self portrait at year's end 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
at
9:39 PM
I could have left in all the age lines, kept the cheeks droopy and left the glint out of my eyes and the smile off my face.. But what the heck!
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2
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Still Life Duo series no 1 (WIP)
Friday, December 26, 2008
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5:02 PM
I am joining my friend Casey on this exploration into still life composition with only 2 objects. With each successive painting you switch out one of the objects. So the next painting will have an orange and something else,
This is still a work in progress as I need it to dry a few days so I can brighten it up with some glazing!
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5
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Memories of my boy Brandon
Sunday, December 14, 2008
at
11:17 AM
This is a youtube video my friend Cori sent to me. Her son Brandon is part of the video.He was diagnosed with leukemia when he was just a year old. Brandon is doing well now...wonderful in fact. He's like 8 or 9 years old now! I had a hard time watching it. I saw my boy hurting, I recognized my hands and my stethoscopee in his little hands. I thought some of you might like to see what I used to do. I miss my pediatric nursing career but relish that there were wonderful outcomes like Brandon's.
Cori's note to me:
" Everyone who was involved in the video went to view it on Thurs night before it was posted and I just started to cry, it was really hard to see my baby like that. You know for 2 or 3 of those photo's you were there with me. The one with the wash rags on him, you were the one who gave him the medicine stuff that made him start to go into shock. I don't remember what it was, I wanna say it was gamma or something, I didnt write that down. I also don't remember why he was going to need it, but I remember there were possible problems to go along with it and they happened!
And the other picture with his lines being flushed, that was you flushing them. Yea, it brings so many memories back for me too. Very hard memories I don't like to remember, but also such wonderful memories. Like meeting you! "
Posted In
video
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4
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Conceptual Art
Thursday, December 11, 2008
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5:55 PM
In this season of believing; I chose to believe in myself. With so many hurdles in my path this past year I know I need to get beyond all of them and continue forward. I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for my final project. As the days for the presentation grew near I knew I could not put it off any longer. I came up with all sorts of ideas but none that really melded. None had real creativity or spirit. So I began with stapling a piece of canvas on the studio wall and applying a coat of gesso. Then I stared at it.....for days. Then I took a 1 inch flat brush and began applying white acrylic and medium to the surface. And then it came to me!!! The play of light from the window, the reflections from the facets of my rings danced on the surface and the colors from a glass magnifing glass cast an array of beautiful colors on it. I decided then that the art was what was happening on the canvas. The composition changed with the movement of sunlight! It was an ah, ha moment really. I did think that I might not be able to turn it in as my final piece but I gave it a shot. My instructor accepted it as a piece of conceptual art. She said I had done a good job of convincing her and the rest of the class that it was a piece of art, that this was not a cop out. My family laughed saying, "only you could get away with doing something like that!" But honestly, I actually felt this piece. I am proud of it. I BELIEVED IN MYSELF.
Posted In
acrylic
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5
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Final Presentation Fall 2008
at
11:23 AM
Yesterday was the end of term for the oil painting class and we had to present our semester work to the class. I really loved working in oils and feel like I'm just getting started!
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9
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Virgencita Azul
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
at
10:13 AM
I began a new Moleskine on December 1, 2008 and have been sketching in simple holiday/Christmas images on odd days and a brief though on even days. Today I was sipping my coffee admiring the collection of angeles on my mantle and looked upon Mary and her babe. I bought this my first married Christmas. A simple madonna dressed in blue and yellow and made of paper maché.
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2
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Red Pitcher with Lemons
Thursday, December 4, 2008
at
10:39 AM
Okay, it's finally finished. The suggestions Dianne gave me about the green jar helped as did the ones from my professor regarding how to paint shiny bright objects. She said not to try to paint the shine but to look closely for the shapes and values, where hard and soft edges fall and to remember shiny objects tend to have more hard edges.
