Gloria J Zucaro's "Abstracted Floral"

I had some sort of "bug" this week so didn't get around to visit my Paint Party Friday friends.  I felt better by Thursday AM so finished this piece I had been working on for awhile.  It is in oil on watercolor paper and is 15" H by 7.5"Wide. I will be selling it in my new Etsy Shop when it opens in a couple of weeks.  
I am still working on that!  Have a great week~gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's " Saturday Workshop with Laura-Lein Svencner".

This past Saturday an artist friend and I enjoyed a one-day workshop with Laura-lein Svencner and 8 other artists. Laura makes beautiful abstract collages that include handmade papers, thread, beads, and organic matter. But the focus for this workshop was abstract landscape collage.  It was so wonderfully organized!  All we brought was our lunch!  Laura had all the supplies for making our own papers and then designing our landscapes from them and heat-tacking them together on watercolor paper.

We each received a large zip-lock bag that held all the papers we would transform with paint, templates and polymer, each picking our own palette and two pieces of watercolor paper to attach our landscapes to. We had taped the edges so that when we removed the tape we had a wonderfully clean white mat effect.

Below are my two finished abstract landscape collages.

I am linking with Paint Party Friday.  Have a great week.~gloria

                    

                     Number One                          Number Two

Gloria J Zucaro's CJS 2017 with Tori Weyers"

I am finally caught up!  Today I tried an abstract a la Tori Weyers.  I did okay until the ink part, then I messed it up so added some gesso to it and felt it still looked okay.  But I am definitely going to try this again and get it right!

Tori didn't have a spiral journal so her two page spread was more cohesive.  I did photograph each side separately even though they were done at the same time.  

Showing below, going backwards from the final above.

Have a wonderful weekend.  If you could leave me a comment, I would be so happy! :>)

Thanks,

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "Lately"

Today I have some paintings that I have done in the time I have been absent. Posting to Paint Party Friday where you can see many beautiful projects done by artists around the world. Hosted,"thank you!" by Kristine and Eva, for our benefit.  
The following paintings are from the Joan Fullerton workshop I took at Mainstreet Art Center in Lake Zurich, IL the first weekend in November.  Joan was excellent at making new territory so much fun!  I am normally not a very intuitive or an abstract thinker.  But she gave us some guidelines that could be applied anywhere on our paper or canvas.  

This was done with acrylic paint, silver leaf that I stained with blue paint, a tree stencil in the sky area with clear gel that made a neat texture when dry.

Acrylic paint-black and buff, gesso,text magazine pieces, stencils, pen marks, music score.  We all used our own materials but were to use only black and white paint.   

This one has a theme of linking land masses with bridges to that say we are all connected.

This one has layers of paper and stencils.  I used a mask of a crow photo to expose what I had covered with the paint.  I then added the tree stencil.

This was the first one we did.  It is acrylics on watercolor paper.

I think I need to do some more work on this one.  But it reminds me of tornadoes, so maybe I will develop that with a landscape and an angry sky?

Below are some pictures I took at The Pearl District in San Antonio, TX while visiting my mother.  This is part of a beautiful hotel that has been done in a refurbished factory.  I love the sort of steam-punk feel!

Have a great week! 

 Happy PPF.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Going Up"

Good Morning!  It has been forever since I have posted.  I got overwhelmed by family changes, construction, illness and death.  In other words..."LIFE!"  All is more sane now, so I have posted to the site called Paint My Photo where you can find all sorts of free photographs to use in your artwork.
I used one of the photographers photos for my abstract acrylic collage piece called "Going Up?"  I was thinking of old time elevators where an attendant was the one in control of the workings of the elevator in fancy hotels and residences.
I will be posting to Paint Party Friday, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.   I took Joan Fullerton workshop last weekend and assembled my piece during her class.  What fun! Have a wonderful week,
                                                                 Gloria

140 lb. watercolor paper, acrylic high flo paint,stencils,gesso,Gelli plate papers, old text, photo transfer of suspension bridge(https://pmp-art.com/nicola-b/gallery/115775/humber-bridge)

"I've Fallen Behind and I Can't Catch Up!"

This week real life had to be attended to so I got behind in my Creative Jumpstart 2016.  The week of Picasso inspired projects was from January 19 through the 24th.  I am posting my last project first and then the final pictures from each project before it. This morning is the last day of Jumpstart 2016 and it has been wonderful.  What a great experience!  I had so much fun and learned so much. Thank you Nathalie Kalbach and all the participating artists who led the demos.  I still have the week of projects on Anselm Kiefer to do but the project videos are mine forever, so no problem catching up as I can.  I also started Jodi Ohl's class "Dirty Flirty Birds" on the 20th, but had to stop with those for this past week, too.  I will be able to more forward with both classes, now that gathering tax papers, getting car stickers, complaining in person to Comcast, and on the phone to Apple, moving furniture for deliveries,paying bills, etc. has passed! 
I am linking to Paint Party Friday, so take a look at that site which offers creative endeavors from many talented artists.

Picasso Peacock Led By Miriam Schulman

Stage one, background paint, then collaged papers with drawing of Peacocks.

Gessoed over Peacock, added green oil pastel in background

Stenciled "spines",added lines in headdress, blue ink on bodies

Added "eyes" to spines and eyes to Peacocks in white paint.

