Mouse Factory

Painting lots of sweet little mice on Christmas Ornaments. Tis the season!

Painted Ladies

Fall semester is over but there is always more work to do on paintings. Even when you have a stomach bug. I needed to do touchups on these three but felt so worn out after a weekend of lying on the sofa watching organization videos on youtube that I couldn't even summon the strength to get out the easel. I just lined 'em up on the ground and plopped down in front of them. It's really only a matter of time before I have a major paint-spill incident. On the carpet. On the blinds. Somewhere.

Excluding the one on my lap in the photo above all these paintings are of hydrangeas. I'll admit I took a little license with the coloring but retained the general idea and the lovely crowded shape of this amazing flower. I showed one in the last post, but I'll post it again with her sisters.

Hydrangea

 This is one of three hydrangea paintings I've been working on this semester. This one is finished, drying and curing at the studio at school.  The others are done or nearly so and I hope to get some good pictures of them tomorrow. But I thought it might be interesting to see the stages of this painting - a little behind the scenes look.

This was a fun painting. I am absolutely fascinated by the natural world and the way God puts things together for us. This is a painting of gratitude. I'm totally hooked on flowers now. More to come!

Tapping Into My Inner Frida

I guess it's prickly pear season in my studio. I took several pictures of the flowering cactus when we were in San Saba a few months ago, and made a sketch then.

Which was translated into a watercolor painting that I just finished (maybe, I think). Here it is with my reference photos. I don't paint watercolor on the easel. It's just so I can get a look at it.

Close up view.

Last week when I went to the Mexican grocery store to buy tortillas I found tunas, or prickly pears. Well, having written so many papers about Frida Kahlo I felt I had to take them home. I did a sketch and took some pictures for a future painting. Now, does anyone know if they taste good? I'll have to try them later tonight.

Monkey Business

I mentioned earlier that I made a sketchbook out of scraps left from printmaking class and various projects-I just have a hard time throwing things away if I think I can use them later. Well I made that sketchbook into my monkey book. Huh, you say?

Just as I associate the octopus with stress and lack of control, (for example, here and here) I associate the monkey with self doubt, you know the old "monkey on my back". I have for years and it seems so odd to realize that many other artists do as well. Well this book is dedicated to monkeys and overcoming self doubt and the glorious freedom that comes with it. Since the book is made up of all different shapes and sizes I don't feel obligated to work in chronological order. I just open the book and draw. (Granted there aren't many drawings yet) Here's a peek so far.

From stencils I made using drawings I found on the internet. Spray paint is fun. I want to spray paint the whole book.

I started this little guy on a piece of scrap paper to use up some acrylic paint I had left on my palette before it dried. I like him way better than the original project I had the paint out for. Just pasted him in the middle of the book.

I think it's important to note that I don't have more self doubt than the average person, or the average artist. I think I'm just very sensitive to it's effects on my production. I honestly feel better when I can say "Oh that's just the monkey getting you down." I'll be honest, a lot of times the monkey is there telling me I'm not being authentic to myself or thinking what I make is MINE. When I remind myself that I am a tool for God, that old monkey goes and lies in the corner. 

A Sketchbook Circle

     A few weeks ago I happened onto a conversation on the Sketchbook Skool Facebook page about organizing a sketchbook swap or circle. I jumped on it as quickly as I could. Our little group is made up of 10 ladies, 5 from the states and the others from Brazil, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia. I would have been thrilled to have anyone draw in my sketchbook, or to have it travel the country, but all those wonderful places...so exciting.
     I drew a page in my sketchbook and mailed it to Switzerland and in turn got one from Brazil. I've had it about two weeks and I'm ready to mail it out again this afternoon. I decided I should take a few photos of the drawings I made (of course I would never show anyone else's) since I will never see the drawings in person again.

This was a tiny book, only 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches and I wasn't sure what watercolor would do to the pages so I used ballpoint pen mostly with a little colored pencil. On the last page I braved a light wash over watercolor pencil. I truly am grateful for this fun opportunity! So exciting! Okay bring on the next book!

Dealing with Limitations

I've had a kind of frustrating day. I was working on a project for most of the day, a commission which I seriously underbid considering the time (I should have known) I spent on it. Also I'm using acrylic paint which I haven't really worked with since I fell in love with oils. It felt like the paint was fighting me. Days like that are not fun. Working and reworking something that just isn't looking right... I feel zapped. Disappointed with myself. I'm still not sure I'm finished with it. Low price or not, it will have my name on it. So... more time to spend I guess. 

The sketches below have nothing to do with that. They're just a few sketches from the last month or so from my red Moleskine, which comes with it's own set of limitations. I'll be glad when this book is filled and I can work on different paper.

One Sketchbook Down Many More To Go

Unfortunately I haven't sketched as much as I would have liked the last couple of years. I really haven't mastered the art of the quick sketch. Quick for me could mean an hour. I feel like that is a lot of time I don't have during the school year. So I've been trying to draw as often as possible this summer. I made a goal to draw everyday in June but that lasted about 7 days. Still , I don't want to beat myself up about it. I'm drawing, that's what counts. I finished the 8 x 8 sketchbook that I made last summer. (Eek. I hate that it took almost a year to finish it)

This is the second sketchbook I've made and I really didn't know what I was doing. Still, it held together and it was fun. So much so that I made another one this weekend. Same size, but made up of all the scraps of printmaking paper that I had leftover from the two printmaking classes I've taken, mostly Rives BFK and Arches Coverstock. It is literally a scrap journal. Made up of all different sizes and shapes. I don't know how well the paper will hold up to sketching or painting but that's part of the fun for me. 

Anyway, here are the last few layouts in this book. (Actually these are some of the last few. I had a few stinker sketches in this book. It has been heavily edited.)

I have many more finished pages in the moleskine, but I'll save those for another day, and a couple of really cool sketchbook projects that I hope to share later as well. Have a great Monday.

6 x 6 @ 110

Today I'm dropping off my two small paintings for the 6 x 6 @ 110 exhibition at Gallery Main Street in Downtown Tyler, Texas. The exhibition opens Friday, June 6 with a reception at 6 p.m. This is an opportunity to buy a 6 inch painted (or otherwise arted-up) canvas from a local artist for only $20. All the proceeds benefit the gallery which supports the art community in east Texas. It's a good thing!

Enough Candy for Now

Ha! Who are we kidding? I love candy too much to give it up. Even as I type these words I'm eating my favorite, Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans (pictured above) But I am definitely tired of painting candy, for right now at least. Especially the kind with writing on their wrappers. That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. (It wasn't fun at all)

These are the last three paintings from last semester. I didn't actually finish them for the class. I just finished today. Edges are painted a clean white. Wires are strung on the back. I'm FINISHED!

All of these candy paintings are quite small. The largest doesn't even measure two feet long. I made the canvases of scrap lumber I found in the studio, thinking it would be fun to have some small pieces going while I made the "real" paintings. Well, I only finished 2 "real" paintings and these four smalls. Believe me, the small ones take just as much time as the big ones.

I never meant for them to hang together permanently, like a group, but I do want to see them grouped together sometime. I'll have to wait until the peppermints come home in August. (If you want to see them go to the Meadows Gallery at UT Tyler - it's free - and see the three works I have there, along with a lot of really great work by my fellow classmates) Until then I guess I better learn to do one of those photo collages.