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

Sheep Icon, Number 22 - Early in the wood carving!

I've been doing lots of carving at the Ithaca Farmers' Market, and have begun to accumulate a number of unpainted pieces. Below is the sketch for Sheep Icon, Number 22 and the carved piece (minus its base). As I often do, there's a large sheep with open eyes in the center surrounded by its sleeping docile friends.

 

Such warm setting sun evening light was coming into my studio for the picture above! Anyone out there have any comments they want to make about this one?

 

folk art self taught mary

New York State Barn - Location Unknown.

This piece was carved several years ago. It sat in my "to be finished" pile until it was painted this winter. The purchasers were a mother/daughter team who intend to share it. Cows look out of the picture frame, footsteps in the snow.

The barn is quite lovely, nice solid lines with two cupolos. I think it is located near Middletown, NY right next to Route 17, but I am not sure. I took the pictures years ago. Please, if anyone recognizes the barn let me know its location. It should be quite easy to spot given the "Christopher Street" signage.

Front view...

 

back view...

folk art self taught mary

 

At One with Nature #5

At One with Nature #5  - early painting stages....

 

At One with Nature #5 - DONE!

folk art mary

 

At One with Nature #4

At One with Nature, Number 4

Scroll down to see this piece in early middle and finished painting stages!

I'll be at the Ithaca Farmers' Market on Saturday April 25, 2015. Come see this piece in person!

 

 

folk art mary

Find me at the Ithaca Farmers' Market, Starting April 18

Tomorrow will be my first Saturday Market of the 2015 season. Find me at my usual booth #3 this upcoming Saturday at the Ithaca Farmers' Market.

I have finished my winter commissions and now am on to making more art!

Below see commissions ordered by a loyal patrons and completed over this winter's long cold months.

Scott and Tricia memorialized their hiking trip to Croatia...

 

Croatia Commission in its new home!

 

As well as other other special order pieces made this winter, see below!

Thank you Stuart

Thank you Lisa!

Thank you Karen!

folk art self taught mary

Ithaca Farmers Market Outdoor Season About to Begin

Saturday April 4 will be the first outdoor Saturday market at Steamboat Landing site. Until the time gets closer and I can see the weather (I do not like to carve when it is below 50 degrees), I will not know whether I will start on the 4th or a little bit later. But it is VERY exciting and you can know I am IN MY STUDIO GETTING READY.

Below are a number of sketches for new pieces in various stages of work. Please vote on your favorite!

Then watch throughout the season as each piece takes its final shape.

 

 

 

 

folk art self taught mary

Kayak in a Spotlight - DONE!

 Kayak in a Spotlight - DONE!

 

A grainy close up of spotlit area:

 Now on to the next piece! Stay tuned

folk art self taught Mary

 

Kayak in a Spotlight - How it Got that Name.

Unlike Revenge of the Crows Number Two (see earlier blogs), which presented quite a struggle, the painting of Kayak in a Spotlight proceeds simply and easily. Who knows why this happens, but I have had it happen over and over again. One piece presents easy color choices, another is difficult to paint from start to finish.

 Early painting stages....

 

 Adding the blues...

 

Adjusting and  lightening the blues...

 

After painting a few days more, something seems missing. The picture seems to be getting muddy. I can tell from my sense of struggle that I need to make some change.  I experiment by adding a sun as a point of interest in the sky. At first I just paint it on while I decide whether it improves the piece...

 

I decide to keep the sun so I express my commitment by carving it into the sky. Once I do this painting gets easier once again so I know I've made a good choice. The picture keeps getting richer as I add layer after layer of thin coats of paint. But it is still too dark. I decide to paint the kayaker in a "spotlight" of lighter color so the center of the picture just jumps out at you. Now you can see why I named this piece Kayaking in a Spotlight...

folk art mary

Kayaking in a Spotlight - Starting a New People in Nature Piece

Kayaking in a Spotlight is another of my People in Nature pictures. Compared to Revenge of the Crows Number Two, this piece is meant to be tranquil. Here the people fit into Nature - coexisting, reclining, placid, and calm. 

