Marbles, Marbles Everywhere

Marbles #12 (for lack of a better title) 12"x16" oil on Gesso Board

     Okay, I've now had my fill of marbles for a while. I am sure, however, that I will return to them again and again in the future.
     I've been drawing and painting marbles for years. Since so many of them were done before I had my blog, I'll go ahead and share some of them with you now.

Below is the first - done in colored pencil (approx. 8" x 10") 1994.

Then came this one - a friend loaned me a mason jar of marbles that her husband had collected. 

It is also colored pencil. My kids were very young and colored pencils are a no mess medium.

The quality of this reproduction is a little crummy. The original was not so bluish.

(This one is probably my favorite.) 

Next, I went big - 30" x 40" oil painting 1998. I used the same marbles but scattered them on my driveway. To get them completely round I traced around the lid from a tub of margarine. 

(An artist does what an artist has to do.)

5"x7" oil painting 2010 (You can purchase this image on notecards in my store!)

18x24 oil 2010 This is from a photo I took outdoors with the marbles sitting on a mirror. 

 I turned the bottom marble into our beautiful, big, blue marble - Earth.

This is a colored pencil piece that did show up on my blog back in 2015. http://tracyonoz.blogspot.com/2015/07/candied-marbles.html

And if you have yet to have your fill of my marble paintings, you can check out my post from a couple of weeks ago where you'll find one more! HERE

   

Day at the Park - mini

I was in the park last week with my art student, and as we sat in the shade drawing I took photos of different views from my vantage point. This little 2"x3" oil painting combines bits and pieces from four of them. 

Also on my easel (my much bigger easel) is a 2foot x 3foot painting that I have been dabbling at here and there for over a year! The time has come to get it done! I have set a goal for the end of this month and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it. Below is an approximately 9"x11" area of it. A teaser to tempt you back here to see it in it's full glory in a week or two.

Marbles No.11

5"x 7" oil on Gesso Board

     I have had a fascination with marbles for a long time. I didn't play with marbles as a kid but many years ago my husband pushed back the furniture in our living room and gave me and the kids a lesson on how it's done. My husband grew up in Cuba where marbles were treasured, coveted, and won and lost in games on the street.

Fun facts: 

     Marbles and the games they bring have been around for about 5,000 years. They were made from stone, bone, and clay and maybe even marble if you were a rich kid.
     A way to make glass marbles by clipping pieces from a rope of molten glass was invented in 1846.
     At the beginning of the 1900s marbles were being mass produced, and in 1905 a company in Akron, Ohio was cranking out about 12 million marbles a year. (I think the factory burned down, but there is a museum there now, with some of those precious specimens, that I would LOVE to visit!!!)
   
     I found a quote when I was reading about marbles yesterday. It was in a comment section and I didn't see the author's name but I'll share it: "What a perfect toy! Give children colorful spheres and watch them declare values and create games. Pure human nature."

     For those who like to see the work in progress here's a couple of the steps:

      See you next Wednesday! There's another marble painting coming up sometime soon.

Checkerboard Seahorses

9 x 12 oil on Gesso Board.

First, Happy Fourth of July! I wasn't thinking ahead enough to realize that my post would fall on our national holiday and I was sorry this isn't more patriotic looking, so I did some quick digital magic. 

I feel better now.

I did this digital version in January 2017.

    I wanted to experiment with one on canvas. So I started the top painting right after the digital version was done, and it sat in my studio, and sat in my studio, and sat in my studio saying "enough already! Just finish me and move on." So I finished it this week. I can check that box. Done deal. Onward and upward. I'm movin' on.

     I came across the image below in my photos. This is the acrylic sketch that I dropped into the computer to end up with the digital version. It's pretty rough and more than a little scary.

Whisper of a Rose

The 11x14 oil painting looks like this:

     The rose is added digitally. 

I've also created some stationery! Below is the mock-up for it. 

Lastly, I'll share how it all started. This beautiful chair in my living room . . .

I photographed the seat cushion and then began drawing an idea on my iPad.

I hadn't gotten very far when I decided the half invisible look was really cool and the title, (I'm sure I've mentioned before that I hate coming up with titles) "Whisper of a Rose" came to me.

Have a wonderful week and I'll see you back here next Wednesday!

  

My Teacups Runneth Over

9x12 oil on clayboard

We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.

The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over 

and let the beautiful stuff out.
                         - Ray Bradbury

I thought this would make a lovely theme for the launch of my new website!!!  tracyonoz.com

I've spent the last few years working on children's stories and illustrations and have learned so much. I don't intend to give that up, but I'm switching gears back to painting for a while because I have a store to maintain! (Yay!!!) and I want to keep a fresh supply of items coming in. The teacups above will show up there sometime soon - both the original and prints.

I found the teacups at Marshalls a couple of years ago and they reminded me of  "The Night Circus" (the most beautiful book I've ever read). I've been wanting to put them in a painting ever since and the idea for this painting came to me when I paired them with the wonderful quote above.

Below are a couple photos I took while I worked on the underpainting. The underpainting is done in acrylics because they dry fast and I'm able to get the whole painting laid out in one sitting.

Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to check out my website: tracyonoz.com and . . . buy stuff!!!