Not So Simple

If you are not seeing this with a green background, you need to click on the title: Not So Simple

When I look at painting similar to mine, I think they look easy to create.  However, when I get the brush, paint, and canvas together, I find out that it isn't simple for me.  I worked for a while on this piece, and it just didn't look right so I covered it with gray paint and started again.  Unfortunately, I do not have a photograph of my first attempt.  A bit of the original is still showing but, oh, so faintly.  The second pic here has more design on it than the first, but because I'm building the layers slowly, the difference is very slight.  I'm sure that I'll add at least five more layers and perhaps more than that.

Below are some 4x4 colleges I did some time back.  They were fun and I think I'll do some more. Can you tell what I photocopied to make the red one?  

One additional piece that is 16x20.  Not sure where this is going but the journey should be fun!

I welcome your comments and suggestions.  

A Peek into my Studio

Welcome to a before and after (almost) of my studio.  Thanks for giving me a big reason to get it a bit more in order.  Unfortunately, I just have too much "stuff," but right now I just can't part with it. After all, I don't know what I'll need tomorrow or next week or next month...

If you haven't already been introduced to my house, I live in the Bijou.  It is my little jewel or trinket.

 

It is a very old, small house located in the historical district of town which means that there are some very nice houses located nearby and also some very pitiful ones. I can walk to the library and courthouse. Better yet, I can walk to my sister's house!

This is not a duplex but two views of my porch.

The Bijou has been built on to several times. At some point, a back porch was enclosed and then additional space was added to that. My studio is at one end of this room.









Crammed into this space are supplies for painting, collected artifacts (junk) for making assemblages, a sewing machine, vacuum cleaner, stored folding chairs, my tool box, supplies for the dog, a file cabinet (mostly for a family business), a printer and various other things.

I straighten some of the mess. --->

So where is the easel?  The Hoosier Cabinet does double duty!

The doors were removed from this closet to allow the sewing machine to roll in. This is a huge mess that I must tackle one day but that day will not be anytime soon!  On these shelves are watercolors, pads of various types of paper, stamps, stencils, saved drawings, inks, waxed paper, freezer paper, deli paper, contact paper, buttons, various types of tape and on and on....



Hope you have enjoyed a peek at the studio.

OOPS!

Today I got a call from my friend, Joanna, and she asked where was my blog! OOPS! Tuesday slipped right by, and I didn't post. My family business has kept me hopping more than usual this week.  It is not a good excuse, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

If you saw my pic on the FB page, Art and Artist of MMIA, you may be interested to know that it was originally the picture with me holding the cake.  Not a fantastic job with photoshop, but I didn't think anyone would examine it closely enough to discover my ruse.






Remember this pic on the left?  It now looks like the pic on the right.  I have so much more work to do. Right now, it is in that gawky stage like the one children often go through!








A new painting that needs a bit more and then I hope it will be accepted into a juried show. Submissions are due tomorrow so I hope I can get it ready.

Glyphs  20x20 Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Ok, I decided layered pieces are fun to make so I made a very small one.  Oddly enough this started out being black and red.

Idiosyncratic 10x10 Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

This last one is in progress and is actually a bit larger than the one above.  It is 12x12.

Oh, did you think you had seen enough?  Here is one more.  I did this drawing at the library with Caroline.  I worked from a picture.  As the lunch time approached, I decided to quickly draw a patch rather than another eye on this guy.  I thought it would be easy to just quickly draw a black circle. Unfortunately, that is not what eye patches look like.  I drew something that wasn't right, and we walked to a nearby shop to eat.  I sat down waiting for my lunch to be brought to the table and glanced at the men at the next table.  Would you believe the man facing me was wearing an eyepatch?  I grabbed out my sketchbook to finish.

PS: I am beginning to really dislike the program I use to publish my blog.  It is very difficult to place two pictures on the same line and the spacing gets whacky for no obvious reason.  I have no idea how to fix the gap above; it doesn't show until I publish.  If you have a suggestion for a better probram to use than Blogger, please let me know.

Sticks and Stones

Unfortunately, I have been rather unproductive this week.  I had planned to make a headdress using twigs for this girl, but let me just tell you--my art group really panned that idea.  They said the sticks would decay or be broken off the canvas or...whatever.  So I am going to plan B and saving the twigs for a girl to put in the Bijou!

Plan B is for a headband but it will fit her differently from what she now has, and I am hopeful that I can make her hair look right!  Oh, yes, I am also planning on her having a nose.  In fact, I think that next week she will look very different and much better.

ou saw this last week, but it is just about finished now.  The Cyrillic letters are actually painted on as are the Greek ones.  The Greek word is not very obvious in this photo.  It needs a bit of touch-up here and there, and then it will go to the MMIA jury.

On a More Personal Note:
Today is the one-year anniversary of my house break-in, and I was a bit hesitant to leave.  When I went to the grocery store, I left my computer in the room with Brooklyn.  I knew it would be safe there or we could follow the blood trail.  I am a bit on edge because the chairs were stolen off my porch two weeks ago.  Evidently, there is a target on the Bijou!

I have less than two weeks to get my paintings ready for submission to a juried show.  I can send 5 for jurying, and I really hope something will be accepted. Keep your fingers crossed for me!