more stuff half done

Can you tell I like bird cages? well...empty cages anyway!


I am playing with different materials to hopefully create something new and beautiful.

motivation

from now on this is what I will see every day when I come down the stairs...

it's a good reminder don't you think?

Thank you Jenn :-) Now I can carry it wherever life takes me...

it's sunday at dusk

the absolute perfect time to start some creating...I have been working on our living room, clearing out my usual love for warm reds and earthy tones and replacing with some cooler blues and greens. 


part of that project is recycling some things I already have and making them new.


number one is this mirror that has been in my family for as far back as I can remember...I do remember standing in front of it as a little girl and staring at myself many times!  I decided to keep it after my parents parted ways and got rid of virtually everything from their former lives.


I don't have a lot of physical things left to fully remember my growing up. I think this mirror should live on as a memory...it just needs to be perked up a bit.


Here is the before...a final shot of this family mirror in all it's original glory. I will post the after once I get to sanding and re-painting it to mesh with our living room.

Another project I'm working on is some wall decoration for my art room. I have a lot of words and ideas floating around so I decided to incorporate some words into a few small paintings.


This will be a work in progress because it is a little tedious but here are the beginning stages...

it's been a little rough

The new year high kind of wore off quickly. Immediate exhaustion set in, too much work, not enough time and when there is time...just so tired.


so tired.


stuck in my head again and searching so hard and deep for my heart. I know the answers sit in there somewhere just waiting to shake me awake.


one thing that stuck with me the first week of the new year was my resolution to laugh more. I did laugh more and I know because I thought about that resolution every time I laugh. 


suddenly there was sadness and sadness tends to stay with me. Maybe it's the Pisces in me that absorbs emotion like water in my gills, I'm not sure. All I know is when there is heightened emotion it weighs on me for a while.


for now I am focusing on the things that have made me smile lately...or feel something outside of myself. Is that even possible?




I do love this video:

we started our memory jar for the year...I saw the idea on pinterest and wanted to try it. You write down memories and funny stuff or whatever you want throughout the year and then read everything aloud on new years eve.

I keep looking at these beautiful decals Jenn sent me for Christmas...I know exactly where they will go in my art room so Jeff just needs to hang them up since I am not allowed to touch the walls :-)

a thousand years later I finally stretched "Jalaine" from my women's series. Now she can actually hang it up!

I took a break from reading about research and writing to paint this frame a rough green. I am in love with it.

A in a frame and it makes me smile.

Jeff's Dad and his sweet Grandmother as she looks at photographs of her family. She is the sweetest and funniest, saw a very young David Bowie on PBS and said "who is that woman?"

This is something that made me cry and smile...cry for the powerful words and memories of Veterans and also smile that my brother is able to have some creative outlet for his own experience. To learn more about Warrior Writers or to purchase a copy of the collection check out the website. 

and of course when all else fails...who always makes me smile?

why do I keep hanging on?

I promised myself I would do this one kind of big thing after we moved this year...and now on the very last day of the year...done.


It's so funny because as I was in the process I was listening to my new favorite artsy mix that includes Olivia Broadfield ( I think I professed my love already, probably for this song too)


The words:


when all is lost
when all is gone
why do I keep hanging on?


just give me space
I'll give you time
why do I keep hanging on?
say you will
just hang on


I won't let you go this time


Okay, so I definitely get this is probably about a relationship but I am relating it to my art work.


I have this kind of, buildup of art you could call it. A mass of colorful, nonsensical pieces that I have stacked in my various basements/storage rooms/closets for far too long.


They do reflect my history as an artist. My growth as a painter and my shift in both technique and talent.


But they gotta go.


I started doing series of artworks a while back, a way to get myself on track and create pieces that work together in one space and are generally cohesive for me, as the artist. I have kept all of those pieces as well as the first two abstract pieces I ever did ( in all of their lime green and primary color glory) I also kept my first landscape that made me love painting. Of course there are also the various pieces given/sold to friends, family or donated to other causes...they still exist to that represent that history.


So here we go...I started with this stuff pictured below (this isn't everything, some things were damaged or not archival worthy so I scrapped those and recycled the canvas and bars.) I have also purged or re-used several things throughout the year. These were the remaining ghosts of my art graveyard that I couldn't seem to bury.

yes, that is me in all my own glory snorkeling... my senior year I chose to paint a series of snorkeling/underwater things...it was fun but why hang on to them now?

I labeled everything with sizes. my starving artist budget needs to have standard sizes for framing works...in my art student haze I stretched canvas to any size I could imagine. Anything not standard or without 1.5 inch bars that I can gallery wrap had to go. Custom framing? I wish but no thanks.

Now my pile of random work looks like this:

I am ecstatic. I actually really enjoyed slapping the gesso over everything. I am so excited to finally let go of the things that kept me hanging on. I have heard of artists burning their old canvases and while that would be very cathartic I am so glad I can create all new work that fits with my recently defined style.


See this one? I worked and re-worked this one sooo much. I never really liked it but I could never let it go.

I painted over it with white and went back in with some lighter blues and greens. It is literally ghostly and it fits perfectly with what I wanted to achieve. Now I want to hang it on my wall instead of burying it behind a bunch of half finished works.

This doesn't mean I won't touch bright colors again. (I admit I am in a blue/cool mood right now) I love color, it is the essence of what I do and what makes me happy. I love the fire and the light, the depth of a brilliant purple and vibration of colors that don't seem to fit but somehow work. But the difference is there will be unity and purpose in the work I paint for me to show and hopefully sell, and for that, I am beyond thrilled.




I will definitely see you next year. 


Love,
me.

christmas and stuff

well, we did a lot over Christmas but didn't take a whole lot of pictures. Luckily my mind is like a memory box that never fills up so my memories stay with me a while. I am very grateful for that (for the good ones anyway) We had some lovely times with our families and all the celebrating made me feel pretty ill the last few days. I am working on catching up on sleep and taking care of my health.


I have also been lost in thought quite a bit lately, thinking about the things I wanted to do this past year, the things I didn't do and the things I am hopefully and/or definitely going to do in 2012. 


I am kinda thinking this is going to be the year.


I just have a feeling...


you might be wondering what...


I guess we all have to just wait and see.




For now enjoy the few moments we captured on film. 

a white christmas

reinbeers

a small taste of our relaxing before a busy new year.

a decorated bean

Hope you and yours had a very merry Christmas and enjoy a beautiful new year full of joy, hope and all kinds of wonder! xoxo

oh yeah, my finished painting

This looks lovely in the living room...blank wall no more!


All the birds were done using a transfer technique that I talked about in a previous post. It worked kind of okay, not perfect. You can see the halo around some of the birds where the paper didn't quite come off. Overall I am happy and love the soft, hazy greens contrasted with the lines of the flowers and the black birds. 




total painting is four pieces...I wanted it to be kind of funky and in different sizes but still have a flow



see all the tiny dots on the bottom? those took a while.

birds on a wire detail

bird detail

bird detail