January 29, 2013

My latest.  Its 30 x 40 - the biggest canvas I have ever done, but I have done wall murals.  This was more intimidating for some reason.
Anyhow, its going in a friends new bedroom, and it's already making her happy, (even though she hasn't even seen it), so it's already making me happy.

UPDATE 2/2/13:
I couldn't've been happier with her response today when we delivered this painting.  She wanted me to see where it was going to hang.  The painting couldn't've matched the room any better!  Pretty good considering all I had to go on was "Grey, white and Black"  The little bit of blue I used matched the grey/blue of her walls perfectly and the pop of red on the barn matched her carpeting just right.
Take a look:

 

So it was meant to be.  I have a hard time letting go of some pieces, but I know that this is where this one is supposed to be, and it has a good home, with people that appreciate it! That's the best!

Jan 25, 2013

CAN'T DIM SUNSHINE!!!!

Be a torch, be a spark, be a candle in the dark, be a sunbeam or a star, be the shining light you are.

Deep in their roots, all flowers keep their light.

Shine your light.

Let nothing dim the light that shines within.

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

 

January 22, 2013

Everyone that does art finds a time where they should have quit way before they did.  I did this over the last week.  I started a painting just for the heck of it.  Just to paint.  I was happy with how it was going, when I got to thinking about some Heavy Body paints that someone gave me.
I have never used Heavy Body paints before, and gee, maybe it would help me bring out that wavy area I am trying to accomplish... well, this is it:

Not too bad, I guess, but then I started really playing with it.  And whatever I liked in this one, is now gone.  Maybe never to be found again. 

I always upload a pic of my work to be able to see it with a different eye... I usually see things that I don't see when my nose is a foot away from it.  Sometimes I view it upside down. Whatever works.

But I wish I could go back to this point again.  Dang. 

Make me feel better... tell me about the last time you did this. 

January 12,2013

Well, I was making a SUNSHINY something to share here but I am not happy with it.  Not at all.  SO, starting over, so my SUNSHINE theme will just have to be a surprise.  But later.

In the meantime, I am cleaning the old art room.  Its way past time to do it, and I find that I need to do it to clear my mind too.  How can I create when I am worried about something falling on me?

The aforementioned Puppy Paintings have reached their destination with good feedback.  I have added the Art Of  Framing blogsite on my list of links here.  I think there is an art to framing, too!

OK,  it's later:
Well this isn't exactly what I wanted to do, I tried to put really cool lettering on it, botched it and covered it over.  So now I am trying to put it on by pixlr but not getting the full effect of what I am wanting...



BUT, the up-side is, with pixlr I can do different versions.  Either one works, I guess.


The art room has about two more inches of room in it, now that I dragged everything out and put most back in.  Sometimes I wish I would just pick something I like to do and stick with it, so I could get rid of some of the stuff in there.
But then I get bored and want to try something different.  Like make some jewelry, so I get out the beads.  Or make a new silk arrangement because I am tired of the old one. Or like today,  I am making little books out of recycled materials.  Why?  Beats me.  Just felt the need to do it.  One of my many thoughts running around in my head and had to do.
Well, that concludes my weekend.  Have a great week, folks!

January 6th, 2013

OK, so yesterday I promised I would post Puppy pic number 3, if it turned out.  Well, I am sending it for the auction, so I guess I feel its ok...

Today they are all getting a clear coat and getting ready to send off to the Frame Shop that is sponsoring the auction.  I hope they do well.

THEN, I am excited that I found an artsy resale shop, (Shells knows the one!) that had these, and Hubs and I sorted thru and spelled all sorts of things, but I ended up with these:  ( I think they should read this way:)

 Hubs seems to think they belong this way...  Lets take it to a vote!

Either way is fine, I guess.

