Mixed Media Artist

original art

Lovely Dreamer

This is a 6″x8″ mixed media painting on wood. The sides are 1.5″ deep and are painted red.
This painting is $80 and is available HERE.

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
Shel Silverstein

I love my children so much. They are my dreams. When I look at them I can’t help but thinking that ‘anything’ truly can be. Thanks Mr. Silverstein for encouraging children to dream.


Freeing


This is a 6″x12″ mixed media painting on wood. The sides are 1.5″ deep and are painted turquoise.
This painting is $90 and is available HERE.
On ‘Freeing’:
I have to say, I have always felt that wearing men’s ware as a women is not only incredibly sexy but very freeing as well. I am not sure that men feel this way but I have always loved stars that have opted to go this route. Think Katherine Hepburn, Diane Keaton, Marlene Dietrich and even Madonna. I guess I just really like the fact that you don’t have to be showing all that much skin and still have amazing sex appeal. It is kind of empowering. Like I said, not sure if the guys actually like it. I remember going to a school dance dressed up as Charlie Chaplin and I can tell you, I didn’t dance at all that evening. Perhaps a mustache on a woman is never that sexy and, in retrospect, going to a dance at an all boys school and dressed up as a ‘boy’ is probably not the greatest idea I’ve ever had, even if it was Halloween.

MATISSE FOR INSPIRATION:
This Saturday we had our first art lesson in the loft. Having just all seen the local art gallery’s exhibit of Matisse, I decided that this would be an excellent jumping off point.
Here is what the girls’ created.
( Scarlett was a little creative with the blue eyeshadow before we even got started!)



Meg, signs her creation.
I think they all did a wonderful job!


The Moody Dreamer


This is a 4″x6″ mixed media painting. The sides are painted turquoise and .75″ deep.
This painting is $55 and is available HERE.

Scarlett is not the best at getting up in the morning. She is moody to say the least. She comes by it honestly. I am not a morning person. She was special helper at preschool today which was great because it gives me something to wake her with.
“Scarlett, time to get up! Remember, you are special helper today!”
She literally FLEW out of bed!
I need to have one of these motivators every morning, it made life so much easier!


My Red Crown and Cape


This is a 6″x8″ mixed media painting on wood. The sides are painted red and are 1.5″ deep.
This painting is $80 and is available HERE.

Yesterday, Scarlett was telling me what her day at preschool was like.

SCARLETT: We went to the gym and I played super hero with Atticus … no, actually, Atticus was a super villain, not a super hero.
ME: Oh, what was his super villain powers?
Scarlett: (Looking at me with much pity and disbelief) He didn’t TELL me.
ME: Oh right. Well, what was your super power?
SCARLETT: ( standing up and putting her right arm in the air) CLEANING!
ME: Now that IS a good super power.
(Here is hoping that this super hero comes for a visit to our house because I am pretty sure her arch-nemesis is living here!)

I love the way kids play super hero. My girls have had their moments, but the desire to be a princess is always stronger. I think that the cape is more of a boy thing. I remember a long time ago, before I even had kids, knowing a woman who had a boy who would not leave his house without his cape. I love that.


You Have My Heart

This is a 6″x12″ mixed media painting on wood. The sides are 1.5″ and painted red.
This painting is $120 and is available HERE.

Looking on with love.
Who has her heart?
Daddy of course!

This weekend I had a birthday and what a nice present, I had two wonderful artists post my art on their beautiful blogs!
Please take a look:

Art Memiors

Amoronia


Onward…


This is a 6″x8″ mixed media painting on paper covered canvas. The canvas is 1.5″ deep and is painted RED.
This painting is $80 and is available HERE.

Two more days of 42…onward to 43. YIKES! How is that possible???

maria@mariapacewynters.com


The Plaid Pierrot


This is a 6″x6″ mixed media painting on paper covered canvas. The sides are 1.5″ deep and are painted turquoise.
This painting is $65 and is available HERE.

Enter January give away.


