30 in 30, January 2016

So difficult to wrap my head around the fact that the new year is only days away.  It's a GOOD thing though, in my head anyway.

Oh yay! my brain says to everybody in my head, this is a new beginning, another chance to be better; kinder says the Nice Emotion, empowering says Strongman, and of course my Muse "better and funner art!"  And therein the plan for the new year is born, sketchy as it is.

I have already signed onto Leslie Saeta's challenge to do 30 paintings in 30 days beginning Jan 1.  Last September I committed however possibly only halfheartedly because I believe I only shared 19 pieces.  Everyday I was scrounging around for paper or an empty canvas to paint on, then I would decide whether to do an oil or to slap some acrylics around, or to just share a drawing that is always going on around here.  A couple times I just did an oil painting over an old oil painting but this time, I have decided to choose a theme and be more prepared with my choice of media for the month.

Today I am cutting up sheets of canvas paper into pieces 6x8" so that I will have them at the ready.  I'm choosing to begin with acrylics since I have a good many colors already mixed and ready, and right now am thinking the theme will be birds; all kinds of birds including chickens which I am in love with painting.  This past few months I have been gathering images of pleasing color combinations and I will be choosing from those to be my palette for each piece.

Yay!

Plasters, Black Birds and Road Kill Eaters

Always

Well!  I have been busy.  I am learning new stuff online.  Yes, I bought another class to get a handle on using plasters, inks and collage.  

I did "Always" while in France.  It's almost as it was, however I did do some work on it lately and I like it better.  It has more of a composition and also I kind of unified the background color a little to allow a better sense of what I am trying to say. 

This is a small piece, 5x7" black and white mixed media.  The bird is suppose to be a crow but now that I look at it more closely, it looks more like one of those birds that eats road kill (can't remember the name).

Anyhoo...

Bobbie

This is the cover of my sketch journal.  It's an old wallpaper book which was given to me years ago.  I decided to re-do the cover with plaster and paper, etc. etc.  Isn't it fab?  Now that's a better crow...and my name is in green so everyone knows it's private.

Feeling Tropical

Here is a page out of my new journal.  These are just some sketches I did the other day.  The background is the wallpaper/poster page which I covered with a gesso wash.  I may try to do it a little thicker on the next pages so that those images don't show behind my work, but maybe not...I like being imperfect and if there's nothing in the background my drawings just might be too perfect.
Ha!

Just Sharing

I have done a lot of paintings this year, have shown them to no one, have hated mostly everything I have done and been in a phase of trying to hate my art enough to stop doing it.  Trouble is when I am at my table or easel doing the work, I am in a zone that is not comparable to any feeling of freedom that I have ever experienced.  That spiritual, sunshiney, wholesome feeling is what keeps me in my art studio for hours at a time.

Recently, I began going through the paintings I have stacked in a big rolling wicker basket in the corner.  I tend to throw work in there once it's dry and my feeling is "trash bin stuff". There are items in there I don't even remember painting, there are some works that I actually like, there are some pieces of paper that I totally ruined but little areas of texture that are completely mesmerizing.

I'm printing the images here.  Well, only the ones which I feel I can share.

Walking Away

Nice Flowers

Caterpillar Ladders

Table and Chairs for Dinner

My Collage

My collage "September 2015 with Leslie Saeta" turned out pretty well I think.  A theme is the way to go for unity and really a better overall lesson over the month.  There are 18 images, I did 19 however was not able to work the last one in.  I really ran out of steam figuring out the site that helps with putting the thing together.

Now for October!  Maybe something scary..or black?

Following Daydreams

Dream

Yesterday during a facial, I morphed into a state of totally being into my mind.  I was laying on a cloud, perfect temperature in the room which was filled with a moist and fresh fragrance my body being smoothed with human touch.  I cajoled myself into seeing color leaving form up to my subconscious without demand in my heart only a wish, a plea.  The Universe chose to allow it.

This painting doesn't even begin to be what I saw.

There was a foggy mist moving slowly from the left and the color was the most wonderful gray I have ever felt.  From the right top a kind of thunderbolt in the most cool shade of blue slowly came down and began to widen with green coming into the left of it as it is above.

I enjoyed the feeling of color in my subconscious as it was happening; as the feeling moved into my consciousness it would fade to black.  I was able to go to this place a few times.

