WHAT IF HE WAS JUST CRAZY? ACEO

Available on eBay

I often wonder if he was wrong. I mean, no one's wrong about everything but what if he was wrong about a lot? Or what if he was just as nutty as his patients? I've read a lot about him and he was a bit of a .... well, the guy was... Oh let me just be kind and say he was a carnival of diagnosis codes.

I don't understand why someone who was, without a doubt, on the wrong side of the analysis couch is respected, revered and known as the father of modern day psychoanalysis ... while I am suspiciously eyed because of the bipolar disorder like I might start clucking like a chicken any second.

It's very aggravating.

CHILDREN HURT FOREVER ACEO

On eBay beginning the evening of May 31

I've never used the same image for two different auctions running at the same time before.

The story is sometimes when I'm making a card I will try it two different ways. Most times only one will work and the other will be awful. Or if the second isn't bad... it's not good enough to list. But in this case there was something about both of them that was tugging at me.

I intended to use the image to describe eating issues. It's what I was thinking when I worked on the picture in the first place but as I looked at this card it seemed to be saying something different to me. That happens sometimes. Art sometimes takes on a life and meaning all it's own... and I'm just the vehicle.

When I looked at the card this morning I decided to list it even though there is a card with the same image already listed because this card is about something else.

This card is about how when you hurt a child you change them. They change the second they are hurt...they change who they will be and they change the way they look back at themselves. In a sense people who hurt children change not only their presant and future...but their past as well.

So much is gone. Their voices... their smiles... their frowns... their kisses.... and a way to tell their secrets.

Hurting a child is a terrible thing.

Life isn't all serious....

....and me either.....

HELP ME ACEO

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This aceo is based on one of my earliest drawings. It was originally done in marker and there is really nothing on it but bold dark color and the word help...small and in yellow at the bottom of the page. The word is even hard to see because at that point the world is dark and closing in...and your pushed down by it... Your faded and fading.

I've tried to use this image before - I know I've had failures but I can't recall if any of them worked as well as this one. Something about it works for what I was feeling that day. And feel everytime the world is foreboding. The days I feel translucent, pale and like I'm not on Earth anymore. Like I don't have the weight anymore, the mass, to be on earth... Gravity isn't keeping me here... and I'm just dissapating into some sad pale mist.

The card is done on mat board cut into aceo format. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. The main image is of a peice of art work I did several years ago.

SHE EATS ACEO

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I did this picture a very long time ago and never did anything with it. Me without a mouth. I look at it from time to time and think - how can I print this? How can I look at this? How can anyone? Who would want to see this hanging in their home above their sofa framed? No one, of course.

I keep coming back to it though and it occured to me today, its not me without a mouth, it's me without a voice.

Eating disorders. What can I say about them that hasn't been said? It doesn't matter if you eat too little or too much... very few people who have an ED haven't done both. I've been both too skinny and too fat. Multiple times. When I was too skinny I felt much bigger and when I was too fat I never felt quite as fat as I was... I never am quite in the same place as my body.
And I didn't get for a long time... this whole thing - what makes you eat beyond being sick... and what makes you not eat..beyond being sick? What is it? If that picture is me now how long do I have to go back in my life to find a picture of myself with a mouth? A voice? How little would I be?

When I did this photograph about a year ago I couldn't imagine doing anything with it... but I kept it.

Maybe if I gave my little girl her voice back I wouldn't have to eat to keep her quiet... and wouldn't have to not eat to give her power and control. Maybe my little girl does have a voice if I can just find her...and let her speak.

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image.

An avocado in Mrs. Brady's Kitchen

This is a work in progress. Found myself doing another retro style painting. An avocado in avocado and orange - How poetic!

It's on 5 x 7 masonite.

I'm digging it

available at the arts unbound gallery in new jersey

THREE ORIGINAL PAINTING ACEOS ON CANVAS

There Aceos are available for sale on eBay. They are all done with acrylic paint on aceo sized gallery wrapped canvases.





Zen Landscape Aceo








Retro Pear Aceo








Still life lemons

For anyone who doesn't know how small ACEO cards are here is one scanned next to a splenda packet!

Abstracty pear work in progress...

So. More pears. I like them. They are pretty, have a cool organic shape going on...lots of great colors and seem

to lend themselves to tons of styles of art.