First Give Away Of 2011- Marvel, Dream

I like the question idea from the last give away. We all have a lot to be grateful for, that is clear.
I’ve been thinking about what my January topic should be. I was going to ask what your resolutions for the new year are or what you want from this upcoming year but instead, I am going to ask for a name of a book or movie that has inspired or effected you in some way.( Or Perhaps, it just made you feel warm inside. ) I have been watching the TV lately and everything seems so glum and dismal and I don’t don’t want to start the year off like that. Let’s exchange inspiring and uplifting books/movies to one another. Wouldn’t that be fun?

My first offer is non fiction:
“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. Read it, do it and change your life.

My second offer is fiction:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Just such a great story. I could read it again and again.

My Movie recommendations is:
Alice by Woody Allen. This movie is such a wonderful fairy tale and a real reminder that living authentically is the only way.

I will offer up some more as the month goes on.
I’d love to hear from you and if I do, your name could be drawn at the end of the month to win a 5″x6″ OOAK reproduction on canvas of the below painting.
Write your suggestion(s) in the comment section of this post. I am really looking forward this!


‘Marvel, Dream’


Deep In The Night Garden


This is a 10″x10″ mixed media painting in wood. The sides are 1″ and are painted red.
This painting is $110 and SOLD
The day before yesterday, Turner Classic Movies played ‘Pride And Prejudice’ starring Greer Garson. I couldn’t take my eyes of the HATS! They were all so elaborate but what really struck me was the amazing black and white Tim Burton stripes! They were a delight to my senses and I just had to paint one of these divinely beautiful ‘stripey’ hats!

This is what I was thinking as I did this painting:

Deep In The Night Garden

She thinks so deeply for someone so young
The world’s troubles painfully worn behind her eyes
She would rather walk in the air of the night garden, her eyes wide open
Than be tucked in bed, her eyes shut tight
Asleep, she can no longer control where her mind wanders
Asleep, she must go where her dreams take her
Not where she dreams to be taken
She would prefer to walk deep into the night garden
Eyes wide open


Looking Beyond

This is a 6″x6″ mixed media painting on wood. The sides are 1.5″ deep and are painted turquoise.
This painting is $70 and is available HERE.

The week after Christmas is a time when we look back at the year that has just passed. The media are filled with these type of memory stories.
Best movie of the year.
Person of the year.
TCM’s remembrance montage.
And so on…
This year was a good year. We are all healthy and happy. But boy, did it ever fly by. I really can’t believe how fast it went! My three-year old turned four and grew up over night. My six-year-old turned seven and turned into a long-necked, beautiful ballerina. My husband wrote a whole musical which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. My mother had her knee replaced, pretty much a life changing experience for her and those around her. And me, I had several shows, magazine features and surpassed 130 thousand hits on my blog. This is huge for someone who, only three short years ago, painted very infrequently and only for her families viewing pleasure.
I can only imagine (dream) what this upcoming year has in store for me.
Here is to looking beyond.
Dreams are set in motion everyday by taking tiny baby steps.
Cheers everyone, thanks for making my dreams come true and for your ongoing support. You allow me to be an artist, something I have dreamt about being since I was a little girl.
So grateful to you all…. speaking of which, don’t forget to enter the give away for December. There are only a few days left.

maria@mariapacewynters.com


ETSY SALE and Felt And Lace


This is a 11″x14″ mixed media painting on paper covered canvas. This painting is 1.5″ deep and is painted red on the sides.

This painting is $225 and is available HERE.

OK fist ever, sale on etsy. 15% off of all ORIGINAL PAINTINGS. You can use etsy’s new COUPON system. The code word is ‘BLACK’ because this sale is good now until MIDNIGHT (mountain time) FRIDAY 26th (Black Friday).

maria@mariapacewynters.com


The Shadow Of A Hat


This is a 6″x6″ mixed media painting on paper covered canvas. The sides are 1.5″ deep and are painted red,
This painting is $65 and is available HERE.

