wild artwork

twisting growth

2012-01-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

New painting for my brother and sister-in-law

growth series painting

2011-11-23T09:46:00.001-08:00

Fossilized Coral Series

2011-09-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

More exploration with patterns, lines and screen printing.

Inspired by fossilized coral:

New prints in charcoal, silver and olive green:

Two prints above, details below.

Agate IV

2011-09-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Screen print inspired by the patterns in sliced agate rock. Printed in a black pearlescent ink.

digital diary entry #11

2011-08-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

fossilized coral

2011-08-09T22:56:00.000-07:00

Another series based on coral. This time inspired by the colors and patterns in a piece of fossilized coral I bought. These multi layered works were created by building up painted textured background layers, then screen printing coral patterns on the final layer. Printed on 100% cotton fine art rag paper, each print measures, 13" x 10.5".

coral growth series

2011-08-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting with screen printing lately. For this design I painted a pattern on the screen, then printed multiple layers of the design on the paper. There are six in this series, each measuring 10"x 13".

for sale

2011-07-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

art for sale!

etsy shop

digital diary entry #10

2011-06-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

website

2011-05-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Trying to organize my work:

http://www.wix.com/alinamurdock/wildartwork

chicken

2011-05-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

I have a painting half finished, sitting in my living room...it glares at me each day, waiting impatiently for completion. But right now I am occupied with chickens. It's a long story, but the fact is that I am easily distracted, and when crazy things pop up in my life I end up following the shiny new thing. This latest shiny thing started when I won a poster contest for the upcoming arts festival in town. Apparently I won a free booth. Which means I have to come up with something to sell. Why not sell my art? I don't know, I just don't feel right yet. So, what will I sell? Chicken shirts. I know, it's crazy. I made some chicken illustrations after my brother and sister-in-law got some hilarious chickens, and I became amused. So in the past few months, I've been teaching myself how to do silk screening. It's not easy, and I am a slow learner, but it's been fun. Here are some of the silkscreen prints so far, along with all of the fowl designs:

Fowl by Design

grey matter--growth

2011-03-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

mapping

2011-03-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

burning growth

2011-03-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

For my brother and sister-in-law

grey matters

2011-01-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

movement

2010-12-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

Large piece on paper done for my sister. Each section is about 20"x28".

digital diary--tree me

2010-12-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

growing

2010-11-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

undergrowth

2010-11-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

Halloween wood

2010-10-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween

Last year I found this amazing jack-o-lantern leaf.

This year I found a cute little wood skull.

digital diary--tired

2010-10-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

grow

2010-10-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

organic abstraction

2010-09-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Becoming more abstract.
Organic movement.

digital diary entry #7

2010-08-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

me 2

an evening with friends

2010-08-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

It was fun to visit this painting I did last year for my friends Teresa and Tom.

It fit nicely into their space and I'm still pleased with it--which is rare,

oftentimes I revisit a piece and am critical of it.

Thanks to my dear patrons for an enjoyable evening!

digital diary entry #6

2010-08-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

VOYEUR

digital diary entry #5

2010-08-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

digital diary entry #4

2010-08-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

Conjoined

digital diary entry #3

2010-08-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

the 5 senses

digital diary entry #2

2010-08-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

Black and White

fear

anger

loneliness

digital diary

2010-08-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Digital Diary

A new exploration recording my private experiences,

observations, feelings, attitudes, etc.

through digital scanned images of my face.

living with art

2010-07-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

They're taking over!

Paintings on the walls,

floors,

tables,

in baskets,

and on the piano!

two new paintings

2010-07-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

New paintings inspired by slices of rocks,

more abstract,

trying to capture the dynamic movement of creation.

still mapping

2010-07-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

Another piece inspired by maps and land.

I enjoy the similarities that extremes in scale produce.

Looking from a birdseye view at the landscape,

rivers and canyons are reminiscent of veins in plants.

texture series

2010-07-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

I like the process of making these texture pieces.

It involves many steps and physical,

hands on working in different ways,

with built up layers of color

to bring out the folds and details.

close up

real feeling

2010-07-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

I search for the realness,

the real feeling of a subject,

all the texture around it...

I always want to see the third dimension of something...