Added white "V's" on spines, red beaks, lines in background, yellow, red and white in all eyes

Picasso Fish Collage with Gwen Lafleur

Tulip Painting with Catherine Scanlon

Two-Layer Cardboard Picasso with Marsha Valk

Picasso Fragmented Objects with Nathalie Kalbach

Have a wonderful week and Thank You for stopping by.  Please leave a comment if you are so inclined.  Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "Experimenting with Abstract"

Last weekend I had fun at Mainstreet Art Centre in a workshop with artist Debora Stewart.  Debora was originally a representational aristt but decided about 10 years ago that she loved abstract.  She has been experimenting and learning and achieving wonderful paintings in abstract form since then.  Her workshop was learning about under painting with compressed charcoal, acrylic or watercolor and smearing the charcoal with alcohol before applying more pastel or acrylic for your painting.  I was working with pastel.
In our first exercise we were to use photos of different subjects and a viewfinder to find an abstract area in the photo to paint.  I picked a cityscape. My first two paintings were very tight and not really very much fun.  See below-  Also they curled after I untaped them, hence the curved looking lines! They were done on UArt pastel paper that had a sanded surface for pastels.  I drew the design in charcoal and then added a light , medium and dark value of soft pastel.

Then I began to loosen up.

Below is one of my abstracts that "passed muster" with Debora.  It has a really good dark value to anchor it.

I did about 10 paintings in the three days, and about two were considered successful.  As a representational artist, I will be able to have an abstract background and then put my representational painting over it in a more relaxed version.  So for me a really great experience to learn about shapes and colors in their own right.

I am posting this to Paint Party Friday.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Norwegian Sunshine"

8"H x 10"W Original Oil on Board

Click to Enlarge For More Detail

This will be in the Daily Paintworks Auction

$65.00 / $10.00 shipping

This painting was done from a photograph I took from a tourist bus while traveling through Norway with my Mom.  We had gone on a cruise through the Fjords and this was one of our land excursions.  This is my entry into the Daily Paintworks theme for the week of "Street views".  I really had fun with the colors and brushstrokes keeping it somewhat abstract.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Auraknotics!"

3.5" Square Official Zentangle Watercolor Tile with ink design.

$3.50 plus shipping to your Zip.

Click on the photo to see more detail

Framing options in tab on menu bar.

This weeks tangle from Laura at  http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/  is based on a new Zentangle design released by Maria and Rick in their Zentangle newsletter last week.  They had a contest to ask fellow tanglers to name the new design.  The main design features are lines that create an aura but never cross over the lines made before they are drawn. Those patterns are called "Aura" and Hollibough".  The contest winner for the name of this new tangle which combines the previous two is Mattie Arnold for the name "Auraknot".  To see how to do the" step-out" to make this new pattern you can go to see Jeanee Kero's, CZT instructions.  http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs023/1101168872594/archive/1110423131079.html

I did the "Auraknot" design and wrapped a curving shape around and through it, and added a triangle shape through the curving shape.  Then I decided which areas to black out and which areas to add other designs to.  I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Gloria J Zucaro's Picasso- It Challenge"Taos Girl At Horno

6"H x 6"W Original Oil On Panel

$75.00 Unframed  S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase,email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro

Here is my painting for my “Picasso It” Challenge.
It is called “Taos Girl At Horno, Picasso-style”
A horno is the proper name of the bake ovens at the Taos Pueblo.  I took this picture while on vacation in 2009.
I got the design by cutting apart the photo that I had printed out and then trying various placements on the 6 x 6 panel.  
I think putting the name of the artist chosen in the title is an important part of the challenge.
Below is the original picture before I cut it up.

Gloria J. Zucaro's Abstracted "Caribbean Moonshine"

8"H x 8"W Original Oil on Raymar Panel

$75.00 Unframed/ $90. Framed in Plain Black Frame.

Unframed/Framed

Option 1-Unframed $75.00 USD Option 2-Framed $90.00 USD

 
Many of my "fair weather friends" have left for either Florida or Arizona and may be home for the holiday, but not for long!  So I won't really see them or play Farkel, Mexican Train or Mahjong again until the end of April.
One of my friends' and her husband had originally planned on retiring in the Caribbean, but eventually ended up on the West coast of Florida.  Not so expensive for the kids to come down.  I thought of the Caribbean when painting this abstracted tree.  It was done with a palette knife and brush with heavy texture application.  10% of the sale price will go to breast cancer research through the Club 47 a Kimberly Conrad project.

Gloria J Zucaro's "BOO! Happy Halloween!" Abstract Ghoul

10"H x 7.5"W Original oil on Board

$75. Unframed

I really had fun painting this somewhat abstracted Halloween Ghoul to scare your socks off!  10% of the sale price will go to Kimberly Conrad's Club 47 for breast cancer research.

Gloria J Zucaro's Abstract "One Turquoise Egg"

8"H x 16"W Original Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

Email me @ gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

I love the strokes of texture in various colors under my eggs.  

Their little chunky nest reminds me of a log and it's splinters.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Cherry Drop"

Original Oil on Watercolor paper.  11"H x 7"W  There is a watercolor wash under the oil paint.
  SOLD


Somehow whenever you are in Door County Wisconsin during cherry season you always end up painting them several times. 

Let The Tone Show Challenge "Fall-N-Leaves"

8"H x 8"W  Original Oil 

$75.00 Unframed/ $90.00 Framed in plain black wooden frame.

NLA

Unframed/Framed

Option 1-Unframed $75.00Option 2-Framed $90.00

         Thank you Ann, for this exciting challenge.  I have admired many of your peek-a-boo paintings and now a great challenge.  I started with a background tone of an acrylic paint called Hotshots Fluorescent Acrylics in Fiery Red.  Then came the olive green in random brush strokes, then the dark maple leaf forms with much of the red showing through.  Next came my favorite, turquoise leaves, some more touches of green in a lighter value, and some brush strokes of alizarin crimson,cobalt and dioxine purple in the dark leaves.  I really had fun doing something totally different today.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Moonlighter"

      6"H x 6"H

                              

                                                       

This little bird is nesting in the moonlight.  This  was a limited color palette of primary, complementary, split complementary, or triadic.  I chose blue, orange, turquoise and purple.