“The Smoke Stack and the Lighthouse” Painted by Michelle Alonzo, Acrylic on Canvas, 2016 Final Painting in Process Slideshow In my final painting attempt for the semester, I chose to incorporate an icon from home, the old United Illuminating smoke stack. My Step Dad, Stan, worked at, what once was called United Illuminating, for […]
The Creative Process of theTrash King
Who is the Trash King, you might ask. Well, his name is Vince. He lives in Austin, TX and he has built in his backyard, The Cathedral of Trash. He’s stacking it, gluing, etc, one piece of trash at a time since 1988! And now you can climb it and it has three going on […]
Improvisation in Experiencing Art All Around Us
This post is inspired by Free Play, a book on improvisation by Stephen Nachmanovitz, which encourages us to be open to experiencing the art and world around us with freedom and virtuosity. It was a late evening heading to Chicago with the whole family (me, Ed and our three children,) to visit my sister for the […]
Getting Into It
I was really getting into it. I had paint in my eye and on my eyelid and I hadn’t even noticed until my concerned teacher shouted across the room for me to immediately go wash my eye out. I was amused by myself. I was also angry and I made it known. I had spent 1/4 of […]
“It’s happening.”
Having had to stay home the previous Wednesday with another outbreak of the stomach bug, I had a chance to try my hand at a larger blank canvas in my bedroom for three hours with no teacher supervision. As much as I think my landscape teacher is great, she does have the habit of ‘intruding’ […]
Through Landscaped Lenses
Noticing intriguing landscape elements everywhere is one phenomenon that I did not foresee as a fruit of this creative exercise. I should have realized that my perspective would become hyper-focused on the elements of landscape, as my observations of people and situations became heightened when I studied acting and directing. There is not a lot […]