I want to come alive with the object.
Andrew Wyeth

texture

2010-06-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

New experiments with color and texture...

with skin, maps, and layers in mind.

sketch diary

2010-06-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, our family went on
a four day trip down the San Juan river
(see annoyingly long video here).
I took my small notebook along
and tried to do some sketches while floating--
when we returned home I colored them.
The result was nothing artistically fabulous,
but it was fun to try and quickly capture some of the scenery--
a small sketch diary of the vacation.

The picture above makes me look hard core, but really I'm not.

I momentarily oared on the flat water to give Brian a break.

These pictures show some of the amazing scenery.

inside outside

2010-06-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

There is no way of telling what the inside of a geode holds until it is cut open or broken apart.

Geodes are essentially rock cavities with internal crystal formations or concentric banding. The exterior of the most common geodes is generally limestone or a related rock, while the interior contains quartz crystals and/or chalcedony deposits. Other geodes are completely filled with crystal, being solid all the way through. These types of geodes are called nodules.

(wikipedia)

flowering perception

2010-05-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

Do not become paralyzed
and enchained
by the set patterns
which have been woven of old.
No, build from your own
youthful feeling,
your own groping thought
and your own flowering perception.

Lotte Lehmann

land

2010-04-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Another painting inspired by maps. Recently we visited Chaco Canyon. Chaco was an ancient cultural center for Native Americans living from about 900 through 1130 AD. It is an interesting site.

"About 30 ancient masonry buildings, containing hundreds of rooms each, attest to Chaco's importance. Some structures are thought to serve as astronomical observatories or calendars. Archaeologists discovered jewelry made from Mexican and Californian materials in ancient trash heaps. Large well-constructed roadways thought to be built for pilgrims, subjects, or traders, lead from sites 50 miles away to the center of Chaco Canyon. In a very real sense, all roads lead to Chaco."

All roads lead to Chaco...

This is the idea that captured my interest.

The human connection to land,

land shaping humans,

humans shaping land.

go to the light

2010-04-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Final painting after many revisions.

Go to the light.

rock'n roll

2010-03-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

A new rock/creation piece.

In this painting I really loved using the stone slab
as a jumping off point,

then let the painting emerge into it's own creation.

I felt like this process lent itself well
to the concept behind the piece.

edgy

2010-03-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

Something was bothering me about this painting.

My concern was confirmed when my dad noticed it also.

Can you see the change?

rock solid?

2010-03-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

I love rocks. They represent something solid--wise men build their houses on rock foundations. However, in reality rocks are in a never-ending process of change. No matter how slow, it is steady.

As I've said before, I'm intrigued by patterns, which are processes, constant creation and degradation, one dependent on the other.

So, I'm looking at rocks. I went to the rock shop downtown and purchased these rocks, which are thin-cut slabs, revealing the movement and process inside--beautiful!

Art imitates nature as well as it can,

as a pupil follows his master;

thus it is sort of a grandchild of God.

Dante

I adore the little heart encased in the center of this slab.

land mind scape

2010-01-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

land (lnd)n. The solid ground of the earth.

mind (mnd)n. The human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, and imagination.

scape (skp)n. A scene; a view.

Still exploring.

three paintings,
three layouts,
can't decide:

creation

2009-12-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

I've finally finished my latest painting, done for a friend.

I was first inspired by the swirling patterns in thinly sliced rock.
I loved the movement and chaotic organization of it
(which ties to my fascination with finding patterns in life).
I began connecting other creation images in my head--
Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel creation of Adam,
Embryonic images,
mitochondria,
and images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope,
like the one below of The Large Magellanic Cloud.

mitochondria

embryo, sliced rock, Large Magellanic Cloud, Creation of Adam

in the beginning...

And I saw that it was good, and rested...(finally!)

Mapping

2009-09-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

Starting to paint a bit.
I'm hooked on
maps and mapping,
life's journey,
layers,
and searching for a pattern.

This painting is made up of four 8"x10" canvases.
click to enlarge.

line

2009-08-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

texture

2009-08-08T16:31:00.001-07:00

2009-08-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

The Earth Laughs in Flowers
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

a cachinnation
of flower photo's
from this year

The Electric Light Parade

2009-01-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

Nothing is more festive than wrapping yourself and your bicycle with lights and peddling/parading down main street!

Winter Sunset

2009-01-06T21:07:00.003-08:00

I took this series of photo's after cutting down our Christmas tree in the La Sal mountains.

