The Art of the Flat Lay

A flat lay of mystical images, color studies, patterns, handlettering, ribbons, gathered from a mood board.

  What is a flatlay? A flat lay is a photo of an assortment of items laid on a flat surface (thus, flat lay). The photo is most often taken from directly above the items. The surface serves as the background to the photo. The objects usually describe a theme, like “a day at the…

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Using a Flat Lay to Explore the “Wild Horses” Painting

A detail from the flat lay exploration of associations we have with horses, through an assortment of objects: a horse shoe of good luck, the glove of English-style riding, the wildly beautiful horse on the book cover, the bow-tie of the proper gentry riding class, the red and white lariat, the silver cowboy, an arrowhead pointing to the Native American riding tradition, the archer-horse-man of the horoscope sign Sagittarius, and a mini celluloid pencil for scoring horse shows.

  Have you noticed all the different ways that horses touch our lives? When I started working on my “Wild Horses” painting, I  kept running into associations with horses. But I got worried when I started putting together a flat lay image to expand my ideas for the painting. I thought I didn’t own anything…

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A Sneak Peek of New Horse Painting

A detail from the sneak peek of the new horse painting, featuring a bucking horse. Violets and yellow featured.

  It’s time for a sneak peek just for you of my newest painting. You can watch the progress of this piece from random paint spatter through the appearance of the images and on through to the finished painting, in the coming posts on this blog. This subject matter, a herd of wild horses running, has…

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Happy Mother’s Day!

Pen and ink portrait of Native American heroine Sacagawea with her infant son on her back. Blue ink and blue wash featured.

  Happy Mother’s Day! In developing a pen and ink portrayal of Sacagawea, one famous mother, I created a lot of “good try’s” (those images that didn’t make the grade). First off, I was working from my imagination, because there are no photos of Sacagawea. There is a painting of her with Lewis and Clark,…

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Red Beret Work in Progress Video

  Would you be inspired by a $70 million painting? I was. But it wasn’t about the money (though the auction sale total did amaze me). Really when I saw Picasso’s “Woman in a Red Beret”, the piece recently auctioned off at Sotheby’s, it was the undiluted, unapologetic emotion of the image that got me.…

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The Girl Who Left Home to Learn David Hockney

A detail from Melan Grube's sketch of David Hockney's etching of Rapunzel, the Older, for his book, "Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm". A woman with incredibly long hair, flowing down her back and piled on the floor behind her. She wears a long gown and carries two white, long-stemmed lily flowers.

  Oh, I had such a fantastical afternoon, once upon a too bright Saturday. I found my way into the strangely dim, yet clear light of a brand new art center and its surprising gem of a show: David Hockney‘s Etchings from his book, “Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm“. These fairy tales are…

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Creative Exploration of the Woman in the Red Beret

Detail from the flat lay for The Woman in the Red Raspberry Beret painting. Possessions shown include French poetry book, lipstick, iphone earbuds, eyebrow shade kit, sketchbook, pen, wrist bangles.

  Do you like flat lays? I love using flat lays as part of my art process. They help me throughout the process, before I start, during the creation of, and after I’ve finished the painting. (I also love flat lays for flat lays’ sake.) This flat lay told me so much about the personality…

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