So this is the first shot of the pear as a work in progress on 5 x 7 inch masonite.

Here is shot 2 of pear work in progress... Getting there!

available at the arts unbound gallery in NJ

MAKE LEMONADE PAINTING -ACEO

AVAILABLE

And now for something completely different.... In the past I've only listed ACEO cards based on my art and photography. I used mat board, collaged with art papers...print my photographs on regular, photo, and some pretty darn unusual things ...than put it all together and make a complex card attached to an emotion, feeling or experience.

The simple things in life are beautiful as well... Things with visual simplicity. One thing...Two maybe...just a few colors... No art papers... Something you can put a story to, instead of me.... I paint. I rarely list anything on ebay that isn't an ACEO card done in the manner I described above because...well, frankly they don't seem to sell very often. (Just keeping it real!) There are wonderful artists on ebay and perhaps my selling just the cards...or just paintings...without an attached emotion isn't the same. Maybe people would rather I stick to what I was doing but I had to try... I have this thing in my head... My artist-self - how I see myself as an artist - is wrapped up in my abilty to paint...or not.... and well, if I can, I am, if I can't I'm not...and...oh man, I didnt mean to make this listing a therapy session!

Enough of that! This card is done on a teeny sized gallery wrappy canvas. How do they make them??? Its 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches and I even took a picture of it with a spenda package so you can see what your getting if your not familar with how small aceo's are. The other picture shows it from the side and you can see there are sides :) I have since painted the sides a bright blue like I paint my larger canvas paintings. I have signed it on the front with 3 bars... and on the bottom with my last name. Its sealed with a matte acrylic sealer. As much as I try to get colors correct, its hard in photography... and all monitors are different as well. It may be different when you get it but no matter how it looks on your monitor...I promise the lemons are shades of yellow and the background is shades of blue.

If it doesnt sell... well, thank you for looking!! I have other aceo's listed... My usual kinds as well as a few more like this!

I NEVER SAID THAT! ACEO

AVAILABLE

How many times have I said to someone, "I never said that...." and they swear up and down I did? I go back in my memory looking for a picture of that conversation... Or what is really a reflection of that conversation like the treeline in water ... Sort of the same but not quite as clear. And I think back and I'm still pretty sure and I say... "I never said that."

And again the person swears I did. And I go back and look inside again and this time I not only see the reflection of the conversation but the wisps of time cutting across the image obscruing some of my recollection. And this time I say I never said that but not with as much confidance because memory is an odd thing. As much as I want to trust it... it's flawed.

Recall is a flawed thing. And in the grand scheme of things taking a stand is rarely a good idea. Once I've drawn a line in the sand - who wants to go back? It's so much easier to just say, with a smile, "you might be right"....than it is to say, "I was wrong."

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. On top of the main image are thready pieces ....

HOW MUCH STUFF DO YOU NEED? ACEO

AVAILABLE

How many times a day do you say 'I need.....' Need? Need is a necessity. Need is something like clean water... Food....

People don't need cable TV... I don't need cell phones... Face it, I don't really NEED and internet connection although my life would be very different without one. I'm about to find out what it's like to not need a car what with the price of gas and the state of my junker. But I've managed to find a bit of peace about it... or maybe resignation, karma...peace....
People look at things like dry cleaning... renting DVD's.... take out dinners... like they were a necessary part of life. Sorry, oxygen is a requirement. Dry-cleaning isn't even in the same time zone.
I'm getting a bit sick of consumerism telling me what I need. The store display windows (which is what this photo was of)... the non-stop commercials.... the coupons that come in the mail everyday... Even my phone rings with offers that are "too good to pass up". I'm feeling manipulated, like I don't even know what I want anymore... Like I only know what I've been told I need.
Who started this?

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image.

FETAL SET OF 4 ACEOS

Fetal Set

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I've worked with this image before because it tugs at me. Calls to me... It's special to me... It's simple and sad and nurturing at the same time. It's about caring for myself. It's about taking care of my wits and my sanity. It's how I survive when all I have left is my body.

I was drawing like this in the summer of '97, months before I was diaganosed but I was symptomatic. At that time I was more concerned with quickly getting feelings down on paper and I don't think I had started using colored pencils yet; I believe when I did this one I was still only using markers. They were fast to work with, had blazing, sometimes shocking, color and they suited everything I needed at the time.

