors of Perception Series Update

I finally found a way to keep the parts of these grid paintings that I really love, but unify them visually. The rigid grids were keeping me from enjoying all those shapes inside it.

Doors of Perception I



Doors of Perception II

Doors of Perception III

Doors of Perception IV




Monday, August 12, 2024

Alder and Willow on our Living Room Wall

Alder / Fearn and Willow / Saille are both inspired by the ancient Irish alphabet, called the Ogham or Tree Alphabet. Each letter was associated with a native tree.