Linda Mahoney Art

Still doing occasional fabric designs which I upload to Spoonflower. Most recently I designed a pattern I called Bright Beach. I needed extra throw pillows to brighten up a beach condo that has dark brown furniture. (I dream of turquoise, but until then...) I had already made some pillow covers using the wonderful P. Kaufman fabric with an orange background, but alas it is no longer in production. So...I decided to design something that would coordinate and came up with this: Which is available on Spoonflower here . I used the Lightweight Cotton Twill and just love the fabric. Here's how the pillows turned out: They don't look as vibrant in the photo as they do in real life, but I was very pleased with the results.

After way too long, I decided it is time to reconnect with my blogging. I made a decision to "retire" from commissions and free-lance artwork and spend more time doing artwork that I want to do - on my own terms. (I'm weak and still get talked into doing a few commissions...) I spent 2 weeks cleaning out and reorganizing in my artroom/storage area. There is still much to do, but the improvement was phenomenal. I mixed up a DIY version of chalk paint to redo an old, beat up bookcase. I went to Spoonflower and realized that wallpaper is available. I also caught up on messages that were at least a year old. I purchased my design - Butterfly Meadow - in wallpaper and used it to line the back of the bookcase. What a HUGE improvement. The recipe that I used for the chalk paint worked great, required no priming and covered really well: 1 cup flat latex paint  2 Tbs plaster of Paris 2 Tbs water Mix the plaster of Paris and water into a smooth paste  & add t...

  Tomorrow is the last day to vote in the Fabric8 design contest sponsored by Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman. I am so excited my Butterflygarden collection has made it to the finals! If you don't mind taking the time to vote for my collection (or one of the others), you may go here to do so. Learning to do fabric repeats has been a steep learning curve for me, but I'm getting the hang of it. I guess my background in graphic arts is coming to the foreground as I have found I really, really enjoy doing surface design.

Here is the link to my profile for the Fabric8 Finalists in the contest sponsored by Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman. Voting will begin June 7th and I will post a link to the voting location here. I'm working, working, working to come up with the 7 additional fabric designs to compliment the Butterfly Garden entry. Tiring but very fun and addictive! Keep your fingers crossed and send me inspirational and encouraging thoughts, please! Best, Linda

Butterfly Garden - fat quarter Wowee Zowee! I can't believe it. I have wanted to design fabric or try my hand at other surface designs (wallpaper, giftwrap, etc.) but, I have been struggling with seamless repeats for patterns. My original art education did not include computers and that has been a learn-on-the-fly experience for me. I have been aware of Spoonflower for about a year. They provide beautiful fabrics by fantastic independent designers and you can upload your own designs to be printed as well. The site includes designing tools and lots of friendly online and other assistance. Spoonflower sponsors weekly design contests and I thought that I would enter one about a year ago. (I have found that competitions are good for my productivity. The deadlines and parameters help me stay on track despite my natural ADD tendencies to fly off in a million directions.) Well, after numerous attempts to create a design and have it duplicate without looking like it was a creatio...

Yea!!! I was thrilled to receive word today that I've been juried into the Art & Conservation 2013 Our Hidden Treasures event. Through a lottery I have been assigned to a ranch in Comfort, TX where I will visit 2 - 3 times over the next 12 months for reference material in creating artwork for the 2013 event. I am really looking forward to participating in this. I love nature - and of course, art - and the combination of the two helps preserve what is so difficult to preserve. I used my "Beauty Beneath" colored pencil painting which is based on the cypress trees from Camp Verde to apply for inclusion. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcibolo.org%2Fnode%2F1795&h=qAQEqwjsR

Fun with zentangle-inspired images continues. I created this little 4.5x6.5 piece with colored ink. I can't resist experimenting with new materials and ideas. I completed a larger colored pencil piece yesterday that is unusable. I will post it as a "learn from your mistakes" item later. Have a blessed Sunday! All the best - Linda

I continue to find zentangle-inspired images relaxing and fun! There are many sites on the web where you can find ideas for designs to incorporate into your doodling. I like to work on these while my hubby is driving - though unexpected bumps result in a few squiggles here and there. I've begun including color in the images and like how it pops. I hope to get more sophitiscated in the use of the doodles and size of the marks to help create depth and shading within the images. Update on the artwork in the previous post: "Wrong Turn" - is SOLD. Prints may be available at a later date. All the Best - Linda

Here's a colored pencil painting that I finished yesterday. It's 22"x16" on Stonehenge. This past summer an artist friend commented to me, "You like art that tells a story." I had never thought of that before, but perhaps I do. I very much enjoy doing representational still lifes and landscapes, but I suppose when I do something that is totally created from my imagination, it does tell a story. I often have the title of a piece in mind before I start on it, so I guess that figures in, too. This one is titled "Wrong Turn". Sometimes purchasers want to know what I was thinking when I created a certain piece. I don't mind sharing, but I prefer for the viewer to have their own story. If I tell them mine first, I feel it limits what it can be for them. Most of us have made a wrong turn or two in our lives, and I hope that idea doesn't cramp your story when you consider this image. 

Here is the finished (I think) artwork with the abalone shell that I was working on in the previous post. It was a lot of fun to do and I'm already off on my next colored pencil painting. I hope to have it finished by the end of this month so that I can enter two of them for the jury process of the Colored Pencil International exhibit. Only one piece per artist can be selected, but I figure having two will double my chances to get in. I would really like for that to happen so that I can get my 10-year merit status. Back to the drawing board...

This doesn't look like anything more than a bunch of squiggles, right? When you look up close, even the most realistic renderings can look very abstract. I have to remind myself, as I do my students, to "draw what you see, not what you think you know". We all develop some kind of preconceived ideas of how things should look from a very early age. To accurately reproduce what we see, it is helpful to shift away from naming the object or thinking about what it is. Focusing in on small areas and duplicating what we see rather than what it is helps to make the shift.  This is a small area - about 4" square from a 16 x 22 image. It's  Prismacolor pencil on Stonehenge paper .  I hope to finish it within the next couple of weeks and will share the whole image here.

Zentangle - In the latest issue of CPSA's "To the Point", Verna Curnow presented an article on zentangle or zendoodle. An artform where repetitive patterns or shapes are used to create a meditative image. Easily seduced to try something new with art, I began my patterns with ink pen in hand. I used archival Pitt pens and made my image on Stonehenge paper. I have to admit it was time consuming, but thoroughly enjoyable. I titled this little piece "Edge of Entanglement". It's on an 8 x 6 sheet of Stonehenge paper. It's something I could work on between other projects with very little needed for materials. I did some of it while riding in the car and had to stay away from the finer lines while bumping along in the Mustang. Seems those sports suspensions are not built for smoothness. LOL! Now I'm thinking of doing a whole art journal in this style. Wonder if I can stick with something that long...Anyone can do this type of art and it if doodling is ...

I am so very honored to have my artwork included in Ann Kullberg's "Colored Pencil Treasures" book. My work appears on page 34 as seen in the previews here http://www.annkullberg.com/cptreasures_2.php This is the third book that includes colored pencil artwork that I have created. I continue to work on improving my skills in fine art and to promote colored pencil as a viable medium for creating fine 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...

As I began to write this post, I realized that the previous 2 entries featured shades of pink and this one will, too. Maybe time to come up with a different pallette? I keep struggling with the need to create a body of work. My ADD-addled brain has me hopping from one "great" idea to another despite my concerted efforts to stay on track. I began a colored pencil painting but the new box of open acrylics kept calling my name. I've been interested in trying the "open" formulation of acrylics for some time now and I finally succumed to the siren call. I have also been wanting to paint flowers in a larger than life format, so this rose is 18"x18" and I really enjoyed doing it. While painting this rose, Frances Ince Erdmann came to mind as she grew beautiful roses and even worked with a rose supplier (Jackson Perkins?) on their hybrid line. She was a generous friend and fun person who was also a victim of cancer. I've named this painting "Rememberi...

This chest belonged to my husband's sister, who I never got to meet. It was then used by his daughter Liane and ultimately ended up in storage. I decided it would make a great project for Liane's daughter, Kamrynn, and set about changing it from the basic French Provencial white to something with a little more character. Previous makeovers of this type have included a set of cabinet doors when we added a cabinet unit to an older house and were not able to match the existing cabinets, and a large wooden floor lamp. I'll post photos of the other two mentioned projects in the near future. The chest and lamp were inspired by the ever colorful and whimsical styles of Mackenzie-Childs. I find their work especially delightful for the child in us all. Happy creating!

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...

That may not be the exact quote from John Lennon, but close enough. We expected to be back in Cloudcroft today, but that is not the way things have gone. We are moving up a wedding between my son and his fiance by several months and are waiting on the date. My sister is struggling with cancer and is not feeling well. I have a painting on the easel and am trying gilding for the first time. I'm using imitation for this first piece. I can't see using gold or silver until I am sure I can apply it competently. A botanical drawing of a rose that is almost completed is awaiting my return to Cloudcroft. I put it aside to complete the portrait I was commissioned to do. I'll post them here later. For now, I'm sharing an acrylic painting based on a quiet pool and stream I photographed in Tennessee a couple of years ago.

"Painting my Face" 10x14 Colored Pencil The idea for this painting has been percolating for several years. I wonder if artists are better at applying their makeup or not. And what if you could just repaint the parts that you didn't like? Then again, that could be a disaster. For a long time I thought I should get a model for this design. I pondered how I might set it up - with the model's face reflected in a mirror, or the model facing the viewer with a mirror in her hand, or... I finally just used the digital camera with the timer setting. I don't particularly like doing self-portraits, but the model is always handy and the fee is affordable.