These cards show the image broken into a set of 4 cards. I've never broken the image before and I've had it for months before deciding to sell it. I didn't know if having this image broken was right but together they make the whole. The is about when it's all - everything and everyone - it's all just too much. How at some point you can't take a thing more - a good thing, a bad thing...anything.... not one thing more. And you know all that works to make it better is collapsing in on yourself. Curling up. Not hearing or seeing anything else until you are ready...

Each card was done on a base of mat board cut into ACEO format. Through the main image you can see the base papers and I think that that gives even more of a feeling of vulnerability... The figure is not only curled into a fetal position but you can almost see through her...or partly...like she's fading away.

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. I'm starting it at the same price I start one card but the auction is for 4 cards.

The Peter Principle, Problems and Green Eyes ACEO's

Eyes are the seat of the soul

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They say your eyes are the seat of your soul - If your one who does the soul thing. If the idea of a soul isn't appealing your eyes would probably be the seat of all that is you...

But in a practical sense your eyes hold many things. Your intentions, beliefs... your past... the baggage you carry shows up in a suspicious tilt when someone looks like someone who wronged you. The little sorrows that show just for a millisecond for all to see - Not that anyone is ever looking that close. And what about the quick smile that's only a lift of the corners....and you have to hide it quick because your in a serious place.. or laughing at something politically incorrect. And lying.... The reality is lying isn't all that tough to see... All those things are in your eyes but people rarely look.

Maybe your eyes being the window to your soul is too esoteric. Maybe its more like a visual represention of how your doing. Maybe it's why when someone asks how are you doing....and you say 'fine'.... they know your NOT fine. Maybe your not being fine is in your eyes. Maybe it's meant to be when you don't have the words to share just how unfine you are. Maybe it's a gift.

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image.

Problems Aceo

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Problems.....What is it about problems that makes solving them so hard? I've listened to people talk about their unsolvable problems and it's occured to me...that's the problem. They are talking about problems, pleural. Problems, lumped together are unsolvable.


This picture is the ground at the base of a tree and it reminded me of the way people deal with problems. It's a jumble of stones, twigs, leaves and I don't know what else... When there are so many things to look at you can't see each individual thing anymore. It's like you can see one stone... you can see two... maybe seven.... but at some point the individual stones dissolve into 'many'...
Problems can not be solved once they have dissolved into 'many'. They are overwhelming; they are unsolvable.


I listen to people talk about 'their problems' and I try to tell them that if I am thinking of of my problems that way it's hopeless. Its like 'my problems' are a big ( 6 foot around) ball of string where each problem has no end, no beginning and they are all interconnected. To solve anything I must separate it out... I have to deal with one thing at a time...


The rocks in this picture reminded me of the problems all lumped together with twigs, with leaves... And how to deal with one - to really see it - you have to pick it up, move it away from the rest. Move it from the 'many'....


This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. There are lots of papers on this...it sits pretty high :) And the photo sits on top.

The Peter Principle Aceo










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Okay, so the theory is you rise to the level of your incompetence. I mean that's it in a nutshell... there's more and it really deals with the workplace but I've seen it applied to life in general and that's what I'm considering now.


On that Hierarchy the peter principle loves so much... where am I? On that bottom step... even on a step? What happens when you can't work? Not won't work.... Can't. Does that mean I've reached the level of my own incompetance by default?


And the whole premise feels bad to me... It's like we are framed by our failures. I hate that negativity. It's like bad karma in practice... Knowing you can't in therory assures you won't in practice.


This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image.

Moved on from fruit to people and water...

In an effort to move on to things I have difficulty with I decided to tackle two at one time.

Water and people...

I ended up with a swimmer. I like it but it's still a work in progress. The water isn't watery enough and the swimmer isn't people-y enough... Well she looks like a people but her shadows are all off....or something.

5 x 7 inch acrylic on masonite

May 22, 2008 Update

I reworked my swimmer to take out some of the greens and some of the business in the water.

Retro Pear Aceo

I have to say, i like this little pear! It's done on a little 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch gallery wrapped canvas.

Painted with acrylic paints. It's my second still

life and I am really enjoying doing them.

