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.

Library Show 2013

I never thought I'd be writing that blog post title, but I did it. Got myself organized. Created, gathered and framed 24 pieces of my artwork and carted it off to our local library to be exhibited for the month of June. That was my goal for this year and I made it before my birthday in September. That's how everybody measures goals right? From birthday to birthday?  Anyway now that I'm a lady of leisure once again, I put together a slideshow of the pieces that I'm showing. Some of them are from photos I took at the library but most of the ones I took there did not turn out to be very good quality. It's hard to take photos when you are not at the same level as the paintings. So some of these are also from my studio, some when they were framed , some even earlier when they were not. Hope you enjoy it!

Whatever Feeds the Muse....

I tend to work two ways while painting. The first way, I am totally relaxed and sitting in front of my easel with a blank canvas and streaming a documentary or a television series that I don't have to concentrate too hard on in order to follow. So far I have re-watched the entire original series of Star Trek, I'm halfway through the fourth season of X-files, and have dipped into several other series, jumping around as the mood hits me.

I'm just playing and paint anything that comes out of the end of my brush in a stream of conscious sort of way.

The other method involves more planning. I see something-a piece of rusty metal, a photo, a tree, etc. and I have a germ of an idea. I walk with it, I plan it, I daydream about it. I sketch things, I research, I scribble little notes about it. And then when it all seems to be coming together in my head...I make the playlist. I love making playlists for my projects. They just get you in the mood. I have a playlist for mermaid paintings, for angel paintings. I have ones for specific paintings like "In My Father's House", "Fern Geisha", and "Our Lady of Mass Destruction".

Here's something I'm contemplating for my next project. I'm thinking that it's used as a mask...

Somehow the sadder the music is, the broodier it is-all the better. I don't like to watch sad or traumatic movies or read books like that...but I love a good auditory weep session. Coldplay and Keane are especially muse inducing. What kind of music do you like to listen to while creating?

A Little of This and a Little of That...

I got myself downstairs today finally and went into my studio to work. Only felt mild guilt for not being outside gardening. True, it was sunny, but there was a cool breeze blowing and that was enough to send me into the studio with no regrets. I did check on the new plants and there was some attrition. Two basil plants have left this earth. I don't think I will be ordering easily found herbs from that company anymore. Also the bird netting that I used to cover my new strawberry plants, seems to have deterred whomever was using that bed for their personal toilet. I have my suspicions....

Not me...

I am above such actions...

Finally inside, I set about trying to organize myself and attempting to tie up some loose ends. I have five paintings that are in various stages of completion. My one lady needed some more stars and a little shine one her hair. I think she actually might need another layer...

Then I added some excellent Japanese calligraphy to my Fern Geisha....Just kidding. I used a stamp.

Moving on I fiddled with my other project and decided to give that one a miss until tomorrow. Too many moving pieces...

And then I found another discounted frame during my travels today. I think it looks good on this painting.

Hmmm...Looking at all the pictures I have posted, I realize I have quite the thing for gold paint. Lucky for my husband, it is just paint. Lol.

Framed..

Went to Michael's today in search of frames to encase my artwork. I find this extremely hard because a. frames are expensive and b. I think the frames are an integral part of the painting. There is nothing worse than a great painting with a bad frame and conversely a mediocre painting can be made to look wonderful with an appropriate frame. Framing is its own field of art. Anyway with the help of a 50% off sale and a mobile app coupon, I was able to pick up several. The others I'm going to have to start checking the dump and garage sales...

This frame was from the dump...

A Little Wedding Work...

Just spent four hours sewing on a corset kit to my aunt's wedding dress in order for daughter #1 to wear for her wedding. It was supposed to take 20 minutes. I'd like to know for who... Now I know why I don't create art with stitchery. I am purely a means to the end person with sewing. I read a pattern and if it is too long, I find ways to make it short... I was so afraid to ruin the gown. I took the buttons off first and put them in a ziploc.

Then I sewed in the loop tape on the boning. Don't ask. I had to google it all. The needle kept falling out of the machine and then after I finally got it all in, I realized i had caught up some of the skirt in the loop tape. It was not a happy thing.But now it's all done and I'm free to play once more...

For My Brother...

My brother #2 who lives in Michigan suffered a stroke recently which affected his speech center. He now goes to speech therapy and has the proverbial load of bills that his insurance doesn't cover. So my cousins, his friends, and my other brother (#1) organized a fundraiser for him to help cover the bills. So they went soliciting donations which included a painting from me. The fundraiser is the third week of May which basically gave me a little less than a month to come up with something. I felt bad because I didn't want to give up any of the pieces I was preparing for my show, but I also wanted to take my time and give them something really worthwhile. I take forever to complete paintings and I felt rushed and stressed while painting this one.

In retrospect, I should have picked one of the items that I was saving for the show, but none of them seemed like an appropriate size or theme. I wanted something a little brighter and more cheerful and and the one bright painting I had had already been promised to somebody else. I do not feel confident about this painting but hopefully it'd just me.