Return

I am back from vacation and it was by far the best vacation I've ever had. EVER. We spent a little over a week in Florida, went to all 4 Disney Parks, saw Cirque Du Soleil, went to Gatorland, the Kennedy Space Center, and just to reminisce and bring up old memories from when I was 14, toured Teen Missions International. It was by far the best trip I've ever been on and with the best company possible; my husband.
I'm back and have been all week. It's been a long week, trying to get back into the working groove while my husband John has another week off (lucky!!) and I am glad it is Friday. Bought some canvases for future paintings the other night. Nothing new yet but hopefully I'll have time this weekend to start something. In the meantime, here is the FINISHED Pink Lady. The outdoor lighting makes her look much redder than she is. She is much pinker in real life.

The Pink Lady

I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off...but somehow I've survived and am about to embark on a very much needed vacation to Disney World. YEAH! But before I do...must share. I may have mentioned I am donating some robots to an auction that is coming up. I also decided to donate a painting. Funny thing is I didn't have a finished painting that I was ready to part with (or an unfinished painting I'd be willing to part with). Midweek I realized...they were due today, Friday. And I hadn't even started on the robots or anything. Yeah. Panic. I somehow scrounged some creative energy together and got the robots done. The painting took around three hours over the course of two nights. I am amazed at how fast it got done and how much I like it. So much so that I don't want to give her up. But...I made a commitment. So I will just have to take some nice photos of her before she goes. She is called 'The Pink Lady.' And I adore her. I also feel like I finally figured out my painting style in the process. So she and I are good friends. What do you think? She is unfinished in this photo. I will post more when I take them of the finished product.
Okay. Off to Disney World! Well...in a few hours.

Painting Profiles

I finally did some painting the other night. I've been eyeing my paint for over a week now and finally kicked myself into my studio. I'm covering some old canvases with unwanted work on them. Several weeks ago I just blocked a few out with a dark blue/almost black. Then the other night I used my white paint and just started playing. It's definitely rough. I'm just glad I did something. Oh. And I have a thing for faces and profiles. Can you tell? The first canvas I blocked out was more of a two toned blue/black and it actually turned out kind of cool. So I haven't touched it yet. I need to hold it in the light and see if I like it as-is or if I need to change it a bit. Either way it looks like you're looking at the night sky through some trees and brush. I dig it.
One thing I did with this painting that I've never really done before is played with the actual TEXTURE of paint. If you look above the really obvious profile, in the white portion is another profile facing the other way. But it's made entirely from the texture of the paint. It was nice to try something different. I kind of had no choice but to play with texture as the previous paintings on these canvases were very rough and raised and I couldn't seem to peel them away to start over. So it's been an interesting experience.

Ignoring Creativity

This is a piece I worked on when my mom was here. It is using the same transfer process used on my previous posts' piece. It's a little rough and I'm not finished but I like the overall idea and color. I think of it as more of a draft than a real PIECE but...thought I'd share anyway.
I was sick the past week or so. And I entirely ignored creativity all together. It was sad really. I could have done SOMETHING creative while I was sick...but I just didn't really want to use my brain. So I didn't. Heh. But I'm getting back into it. I sat down to paint last week and found...I'm missing half the paint I used to have. I have no idea where it is as the last time I saw it was in Washington several months ago. But I found myself suddenly with very limited options. I didn't even have WHITE. So...I just started by blocking out some old canvases and painting over old work that I didn't want anymore. I bought some white over the weekend (I had a spurt of "I'm feeling better!" on Saturday and then by the end of the day I felt crummy again...smart) and have yet to bust it out but I hope to soon. Who knows. Maybe tonight!

Welcome to the Studio!

I've been hard at work getting my studio/bonus room back in order so I actually feel inclined to use it. Not that it was ever really IN order to begin with since we haven't lived in our house for very long. I WISH WISH WISH I had taken a "before" photo because the "after" photo just does not do it any justice.
Welcome to my studio! I'm in the process of splitting the room in two so that half the room can be my studio and the other half can be a sitting area/movie room since we don't want our TV in the living room downstairs. The giant khaki tarp is just that...a tarp! For painting. On the right is my little collage table where I make all the collage bottles. And then the rest is just storage, storage, and more storage. But it's alllll ART storage. So you see before you endless creative possibilities. I know, it gives me chills too. :P
I'm getting one more wire shelf like the one on the right and am going to put it on the left to create the illusion of a split in the room. I will put another picture up once the whole project is done. But it's going to be pretty sweet. :) The idea of paint is settling itself in my mind as well. My husband is in "rent" mode meaning he doesn't want to paint. But he is so used to moving every year or so. So the idea of being somewhere longer is unthinkable. So...paint is on the horizon! It's going to be super kick-ass once it's done. I promise.
ALMOST done with the other collage bottles. Did another coat last night. One more to go!