While this one started out to be just a pear - much like the lemons are just lemons some where along the lines it ended up being a bit stylized with a dark border around the pear and a graded background. I will say that the background is more on the brown-orange-cream side than the red-pink-light pink side but it still looks nice I think.

Some day I will work out my camera issues.

Playing with light....aceo and 5x7

I've always liked paintings that played with light. Not the Thomas Kinkaid light thing but real light...Misty light, foggy light...Low light...Unusual light.

I decided to try a bit of it this morning and see how it went.

This is a work in progress. It's little. 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches... I'm painting on itty-bitty canvases... Since I'm just starting out I don't know if that makes it harder or easier but I can tell you it sure saves on paint!


And speaking of light - whats up with photographing art? No matter what I do I can't seem to make the photos look like that art? In the case of the ACEO the painting looks more misty and gentle... And definitely not so GREEN. In the case of the 5 x 7 below I couldn't even get a reasonable shot without taking it way way far away... And even than it's much choppier looking. The picture seems more muted and subtle to me.

Heres another attempt but it's still not good... It's rough looking.

I'm still working on this...

A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE ACEO

AVAILABLE HERE

I end up there pretty often it seems.... Between that hard place and those rocks. And why? Do I set myself up...Plan poorly.... Do I want to be there standing on those rocks.... Staring at that wall....again?

It's frustrating. You would think I would learn from past mistakes. Think I would stop ending up at that same darn wall over and over again. You'd think I could see it coming a mile away... But no. I never see it coming until I'm a foot away. With no way out.
I must really like that stupid wall.

STOP THE MADNESS! ACEO

AVAILABLE HERE

I watch and listen to other people a lot. I hear them ramping themselves up... dramatizing... catastrophising...
Stop the madness! Calm down your words and your life will follow... Take the words like devistating... destroying... horrifying.... out of your vocabulary. Your life will be better for it. In managing my mania Ive had to make an effort to watch my thoughts. Manic thoughts have wings that take me places I don't want to go. But watching my thoughts has been surprisingly effective even when I'm not manic.
To move a car you just need to get one wheel going and the others will start to turn...soon the whole car is turning. Your thoughts, your mood...your whole like is like that. If you concentrate on how bad things are soon your car is moving down a road you don't want to go. If you concentrate on the positive your car will take you there.
It's a remarkably effective tool for getting good parking spaces too! I call it parking space karma :)

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. I used several paper and I love the effect with the mostly black and white photograph. There were alot of collage papers on this card and the photograph does'nt lay completely flat. Sometimes that happens when I use many papers under a photo. If this will bother you and you will see it as a flaw please don't bid!

Satisfyingly Lemony Deux

I got some insightful suggestions from wetcanvas.com about the lemons yesterday and I worked some more on the lemons this morning.

Tried to play with the light on the lemons, especially the back one. I wanted to make the shading on the whole lemon a bit more graduated but it didn't work out quite like I'd planned.

I changed the background a bit too. It's vague but more solid across the bottom, more varied and light across the top.... and I changed the color of the shadows in general.

I'm happier with this verison. I'll keep working with it!

sold

What if all that's at the end is the end?

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I was driving around one day and saw a stairway that looked very old in the corner of my vision. I turned my car around and stopped in front of it. The stairway had deep spider web cracks in the thick sides.... it started at the road, incorporated the stone wall, sloped up the lawn and ended. Just ended.

I looked closer because I thought there must be a door to a root celler or something under the lawn but it was a solid cement-looking wall. Thick as time.

I took a picture and drove off but the image was disturbing. Well, maybe not the image itself but the image of going up stairs and coming to a solid wall.

It got me thinking about struggles. When I've perserved and made it... reached my goal... got to where I was going.... and all that was at the end was....an end. No reward, no lesson....no pot of gold. Just nothing. No, not even nothing. A wall.

I've thought a lot about the image and why it bothered me so much in the last month and I think I know what's bothering me. Maybe I've been thinking about goals all wrong. Maybe it's not the goal I should be focusing on but the trip...
A goal is a moment in time but the trip is your life, all the moments in your life. If you focus all your engery on the end when you get there; there's nothing. You reach your goal and than it's gone...You must be left very empty. Maybe that's why so many people never reach their goals? If all you ever think about it getting something and never live the rest of your moments you must know (somewhere in you) that if you ever get 'there' there will be nothing left for you.

