Bird- Spirit Story Series: Follow The Heart

"Follow the Heart." 2009. 6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas.

A take off of the original "Following the Heart." I am working through the simplified design, continuously looking for a similar thought of process between the different styles. They are logically very different. The first is textured, colors are muted and forms are loosely painted. This version the colors are vivid, forms are rigid, and there is no texture at all. My goal with this series is to make them studies for larger canvas in a much more abstracted style. Sometimes, my ideas will start out like illustrations in my head, with images that are very common. My challenge is to make sense of these images and what they are trying to tell me.... what they expect to look like as a finished painting.

Here are some digital renderings of these paintings that I have made available as prints. I have added text, and they are just lovely simple decorations for the home.

Bird-Spirit Story Series: Following the Heart.

"Following the Heart". 2009. 6"x6". Acrylic on Canvas

Another link in the series: "The Bird-Spirit Community and their gifts to humanity."

{THE STORY}
Following the path of a what a heart wants can seem hard and useless at times. Uriel sees this path as the only reliable option. She knows her own heart will never let her down. So when her heart brought her to dark and twisted roads that were full of rocks and spiky cactus thorns, she kept the faith. In these dark areas her heart brought out a little flashlight (a silver mini magnum, to be exact) and showed her how UNscary and helpful these places were, they just needed a little light. Uriel knows her heart. And so, when she finds it sitting patiently waiting in front of her beak, she knows she will follow it to the ends of the earth for a new adventure.

{Uriel}
Uriel is a fire bird-spirit made from the ashes of lost dreams. She embodies the mysteries of life on earth and appears in our lives to show us the window when the door has been closed. Her purpose is not always clear to the human mind, but a purpose none the less.


This painting is part of an ongoing story series about the fictional Bird-Spirit Community (BSC). Each painting will be reworked in different styles, part of the process of getting to the final piece on a large canvas.

Good Karma

"Good Karma".2009. 6"x6". Acrylic on Canvas,

This is a new style of the previous "Good Karma" painting. I revised the style to simple shapes and color for a simple graphic effect. I wanted to take out the texture, simplify the shapes and brighten the colors. This style tends to make better prints, in my opinion, because of the clean edges and the bold colors help the images to pop on a wall.

I also wanted to make sure the story of the painting would stay the same, I feel I had success in that area. (To read the story see the post for December 27 2009.) I am going to continue to work on this series, and this painting will take a few more until it is ready for a big canvas. I am happy with this version of "Good Karma" . The image would do well blown up on a wall for a mural, or as is for a print on a nursery room wall. It would also be a fun addition for any room in the house to bring a splash of color and some positive energy.

Hope you all enjoy this version of "Good Karma", just one in the series of Bird-Spirit Story Paintings. Back to work for me....

"Good Karma" revised is not yet available for sale. Please check out the link to my etsy store for other items. Just click on the sidebar photos to view the store!

The Bird-Spirit Story Series

"Good Karma".2009. Acrylic on Canvas. 4"x4". $35.00.

{THE STORY}
Giving Back. It is important even in the smallest form of action. Uriel knows and understands this belief. Uriel acts on this belief whenever she gets a chance.

A single petal falls from a single flower. We do not know how the petal fell, we just know that it was lying there alone. She picks it up, she knows how important this single petal is to this single flower and vice-versa. She offers the petal back to its rightful owner. We do not know if the flower was grateful, or if the petal was pleased.(Although I am most certainly sure they were.) We only know that Uriel has walked away with a greater karmic understanding that she wanted to share with all of us.

{URIEL: THE FIRE BIRD-SPIRIT}
Uriel is a fire bird-spirit made from the ashes of lost human dreams. She exists to help bring these dreams back to life or offer a new one in its place. She embodies the mysteries of life on earth and appears in our lives to show us the window when the door has been closed. Her purpose is not always clear to the human mind, but a purpose none the less.


{ABOUT }
"Good Karma" is one of a series of small paintings about the fictional Bird-Spirit Community and the stories they give. The Bird-Spirit world and the characters within were created from a mixture of spiritual teachings, moral lessons, and some good old creativity.

This art is very special to me, as each character comes with their own story, their own adventure and their own personality they can share with us all. With each painting that I create I have found that I am taking part in something larger than myself. I realize with every completion I have become more of a storyteller for these little bird-spirits...The pen with which they can write their own messages. The best I can do is change the style or color to get the message through in a better way. Sometimes these little spirits give us advice or hope, or just a nice picture to look at and contemplate. As the artist, I hope for them to always bring some sort of joy or peace to the lives they touch.

"Good Karma" is available for purchase at etsy.com. Click the orange button on the right sidebar to view the store!

And now for something a little Different...

It has been a while since my last post, obviously. I have been through some changes in the last year, as I am sure we have all been. But as a changed woman, I believe I can start my story here. Or restart where I left off... New deals with my self have been placed on the table, new art has been made and now a new blog can be written.
What brings about this newness, this wind of change? I am 30 today. Yes the third decade of my life has begun and I am looking forward to it being the best decade to date. I don't know that I feel comfortable telling everyone my age, but there it is... in black and white. Doesn't look to bad. In fact it looks fabulous! So on to the art.