My painting "Dream" is a first attempt at portraying what I saw.  It is not nearly as colorful, as warm, as meaningful as the experience.  BUT it's a first attempt.

Diggin' These!

My latest creations:

Y for Yellow

So!  This is the image I used for my palette today.










I had two small and new canvas boards, each 5x7", so decided to create a diptych.  I soon made the decision to utilize a vertical in a vertical composition on each one using the opposite colors (one for the background, one for the major design).

Believe it or not, I used the same colors of paint but here one is more blue than green.  In life, both are the green and they look really nice hung side by side for an overall 10x14" composition.

I'm calling this mixed watermedia.

#22

I kinda like this abstract.  When I got up and close to it, there is so much going on:  texture, limited palette though it is double digit layers, collage, some scratching and finger work (very technical art skill).  The colors are calming to me though, thus Calm Commotion is the name of this piece which is an 11x14" mixed media.

Yay!

Painting of Rocklin for Jen

This is today's entry in the 30 days painting challenge.  Last week, Tina asked me to do a painting for her friend at work.  Jennifer had taken a picture in which she fell in love...so yes, I can do my interpretation of the scene and I have done so.  I began it yesterday, finished up today.

 I actually liked the background all alone before placing the in the tree, so I took a picture for here.




I always feel like if I don't work on a painting for weeks sometimes months, it could not possibly be good.  That is I get to a point fairly early in my process when I am happy with the work.  However it's too quick for me and I continue to a point of being overworked.

Maybe there's a lesson here...a good painting (one that I, the artist, considers good) happens when it happens.  Let the Universe decide!  Wow...lol

And Sketching Day 20 I Think

All I could muster over the weekend were a few sketches of the beach in Ventura.  We sat for hours watching the grandkids and their parents enjoy the surf.  Luckily I threw my sketching stuff into my bag.  I haven't done a lot of watercolor painting, practically none; however it really feels good to get a soppy brush into those pigments and kind of slosh them on the page.

So for explanation of what it is I drew:  background is outline of the Channel Islands and then the darker ocean seemed to be out there in more of a green than the blue I used but ok, the middle part is the ocean and little movements (still trying to do a green that was the color of the water that day), the darker burnt orangish is where the surf came in and receded leaving a warmer sand color and the foreground is the sand.  Right?  Lol, ok so it is about the process...not the outcome.

Loved our day in the sun and sand and sketching.

Three years to get it?

Another acrylic to add to my month of paintings. 

I actually just finished this painting today; it was begun a few years ago.  At the time I originally painted it, I was showing my art at the Sutter Creek Gallery.  I was so intense at the time trying to do enough paintings to keep the exhibit fresh and different.  For me it was no longer about the process but just churning out paintings to hang and sell.  I sold quite a few, was busy and feeling good about keeping up with other artists and the numbers we were putting out there.

When I finally decided to let go of all of that and get back to the joy of creating, there were a few that had never sold.  I didn't really like this one and didn't know why for a long time.  I hung it in the bathroom where I could study it and after a year or so knew that the light was coming from behind the trees.  I had painted them with sun shining all over the place and not much change in values.  I have darkened them and tried to place some value changes on this side though they are dark...I like it much better.  

So this small 11x14 took me oh maybe 3 years to paint.  The preliminary work I did when I was showing and selling at the gallery.  Today I finally added the finishing touches and voila!

"Oh, That Guy!"

So I am placing a painting I did around September 1st, on Leslie's 30 days blog as my Day 14 contribution.  I really didn't care for it, an abstract, until my daughter told me how much she likes it.  This morning I saw it through her eyes and with fresh perspective since it is 6am, really am getting it.  I like all the colors, the circle, the nails and that guy/girl.

It's mixed media on wood, 10x10.  This is wood I had left over from another challenge which didn't work out.  I tried to do a 3-dimensional something and nailing the thing together just couldn't be done, by me anyway, thus the two nails kind of imbedded in the wood right side.

This is hanging in the hallway on my drying rack.  When my eye is drawn to this piece, my brain says to me "Oh, that guy!"...so it will forever be called that.  There's a box totally in the center of this thing and the design might be better with it gone but no.

Maple Rock Gardens

So!  I have visited Maple Rock Gardens in Loomis many times.  Always I take pictures because it is so beautiful there and I always want to paint a scene from that location.


