Back to my Paints

After spending a few days with fabrics it felt really good to get back to my paints again. Nothing exciting ,just a small floral featuring some of my favorite blue & white china pieces. I'm not sure if the intensity of the things I'm feeling as I work actually come through in the painting or not but then I'm just getting started on this one and we can follow it through together. Be sure to leave a comment or two along the way to let me know what is ( or isn't) working in the painting so far and I'll keep you posted on it's progress. It's a small piece at just 8X10 inches but I've already been at it for a few weeks just building up the background areas and blocking in the leaves and the area for the vase. So far I'm pleased with it but I can't tell whether it's because of how it looks or just how good I feel while I'm doing it. That's why I write this blog, I can't be objective about it so it's good to hear what other people think about it. Thanks for taking a few minutes to read & comment. It makes this more interesting for all of us.

Bag Lady

Having a little fun while making an 8 pocket tote someone ordered this week.

No real plan ahead of time just randomly piecing a bunch of bright fabrics and accenting it with embroidery

Yes , I enjoyed working with color this way but it's just not the same as spending time with my paints. If you're not happy with your choices it's so much easier to grab a brush and go over paint than it is to deal with fabric.

Still, it's good experience and uses up a lot of bits of fabric I had around here. It's also totally reversible and each panel is different so she'll have a lot of choices to pick the look she likes.

This Just In

One of my younger sisters just returned a lot of photos I'd sent to her over the last 20 years or so and I thought I'd share these with you. Yes, Iris do seem to be more or less a reocurring theme with me and I've put them on almost anything and everything I could think of. Perhaps I'm over that now but we'll see about that.
Meanwhile I'm reaching for the scissors, pencils and tape as the photos themselves have just become "art supplies". Who knows, it could be fun...again...

Tulips, Roses and Watercolors

I was lucky enough to get invited to a watercolor group this morning and happy to give it another try after all these years, it's a LOT different process than the other painting I do so it's not something I'm good at or try often...or maybe it's that I don't do it often enough to get good at it. The next few weeks should tell and in the meantime all my favorite people will be getting lots of decorated "snail mail".

Art, imitating life, imitating art

Somehow it amused me today to see the painted chair sitting in front of the painting OF a chair. What's with all those roses anyway? I guess they amused me at the time. The ones IN the painting were because that's what the upholstry fabric looked like (more or less). But there's no real reason for them on the painted chair other than habit or the return to an old theme like a forgotten reflex.

The fact that I've moved the chair off the drawing table means that I'm morte or less ready to finish it and move on to something else. I'm considering it progress of a sort as there are so many other things that a person can do with a day and the resources availabe. All things worth considering, Don't you think so?

Is "God (really) in the details"?

I seem to remember an old saying along those lines and what amused me about these projects is that if "God is in the details" I ought to be having a religious experience by now instead of paint up my arm from having stuck it in my pallette-AGAIN !

Big Hit at the Nursing Home

I have a lot of fun drawing flowers on the envelopes and more bits of flowers and leaves around the ones I clipped from the days"junk" mail . Now my cousin Susan tells me my "lumpy mail" is "a big hit at the table" in the nursing home she visits. It's been great timing too because this time of year there are garden catalogs in almost everydays mail so I promised I'd keep them comming and I'm already beginning to wear that new set of pencils down in the effort but it's fun to see the looks at the post office when I go in to mail them. For me it's the very best kind of art exhibit, more satisfying than "serious work" in a gallery setting and unlikely to be judged by anyone. Yes, I'm gutless but I'm happy and so are the folks that enjoy my letters and today that's all that matters.

Non Function Junction

Joseph Campbell said "It is the function of art to carry us beyond speech to experience." As you can see by todays photos we didn't get there today but we've started the journey...and it was nice listening to the Moody Blues and going between painting a bit here, there, the chair, the cabinet door, the dala horse and just about anything and everything in between. Not great art but a good day and maybe that's the most important creation of all.

Connecting the dots

Having a little fun with 'ol paint as I work on both the Dala Horse and the chair at the same time. Moving between the projects like that allows one area to dry while I do another and prevents me from sticking various body parts in wet paint... hey, I may be tired but that's starting to sound like fun.

Inspire yourself with garbage

It's easy to be creative with unlimited resources...at least I assume so although it's not a situation I'm familiar with. Today my inspiration came from stuff most people would throw away (some old, faded silk flowers and some pages out of a garden catalog) Yes they did go to trash and recycling after I finished with them but for a while they inspired the drawings on letters for a couple more of my favorite people. As always, I'm making the best of things around here and hoping for better ones.

Fresh Paint and Dark Corners

I enjoyed splashing a bit of paint over this small canvas panel I've been woking on for a while. Can't decide whether to let it be or keep "playing" with it.
The other small piece turned up in a corner while I was cleaning the basement. I haven't quite decided what to do with that either but am looking forward to heading out to the studio and seeing what happens next.

Pluged into creativity

It may not turn you on but it was fun to work on. Haven't decided whether I'm finished with it or not but I got a charge out of it.

The Art is in the mail

"playing" with an old sketchbook, pencils, and a garden catalog that came in today's mail to make the letters I write more interesting for all of us.

I may not have a lot going on to write about but I can make it fun to look at and sometimes that's enough and allows us all to spend the day together and keep our minds off our problems for a while.

The Brightest Seat in the house

I'm still painting that child size chair but really starting to enjoy it this time around and seem to be staying in more or less the same style on each section of the chair. The main change is that instead of working all over the piece I'm focusing on one small area at a time.
As I worked today I was listening to some old cassette tapes I found in a box in the basement, checking and sorting them to see which of them can be sold so I was able to do a couple of jobs at once...and enjoy doing it.