Contemplation #7 - WIP -update 10.3.07.12:00 pm

This is the 4th painting in my Contemplation series. Yes, I realize it says #7, that's because it is Contemplation #7, not painting #7. They're mine, I can paint them in whatever order I choose. :-) I've already done #s 1, 5 and 6.

It is on a 24x24" gallery wrapped canvas, in acrylics, and it is a long way from complete, but I wanted to put it up in stages. This is just after toning the canvas with quinacridone magenta and transferring my drawing over, then using quin. magenta to establish some darks and lights. The white is gesso where I've had to go back in an get some lights back - they'll be toned down later. I'm planning on doing this painting in my modified Flemish technique, so the next thing (after I'm pretty happy with this stage) will be to create the dead layer and then start glazing.

Then, of course, I'll have to start adding the things in that make it a contemplation rather than just a portrait.

And I need to fix the left (viewer right) eye.

Okay, I'm going to try to update in this post, so it stays in the correct time sequence. We'll see if that works...

I'm kind of breaking the rules, because I decided to do my "dead layer" in the pink as well, just to experiment a little and see what will happen when I start adding layers. Will it work? I don't know...but here's where I am in pinkville...

The left eye is much better, but there is now a really hard edge on that side of the nose that I need to take care of before I start glazing. I'm trying to really even out the skin tones before I put on the first layer of color, so I have a little more work to do in pink.

rollin along...

Well, the wine and chocolate gave me a migraine, but trooper that I am, I pressed on. Now I'm kind of stuck. Should I leave the background my favorite (yet slightly obnoxious and disturbing) quinacridone magenta? Another color? Hmmm. I'm just not sure, yet. This contemplation is on Judgment - that is...how we judge others, not on exercising good judgment...that's pretty harsh, so maybe the harsh background fits. I think I'll let it sit for a while before I decide.

If you like seeing all the in-between steps, click over to my flickr account - they are all there. I'm going to update the YouTube movie later so it will show the complete progression until now.

If you have an opinion about the background - feel free to share it.

And could someone bring some excedrin?

Me Tube!!

I just had to try this to see if it would work - it's like time lapse painting!

We're Having a Little Party...

...over at WetCanvas! and you're all invited! Just bring chips or something.

Once a week someone takes charge and shares around 16 pictures from which the folks pick one or two or 16 to draw. This weekend...I'm in charge!! woo hoo!!!!!!

Here's the invite...

Click here to read about the Weekly Drawing Challenge and to see the pictures - and then come join in - it really is a lot of fun, you can try something new and different and maybe spark a creative idea or two!!

Wreck this Slump...

I've been playing in this book for the last couple of weeks. I first saw it in Artist's Magazine as a write up about the author, Keri Smith. I finally got one after I ordered one for Mo and had to try it out for myself. (Mo has a new masthead, designed by yours truly...you should go check it out and then read her stuff...it's FAB)

After looking at the book with great skepticism, I finally decided to treat it as if it were an activity book for artists...you know - like the giant activity books you used to get as a kid, with crossword puzzles and word searches, jumbles and dot-to-dots.

It's been strangely zen.

Keri has placed suggestions in the book for how to wreck it, because let's face it - it's hard to intentionally mess up a perfectly good book. I revere books - printed or otherwise. Mess it up on purpose? YES. Okay. Here goes...

I started with the cover and kind of pretended I was in middle school...

One page called for tearing into strips, which I did, but not before writing some fabulous prose on the other side and coloring the page behind it and then stapling it all into ribbons. (I've never been able to follow directions terribly well...)

Here are some other examples of my activities...

But it was this one that I really got all meditative with, which then sparked a couple more in my Moleskine...

Note the France Belleville inspired background...

I feel like this hand thing is going somewhere, but I'm not sure where just yet. I'm going to ask my friend Dari if she can help. It just has her written all over it...

To see more from my Journal Wrecking, click over to my Flickr account.

Thanks to Lucy and Crackskull Bob...

I have yet another widget to play with...

Awwww...

Look! I'm a great-aunt!! My nephew, Jesse, and his wife, Samantha, have just had their first child! A bouncing baby boy - Brian Paul Johnson. Born September 11, 2007 and weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds, 11 ounces. He's named for both of his grandfathers - Brian was my brother, Paul is Samantha's dad. Grandma-nana-momo, Melinda, is gushing with pride! She wrote a little something about being a grandmother at her very young age...if you have a chance, go read it!

Many happy blessings to this new little family - I'm so looking forward to watching a new Brian run around :-)

A Long Awaited WDE

I haven't participated in a Weekly Drawing Event over at WetCanvas! for a very long time - at least all Summer, I am guessing - before my last computer died. But I suddenly realized that I could jump in today, so I decided to just do a couple of drawings in my Moleskine sketchbook.

I just used a standard mechanical pencil and my travel box of watercolors.

The two pages together...


and individually...

Rare, indeed. Goofy? Okay - I guess so.

