Mushrooms.....

MUSHROOMS......a triptych from a recent hike in the mountains.  We intentionally went in search of mushrooms...all of a sudden it seemed they were everywhere!  Such a variety of sizes and shapes and colors.  They begged to be painted so I had a little fun tucking them in the darks and lights of the board I had prepared...just like the forest floor.  Admittedly these seem to float around, not grow, but that's the fantasy of it.  Three pieces can hang as two or all together as one!


BY THE WAY.....drum roll! Two NEW "pieces" are making our puzzle complete and we will introduce them soon.  Such talent as you cannot imagine, these two ladies fill in gaps amongst us and promise to nudge us all in new directions and challenges.  Both are headed up to the mountains with us for their grand initiation (which involves whatever we can think of to tease them) and upon return we will do the great reveal of their work and credentials.  Stay tuned for some new work and lots of stimulation.

Cindy Michaud
see more at http://www.cindymichaud.com/

She Sells Sea Shells

Sometimes a piece is just plain fun to execute....and "She Sells Sea Shells" was like eating peanuts: I had a hard time stopping!  This is actually two pieces on seperate cradled wood panels...they are now attached with leather ties and hang nicely as one piece.  The two could hang individually but again, making them work together was part of the fun.  A lot of time went into surface prep and after several coats of gesso this mixed media piece received water color, acrylic and graphite.  While I had a vague idea for the overall look when I started it, working on it was like doing a crossword puzzle...one completed shell would impact the layout of the next one and suddenly a splash of color seemed better suited for something else than what I had originally planned.  So it evolved and unfolded and changed and morphed which made it anything but boring to work on.

This is the top panel immediately below.  Once I decided it was finished I had to seal the graphite with fixative and then begin the process of varnishing the entire piece to protect it.  I chose a satin finish as sometimes the shine on a piece makes it look a little unreal to me.

Below it is the second panel, a close up, altho in reality the two panels are not the same size.  Once again I am thrilled to give the credit for teaching me this technique to Fran Hardy....only my work does not do hers justice! 

I'm already preparing some panels for another collection....I have a great assortment of mushroom photos I took while hiking this month.  So I suppose that with apologies to Fran I will find a way to continue to "tweak" this process and make it a bit more "Michaud" than "Hardy."

Cindy Michaud

http://www.cindymichaud.com/

Finding Myself

Look carefully: do you see me hiding in those panels to the left?  Hmmm, every artist it seems is on a search for self...what technique is truely "them." I don't even know how one discovers that...but I think I might be hiding in the two pieces here.  Why?  Because left to my own devices this is the piece I woke up to and went to bed with for the last several weeks.  I planned it just like I plan my parties: lots of good color, a specific traffic flow, little touches of surprise here and there and attention to detail.  The wild movement of color and the specific detail...opposites that make a Gemini happy as a clam...or a fern.

Fran Hardy is to be thanked for most of the layering technique.  The fact that it is all on wood panel is another suggestion of hers...but one that makes me happy as I love the feel of wood...both in my hands and under the brush, and beneath the pencil.  I'm working on other pieces and techniques and styles but, truth be told, i am jonesing to buy more panels and do something in orange with details (mushrooms maybe?) and then some figures and, and, and.......not fine, but fun and if I can find some buyers that it also speaks to then, who knows....maybe as old as I am I did find something of me....

Cindy Michaud

http://www.cindymichaud.com/