I Won - I Won - I Won !

Just before Christmas I wrote a comment on a blog at Art Pub Studios and got my name entered into a drawing - and lo and behold my name was drawn and I won this great box of Things To Make Things With!All from Sylvia Luna at www.silvermoonstudios.com Will ya look at the size of this box? I was expecting maybe a shoebox or smaller even. This was crazy big - those are my Crocs sitting bside the box - and you know how big and clunky those things are.




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Oh my gosh - will ya look at this? It's like Christmas!







I laid out all of the contents on the floor and took my time opening and savoring each treasure. There was this cool vintage paper tube with metal ends - I have no idea what I will make with this - but it is cool anyway - a beautiful rich amber brown color and texture -













Here's smiley guy, some paper goodies, some shiny numbers and really cool old, old Asian photographs of some sort.








Some beautiful fabrics and red plaid bias tape,






the round kitchen conversion chart is a magnet and might just find a home on my fridge, some really neat things I am nor sure how to describe, I guess ceramic and plastic cabochon type thingies, and a metal flower like decorative thing - all great for an altered book I think...and hey - look! That's why smiley guy is so happy - do you think it is a civil wedding maybe?


siness card. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the artwork!!!

...there is an amp meter, an old metal canteen from Junk Yard Queens - there is a vintage bottle too, and of course the microscope - I can't wait to play with the microscope - hmmm, I uploaded the photos but I don't know where they are - (I wish I was better at this computer stuff)

Here is one of the best thing in the whole box - a piece of art by Silvia/Siver Moon, and a post card with a note to me - and her business card...


There is a section of vintage carpenter's ruler - which I have always loved those things. I have one that I use and play with, but it is not as old and cool as this one, and then there is this cool little 1927 book titled The Bright Side o'Things, inside there is a note that reads "a Merry Christmas - to one who sees the bright side - from one who is going to do better"

I love that!!






Silver Moon Studios
Art Pub Studios

Thank you Sylvia Luna! You have blessed me.

Just Tryin'...

Tryin' to be consistent that is, without being to hard on myself. I slept til 8:30 AM this morning - that almost NEVER happens as the dogs are early risers, thus forcing me to be an early riser too. We all overslept, we must have needed the rest, so OK. That put me behind for the entire morning, and this afternoon was so crazy busy I hardly had a chance to eat or think, so no painting today. However I did go to COAL's meeting (Carlsbad Oceanside Art League), and watched David Darrow speak and demo a head painting. That was interesting, I found him humorous and informative. You can see his work at www.darrowart.com - I wish I knew how to make the link work, guess I'll have to figure that out. David has another website for his daily paintings which you can get to from his website. So no painting for today, but I did post. Now that's consistency, big changes in little steps

Another Teeny TIny Painting

BLACK VASE STILL LIFE 3" x 4" OIL ON MASONITE

This is truly a horrible photograph. I don't know why I am having such a difficult time getting a decent picture. I think it maybe time to blame the camera - I couldn't possibly be this bad! It has taken me HOURS to shoot and re-shoot this tiny painting and now it is dark so I have to be done for today. I didn't get to my studion until about 10:30AM this morning - but I have a really good excuse. No, the dogs didn't eat my paint supplies (although they would like to) - I spent the morning rearranging and sorting my closet. This is a big deal - I haven't been able to hardly get in it or put anything away for several months now. I had a closet person come a design a closet for me when we first moved in. I spent all of my energy getting my husbands side just right and then lost momentum on my side. Now his side stays nice and neat and organized and my side doesn't really work for me. Oh well...

Teeny Tiny Painting

FLOWERS AND A PLUM 3" X 4" OIL ON MASONITE

Here is today's "hour long painting." OK, so it's approximately an hour probably plus a little. I have a timer that I set at 15 minute intervals, the idea being the first 15 minutes is for the sketch, second 15 minutes for the blocking in then two 15 minute sessions for the finishing of the painting, however, I can never seem to remember to hit the start button after the first 2 times. By that time I am into the painting and completely forget. But I do know that I went into my studio at 9:30 AM, took a little while to get set and situated, painted, and broke at 11AM to take photos of the finished piece, so that's about an hour. Actually, this is a little smaller that 3 x 4 by a few eighths of an inch. It's a fun new challenge, painting this small.

Welcome to 2008 - the year of Self-Discipline and Will Power

BLACK VASE AND EGG 8 X 10 OIL ON CANVASBOARD This painting was done in about 80 minutes. I am trying for 1 to 1 1/2 hour daily paintings in an attempt to improve my confidence and speed and not get bogged down in details and picking it to death.

