The Art Fly

“Whorls”

Posted on by Norine


Silverpoint Drawing
4×5″ blue-gray prepared paper

A good way to end the day is to draw in silverpoint. It has a calming effect. Seashells are a favorite subject of mine – and the more missing parts – the better.

I prepared fine art paper with a blue-gray tone and highlighted the drawing with white charcoal. A silverpoint is a drawing rendered with a silver stylus, i.e., a silver wire inserted into a holder. The drawing surface must be “prepared” with a coating that allows for a slight abrasion of the metal. With time, those metal lines will oxidize (tarnish) to their characteristic metallic sepia tone.

Please visit my website for a broader look at this Renaissance-era drawing medium.

“Shapes of things to come…”

Posted on by Norine


Poplar wood mosaics
painted, hand-beveled and sanded

These are some shapes I’ve been working on for some of the next mirror frames (see previous posts on these). It’s a tedious process involving lots and lots of sanding. I use the band saw to work out some free-form shapes, then hand-craft with an assortment of home-made sanding tools. Each piece has got to be beautiful on its own. Eventually I’ll work the rest of the mosaic around a few of these; not a pre-determined design. That would take the fun out of it for me.

You never know what will inspire you – in this case it was my lava lamp!

“Fiesta”

Posted on by Norine


Poplar wood mirror frame
24.5×24.5″ dye, paint glazes

By now you’ve noticed that I have extensive bodies of work in three mediums: paint, silverpoint, and wood. “Fiesta” is the second in my developing series of fine art mirror frames. All of these are wood mosaics. I painted/dyed poplar wood panels before cutting the disks on a band saw. I then hand-beveled the edges using various grits of sandpaper, course to fine, to cut through the color thereby enncircling each disk with a ring of light wood.

The first mirror frame “Currents” was posted here on December 8, 2009. Other references to these are in the October 8 and September 22, 2009 posts.

Please email me if you are interested in buying this hand-crafted mirror frame. The 12″ x 12″ x 1/4″ mirror is included.

“Mona”

Posted on by Norine


Silverpoint Drawing
7×5″ gray-green prepared paper

When I began to work in silverpoint, way back in the ’80s, I selected familiar portraits from the Renaissance period and practiced my technique by copying them. (Silverpoint is a Renaissance-era drawing medium that predates the pencil. A silver wire is inserted in a wooden or metal holder and used as a drawing instrument. The silver lines will gradually tarnish to a warm sepia tone.) I still enjoy the practice of copying from the masters and drawing from my large collection of shells, skulls and many natural objects.

While drawing from DaVinci’s painting of Mona Lisa I saw that there are many “lifts” in the face: along the eyes, forehead, corners of the mouth, cheeks. The more you look, the more you see. Each time I draw this face, the seeing goes a little deeper.

I prepared the paper with a pale gray-green tone and used white charcoal for highlights. To learn more about silverpoint please visit My Website.

Please email me if you are interested in this drawing.

“Ovoids”

Posted on by Norine


Silverpoint Drawing
5×7″ lavender-gray prepared paper

To work in silverpoint is to meditate. It takes patience, and layers and layers of lines. I enjoy unwinding with this Renaissance-era drawing medium which is simply a silver wire inserted in a holder that is drawn across a slightly abrasive surface, leaving lines of silver.

The egg shaped stone with its oval bands matched the contour of the egg. I started in on the drawing, relating the two forms and forgetting about all else… I used white charcoal to highlight the finished drawing.

Please email me if you are interested in this silverpoint.