Pencil Shavings

mmmmm pencil shavings....

Do you remember those annoying kids in elementary school who would show up with a huge pencil case full of zillions of pencil crayons in a million colours?

I wasn't one of those kids.

Luckily I get to be one of those adults. 

An Unusual Portrait

Well I have a fun painting of the week this week.  I won't tell you that it's the only painting I completed this week (even if it is) I think this would have been the painting of the week anyway, because it was so much fun to do, and was a technique I haven't used before.  If you have been reading me for a while you would know that I can't really resist trying new things.  I guess I have an evolving style.

Anyway.  This is a portrait that I did of an Asian inspired teapot.  I did the initial drawing in ink, using a stippling technique (that is loads of wee dots to form the image) then I went back over it with watercolour.   It measures 4x9 inches.

I am really glad to be back working with watercolour.  It was the first medium I really mastered and now it's nice to come back to it, and the careful planning that is required to create with it.  I don't know if this will be the first of a series or not, but I do know that I really enjoyed making this piece, it gave me a lot of happiness and was a very meditative process (making all those dots does allow you to clear your head of the weird stuff that clogs it up) and in the end I looked at it and was really glad that I made it, and was very happy with how it turned out.

If you are interested in this piece you can find it in my Artfire Studio.

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Give Up

 

Yes, that's right I'm giving up. 

I'm giving up painting the big works for a while.  With the shifting sands under my feet right now I think that I need to pull back from the bigger works for a little while and concentrate on the smaller works that I can do for short periods and then put away if I need to.

 Once we find a new routine and settle into it I will probably be able to focus on the bigger paintings again, but right now I need to make art, and be flexible enough to meet the needs of my family too.

So I'm breaking out the watercolours, coloured pencils, and inks.  I'm going to do art cards, postcards and other small things that are under 12-14 inches.  I just need to have more flexibility in my life.  I also need some sense of accomplishment that will help me feel better about myself right now too.  I'm not totally sunk in a pit of despair, but I'm not really happy either, and getting a few new works done and out into the world will help me feel a little better.  (getting a few sold will help my bank account feel better too!)

So today the dining room table is an art table for me, and for the kids, and we will do some things that make us feel happy.

Muse-ings

Since Tuesday I haven't been able to do any art.  I knew that the spring break would mess up my schedule, but I didn't even want to do art.  I forced myself to work on my big painting on Wednesday night, but the work I did lacked a lot of inspiration, or even excitement.  I simply was pushing paint around.

I have been lucky, for a long time I have been dreaming, and envisioning new art, and been excited to try it – but suddenly this week I had nothing.

Now my business can't wait for my muse to decide that she wants to come out and play.  I know that sounds harsh, and very unromantic.  But the truth is that I need to work even if my “muse” thinks it's time for a vacation.

Luckily I have a few tricks up my sleeve for such times.  One is to have lots of art/artist magazines kicking around to keep me inspired or give me technique ideas to try.  The other is to try a new material for the first time, or one I haven't used for a long time.  Sometimes that kick starts things.

In short I drag my muse off her lawn-chair, drag her into the kitchen and force some espresso and chocolate into her to get her revved up again, then take her to the studio and tell her she can't leave until I have something new on paper.

That worked really well for me today.  I was thinking about doing some ink drawings, but in the end I got out some aquaboard to try, and went cruising through my reference photo library and wound up with three sketches on some small panels (5x7) that I'm going to try out this weekend.

Then I'll let my muse go back to tanning... I might even join her – if the snow ever melts.

Between the Life Lines

I was going to write a blog today about the knob on Fox who dissed my Canadian troops.  But then life gave me a sucker punch to the gut and the “Economic Downturn” came home to my house.

I'm going to wallow a bit in self-pity, and if that kind of thing bothers you then you might want to avert your eyes for a minute or two, or skip to the end.  I'm sure I'll come up with something good by then.

I really felt that this was going to be the year for me to become self-supporting with my art.  That with some marketing and hard work I would have commission work lined up in the fall, and hopefully have some contest entries under my belt along with paintings in a local gallery (or two).

Instead I'm worrying about if anyone will hire someone who's been out of the workforce for 8 years, and who I can trust to take care of my kids after school if I find that elusive job? I'm also worrying that if I stop with my art now, will I be able to come back to it.  The last time I stopped it took me twenty years to get back, I don't think I have that much time to try and start again.

Why is it that so often in life we see our dreams come just close enough to our hands that we can almost touch them, only to have them explode into dust as our fingers touch the edges?

Well, I think this is the end.  Nothing really bright and shiny here.

Well actually, maybe there is something.  Sometimes our life course is suddenly altered, like a turn in the river.  We can try to keep climbing up over the bank, or we can go with the flow and see where it takes us.  I've spent the last year putting my positive attitude out into the universe and expecting it to return to me the same way.  And it has worked (until now).  Maybe what I need to do is accept that this journey isn't always on the map, and that something good and wonderful will come out of this anxiety and fear.

At least it might make for some good art, before I have to finish polishing up my resume.