Your Personality is Very Rare (INTP)

Your personality type is goofy, imaginative, relaxed, and brilliant. Only about 4% of all people have your personality, including 2% of all women and 6% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

On Tour

Well, virtually, at least. I actually had a little studio time this morning, for the first time in a great long time, and while I don't have anything to post yet (lots of prepping and thinking and sketching and planning), I sat down for a little studio tour while I ate my leftover pizza.

Here's what I did. I started at Linda's blog, 'cause she has a nice collection of links. I randomly selected one of her links and ended up in the Netherlands at Eefje's blog. From her links, I made another random selection and went to North Carolina to see Suzanne. Then it was on to Quebec to study Paula's work, and from there I headed down to New York to see Heidi's designs, and finally ended up in Sacramento to tour Terry's studio.

Wow. So much wonderful stuff out there. It really is amazing. Take some time to wander through and enjoy it. Branch out from your usual list of favorites and find someone new.

Happy Blogging...

Gee Whiz, Linda!

Thanks so much!

Linda, of Quotidian Curiosities, has honored me with a "Creative Blogger" award. And she said such nice things, too, on a day when I really needed some serious affirmation. Linda is a wonderful friend and inspiration to me. I always feel creatively recharged after a meeting with her, so this award means an extra lot to me.

Now I am supposed to pass the award on to 5 bloggers who inspire me creatively, and then they in turn should nominate 5 more. How's that for spreading the love? Great idea - so nice to do nice things in this not-so-nice world. For more info about the Creative Blogger award, click here, but not before you read my picks...

1. Melinda of Lunar Epilogues. Melinda is a writer extraordinaire. She writes about truth and life and love and angst and does so in a beautiful and tender way. She doesn't post as often as I would like, but maybe understanding that she is a creative genius will inspire her to write. She often inspires me to paint. And to quit whining.

2. Ronell of African Tapestry. Ronell does amazing, colorful watercolors of her travels, of her home and even of kudzu. She has such a wonderful outlook on the places and things that she captures in her art - she's always refreshing to read.

3. Casey of Rue Manuel Bis. Casey is one of those bloggers that leaves such encouraging, thoughtful comments - I always love to see her name on my comments box. Her ink and watercolor paintings are always so fresh and pleasing, but I have to confess I love what she does with her figures and portraits - beautiful line, lovely shading...

4. Karen of kbladosdesign. Karen has the most remarkable journal. She weaves pictures with text in a way that is completely unique and always beautiful.

and last, but in no way least,

5. Marta of mARTa's Art. Marta is such a lovely person. She balances an intense job with a love of life and art and she does so beautifully. She's one of those bloggers that I would just like to hang out with at the beach for a few days. I think we'd have a blast.

Well, that's my list today. It was very hard to pick just 5 from all the wonderful blogs out there, but I promise if you go visit any of these, you'll be happy you did.

Thanks to Linda again, and to everyone who comes by here to say hello.

Happy Blogging...

Historical Hullabaloo

We spent the afternoon Saturday at the Fort Loudon Great Island Festival. It was fun to see all the folks dressed in 18th century garb. The boys especially enjoyed the demonstrations of the cannon and muskets. Gunpowder and loud noises...what else could a kid ask for?

The boys had a little trouble...

But for me, this guy stole the show...

Check out some more photos of our living history day (and what other things the guy above did) by clicking here to see my Flickr photos!

More Campy Fun

I did have a chance to sketch a little on our camping trip. Never as much as I would like, but at least I snuck in couple.

I made the first sketch while sitting in front of the fire. The light was fading, so I just sketched what was in front of me, which turned out to be a camp chair and the corner of our pop-up camper. It's all pencil in my Moleskine sketchbook.

This one is also in the Moleskine sketchbook. Pencil and super-cheap gouache. It's one of those that when I finished, I just loved. Don't know why - it just felt good. The line going around the book is where I traced the path of a little green inch worm as it made it's way across my page. Oh, the simple pleasures of camping...

Campy Fun

All my boys and I went camping over the Labor Day weekend. August has been brutally hot here, and heading to the mountains seemed like it might bring a little relief to our parched souls. It's so frustrating to spend the day trapped in the house by 95+ degree heat and high humidity. It is made worse by memories of childhood spent playing outside regardless of the heat and humidity, but we also didn't have air-conditioning and so the heat outside wasn't so different from the heat inside, and a little shade and lemonade was all one needed to keep going through the hottest part of the day. My children are wimps.

BUT, that's another story. THIS is the story of camping over the Labor Day weekend.

We are always on the lookout for interesting wildlife, and this trip gave us lots of friends - katydids,

caterpillars,

butterflies,

and dinosaurs.

The coolest animals we saw, however, were the elk. About 5 years ago, elk were reintroduced into the Cataloochee Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains. The herd is up to about 87 animals, and when we visited we saw 9, including 2 bull elk - one old and one young. Unfortunately my zoom is not long enough to capture them like I would have wanted, but this gives you an idea of what it was like:

We even got hear their bugle. September is when the rut starts, so big daddy elk in my pics didn't take to kindly to little up and coming wanna-be daddy elk invading his territory. Someone bugled (I'm guessing Junior), and big daddy chased him off into the woods to have a little talk about respecting elders.