I'm going to try and remember this lesson. I'm going to try and live the moments; not the goal.

Satisfyingly Lemony

This is new for me! Painting actual things... It's a work in progress.

I started painting these lemons this morning and it will take some tweaking to get them satisfyingly lemony!

Dark Thoughts Aceo set

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It was the mood of the night not the color that I was feeling. Beaches bring on a lot of moods in me... I tend to see in them what I'm feeling at the time.

I can only think that when I took this picture I was feeling a bit reflective... heavy...dark. The image isn't crystal clear but more suggestive. You can see movement in the light and a bit of shimmer...and hope. But oveal all it's dark.. very very dark.

Kuretake Sumi Brush Pen

I didn't know if I would like this but it's lots of fun and easy to use. It's shorter than a brush so I have to hold the pen a bit different. The brush is also shorter and less...hm... luxurious than my brushes. These bristles are synthetic.

But for on the fly practice this is terrific. I can't see being able to use it for everything but I can easily see using this every day!

Where are you going?

where are you going
Originally uploaded by popcornfeet

AVAILABLE

Going forward can be the most difficult thing in your life. Just putting one foot in front of the other and taking the next step... You know the direction your going... You can see your path clearly... But doing it, that's the tricky part.

It's scary because you never know if your doing the right thing... if you took the right road.. if you picked the right direction at that last cross-road. And you won't; until the end. The truth is you really do pick the right directions at the cross-roads in you life. You pick the best option available you had at each event in your life. You pick the very best thing to do based on all you knew at the time. If you knew more, or less, you might have done something different but...well, that wouldn't have been you.

Relish your wins and rethink your losses. Maybe they weren't losses. Maybe they brought you to the next cross-road smarter, better, more prepared for a more difficult decision. Maybe you needed to make the last mistake to not make the next two...

I've made some mistakes that saved me bigger ones... I'm thankful for those.

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. The photograph is one I took recently while driving near my home. I pulled out my camera, rested it on my steering wheel and shot. A good result, I think.

Your fences frame your life

the fences frame you
Originally uploaded by popcornfeet

AVAILABLE

I was looking at my photographs the other day and realized I had a lot of shots of fences. At first I thought it was odd. Why would I have taken so many pictures of barriers? Things blocking my path? Objects that stopped me on my path?
I started to work with the pictures and realized that I loved the images and found them beautiful. If the fences hadn't been there I would have continued on my way - walked ahead and never noticed the scene beyond.

Fences - barriers in your life - can be blockades. Places that you stop and feel you can't go forward but maybe there is another way to see them.
The things that stop you give you a frame of reference. They show you where you are now... They show you what's in the future... They shift you.
Stopping to assess your life is never a bad thing. Knowing what could be a ahead is important... Figuring a way to get past a hurdle is growth. Maybe the fences in your life are as important and the open paths. Maybe stopping to see where you are and figuring out how to move ahead is a gift.

Maybe fences are the picture frames of our lives. A pause, a still picture, a place to refect back on how far we've come and to see what's beyond...


ACEO 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch done on heavy mat board. The background collage uses several art papers and acrylic fixitives. The photograph was placed on top of the collage and the entire card was sealed with a glossy acrylic medium.

This is a photograph taken close to my home on a walk.

looking outside

looking outside
Originally uploaded by popcornfeet

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How many times do you sit behind the windows in your home and watch the world go by?


Sometimes I just don't go out ...No that's not right - I can't go out. Sometimes I just can't. The world is too big and too bright... too scary... too loud.
As gray as my life seems inside, it's safe. I'm safe.


Behind the windows I can watch the hoopla of life and not get hurt.


Aceo 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 on heavy mat board. The card was done in two step - there was a background collage put on first to accent the main image and than the photograph was added. All layers were put on with an acrylic sealer.


The picture was taken at Drexel University.

When the world goes gray

gray days, originally uploaded by popcornfeet.

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What do you do when your home... or shopping...or at a doctor's appointment and suddenly, you look up, and the world's lost it's color? It happened to me. I was walking into my doctor's office fumbling with my keys and I looked up and world in front of me had changed. Or maybe I'd changed.