The Big City (part 4)

After lunch we kept walking up 5th Avenue towards the Empire State Building.  We didn't actually go to the top, (the cost was pretty high and we only had a few hours left in our day).  But we walked up and around it and took some pictures.  Then we kept walking, heading for the library and eventually Times Square.

On the way to the library we saw smoke coming up from underground and lots of emergency vehicles... I have no idea what it was – but it was certainly smoky!  We did a little detour around all that and wound up outside the New York Public Library.  What a great and amazing building.  The reading rooms are awesome and more.  I didn't get a gift for the girls from the gift shop, but I did promise myself that one day I was going to bring them here to see for themselves the wonderful lion statues and the beautiful floors and reading rooms.

Then it was just a few blocks walk to Times Square.  We stood in line for 45 minutes and got tickets to see  God of Carnage with James Gandolfini (which is what sold it to us) but in the end Jeff Daniels stole the show.

Anyway back to more exploring.  After we got our tickets we made our way to Grand Central Station.  I was getting tired and the late nights and early mornings were getting to me, but I was still happy to stare, dumbstruck, at all the beautiful architecture around that area, including the Chrysler building, which was really the most amazing thing to see up close.
We did a lot of walking, managed to miss eating dinner, and then had a coffee and a croissant before the play started.  It was a really surprising play, very funny, very offensively shocking in a lot of ways.  But I really enjoyed it and I hope it has a long run. 

We took the subway back to the hotel, and I did my last sketches on the trip back.  We could have gone out to dinner locally I guess, but I was too tired to even think about it.  I fell into bed (after showing my husband the blister on my little toe) and slept for four hours, because we had forgotten about the time change to daylight savings time.

We got up at 4:30 to catch our plane home.  I was really very sad to leave the city.  I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.  It was exactly what I expected to see, it was amazing and beautiful, dirty, and desperate, and yes, I would happily go back to do it all over again.  I am hoping that I can bring my kids next time and let them see all the wonders that I did, and more.

Whoa! Saturday Already?

Where the heck did that week go?

I'm working on my “to-do” list and it's pretty lengthy.  And we have just started spring break here, so a lot of the stuff I want to do I won't be able to do during the day while the kids are home – so mom might be looking at some late nights here.

I am feeling pretty confident about how things are going.  I am making some good art, and even the stuff that isn't turning out is helping me with my learning process  of how my new materials work.  I love these super-charged creative times when I can't seem to spend enough time in the “studio”.  But that also means that other parts of the business are suffering, and I need to get to work on the organization, book-keeping, listing and getting some quotes on some new things I want to try.

Today is also my anniversary.  I've been married 11 years today, and at times it feels like time has flown by, and other times I can't remember a time when I wasn't married.  My life has changed a lot from that day when I said “I Do”, and I am very lucky to have a husband that has supported those changes, even if he hasn't always understood them.

Well – I need to wrap up the New York City travelogue, and then get on to finishing up a painting or two.  I have no painting of the week this week.  I just haven't had the time to finish up the one I'm working on (I have done a few small ones but I like my POW to be bigger than a bread box!)

Back to writing and finding pictures....  then it's light up the BBQ and have dinner with my family.  Really it's a great day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

My husband is a Newfoundlander, and believe me when I tell you that I have been to more than one party that wound up sounding a lot like this!

Now For a Brief Intermission

Before I finish my little travelogue, I wanted to pop in and tell you about experimenting with acrylic inks.

Here are my test sheets – just primary colours, paper and a bit of water to really mess things up.  This is the stuff that keeps me excited about art.  Trying something I've never done before with an image of what I want to create stuck in my head, and trying to get out.  I've learned that at times like these, it's best to just give in and do what my strange and occasionally delusional brain wants me to do.  These are times of intense and high creativity.  Quite often they lead to some epic failures, but along the way I learn a lot and I usually wind up with the piece, that has been keeping me up at night, finally out where the rest of the world can see it.

Keep your eyes open, you might see these, buried under other layers, as a background for my next piece of art.

The Big City (Part 3)

We got up early again and grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel so we could sit and plot our course for the day with a notebook, map and guidebook. 

I have to say that the one day unlimited fare Metrocard was the best deal $7 and we used it all day long.

 

The first stop was City Hall and then we walked the Brooklyn Bridge.  One thing about New York was that it was everything I expected it to be.  I've seen it in movies and on TV and read about it in books and it was all those things.  It was kind of like having deja vu the whole time that we were there.

The view from the bridge was glorious and just being there, walking on the planks, was amazing. 

Coming back we could see the sun on all the building tops.  It was a beautiful day and we wound up spending a lot of it just walking around in our shirtsleeves.

We went down to Wall Street.  After spending so much time working in trading it was a draw to me, to see the places that I had spent a lot of time on the phone to.  I resisted going to the WTC site.  I could have, but I didn't.  The day was so nice, and I didn't want that cloud hanging over it. 

The next stop was Washington Square.  I love that arch and I've seen so many pictures of it. I wanted to see it for myself.

Then we walked up 5th Ave to Madison Square and stopped for lunch at the Shake Shack and just hung out with the locals.  It was neat to see the people that live there just enjoying the sun like we were.

(conclusion in the next post)