Blog – Page 5 – Judith Monroe

Behind the Art – Fallen

Published March 16, 2016

This piece, titled “Fallen” is one of the artworks that I have at Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, right now. I am often touched by the beauty of a fallen bird, in this case a small goldfinch that I think flew into a large window. This is the basis for my ongoing Memento Mori series; inspired by the beauty of things even in death and expressing the idea of cherishing life, especially in light of death and the fleeting nature of physical life. The fallen birds also remind me of the Bible story in Matthew of how God knows when even a small bird falls, and how much more he watches over each of us, which gives me great comfort when I feel like things aren’t going the way that I would like them to, and it’s this idea that gives this piece its title. This piece is a little different than some of my work with the inclusion of the frame around the image itself. It has actual leaves and a seedling, as well as one of my sketches and collected papers in the layers. Like most of my pieces, I signed this piece in texture in the lower right hand corner, as well as on the back of the piece. Many people say my Memento Mori series reminds them of the “circle of life” that they find uplifting.

“Fallen” is 20×20″ and is available at XanaduGallery.com

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A Peek Into the Studio Tonight

Published March 10, 2016

I’ve been working on a few things in the studio lately. On the big worktable, the final piece that I’ll be sending to my show at Xanadu Gallery in April, and four little pieces just because. If you’re in the Phoenix area, I’ll be down at Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale for the reception on April 7th – less than a month away! Which is why I need to be finishing up this piece.

I’ve also got a good sized piece of a Sedona landscape going on a smaller worktable, and there are several small pieces I need to get started to send to the Lanning Gallery there. Okay, I better get back to work…

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Behind the Art – The Marriage Bed

Published February 23, 2016

This work started as one of the pieces that I paint live during a church service, it was first painted over the course of two services on one Sunday morning, and was inspired by the subject of marriage, which was the sermon topic. I approached the subject by looking to my own set of natural symbols, here a nest represents a home. This nest holds broken eggs and dead baby birds that stand in for the difficulties that any marriage is bound to face, but is also accompanied by a pair of butterflies, a pair of lives that are transformed by the bond of marriage. The nest image consists of nine separate iPhone photographs, creating a photo mosaic that was first posted to Instagram – I often create photo mosaics there that are later used in artworks. Like most of my work, The Marriage Bed depicts nature and consists of many layers of media, but unlike most, I came back to it after maybe a year from when I first thought I had finished it and realized that it needed a little something more, so I came back to it and added more layers of paint and texture around the outer edges of the piece. I have used actual dried pressed flower stalks as collage elements, as well as my own photographs and collected papers. People often enjoy finding all the little things hidden in my work.

The Marriage Bed – photo transfers, color pencil, acrylic, ephemera, wax pastel & dried pressed flowers on cradled panel (40×40″) Contact for availability.

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Making Art – Tree of Life

Published January 28, 2016

I recently finished a big piece I was working on, called Tree of Life. While I was working on part of it, I actually thought to take some time-lapse video of it, then I figured out how to edit things together and make a whole video. I think it’s pretty cool to learn how to do new stuff.

In this video you get to see me cutting a stencil from my own design, then using that stencil to add texture to the piece with modeling paste. After the paste dries, I paint the extra textured part and then add paint to the background. After that, I added more little details by collaging on more of my photos printed pretty small. These are the kind of things that you don’t really see at a distance but that add interest up close and make living with the piece more fun, as you can be discovering new little things in it for some time to come.

Tree of Life is 42×42″ and currently available in my studio…

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Transition

Published October 31, 2015

The only constant in life is that things are always changing… and you are likely to see some changes here on my website over the next few days and maybe weeks. My website is getting a little makeover and in the process of this transition it is possible that this blog page will be the only page that is up. (This, by the way, has everything to do with my personal lack of planning, but we won’t dwell on that now.)

I will still be posting weekly and hopefully will have portfolio pages so you can see more of my artwork back up rapidly, if you happen to land here when they are missing.

Dakota and the deer skull in Judith Monroe's art studio

I just don’t feel right posting without a photo, so I took a quick shot of my small work table with my newest addition to my small taxidermy collection on it. Combined with the deer skull, it kind of has a Halloween flavor to it, so I thought it would be appropriate enough, though honestly this is just everyday stuff in my studio.