Every one of my painted woodcarvings begins with a sketch.

The first drawing can be very rough...

 

but then I clean it up to make a finished sketch...

 

The sketch is traced onto the wood and then laboriously carved...

 

Stay tuned next week to see this piece as I proceed to paint it.

 

folk art mary

Revenge of the Crows, Number two - Done!

Revenge of the Crows, Number Two is done! Through a process of painting and repainting, this picture has gone from muddy/murky to crisp and clear. Whereas in earlier painting stages it was difficult to see the shapes of the crows, now they clearly stand out against trees and sky. Success!

  

folk art mary

Revenge of the Crows, Number two - Struggling through the Painting Stages

Below find pictures of various stages in the painting of Revenge of the Crows, Number 2.  As I proceeded  I struggled to simplify shapes.  The sharp grasses and beaks of the birds surrounded the people. The larger people in the tree area gestured to protect themselves. The small ghostlike people scattered in the grasses only increased the suspense.

 

 

I must say, this piece felt a little bit scarey the whole time I was making it. Perhaps it's because the feelings and ideas expressed were raw and still forming, but the picture did not come together easily. I went out to my studio most days in January 2015 to work on it dutifully, but even I began to doubt whether I could make the colors work in the end.

 

 

 

But then, after much color experimentation that seemed to go nowhere, finally in the last week there is some hope. Below find a color version that works. I've lightened the trees and sky so that the crows stand out. Less orange, more yellow and blue. Stay tuned to the next blog posting to see the piece done!

 

folk art mary

People in Nature Series

My People in Nature series has grown out my deep felt concern that we (the human race) are damaging our earth yet we seem oblivious as to how to turn the tide. I try to think of humorous ways to say this.

Some of the works in the People in Nature series are hopeful, presenting images of people co-existing with nature. The people are naked because they are vulnerable and surrendering, peaking out from behind the leaves. They are intentionally androgynous so that they can represent all people.

Other works in the People in Nature series use dark humor, showing my fears of what will happen if we refuse to surrender and co-exist with Nature. Crows attacking humans is a video of what I consider one of my first successful Revenge of the Crows pieces.

The sketch for my latest picture on this theme is below. I have decided to call it Revenge of the Crows, Number 2. I drew it several years ago in a quick fit of inspiration.

 

It wasn't until summer 2014 that I enlarged the sketch and began to put it to wood, making it more vertical than the original drawing. Below is the carving (dark photo) that resulted:

folk art mary

Guest Self-Taught Artist Christine Sefolosha Explores Where The Wild Things Are

Self taught Swiss guest artist Christine Sefolosha is really good! Her work is at the Outsider Art Fair, taking place in New York City this weekend! I love her animals and the dreamy feel to her work!

self taught mary

My work accepted into "Small Works 2015", Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY

Two Waitresses, Two Customers.  11.5" x 17.5" x 1"
Acrylics, gold leaf, carved pine
If you live near the Hudson Valley, see this work at the Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY Small Works 2015 Show, January 29 to February 21, 2014 (opening is Jan 29, 2015).

Click on the Limner Gallery link above to see the other artists whose work was selected for the show. The work is all very different, not of one particular style. The uniting factor is that these are all small works!

folk art mary

2014 Utah Trip, The Four of Us by Campfire

A trip to Moab, Utah in the spring of 2014 resulted in a picture that tried to capture the feeling of being outdoors under that big sky - how small people are and how big nature is. Those Utah rocks sure are ancient, they measure the passage of time. The initial drawing was made on top of a xeroxed copy of a black and white photograph.

 

I traced the above drawing, then added in my family as we stood around a campfire. I tried to capture a feeling of the person in the middle floating up to the sky, the idea being that they are so moved by the landscape that their body becomes light. The others around around the fire are well grounded to the earth.

