Category: Visionary

Wild Things

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wild things fma

Title: Wild Things
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Medium: Acrylic collage on heavy cardstock
Size: 9×12 inches, 
Finish: Sealed, signed, dated, unmounted
Style: Collage, Surreal, Abstract Figurative, raw

Art details: Cut outs of my own art have been arranged to create “Wild Things.” Sunflowers, koi fish, African faces, Asian faces and more have been mixed together in a wild collage. This is a visual feast, a mindscape, surreal art piece. 

“Wild Things” and other original art can be found in my Etsy shop at www.sundrip.etsy.com. You may also contact me for a PayPal invoice.

Thank you for visiting SUNDRIP – Art for Life

Journal Work in Progress

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Journaling until I’m blue in the face. Work in progress.

“Someone Else” in watercolor and acrylic. All work shown is on 8.5 x 5.5 paper.

“Froggie Smiles”.  These are photographs. I’m looking forward to scanning so these look right. This is much darker than the actual painting. I’m working on the details of all these pieces. Once I have the colors in mind it doesn’t take long to finish.

This last one was created for the sole purpose of testing out new paints. It’s a paint pallet sheet. Sometimes when I just need to draw but there’s nothing specific to do, I draw lines on paper this way and wait to use it later to test paint or clean brushes.

Faith

Getting My Hands Dirty

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available as prints see sidebarWhen I’m anxious I make small terrariums in glass jars. I make dry flower arrangements from flowers I’ve purchased or flowers donated by friends. I often get a years worth of lavender from a friend when she cuts hers back. I love that stuff. Thank goodness I don’t have allergies.

I have all kinds of terrariums and terrarium supplies, stuff I wanted to add to my Etsy shop. I haven’t added them because I have no idea how to ship them so I’ve started offering them locally. So far so good. I love getting my hands in that soil, placing driftwood, hand picked stones and tiny little plants into little landscapes.

I’ve struggled with depression recently, depression that feels too heavy to manage alone. Today I made a bit of extra effort to get out of bed and get into something productive which meant working with the fish and terrariums.

I’ve turned a 6 drawer wooden dresser into a feature garden with some of the drawers holding garden supplies like gloves, planters and terrarium supplies. Continue reading “Getting My Hands Dirty”

The Last Reign

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The Final Reign - Available“The Last Reign” is in the Visionary Original Paintings gallery as well as in my Etsy shop.

This 5.5 x 8.5 mixed media piece showcases deep colors and moody lines. It is truly a Sundrip piece in that I’ve painted edge to edge with imagery everywhere you look.

There are masks or what some may call face shields. There are people and washes of color. Blue, gold, black, and red shape images of human figures with history written on their faces.  Continue reading “The Last Reign”

Pencil Drawing, Tree Child

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Sometimes when I don’t know where to go with a drawing I’ll hang it up and leave it alone. Eventually it’ll come to me.

Child tree

I don’t know if I want to go a different direction with her hair or keep going then add a bird or two.

Child tree detail

I’m not sure, so she hangs on the wall waiting for the ah-ha moment.

Child tree full image

I’m certain she’ll remain a pencil drawing without strong color added.

Art by: Faith M. Austin

 

Lineage

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Lineage fmaThis painting started as pull art. I created a painting using the drip art technique then looked at it if for a few days. As I was walking by I saw an eye. I quickly drew it in, then the lips and the nose. Days later the painting developed into an ancient woman growing her roots, spreading out the lines of history in her hair.

Once I knew what I wanted to paint I began to think about how people talk about wanting a new start or reinventing themselves. It occurred to me that more than not, the choice to reinvent ourselves is thrust upon us. Time changes, other people change the course of our lives for good or bad. In these ways, we are given the opportunity to change ourselves for the better.

Continue reading “Lineage”

Rooted Hearts 1 – an Etsy Treasury

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Rooted Hearts 1 an ETSY Treasury

Ah yes, another treasury list on ETSY. This is a two part treasury which includes paintings, jewelry and vessels. There are twenty four pieces in all. Today I’ve opened up part one.

Rooted Hearts Double Treasury 
Is dedicated to our grandfathers, our roots and our sense of being.
For the beautiful woman, for turquoise, bone and copper.
For warriors and gentlemen.
For our children.
For beads used to adorn, and vessels to hold our hearts.
Rooted, we are.

The letter sent to all twenty four artists explained the premise of the treasury in this way. It is an artistic arrangement of ethnic women and men in their ever changing form. I have included art and jewelry of different styles but have kept the theme to specific colors such as turquoise, copper, abstract linear art, beads and vessels.

Some of the treasury tags you might notice hopefully shows that the treasury is a peaceful, international and uplifting arrangement. The artists are from Texas to the Netherlands, Kenya to Chicago as well as from France, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in Eastern Europe. It is an international gathering of art to promote the beauty of our roots which ground and nurture our future.

Please visit part one of Rooted Hearts by clicking the link. Rooted Hearts 2 is here.  You will also find it’s link listed under my Etsy profile.

Thank you for visiting SUNDRIP – Art for Life
Faith

Sangria and Me

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Sangria “Sangria” stands in my Etsy shop full of surrealism and color. The terracotta tone woman with blue hair thinks nothing of the raven that flew in the door. Why should she, after all, she’s got a house inside a house, evergreen trees shaped like arrows and large sunflowers coming from who knows where. The painting is full of life, full of color and texture. And yes, I decided to wear her, too.

I’ve said it before, but I really wish to drive home the point that when looking at a stranger you can’t see on their face what they are going through in their skin. The purpose of putting my art on my face is to be that obvious, to say loud and clear that Lupus and Fibromyalgia can rot from the inside out. Art is one of the major tools I use to manage life with an “invisible illness”.

You don’t start seeing real signs of illness until the person collapses and finds himself/herself in the hospital with baffled family and friends. She looked okay. She looked “normal” What happened?  Lupus. Fibromyalgia. One of the illnesses listed as “invisible”.

Invisible no more. Sangria – My Face My Art   . Continue reading “Sangria and Me”

What Remains – Surrealism and Recovery

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What Remains fmaWhen I painted this piece I wasn’t necessarily thinking about natural disasters such as a hurricane, tsunami or an earthquake. I was thinking of the disasters of the mind. I was thinking about events that leave us feeling crippled and isolated.

What Remains is a painting with many brush strokes, strikes with a toothpick and with black ink. Everywhere you look there is something filling the space. It’s full, overwhelming the canvas with flowing color, splashing contrast and texture that digs at the heart of the matter.

Continue reading “What Remains – Surrealism and Recovery”

The Growing Process

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Growing ProcessArt Title: The Growing Process
Art by: Faith M. Austin
Medium: Acrylic, ink on artist paper, size 8.5 x 5.5 , signed, sealed, unmounted.
The Growing Process is ready to ship today.

Monday afternoon I showed a friend this painting. He said,
“She looks sad”. I replied, “You would be too if you had the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

Yes, she does look sad, and yes great responsibilities are hers. There’s a lot riding on her actions or inaction. However, she has not given up, nor has she slowed the growing process. Continue reading “The Growing Process”