Folk Art Mary

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.

 

Murder of Crows Sold!

A murder of crows refers to "the collective noun for plural of crows" according to wikipedia. These three crow pieces have all sold and gone to one house in the Adirondacks. Bye bye sweet crows.

This leaves me with two crow pieces,

Crows Show off in a Circle
$950.00. 11.5" x 15.5" x 1"

and

Supersized Horizontal Crow
$550.00. 24.75" x 11" x 2.5"

 Get them while you can!

folk art mary

 

My Studio says "Bye Bye" to Crows and Waving Guys

Below is a carved and painted piece called Crows and Waving Guys. It sold last spring to someone who wanted to buy it by payment plan. After nine months of slow and steady payments it was paid off and picked up by its new owner last month. Thanks Andrea! I hope Crows and waving Guys is living well at your house!

 

 

 

 

view my work also at Instagram: #folkartmary

folk art mary

Changing a Leaf Allows me to Finish the Bird Tree Carving

 

In my last blog posting I showed a problem area in the Bird Tree painted woodcarving, see below. As I said then, the leaf that cuts into the chest of the top right bird just shouldn't be there. It's too big and it distracts me from seeing the full shape of the bird.

 

With a painting on canvas, you can just paint over a problem area. This is not so easy for me in that my work is painted on carved wood. If a shape is to change the only way to change it is to recarve and then repaint. Before I do this step - which cannot be undone once the wood has been carved away - I want to be sure. So first I paint over the carved area, as I have done below, to get a better idea of how the corrected area will look. With the leaf smaller, you can now see the plant stem going up to the shape of the bird's chest. I find this solution pleasing.

 

Below, I have now carved away all unwanted wood to create the desired shape.

 

I proceed to paint over.

 

 Below, the piece is done!

 

Close up of the signature area. I love this little birdie!

 Find me also at Instagram: #folkartmary

 

Self taught folk art Mary

 

 

 

 

Starting to Paint the Bird Tree Carving

The Bird Tree piece starts out with blue and burnt sienna brown as its basic colors. These colors will carry throughout into the finished art.

 

The birds look disturbing to me without the eyes, which are often a point of focus for me as I look at my work.

 

Below the piece with glass eyes and brass tacks. Much better but more to be done.

 

I often know what still needs to be worked on by the feeling that something just isn't quite right. Zoom in to a close up view of the top right bird. That leaf just shouldn't be there. It's too big and it distracts me from seeing the full shape of the bird.  I'm going to have to take care of that. Stay tuned to the next blog posting where I will show you how I solve the problem.

Find me on Instagram #folkartmary

 

Folk Art Self Taught Mary

Folk Art Bird Trees

I've recently made a bird tree piece. Google "folk art bird tree" and you will see examples of other artists' bird trees.

Here are pictures of the piece I've made in its  carving stages:

 

 

 

 

find me also on Instagram - #folkartmary

folk art mary

Crows Show off, In a Circle

The sketch for Crows Show Off, in a Circle shows much promise. I am particularly fond of symmetry. I also like to juxtapose circles and squares

 

Below Crows Show Off, carved. I added two extra crows in at the bottom.

 

The promise of the sketch is realized. Crows Show Off, in a Circle could not please me more!

folk art self taught Mary

Four Large Crows in a Circle, Carved

Last time I wrote I showed a crows sketch, which now has been made into the below carving. I'm feeling even more enthusiastic, this is going to be a good one.

Right now, it being summer, I am so involved in house and other outdoor projects that likely I will not get to painting this one for a while. It will just go on the stack of carved but unpainted work in my studio. If you ever see an unfinished piece here that you want to buy, just speak up and I will put it on the fast track for completion.

 

Below, my stack of unfinished work:

folk art mary

 

Crows Sketch

I'm pretty happy with this new sketch for an upcoming crow piece. I hope to start carving it next week.

Folk art self taught mary

Crows with Seated Guys - DONE!

Fast forward more coats of paint and Crows with Seated Guys is DONE! This one has such a nice glow. It's very busy and also very still all at once. To me it looks like nature is winning out in this one. The guys are little, seated, surrendering.

folk art mary

Crows with Seated Guys - and More Seated Guys

Time to put in the dark of the crows to see how it will balance out with the lighter colors. I'm trying a new yellow color in the inner frame. And while I'm at it I want to try painting more seated guys into the bottom frame. The two at the upper right and left sides of the picture were just too alone.

folk art mary

Crows with Seated Guys - Orange Heat

I'm not certain what I'm doing with this orange color here, but my gut told me I had to use it. It's like a fire that, even as I paint over it, will shed some heat.

folk art mary

Crows with Seated Guys - Greys and Yellows

I like these brown/grays and yellows. All the crows (except one) are pointing their beaks towards the big mommy or daddy  crow in the middle.

folk art mary

Crows with Seated Guys

Crows with Seated Guys - here unpainted - is one of the latest of my carved and painted crow pictures.

folk art mary

Crows and Mr Clean - Painting DONE!