This is another nameless mug shot from 1900. This one is from my home town of Victoria, so I have actually walked the same streets she walked … well, not exactly.

maria@mariapacewynters.com


The Pickpocket


This is a 4″x6″ mixed media painting on paper covered canvas. The sides are 1.5″ deep and are coral.
This painting is $65+ shipping and is available HERE.

This is from a mug shot from Australia Feb.2, 1922. (V. Lowe.)

I don’t know about you, but I think she is going do it again.

maria@mariapacewynters.com


She’s Just A Little Girl




This is a 6″x12″ mixed media painting on clayboard. The sides are painted red with newsprint butterflies and are 2″ deep.
This painting is SOLD

This is something that I have to remind myself often. Especially when it comes to my seven-year old, I find it much easier to remember when it comes to my four-year old. I always have. I have always expected more from Imogen. When I look back on what I expected from her when she was four I kind of cringe. I guess this the curse of being the oldest and born to an older mother who was set in her ways perhaps, and had way to long to build those expectations. You know what I mean. The times when we would see children in public and think, “if they were my kids ….” (fill in the black with all of your ‘non parent’ wisdom HERE). Or, on the other side of that, when I was trying to have a child unsuccessfully for five LONG years and I would see a mother or father completely ignoring their kid begging for gum as they were standing in the line to buy groceries and I would think “NEVER! I will NEVER ignore my children, I will talk to them, I always engage them in stimulating and meaningful conversation”. I didn’t realize that they weren’t ignoring their kids they were simply WORN OUT. They can do that, you know, after the 100th time or begging for something in the grocery store, that DOES tend to happen.
This all being said, I must remember she is just a little girl more often. I know that I am a good mother, but I could be better. Couldn’t we all? I was watching TV making dinner the other day (yes, I have a TV in my kitchen! I know, I know) and I saw the worst thing I have ever seen on TV. I am not going to mention the show but it was basically about a mother abusing her child in the most horrific and twisted unimaginable way, and this is the stuff we were privy to. And the first thing I thought of was ‘ he is just a little boy’ and then I had to turn it off because it made me ache so bad that a child would have to endure anything like this from his own mother. What hope does a child in this situation have?
And as bad as this was, I have to tell you, it doesn’t have to be THAT abusive to have long-term scaring effects on a child. How about a teacher that tells a child in front of their peers that they will be getting a bad report card if they don’t start behaving? Don’t think that kind of shaming isn’t going to have a negative effect on a child. Unfortunately for the child and teacher, probably an immediate effect.
Anyway, I was just thinking about all of this when I was painting this one and I know what I have wrote it is a bit rambling but really what I am trying to say is those words ‘shes just a little girl’ were circling around my head but what I was thinking about was ‘they are just children’ and they are really delicate and we have so much power over them. We all just really need to remember to be kind.


Waiting For Him

This is a 6″x6″ mixed media painting on paper covered canvas. The sides are 1″ and are painted turquoise.
This painting is $65 and is SOLD

I see her standing at the edge of the sea. The wind whips her hair around her face but she stands motionless.
She is waiting.
Waiting for him to come home.

maria@mariapacewynters.com


Aspirations


This is a mixed media diptych on wood.
The sides are 1″ deep and are turquoise.
SOLD
Painting, painting, painting….eating it, breathing it, living it …. these are my aspirations…but they are tiring.


To Catch A Glimpse

This is a 12″x16 ” mixed media painting on a wood stretcher. The sides are 1.5″ and are red. This painting is $280 + shipping and is available HERE

There is something about this poise that I love. I have painted it before and called it Waiting.

He is watching her. She pretends not to notice but holds her breath in anticipation as she attempts to look back over her raised shoulder to catch a glimpse of him watching her.


You Are The One

This is 3″x5″mixed media painting on paper covered canvas. The sides are painted red and are 1.5″ deep. This painting is $50 and is available HERE.