 

A close up of the fire scene, carved but not painted:

 

A close up of the fire scene,  early in its painted stages:

 

 These are the colors that I used as a base coat - yellow, red and off white for the Utah landscape. Notice my tired out brush, I save the older ones for scrubbing paint into the pores of the wood:

 

Below, the carving completely painted. I call my work a "picture diary". I remember my trip to Moab, Utah in the spring of 2014  when I look at this piece. One full week of adventures condensed into an image carved out of a block of wood.

folk art mary

Photos from Winter Trip to Moab, Utah - Will One of these Result in a Painted Woodcarving?

Middle of January 2015, just last week, I took a hiking trip to Arches National Park and other areas in Utah. One nice thing about Utah in the winter, one has it all to one's self!

Below are some photographs from the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will one of the above photographs result in a painted woodcarving? Does anyone have a favorite?

folk art self taught mary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commission for Bookcover, Sidewalk Psychotherapist

Late fall 2013 I was commissioned to make a carved and painted picture that was expressly designed to be used as  bookcover art for David Schwartz' book The Sidewalk Psychotherapist. Below find the first rough sketch and germ of an idea.

 

In the end we aimed for an image that captured a feeling of being outside doing therapy at a sidewalk cafe setting. The clock, which is ever present in a therapy session, was moved from being on a wall to being a small tower clock in a row of buildings.

 

 

The carving stages....

 

 

Below, the finished carving prior to taking a photograph that was used expressly for producing the bookcover image.

 

Next, the finished artwork with the title and author text photoshopped onto the photograph of the piece.

 

Two copies of the book lined up side by side.

 

Finally the piece was recarved a little bit so that it would stand on its own as a piece of art. The sky was textured and an inner carved frame was made.

 

 

A top and bottom frame, some gold leaf, repainting and DONE! Ready to hang on the wall.

folk art self taught mary

Sailing Icon #27, Topsy Turvey Waves - Done

Sailing Icon #27, Topsy Turvy Waves is DONE!.

The back of the finished piece, note the sketch stapled onto the back:

 

The completed piece:

folk art self taught mary

Sailing Icon #27, Topsy Turvey Waves - Carving Stages

Sailing Icon #27, Topsy Turvey Waves shows a wild day of sailing. The people and their boats are thrown every which way in the power of the wind and the waves.

The laminated sketch, stapled onto the back of the finished piece:

 

Below the work in various of its carving stages:

 

 

Close up:

 

Carving complete:

folk art mary

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to all! From this point forward the days will grow longer as we head into the light and New Year. 2014 has been a good year and I am thankful for much.

Thanks to all those who decided to step forward and buy a special hand made gift of my work in this holiday season. It was a gift to me as well! Four pieces sold in December! They are shown below.

 

Early Morning Row on Cayuga Lake. This one was bought by a couple who live in Ithaca. She was thinking of getting one for him and he was thinking of getting one for her. So together they got this special picture. I worked on it over a four year period and finally finished it in 2014.

 

Sheep with Shepherd #22. This one will go to live in the state of Washington. My sheep icons have been very popular, and this is the 22nd piece in the series.  I'm aiming for a look of peace and tranquility in many of them.

 

Grab that Tree #1, fits into my latest "wind" series, but it is a whole new take on the wind theme. I've done a number of sketches of people holding on to trees for dear life as a wind tries to blow them away. This one was sold soon after I finished it so I didn't get to look at it for long. It was bought by a local buyer. Look for more pictures in this series.

 

Dreaming Couple #1 is a special one. Similarly to Grab that Tree #1 above, I did a number of sketches of couples and this is the first piece I made from a sketch into a carved and painted picture. Look for others to come. Dreaming Couple #1 will go to live outside of Ithaca.

folk art self taught mary

 

Waitress Icon #11, Here to Serve

Waitresss Icon #11 is, obviously enough, the eleventh in a series of waitress figures. It's a visual joke on the theme of serving. The waitress serves the customers but she herself is also being served up - on a plate complete with fork and spoon.

