...so...the almost all-night creative binge caught up with me...came home, napped...napped again...finally felt productive enough go for a run and make a trip to Publix and Michael's...then sat for a couple of hours on the couch, watching football and painting the base color on some ornaments and adding some patterns to the wooden plaques, with my cats keeping me company.
By the way, SD Chargers not happy with the outcome of that game...boo. Another eventful girl's art night with Jessie...basically painted from 6pm to 4:30am...and I have not idea why my body insists on getting up at 8am....probably going to be sleepy later. Our creative space is getting bigger, we went from one small square table to the square table, two large rectangle tables and the island in the kitchen. Quite the production, but well worth it. Jessie's focus- these cool Erté-inspired-retro-fabulous-glam ladies that are going to have the most Christmas-crazy hair... these are seriously going to be amazing...can't wait to see them finished! For me...mass produced chaos, per usual. I have an ornament order of 35 pieces that I want to mail out next week, it is for my friend's team in VA. I think I have been painting ornaments for her team for 4? 5? years now? Not sure. Every year the team has a different 'theme'...this year is magic. I went with a rabbit in a hat holding a megaphone. So, 35 of those all finished, just waiting for the names...I also doctored up some of my leftover owl ornaments to become FAU owls...painted some small wooden plaques...and was inspired to start some whimsy Christmas trees on some 12x12 canvases that I had left over from the last ANE show... Today....got to pack up this show and head home... ![]() I want to take a moment and write about a date that is branded into my heart, November 16th. No matter what I am doing on this date, I always feel the weight of what it has meant to me and to so many others…the empty space created. November 16, 1995 is the date that Amy Elizabeth German was killed in a car accident on her way to school. Senior year. We had our whole lives in front of us, feeling the power of being almost 18 years old with nothing but milestones in our future. Amy was many things to many people. She was the only child of John and Jennifer, close friend to many, musician, fierce beautiful spirit. To me, she was my best friend. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of Amy, but November 16th is always the tough, because the bad memories of that day always rush back…being in the office by accident when they received the phone call about the accident… hearing them pronounce her name wrong…sitting in art class working on a self portrait and having a hard time with the colored pencils because my eyes kept filling with tears…the ride with my mom to the hospital, not knowing how bad it was…thinking that maybe she would be in a wheel chair and we would have to put rhinestones and flames on the sides…then…just…being…there… in that room… hearing the news. More than my own hurt, was the anguish of her parents…I think I could actually hear hearts break that day…and the rest was a blur….going into her room later that day and feeling like there was a presence missing…her grandfather Dillon coming and putting his hand on my shoulder…sitting down to pet Bo and Boo, her cats, and then crying because it felt like they knew she was gone…the funeral…standing room only…these are the things that flash by my eyes…and I hate November 16th because that is the day that Amy was taken away. This year for the 16th I had made plans to participate in the Art Nouveau Harry Potter event. I second guessed doing this event…like I should just stay at home. But I think that Amy would want me to make art, especially on this date. So I did. And I will keep making art. I feel so much love and inspiration when I am creating, like I am making something that has the potential to create a small space of beauty for someone, somewhere. I don’t know if I am idealistic, or silly, but that is how I feel. The act of creating art calms something in my soul…and it is just something that I feel I have to do. So I participated in the event, and I am glad that I did. I will write about that in another post. ![]() Much of the work that I have created over the years have specifically related to Amy, and in some ways every time I pick up a pencil, paintbrush, or needle and thread I am in some way making a tribute to my friend. Since her passing, others have gone….Oacie…Dillon…Lucy…each time someone leaves I feel that it makes me want to remember them somehow in my art. I paint angels sometimes...I like to think that those people that I love never really left…I do figurative work because I feel like love is within the human spirit, and beyond any religion my spirituality is based on love and kindness…the relationships that we have with others….I work with saturated color because I feel that the color shows life and vitality. Most recently I have been working with the tree form…thinking about the larger human family tree and the connections we all share. One of those connections…loss. Everyone out there has lost someone and can relate, even though the individual experiences are distinct. I deal with loss with my art. I don’t know what I would do without my art, and after really making an effort to create the time to, well, create…I don’t know any other way. So yeah, November 16h…for me represents the loss...but more so is November 17th….this is the space that I live in…the day after when I have to figure out how I can keep the memory alive.
....just...paintin'...feels like Heracles to trying to slay the Hydra...instead of the heads coming back seems like I see another painting that I need to do when I think I am making progress...or spot to touch up....deep breaths...
![]() ...tonight I worked on the pieces for the Art Nouveau show that is fast approaching. I feel like I have got a good start but still a long way to go. I have little wooden plaques, some 8x10 canvases...all with some scrap of paint on them, even if it just the background color. Hey....gotta start somewhere, right? Still working with the Hedwig/owl inspiration…really having some fun with this theme… About an hour or so into painting I picked up one of the plaques that I had painted with a coat of blue and quickly painted the simplified owl shape...but then quickly put down my brush to pick up a pencil….seemed only fitting that I elaborate on the branch…before I knew it, one of my trees had creeped into this small work…and then I started to think, yeah, that makes sense. Owls live in trees…yep. So I unwrapped my new blank canvas and just started sketching…owl shape, check. Crazy, curvilinear lines…check. After going over the pencil lines quickly with black paint…ready. This will be the canvas that I paint at the live-art event. So that is where I am as of this evening. Several plaques and small canvases in progress…three trays of ornaments not even opened and two packs of square canvases that need to be addressed. ![]() I moved my work space around a bit today...took time to drag my easel, table, chair, Pinky, msc paint and canvases out on the porch today to paint for a few hours...it was nice to work outside, definitely worth the hassle of moving everything...then I moved it all back inside, back to normal except the extra table is in the kitchen to accommodate the numerous canvases that are in progress...oh yeah, so that is what I was working on- the large tree painting...starting to 'carve out' some of the faces from the tree and adding some hair details...this one might take a while, I really get focused on one area (pic to the right shows where I stopped before heading out for lunch)...then I worked on some paintings for the Art Nouveau Harry Potter live-art event that this coming Wednesday. I have ten 8x10 canvases that I am painting little owls one, some have ties, others are wearing t-shirts. At one point I brought some of my art supplies in the living room to paint while I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...had to be extra careful...did not want acrylic paint on the couch or floor...no mishaps, whew! ....on a bit of a weird sleep schedule...need to sleep now... The pictures below just show my make shift outside studio, working from the couch and then the final grouping…well, for tonight anyway, nothing is done…lot’s more to do! |
AuthorArtist and Art Teacher
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