This is an image I have had in my computer for months which was the inspiration for my painting.

On My Way

Lots of times when looking for something to paint, a story to tell, I end up with this composition.  For me, it's a metaphor for life-- a life well lived, well traveled, well delved into without knowing where the end is and not even caring but always knowing I can handle whatever is put before me.  This particular painting reminds me of the beautiful life I have had, the many wonderful relationships I have stopped to enjoy, the decisions I have made that were good ones.  There must be another painting in me showing the bad decisions I have made in my life but right now, today all I can see is this place...a smooth place to walk in my sandals and a hat to shade my face, prettiness and nature around me with love in my heart.

Smile

Smile by Bobbie Powell

Today I created this abstract as my ninth  day entry in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge.  I decided to cover up a vase and fern painting I did years ago and didn't really like.

I used Leslie Saeta's process and selected an image of a room (porch) that really inspired me.

With that palette, I envisioned a painting that is to go on that wall.  I began with a the darkest color all around the edge of the wood,  then some collage pieces of black and white lines and zig-zags went onto the piece.   I used the remaining 3 lighter colors to layer in washes over the whole piece. Somewhere in here, I placed the word "smile" random-like on the painting.   It actually turned out too dark at that point.  See!

I decided to do a white gesso wash over the top to lighten up parts of the work.  I lifted off the parts of the wash where I wanted it stay the dark.  When that dried, I still felt the need to lighten parts of it so I did another white wash over it.  Last step was to go back over parts of it with a light orange wash for a result with which I am finally happy.

Platter of Fish

So!  Been checking up on Leslie's blog to make sure all my paintings were uploaded to find nothing from Bobbie Powell for Days 2 and 3.  What the heck?  I will confess I knew I was one painting behind but thought I could still catch up.  What I didn't know is that my second painting never got on her blog at all and now it's too late!

I completed "Platter of Fish" today, Day 6, and this piece came about because I know about an open call for the Salmon Celebration in our area of Northern California.   There is to be art at the celebration to focus on the importance of our keeping the Auburn Ravine clean and healthy.  I may do a still life painting and enter it in the show, now that I know how to paint fish that is.

Day 4

There's so much yellow on this painting I should just call it "yellow" but I didn't.  My reference is a picture I took of a gentleman walking through this wetland area.  We were taking a drive to see the Fall colors a couple of years ago.

Saguaro Memory

We were off this morning early, lots of plans and some goals to accomplish on this sunny Thursday morning.  Before leaving the house though, I arose at about 5:30 am or thereabouts.  After coffee, discussion with my husband at the breakfast table about the day ahead, along about 7am I enter my studio.

Utilizing an 11x14" canvas board that seems sturdy and strong for today's painting, the 3rd in my commitment to accomplish 30, I am loving a small amount of violet mixed with lots of white for an underpainting of pigment and gesso.  As I'm spreading this all over my canvas my husband saunters into the room to further discuss the plan for the day.  I simply ask, what should I paint today totally planning to ignore whatever he says because he probably will not have 1 idea for me that is appealing.  He says you know I would love a painting of a Saguaro.

At that, I decide to go with his suggestion.

Yes, so this is Saguaro Memory and it is a memory of when my husband introduced me to Phoenix and his love of the Saguaro cactus, Camelback Mountain and his childhood there in Phoenix.

Northern California Foothills

Yeah I actually love it here in Northern California.  I've only been here for 20 years, however when my husband brought me it was because I begged him to take me somewhere where there were seasons.  He had lived here for many years and thought this would be perfect for me and that wanting snow was really not what I desired.

Anyhoo, we were very busy today helping one of our kids move here too.   I decided to do a small painting of what I know well since I only had a few minutes before we left this morning.  We took off all day, got home this evening and there were a few finishing touches I needed to add and voila!

30 Paintings in 30 Days

Recently I took an online class with an artist I admire greatly, Leslie Saeta.  She paints totally with a palette knife and uses big blobs of juicy paint.  I also subscribe to her blog and it appears for a number of years she has led a large group of painters in this challenge of doing a painting every day in the month of September.

A couple of my FB friends have done it, and are doing it this year.  While I am not very good at commitment, I decided to join my friends.  It's fun to share something that one has accomplished, and I love talking art.

