Whew! Two small ones today.

Well!  I missed yesterday so did two pieces today and worked on a third that was done but not done.  I lightened up the background of the tree one that I did last week.  Whew!

So these are numbers 5 and 6.  I envision a final piece that is innovative, original, whimsical and still fine art.  Dunno if it'll happen.  I'm just gonna keep working.

Kondos, Breathing and Peawee

Getting ready to do a demonstration at Sutter Creek Gallery.  Yay!  So am deciding which paints to take, did a preliminary sketch with acrylics, and gotta dress cool since it will be warm.

Here's my sketch.  I did it the Kondos way outlining to make it easy.  We'll see how I do in the public and everything.

I also completed my small 4x4" this morning and it's kind of the same scene only on a smaller scale:

I see now that the paint has dried, my lighter values in the background have darkened.  Also there might be too much pink in this piece as it's going in the yellow part of the big guy.  I'll work on it later as right now am off to other adventures.

In Peawee, off on my own with the wind in my hair and radio blasting...I really breathe easy.  Good therapy this breathing thing.

Forever, Remember, Breathe

Day 5

I worked on the darker piece in the right, lower corner this morning.  It's a 5x5 canvas.   I'm trying to create some darker contrasts within the piece while still keeping my initial color palette in order to keep the viewer's eye interested.  I'm doing some stamping around the whole edge of the circle.  The stamp is one I made in a class with my No. 1 mentor way back when.  I still love it and what it represents to me.  

This latest small painting is entitled "Forever" because that's what it says to me.  Forever is how we love; the relationship might end, however we will love that person forever.  Memories, past circumstances and choices are with us forever.  Even pain that we have suffered is with us forever; hopefully we use that memory of pain to help with future circumstances, choices, and loves.  Smells and sounds are forever.  A certain fragrance or song can evoke the same emotional feeling forever. 

Oh gosh, I'm holding my breath again.  And when I do that then my back aches, so gotta forever remember to breathe...1,2.3, forever remember...breathe...lol. 

Day 4

On my way through my email this mornin' caught a youtube video of a painter, Tibor Nagy, and his work with oil.  It's a doorway...a portal really to well we can only imagine where.  I imagine a solemn place; a warm environment with nature around me moving, growing, creating the air I breathe, the colors that I see, the wondrous smells of moisture, dirt, and alive things.  That's today.  Yesterday I entered a portal through which I enjoyed the company of a young man, a very gentle young man who I laughed with, exchanged ideas with, and just snuggled in his warm environment (only in my head because Oldest Grandson wouldn't think it was cool to snuggle with Nana).

So in my head today is portals.  Portals in which we travel consciously and unconsciously, in our dreams and in our daily tasks.  One moment I am entering our portal into the garage to complete laundry and the next I am imagining a portal into which I am with my big, burly, so soft Chuey...a story for another time.

For now here's my Day 4 painting..."Portal"

Yay, I Did It!

Well I almost forgot to do my painting today.  We went to dinner with Granddaughter Angie, I had my very small glass of wine and came home to just kick back after doing the movies with Grandson Zak today.  I was commenting on some very funny and interesting FB stuff when I suddenly saw my FB post for yesterday's painting and thought 'Oh no, I'm already missing a day' but alas I did it!  I pulled my Chardonney self together enough to do a simple small piece.

Yay!  Who needs to breathe when one has Chardonney?

Pink Chick

Day 2

Here's "Pink Chick," second painting in the series although it may be a duck.  I'm still with the embroidery thread, I just like adding it to the canvas: cutting, wrapping, tying it in a knot, glueing and then waiting for it to dry.  While the thread was drying, the bird poked its head at me and the why is a mystery though I do love the birds.  I have lotsa hummingbirds in my yard going from flower to flower and some tiny finches that go for a bath in the afternoons.  I talk to them but only so they don't get jealous of my plants.

Our morning bike ride got me breathing early today so no holding my breath on Wednesday, yay!

Day 1, What the Heck?

Day 1

So today I began with the first small painting which will end up being a small part of a mandala, 30 small paintings in all.  Again, colors are not true on this photo but close:  blue green, lemon yellow and a dark pink.  That's the extent of my palette for this.

Can you pick out the first little snippet painting?  I may hafta call this Mandala "Manic-Minimal" because right now I envision each painting to be either a mass of stuff on top of stuff or places for the eye to rest.  This first one incorporates some heavy underlying texture, paint and threads-- yes, dark pink embroidery thread.  I've been dying to experiment with it in my work after seeing Susan Riegel's wonderful paintings not long ago.

It seems like I begin writing about my art and I run out of breath.  By the end of each posting, I hafta remind myself to take some big breaths and to actually breathe ON AN ONGOING BASIS!  What the heck???

Abstract Artful Fantasies

 So began this little didee last week.  I was going to chuck it and do something else when my daughter in law came into my workroom and said she liked the beginning and to keep going.  I'm a sucker for a complement so I did some work on it this morning.  It's mandala style but out of 30 small canvases.  The idea is to work on one of these canvases making each one able to stand on its own and then when one puts it together of course it's a multiple piece meditation painting after 30 days.

