Folk Art Mary

Gardening by the Lake, Curvey Path

Gardening by the Lake, Curvey Path was carved summer 2017 and painted winter 2018.

I am a gardener and love getting my hands in the dirt.

 The video below shows how I tried to do something different with this piece. I added two side wings when I ran out of space. It was one of those lucky mistakes that help me keep growing. After I completed carving the main part of the art, I realized I wanted to add a walkway but I had run out of room. So that's why I added the wings, for additional carving surface. The curvey path adds more depth and interest. Without it where would the wheelbarrow go?

 

(Note: after playing video if you want to see it again, click on the counterclockwise rewind symbol at the bottom left of the video)

 

 (Note: after playing the video andif you want to see it again, click on the counterclockwise rewind symbol on the bottom left side of the video and it will reset.)

Below, a picture of the back of the piece showing the added on (right and left boards) "side wings". You can see from this picture that I have once again used rough cut white pine. Affixed in lower left is the small sketch out of which this piece was born.

 

Below pictures of Gardening in various stages in painting:

first coat of paint

  a number of hours into the painting:

 Getting close to the final finished version:

 

 

Pre-painting and post painting detail shots.

  

 

  

Raven Steals the Light - Commission Completed in 2017

I don't usually show pictures of my commissioned pieces online because I want the person who has ordered the piece to have the special experience of being the first one to see it. And then, after the person gets the piece and is happy with it, I am on to new projects.

 

Fall of 2016 I got an email where a wife directed me as follows:

"I would like to commission a piece from you for [my husband's] upcoming birthday. Don’t panic — I know you would not be able to finish the piece by then, but I am hoping we could at least have a sketch by then. I could then present him with the sketch (or a copy) so he would know it is coming. This is a surprise for him, but it is something I know he really wants: We have been talking about having you do this for a while. So I am now taking the opportunity to act on it. It is a ‘big’ birthday for him.

  I would like the piece (to be entitled Raven Steals the Light) to reflect imagery from the Northwest American and Canadian Indian folklore of how Raven stole the light and then gave it to the earth... I was thinking the piece would contain a large raven holding the sun in his beak, but with the moon and stars dispersed across the sky - lots of stars. Either copper or the metal ‘studs’ you have been using. Or a combination. Whatever feels right to you. In my mind, I see the Raven in flight, but if you come up with a different idea, go for it. My only other request is that you incorporate our two dogs into the piece - looking up at the Raven? They do not have to be big, just in the imagery. One is a yellow lab - named Hawk- and the other is a black lab - named…you may have guessed this…Raven. Thus, the piece is in part an homage to [my husband's] ‘favorite black dog’. We were both also taken with the tale and imagery when we first heard the story, many years back."

 

I do not take on every commission but this one interested me in that it was about people and animals in nature. The subject matter fit right in with a number of pieces I was already doing or thinking of doing in that vein. Raven is special to me too - since I have made a number of trips to Utah and have been serenaded by ravens for hours throughout my walks there. I most like commissions when they are not an interruption of my natural flow as an artist. Commissions are best when they push me to learn something new about subject matter that is already of interest to me.  And so I took this project on. It became a very major piece, quite large. So large in fact that I had difficulty photographing it in my small studio set up. Instead I had to set up a special area of my house to take these photos. 

 

This is the initial sketch, there were several that followed but this provided the germ of the idea that I proposed.

 

Followed by the final finished piece:

 

 As it turned out, when I delivered the artwork I realized I had made a mistake. One of the dogs was supposed to be a golden lab and the other a black lab. I took the piece back and repainted this small but important detail. Unfortunately the above and below photos do not reflect this change.

 

 

 

other detail shots

 detail shot right to left

 detail show left to right

 

 

Guy and Crow Energy

Over the years I have carved many images that use a wind swirl to create movement. In recent months I find these swirls just keep coming out when I put my pen to paper.

In Crow and Guy Energy, the wind swirl shows energy. I wonder, is the guy being pushed away or pulled by the wind?

 

I used a button and pieces of abalone in making this piece. Crows love shiny things.

 

Another close up picture, this one featuring the guy.

 

Crow and Guy Energy, under all the paint there is a wood carving.

 

Woman, Yes, Pushed by the Wind

I had fun making this piece. The woman is off balance, surprised,

thrown by a quick gust of wind. But the word "YES" says she can do it.

 

Carving Stage: a close up of her face, this is new for me,

to make such expressions of surprise

 

Carving Stage: this view is from a little further out, You can see how I intentionally tore the

background wood by carving cross grain with a tool angle that increased shredding.

I like to do this textural type of effect because it makes things more interesting, plus

after the carving is painted you can see I'm working with wood.

 

Painting Stage: Early in the painting

 

Later Painting stage: half way through the painting, doing lots of

layers to get the look that tells me the work is done.

Guy in a Funny Hat Holding up a Leaning Tree

Guy in a Funny Hat Holding up Leaning Trees.
 


This painted woodcarving is likely done. As I continue to look at it over the next weeks and months, there is always the possibility I will add a few tweaks. Your comments and shares of my work are always welcome.

I have many ideas for new work that are inspired by my concern about the natural world being off balance. Who knows, maybe this will even become a new series.

