A Pear Repair and a Little Robin

Remember this pear from a few days ago? (see March 13 post) Remember that the horizon line didn't quite match up? Well I fixed it the other day and so here it is again, only better. The color is not as good in this photo as the other I think - the blue is looking too rich here. I don't know, I have so very much to learn! Yesterday I did the little robin. Both of these are 2.5" x 3.5" and oil on Masonite. I think I will try them on eBay as ACEO's maybe.

Portrait Underpaintings and E.M. Forster

8" x 10" and 11 x 14"

Portrait Painting classes at Studio 2nd Street started back up Tuesday. Whew - just in time too. Seems like if I don't stay connected and in class discouragement sets in really fast. I went to class without passion or ideas or desire or much of anything other than my supplies. I wasn't even very happy with those. I had a small 8 x 10 canvas which I thought - fine no point in wasting a big canvas when I've been away so long and am uninspired, but I also grabbed an 11 x 14 canvas base coated in bright red - from a brief Carolyn Jasper and Bob Burridge binge I was on for a while. So what the heck - and then class started. Vanessa set up this great pose with a nice bright red back drop - how convenient. I started with the little 8 x 10 and got warmed up and then tackled the red 11 x 14. I am kind of excited about them now and looking forward to seeing how they develop in class next week. I hope the inspiration sticks around! I have no real preconceived ideas, and I find that is how I generally work. It's sort of the visual equivalent of "How do I know what I think until I see what I say." (E. M. Forster)

Name Game

Anything to keep from working right? Well, a friend emailed this to me and I thought it interesting enough to include it here. Supposedly - there are 36 people in the US with my name - but I think what they really mean is that there are 36 people in THEIR data bank, which probably does NOT include absolutely everybody - but I could be wrong. Any way - here it is if you want to play along...

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 36 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

TED Talk

This is a book by Dr Jill Taylor, a brain researcher.

Go here and spend 20 minutes listening to her.

Rick's Painting Progress

For some reason today has been a crappy day. I have no explanation for it. I knitted a bit and worked in Suess's journal, and worked on Rick's painting. This is a really bad photo of course - but in my commitment to self-discipline and will power I forced myself to work on this a bit. Mostly I am baffled by it - I feel like I have lost focus. I did a bunch of value drawings of it and that didn't seem to help. I painted out my favorite parts as I felt I was too "married" to them too early in the game, and played with light and dark. Basically I pretty much hate it - but I will not quit. I will try to work it out some more on paper before I paint on it again - I think.

Getting Back On Track

Pear Practice 3" x 4" Oil on Masonite


I am trying to get back on track with daily painting and posting as well as re-focusing on the theme of the year - "The Year of Self-Discipline and Will Power". Last year - "The Year of Trips and Prizes" was a heck of a lot easier and more fun! Any way - I painted this last night, to force myself back into routine, took the picture while still wet - thus the annoying reflection. I also work a little bit on Linda and another old portrait. So - technically this is yesterdays post and I owe myself one more today. I also need to get busy on those Egypt photos and get them posted.

I am back from Egypt

PANORAMIC VIEW OF CAIRO from our hotel window when we first arrived. It is a HUGE BUSY city. It was built for 5 million people. At night 17 million are there, during the day 22 million are there, as 5 million come into the city to work each day. It is growing by about 1 million per year.

Physically I arrived home Wednesday March 27Th, mostly. Mentally and emotionally I may have finished arriving today. Since I got back, today is the first time I have felt anywhere near normal. Egypt was awesome. I will be writing about it and posting photos soon. I have so much going through my head, I have done a lot of thinking - well, that's really nothing new - I always do a lot of that anyway. But I am determined that this year - the Year of Self-Discipline and Will Power - that I will make some progress, decisions and commitments. I have known this all along - but I absolutely need to set some boundaries and rules for myself, some limitations. No , seriously, I mean it, really. I absolutely detest the thought of this and every molecule within is screaming in protestation and organizing a rebellion. I know without a doubt this will be painful and difficult but I am determined to give it a serious try. I just want to do everything and try everything. Nearly every darn thing under the sun is interesting to me and I want to know and do it all. OK - I have been distracted by household stuff and Rick - to be continued....