Fancy Plumage

FancyPlumage sm
This is a 12″x12″ mixed media painting on clayboard.

Hey, what is that peeking over the side?

Fancy Plumage side


The Usual Wear And Tear

The-Usual-Wear-And-Tear

This is a 6″x8.5″ mixed media painting on paper.

When I was painting this one, this expression was circling my head. I guess I was still thinking about being a single woman during the turn of the century and the possibility of marrying being a pretty slim prospect after a certain age.
Just to think about how great I am now in comparison to how great I wasn’t in my twenties make me think that men, even in this day, are kind of dumb. (Not my husband of course, he is brilliant).
Available here


Connie Crow (Tentative Start)


12″x16″ mixed media painting on clay board
$300 + shipping.
To purchase click HERE
Connie Crow was one of the Crow sisters. I can’t remember the the name of the other two sisters.

OK, I am fairly sure that Connie Crow did not look like this. Actually I am 100% sure that she didn’t but I hey, that is what they call artistic license. I am a card carrying member and not only is the membership free, there is no expiry date on the card.

That aside, I was thinking about the Crow sisters and how they never married and why that was. All three of them. I guess it is not so strange but I can’t help it and I know it sounds so needy and not very modern but whenever I meet an old woman that never married I wonder why. Choice? Fate? Tragedy? It is not such a strange thing now a days but back in the turn of the 18th century and into the early to mid 1900’s it was pretty much expected that you are going to marry. So many didn’t however. If they had wanted to and never found a companion, or (as I know was the case for many) were obligated to stay and look after their siblings or relatives because the Mother had died, it is so sad. If they were not going to put up with any MAN telling them how to live their life , then GREAT on them. I am just CURIOUS as to why.

When I was growing up in the Guesthouse, before my parents converted it into a B&B, there were many people that had lived there for decades. They were all single, and before you get any wild ideas, really old. Not all of them never married, some were widows/ers or divorcees (this I am only assuming, as it was not something that people spoke freely of back then, especially in front of a seven year old). Perhaps this is where my curiosity stems from. I wanted to know these people’s stories but as a child could never ask. Now the answers are gone forever.

Miss. Gregg and Miss. Roberts were two women that lived in the Guesthouse that never married.

Miss Gregg was a retired grade one school teacher that was so wonderfully kind to me. She wore her soft white hair in a bun, was completely bent over ( and I mean completely), was in her nineties and had elephantiasis. None of these things stopped her from climbing the two flights of stairs to her room at the top of the house at least three times a day. Unlike many of the tourist that would stay in her room years later, she never complained. Not about the stairs and certainly not about the size of her room. She lived in that room for decades and it was crammed with trunks ,books and in my mind as a child, mystery and treasure. She was so good with children it always made me sad that she never had any of her own.

She used to say great things like ‘many hands make light work’ as we would set the tables together, she would pinch her cheeks ‘just to add a little colour’ and her drink of choice was teoffee, a blend of coffee and tea. (Nobody is perfect).

Miss Roberts was the pampered daughter of a Sea Captain. She couldn’t have been more different than Miss Greg. Miss Greg was a lady in every way. Estelle, was not. She was kind of lazy and loved to lounge in her room looking at ‘movie magazines’ and eating chocolates. She wasn’t really interested in me, I am not sure I really existed in her world which was fine with me as I found her slightly frightening. Perhaps here is where I should mention that she looked rather a lot like the sea hag from Popeye when she didn’t wear her teeth, which was most of the time as she lost them or forgot them often. Most frequently she would take them out at the dinner table,wrapping them up in her napkin, I am guessing as an attempt to not offend her dinner companions and then, placing her napkin in her lap she would promptly forget where she put them. When she would get up at the end of her meal she would either leave them behind in her napkin which would mean routing around in the garbage a few hours later looking for her teeth or her napkin would fall on the ground and out her teeth would roll onto the dining room floor for everyone to see. So much for not offending her dinner companions.