Looking back at the photos in my camera, I realize I started carving this one a full two years ago, then set it aside for long periods of time while making other pieces. Sometimes it works out like that. In the end, I am so pleased with how this one turned out.

 

Close up painted details, including of copper:

 

 

Close up carved details:

 

 

 

 

Waitress Icon 12 Repainted

Sometimes I keep making changes to a piece until I feel that it works. 

For the past two years people coming by my booth at the market persisted in seeing Waitress Icon #12, originally completed in 2015, as a nurse. Maybe it was her cap, or her white shoes.

 

So this summer I decided enough is enough. I did a bunch of repainting, changed the background, and carved off her cap to make her look more like a waitress.

What do YOU think, did the changes I made make her look more like a waitress?

 

 

Below is a picture of her head after the cap was carved off...

and a picture taken before reworking the background board.

 

folk art mary

 

 

 

 

Open Studio Dates in December, 2017

Please drop by my studio December 9 and 16, 2017 between 11 AM and 3 PM. Or make an appointment to come at another time. No pressure to buy, just come see the studio where I make my art. Please look at the video below.

folkartmary

"Dancing Cow and Frolicking Farmer" - SOLD

This carved and painted piece - "Dancing Cow and Frolicking Farmer" - sold last weekend. A thank you to David and Denise in Allentown, Pa! I know not everyone can buy, but a purchase is the ultimate in applause for an artist. On a purely practical level, it pays the bills and buys me more time in my studio.

Detail shots below:

 

 

 

BEDMINSTER TRADITIONAL ARTISAN SHOW!

Please visit me at the Bedminster Traditional Artisan Show this weekend, in Doylestown, Pa. Below is a cut and paste of my latest email to my email list.

HERE is a link to my latest email  in case you want to cut copy and paste a copy of this email to anyone you know.

Thanks, Mary

 

Folk Art Mary - Carved and Painted Folk Pictures

Email update sent September 13, 2017

It's here, it's now, it's this weekend!

Come see me this weekend at the Bedminster Traditional Artisan Show.

The show takes place on Saturday 9/16/17 (10 am to 5 pm) and Sunday 9/17/17 (10 am to 4 pm).

Friends and supporters outside of Pennsylvania – please tell your friends about my work and the show by forwarding this email to them.

This is the time of year when I take on winter commissions. 

I'll be back at the Ithaca Farmers' Market Saturday 9/23/17 and will be there on Saturdays until the end of October or into November, weather willing. I will NOT be at the Plowshares Craftfair this year.

Below see images of available work in each of the 5 major categories in my website portfolio. Click on each thumbnail image and it will enlarge. Press the back arrow to return to this email. If you click on the blue highlighted text (other than the titles of artwork) it will take you to a website link outside of this email.

If you have a particular piece that you are interested in, please speak up before the show.

Diners:

 

Waitress Icon 13. $395.00. 10.5 x 10.5 x 1.5
Acrylics, gold leaf, carved pine, plywood
Please see this piece at my BLOG
Time to Eat

Farms:

NEW! Dancing Cow with Frolicking Farmer. $2900.00.  21.25 x 21.25 x 2
Acrylics, gold leaf, carved pine.
Lots of joy in this one!
Take me Home

Vacation/Outdoors:

Canoeing, Guys across the way.  $2900.00. 16 x 24 x 1.5. 
Acrylics, gold leaf, carved pine. 
See a BLOG posting on this piece!
I'd Look Good on Your Wall

Dreaming:

Desert Dogs Howling, Number 38,  $495.00. 8.5 x 14.5 x 2.5
Carved pine, acrylic paint, gold leaf
Inspired by trips to Moab, Utah.
Woof Me

Other:

Smile and Don't Expect so Much, Number 8. $750.00. 16.5 x 13 x 1.5
Carved pine, acrylic paint, gold leaf
See a BLOG posting on this piece
Smile Me Now

Commissions

General portfolio link to see other pieces for sale at my website!

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After 44 years of making my carved and painted pictures, artwork keeps flowing out of me. There's never a problem in coming up with ideas. Instead there's just not enough time.

 

 

 

Picture taken about 10 years ago at a late fall Ithaca Farmers' Market, all the pictures shown have been sold.

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Support the arts, buy artwork!

Consider a gift to you or someone else - anniversary, wedding, Christmas, birthday or other special event. Discounts apply to some older pieces, please enquire. Buy on time, I do payment plans. And yes, I ship.

 

 Sales are applause - they encourage an artist to produce more work!

 

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Blog, blog, blog. Don't be timid, please open the link.

 

Thanks for reading. Please pass this email on to any interested friends, Mary

 

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Short self made videos of my work: Wind blowing the Hat off my Head,
and Adding Sparklies to my Artwork.

 

Other ways to find me-

 

 Facebook fan page, where I regularly post my blog entries. Become a fan! Or go to facebook, search for my name and ask to become a friend.

 

Website: www.maryshelleyfolkart.com

 

You Tube Videos page

 

Instagram: @folkartmary

 

Link to an article on my work in Voices, the journal of New York Folklore society.

 

Email: [email protected]

 

I recycle bubblewrap.

 

If your email or US mail address has changed, please let me know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam and Eve # 14 Close-up Details

Adam and Eve close up details. The garden as metaphor for living in innocence or ignorance. Once thrown out you can never go back.