Hey - where's the toilet?

We are having new hardwood floors installed. I've never done this before. Any work that needed to be done or renovation that were needed I pretty much did my self, and conned Rick into getting involved. This time we are having the entire first floor of the house redone. That entails ripping up tile and carpet and my painted floors. Let me just say right now - I did not think this through. In the last house I ripped about about 6' x 8-10' of tile with a hammer and chisel. It was a horrible job and Rick and I both swore we would never EVER do that again - so we hired out the demo this time, thankfully. Apparently that was such a traumatic experience that I just shoved it out of my memory and happily plod right on into this project with out much thought at all! So in the morning I let the crew in and left to run errands and go to painting class. On my way home I had to go to the bathroom REALLY a lot - so I hurried home ran in the house and saw this!

OK - SHOCK! - First indication that I didn't think about this or plan well enough - no problem - I ran to the powder room and saw this!




What??? Where's the toilet??? Second indicator that I really have not planned well ... so I opened the coat closet to hang up my coat before I ran upstairs to the bathroom and look what I found!!!



I didn't dare laugh as hard as I wanted to or would've wet my pants for sure. I headed up stairs only to find all access thoroughly taped off and sealed with plastic, plus an extreme amount of dust and crud stuck to the plastic just waiting to apply itself to the first available sucker that even tried to pry it from it's guard post protecting the stairs and upstairs rooms - so back to the "toilet closet" - grab my coat and SPEED to Rick's office! I did not plan well at all - but this will be so cool when it is done!

No Art For Me....

The last 2 days have been spent entirely on the computer. I enjoy doing this but since I am completely unschooled in computers the learning curve is steep and slow. I compare it to working a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle, only a little more fun and rewarding. When I am done with a jigsaw puzzle - (an annual family Christmas tradition)- all I have is a puzzle put together. When I am done with my computer adventures I have actually learned stuff I can use again - much better. SO what have I learned? I learned how to get my paintings on eBay and link to them from my blog, learned about widgets, blog rolling, sort of learned what chicklets are but I'm still not sure of the difference between widgets and chicklets for certain. I learned about feed burning and put a feed burner on my site and a feed reader on my computer and transferred all of my favorite blogs from my bookmark folder to the feed burner and figured out how to work it - WOW - does that make things easier and FAST too! This is all working toward driving traffic to my site since I can't really be successful at selling my work online if no one can find it. I looked at a tone of other artists sites to try to learn how seemingly more successful artists are doing it. I compared a dozen or so "on line gallery" sites, like ArtSpan and Yessy and Imagekind etc. I have decided to get accounts on Yessy and also one other one whose name escapes me at this moment. I think I will try them for a year or so and see what kind of response I get.

I reviewed the first month of "2008-The Year of Self Discipline and Will Power" and made some good discoveries. This is a little of what I learned: I have made a few small improvements. I forgot most of what I was trying to accomplish. I need to review at least weekly and not monthly. I need to set measurable and definable goals. I can't know progress in anything if I don't have start and finish lines. I still have a lot of work to do but I am encouraged. And yes - I am proud of myself for taking on this task for this year and for trying to make some improvements. No self-condemnation allowed this year. One of my goals is to become more interesting...uh, can someone tell me where is the start and finish line for that one is?

I am seriously in need of some painting time - but there is so much going on this month - I am down to 2 weeks to get new hardwoods installed on the first floor, new carpeting upstairs, paint the house inside-the entire first floor and stairwell and upstairs hall, get moldings installed, pack and prepare for 2 weeks in Egypt and return home to guests staying with us, who will arrive the day before we get back! Then it will be into March! This is all fun stuff too - but I am really feeling the NEED to make some art, and as Martha Stewart would say - "that's a good thing."

