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These last few weeks have been busy crazy for me, and there hasn’t been much art created in my studio lately. With surprise Birthday Parties for my grandson, and my friend Margaret, only a little progress has been made on anything I’ve been working on. The assemblag is just about to where it starts getting […]
Anyone who knows me, knows I haven’t been very productive in quite a while. I’ve tried, but somehow I just haven’t been able to find inspiration…until now!
A couple of months ago, I signed up to be part of the Sketchbook Project!
For the last few summers I have watched each year as this project unfolds, and in the back of my mind, thinking one year I would join in. This was that year! Of course, I needed another project, but what better time to start an art project than when you’re busy, right? My thinking was that it is only 32 pages, and certainly a little project like that would be a snap for me! The other thing is, we are all busy all the time anyway, so why wait?
After getting back into our home since having bamboo floors laid in the entire house (studio included), I think I’m ready to start thinking about putting pen to paper, and leaving my mark on whatever community it will be going to. That’s not to say that everything is perfect in our home. After all, some of the paintings still remain stacked in the corner waiting to find their rightful place on the wall. The livingroom looks new, and fresh. I’ve changed things around, replaced some things, and gotten rid of others. It feels like a new home to me, and now I’m ready to get back to sketching, and painting!
It’s interesting how something like this can give us an entire new outlook on just about everything, and I find myself energized, and inspired!
Who knows how long it will take me to complete this sketchbook. The project needs to be mailed back by January 15, 2014, so I really do have plenty of time. Anything goes this time, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do, anything, whatever feels right! Poetry, sketches, collage, ink, pen, you name it.
In the next few weeks, or maybe I should say, next couple of months, I’ll be posting the pages I work on, and you can tell me what you think. Make suggestions, I’m always open for comments, in fact I love getting comments, it keeps me motivated!
Sketchbook Project
This little Sketchbook will be going to the Central Part of the Mid-West!
So for now,….. Start a project, and share it with me! I’ll be back!
Certainly twenty, or thirty years ago my life was much busier, so what makes this time more hectic, or why do I seem to have less time? One reason could be, I don’t have as much energy as I ounce had, or maybe I’m trying to do too much, and not getting anything accomplished in the end! All that Bee Pollen makes me go in circles!
What ever it is, it’s time for a change!
I keep busy, and at the end of the day, I’m ready to slow down. The thing is, I haven’t made time, or felt like I had the time for my creativity! What I love to do the most, is something I haven’t done in quite a while. Quite a while could mean a week to me!
I’ve been working on my garden…
Spending time with three of my grand-kids…
Shopping…I had to buy new dishes…
AND, A couple of times one of my girlfriends, and myself signed up for an evening of painting while drinking wine! Oh yeah, it was fun! I can’t say any of my paintings will ever hand in La Louvre, but after drinking wine, who cares?
I’m still working on the Hacienda painting, and if I don’t start playing with it, I’m sure it will go into the stack of canvases that are all screaming at me to finish them!
All the time, I still have a dog, and a cat, and a husband that needs to be cared for, and get attention!
So what now?
Then it suddenly occurred to me…….at 4:30 this morning
Instead of laying awake until 7:30 in the morning so I don’t disturb my husband, I need to get up, have my tea, and paint! Or even write, anything would be an improvement! I use to do this a long time ago, but our home is small now, and any noise seems to disturb him. So for Fathers Day, I’ve decided to buy him – ear plugs! And, start getting up really early when my creative juices are flowing!
That should do it!
!
I said there were many unfinished canvases in my studio, and I was planning on finishing them. The more they sat there, the more I started to think, “If they haven’t said anything so far, maybe even they don’t know where to go with themselves!” So I grabbed a second unfinished painting, and gessoed over it. Ha! I’ll show it! Gessoed over it very lightly, so the under layer of a mix of Quinacridone Burnt Orange, and Quinacridone Gold still showed through in places. Then the sky came to life with some light blue, and next but not last, I lightly brushed in some violet, orange, and yellow. That ‘s just the sky!
Now the trees!
The larger trees were already roughed in with tissue paper, so my decision to paint trees was already made. I just followed through, and added some more trees, but decided to emphasize the bigger trees since they were standing out in the first place. No big decisions there! At some point, my thoughts have gone to, “Enough time wasted on this, let’s get down to business!” While I love to keep playing with my trees, I also want to decide on what to do next, and start something else!
