My first passion will always be painting. ( Of course, that passion is always in competition with the grandkids. They are just so amazing to be with.) But I digress. Running a very close second to being in the studio is being in the house. The living part of it. We bought a non-descript '80's ranch last year. It needed some cosmetic work but was in general good health. The sunshiney basement is bigger than the upstairs living space and that was my first project. Clean and open white space to work in. The space to live in is more of a challenge. I like to take my time and let the space tell us what it needs. It also takes time to figure out how we're going to live in the space. You know, where we'll relax, toss the mail and the keys, etc. One year down and I have some ideas. They keep morphing into different ideas. I like to wait until one visual stays in my mind for a while before I execute it. The pic on the right is the temporary foyer look. It has a great slate floor, not so great scuffed beige walls and a 12 foot ceiling. I'm thinking stenciled walls or maybe fabric as wallpaper. The bottom vignette is the top corner of the dining room cupboard. The dining room is the first really finished room. I love it. Love the color on the walls and my old beloved furniture in there. That'll be my next post. As soon as I get some pictures I'm happy with I'll be back.
Faces
I haven't painted a person or a face in so long that
my skin toned paints are drying up. Dogs have been
filling my canvases. My good friend, Bailey Jack/painter
extraordinaire urged me to paint a woman holding a dog or a
chicken or a pig.....
This lady is holding a puppy. I love her face and I hope
the rest of the painting gives me the same pleased
feeling. I'll post the other two thirds when it's finished.
I started my painting career with people images. It
might be time to look at faces again.
WORKING B-I-G
This is my biggest painting ever. At 30" x 48", it's not even that big.
All my painting friends tell me that big is the way to go these days.
Big sells and we want to sell.
Jeez, did I struggle with this one. The composition confounded me.
I walked away from it many times. I'm so comfortable working on
table sized canvases that I can hold in my lap. This was easel only
work. Getting the color and design right was a real challenge.
And frustrating.
I can tell when I'm finished with a painting. I set it on an eye level
surface and walk away. Then I turn around and look at it. If it
makes me happy and I can't find anything huge to critique, then
I'm done. Real scientific. I tried this method at least 6 times before
I got the happy feeling with this painting.
"Daisy Dog" is now in residence at Matilda's Gallerie in Roswell.
www.galleriematilda.com
So glad this one is finished. Now that I've done it once, I know I can
do it again. On to a 3' x 3' or a 4' x 4'!
2012.
Another new year.
More new painting.
Every time I stop painting and start again,
new stuff appears. It might be a painting tool
or a shape I haven't used before.
I want my art to be loose and free feeling.
My background is in perfect lines and
shapes. I stuggle all the time to find the
imperfection in the lines I draw.
The art I love is wild, imaginative
and very free. With lots of great color.
This is "Bandit" - a chicken or a rooster -
honestly, I don't know the physical differences.
They all look like chickens to me.
This is as loose as I can get.
The new stuff is using lots of oil pastels on the
painted surface. Am also carving rubber stamps
to incorporate in my paintings.
The star in the sky is a new stamp.
I wish I could find giant white erasers.
They make the best stamps.
My first passion will always be painting. ( Of course, that passion is always in competition with the grandkids. They are just so amazing to be with.) But I digress. Running a very close second to being in the studio is being in the house. The living part of it. We bought a non-descript '80's ranch last year. It needed some cosmetic work but was in general good health. The sunshiney basement is bigger than the upstairs living space and that was my first project. Clean and open white space to work in. The space to live in is more of a challenge. I like to take my time and let the space tell us what it needs. It also takes time to figure out how we're going to live in the space. You know, where we'll relax, toss the mail and the keys, etc. One year down and I have some ideas. They keep morphing into different ideas. I like to wait until one visual stays in my mind for a while before I execute it. The pic on the right is the temporary foyer look. It has a great slate floor, not so great scuffed beige walls and a 12 foot ceiling. I'm thinking stenciled walls or maybe fabric as wallpaper. The bottom vignette is the top corner of the dining room cupboard. The dining room is the first really finished room. I love it. Love the color on the walls and my old beloved furniture in there. That'll be my next post. As soon as I get some pictures I'm happy with I'll be back.