 

below, first coat of paint

 

below, finished

folk art mary

Mermaid Icon #10

In Mermaid Icon #10, the mermaid is nestled comfortably within waves that form the shape of a clam shell.

Please make an appointment to come by my studio to see this and other pieces. It's not to late to get the gift of art for you or someone else.

folk art mary

12/3/14 Email Newsletter

Link to the latest copy of my email newsletter, only 8 sent per year!
http://www.maryshelleyfolkart.com/userfiles/eblast_archives/default_email_12-03-2014.html

Contact link and email sign up link at my website!
http://www.maryshelleyfolkart.com/contact.php

folk art mary

Adam and Eve, Adam Tormented, Number 13

Winter is my indoor season. Picture me surrounded in my chaotic studio with pieces carved over the summer and waiting to be painted for the 2015 summer market.

I just finished painting Adam and Eve #13 (below, $495.00. 12" x 11.5" x 3"), but it was carved in July. In this version I originally had the snake, Eve and Adam stand out equally. Then I repainted the piece a number of times until Adam stood out just a little bit more than the other figures. He's leaning back, thinking, considering, surrounded, a little bit tormented.

Below find some earlier pieces in my Adam and Eve series. Each one is different, but I suppose they are all humorous comments on the interpersonal dynamics of Adam, Eve and the snake. More generally what unites them is that they are all studies of decision making.  I would be very interested in getting your comments on which one is your favorite and what in particular led you to like it the best.

Adam and Eve 12

 

Adam and Eve 11

 

Adam and Eve 10

 

Adam and Eve 9

folk art self taught Mary

My 2014 Ithaca Farmer Market Season Done

My 2014 season at the Ithaca Farmers maket is done. My hands do not like to work in the cold. In the meanwhile you can look at this video of me carving a liberty figure and dream of the upcoming 2015 summer Farmers' Market season. I can always be found by appointment at my studio.

Pictured are two liberty figure pieces taken from my website, click on each image and it will enlarge.

Consider my work in this gift giving season, your purchase is also encouragement to me to continue in my work.

 

NEW! Liberty Icon #6 (Lots of Blue). $650.00. 16" x 11.5" x 3".
Carved pine, acrylic paint, gold leaf.
Flag this Picture

 

NEW! Liberty Icon #5. $495.00. 16" x 8" x 3".
Carved pine, acrylic paint, gold leaf.
Say Yes to Me!

Earlier blogs have shown other works in the Liberty series.

folk art self taught mary

Shepherd with 5 Sheep #22

The most recent painted woodcarving in my sheep series is Shepherd with Five Sheep #22. Although there are 22 pieces in this series (the first 21 have all been sold), each one is individual and unique. Shepherd with Five Sheep #22 either hangs on the wall or sits on a surface.

December 6-7, 2014 I will be at the 44th Annual Syracuse Plowshares Craftsfair at Nottingham High School, Syracuse NY.

folk art mary

Catskills Barn, East of Oneonta, NY, Route 23- Finishing it Up

Below, I added a red color to the frame, and shaded in order to bring out the shapes.

 

More work done on the shading and coloring, here I've lightened it back up.

 

The finished piece!

folk art mary

Catskills Barn, Route 23- Beginning to Paint

In my last posting, I showed a quick run through of the making of Catskills Barn, East of Oneonta, Route 23 - from photos, to sketch, to finished work.

Way back in July of this year, I posted on carving the piece at the Ithaca Farmers' Market, so I must have started to paint it around mid August of this year. 

Below I will the discuss the painting of the piece, with the caption describing each image being written in the space above it.

