Venus 460' Celsius

Six views 5"x8" measuring as a whole 15"x15", acrylic, collage, glazing. I began this piece with glazes of yellow to gold as representational of the Venus sulphuric soup atmosphere. I got myself stuck with days of timid applications of color when what I needed to do was make some bold approaches. Finally spent yesterday with applications of color, collage, ripping, gluing and marking until I had two bottles of used brushes to clean and very tired. Venus land temperatures are very high so I have these numbered views created before the (hypothetical) camera would dissolve in the heat. For the fun of playing "Where's Waldo", you might look for the last 'bug' about to be turned to funerary ash as we all know the bugs are the last to go! Stepping back from this piece I can't help but be okay with the final out come....it was a hard journey with so much adding and subtracting but now I rather like it!

First being Last

Mercury III    16"x16" Rives BFK, acrylic, paper collage, heavy molding paste, soft pastel. Actually this is the third in the series of viewing Mercury. Still feeling the role as observer and maybe the photographer of this Mercury surface. I used the red pastel to spotlight and mark the interesting "Degas" crater.   Being so close to the sun, I would imagine sunset would be a calming welcome...wishing the hot searing sun away.

16"x16" Rives BFK, acrylic,molding paste, collage, soft pastel and white ink. Mercury I is my first attempt and it became as a blueprint errr brownprint of the massive craters covering the surface of this planet. I don't know who was in charge of the original mapping but it seems the larger or more interesting craters have been named after our great artists such as Beethoven, Verdi, Homer, Matisse to name a few. I don't get it? Maybe a tie in with impact craters and artists making an impact?? This piece became darker than I had hoped, the white ink places the names here and there along with impact target circles for landing and the red square once again marking a territory or section of Mercury.

More journal pages:
Looked into my personal flight pattern, heading due North with the clear instructions of turning southwest at first sighting of molten Mercury. Sure I'm nervous at the wheel after all this is my maiden voyage to planets unknown. I'm armed to the teeth with resolve and my spine is steel. My heart pounds in solid strokes and my hands grip this uncommon wheel. I'm on my first flight of many. I'm exploring the deepest center of mine and these planets. Take off, landing, navigating practiced at length in my sleep. Now wide awake, stars fly by, backlit space more colorful then I first imagined. Oceans of diamond stars weaving in and out of this tapestry of reflected sky.

Mercury II

The images are coming slowly, not sure about materials so I've been experimenting. Measures 16"x16" Rives BFK, tissue paper collage, both soft and oil pastel, acrylic glazes. The concept of mapping or sighting different terrain came up for me...I've created red squares as surrounding points of interest. Mercury's colors to the human eye would be muted but I have been looking at Messenger's camera views which have exaggerated colors and then I exaggerated more!. I would like to try a few more times with Mercury and then move on to Venus. Below is some writing from my journal as a way of also bringing the mythology and facts of Mercury together to find my true heart of this exploration.

This pock marked surface
White powder pulverized from impacts off the Richter Scale.
Speed of the light-footed has not been the solution.
Unavoidable hits, crossfire pounding debris, dry dusty tears at each shallow crater.
Long days, longer than mine by three
A loneliness prevails and this heavenly messenger is sorrowfully unclear

One noble occupation God Mercury angel of mine, promises to escort souls swiftly to the afterlife.
Passengers placed near gray shadowed rocks, dark, safe, timeless hours seeking the wait station,
the ticket window, the date and arrival and departure chalk board with color pamphlets for free.

Unexpected Gift!

This collage measures 6"x6" and is the creation of Ghislaine Bruno. She was one of the artists that won my postcard send-a-way and she generously sent me this treasure(all the way from France) in response to me sending her my postcard. Am I lucky? Do drop by and visit Ghislaine here...isn't blogland full of surprises!

Birthday Update: Last Tuesday the 25th was my birthday and one of the ways we began the celebration was with a hardy Huevos Rancheros breakfast at a cafe on the beach. To our surprise was a perfect view of 2 Humpback whales feasting on anchovies! What an amazing sight...a wish come true!  Photos of these whales feeding in our bay have been all over the Internet but we got the up close "in person" view!