Rubber Ducky eBay Day

Rubber Ducky and Easter Eggs #1 ; Oil on Canvas ; 6" x 8" Go To eBay


Well, I have been threatening - er, make that promising - myself to try to sell my artwork on line. I have spent the entire day trying to figure out all of this stuff. OK - MOST of the day. I kept losing all of my material because I don't seem very adept at following instructions today, or finding that little "Save" button before I close out of a page, thus losing everything I did and therefore repeating the same work several times over. I have had these two little paintings for a few months and I really, really like them. I do - really. However, I have chosen them as my first sacrificial lambs on the eBay alter. OK - so sacrificial DUCKS -wait, can you have sacrificial ducks? I don't remember ducks being specified as acceptable in the Bible - are they clean or unclean? I know about doves - but what about ducks? I guess I'll have to go look that up now too. I digress - or depart actually - get back on track Nathalie! OK - I am back, I think. ANYWAY - here are the 2 paintings that I listed on eBay. It seems like these little paintings would be perfect for someone - for a new mom or grandmother, or for a nursery or something. I think my biggest issue is going to be getting "found" - can't sell anything if nobody knows about me, or can find me. I have so much to learn!! Right now I will go figure out how to put a link to my paintings on eBay so you can get there from here...be right back...


Rubber Ducky and Easter Eggs #2; Oil on Canvas; 8" x 10" go to eBay

YAY - I did it!!!

Linda - Under painting started

Here is today's painting practice. It took me a while to find something to paint today, just not feeling very inspired. Then I ran across this photo of my friend Linda which I took a while back while we were hanging out at Starbucks. I liked the photo when I took it and seeing it again was just the spark of inspiration I needed. Linda is an extraordinary woman. I hope I can do her justice. This is just a start of the underpainting. I was so happy with the start on Jasmine yesterday that I wanted to give it another try - hoping I am still "in the groove"...at any rate, I am feeling pretty good about this one too -even though I am out of time now and have to go - before I feel like I am really finished with the underpainting yet. I suppose it will work though...I hope.

Under-painting of Jasmine

Jasmine 12" x 24" oil on canvas

This is a 3 hour under-painting from life done today. What a beautiful model and a joy to paint. I'll finish it next week - but right now I am darn happy with this start!

BIG Daily Painting

Here is the START of the painting I am doing for Rick's office. It is basically huge...well, at least quite large. 4 feet x 5 feet. I am spelling the word feet so you won't mistake a ' for a " since I have been working so small lately. You might think that I think that 4" x 5" might be huge at this point. after all it would be twice as large as I've been painting. I've been working on it most of the morning and decided to take a lunch break and post my progress. I have no idea where it is going, but it seems very biographical at this point, like "The Story of Rick." - I am just painting on instinct and developing what ever I see in the painting as I go. Does that make sense?
Off for a quick nap and then I hope I will have time to play with a little 2"x 3" painting before Rick comes home.

Catching up on the daily thing...

I actually have been painting - I am just behind in posting and well painting too. I am not giving up on the Year of Self Discipline and Will Power - but it sure is hard!
Rick called me on hi sway to work and said to look out the window - and this is what I saw - well, sort of what I saw - by the time I ran to get the camera it had faded quite a bit.Still always a remarkable sight though isn't it?



Then here is today's little painting, a lemon and green plastic glass. YELLOW AND GREEN 2.75" X 3.5" OIL ON MASONITE








There is a little self portrait also about 2.5" x 3.5" oil on Masonite. I did this little portrait with paint that was left over on my palette. Maybe not such a good idea... I am happy with the Onions and Grapes 2.5" x 3.5" Oil on Masonite though, that turned out OK. The red in the shadow seem to be quite a bit brighter looking on the computer that in real life though - the red seems to really pop out here and is pretty distracting I think.

Portrait from Class

ROBERT 12" X 16" OIL ON CANVASBOARD

I did this portrait of Robert in my Tuesday portrait class at Studio 2nd Street It is about a 6 hour portrait. It has an unfortunate accident on the way home from class. I had it laying flat in the back of the 4Runners and when I turned a corner a box of art supplies slid right across the the top of it, smearing the face quite badly. That was pretty frustrating and disappointing because I was feeling quite pleased with this painting. It looks like progress to me - I am still not where I want to be, but at least I have turned enough of a corner that I no longer feel like quitting altogether. I tried to fix it up when I got home, I guess it's OK now. OF course I can still see damage, but I don't think any one else will be able to find it...at least I hope. Actually - the repairing process was a learning experience too, so I guess i will be thankful for it.

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.




>

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