At first I thought I would paint all the birds as crows, but when when I put brush to wood it really looked much better with the smaller birds being white. I really like how the yellows and greens in this one turned out. You can see that this is a smaller piece because of the size of my signature (relative to the size of the caring) on the right. The signature is always the same size because I use a signature stamp for my initials. This carving is made all from one piece of wood, final size to outside of frame is 9.5" tall x 11.5" wide, cost $475.00.

 
folk art mary

 

 

Crows with Circle, Number 2 - DONE!

Here is the Crows with Circle Number 2 carving, all painted, all DONE! I have added the gold leaf to the inner frame, and a bit more white to the crows and background.

This carving expresses a new theme that is coming out in my art - that of people vs nature. I think a lot about the earth, and how our use of resources is unsustainable. The guy represents people. People throw up their hands, don't know what to do even if they have good intentions.  The crows surround the guy and represent nature - nature pecks at us giving us hints we should do something. As we ignore nature longer and time goes on - the pecks get less friendly. 

folk art mary

Crows with Circle, Number Two - Tweaking It

Now that I've got most of the colors figured out, I'm just tweaking the crows painted wood carving to give it some zing. I've added some more whites and darks. Iridescent paints really halp make the crows stand out. Reds and oranges help the background to be warm. Putting more yellow in the ground really makes the guy and the ground pop out. The inner frame is painted but not yet gold leafed.

folk art mary

Crows with Circle, Number 2 - Looking good

This painted woodcarving is starting to look good, take a finished shape. Making the guy's suit white, with yellow in his boots, the birds' beaks yellow, the yellow behind his head, the eyes of the crows - this is all looking good! What a relief. Before I start to paint I wonder if I will be able to paint a carving and make it look as good as I would like it to be. It just comes out of me somewhere, one step and color at a time. But before I start and as I go along I struggle with confidence that I can do it. The painting is so much harder than the carving. Carving is stressful on my body. Painting is stressful on my mind.

folk art mary

Crows with Circle, Number 2 - Darks in the Crows

Here I've added the darks in the crows, feeling it out as I go. I have trouble when I make dark animals or birds. I want them to stand out but because they are dark they want to go to the back.

folk art mary

Crows with Circle, Number 2 - a Bit of Shading

I did a bit of brown shading to start to bring out the shapes. I made it darkest at the bottom so that the guy's feet will be anchored there.

folk art mary

Crows with Circle, Number 2 - Starting to Paint

These are the first coats of paint on the Crows with Circle, Number 2 carving. It's still pretty flat.

folk art mary

Crows with Circle, Number 2

Here's the Crows with Circle, Number Two, with the carving nearly completed. I added two extra crows and the half circles at the top. I still have to carve a few details, especially the face of the guy and the feet of the crows. I always leave the finest details until the last.

folk art mary

Featured Artist at Traditional Folk Art Website

March 2011 I am a featured artist at TraditionalFolkArt.com. The crow piece featured there is recently completed. It's part of a series of crow art I showed earlier at my blog.

 
folk art mary

 

 

 

 

Crow in a Circle - DONE!

Here's the crow piece finished, although the blog posting before this one let the cat out of the bag.

Below are pictures of the piece on the wall of my Ithaca Farmers' Market Booth, one a close up and the other showing the booth from a distance. Come to Ithaca and visit me. It's because of the two days/week that I spend carving at the market during the summer months that I've been too busy to post to my blog. Winter is the time to be at the computer, the summer is for the out of doors.

folk art mary

Crows in a Circle, Almost Done!

Here is the folk art crow piece almost complete. I haven't signed it yet. But you can see that the smaller crows flying clockwise around the circle work really well. I like having the small crows balance out the larger bolder crows.

It's summer, I'm spending all my free time out sailing on Cayuga Lake and not at my computer blogging. Sorry for any irregularity in the posting of this blog.

folk art mary

Crows in a Circle - Finishing up this detail

Here is the same enlarged view of the newly added crows, now painted.

folk art mary

Crows in a Circle - Committing to the New Crows

After painting on three crows, I decided it worked well and that six new crows would work even better. So I committed to the idea by carving the crows into the painted circle area. Below you see them carved into the wood. Where I've carved you see raw wood and where I haven't you can still see the background paint.This close up picture makes it easy to see other carved details even where the picture is already painted.

folk art mary

Crows in a Circle - Experimenting Still More

I've added the eyes and worked on the crows still more. After looking at the piece I felt it needed a few crows flying to the right to balance the other birds. But first, before I commit to carving the design into the wood, I paint the birds on to see how it looks.

I'm into balance and symmetry in my own way. I suppose it comes from my years as a sign carver.

folk art mary

Crows in a Circle - Still Experimenting

In the version below I've deepened the colors of the circles and added color to the frame. These colors are still not working. They take up a lot of space in the picture so I've got to figure this out... The crows are better, I added some lighter colors to them so their wings and other shapes stand out.