Something was missing. The color, the sparkle... the life had seeped out the edges of my vision. The world had gone pale and flat and sad.

Or maybe it was me...

Why does this happen? What makes the color go? Where does the sparkle go?

I don't think some people know what this feels like. It's sad and lonely in the gray place.

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. I used two brand new papers layered and I love the effect with the black and white photograph. The photograph is one I took a while ago and I have used in different ways, it always seems to call to me.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Tazzy ACEO cards on eBay

Contact tracyreinhardt.art@gmail.com for purchase information of these or similar cards.



Tazzy at the mac machine











Tazzy in space









Tazzy takes a nap








Tazzy has a rose





For many years I've supported animal shelters and bird sanctuarys. Sometimes by adopting; sometimes by donating or sponsoring (cyber-adopting) a pet.



One of the saddest sights is the number of unwanted and abused birds in bird sanctuarys. They are especially harmed by years of poor living and some never recover - physically and mentally.



For many years I've supported animal shelters and bird sanctuarys. Sometimes by adopting; sometimes by donating or sponsoring (cyber-adopting) a pet. One of the saddest sights is the number of unwanted and abused birds in bird sanctuarys. They are especially harmed by years of poor living and some never recover - physically and mentally.



My current bird - a wonderful cockatiel named Taz - called to me from a pet store. Literally. I walked by her cage and he ran back and forth and back and forth screaming for attention. Poor thing had no tail feathers, the worst wing clip I'd ever seen and no crest feathers. My little love, Noodle, a 13 year old cockatiel had died about 2 weeks before and I didn't know if I was ready to bond with another bird but in a week or so I went back and got my sad-looking somewhat featherless buddy.



I have to say Taz took to being loved like a champ despite never having been held - ever. She loves nothing better than having a head scratch, 24 hours a day if I would. Her tail is back and so are her wings. Her creast is another story. While other cockatiels wear their crests proud and tall, my Tazzy, has quite the mohawk going and seems to like my son's punk rock music.



I call her my punk rock-a-teil!While I do alot of crafts, lately I have been doing alot of pictures of my little punk rockatiel and making bookmarks for friends. They seem to like them a lot so I thought I might try some ACEO cards.
A portion of any profits will be donated to help homeless, abused and abandoned pet. I currently sponsor two little parakeets with the money I make from my Tazzy things :O)

Cape May Sky in the abstract

This is a mixed media 6 inch by 6 inch piece I just finished! It's called Capy May Sky.

Even though it appears simple doing it was a time consuming process. First I applied mulberry paper to gessoed masonite and than painted the

background. The clouds came last.

I guess you could call it an acrylic mixed media painting on mulberry paper on masonite... although that is a mouthful.

The image was based on a photograph I took a few years ago. I kept drawing drawing it and each time kept simplifying the elements. At some point it didn't really look like a sky anymore and that is where I liked it best. From a distance it's 'sky'... up close its color and shape.

Nighty night

Contact tracyreinhardt.art@gmail.com for purchase information

Unframed $75.00

Nighty-night is a 6" x 6" acrylic painting on masonite. I just finished painting it - in fact it doesn't even have the glossy sealer on it yet.

To me it's like every peaceful night I wished for as a child. Clear sky, shining starts, bright moon to see your hands, and soft hills of grass to roll down.

It's peace to me.

Blue Hawaii...

Contact tracyreinhardt.art@gmail.com for purchase information

Unframed $ 75.00

This is the first of my 6 inch x 6 inch mixed media/acrylic paintings on masonite that I'm posting. I've decided to call it 'Blue Hawaii' because -well, it is blue ...and for me there is nothing better than Hawaii...and for an abstract is does ring beach. At least to me.

Photographing these squares have been very difficult and I may switch over to a matte fixative, the gloss is a nightmare to photograph and frankly, even for viewing at angles a matte would be better.

Cape May, NJ Fence

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I was looking at my photographs the other day and realized I had a lot of shots of fences. At first I thought it was odd. Why would I have taken so many pictures of barriers? Things blocking my path? Objects that stopped me on my path?

I started to work with the pictures and realized that I loved the images and found them beautiful. If the fences hadn't been there I would have continued on my way - walked ahead and never noticed the scene beyond.