Halloween Leaf

2008-10-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

I found this miraculous Halloween leaf
on our weekend trip to the cabin.
I've spent quite a bit of time
trying to figure out how some
little artistic insect
ate such a delightfully
symmetrical jack-o-lantern design in it.

burn

2008-10-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

There was a fire in the mountains this summer.
This is part of the burned aftermath,
on a rainy day.

more leaves

2008-10-06T16:04:00.001-07:00

ripple

2008-09-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

reflect

2008-09-25T22:34:00.001-07:00

I love nature.
It inspires me.
But, it's also intimidating--
with all it's big, overwhelming beauty.
I've never been successful at landscape photography.
However, in an early autumn evening,
high in he mountains,
I couldn't help but try.

on my doorstep

2008-09-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

I read the quote by Paul Strand, (at the top of my sidebar), and it made me feel better about the randomness of my photo's lately. Starting a new job (art teacher at the middle school), and raising four boys make it hard to seriously focus on my own art. I do need to get back to my hand series, it's always in the back of my mind, unfinished. But for now, I find myself fitting in art where ever I go--on a hike miles away,

or a few feet away,

on my doorstep.

squash bugs

2008-08-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

insect army

(in a cup)

A backyard war has been waged
over precious natural resources in my garden.

The sheer numbers of the enemy are staggering.

We're losing the battle.

worlds without number

2008-08-30T12:58:00.001-07:00

cosmic marbles

Seeing a bigger picture by looking more closely.

delicately fearsome

2008-07-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

You can find many fearsome looking things

in dark dank cracks,

that appear to be larger than life.

In reality, this spider was at most half an inch long,

and such a delicate little creature.

click to enlarge...if you dare

a leaf

2008-07-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

leaves.
I adore them.
look for more to come.

ripple

2008-07-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

This was taken after a downpour in the desert.

I tried capturing the pattern of light reflected off the water

that was streaming over the slick rock.

Although the pattern is mostly lost,

I thought the squiggled lines of light were interesting

(click on the image to enlarge).

music to my eyes

2008-07-17T17:08:00.001-07:00

This is an old clarinet that I took a few photo's of this weekend.

plants

2008-06-28T11:30:00.001-07:00

I have always been amazed by plants and seeds, for their innate beauty and their symbolic qualities. Having lived mainly in small desert towns in the western U.S., I especially love desert plants and their abilities to adapt to harsh environments. They capture the spirit of hope, resiliency and the rugged beauty of the west.

photo's on the farm

2008-06-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Here a photo--there a photo--everywhere photo's, photo's!

I've decided to try and go through my photo's from the last year. Every hike we go on, when we visit grandparents and family, wherever we go, I'm taking pictures of things that catch my eye. But, to be honest, my eye gets caught quite easily. In these millions of photographs, I think very few cross over that line of snapshot, into art. However, I will post some of my favorites,
and you can be the judge.

The photo's below were taken at my parents home, which is a little house out in the country, built by my grandfather. It's surrounded by lots of interesting old farm implements and treasures. The picture of me above, is with an old frame of my dad's. He used to be a sculptor for a frame company and carved reproductions of period pieces, and designed original frames. I love the ornate, gaudy, bagpipe grandeur of this one. And I like to imagine what kind of painting it was commissioned for.

an old window screen

a rusty saw

sunflower seeds

HANDSTONE revisited

2008-05-30T09:33:00.001-07:00

Living in a place surrounded by sandstone, I can't help but be drawn to it. I've done a few "Handstone" pieces in the past, and don't know if they were very successful. However, when we're out hiking, I always see the similarities and differences between the rock and flesh. Visually, I think the comparisons between color, line, and pattern is interesting contrasted with the harshness of the two textures. And when shown together, in an abstracted way, it tends to soften both or make them both more fluid. I also love the symbolics of rock and flesh, or nature and human kind-- the dominance and dependence, order and chaos, the connection yet disconnect we have with the earth. I don't know if these pieces really capture the symbolic part, or even if they're aesthetically successful still, but are worth a little more exploration.

hand print topography:ryder

2008-03-27T18:36:00.001-07:00

This is the second piece in this series.

I started with,

a scan of Ryder's hands.

Below is the finished piece, 25"x 25".
I started out thinking that because of his youth,
his "map" would be more open and simplistic.
But as I worked and thought about it,
I decided that age had nothing to do with it.
If anything, his piece is more complex than mine
(the first piece in the series),
showing potential--undiscovered places
waiting to be explored.

below is a closer view of the piece above.

portraits

2008-03-12T15:52:00.001-07:00

I took a little break from the current

hand piece I'm working on,

and played around with

these self portraits today.

hand print topography: alina

2008-02-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this for so long, I feel I need to take a break, to regain a fresh perspective. I thought I'd post it and get your critiques as well, which would be ever so helpful. It needs to be seen at its full size, 25"x 25", but for now, this will have to do (I've tried to show close-up views below).

