Back at the Ranch

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

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

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'!

Bandit

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.

The Good Silver

Christmas is over.

It was wonderful and stressful
and full of family. I am blessed with
kids and in-laws and grandkids who
all like being with each other. We ate
too much, sat by the fire and played
games with the little ones. We missed
our relatives who were with other loved
ones.
.
As I set the table for Christmas Eve, I
was reminded of my Mom. She was very big
on saving the "good stuff" for special occasions.
The china, the silver, the crystal were rarely used.
I never did figure out what constituted an occasion
big enough for the "good stuff".

I followed her advice until 6 years ago.
I was moving again.
I put the Pottery Barn stainless flatware in the kitchen drawer.
I got the big wooden box full of beautiful old sterling flatware
ready to store in the china cabinet.
I opened the box to admire the sterling.
The graceful curves, the weight
of the handles and all the fancy pieces.

I decided it was time to live every day as a special
occasion. The stainless went into a box and the
sterling into the kitchen drawer. It goes in the
dishwasher daily. It has a beautiful patina now
and I never have to polish it because it's being
USED.

It makes me smile at least once a week.

Itchy Fingers

I have painted my fingers off this last year.
 My first love.
I am surrounded by my stuff as I paint.
 Walls of stuff.
Years of collections. Stuff I could not resist.
It's been calling my name.

I rearranged the studio into different work stations.
A jewelry area
a collage area
a salvage junk work space.

It's so cool.
And just as messy as before.
Why can't I create and clean up at the same time?

I am now a more diverse artist.

I move among the stations and voila - different art appears.
I  make jewelry.
Funky upcycled photo/recipe card holders.
And magical little villages from scraps and crumbs of
other eras and lives.

Working in different mediums gets me very energized
in a creative way.
Can't resist going back into the studio at night to look at everything.
It's a good feeling.

Pretty Is As Pretty Does

I decided to take my words to paper. Out of the pictures. Just the words.

Plus I love playing with calligraphy and alphabets and making up my own fonts.

This observation began with my granddaughters. I have three beautiful and talented ones.

No bias here....

There is so much noise in the media today - even media that 6 year olds are exposed to - that screams how important "pretty" is.

I hope that they learn that their value is in who they are, not how they look.

I sold many of these at the Country Living Fair.

My favorite buyer was a nice grandfather who was buying it for his 12 year old granddaughter.

He was concerned that she was already too focused on clothes and appearance.

I hope it helps. It can't hurt, right?

When I finished the drawing, I noticed that the final art was sitting on the sketchbook that generated the original idea.

From start to finish.

Cool.