For more campy fun, visit my Flickr page and take a virtual tour!

Not Yet 40

But getting closer. Yay me! It's my birthday, but I'm still not 40. Edging precariously close, now - but not there yet. One more year to hang on to the 30s...I think it's going to be a good one.


Yes, I really was that cute...

And, 4 more doggie ATCs to mark the occasion. Only 11 more to go.

Long Live the King

I woke up this morning remembering the news of a morning 30 years ago. I still remember hearing the news, crying, watching my mother and my grandmother cry. It was tragic. I was a child, but I knew Elvis. I mean, I didn't know him personally, but his voice had sung lullabies to me over the record player and the radio. My brother tried to copy his lip stylings, with limited success and much to the delight of all the relatives. It was a sad, sad morning. It is the first time that tragedy had stretched out it's hand and touched my life, really. Even as remote as it was from me personally, it was the first time I remember crying over a news story. It would be the first of many of those, unfortunately. Crying for a light snuffed out too soon, a lost boy in need of saving, a nation oppressed and in bondage. I guess it represents to me the loss of the self-indulgent childhood that only sees the things that directly impact one's own life.

One week short of 12 years later, another light was extinguished way too soon. Brian Ray Johnson, 9/5/65-8/9/89. He left behind a whole lot of people who were better off having known him. And, even if he never got those Elvis lip-stylings quite right...I still thought he was an amazing brother. He was in his (very) early twenties when he wrote and recorded this song - he was, as Mo said "...a wonderful, intelligent lyricist. A poet with an old soul."

School is back in session

...and I have mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, it's nice to have a few mornings a week to call my own, but on the other hand, it's awfully early to start school, in my opinion. I remember, back in the day, not starting until the day after Labor Day. I realize that kind of dates me, but it's true. I firmly believe that the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day sacred summer time. Alas, the school board did not choose to consult me on this, so I guess we'll just go with the flow.

Linda and I had an art-excursion type morning. We first headed over to the McClung Museum on the university campus and poked around their exhibits. I got a chance to draw skeletal figures, rather than the fleshy ones I've been concentrating on recently. Wonderful place, the McClung. It's going on my list of places to visit weekly , I think. Chock FULL of wonderful things to draw, benches on which to sit, non-intrusive docents...VERY nice.

Derwent drawing pencils in large Moleskine sketchbook.

We also went over the the art museum and checked out the Rembrandt exhibit. I must say, it was breathtaking. Honestly - his faces are just remarkable. Some of the etchings are no more than 2 inches across, and yet he somehow manages to portray them with intense emotion and wonderful character. I'm going to be sharpening my pencils to a needle-like point and seeing what I can do in reducing the figure to this size. I was honestly moved by them - if you have a chance to see them, here or elsewhere, please do. I'll be going back and taking my kids before it goes away.

So that's the plus of school starting. I had an entire morning devoted to art and friendship and not once did I have to tell Linda to stop daydreaming and finish her homework. sigh.

ATC Fun

This time with a theme - - -

I'm behind on this exchange, but trying to catch up...It's all doggies this time 'round. My own Oscar had to have a toe amputated on his left front paw last week. The vet thinks it was cancer, but the report is not back yet. He's doing fine, but looks a bit Yoda-like with just the three toes...I always thought he was a wise one...

Click the pic to see them over at flickr...(I'm almost halfway done...)

Lend a Hand

Not really. I've just been stressing over hands in my drawing class, but I decided to practice some this week and things went much better today. Please note that all poses actually HAVE hands this time...I was using my new Derwent Drawing Pencils today in Brown Ochre, Terracotta, Venetian Red and Chocolate. The Brown Ochre is the lightest and is a really nice color for gestures, especially when trying to locate where major body parts ought to be...

A 30 minute pose...

and a couple of 1 hour poses...

Forgive the quality of these - they're too large to fit the scanner, and my camera really doesn't like to take photos of drawings...

¡Deja las gansadas!

I know I should, but I can't stop...(oh - go get a Spanish-English dictionary...it's not that hard!!)

Still fooling around with photos and faux encaustic (for info on the real stuff - look here.)

I've been thinking alot about art marketing, lately, and it seems to really put a crimp in my ability to create. I don't want to think about it, but if I want to make any headway in the art business, I have to. It's a conundrum, I know (not a corundum, which is an entirely different thing). My apologies for that last sentence. I've been thinking alot about geology lately, and the entirely different life I used to lead ... and how one led to another ... and ... oh good grief - stop. Sheesh.

The point is - I have a tendency to think too much, rather than to act. Anyone with any clues on how to change that, please feel free to chime in. Thinking is a great thing, but I set up entirely baseless expectations of myself and others when I sit around rearranging things in my mind all day long. See - usually I don't have a free minute to think, but with the boys away, it's just so darn (DANG) quiet around here. How's a girl supposed to get anything done with all this SILENCE???? iTunes...take me away...

Before anyone calls the docs - I'm sure this is just a hormonal imbalance brought on by lack of chocolate. Pay no attention to the crazy lady behind the easel...