Fences - barriers in your life - can be blockades. Places that you stop and feel you can't go forward but maybe there is another way to see them.
The things that stop you give you a frame of reference. They show you where you are now... They show you what's in the future... They shift you.

Stopping to assess your life is never a bad thing. Knowing what could be a ahead is important... Figuring a way to get past a hurdle is growth. Maybe the fences in your life are as important and the open paths. Maybe stopping to see where you are and figuring out how to move ahead is a gift.

Maybe fences are the picture frames of our lives. A pause, a still picture, a place to refect back on how far we've come and to see what's beyond...

ACEO 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch done on heavy mat board. The background collage uses several art papers and acrylic fixitives. The photograph was placed on top of the collage and the entire card was sealed with a glossy acrylic medium.

Chairs to infinity at sunrise

ACEO AVAILABLE

I took this photograph in Capy May, New Jersey. These were the chairs on the balcony at the Grand Hotel... There was something about this photograph I've always liked.

There is something beautiful in those chairs. I can imagine myself sitting there resting, gazing over the railing... and it's quiet. Even though there are so many balconys and so many chairs no one is outside. No one takes time to stop and sit anymore... to just look at what's there.

I think about my life and I don't take much time to stop and sit either. There is always a call to make... a phone to answer... a bill to pay.

I must have missed so many beautiful sunrises just sleeping when I wasn't really tired...

ACEO 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches on heavy mat board. The card was done in two steps. First a background collage was done to compliment the picture and than the photograph was attached. I used several acrylic mediums, the last one glossy.

Fences

ACEO AVAILABLE

I was looking at my photographs the other day and realized I had a lot of shots of fences. At first I thought it was odd. Why would I have taken so many pictures of barriers? Things blocking my path? Objects that stopped me on my path?

I started to work with the pictures and realized that I loved the images and found them beautiful. If the fences hadn't been there I would have continued on my way - walked ahead and never noticed the scene beyond.

Fences - barriers in your life - can be blockades. Places that you stop and feel you can't go forward but maybe there is another way to see them.

The things that stop you give you a frame of reference. They show you where you are now... They show you what's in the future... They shift you.

Stopping to assess your life is never a bad thing. Knowing what could be a ahead is important... Figuring a way to get past a hurdle is growth. Maybe the fences in your life are as important and the open paths. Maybe stopping to see where you are and figuring out how to move ahead is a gift.

Maybe fences are the picture frames of our lives. A pause, a still picture, a place to refect back on how far we've come and to see what's beyond...

ACEO 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch done on heavy mat board. The background collage uses several art papers and acrylic fixitives. The photograph was placed on top of the collage and the entire card was sealed with a glossy acrylic medium.

THE SNEAKY CHEF - A book review

The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine is about making delicious food better. There are other books that do it, but the The Sneaky Chef does it best.

My family's eating habits were just a schoochie-bit above fast food tastes. Feeding them anything with a whiff of health was near impossible... There was an extreamly long list of "unacceptable" food in my house. It got to the point that when anyone asked what was for dinner it was easier to say, "We are having, Gross, I'm not eating that!"

I bought the book out of deparation but it's worked out great. The recipes REALLY are easy and delicious. And of the ones I tried no one (NO ONE!) knows I'm thowing beans and veggies in their precious meals... It's a big hit with me.

Always looking out

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How many times do you sit behind the windows in your home and watch the world go by?

Sometimes I just don't go out ...No that's not right - I can't go out. Sometimes I just can't. The world is too big and too bright... too scary... too loud.

As gray as my life seems inside, it's safe. I'm safe.

Behind the windows I can watch the hoopla of life and not get hurt.

Aceo 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 on heavy mat board. The card was done in two step - there was a background collage put on first to accent the main image and than the photograph was added. All layers were put on with an acrylic sealer.

The card was taken at Drexel University.

Black sands

Not for sale
I'm happy with this painting. It's one of the first I'm really very happy with. The subject makes me happy and I'm also happy with how it came out.

What doesn't thrill me is my problems photographing the artwork. That is a work in progress....

6 " x 6" acrylic on masonite

A detail close up of the clouds












... and shore line....

I've been looking a lot at the daily painting sites. I think I may have to start listing in order to continue my own daily painting obsession. Perhaps the paintings aren't ready but I can always go back to selling photography and ACEO's