the last moley entry

Over the past year, i have participated in 3 japanese moleskine exchanges over at atc's for all.  At times, it was challenging, trying to find time to work on my "little hobby".  At times, it was inspirational, fueling the fires to create works of art.  Mostly, though it was just plain fun to get something in the mail other than a bill! 

This is the last entry I had to create for the last moleskine exchange.  The theme for this one is WHITE.  It was made with napkins, acrylics, collaged papers, vintage sequins (that were my grandmother's) and stamps.  My "Snow Tree" is heading on its way home to its owner in California. 

I am looking forward to joining another moleskine exchange in the near future, for i have fallen in love with these little books and the wonderful collection of art i have acquired from them!

Apples of Carthage

The ancient Romans called pomegranates "apples of carthage".  My grandmother called them "Chinese apples".  We call them "superfruit".  The pomegranate has long symbolized fertility, Catherine of Aragon had one in her crest hoping to produce an heir to the throne.  I painted them for one reason: I LOVE THE COLOR OF DEEP RED!  enjoy.

woodburning, watercolor pencils, colored pencils, italian text, paper, acrylics, tissue paper



italian text gifted from loretta marvel...love it for leaves!



I AM THE SPOTLIGHT ARTIST FOR THE MONTH!

This is so exciting for me!  I am the featured artist of the month over at atc's for all!  It is an honor, for there are many more talented artists than me over there!  Here is the feature:

Artist Feature Spotlight on the Artists

this is the spread i did for Goatgoddess' japanese moleskine

Kathleen Nesi (known to us as Knesi07 here at AFA) finds art an opportunity to escape and relax. It has always been that way for her. Even as a child, she loved to draw and paint, and enjoyed copying Peanuts comics into a spiral notebook. These days, her favourite media is mixed and she loves nature inspired work as it's a reflection of time spent growing up in the country--something she misses now that she's in the suburbs of New York. She loves to have little books of art to treasure, so participates in chunky book and Japanese moleskine journal exchanges. As her own work grows and develops, she finds it has more of a "story" behind it, while staying very bright, bold, illustrative, and layered. Woodburning has also started showing up in her work.


Kathleen has enjoyed her time at AFA because of all the kind and inspiring artists she's met in the cyber-world. Their talent never disappoints, she says, and it motivates her to push herself in directions she might not have taken otherwise. She's a member of the New Rochelle Art Association and will have work in two upcoming shows. See more of her work at www.kathleen-nesi.blogspot.com.


Aside from her art pastimes, Kathleen enjoys photography, running, playing with her dogs, and hanging with her art friends. Her daily philosophy can be summed up in three words that she embraces: live life fully.

art auction piece

I just finished my piece for an art auction happening at the Art Is...East Coast Art Retreat in October.  The auction will benefit the Little Baby Face Foundation.   It is titled  Poppy Pods.  It is my signature style, woodburning, bold saturated color and layers upon layers of paint, tissue paper, prints, gold leaf, colored pencil and india ink. 

my BIG bird painting...finally finished

Literally, a BIG bird painting, it is 24"wx48"h.  I started this painting well over a year ago and somewhere along the way lost my muse.  Luckily, I found it again and completed this piece...Assimilation.  At first, this piece was titled "one of these things is not like the other".  After getting back to it, I felt it was more about fitting in, getting along, assimilating to be like everyone else, buckling to peer pressure.

once again, layer upon layer of color and texture.

i'm juiced!

I am hoping to participate in an art show this October, called "Juiced".  It is a theme based show...the color orange.  While orange is NOT one of my favorite colors, I took on the challenge and became inspired.  I made two pieces for consideration.

1. "stella maris a l'orange"

this is my typical style...woodburning, tissue paper, layers upon layers of paint and glazes and lots of texture!

2. "static kill"

this one is a little different for me.  it is more abstract.  in response to the BP oil spill....the fish and seaweed are deteriorating as the oil gook is all around.  made with tons of layers, the fish and seaweed were printed using hand carved stamps.  The oil gook is pouring medium which i mixed w/shades of orange and bronze.  it doesn't show in the photograph, but it actually shimmers a bit.

detail of deteriorating fish

see ralph swim!

finished another piece today.  i'm so infuriated with the whole BP oil spill, that i just can't help but think of all that wildlife in the vast blue (speckled w/blackish red oily gook) ocean.  i got to thinking of the saltwater tank we used to have (don't ask) and my clown triggerfish named ralph. ralph is another example of the beautiful black/white graphic pattern found in nature...i'm starting to detect a theme here.  once again i used tissue papers, woodburning, acrylics, mica flakes, colored pencils, stamps and stencils on this piece.