Miss Greg had no time for her and would angrily shake her head and say “Oh! Estelle!” as if she was talking to one of her six year old students. Miss Roberts didn’t give one care. She may have had ripped stockings and a slip that hung haphazardly down below her skirt but she did have spunk.
What was she like when she was young? One can only wonder. I don’t know why she never married. She couldn’t have always looked like the Sea Hag ( hey funny that her dad was a Sea Captain!) or like my mother would say had a face like the map of Girbaltar. You really have never seen so many wrinkles but on another note, have you ever heard this expression? I just made myself laugh out loud typing it.
My Irish mother has the craziest expressions that she always qualifies first by saying ‘ as my mother would say’. I guess I just did that as well, so I guess I am keeping that alive.
But some of these expressions are not very PC and may be better off forgotten. Sometimes I don’t even know what they mean before they come out of my mouth.
Once I said ‘I almost split my kipper’ to a boyfriend’s mother because I had almost slipped and fallen down. Now, this wasn’t one of my mother’s expressions but she had told me numerous times about her friend who when after saving herself from a slip had exclaimed this. I just never put two and two together, not until the words were being formed and leaving my mouth and heading directly toward my boyfriend’s mother’s ears. It was like a light bulb went on and it was suddenly crystal clear exactly what that expression meant and why my mother had retold it so many times. She didn’t think it was funny, what she thought was it was in unbelievably bad taste. It was too late. It was out there. Now I will be the one that will be thought of as having unbelievably bad taste because as bad as it was coming out of my mouth, I at least hadn’t qualified it with; ‘as my mother would say’.


First Frost

First Frost
10″x10″ mixed media painting on canvas.

This one is rather fitting as I stand looking out my studio window. My studio is in the loft of our three story home and as I look out I can see all the tops of the surrounding white roofs. It is, unfortunately , not the first frost, not by a long shot, but maybe it would be on the west coast.

This piece has small pearl mica flakes painted into it. I am not sure if the picture shows them very well. But for all you magpies out there, it really sparkles.


Three Sisters

OK, so there were three crow sisters, not two. One died a few years before the other two.

I was thinking about this while I was painting today. I was thinking about how close those three sisters were. Living together all those years. Sharing their lives for over eight decades. What must it have been like to watch your sister go. What must it have been like to be the last one left? Sometimes life is so sad that I can’t even bare it.

I was also thinking about crows and how they share their life with one partner. Birds are often like this, aren’t they? monogamous. Maybe it is my Catholic up bringing but when ever I hear about animals that are monogamous I feel even more of an affinity to them. Kind of silly, I guess.

Crows will also do this very strange kind of memorial service for a crow that has been killed. They will all gather for a moment of silence and then disperse. Without a sound.

I am sure you have seen a crow standing at the side of the road looking down at his dead kin. I have even seen them prod them gently with his beak as if to try to get them to move. I have always been touched by this seen. There was no doubt in my mind that I was witnessing immense grief in this animal.

This new painting is about all of these things. Companionship. Grief. Ghosts. It is in progress.
We are are here, and then we are gone.
Sorry for being so morbid today. I don’t mean to be a downer.
Three Sisters


I Could Talk To You …

16″x16″ mixed media painting in canvas.
no name crow
photo
16″x16″ mixed media painting in canvas.

Getting close to finishing this one. I watched this amazing ‘Nature Of Things’ on crows the other night. Wonderful timing for me, hey? Don’t things just work like that sometimes? When stuff like that happens, I always think that I must be on the right path.

It is like for the first time ever I heard the term netflix. Someone on facebook just wrote about it, then tonight it came up in the book I am reading (Julie and Julia). I am not sure what that means. I should move to the US or rent a movie or just keep reading the book but I though it was pretty neat.

Back to the crows.

I remember when I was little my dad told me that if you split a crow’s tongue that you can teach them to talk. On looking this up I find that it is actually not necessary to do this and that if you hand raise a crow from young, you can teach them how to talk just like you would a parrot. More info on this can be found in this amazing book