The picture of popsicles out of a magazine on the right is  my color palette.  I like the lightness of it, the sunshinyness of it.  My image here is not quite true since I took the photo inside but I just don't have the energy to take the 30 canvasses outside, rearrange them for the photo and then bring them back in again.  Maybe when the sun moves further into the West, our outside table will be available for me to take another shot.

K, onward and into my artful fantasies....lol

The Path - not signed yet

I think I am done.  I went in and placed some blue, yellows and pink-purple into the foreground which took quite a lot of work since those were done with washes.  Then I went back over it highlighting the tips of the foreground grasses keeping enough lightness as I want the audience to feel that they are standing right in the field looking down from on high.

I gotta stop sometime soon so am off to the art supply store to get some canvas and whatever else I can get excited about.  Yay!
We may also need food in this house, boo!

Hanging this painting in the kitchen for a while to determine how I feel about the whiteness of the path at the end of the bridge coming this way.  I may need to do a little more wash work there and of course sign this baby.

I'm off!

So it's now July 22nd and apparently I wasn't done and am still working on this sucker.  I'll post the final painting soon.  I am hoping soon...Ha!

Washes, Softenings, and 30

So before leaving the easel yesterday I did a wash  over the foreground grass.  I like the background trees now and softening the line between the middle grasses and the trees is my next decision.  The path is meant to curve to the foreground however it kind of crosses the whole painting so I may make that a little more obvious too.

Breathing easier today, and going to begin some smaller works like some of my painter friends are doing.  There is a show of art entitled "30 days and 30 paintings" or something like that and that sounds like a good challenge for me.

Dropping "Folsom Lake Trees" at Blue Line Gallery tomorrow for the membership show coming up.  Yay!

The Path

So I think I mentioned this is my interpretation of a photo I took of a path I occasionally walk here in Roseville.  There is a creek going through the property thus the small walking bridge.

Here is the photo I took one day in early Spring.

Comparing the photo with my art, color seems different and background trees are not clear and I am not sure if that's the art or my photo.  Looks like I used too much white for the foreground so am going to go back in and warm it up and then take another photo.  The photo of the canvas was taken outside as I noticed the lighting inside is not giving me correct colors on my photos.  Gonna hafta work on that soon.

Anyhoo, I am liking the colors I have used and the light value of my palette though once I warm up the foreground am going to check on whether or not the background trees are too dark a value.  

Trala, trala....if I could just remember to breathe today.   In through my nose, deep deep; out through my mouth, woosh!  Now remember, do it again.  Oh my, laughing at myself.

Empowered, Feelin' Good and Calmly Breathing

So!  Feeling so empowered this morning after Anje's and my reception yesterday at Sutter Creek Gallery.  We were not the featured artists however it was our first full month hanging in the gallery and we sent out postcards telling our friends, prior buyers and family about our new adventure.  It was so much fun working the gallery, being with artist friends, and cohorts that are creating and putting themselves out there as we are doing.

A funny thing happened on the way to the gallery...Friday, I got an email informing me that they had sold a painting of mine that day.  The painting is "Complements" and I was flabbergasted and so excited hearing that news.  It's complementary colors blue and orange, 90%blues/greens cools, 10% a very warm orange.   Then I had the wonderful day at the gallery yesterday.  Returning home last night I find a check in the mailbox from the gallery.  I was confused because how could they get money to me already when they had just sold my painting the day before?  Wow, how efficient is that!   Looking more closely at the check I discover that in June they had sold another small landscape that I had hung there, so this is a check for that and I have another check coming at the end of July!  Whoa and Yay!!!!!

Above is an image of a different view of the same area that was sold in June that I have been working on it for the last week or so.  It's larger than the one sold and I'm liking the colors and composition and so is the Universe saying carry on?  Carry on...Dearie, carry on and breathe, relax, be calm and carry on...that's what I hear. Wow and another whoa!  I am listening "U", I am listening.

Maybe now that I sold two paintings in two consecutive months Jack will let me convert the living room to my studio!  Oh...prolly not!  I can dream though as long as I keep painting and breathing, painting and breathing, 1, 2, 3, breathe, 1,2,3, breathe...

Grids and Stuff

Well, ok, this is my interpretation of a painting I saw in SacMag over the weekend.  I was thumbing through an article about the home of Robert Powell who lives in Sacramento and was a builder in the years '60 to '90s.  I loved a painting that is hanging on a wall in a family or living room.  It looked like it is lots bigger than the one I have done but it is a messed up grid and I stole the palette and the in and out of color onto the black grid.  Robert Powell's home is a wonderful large space with a few buildings on open property and the home decor is very minimal.

My home is not minimal at all though I have in my later years been trying to simplify...so here's a photo of the painting hanging in our bedroom.

I like the abstract non-traditional piece over our very traditional bedroom decor.  Now I'm pondering maybe making the image more by doing another grid around it on the wall.  Either that or dropping it down a bit so that the top tip of the headboard overlaps he painting.

Oh problems, problems...I am so lucky to have them.  I am grateful that I have them because they allow me to remember to breathe and I like that.