My ideas are all over the place, and usually I tend to jump in feet first, sink or swim……usually sink! It would be nice to do a little more planning for the next one. The funny thing is, I love the spontaneity of not knowing where I’m going, or how I’ll get there. I love letting the painting take the lead, with Happy Accidents at the finish of the painting! The very thing I love the most, is the very thing that trips me up the most! Is it the planning that is the problem, or is it the subject matter? Or, am I not listening?
How many of you have the same problem, or do you have answers that I hadn’t thought of? Let me know because I’ve been struggling here, and someone must have answers….
The trees are speaking……
After playing with lighting, and watching my trees, I pretty much decided to keep playing with them. My trees are not finished, but still need shadows, more lights, and darks!
While I’m finishing up my trees, I’m also getting ready for another class. This class will be all day at ArtBeat on Main Street. This is a fairly new gallery in the heart of Vista, Ca, that took me by surprise when I walked in. The ladies that own tArtBeat are down to earth, and easy to know. They seem to have put together a gallery rarely seen in this area! It really belongs further south in Del Mar, or La Jolla. It’s that classy! So when my friend, and artsy sister said she was taking this class, at her urging I checked it out, and was pleasantly surprised. The artist teaching will be Scott W. Prior, an artist well known in the art community.
We’ll talk…
And more practice!
Recently I was in a workshop at the Artist Tree in San Marcos. The artist giving the class was Cathy Carry, and if you aren’t familiar with her work, please take time and look her up. Cathy has a distinct style that I haven’t seen in too many present day artists. I’ve always been interested in her work for a number of reasons.So when the opportunity presented itself for this half day class, I jumped on it, and I wasn’t disappointed!
In my February 4 post, I talked about the class, and a little about my history with Cathy Carry.
Last week one of my paintings that wasn’t working, just found itself with a fresh coat of gesso on it, and the beginning of not just a new painting, but a new technique! It started out so well, and just like anything else one is trying to master, went downhill……. There isn’t much else to do to it at this point, except maybe gesso over it once again. However, I’m not going to do that.
Here is Why!
When I’m working on a new technique, I like to look at it, analyze it, let it sink in, and give it a chance to talk to me. That is my process, and in doing that I can see things I don’t want repeated, things I might do differently next time, or even things I really love about the painting. This painting has all of that! I have posted pictures from beginning to end, and I don’t think I’m going to go any further on it, but rather keep it so I might be reminded of what direction I want to go, and what direction I never want to go again!
The pictures are also an attempt at stomping back my ego, and get over myself! After all you can’t be perfect right out of the gate, and how can I develop a style if I don’t practice, practice, practice?
Taking pictures of my work as I’m painting is one of the ways I find things that might, or might not be working. I’ve done this for years, and it has helped me a great deal. As I’m gathering the pictures to include in this post, I’m seeing new things that I like, and things I realize now I don’t want to repeat. So thank you one and all for prompting me to keep writing, and to me for listening to you. I’m learning as I sit here and blog!
P.S….As I look at this painting, and trying to figure out what isn’t working, I’m seeing many things that I hadn’t seen before. I said it was finished, but I’m going to play with it just a little more, and then my intentions are to leave it alone, call it finished, and learn from it!
Weeks ago I signed up for a short four-hour workshop with Cathy Carey. Cathy is a working artist, with her paintings in many galleries! She is known for the way her paintings sing with color and movement. Many years ago she offered a one day workshop to “Paint Like Monet!” I jumped all over that, and was amazed at the results. This is when I was still painting in watercolor, and hadn’t dabbled in acrylics,or learn what they could do! So when I overheard her tell someone else that she was giving a half day workshop, I hopped right on it!
I have admired Cathy for her use of color, and how she marries opposites together for many years, and now I have the opportunity to learn more from her!
This weekend was the class I signed up for, and I was excited to be there!
What transpired was a fun morning with each artist having their own spin on the same subject. What I learned were things I already knew, but never put together in this way! I don’t profess to be anywhere in the same category as Cathy Carey, but you have to start somewhere, right? Especially since I’m all over the place with my art! This class, and what Cathy was teaching certainly spoke to me – Big Time! The pictures of my art reflect the process. I’m sure you will agree how far I need to go, but the results were fun, and I’m planning to keep working on her technique! I love color!!!
I have to admit, since I’m in love with color, I really like the second to the last photo. The one with all the opposites, before the final color is applied. To me it’s a lot more exciting, and it sings, to me!
Old as Dirt and Proud of it! 
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