Linda Mahoney Art

I can't believe it's been over a year since I posted on this blog and vow to be much more attentive to this in the coming year. Just this week I helped judge artwork at the local junior livestock and homemaking show. It was interesting and inspiring to see such wonderful work being created by local children ages 6 - 12. I was moved by the ability of so many of them and encouraged by the interest of all of them. We were instructed to make comments on each judging sheet. As a sometimes instructor of adults who have shared their childhood experiences with me, I strived to find positive comments for every piece and to frame negatives and suggestions in a constructive manner. I thought about abandoning my blog as it takes time away from other things I might like to do a little more. But then, I thought about how easy it is to give up on things and that's what so many kids do even though there was something they longed to communicate. So, my message to myself and to you is: Keep...

This past week was spent in the cool mountain village of Cloudcroft, NM where I taught a class in collage.So much has happened since my last post. Some of it has been fabulous: I have a fantastic daughter-in-law! Some of it tragic: my daughter-in-law's father, who was also a personal friend, passed away in the early morning hours on the day of the wedding. Also, my baby sister is now home with hospice as she continues to battle damned cancer. Life happens and we deal with it. Collage is a welcome respite from the world of reality. It is a break from the tedious detailed work I usually do. I believe the freedom of it is what has made it a unanimous first choice for my students.I'm posting a collage that I completed as a demonstration for the students which includes 3-d elements. It's a cheerful party dress that will be inserted in a shadowbox frame. The dress is made up of paper elements layered and bent to contribute to the form. The wood panel support was c...

Though my website, I was contacted by a lady who asked if I could do a portrait of her daughter along with her daughter's pets. She has 3 dogs and a beloved turtle and wanted to have them all included in the portrait. We discussed sizes and agreed that a 22 x 16 would be large enough to incorporate all the subjects and include enough detail to make each recognizable. Also, with a 4" mat, the fnished portrait would easily fit into a 30x24 standard sized frame. We discussed pastel and colored pencil as the preferred mediums for completing the portrait. When I learned that they wanted to carry the portrait with them on a plane where they would travel to visit the final recipient, I suggested colored pencil as the more portable of the two. The client was already leaning toward the colored pencil from reviewing portraits on my website. We discussed the setting for the portrait and a natural, outdoor setting seemed well suited for the inclusion of the pets. The client lives in a bea...

Have you missed me? I have been busy, busy, busy doing illustrations recently. It is fun, but a LOT of work and I have been putting in long hours. Part of that is my own tendency toward perfectionism. One of the most fun jobs I have been working on is a children's book about a frog who lives in the bayou of Louisiana and dreams of being a princess. I have made a new friend with the author and am stretching my skills back to illustration which is where I started as a professional artist many years ago. So many things have changed since then with the arrival of computers in the world of art and they continue to expand. The Photoshop images that were state of the art a few years ago are giving way to Vector images which can be resized without distortion. I still start all my illustrations with hand drawn images, and I am hoping there will always be a place for that. There is just something about the feel of the artist's hand in that artwork compared to digitally created work. Mayb...

(You can click on the photo for a larger version of the picture.) This colored pencil painting was actually finished a week ago, but I have been waiting for a decent day to get a photograph of it. I prefer to take photos of the artwork outdoors but ever since finishing it has been very dark and overcast or the wind has been blowing like crazy. Today there was nice light and less wind, so I took this outside and got a photo of it. Hope you enjoy! I'm already at work on redwing blackbirds with roses. I've managed to get some good shots of the Eastern bluebirds this past week, so they will be appearing soon, too. I was able to work outdoors on this painting several days and enjoyed the great natural light and pleasant weather. All the best! Linda