![]() So….19 days. It’s not that I haven’t done any work…I just haven’t posted anything. School is back in session and it takes a little extra effort to get the school year off to a good start for my 200+ middle school students…throw in a quick trip to NC and back…yep, that has been what has been keeping my busy. I did manage to get fourteen 12x12 paintings started before heading back home…first layer of background color and edges painted…an assortment of shoes sketched out quickly with a Sharpie…the destination for these? My old cheerleading coach just took over a business and I am sending these to sell on consignment…and add some fun décor. Aside from that…no art making…except for project/technique examples that I have started with my kids…so tonight I made time for my art. Side note, I did attend a really cool event in downtown West Palm Beach on Wednesday night. John and I went to the Art Nouveau Jetsetter event …just briefly…really cool…artists selling and creating, DJ spinning, sushi, body painting…made a few connections…so I guess that could count a little...ummmm....it is art related at least.... Yes, I digress. Back to tonight…I painted. I had a canvas panel from, like, 2009 or something. One that I had roughly sketched a face on, this past summer I added some texture with watered down acrylic and saran wrap and then…abandoned. This was my choice for getting back to work…this unresolved piece. Wow, did I ever feel rusty. I painted and repainted (repeat, repeat)… it was a little bit of a struggle. Finally, I don’t know, maybe after an hour…it started to flow a little better. I just can't get enough hair and swirls. I am going to work on more tomorrow, should definitely be able to finish it by the end of the weekend… And I started painting one of the shoes…I want to keep these very whimsical…playing around with some leopard print in the background and adding little wings to the shoes…I will be working on these more this weekend…trying to finish them so I can mail them off. As for the fate of the trees…sitting in one of my portfolios…in order…waiting to be photographed. Except for number twenty…that one was left in NC to be delivered to ECU for the School of Art and Design Alumni Show. Will be posting those…hopefully I can get that done this weekend as well. So…I am back. I know it is going to be tough to make time for my art…but after really working for over two weeks…I missed it. I did feel a void, gotta make. Gotta create. I think that, yeah, I have been really busy, but on some level I feel like I was scared to start something new after the trees. I, and probably anyone bothering to read this blog, am wondering…what’s next? Wow. I have no idea, and that is pretty intimidating…and awesome… ...been busy...time to get back on it....not sure where to start...at least if I post it in my blog I feel a certain obligation...updates to follow...
![]() ...so I started my piece for the Bear and Bird show. A little background, in case it was never previously mentioned…my new art friend Jessica told me about this cool gallery/comic store down in Fort Lauderdale, and that they were always having cool thematic shows. She also let me know about a show that they are having, a Horror Movie-themed show titled ‘Creep Cinema’…perfectly-timed for Halloween, and for me to get something ready. Inspired by my new friend, I verbally committed to creating a piece for this show. And I am doing it, I am making something. (yay!) I wouldn’t say that this is my particular genre, but I like to work with the figure so that is pretty easy to interpret across different styles and themes. In my head I was doing a victory lap, having finished my thirtieth drawing…what could I bring from those thirty trees to this new project? ![]() So for starters… gotta pick a movie. Now, something not everyone knows about me- I used to really love horror movies. Love. I think I was more into the horror movies when I was a kid. I also love Stephen King. I had read just about everything he did up til the Gunslinger series. I don’t know if it was just because I had to do more reading for my classes, or what, but for whatever reason I put down my Stephen King books probably about junior year in high school. I even went as far as to pass them on. Different Seasons, It, The Stand, Salem’s Lot, I could go on and on. Loved his books. When I was looking for a movie image for this project I didn’t even think about any of the new horror movies, I think maybe that is why I had lost interest in the genre, the new movies can be really gory, and that isn’t my thing. So I revisited my childhood friend, Stephen King. Just googling his name brought all of the characters together, reminding me of the stories and images that kept me up at night. The image of Drew Barrymore from Firestarter immediately caught my attention, the warm colors from the photograph, and the movement of the hair. And after a little deliberation, which always involves cornering my husband and asking him to help me decide, hoping that he will choose the one that I wanted in the first place…a decision was made… Firestarter. ...I have had that round canvas for a while now. Found it on clearance at Michaels, bought it and stashed it away for...a rainy