Going From This to That...

Here is the painting that I was working on the other day. I didn't really like where it was going so I went elsewhere. That peach around the edges really was disturbing me. I don't know why. I just wanted to get rid of it. So I queued up Amazon Prime and started watching episodes of "Dead Like Me" until I got bored of that and switched to "Galaxy Quest". I love that movie...

And this is what happened while I was watching. (See below). I also don't know whether I am finished with this. So I will let it sit for a while and stare at it from time to time while I mess around with other projects...

Sketchbook Envy...

Lately I've been looking through this book, "Sketching from the imagination" edited by 3DTOTALPUBLISHING. I gifted it to myself at Christmas-ordering from Amazon and throwing it into my husband's closet when it arrived(My favorite way of ensuring I get what I want...). 

It caused a severe case of sketchbook envy. I love checking out other artist's studios and their sketchbooks and I'm always amazed at the intricacy of some-ok let's face it-most of their drawings. I'm more of a "bare bones" type sketchbook person, as seen by the sketch of one of my projects below. Granted, it is not a painting so it was more plotting and gathering ideas and suggestions of materials. I also tend to sketch with really light pencil so I put in black and white so you could see the actual sketch.

I wonder about the amount of time they devote to their sketches and whether or not they are a basis for a painting. Are they going to cover up all that beautiful drawing with paint? Or are they just messing around? I think I am too impatient for that. Here are a few sketches that are intended for paintings or have ended up as one.

Future painting

And another....

Preliminary sketch of Crow Maiden

Finished Crow Maiden

And that's as complicated as it gets.

Plants and Projects are Springing Up All Over

Well this winter has been a mother...and I don't mean that in a kind, devoted, and loving way. Didn't get much painting done. I felt like I was hibernating in my studio-gathering ideas and images-but little else. Then over the last week, the snow has melted, the sun has come out and plants are bursting through the surface. Now it's a race to get the garden cleaned up before the plants get too tall. In the meantime, I've got several projects I've been working on in the studio too.

Started working on this piece a couple weeks ago and have been gathering and testing materials on it. I want to kind of weave a sky between the two branches. Discovered wire won't work-not enough tension. Trying embroidery thread next.

Then I started cleaning up the frames I've been collecting from friends, the dump and wherever. I think I can stop for a while...

Don't know where I'm going with this one below. Just playing with some colors, drips, and splotches.

Again with colors and plant shapes. We all know they won't end up looking like this...

This one is based on a photo I took of the swamp in the woods last fall. Still needs lots of work, but the colors are in the right places...

 Hopefully I will be able to keep up with it all. I feel like I'm in a race but I don't know who I'm competing with... I would like this to be a calm creative summer. There is no wedding to plan. No guests scheduled. Just a lot of painting and gardening.

What I'm Working On Wednesday...

Remember this monstrosity? Another old painting coverup. This time of a young woman with an unfortunately long face...

With a little time and regrets of the bygone summer (Where did it go so fast ? I swear we were just in August), the green blob evolved into this painting of digitalis or foxgloves...

I added a little more detail with a Prismacolor pencil at the end, but all in all, I think it turned out OK!

What I'm Working On Wednesday...

So I thought that since I'm struggling so much to sit down and actually blog a couple times a week, I would give myself a theme like "Throwback Thursday" in order to entice myself to blog on. I came up with "What I'm working on Wednesday". Not the cleverest of themes, but it works for me-I hope.
So here's another project that I've recently completed. I haven't even named it yet, so if you have any suggestions-let me know.
This project started off like several of mine lately. It was a redo of an old painting that I no longer liked. I had read an article in Cloth Paper Scissors about adding different textures to your canvas. This involved covering the canvas with masking tape and the gessoing it. When I last blogged about it, it looked like this:

Guess I was channeling the holidays and thinking of a snow scene. Well that didn't last long and the snow turned into woods...

And then the woods got a little crazy and turned into a moonlit scene...

Paint was dripped and a tad of glitter was added and then she was done.

Preparation for "Off the Grid"...

I'm not really going off the grid, although I used to harbor fantasies of that in my younger days. Too much reading of "My Side Of the Mountain" I guess. No, these are the pieces I have been working on for Artstream Gallery's "Off the Grid" show which opens this Friday Dec. 6th. I am so excited to be included. As a friend pointed out, this is the second time I have shown my work this year. How's that for throwing yourself out to the universe?
I have been working on these pieces for the past couple of months-ever since my friend Susan gave me the invitation.  Here is my process:

early concept-rejected because it was too literal

So one of the requirements was that we were allowed to submit up to 4 pieces. They also had to be a maximum of 6"x6". A challenge for me because I usually don't work so small.

I cut and then prepared the boards with a couple coats of gesso...

The concept that eventually came to me was that I wanted to paint a young woman pressing up against the proverbial glass ceiling, trying to break free of rules, confinement, strictures-the grid. I enlisted daughter #3 as model and took some photos of her from above. I selected 4 photos and based the drawings on them.