After the picture was entirely carved, I began to paint it a kind of warm coral base coat color (see center of the piece). I quickly remembered that I had forgotten to take a photo, so I stopped myself to take a picture of the piece while it was still mostly unpainted.

 

Now the entire carved area is painted and sealed with this warm coral undercoat. It takes  time to seal all the edges and work the paint into all cavities...

 

I work out the major shapes by putting whites on top of the coral background and putting some shading into the places I want to receed.

 

Since the colors I used to do the darker shading are ones that I do not usually use, especially Manganes Blue Hue, I documented them for myself with a photo (something new for me). The colors were vastly diluted and put on as a thin glaze.

 

Below the piece with still more layers of darker glaze that makes the whites pop out. I have added yellow ochre in the inner frame area.

To be continued...

I intend to be at the market this Saturday, but I am coming near the end of my 2014 season. The temperatures steadily continue to drop.

 

folk art self taught mary

Catskills Barn, East of Oneonta, NY, Route 23

Recently I've been traveling back and forth between Ithaca and Hudson NY. As I pass barns that catch my eye, I stop and take a photo. This barn is on Route 23, east of Oneonta, NY. It has nice solid lines and its state of disintegrating repair speaks of younger days when New York State farms were more vital. The picture was taken last winter, that is snow and ice in the foreground.

 

 

Below is a picture of the same barn, taken a little bit further back and a from slightly different angle.

 

 

The sketch features the cows, farmer and tractor who once might have made this barn lively.

 

Lastly, below is the finished carving. I wanted you to see a really quick run through of the inspiration for this carved and painted picture, from photo and sketch to finished painted piece. My next blog postings will go into how I got from early to later and later painted stages of this work. Stay tuned for next week's posting.

I will not be at the Ithaca Farmers' market this weekend. My hands don't like to carve when the temperature is below 50 degrees. Soon, the best way to reach me will be via the internet or by making an appointment to visit my studeo.

folk art self taught mary

 

 

 

Sailing Race #26

Sailing Race #26 is one of my compact pieces that can go either on a wall or on a shelf. Below, the piece carved with its base still not attached.

 

Next find the piece partially painted as I hone in on colors and shading that works for me.

 

Below is the piece when I first thought it was finished. But something about it kept bothering me. There was no place for my eye to go first, I didn't no where to look, no sense of movement to the piece. The other thing that bothered me was the head of the guy in the sailboat that was farthest back, it looked flat and distracting.

 

At last it works for me in the version below. I put stripes on the sail of the boat in the foreground, and now I look there first. The other thing I did was cut down the wave profile that was behind the farthest back sailboat so that you could better see the determined forward slanting shape of the guy's head.

If I keep artwork around and there is something about it that does not work, it bothers me. I can't stop myself until I get the piece to my liking.

I'll have this piece at my booth at the Ithaca Farmers' Market tomorrow Saturday October 25, 2014. Please come visit!

folk art mary

Cow Icon #6

Here's a sweet cow piece I finished several months ago, below with its first coat of paint...

and finished....

My market season is winding to a close. I go until it gets too cold for my hands. Come visit me at booth #3 at the Ithaca Farmers' Market tomorrow March 18.

folk art mary

 

 

Rapahannock River Commission: DONE!

I continue to work with the colors of the Rapahannock River Commission, the below version is still too yellow!

 

 

Ah, here we go, starting to work for me!

 

Below, the finished piece! Notice I added an extra round shape at the top of the inner frame that directs your eye around from left to right.

folk art mary

Rapahannock River Commission: Struggle with Colors

As I wrote in my last blog posting, one goal is to get the two large shapes, the sky and the ground, in balance.

But the colors are still not right. I begin a long struggle of searching out colors that I think will work best. The only way I know this is to paint color changes and see if they look. If they don't it can be very discouraging and I can begin to doubt whether a piece will ever "work".

Below I have made the ground and trees a richer yellow/green.

