Happy Last-Week-of-Summer

This is really the only painting I've finished all summer. No I take that back. I took a watercolor class and have a few smallish paintings. I'll post them tomorrow, maybe. This is named "The Call". The background has parts of the poem by Christopher Marlowe that start "Come live with me and be my love..." Sorry, I don't even know the correct name of the poem, but I like it, and find myself rolling those words around in my mouth sometimes.

This is of course based on the brown pelicans we saw in Galveston. I'm a little disappointed with this one. It's been finished for probably two months, but I only photographed it this morning. Guess that means I have no plans to rework it. Moving on.

Mamas and Babies

I made this some time ago. It's pretty small around 8 x 10 I think. The date embedded in the photo says June 17, which was the last time I posted so I must have been dying to add this to the post. However, it was a gift for a baby shower in the middle of July, so I had to sit on it. Her baby's room is yellow and grey and has an elephant theme. Welcome Baby Liam! Come soon! Ahhh... Babies are so sweet. Especially little elephant babies. Here are the process photos:

The sketch

The Progression

Summertime is Art Time

     At least I hope it is. I'm trying to make art, like crazy!!! I've had a couple of failures and a couple of not-quite-right pieces, like the one above. But I had a blast making it and want to do more. What do you think? It is based on the pour art of Holton Rower. Sorry I don't have a website to link to, but google him, check out his work. He is AMAZING!!!

     I have actually been working. I'd like to show you, but I'm not quite ready yet. I finished a gift that my daughter commissioned this afternoon. Darling, but I don't want to ruin the surprise for her friend though, so I'll wait to post. Also I am trying to make some little drawings that I can print on cards. I'm not sure there is a market for greeting cards with my silly drawings on them, but I'm going to give it a go. Four, possibly five drawings are finished but they will be posted when I'm ready to sell. In the meantime here are a few sketchbook scans:

These last two sketches feature the cute boutonnieres (apparently I spelled that word wrong on the drawing) from Mara's wedding. What? Yes, my daughter is married, and I am officially old. Also they feature some of the gifts given to John and me by the two Chinese college students that stayed with us in May. Awesome guys.  Here they are, Dwight first, then Eason. If you are able to read this in China, guys, know that we think of you often and miss you!

Art in the Park

Just finished two paintings this evening. Here's the first. Don't know if I should call it Faith or The Clown. The quote says "Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark" by Rabindranath Tagore. I like birds. They make me happy. You know, except in real life. This is painted on roofing felt, or tarpaper. Here it is framed:

Here is the second. It's called Jawbreakers. Not sure this photo does it any favors. It is actually not misshapen like this. Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

Getting ready to head out to the Goodman Museum in Tyler  to do Art in the Park tomorrow. It's going to be a gorgeous spring day and I want to sell everything (just about) I've ever made. Come see me!

Riding out April

Springtime and a girl wishes she had lots of time to do spring-y stuff but instead she is writing papers and reading boring text. Still... I have been meaning to post something for some time now. I know it's been months since I managed the last post. So, a sad little scan of a sad little sketch I did over spring break of flowers from the front of seed packets. I did get these seeds planted and I have a few sprouts. Not so many as I would like. When May comes along I'll have a little more time to fuss with flowers.

I tried very hard to get past the drawing slump over spring break as well. Here is my pep talk to myself. The inset is from a sketch I did last semester trying to find something to make into a print.

This is a sketch I did about one of my dreams, something I always say I will do but have never done before. Let me tell you what the journalling says, you know,  just in case you were at all interested in what I dream about:

I dream. A lot. I always have. I don't really understand those people who say they never dream. But I do feel sorry for them. My dreams are colorful, action-packed, odd, sometimes terrifying. Sometimes when I wake I know exactly what a dream meant - usually highlighting some insecurity or fear or preoccupation. But most times I'm stumped. I have re-occuring dreams (like flying, which I don't have much anymore) or that my teeth crumble (which also don't happen much anymore, thank goodness) and saving the baby ( I don't know who the baby is, but I am the only one who can save it).

     Saturday morning I dreamt I had been betrayed by someone I trusted. They turned into a Doberman and I started pulling pieces of broken glass out of my mouth. I actually had a chance to paint this but the sketch turned out better. Guess I'm pretty rusty.

Here is the little painting. It's on tar paper, which is my new obsession. Kind of bumpy for faces though. Sorry about the glare on the lower left side. I didn't think tar paper would catch the light like that. And no, it's not a self-portrait.

A New Sketchbook for a New Year

A zoo rhino based on a photo Kinzey took when she and Caleb, Carsen, and I went to the zoo while they were visiting just after New Year's. She has a close-up (I'm sure that's the technical name for it) lens on her camera and she got better pictures than I did. This guy will start off the new RED moleskine that John gave me for Christmas.

These shoes went into the clothes and closet moleskine. Just a little (read a lot) off proportionally. Here's another, older shoe sketch in the book. Have I shown you? I didn't think so

I like shoes.And lastly a couple of drawings from a class sketchbook from last semester. We had specific assignments, that's why they have numbers on them. These two sketches are on facing pages but this book is a little too big, can only fit one side at a time on the scanner.

A few notes on being a big girl on campus

Wow, two posts in one week!! Amazing! Well, I've been meaning to describe my thoughts about going back to school for awhile now. Since September I guess. And each time I think I'm going to write about the snotty 19 year olds that curse a blue streak in class and dress like they have no self respect, I meet a young kid that blows me away with her generosity and encouragement. Every time I want to complain about unprepared and unprofessional professors one of them (or most of them) does something out of the blue that is so kind I have to go into the bathroom so no one will see me cry. Silly, I know.

The thing is, it's just not easy going to school when you are older than the professors. It's not. You have to want it more than everyone else. You have to work harder, take more notes, and never slack off, because it means more. That said, it can't be easy teaching a 43 year old either. My B.S. detector is so much more finely tuned than the kids'. I'm not easily impressed and I'm set in my ways.

Anyway... they did give me a scholarship which makes all the molding a little more bearable. I just hope when I'm through I can recognize my work as my own. Here are some progress shots of my disappointing self portrait.

I do have more thoughts, all mixed up in my brain about going back to school. And more stories, like the time I walked all the way across campus with the garage door opener stuck to my butt...Ay me! Another time.