This is a two part series, Inside and Outside. I used the inside of the hand in this part of the series, because it is the the part that grips and manipulates and carries out the commands of the mind, heart, and soul. With the unique lines, fingerprints, crevices, and calluses, I hoped to create a representational map of the individual.

I've started with my own hand print.

full piece (click the image to enlarge)

close up view

even closer

2008-01-18T15:11:00.001-08:00

working on it....

inside outside

2007-11-28T08:54:00.000-08:00

I agree with a friend who advised me to really pinpoint my intent before delving into this series. So bear with me, and criticism and thoughts are welcome--even the negative.

This series will be in two parts, the outside (a pound of flesh), and the inside (a topographical map).

In the Shakespeare play, The Merchant of Venice, Antonio is required to repay the borrowed money, or a pound of flesh--closest to his heart. In the play, he was unable to repay the debt and was dependent on others to help him. In mortality, we too depend on saviors. I believe that The Savior paid a price that we could not in order to progress beyond mortal flesh. But there are others throughout life who help and influence us in things we alone can not do. We also act as saviors in others lives. For this part of the series, I will photograph the BACK's of people's hands--the OUTside. The side of the hand that can't grab or manipulate--the side that is more acted upon than does the acting.

The second part of the series will be the topographical map of who we are between life and death. The choices we make that show who we are and what we believe. For this, I will photograph the INside of the hand, the part that grips and manipulates and carries out the commands of the mind, heart, and soul. The lines, fingerprints, crevices, and calluses, that give a unique map of the individual.

2007-11-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

To be an abstraction does not mean that an entity is nothing.
It merely means that its existence is only a factor
of a more concrete element of nature.
Alfred Whitehead

fleshgrain

2007-09-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Time can make soft that iron wood.
Edna St. Vincent Millay

handstone

2007-09-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

The hostile attitude of conquering nature ignores the basic

interdependence of all things and events---

that the world beyond the skin

is actually an extension of our own bodies---

and will end in destroying the very environment

from which we emerge and upon which our whole life depends.
--Alan Watts

John's hands

2007-09-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

John 7:24

Judge not according to the appearance,

but judge righteous judgment.

John

hand of god: trinity

2007-08-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for

among old parchments or musty records.

They are written, as with a sunbeam,

in the whole volume of human nature,

by the hand of the Divinity itself,

and can never be erased or

obscured by mortal power.

Alexander Hamilton

unclean

2007-08-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Clean your finger before you point at my spots.

Benjamin Franklin

Sand Hand

2007-08-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

To see a world in a grain of sand

And heaven in a wild flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake (1757 - 1827)

clean hands

2007-06-04T09:18:00.001-07:00

Send the harmony of a Great Desire

vibrating through every fiber of your being.

Pray for a task that will call forth your faith, your courage,

your perseverance, and your spirit of sacrifice.

Keep your hands and your soul clean,

and the conquering current will flow freely.

Thomas Dreier

hands of time

2007-05-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be,

The last of life, for which the first was made:

Our times are in His hand Who saith,

'A whole I planned, Youth shows but half;

trust God: See all, nor be afraid!'

Robert Browning

poetry in flesh

2007-05-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

To understand is to perceive patterns.

Plato

handprints

2007-04-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

Men are tattooed with their special beliefs like so many South Sea Islanders; but a real human heart with divine love in it beats with the same glow under all the patterns of all earth's thousand tribes.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

handscapes

2007-04-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

All of our actions take their hue from the complexion of the heart, as landscapes their variety from light.

Francis Bacon

painted flesh

2007-04-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

The most important kind of freedom

is to be who you really are.
You trade in your reality for a role...
You give up your ability to feel
and in exchange
put on a mask

Jim Morrison

in my skin

2007-04-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

Packed in my skin from head to toe

Is one I know

and do not know.
Edwin Muir

wild artwork

2007-03-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

Weber State University International Exhibit, "Being In Body", January 2006

algorithmic flesh

2007-03-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

Sony Digital Art International Exhibit

Tipping the Point:Digital Art Becomes Art Made Digitally