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Today’s Masterpiece

Published October 23, 2015

I’m so tickled that I am working with Jason Horejs at Xanadu Gallery, and now I get to send a dozen artworks to the gallery in Scottsdale so we can really get things rolling!

Artworks by Judith Monroe heading for Xanadu Gallery

I’ve shipped artworks before, but never so many and never so big, the biggest piece I’m sending is 40″ square, so this has presented a brand new challenge – find a box big enough… I have not found such a box but yesterday I hunted down a couple sheets of cardboard 48″x96″ each and today I spent a little over two hours building my box and packing up all the artworks into it. Whew! When things really get rolling, I’m thinking that is a job worth paying someone else to do, and I imagine they might do it better, too.

A big box full of artwork

So this is today’s masterpiece, taa-daa!! I think there are several dollars worth of packing tape on that baby. While I was making it, I was alternating between complete paranoia that it wouldn’t be sturdy enought and some disaster would befall my art and thinking myself an utter fool for said paranoia. Ah well, in a couple days I will get it sent off and once it arrives safely, I will be a very happy camper.

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512 Comes Alive

Published October 16, 2015

A while ago a musician friend of mine approached me about doing album art for his band’s first CD, he had really felt the synchronicity between his music and my visuals and I was completely flattered and told him of course I would love to work with him. Then a couple weeks ago he came to me again, “Can you do it now?” Like, really now? Get it to the printer next week now? Wow. Okay, let’s go!

And so we sat down with images on my computer and in my art journal and figured out what I could do in such a tight turn around time that fit what he was wanting and it happened! He’s happy, I’m happy and it’s an awesome thing – The Heartbreak Time Machine’s first ever EP is set to debut mid November and I couldn’t be more proud to have done the cover art.

And now, right before your very eyes, you can watch the album art come alive…

Heartbreak Time Machine 512 EP art comes alive by Judith Monroe

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Autumn Harvest

Published October 9, 2015

I can’t believe a month has gone by already – it is actually my intention to post here weekly. Ah well, the best laid plans of rodents and artists… So much has been going on, I will just start with the big things today, and maybe save up some for next week. Seems like a good plan, eh?

Apparently Autumn is truly a time of harvest for me this year, good things are happening. First off, I am now represented at Elliott Fouts Gallery in my home town of Sacramento. I am so grateful to Elliott for giving my work a chance in what has long been my favorite gallery in town, if you are here, be sure to go check it out!

Bittersweet, mixed media art by Judith Monroe

And then, a truly amazing thing happened, I was selected out of a field of 500+ artists, to be this year’s Mentorship Artist at Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. What that practically means is that I will be getting career coaching (broadcast for all of the hundreds of others), representation and a featured show in the spring at Xanadu. This promises to be a great turning point for me and my art and I am beyond words. It literally has taken me a couple of weeks to actually accept the reality of it.

All careers have upswings and downswings, and while I had felt that my artwork was reaching new highs, the business side had been in a slow downlide. Now, I am definitely on the way up and incredibly grateful for the harvest this fall has brought!

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On Being Offensive

Published September 8, 2015

Just as I am finishing up a new set of work that I am very excited about, I’ve had to face a fact – not everybody likes my artwork. In fact, some people apparently find it offensive in one way or another.

Inside Judith Monroe's art studio

I know this because every time I post a dead bird photo on Instagram, I lose followers. I also have had certain pieces rejected from galleries because they were potentially offensive, both because of dead birds and because they have Bible text in them. I’ve also had artworks in other galleries sell for those same exact reasons, so that says something, too. I really like connecting with people that way. In fact, if you can appreciate my dead birds and scripture together, I bet we’ll get along pretty well in general.

That’s not to say that we can’t get along if you don’t appreciate my unique perspective and vision. I find it stimulating to be challenged by different points of view and I’m really not out to upset anybody – not too much anyway. I guess that’s just the price of being an artist and putting my work out there in the public square, sometimes people aren’t going to like it, sometimes people will truly be offended.

And I’ve thought about it a bit and I deiced that if I’m not offending somebody with my artwork, maybe I’m doing something wrong…

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