Category Archives: Abstract

Time out for Art

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Les and his trumpet!

Les and his trumpet!

This is a sketch of my husband, Les playing his trumpet while at a concert.  I thought it might make an interesting abstract painting.

This post was inspired by Zebra Designs and Destinations...

 

Day 14: To Whom It May Concern,

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To whom it may concern,

Today on impulse (The word of the day from page 29), I’m choosing to play hooky!IMG_0128

Having several projects that are due by the end of the month, I need some time to complete them.  My art has gone by the wayside in an effort to be a better, more interesting writer, but today I’m picking up the paint brush instead of playing with the black keys of my computer.

Sincerely, Karen

Going Back…

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Going Back…

This afternoon as I was thinking about writing a post, and most definitely struggling with content.  As I reread some of my old posts,  I was stunned to realize that I had actually written them.  The content was familiar, and I could feel the words, but I couldn’t believe I wrote them.

On one post, I wrote about our trip to the Island of Kauai, and on another the day we picked up my son, Dennis from the airport after he made his first CD.

So whats your point?

I sitting here wondering if my writing is getting better, or worse?  Just like the paintings I create.  If you go back and revisit old works of art, often it is unbelievable  to think you had created them in the first place.  They aren’t all great, some of them I can actually believe it was me who painted them.  That’s painful to admit!

 Who did those, it couldn’t have been me!

But in fact it was me, in both cases.  When I write I pour my heart out just like when I paint!  It may be good at the time, or a struggle at that time, it depends.    Sometimes we don’t even realize how much of an effort it is until it unfolds.

Art is different for me because when I struggle,  I always know it!  It’s great when it flows, but that doesn’t always happen.  Sometimes I struggle painfully with something, a concept, a start, or maybe even more than that!

The Abstract Dancer has already taken two or three sharp left turns.  I have ideas, and who knows if they will work, but it’s better to try something than nothing!  Right? By posting this online, maybe it will shake me loose, and drive me to work on it!  I’m trying to avoid doing the Jackson Pollock thing to it.

At least that is my hope.  So someday when I look back on prior posts, I can look at this one and remember how I was struggling to pull it all together, and make Abstract Dancer a real painting!  Someday maybe I can read this post, and say to myself,  I did pull it together, and that Abstract Dancer is exactly what I had envisioned!

 

Finished or Not Finished?

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The Practice Never Ends!

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Model for the day!

Model for the day!

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Over the weekend, my friend and Art Sister, LaRetta took a class at the ArtBeat on Main Street in Vista. It’s a trendy gallery that the area is much in need of!  Scott Pryor was the artist,  and we were fortunate to have Billy as our model. Billy even brought his little dog, “Kilo” with him. Kilo spent the day visiting with everyone, and protecting the gallery from imminent danger!   Standing on concrete from 9am until 4pm,  left us all exhausted and ready to break out the wine…

But the wine had to wait!

Cleaning up all our supplies, packing them into the car, and driving home was about all we were good for,but we did it!

It has been years since my life drawing classes and my only thought was,  “Crap, how am I going to do this?”  Kicking my ego to the curb, I dug in like I knew what I was doing, and had a great time!  There were only including the instructor, so it was small enough to watch, ask questions, and paint without bumping into someone else.  Since my easel is far too large to be stuffed into the car, borrowing one from the gallery seemed like a good idea.

Believe it or not,

I  had to get help to set the easel up!  All my portable easels were old watercolor easels, and would never work for all it needed to do!  Once the gallery  easel was up, I set about fixing the acrylic paint so it wouldn’t dry out. Retarder  was the item of the day, and that was a   Snap!…

This isn’t perfect, far from it, but it was my first try at painting a portrait on location without the help of a sketch to get started!  There is much to be learned from painting this way, least of all – “ pay attention! “

Will I be doing this again?

You bet I will!  I had so much fun, and I love the idea of doing a painting in a day!  That’s why I loved abstract so much, get in, get out!  And it’s done!  However, once again it’s Practice, Practice, and more Practice!

The practice never ends!

My Apologies..For My Learning Style Post

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This morning I posted an article titled, “My Learning Style.” As I read through it, editing it all the way, making changes to the typos, it looked perfect! Big laugh….. Automatically a copy is sent to my mailbox, and usually read, just to get another perspective on what I’ve written. But this morning..…I gasped when […]

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