I have spent a lot of time trying to set some goals and structure for 2008. I am a little tired - well not tired - ummm, I don't know what the word is right now so I will go with tired, of living my life by the seat of my pants. I just want to pay more attention and live more purposefully and thoughtfully. I generally feel like a stone skipping across the face of the water, just touching down here and there as I speed along. Those touchdowns usually are really joyful for me but I am not sure it is so joyful for others. Just as the stone disturbs the water when it hits on it way by, I often feel like I can be a disturbance to friends and family with my loose and carefree ways. I also often have the sense that I am missing out on things - like depth and meaningfulness. Don't get me wrong here, I am pretty darn happy with me and my life and I am not looking for HUGE changes, just some changes. I will be writing more about these things, but for now I set the goal of working in my studio from 9AM to 4PM daily, staring the day with my little daily painting for EBay. I am very proud to say that I was in my studio at 9:20AM this morning and I have my first daily painting of the year. I set a timer so I would stay on schedule. I went over my allotted hour by about 20 minutes. All in all, good progress in the right direction. YAY!

My happy daughter...

Here is Nathalie in her "office" with the portrait of Eric. She is very happy with the portrait, and will enjoy it until spring, when she will give it to his mom and dad.

It is finished!

Here it is - the finished portrait of Eric. This photo is pretty accurate I think. I am sorry about the little white flecks - that is the light reflecting off the oil paint. I am not sure how to get rid of that. I will wait until it dries a bit more and try again - but for now this photo is fine. I am very, very happy with this. In fact it may be my best work ever. Did I mention I am happy with it? It is hard to give it up, but I did. I went ahead and gave it to Nathalie last night - the longer I keep it around me the harder it will be to part with it. Painting this portrait, which is intended as a gift to Eric's parents eventually, was really quite emotional for me. It is my very small contribution of gratitude, and my way of paying a little tribute and honor to our armed forces. I have so much respect for the parents who raise their children to be patriotic, to want to serve others by risking their lives. I can't imagine how they must feel as they say goodbye and send their "baby" off to war. In this case Eric is their only child. I am just so thankful that there are a few people left in the current generations that understand that freedom is not free. I have always said that there are 3 things worth giving your life for: love, truth and freedom. Thank you Eric and everybody else who serves our Nation.

Even MORE portrait progress...

Always more to fix and do on this little thing. This photo looks a little bit compressed, like squeezed in from the sides. Hmmmm...maybe the angle I took the photo from - oh well, it isn't the final photo anyway and it is close. Nathalie saw it last night and loved it. I think I made it better...I went in to just finish up the helmet and straps an ended up working on the face again. It just amazes me how viewing a photo of my painting really let's me view it afresh, and see what is or is not working. I have always used a mirror and viewed it backwards, but while taking a photo and up loading it is more labor intensive I think it is better. OK - back to work. I still have to finish the ornaments, and of course - the straps on the helmet.

Portrait progress...

Well, here is the painting and the photo again. I think that is about as good as I am going to get as far as likeness goes. It still is not where I'd like it to be - I still see problems, but I am getting tired of it. I think I'd rather start ove and do a new one instead of trying to fix much more on this one. I have been working my fanny off on the "nearly annual" Christmas ornaments. I say that becasue I didn't get them done last year...and now I remeber why. These things are unbelieveably labor intensive. The original plan simply did not work at all so I had to reinvent them usint the components I had. Originally I had planned to do two ornaments for everyone this year to make up for last year - but these are taking SO much time that I don't see that happening now. There are 50 of these in various stages of finish.

I am 47% Tortured Artist

OK - cool I am 47% Tortured Artist, and I found out I am ONLY 21% Idiot and 29% White Trash. And of course 59% Internet Junkie...hmmm I thought that would be higher. Wait - that's 156% right? I better stop taking tests and I sure don't need to take a test to know I am 100% Pro at wasting time. Ha!

I am 47% Tortured Artist.

I have some artistic ability, but it is probably a hobby and doesn't drive my life into a dark abysmal hole were I am alone and against the world.

Take the
Tortured Artist Test
@ FualiDotCom

I found it - portrait of Eric - takes a minute to load

Here it is , the portrait of Eric (oil on canvas 8" x 10") I am working on and the photo I am working from. It is not quite finished, and not as finished as I thought it was now that I see them posted side by side here. There is something about posting my paintings that removes my subjectivity and gives me a fresh look at them - and makes it easier to see what needs to be corrected or changed. Again - not too bad a start, but a ways to go I see.

Daily Painting....and, oh yeah - Happy Thanksgiving

Well - Ok - Not so daily. But I am NOT giving up on it. I am still trying. Why is it so hard for me to set a schedule and STICK to it? I seem to have no self-discipline at all. I used to have at least a little. I will not quit. I will not quit. I will not quit...So enough of that. I DID manage to paint during Thanksgiving in spite of the fact that we had family from Toledo and Rica came home from LA and it was a very busy time, and I am not feeling so great. I did this while the rest of the girls in the family were "bonding" on a shopping trip. I hate shopping - but I probably should have gone with them just to be with them, which would have been nice - but I didn't think of that until it was too late. I am a dummy sometimes, well - actually often. But I am feeling great about getting some painting done. I did a portrait of Eric - Nathalie's guy who is in Iraq - I can't find where I saved it on my computer, so I will have to post it later. I did finish this somewhat whimsical painting of a view of Cuernavaca, MX (Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 30" )for Rica's house. That was a fun painting and it went well. Cuernavaca is Rica's favorite place on Earth I think - she went to school there and loves it, and talks about it a lot. I thought it would make her happy - and it did I think. It will look great in her place and she seems happy. My assessment of this painting is that it is too middle of the road. The colors are good - especially for Rica and her house, they are perfect for that. However it started out a bit more whimsical, but I found myself "straightening" lines and "fixing" things until it sort of lost it's whimsy. It is neither "whimsical" nor "realistic" - it needs to be more one or the other. Other than that I am very happy with it and not complaining. It serves it's purpose well. Now I have to get to work on the BIG one (4' X 6')for Ricks office. I started it but I really am sort of stumped on it. Guess I'll just start fooling around with it and see what happens. I am also starting on the annual Christmas ornaments - which is fun. I often think I enjoy making things more than painting - I am a thing-maker more than a painter. Now to find that portrait of Eric...