 

I decide the above version is too yellow/green, so I repaint some of the yellow areas in the frame with a light gray. I tone down the yellow areas in the ground.

 

The above is too green so I repaint going back to more yellows, tans and browns.

The work described above of painting and repainting can go on for several weeks. Each day I come into my studio with fresh eyes. I look at it from a distance try to quickly decide what is working and what is not. Some carvings are more of a struggle than others. But I don't stop until I feel the work is perfect to the best of my abilities.

I know how to carve, but I'm always having to learn through trial an error how to become a better painter.

folk art self taught mary

Rapahannock River Commission: Early Painting Stages

In the early stages of painting this carving, my first aim is to paint a warm first coat that unifies all the shapes.

That done, next I start to define the two large shapes, the first being the sky with its wild wind swirls and second being the earth with its more solid anchoring bands.

Even in this early stage of painting I can see that the struggle for me in this painting will be how to balance these two shapes without weighing down the sky, which left to its own devices wants to fly off.

folk art self taught mary

Traditional Artisan Show this weekend. Rappahannock River Commission Continues

Find me at the Bedminster Traditional Artisan Show this weekend. It'll be good. For those of you who have come to this show in the past, please note it is in a new location!

In continuation of me talking about the making of the Rappahannock River Commission, below are two photos of the work in its carving stages. The swirls in the sky and the ribbons in the ground create much exciting movement and I know this will be a good one! After I finish carving, I can't wait to get to painting. 

 

 

folk art mary

Below, the latest email sent to my list!

Latest email sent to those signed up for my email list updates.

Please open up the "latest email" link (by clicking on it) and make sure to vote on your favorite(s) of my latest works.

folk art mary

It's Time to Think about Ordering a Commission for 2015

In the next week I will be busily putting finishing touches on work that I will be taking to the Bedminster Traditional Artisan show, September 20 and 21st, 2014. The show will be located at Delaware Valley College, Doylestown, Pa about a half hour from Philadelphia.

My Farmers' Market season ends when the weather gets too cold for me to carve, somewhere around the end of October or mid November.  At that point my art activities move indoors into my humble winter studio. November through March you will find me warmly dressed working to complete my winter commissions and preparing new work for the upcoming Ithaca Farmers' Market Season.

If you would like to discuss a special order commissioned piece of carved and painted work, to be completed in Spring 2015, now is the time for you to speak up.

Below is a lovely piece that was special ordered in summer 2013 and which was completed by the end of winter 2014, It features a well loved multigenerational family property and dock on the Rappahannock River, Virginia. The Rapahannock empties into the Chesapeak bay. The dock, degraded by various floods, was lovingly built over many seasons by the grandfather of the woman who commissioned the piece. As such the dock and its ruins was a sentimental object which called out to be the centerpiece of the work.

I never saw the subject location for this commission, but instead worked from these two poor quality pictures that featured the dock, the river and the trees:

 

 

The photos led to a sketch that was acceptable to both myself and the person wanting the commission -

And so began the process of making the work over the 2014 winter season...

folk art self taught Mary

Three New Pieces - a Rooster, Cow and Liberty Figure

Tomorrow at the Ithaca Farmers' Market I will be bringing three new pieces. Three weeks from now, come see them at my booth at the upcoming Bedminster Traditional Artisan Show, September 20th and 21st, Delaware Valley College, Doylestown, Pa..

Rooster 17

 

Cow Icon 6

 

Liberty #5

 

self taught folk art mary

Sale of Two Larger Pieces Encourages me to Make More Major Works

When the economy fell apart in 2008, it effected all of us. People got a cautious about spending money. The effect on me as an artist was that I was left with a number of my more sizeable pieces on hand. Then in the last two years, I've sold off many of those more major pieces, so I take that as a vote in favor of me making more larger works. What I like about making the large pieces is I can really spend the time to polish the piece and make it as perfect as it can be.

