Going with the flow....

Yesterday I did not get any painting to speak of done. For Mother's Day, my husband got me a new cookbook. In his defense, it is the first cookbook he's ever gotten me, and he got it because we had watched the author's TV show on Create! and everything she made looked wonderful! It is a 'Latin Flavors' cookbook, and we had watched her make flan, which I especially wanted to try. So at about 1:00 I started to make the caramel for the flan. I was to go paint with the Alzheimer's patients at 3:00, and figured I'd have plenty of time, even though the cookbook said to 'be patient' in making the caramel. It didn't say that 'patient' meant that it would take an hour-and-a-half for it to go from sugar to caramel!!!!! (Constant attention and stirring required.) If you click on the photo above, you can see that Bugs Bunny on my teakettle is finding my frustration very amusing! Needless to say, I threw the flan in the oven just in time to grab my bag and run out the door to paint - without make-up or combed hair. The flan turned out fine, though, and was even better for breakfast this morning.

I also made the Garlic Chicken, which, if you like garlic (and we do!) was delicious! And easy.... though it used 10 cloves of garlic for 4 servings, so I had to put the fan on to air out the house later.

After dinner, we went again to JUCO. It was finally baseball weather! Clear skies, we had a view of reflected sunset on the Grand Mesa from our seats, the crowd was great, and 'our team' won!



Today, I need to finish framing the gallery pieces, and paint a bit. After all, we have leftovers, so no slaving over the stove for the day!

Underpainting...

Today I did an under-painting for a piece that will be of a flower seller in Pike Market in Seattle. I don't usually do under-paintings. I usually paint directly, either over a wet wash or over a dry solid color of acrylic. When I do a larger piece, like this one will be, I generally have drawn the piece up, and paint from the upper left corner, downwards to the lower right corner, trying to complete the part of the image I'm working on to completion in one go. But today I felt that this image would work better with an under-painting. So, using a big brush, I blocked in the areas and general shapes of color all over the canvas. I spent just about an hour on it. It is 12 x 16". I'm pretty happy with the under-painting. The trick will be to add just enough details to enhance it, and not too many, to keep from destroying these fresh colors that will be underneath.

Under pressure....

Today's effort... an 8x10" oil on masonite painting of boats, taken at Rockport, MA at the same time and place as I took the picture I worked from on the "Rockport Skiffs" tapestry (which is the one that was stolen.) I don't like this image as much as the other one, but didn't want to do the same one again.

I am starting to feel the 'pressure' of being a full-time artist. For the most part, I have always chosen when and if to take on deadlines. And of course, that is also true this time, but, having signed a year's contract to keep a gallery space filled, I feel the need to keep working. One reason is that, being a relatively new painter, I do not have a stockpile of paintings to draw from. Most of what I have done that is 'good enough' will be hung on June 1st. But the contarct says that, if a piece sells, I am to fill it's spot with another one immediately. Since oils take awhile to dry (several weeks, minimum) I need to be creating a bit of a reserve, 'just in case'... I suspect that if any sell over the summer, with the huge number of tourists that will be coming and going through there, it will be the small ones. So I am working to get a bit ahead on those. But I definately do not have a reserve of larger pieces, so I need to work a bit on those, too. They take longer to paint, and they also seem to take longer to dry, for some reason (I must pile more paint on them.)

Anyway, it is interesting to be in this position. The only time I have felt this kind of pressure to produce in tapestry was when working on a commission. But even that is different, because the design is already chosen before the work begins, and I am only creating one 'thing.' This pressure to create something new and different pretty much every day is wild! It is making me use creative muscles that are somewhat sore from disuse!

And we still have company, and are going to one JUCO game daily, too. Life... and baseball... must go on.

Moving ahead...

I have turned my back on yesterday's horror, and have moved on to today's little painting. It is of some flowers (Gerberas, I believe?) that my lovely niece, Megan, gave my mother and me on Mother's Day when I was in California. She gave us each a handful, and we put them in a little green vase when we got back to Mom's house. I set them outside on the porch rail the next morning and shot a few photos of them, as their bright red was irresistible.

The painting, which I am calling "Meggie's Flowers," is 5x7" and is an oil on gessoed masonite. I gessoed the board myself this time, and left a lot of texture in it. There is also a lot of texture from the palette knife that I used while painting a good deal of the piece. (Click on it to see an overload of texture!) I like the texture. I like the color. I think I'm happier with my work today. Sigh... what a relief! Even though you expect to create some disasters, when you do such a spectacular one as I did yesterday, it is almost frightening to go back into the studio! Can't have that!! Must move on.....

Struggle!

I don't think I have ever struggled so hard on a painting as I have on this one, and it shows. I normally would have given up on it, but I really wanted this one to work - maybe because I spent so much money (and time) on this piece of canvas! (I am a bit 'cheap.') I am quitting on it for now... will let it dry and then reassess it. But I'm not happy with it, and I'm not sure why. Oh, well. You're supposed to create an awful lot of failures for each 'success,' so I guess this one leads me closer to my next good one! (And it does fit into that awful lot...)

I do know that I have been liking the quick little pieces better lately than I have liked the larger ones. It is hard for me to paint quickly and loosely with bigger pieces. But I need to figure it out. I may just have to chalk this one up as a learning experience.

Little Frog...

As I'm working hard to get things gallery-ready, and am even trying to finish up some work (which probably won't be dry in time to hang), I don't have time this week to do a separate Illustration Friday sketch. (I also have company, and we are at the beginning of JUCO week today.) So I'm going to post this piece, which I think I posted for IF before while it was in progress. It is 12x12"and is on a deeper gallery edged canvas, so I won't frame it. I have just painted the edges black with some bits of color here and there (see the photo below.) I'm doing another one that way now, as well. I like not framing them. Saves me money, and I also like the informal look it gives. I think it's appropriate for this piece. The title is "Little Frog in the Fountain."

Where will this take me?

Today I contracted to provide oil paintings to a local gallery for a year's time. It is a very good gallery, and I am a bit intimidated by it. The other thing that intimidates me a bit, is that I will be, locally at least, changing the definition of who I am. When people ask me what I do, I have always said that I am a tapestry designer and weaver. Now, I am expected to attend and participate in gallery events as a painter. I have known some wonderful tapestry artists who took up painting, as I have done, mainly to enhance the design process, and who have over time drifted completely away from the loom, becoming 'only' painters. The decision was always an economic one. Their paintings sold, and their tapestries did not.

As I have signed a year's contract, I will be painting more, and that means I will probably be weaving less. I don't know what that will mean for my future as a tapestry artist, but it did seem the right time for me to take this step. I do not have galleries clamoring for my tapestries, and there are fewer and fewer exhibits for me to enter them in, and the process is becoming more and more expensive. With my husband's retirement coming around a very close corner, these things need to be considered.

I didn't get a chance to paint much today or yesterday. I'm still working on the bakery piece, and, since I can't see the goodies in the photo I've been working from, I searched these two images out to pull a few yummy things from. The top image is a photo I took in a pâtisserie booth at a Farmer's market in Quebec. I took the lower one in a bakery in San Jose last week when I was there with my folks for the Connections opening. I thought I'd share them, so you could drool over them, too! I'm having a hard time not jumping up from the easel and running to the kitchen to bake!