Daily summer painting #3...

Another 5x7" oil on gessoed masonite. Lilacs from my garden in a small lilac vase I splurged on for small bouquets. I used the palette knives for lots of texture again (which you can see better if you click on the photo to enlarge it- but then you'll be viewing it larger than life. Remember, it's only 5"x7".) ... Fun to do!

I spent most of the day cleaning my studio, as it had reached the point where the clutter was sapping my creativity. Enough was enough. Tomorrow I must attack the rest of the house, as it is doing the same to me, and we have company coming on Thursday. I will still try to do some painting each day, though.

An early morning Twilight rant...

OK, I'm going to admit from the beginning of this rant that I obsess. I am listening to Twilight as I work ... and, as I get further into it, I am deciding that it is not only not great literature, but I think it is one I would not want the young girls I care about to read. When I was an adolescent, I read everything I could get my hands on, including my mother's christian romance novels. They were also 'not great literature' but at least the message to girls was a good one: that you shouldn't settle for just any sleezebag that comes along to romance you, but should set high standards for someone you are going to build a lasting relationship with. (And setting high standards has worked well for me, by the way!)

The messages I am getting from Twilight are things like "No matter what the outcome is, I can no longer stay away from him" and "I know he's bad for me, and even dangerous, but I no longer care." Really! - in today's world, where there are men out there wanting to 'bite their pretty necks' and more, is this 'it's-OK-to-become-a-victim-for-true-love' attitude one that I want my grand-daughter's to get from what they read? What surprises the heck out of me are the number of adults who have read these books with their 11-year old daughters, and have seen the movie several times, and have told me they love it! Hey, you people, find smarter role models for your daughters! Hermione Granger may be a know-it-all, but she's nobody's willing victim! The world is a hard enough place for young girls, without them thinking they need to be victims. And to also lie to their parents to go be with this dangerous person - think about it... how is this something you want girls to read? Of course, I do admit that I haven't read the whole series - I doubt that I will. Listening to the romance scenes makes me gag. I can't keep from occasionally yelling at the dumb 'heroine' in a Transylvanian movie accent, "He vants to drink your blood, you dummy!"

OK, enough already of this morning's rant. I started the painting above yesterday, and will work a bit more on it today, in between laundry and house and garden work, which has been neglected much too long. I'm working from a very bad photo of a bakery, but I can see enough to paint by, and the lack of distracting details is actually helpful. So, back to the easel, and to yelling at this silly girl in the audiobook to stay away from vampires, or at least to stay away from horrible, poorly written books about them!

Today's experiment...

This morning, I have been drawing up a larger painting, which I need to begin, but I also took the time to do this small 5x7" oil on a piece of gesso board - which I LOVE! (The gesso board, not necessarily the painting.) I love it because I want the paint to have more texture than what I have been able to do on canvas, even when I gesso and prep the canvas. On this board the paint sits as I put it, so there is a lot of texture... very juicy! I have been too cheap to invest in much of the board, as it's expensive when you buy it pre-prepped, as this piece was. So I need to get out the gesso and begin coating my own board. The other drawback is that I will use more paint, putting it on a gessoed board... and it will take longer to dry. But I think it will be worth it! I may not go very large with it, though. Maybe I'll try an 8x10" one next. (Click on the painting to see it larger, if you want to see the texture better.)

I am happy with my painting-a-day for the summer plan so far... clear into day 2 now. HA! But it has taken me the whole morning to do this small painting, prep a canvas and begin drawing up a large painting. Maybe I will get more efficient as I get more experience.

I also must add a brag... my youngest son has just completed his nursing education to become an RN. He will be a wonderful one, as he has a generous and compassionate heart, as well as a photographic memory! Way to go, Andy!! Needless to say, we are proud of his choice to work in a service profession, and of his accomplishment to make it a reality.

Illustration Friday: Contagious

There is nothing more contagious than the giggle of a little girl!

I am using the IF topic as a prompt to do small oil sketches, as I am hoping to be able to paint daily through the summer to challenge myself to improve.

This little sketch is about 6x6", painted wet without any drawing. It is a very loose intrepretation of a photo of my youngest grand-daughter, who will be 3 in several weeks.

Back home... and gone away for good...

I am home again from a week with my parents, which included a quick trip to San Jose to the Connections opening. While I was gone, two of my early tapestries sold at the local Art Auction, to benefit the Western Colorado Center for the Arts. With times so difficult for Art organizations right now, I couldn't say 'no' to their plea this year. It is an auction to benefit the center, but it benefits the artists as well, as 60% of the sale comes back to the artist. The tapestries were beyond exhibition age, and I decided I would rather have them on someone's wall, than rolled up in my storage closet for who-knows-how-many years, so I was willing to risk a bit of a loss on them. They did OK for themselves in the auction, though they did not, of course, sell for full value.

They are "The Hunt" (above), which I wove after a series of work that was so colorful, I just couldn't deal with color for a bit. So this was a 'de-sensitizing' piece for me, I guess. I also was playing with using lazy lines (un-sewn slits) as a design element in this piece.




This piece is "The Yellow Canoe." It is from a camping trip with my brother's family at Kentla Lake in Glacier National Park, in Montana, where he lives. My husband and my brother are in the canoe, so now, in addition to selling my son, my parents, my siblings, myself, and my daughter-in-law, I have sold them too! In my house, pretty much everyone makes it to the marketplace.

Packing and shipping....

I am leaving tomorrow for the opening of the Connections: Small Tapestry International exhibit in San Jose, CA. So today I'm getting my things ready to go, and the house ready for me to be gone a for week, as I'll be visiting my parents as well.

Before I can go, I also have to get the tapestries shipped to the Fiber Celebration exhibit. Shipping is not a small job, as I've mentioned before. One of the pieces that is going is flat and is mounted, and the other is large, but can be rolled up, so they will probably be in separate crates, which is best for insurance anyway.

When I get home, I must begin a flurry of studio work. I will be showing, beginning June 1st, in the Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade, CO. It is the nicest gallery in this area, so I am excited to have been invited to show there. The summer season is very active in Palisade, beginning with a huge Bluegrass Festival, then a Peach festival (Palisade is where the wonderful Colorado fruit orchards are), a Wine festival (ditto for Colorado vineyards, which are becoming legend), and with concerts along the Colorado River and Farmer's Markets several times a week just across from the gallery all summer long. So I'm hoping the summer will find me in the business of keeping my space stocked, in spite of the poor economy. But today, I must pack and ship....

I do hope to see that some of you find your way to San Jose.... la, la, la, la la la la la la la! (And if you know what that refers to, you're probably as old as I am!)

Illustration Friday: Hierarchy

In my experience, there is nothing and nobody that has a higher rank in the world's hierarcy than a naked baby.... Especially in terms of being able to have your demands immediately met by all the underlings in attendance (and isn't that everybody who is there?)!

This is a watercolor sketch (from back in the days when I did watercolors) of my first grandchild after her bath.