 

Keeping going with the experimentation before I get discouraged, I added some greens to the frame, removed the blue in the four corners and put in the white of the crow eyes. This version is better.

folk art mary

Crows in a Circle: Colors got out of hand

Well, the blacks are definitely right seeing that these are crows. But the blue in the corners, no way. I've got to keep experimenting until it looks right. This is when I start to sweat...

folk art mary

Crows in a Circle, Drawing out the Shapes

These crows and circles need drawing out to really make the shapes pop. So that's what I'm working on at this stage of painting the picture. I'm trying to ease in on the carved shapes, see what's going to work. I'm really liking how it looks so far. Hard to leave the studio at the end of this painting day, I just want to keep painting and painting. folk art mary

Crows in a CIrcle - Done Carving

So here is a picture of the carving almost complete, propped up on my carving bench at the Ithaca Farmers' Market. In the background you can see customers at the market walking along doing their thing...

Below is a picture of the piece completely carved, this time propped up on the workbench in my home studio:

And finally, a picture of the piece on my artist easel with the first layer of paint!

folk art mary

Crows in a Circle: Close up

Here's a close up of the carving detail of this crows picture. Lots of chips are still attached, but this might be of interest to you!

folk art Mary

Crows in a Circle - Beginning to Carve

Here is the "Crows in a Circle" piece. I'd just carved a few lines when I remembered to take a photo. In the background is the busy busy wall behind my workbench. 

folk art mary

New Carved and Painted Picture: Crows in a CIrcle

Julia Sisi's lively picture showing bird and animal energy reminds me to show the making of one of my own  bird carvings, "Crows in a Circle", from start to finish. So here we go. Here is the rough sketch I started with:

folk art mary

Crow and Guy Drawing

I've been doing some drawings to take to my booth at the Ithaca Farmers' Market. Here's one called Crow and Guy that I just finished...

folk art mary

Wild Bird Dream, Final Version

After much agony, I decided it wasn't working for me to do these birds as woodpeckers. Instead I began to see that my struggles in painting this piece were a sign that it would be better to paint the birds more simply, as a sort of dream. So that is what I did. Relief! The piece finally works.

By the way, this Wild Bird Dream image is the one I use for my face book profile image. I chose it because it's pretty bold even in a thumnail. You are welcome to sign up as a  fan or a friend.

folk art Mary

Wild Bird Dream, Another Piece I Changed

I just finished writing about Cows on a Shelf, where I changed the piece eight years after I thought it was finished.

Wild Bird Dream is another one of my pieces of artwork that I changed over time from its original version.

I love the primeval sound of red-bellied woodpeckers make as they fly in the woods. I hear these birds all the time when I am in my garden. So I decided to do a carving which caught the feeling I have when I hear these birds. Below is the first version of Wild Bird Dream. I picked a color scheme (largely red) that I felt would work to set off the colors in the birds. But I simply couldn't get the piece to work, to be finished. I kept painting and repainting it, 3 and 4 times. It just wasn't right. What I was trying to do was to keep the birds' colors accurate to the colors of red bellied woodpeckers while also trying to get the birds to stand out from the background. Here in this first version the colors are accurate but the birds do not stand out.

folk art mary

My Newest Video - Birds flying in Ordered Chaos

Here's a folk art video showing my piece "Birds in Blue". The camera scans in slow motion over the piece in order to show the carved detail. The birds fly in an ocean of wind, energy and chaos that I indicate by circular swirls. Please visit YouTube and feel free to leave a comment there. I blogged and wrote about this bird folk art piece in March 2009. Below is a photo of the piece.

Folk Art Mary

Here's a folk art video showing my piece "Birds in Blue". The camera scans in slow motion over the piece in order to show the carved detail. The birds fly in an ocean of wind, energy and chaos that I indicate by circular swirls. Please visit YouTube and feel free to leave a comment there. I blogged and wrote about this bird folk art piece in March 2009. Below is a photo of the piece.

Folk Art Mary

Bird Print, Third color Dark Blue Green

Here's the third and final printing of color onto the bird print which started out as such a rough drawing. Seeing it here I realize it may need one more color. An artist's work is never done. I'm going to have to experiment a little bit more with this, so stay tuned for the next blog. What do you think, is this print done yet?

Here is a picture of the Ink Shop press, nice space with north light.

By the way the Ink Shop will be having a benefit Black and White Ball on November 14, 2009. If you're in town you might want to come. 

Signing off for now - Folk Art Mary

Bird Print, Second Color Blue

This is fun, to see the all birds begin to take their shape, with the bird in the middle standing out the most. I talked about birds in an earlier blog entry (see March 13, 2009 entry), they've been of interest to me for a while.  In this print I feel I'm beginning to succeed in creating one place (the middle yellow bird) in the picture that acts as a central focus, a place where your eye returns as a place of rest. www.maryshelleyfolkart.com

Bird Print, First Color is Yellow

This is a reduction print, meaning that as each color is printed the block is further carved away, so that by the end the wood block is no longer useable. The material used for the block is MDO Board, so easy to carve in comparison to pine that I can't believe it. The problem in using MDO for a print  is that it sheds many fuzzy particles, so you have to be careful when you ink up the block. However, perhaps the easiness of carving outweighs the disadvantage of having to be very careful to remove all particles. I'm still trying to decide. Are there other print artists reading this blog, and do they have an opinion? I'd be interested to hear.

Here's the first printing off of this block, two more color printed layers still to go. www.maryshelleyfolkart.com, please consider joining my email news and updates list.