Gallery Juana - photography & art

Suibokuga,　"水墨画,"　is Chinese Ink Painting in Japanese. The kanji literally translate into water ink painting. I did this painting last month. The rice paper is very thin, so I had to paint quickly and be careful to not have too much water on my brush.

I finished this piece last night. I started out doing a painting of cherries on rice paper, but I didn't like how the background had turned out. I had previously gessoed and glued gold-inlaid rice paper to watercolor paper (140lb). I cut the watercolor paper to an ACEO size card, then cut out the cherries and stems and glued them to the card. My first ACEO card! All the gold makes it difficult to get a good jpg with my digital camera. A scanner is on my wishlist. cherries/stems: watercolor, ink, acrylic on rice paper support: gold-inlaid rice paper glued on gessoed watercolor paper (140lb) close-up of cherry on left which shows texture of background:

My news today! I have opened an Etsy shop: GalleryJuana I will be adding other items weekly if not daily. I hope to have paypal set up within 48 hours.

I started experimenting with collage several years ago, but hadn't really focused on collage until recently. I enjoy collaging for the change of pace and the new perspective that it gives me. I have some flexibility when doing my figure paintings on rice paper with mixed media, but the act of painting is more visual than it is tactile. Collage provides a release of tension; painting feeds it. Recently, I got stuck on what to do next on a wip collage, so I went searching the internet for blogs that could offer inspiration and instruction. Here is what I found: Julie has culled the internet resulting in this Collage ClearingHouse blog . She provides articles with pictures and links to other collage sites on the web. It is a good place to start for inspiration. Neda K. Doany provides an excellent tutorial on how to do a collage at Papiers Colles . Her mixed media collages will also inspire you. Runaway Moon is another blog with great works by the artist which will definitely ins

Since I use rice paper in all my paintings and collage pieces, I thought I would see how other artists are using rice paper in their mixed media art works. I found several artists who have inspired me. Elis has experimented with using rice paper in her mixed media wood blocks. I love her use of color and texture in these wood blocks. Cathy uses rice paper in her collage pieces on plexi. Her new summer series is very beautiful. Betsy uses an image printed on rice paper in this collage piece. Her marriage of color and texture is very artistic. Jon has experimented with direct fish skin rubbings on rice paper. His approach to art is very original. Where to order rice paper? If in the U.S., I like to use Oriental Art Supply . "artnd rice paper"" "creative uses of rice paper"

Collage (rice paper, watercolor, gouache) on Canvas Board 46 cm height x 38 cm width Copyright © 2007 Juana Almaguer.

I am in the midst of making another major life decision. The questions of "Where do I go from here?" and "How soon do I make a decision?" have been on my mind. Currently, I work as an ESL teacher in Japan and try to get to my art when I can. All the possible choices have been fired down to this: Do I spend one more year of work in Japan? or Do I quit work next year, then move to Mexico and do my art full time? I have become comfortable with my life in Japan. The main reason for moving is to be closer to family. Moving to Mexico rather than my hometown in California would enable me to be close to family and work on my art full-time. I have spent the last two days browsing blogs and have run across two very life-changing blogs. The first is http://brooksbest.blogspot.com/ This is a blog about a very personal struggle with terminal cancer. I, myself, lost my Father to cancer this year in March. Life changed from that point. I could really relate to Brook's statem

Lately, I have had an interest in drawing and painting pears. Even though I don't like the taste, I love the shape of pears. These are small paintings: 12 cm long x 8.5 cm high. (watercolor, gouache on rice paper) painting rice paper