Below are two large carvings that I have sold in the past month. These pieces have had many admirers over the years, and now they are so happy to go live in their new homes. Thanks so much to those people who have supported me to make my artwork over the years!

 

 folk art mary

 

I'll Be Back at my Ithaca Farmers' Market Booth On Saturday August 23rd

Until Saturday the 23, my sheep wait patiently.

folk art mary

Not at my Ithaca Farmers' Market Booth Weekend of Saturday August 16

This weekend is a rare weekend when you will NOT be able to find me at my Ithaca Farmers' Market booth. I'm going to a family member's wedding in San Diego, California.

Below find carved pictures of another barn located on Route 23 on the way to Hudson New York. The photo of this barn was shown in the previous blog posting.

folk art mary

 

 

Tomorrow I am at Market, Next Week I will be out of Town

Tomorrow August 9, 2014 see Wind Blows my Hat Off #3, much improved by adding "sparklies".

 

I'm pretty far along in carving a picture that features this lovely barn in the Catskills, Route 23, midway between Oneonta and Hudson, NY.

Next week, August 16, 2014, I will not be at my Ithaca Farmers' Market booth. If you are looking for me you will have to find me there either tomorrw August 9 or two weeks later on August 23, 2014!

folk art mary

 

Recently Completed Carvings

Below find four recently completed carvings that I will have at my Ithaca Farmer's Market booth on Saturday August 2.

 

Sheep Icon #21

Wood Spirits #7

 

Wind Blows my Hat Off #3

Rooster Icon #16

folk art self taught Mary

Artist Market Event is Tomorrow!

Tomorrow Artist Market takes place at the Ithaca Farmers' Market pavilion. I hope you will visit me at booth #3.

For further information about the event and other news, please see my latest email newsletter.

folk art mary

Getting ready for the July 25, 2014 Artist Market!

Ithaca Artist Market takes place at the Ithaca Farmers' Market pavilion on Friday July 25, 2 PM to 8 PM. Over 70 artists will participate in this year's event! It's always a fun time!

Above see 7 small pieces that are in various stages of being painted, that's why the photo shows them as flat and a bit out of focus. I know I don't have enough time to finish painting them all in the next week, so I will likely choose to put my energy into the four pictured below.

 

 

 

folk art mary

Oneonta Barn - Further Progress

This Saturday at the Ithaca Farmers' Market I will be continuing to carve the Oneonta Barn piece. Below pictures of the work in progress.

 

 

I also will be selling a woodblock print I made inspired by pictograms seen during a visit to my son in Utah this past March. There are  a total of 14 prints in the limited edition, of which I have already sold three. Below, the print - titled Pointy People with Cayotes.

folk art mary

Barn on Route 23 Between Oneonta and West Davenport

It's Fourth of July weekend, and tomorrow at the Ithaca Farmers' Market I will be starting a new carving, of a barn I have passed a number of times on my travels to Hudson, NY.

Below, a photo of the barn...

 

Followed by the sketch I made, inspired by the barn...

folk art mary

Two Roosters Carved and Side by Side

 

Each Saturdays I continue to carve at my outdoor summer studio (Booth #3 at the Ithaca Farmers' Market). As I finish pieces I put them onto my "to be painted" pile in my indoor downtown Ithaca studio i. Below two roosters that are now mostly complete. Speak up if you want me to put your name on one of them for when it has been painted!

Roosters sketched onto blocks of wood.

 

Left Rooster is carved minus its standing base. Right rooster is still to be worked on.

 

Above, the roosters are both carved, except the right one needs its feathers. I hope to finish up this detail tomorrow at the Ithaca Farmers Market.

Folk art self taught Mary

New Liberty Figures

Liberty with Dove (below) has her first coat of paint.


Liberty Figure Pointing to the Stars (below) still needs the carving cleaned up. Tomorrow at the Ithaca Farmers Market I'll be carving and attaching her base.

folk art mary