I have started a new series titled "The Elemental Bird-Spirits and their Gifts for Humanity." I will be posting photos and stories of the series and my trials and tribulations with trying to sell the work on etsy.com I am currently working through the elements of design, style and color with each themed painting. This will make more sense when I post the photos and explain my process. Basically each painting is a story on the lives of members of the bird-spirit community (a fictional wonderful place that exists between the here and now.)

The characters I have focused on to date are two: Uriel a female fire bird-spirit, who was made from the ashes of lost human dreams. And Raffey, an air bird spirit, whom has a beautiful healing song that can not be heard by human ears. These two characters have been the focus of most of my current work. They are soon to be joined by others. Here are some photos. I will return later to give the stories, and talk about the work. Thanks.






"Holding Onto Hope." 6"x6"........ ..........."First Kiss" 4"x4".



"Good Karma." 4"x4". ....................."Mutual Respect." 6"x6".

"I had a home." Mixed media on cradled panelboard. 16"x20"

Art: Johnny

"Johnny." 8"x10". oil on canvas. 2008.

Art: Wolf vs. Crane I & II

"Wolf vs. Crane I & II." 8"x10". oil on canvas. 2007.
click on images to see larger view.

"Wolf vs. Crane I&II." 16"x10". Framed. oil on canvas.2007
click on image to see larger.

The crane is victorious....


contact Erica if you are interested in purchasing this artwork. muralcircle@gmail.com

Art: "Ray"

"Ray Charles" Oil on Canvas. 16x22.2006.

Ray was an interesting character. In this study I abstracted his face with texture. I use a lot of layers and linseed oil in all of my paintings to create depth and texture. "Ray" has about 4 layers underneath him. I like what these layers represent. A story that lies beneath the surface. Just as in any life of anyone you meet. I did not use a brush in the final layer. I used a palette knife and let the linseed oil create a freedom of line and space. When I use linseed in large amounts it bleeds and runs into other colors. It has taken me a while to control this technique.... I appreciate how distorted the lines become.

Art: Angel's Trumpet, Devil's Snare

"Angel's Trumpet, Devil's Snare" oil on canvas. 2008.

muralcircle@gmail.com
Canvas is ready to hang, museum profile, no frame.


Flowers and birds have always been a main subject in my paintings. I refer to them in a spiritual sense and they are very rich in historical and modern symbolism. In ATDS the cactus trees have formed a figure embracing the light of truth. Thorn Apple (also known as gypsum weed) is hanging out on a couple branches, known to symbolize deceit,disguise, charming deception etc.

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein

Murals: Dr. Seuss Mural Completed!

The finished product! I am very excited about how this one turned out. I wanted to make it graphic and simple enough to withstand being in the room for hours without feeling overwhelmed. The colors turned out great and I am so pleased.
Enjoy the photos! (Top photo is focal wall... the first wall you see upon entry of room)

Detail of Left Wall. Truffelas and a Nook with a book.

Right Wall

Left Wall

Dr. Seuss Mural

Here is an update of the Dr. Suess mural in progress. This is the focal wall, the first one you see as you walk into the room. It still needs details added like black outline and a couple more coats of red paint on the upper fish. I have been using house paint (latex based Behr paint) for this mural. In the future I will not do this again! Instead I will go back to using acrylic paint or a better quality latex based paint (such as Dunn Edwards, or Sherwin Williams). The Behr paint is wonderful for any color with white in the base. However, any Behr color that uses "Deep Accent Base" is not worth the money! The colors that use this base are transluscent and take more labor time to completely cover.... even with a good primer. So my advice is to stay away from any bright, vivid color from Behr. Spend the extra 5 or 10 dollars on a better paint!


Here is a close up of the fish in the left hand corner. As you can see it is not yet complete but almost there. I will touch up the edges with the blue paint and add some more fine detail with a paint pen.


This is the left wall... and the truffela trees are no longer just trunks! There is a character in there roaming around, not yet completed and for now just looks like a ghost wearing clothes. I am back to work tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Child's Room Mural

This is the children's room mural so far, the focal point wall. I started with the yellow background, 2 coats of Baby Bee Yellow Behr paint. Then I taped off the lines for the waves and water and painted two coats of Behr Shallow Sea. My next step was to draw out the characters. In the lower left you can see a yellow blob that will soon take the shape of a fish, and in the upper right you may be able to make out a pencil drawing of another fish jumping over the windows. All of what you see will be outlined in a black paint to give it a illustrated feel you get from cartoons and childrens' books. For now this is what I have completed.



The rest of the walls around the room include the hills in green, still water (blue) tuffela trees, which right are only yellow trunks, and outlines of other characters, that are hard to make out in the pics. I am purposely leaving space on the wall pictured above for anything the owner's may want to have on the wall. Also, it is nice to allow space for furniture, if the walls feel to cluttered, the room will feel smaller and it will take away from what will be in the room itself... and we can't do that!



I am back to work at it tomorrow and I will be finished at the end of this week.