Making Room for More

Ah, it’s time to start really thinning things out at home. I’ve tackled one corner of my room that has been bugging me for a good long time. It’s the space where I hold all my old art journals and writing journals.

art by FMAustin

A person can only have so much art before it starts to come out of places it shouldn’t, so I’m cleaning out the studio. Here’s what I’m doing, as much as it hurts to do so, some complete art journals are being tossed out while some are being kept. Some that are being thrown away have drawings taken out of them that I’ll keep.

As far as the journals that are being kept, they’re being stored in a waterproof and air tight container. The individual pieces are stored in a filing system thingamabob. In a day or two I will start scanning the individual pieces then put them up on Etsy.

Continue reading “Making Room for More”

Landfall Abstract Ocean Scene

This entry shows art two art pieces with a purpose. Rise, fall if I must. Stand to meet the challenge. What’s the challenge? I’ve got to get a hold of my stinking thinking. I have to change my outlook one single color at a time if necessary. While writing I felt a sense of urgency and desperation. I could all but see myself at a door grabbing the handle and pulling it, ripping at.

Lets talk more about the art at the root of these emotions.

Landfall

Landfall

Creating non objective abstract art started with a self challenge in June of 2014. I really wanted to create some of the beautiful art I was seeing, but it didn’t think I had it in me to do that type of art. When I first challenged myself I said I’d do 10 paintings. I wasn’t looking forward to it because it was as if I had no idea where to start, let alone know how to finish.

Though I’m still learning, I can say I have left behind the anxiety. I enjoy it creating non-objective abstract art. I find it soothing to create and I actually feel I know when to start. As a matter of fact I start non-objective abstract such as “Landfall” the same way I begin other art, with a single stroke.

I don’t think too hard and I sure don’t plan ahead. When it comes to art, if I plan ahead then I’m planning for a disaster. I start art with one single stroke and go from there. I paint from the hip…..not literally because that would be uncomfortable. My next challenge with abstracts is to paint them larger.  Continue reading “Landfall Abstract Ocean Scene”

Becoming Me – Lullaby Collection

Becoming fmaIt is common for me to blast color on paper, edge to edge with twisting and twirling images. Sometimes though, I paint art for children. The showcase piece today is called “Becoming Me”. Two other pieces are included in this entry as children’s art. Continue reading “Becoming Me – Lullaby Collection”

Like Girls Do – My Face My Art

To combine art scribbled in black ink, inked in with deep blue, crimson and yellow can be sobering. To add these art pieces as a collage over the face they affect was to show that Lupus is more than what you read on a blog. It’s more than the art itself. It’s not pretty. What this collage says for me is: for many, Lupus isn’t written so clearly on the face.

Like Girls MFMA

The digital collage is made up of the following art pieces.

In the collage called “Like Girls Do” there is a piece of writing that says in part:

Years of laughter and chit-chat captured in cards and letters with flowers and smiley faces like girls do…… half cursive, half print promises that nothing…. under a cardboard lid with edges worn and weary of holding our secrets, the last….. “

While the original art pieces are available in my Etsy shop or via PayPal, the collage is not for use or sale. But, don’t worry, I’m getting there. The writing is on the back of work in progress.

Faith

Please respect the copyright and Please respect the art’s wishes.

Some Things Aren’t Easy to Look At

Ariel knew d1 They just aren’t, some issues are so frightening that even in the line of the sun they are still pitch black, still frightening.

When I painted this child, I did so with full knowledge that she may not sell. I have a problem though, I can’t paint gentle art if that’s not what’s inside. So I did what I do. I painted what I know.

Little Ariel knew it would rain. How does a person with Fibromyalgia and /or Lupus know it’ll rain even without turning on the weather report? Our bones tell us. The pain level shoots up high. Our eye sight is affected. Our fingers, lips and toes get cold. The pain level shoots up so high and so fast that it’ll double the body over. What’s interesting to me is that I’m caught off guard every time.

I hold my side. I’m bending down, seconds from loosing lunch, but it hasn’t clicked. I don’t understand what’s happening to my body. When I try to get to the car I see its sprinkling, raining or even light snow. Now it makes sense. Finally I realize the weather system has changed  and that has affected my pain, my complexion, fingers, lips, eyes and my ability to think rationally. It’s as if I’ve been sucked in and can’t see my way out….  but not so fast. I can see my way out. Continue reading “Some Things Aren’t Easy to Look At”

The Hide and A Little While Longer

il_570xN.790567381_6p5vI look at the drawing called “The Hide” and question how much I should reveal concerning it’s symbolism. I’m sure if viewed long enough it will interpret itself without me or anyone else having uttered a word. However, if one word were to wrap up how I felt as the ink crossed on paper, that word would be vulnerable. Vulnerable is the dominant emotion felt when I display art that expresses Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Dissociative Identity Disorder.

My heart sinks with each intricate line that builds a fortress from the inside out. Figure after figure emerges with each level of lines. Though the staircase would appear to lead down to the central black figure, in my mind it leads up. The figure is in a fortress of her own making, and that fortress is….. I’m not sure how to end the sentence.

Continue reading “The Hide and A Little While Longer”

Gloria – The Other Child

Gloria ( Éponine ) fmaArt Title: Gloria
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Size: 5.5 × 8.5
Medium artists paper, Crayola Crayon, ink
signed on the front and back, heat sealed but no acrylic seal.

NOTE: The watermark lines that go through her face are not on the original painting.

The character Éponine is my second favorite character in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. For me, she stands for every person who has fallen just a few inches short of glory. She’s the most obvious choice because she’s been there from the beginning but the other person can’t see. Her love is loyal yet silent. She is heroic, selfless and always second.

Continue reading “Gloria – The Other Child”

She waited as long as she could

She waited fma

Art details:  Orange rays and white beams meet in the red sky. Down the middle grows an old oak tree where two red birds (cardinals) and a raven swirl between the branches above a solid white figure. From the figure extends points of light. Her hands reach up to the branches and grow into them. Two blue figures have fallen from the sky; they’ve joined the merge as well. Continue reading “She waited as long as she could”

Ashes – Hesitant to Speak

AshI know what I want from this painting but who knows how long it’ll take to reach the finish line.

24 x 36 on watercolor paper.

This young girl is made of ashes. She’s wearing a dress made of bits and pieces of this and that. There is burlap and there are wood shavings, colored paper and ink ‘spills’. In her arms she will carry a bouquet of red roses but not bright red. The young girl’s hair will change slightly. You can be sure I’ll pull the wolf (in the top right corner) out in more detail. He’s just a cloud formed above her. At this time there is only one raven in the sky and a few solar flares in the sky. The final question is, will she be for sale? I have no idea. Continue reading “Ashes – Hesitant to Speak”

Nala Original Art

Nala fmaArt Title: Nala
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Medium: Acrylic, ink, acrylic seal
11 x 14 Artist Board

I knew when I began this painting that I wanted a young girl to sit on the water’s edge with koi coming to meet her. I wanted a lot of texture with small details. To increase texture I added sand to her mahogany – rust colored pants. Her blouse is layer after layer of white paint and butter cream acrylic paint. This affect came together nicely to form a tunic top. Continue reading “Nala Original Art”