Things that Hang – Sea Shell Ornaments

sea shell ornamentsI have a love affair with things that hang, drape and flower which is why I constantly make things that hang, drape and flower. I make little ornaments that hang from my planters, from the light on the ceiling fans and from the sides of the curtains. I love things that hang.

The 3 inch sea shell ornaments added to my Etsy shop are in beautiful, rich colors such as brown, gold and turquoise. The ornaments come together.

Orni 1

Orni 2

Faith

Landfall Abstract Ocean Scene

This entry shows art two art pieces with a purpose. Rise, fall if I must. Stand to meet the challenge. What’s the challenge? I’ve got to get a hold of my stinking thinking. I have to change my outlook one single color at a time if necessary. While writing I felt a sense of urgency and desperation. I could all but see myself at a door grabbing the handle and pulling it, ripping at.

Lets talk more about the art at the root of these emotions.

Landfall

Landfall

Creating non objective abstract art started with a self challenge in June of 2014. I really wanted to create some of the beautiful art I was seeing, but it didn’t think I had it in me to do that type of art. When I first challenged myself I said I’d do 10 paintings. I wasn’t looking forward to it because it was as if I had no idea where to start, let alone know how to finish.

Though I’m still learning, I can say I have left behind the anxiety. I enjoy it creating non-objective abstract art. I find it soothing to create and I actually feel I know when to start. As a matter of fact I start non-objective abstract such as “Landfall” the same way I begin other art, with a single stroke.

I don’t think too hard and I sure don’t plan ahead. When it comes to art, if I plan ahead then I’m planning for a disaster. I start art with one single stroke and go from there. I paint from the hip…..not literally because that would be uncomfortable. My next challenge with abstracts is to paint them larger.  Continue reading “Landfall Abstract Ocean Scene”

Sour Wine

Sour Wine
Sour Wine

Sour Wine is what they drank,
now the people go their separate way home.
This one hurries to the right, others gather flowers to hold for the long walk.
One woman crosses the boundary between what she knows and what she was told.
A new experience,
A free expression of acceptance.
How is her openness received?
A river of happy waters wash away their differences
and refresh a once harsh, dry land.

I’m one of those people who can’t keep up with the news because it makes me angry. It’s as if people don’t learn from their mistakes.  I am very well aware that there are mad men and paranoid mannequins that display no other human emotion outside of hate. Why would I watch the news? I can guess there’s been a mass shooting. I’m sure there’s activity by a group hell bent on havoc, and another trying to keep up with their own brand of carnage. I don’t need the news to tell me just how hateful people are.  Continue reading “Sour Wine”

I might have been torn to pieces

Jung Art


To the extent that I managed to translate the emotions into images that is to say, to find the images which were concealed in the emotions I was inwardly calmed and reassured.

Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them.

There is a chance that I might have succeeded in splitting them off; but in that case I would inexorably have fallen into a neurosis and so been ultimately destroyed by them.

As a result of my experiment I learned how helpful it can be, from the therapeutic point of view, to find the particular images which lie behind the emotions.

Carl Jung

The bird flew in the window fma

A Bird Flew in the Window

I Release Her

I release her

fma

The Stream Carried Wonderment and Joy

The Stream Carried Wonderment and JoyThis painting is on of the very first collages I’ve created and thought good enough to post. The tall, elongated woman with her face divided by cream and blue stands with her eyes closed taking in everything. The secure and at peace woman stands with her feet in the stream and allows joy and wonderment into her life. There is no struggle, no working against the tide. She takes it all in and is entirely in the moment.

Her hair is adorned with flowers. Her dress is yellow at the top with two butterfly cut outs. The butterfly details also appear at the side of her skirt. The remaining cut outs are small flowers made from hand dyed coffee filter cut outs. Food coloring was used to stain the coffee filter cut outs. The painting has been sealed with a matte acrylic seal.  Continue reading “The Stream Carried Wonderment and Joy”

Elements an Abstract Painting

Elements FMA

It can be difficult to know what to name some paintings. I sat and looked at this one and began to name the things I saw. Well, there’s most certainly a large moon with detailed gold rim, water that rapidly moves and spills onto red earth. In the background could those be trees or the mountains or are there individuals taking time to feel the cool grass and be refreshed by the water? After I named all the natural elements the tile became clear: Elements. Continue reading “Elements an Abstract Painting”

Inner Swim

Inner Swim

The young girl sits with her legs crossed by a large koi. One finger touches the water, the other hand lays on her bronze and copper painted pants. Sand has been added to the pants as a symbol of stone. Beautiful, bright pink flowers grow in the garden. Her shirt is shredded fabric, linen pieces. The water wall behind her begins to take her in.

Art Title: Inner Swim
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Medium: Acrylic, Gel, Sand
Size: 11 × 14 inches on heavy board

Threshold

Threshold The small art piece shows a white soul standing in front of a tumultuous sky on a black bridge. There is fire raging beside her, a fire that glows in the sky. The sea rages beneath the bridge. The single white, faceless figure stands at her threshold.

This textured, emotional piece is painted on sketchbook paper in acrylics with ink. Though small, it packs an emotive punch with its mix of washed colors and heavy paint strokes. There is swirling blue, white and grey. There are layered brush strokes and haunting color contrasts. Red and orange climb slowly from gray, blue and black. The glow of the orange stops the sky in its tracks. The white ghostly figure on the bridge even has a touch of orange on its side. And there it stands, on the bridge above unsteady waters.

Continue reading “Threshold”

Thunderstorm on paper

Thunderstorm d1In addition to the emotional process of creating this painting, there is a storm of art mediums. I do enjoy experimenting with different types of media.

Thunderstorm

In this 6 x 9 painting on paper, I’ve mixed acrylic with sawdust and sand. There is also ink and gel with a final matte acrylic seal. If you put all that together and mix it up on sketchbook paper, you get the aftermath of a thunderstorm.

In the painting you see a black face woman with lips and eyes like the sea. Her hair flows into the waves and becomes them. Her body floats until it too becomes part of the sea. You see the burning of the salt and the sun and her yearning for land. There is wave after wave after wave with the impending boom and resulting lightening. Or is has the lightening already shown itself in her eyes?

Continue reading “Thunderstorm on paper”

Sunflowers in the Sea

Sunflowers in the Sea fma

A striking 9 x 6 sketchbook piece shows a little girl with green, yellow and orange washing over her. The blue sea flows right across her heart. Abstract fish swim around her head. In black ink I’ve drawn one large sunflower that disappears off the page, one that stands low beside her and one that crosses below her chin. The merging of hues comes to an abrupt stop leaving white space interrupted only by her small legs.

Art Title: Sunflowers in the Sea
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Medium: Acrylic paint, ink on 6 x 9 sketchbook paper, raw art, unsealed

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