Photo, prepared board, and drawing

More photos and boards...

Starting to actually paint the figures was scary. I was afraid I was going to screw it up or make some irreparable mistake which I guess was silly because then I could just paint over it...

So I painted on fortified with the occasional glass of wine...

I decided to add the detail with prismacolor pencils so I could have more control. It also added an interesting layer of texture to the painting. I protected the pencil layer with a layer of acrylic medium and then added the glass ceiling after I had a glue trial with my glass and brass bits. I now own more glue than I will ever need...at least until the next project.

The finished pieces...Glass Ceiling #1, #2, #3, #4

Glass Ceiling #1

Glass Ceiling #2

Glass Ceiling #3

Glass Ceiling #4

Getting Ready for the Big Time...

High excitement at Working Cat Studio. I was invited to participate in a local exhibit during the month of December. It is called "Off the Grid" and the theme is--you guessed it. Grid. It's the first time I have been asked to join in such an event and I'm super psyched. Is that even cool to say anymore? Whatever. I am. So we are allowed to submit four 6"x 6"boards which is a lot smaller than I usually work. That is my first challenge. My second is to complete what I envision for my entries. I have an idea but I don't know whether it is beyond my skills. I am going to go for it. Don't know whether I should make back up entries in case it doesn't pan out. Does anybody else do that? And holy crap, I've got to price them...
Oh well we will leave that to the last minute...like usual.

Sketching some ideas...

Preparing boards...with some extras.(just in case)

Gessoing the boards.

Stages...

That's a painting?!
Umm...not yet. It will be when I'm done, but it's got a long way to go. At least a dozen walks, countless sessions on Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming episodes of series that do not tax the brain too much and get you "in the zone", multiple cups of tea and coffee, and long sessions in the thinking chair deliberating on what to do next.

Thinking chair-complete with fuzzy blanket and pillows

Sometimes I believe that people think that paintings and other projects spring fully formed from the artist's head like Athena from Zeus (Don't get the reference? Greek mythology. Look it up. Lots of fun. Sorry. It's the librarian and the mom in me...) Or they think it's sort of like a coloring book. We draw the outline and fill in the colors. If only it were that easy...Sometimes you do have a vision what the finished project should look like and when you do try to put it down on canvas, paper, your media of choice-it never ends up looking like what you envision. That's when I feel like I have settled. Either because I have made peace with my mind and what I actually have created or because I have realized that I do not have the technical skills yet to complete it. But maybe someday in the future I will and I will try again.

Most projects evolve with many layers. The painting, uh background above started out like this:

I made this for an online class a couple of years ago and I can't stand looking at it any more. She has a really long face and crazy hair but the husband made a nice wooden support for it so I decided to recycle/reuse and covered it with lots of green paint. I've got a goal in mind so we'll see how long it takes me to get there.

Another project I started is this:

I think this had cute little bunnies on it and was headed to my daughter's room when she was 10 but I got sidetracked for about 10 yrs and decided to experiment with texture so I covered it with masking tape and gesso, put a layer of blue paint on it, and dabbed it with paper towel. I stared at it for a couple of days and decided it looked like a snow scene, so I added a layer of white acrylic along the bottom:

It seemed as though there was a cottage along the snow line, so I sketched that in too:

Who knows where it will go from here? That's the fun part. And if you don't like it-you can cover it up and start again. Hopefully I will have enough courage to go with the vision and try to make it come alive. There are more than enough seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation to make it so...

Summer's End...

Fall already? I guess so. It's my favorite season. Time to set new goals for the year even though I'm not going back to school. I just want to sharpen those pencils, straighten up that studio and start creating. And my birthday is coming up. Guess I shouldn't be so excited about that at this point in my life, but I go out to dinner and I splurge on myself and hey if the husband wants to splurge on me too-I'll let him.

So I haven't blogged in a while. After the big June blowout (mentally/emotionally) of my library show, I hung up my paintbrushes for a while. And then about an hour or so later began making and creating for daughter # 1's wedding-reception to be held in our backyard. It was a long hot rainy summer with the wedding to be held on the last weekend in July. The daughters and I crafted our hearts out.

We covered, stamped, and tagged jam for wedding favors.

We made signs and containers for wedding cards.

We framed wedding portraits of the bride and groom's parents and grandparents.

We created a guest tree to sign instead of a guest book so they would have a piece of art to hang on the wall.

We decorated the stairs with blackboard paint, chalk, and an appropriate wedding quote.

We made pies and cookies.

We made signs for the wedding.

And then it was over. Bride married and gone. Guests gone, daughters 2 thru 4 remained until just this past Monday and I am finally cleaning up my house and putting my studio back in order. There was a little foray to adult sleep away camp which will be  continued next time. I know. The suspense is killing you.