A Few More Journal Pages

Here are some more pages from the journal that I mailed out today. I think they are very boring and dull and mundane. Redundant you say? Yes. The only one I really like here is the self portrait with the mouths and eyes. That was really fun and a surprise for me too. I wish all of my work would develop like that one did. I may write more about this tomorrow.

Sampling of Journal Pages

I signed up for a Journal Collaboration and a Journal Swap...so I have been working on journal pages. I've done most of them in front of the TV in near darkness at night. This is a bit of a new adventure for me. I have been toying with the journal thing on and off for the past year and Tuesday night I dove in. I may even get involved with mail art and ATC's, they just seem like a fun thing - more on those later. So here is how it works: The SWAP is more like a round-robin or circle journal. There is a group of about 15 artist/journalists. Each one buys a journal, works in it for 2 weeks then sends it to the next person. Eventually, everyone should get their original journal back filled with other artist's thoughts and work. Fun huh? The COLLABORATION is similar, except the owner sends out her journals to people to work in, then they go back to her. This will be her 50th one I believe, and she is hoping to put a book together of them I think. The thing I like about this is that it is random, doesn't take a lot of time or energy, it can be anything, no pressure to be good, just to have fun and share. So here are a couple of scans from what I've been playing with. I blurred out some personal information on a couple of them - that's the mess in the corners, but this is just to give you an idea anyway - not great works of art, that's for sure. Just fun!


Oh yeah, the two doodle layouts with the messy corners and my name and info on them are the insides on the front and back of the cover. I purposely made it so my book has no real front or back or right side up, - I wanted complete freedom for the artist/journalists to work in it any which way - that is why I put my name in so many corners - if I had just put it in one corner or on one page it would have acted as an indicator of how the book "should" go. Didn't want that.

For Fun -- What Stone Are You?

Try this little quiz just for the fun of it. Turns out I am Lapis Lazuli, otherwise know as a big mouth :)

What Stone Are You?

Lapis Lazuli Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Sophia Resting 12" x 16" Oil on canvas

I did this portrait of Sophia a couple of weeks ago. I feel like I am making some good progress in handling the oils. At some point I want to merge the fun, stream of consciousness, experimental acrylic and collage with the more classical and disciplined oil painting. I don't know what that looks like just yet but it's coming. I love working both ways. I will just keep painting and creating and see what evolves I guess. Working in two such diverse ways makes me appear and feel a little bit like I have a multi-personality disorder, but I assure you I don't. It does make me unappealing to galleries right now - at least until I get a consistency developed. If ever...

Star 8" x10" Acrylic/Collage

This is not a part of the card series, but more a part of the mask series I did earlier this year. I shot this image of a friend wearing a mask, for some reason I like it and have used it a couple of times.

Hearts of Three 8" x 10" Acrylic/Collage

Not much to say about this that hasn't already been said. I love these blue and red colors. See? I have been busy!

3 Hearts 6" x 8" Acrylic/Collage

Here is another in the cards series. Mostly about color and texture, but the 3 hearts reference relationships.

Club of Two 8" x 10" Acrylic/Collage

As a group the Experimental Water Media Class decided to do some projects based on playing cards, and then mounting a group show in a few months at a gallery in Fallbrook. We each chose 4 random cards from two over sized decks. One of the cards I pulled was the 2 of clubs. As I began to play around with the cards, figures and relationships began to form in my mind. This one is about being "left out" or a being a "third wheel." One of the things I really enjoy about working this way is that it is a stream of consciousness thing. When I was finished it was just so obvious..."two's a club and three's a crowd." Duh. Again on my monitor this looks a little washed out - it tends to be a darker image.
OK -I am laughing out loud as is Rick. He just informed me it is "Two's a couple, three's a crowd" NOT "two's a club." Double DUH : )

No Gain Without Pain 8" x 10" Mixed Media

I named this "No Gain Without Pains" because the Benjamin Franklin quote ended up being collaged into the piece. This piece went through a ton of stages and changes. So many I can't remember how it started out - but I know it wasn't anything like this at all. Again this ended up being a darker piece, with lots of collage and texture, including matches. It is very difficult to get the color right on my monitor, it looks a bit washed out to me right now. Here are three details from it.