day. (Coincidently, it was rainy today. How apropos.) Over the course of a few hours I sketched out the image, started filling in the background colors, painted the facial features and then started working with the lines in the hair. One thing that I noted while I was working was that I always start drawing the left eye first. Every time, not sure why. I struggled with getting the eyes symmetrical, and with getting the right amount of white showing to make her look like she was looking straight on. Another issue I had (and I am still resolving) is making the face look like a child, not an adult. That is always a tough one. I am still working on the face, might need to rework the mouth. When I put down my brushes I was working on the hair, which I will pick back up on tomorrow or the next day. The circular format of the canvas worked well for this image, I feel like it worked with the curvilinear lines of the hair and also fit the size requirements set by the gallery. So all in all, off to a good start but not resolved. (see in-progress pics below) This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
![]() …the sigh isn’t because I am dreading going back to work, I actually have a pretty good gig…they pay me to teach art. Awesome. But I will miss the freedom to do things on my own schedule, which for the most part has been great about this summer. This has definitely been a productive summer for me…I feel like I have gotten some work done, not that I attained some sort of enlightenment or anything…I just put these hands to work. As the school year looms ahead, I know that I will just have to manage my time. (IMS kids, if you are reading my blog- help keep me inspired and motivated to work on my own art! Ask me what I am working on!) Completely achievable. Rambling on… I will be photographing and posting the trees later this week. I had planned to do this earlier today but that didn’t happen. I got lazy after lunch, and the stormy weather sure didn’t help. I did, however, manage to take some group shots of the drawings before lunch, thanks to my husband. (See photo above) Last night I had was trying to think of a place that would be big enough, and have enough light, to photograph the group as a whole, before I nodded off to sleep I thought of the mall. There are a ton of open courtyard areas with skylights, and it was pretty empty except for the mall-walkers. I have already sold one of the trees, and will be posting others on Etsy later, so I may not have all of my trees later…but they are documented. Now time to move on. I have two projects that I need to work on now; first priority is my entry for the ECU School of Art and Design Alumni Show. That is due this month. Also, I am creating a piece based on the film ‘Firestarter’ by Stephen King for a show down in Fort Lauderdale. (Right) In typical fashion, I started that latter first even though it has a later due date. Go figure. …like climbing a metaphorical Mount Everest. Yep. Finishing the thirtieth tree felt…like a chore, like a relief, like an epiphany. In many ways I felt enslaved by my own intentions, my own preset goals to draw thirty trees…by setting boundaries/goals for myself I contained myself…but now I am done. I hung up trees 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 around me as I worked on this final tree…hoping to inspire myself…to find some sense of purpose…that blank piece of paper can be so intimidating. But then…I just worked…and organically tree number thirty appeared.
Now, the next obvious question is…what is next? What is next is that I have some square canvases waiting for paint. What is next is another thirty page 18x24 sketch pad. What is next is my entry for the ECU alumni show. What is next is my entry is my entry for the Bear and Bird show…what is next is the delicate balance of figuring out how to be an artist and a teacher, and a coach for that matter…what is next is life getting in the way of my art, me falling in and out of inspiration and dealing with it, creating despite what life throws at me. John’s friend said he wanted to virtually stab my blog (I love you, by the way, Ryan) ; I want to virtually kick my own butt to stay motivated to make this art that I know needs to be made. Here is to Amy, to Lucy, to Oacie, to Dillon, to my grandmother, who is still alive but unable to create with her hands and robbed of her memory. I am here to create. For all of you. Three thirty, that is just the stepping stone in the portal of my inspiration. Let’s go. ![]() What a busy day. But I did carve out some time for tree number twenty-nine. Twenty-nine. I am almost there. For this tree I did not do any of my usual pre-drawing. I started with on face, looking straight on, and then started using the text intertwined with hair to gradually construct the trunk of the tree, drawing additional faces where they seemed to fit. I started to add more black to the right side of the tree... sitting down drawing it is a little tough to really see the work. I did stand a little, looking and then swooping in to make a mark here and there…I think I will need to go back into this one and make the increase in the dark values a little more gradual from left to right, it is too