Posted In
oil painting
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10
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Glazing
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
at
3:43 PM
This is the still life I am working on in school. I'm almost done but will have to go in on my own to work on it because it's due next Wed. and I still have at least 2 more glazes to apply. I have a purple glass on the right and a turquoise one on the left that ned to be glazed in yet. And some minor adjustments to the ribbon and shadow areas
I made myself 'chill' yesterday. I removed a few things from the living room and replaced them with treasured Christmas decorations. The fireplace mantle now sits with a collection of angels gathered over the years. Then i found the stockings and hung them up too. This year I have to make a new one for my Amy's boyfriend who'll again spend Christmas with us this year. He's jewish but he said he had such a good Christmas with us last year that this year I want to make something special for him.
Then I called Dianne and we went out to lunch at a sushi bar. In the evening she came over to have a glass of wine with me and look at my new easel. She critiqued the new painting of the red pitcher and this morning I reworked the green pot and can see what she was talking about.
Today I had school and that always excites me! I love being around young people and all their creative energy. And they are so gracious and kind towards a few of us older students. Somehow I think the age gap disappears in the studio. Our instructor made an announcement to us today that has me all excited!!!!!!! Over the top excited!!!!!!! No, won't share just yet. But I talked it over with Rudy and he says if I can swing it; go for it!!!!
I'm sorry I haven't been able to comment as often on yuor blogs. I'm having a harder time seeing the computer even when I enlarge the fonts. I have a short window where I can do it and I am being to see how limiting my eyesight is becoming. But I do go by and see the art and love all the creativity out there!!!!
Now I better go cut the lemon squares (from Shirley's recipe) for the Quilter Christmas Pot Luck this evening. Oh and the migraine, well it's day 5 now and I'm just sick of it.....but although constant it hasn't been crippling. Have a good evening all!
Posted In
oil painting,
thoughts
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4
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Tough year, is it over yet?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
at
5:41 PM
I'm not much in the mood for Christmas. This has been a very difficult yeat for me. So much happened in my life, many changes. It began with menopause which came with oer 40 hotflashes per day, drenched in sweat, then chills and the mood swings. Hormone therapy took care of all that but left me with long and frequent menstrual cycles. Then a neighbor on drugs stabbed my son in front of our house and that left me with nightmares for months. My son ended up in the hospital but not seriously hurt. Soon after that my dear cousin who'd lost his wife a year earlier and left him widowed with 3 small children was killed in a motorcycle accident. And on top of all that my eyesight continued to worsen. I finally 'broke' and had to stop working. My salvation has been my family and friends and of course, my art.
Through my art I can loose myself, sometimes for hours and forget everything else that causes stress in my life. Through art I have made friends; at my community college art classes, at the art museum and my special online friends. My online friends are never far from reach, a blog comment to boost my confidence, an email to tell me I'm thought of, a phone call across the 'pond' when things have been bad and face to face meetings which begin and end with embracess. Yes, art and what if has brought to my life is my lifeline.
Now, I guess I really should begin thinking of Christmas and the tamale preparations!
This is a 16x20 inch oil on canvas. We are working on glazing techniques at school so I thought I'd try my own at home. This took over a week to finish because you have to wait for the glaze layer to dry before adding another layer. I think I was most succesful with the pitcher
.
Through my art I can loose myself, sometimes for hours and forget everything else that causes stress in my life. Through art I have made friends; at my community college art classes, at the art museum and my special online friends. My online friends are never far from reach, a blog comment to boost my confidence, an email to tell me I'm thought of, a phone call across the 'pond' when things have been bad and face to face meetings which begin and end with embracess. Yes, art and what if has brought to my life is my lifeline.
Now, I guess I really should begin thinking of Christmas and the tamale preparations!
This is a 16x20 inch oil on canvas. We are working on glazing techniques at school so I thought I'd try my own at home. This took over a week to finish because you have to wait for the glaze layer to dry before adding another layer. I think I was most succesful with the pitcher
.
Posted In
oil painting,
still life,
thoughts
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10
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A Strand of Lights
Monday, December 1, 2008
at
7:33 PM
This is what art looks like when tormented by 3 days of a migraine. But I wanted to start off December in a better mood than I have been in lately so I did this quickly this evening. The bright colors and studio light make me feel ill so now I'm going to go shut off the world for the night.
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1 comments
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