Today is Sunday, and I am doing some housework, bill paying, finishing up the last straggling Christmas packings-away, and I am dressed in my paint clothes.  They are comfy, full of paint, don't care how dirty or painty I get them.  And easy to dash off a do a few strokes in the art room without having to change first.  Thank goodness Hubs understands, but I wonder if most people do: 
A few weeks ago a friend of Hubs' came to the door to see him, and when he got a load of me dressed like this, asked what I was painting.  I said, "I have a couple things going in the art room".
He looked disgusted and remarked that 'maybe I could maybe get a little paint on the canvas once in a while', or something to that effect.
I'm going to let him slide.
Yes, I have had these paint clothes for some time.  I have winter and summer paint clothes.  They have been used for painting, wallpapering and painting again at my house, friends houses, Moms house and creative things like countless canvasses and murals.  I can show you on the sweat pants that I have on, that I painted THAT color at so-and-so's house.  And that pink right there, was the little girls bedroom mural I did.  And that color right there, and there and there is where the paint bottle exploded on me. lol.  OK, so I get into my work.  Shoot me.
These clothes are kind of a proof of battle for me.  They are like my portfolio of things I have done to make this world more beautiful in one way or another.
So Mr!  You have never seen my work, nor do you realize that they wouldn't exist if I was a couch potato.  I don't shy from hard work, and these clothes prove that.
Sometimes when you paint, you have to walk away from it for awhile.  Let it dry.  Get away and see how you feel about it in a half hour.  I scrub something or clean something or do something else while that happens.  I am sorry that you felt I should be in top notch order to answer my door.  You can either call next time, or get over it.  (Probably get over it, because even if you call, I wouldn't change.)
There. I got that out. I don't tell the story to put the guy down. Really, I don't.  I am grateful for friends who come into my house and understand me for what I am.  I look at my paint clothes differently than just being a mess, and want to thank everyone who can understand that.  And might be able to identify with it.  Yep, I can be a mess.  But hopefully, I have embellished this world a little in my life. 
Thank you for listening! 

January 5th, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Well, as many of you know, creativity ebbs and flows.  Its a good thing.  A few posts back, I was wondering where mine went.  Now, its following me around... let me explain:  When I get a creative jag, sometimes its best if I don't ignore it. Yes, very good not to ignore it.
The other day, I made my hubby stop the car, turn around, and turn around again several times, just to get some pictures:  I had to get a shot of an old truck,  then an old car, and then a barn on the same highway, all the while dodging traffic.  I am lucky he listens and has learned not to ignore my creative spirit when it SCREAMS!  ;)
I am saving the truck pic for a later date, but the old car, I decided to paint on the same property of the barn (they are actually about 3 miles away from each other) and came up with this...

As you have probably heard, I LOVE old barns.  They have to have some personality, but there is something about preserving them in paint, or pen and ink that I need to do.  Its not just a WANT.  Its a NEED.  Doing my part to 'save' them somehow, before they are lost to either weather or wrecking ball.  They just won't be rebuilt in the wood and stone like we see nowadays, they will be rebuilt out of metal with no personality at all, because its more economical to do it that way.  So if you are a follower, prepare to see a lot of them.  Thanks for listening.  **stepping down off of soapbox now**

My new creative jag, (artists can identify, but I think the world thinks we are nuts) started the other day when my cousin sent me this.

Since I saw it, I have had this line of thought going in the back of my brain constantly, whether I am working, sleeping, wherever!
It wasn't going to let me go anytime soon until I did something about it.  Never mind that this is being run by a framing shop 500 miles from here.  Never mind that the paintings I usually do are 16 x 20, and the fundraiser is only asking for a 5x7, and I have never done such a small painting in my life!
HECK NO!  I have to run, not walk, to the art store to pick up a canvas panel, in 5x7, to do this!  Found out that they come in packs of three!  OK, so I have two to play with before I figure out if I am able to scale back to being able to paint something that size.
And, I just KNOW that the website on cute little puppies that I ran across about a month ago just HAD to have something to do with it because I had to save some of the photos that I saw!  Who is driving this carriage, anyway??  I think I have an Artistic Angel guiding me.
So, my eyes popped open this morning at 5:30am. Thats earlier than a workday.  This is SATURDAY!  I could sleep in!  I shut my eyes and willed myself to fall back to sleep.  But those little puppy pics were having NONE OF IT!   I was up at 6, making coffee and bee-lining it to the art room.
Apparently Artistic Angels paint with the birds.  (And have no patience!)
But before my hubby got up, and the coffee pot turned off, I finished these:

I am happy with the way they turned out, and I thank the Artistic Guiding Spirit that urged me along to use the gift that I am given.  To do good with and not evil! I will send them to be bid on and hope that some puppy somewhere is better off and finds a loving family that will spoil it rotten. I know my family has been blessed by rescued dogs!

Ok, so, I guess you are probably asking... there are only the two and the pack of canvasses numbered three.  That third one is just not coming along as I want it to, but I am letting it dry and going back for Round Two.  If  I can get something decent to come out of it, I will post.  If not, I will gesso it and do it another day.
Some other day when I awake before the birds and HAVE a wild paint brush bugging me.