abrupt. Also...for this one I really focused on using my text as an element to move around the composition and as scaffolding for constructing the tree form. I will not be ‘in the studio’ this week…dare I take my sketchpad with me? I feel like if I do take it I will neglect it, and then I will be mad at myself for dragging it with my and not using it. Then again, I feel like I should really do some reflecting before I just into my final tree…if it is in fact to be the final tree. I need to sit down and look at each drawing, allow the previous marks to inform what is to be this last (?) tree. So I am going to leave my big ‘ol sketch pad sitting on my drawing table, waiting for me to finish that last page. And I really don’t know what my next step will be. I have some canvasses waiting, I could move to charcoal or pastel and loosen up…will have to see where inspiration leads me. But for now, here's tree twenty-nine. A week off….kind of. I need to find a way to balance my time. I started back coaching this week, and I am excited to have my own team to coach this year. I have been crafting it up, making all kinds of fun cheer stuff but the trees remained unresolved. I need to go ahead and find a way to manage my time now, before the school year starts and I have even more obligations pulling me away from my art. But I did do some creative things, and I worked on my Etsy site, so all is not lost. Per usual, I digress. Back to the latest trees….Tonight, I saw my large sketchbook with those three remaining pages and I knew- time to get back on it. So I started tree number twenty-eight. Rather that reference a previous tree, I tried to start fresh and just sit down and draw…surely by tree twenty-eight I should be able to do this. So I did. I did just few pre-drawing lines and then…just went with it. I seemed to focus on the text for this tree. My focus? The word love. Over and over again, the word love. I think I am drawn to this particular word for numerous reasons, and the fact that Love is my maiden name is actually not one of them. When I was little, my mom had a picture of a tree and it had the word love over and over again hidden in the branches. I remember looking at it as a child and trying to find every single one. I think I became aesthetically aware because of this tree painting. Looking back on it, I know it was probably some very seventies-looking piece, with lots of brown and orange and a dark wood frame, but that picture fascinated me. Now, there are other connections to the word LOVE, but this particular image is clear to me right now. Anyways, still figuring things out. One my friends from college commented that she had been following the trees…what were they about? The word that came to mind is vehicle. These trees are a vehicle to get me working. These trees are a vehicle to hold trees, figurative work, curvilinear line, patterns…the trees are a vehicle to move me from inactivity as an artist and a creative soul to a person of action, making art and not just talking about it. So…may I present…tree number twenty-eight. (Left) Tree twenty-eight. (Right) Close up.
![]() ...all done. Art camp this week was a success, the kids went home with a ton of new projects…I made a new ‘art/teacher friend’ and I am looking forward to having someone to help keep me motivated for the upcoming show at Bear and Bird Gallery and Boutique in Fort Lauderdale…I think I am going to get something started for their upcoming Creep Cinema show. And…I finished up with my ten faces. I added the final marks in charcoal, sprayed fixative on them and I am calling it a day. It was a good outlet for me, having something to work on here and there throughout the week, but I am still kicking myself on the size. I should have gone bigger; I can always crop it down later. Lesson learned. (Below) Slideshow of ten 9x12 inch faces, charcoal and wash on Bristol. ![]() ...and let the ellipses begin... I added some additional layers of ink wash in various values to the faces today... I did feel a little restricted by the smaller paper size…here I am, with all of the wall in front of me…space to move around, to step back and see how the work is progressing... regressing...changing...etc…and due to my paper choice I limit myself…If anything, the faces give me a sense of tension, of containment. I was excited to have more of a studio setting to work in, even if on break and lunch, little bits of time… but again, it comes down to not really being able to fully utilize the space for this set of drawings…the paper size I chose is too small…or does the paper make the work more intimate, more personal…especially when set against the large wall, the openness of the room…if anything, it was a chance to loosen up, to work standing instead of sitting over my drawing table...tomorrow I will go back in and do a little more line work with the charcoal…oh yeah, and finish teaching my camp classes…then get back to the rest of the trees this weekend… and those canvases aren’t gonna paint themselves, so that’s on the list…for now, it’s a wash. (If you appreciate cheesy art puns, and I sure do, hopefully you got a chuckle)...hee hee hee |
AuthorArtist and Art Teacher
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