I began this small 5x7" canvas this morning with the thought of a "C" composition.  Why C?  I dunno, I like them and it's a popular letter.  I used acrylics, gesso, collage materials and some inks.  Leslie will notice I am using some of her techniques which I just learned last month.   Elma, my ongoing mentor and teacher, will notice my struggle with abstract and her influence also.

Now my head is beginning to plan tomorrow's painting.  I love this, yay!

Wrong, oh No

Oh my!  I just worked on the poppy painting again.  It was wrong.  The flower in the lower right front was showing as behind the smaller one which is behind, now it's fixed.  Wow!  I couldn't put my finger on the problem but I knew there was one...what a relief!  Halleluler! (to quote O).

Now onto other things in my head which is a running thought about making a turn in the road, and getting more grounded here in my home and community.  Don't know how or when I am going to work on this but I think I have really already started.

I only wish I had taken another picture of the poppy painting before I gave it away.  Oh well!

Praying for Sight

I have been working on this painting for about a year now, in and out of other projects and responsibilities.  It's for family, and I am doing it from a photo taken off of the Internet which I don't do at all...but in this case, my daughter in law wants a specific scene for her dining room so I took on this project.

It's very one dimensional here, oh I guess one can see that the canal is in the foreground and moving through the street of houses; and we see that we are looking at the buildings from the side.  The bridge and water are still one dimensional, and the fronts of the houses still need some dimension and color changes so that we can imagine they are somewhat weather worn.

Boats need work in that the perspective is wrong, they need to be more upright and not so open to the viewer looking into their bottoms.

I can only make this painting better at this point.  Pray!

Crafties and Do-dads

I find myself being so judgmental of a "critique" I recently attended.

The expert is a professor, a long time artist, of hispanic descent I surmise; somebody I should be proud to know and consider to be very credible in his opinions.  Should is the important word here because I came away with a bad taste regarding the totality of the event.

With the first few paintings, he was not overly informative but he gave enough to the individual artists for them to go further with their piece.  Then I noted his lack of constructive criticism, only doing a complimentary sentence or two on each piece.  I understand that some pieces had very little to criticize, however we spectated-artists really want ideas on ways to keep our art pertinent.

For a few pieces that were totally not fine art, amateurish and with a complete lack of composition ...he was only able to complement.   There were so many ideas these artists needed.

Then I thought about the rest of us.  If those pieces were representations of good art, fine art...where are we, We that are serious about our hobby, our retirement vocation, our wish for a valid art show?

At the end of the day, I asked the expert "did he dumb his critique down" for us.  He didn't know what I meant kind of fumbling with his words.  Then the person that arranged this farce, said to me he wasn't dumbing down but being kind as other past critique-ers had totally been inappropriately too critical.

Whew!  Feel better now that I have written about this.  I will not be attending next year's luncheon however will be keeping my feelings to myself with fellow art club members.  I am far too judgmental and un-nice for this kind of stuff.  It's the first time I have felt like a little old lady doing my crafty pictures and do-dads.

It's a Problem!

Problem I have is always wanting to do two-plus things at a time.  Even when I was a kid I wouldn't go to sleep if we had company or if we were at somebody else house...I was afraid I would miss out on something.  What something?   I do not know, never knew what I would miss out on and still don't know; however I am still afraid of missing out.

I am in my art room right now working on a couple of projects; finishing up a commission of a couple of small pieces that are beginning to be done, and at the I hope end of a landscape I am doing for the art show next month.  Now you would think my head would be full of the tasks at hand; however I hear Greta in the other room and I want to take off my gloves and go see what she is saying and what event in the world I am missing out on.

Now this is a sickness...not a serious sickness because I have made it to 65 without this issue being a huge issue in my life.  HOWEVER, every couple of years I think about it and wonder.  I think the first time I wondered about it was back when I was 3...my Dad would want me to go to sleep in the car on the way home from somewhere and I wouldn't, except when we turned on our street and I knew that he was going to carry the other girls in because they were asleep...suddenly, I would fall asleep too!

Mom would carry me, lol.

Always Workshopping

Just in from a three day workshop with artist, Ruth Armitage, a wonderful collage, abstractionist, acrylic painter and all around wonderful positive energy to be around.




There was so much to learn, to remember, to do, to enjoy and take in, so much smiling to do.

 First day we each did a painting focusing on color/composition:

Second day we focused on collage:

Third day focus was on line: