The Sounds of Silence

Just wanted to let my blog friends know that I am still alive and kicking.  Between a new job and an upcoming move, art has been on the back burner to say the least.  And, I must admit, I used to do much of my blog reading during breaks, lunches or slow times at work, and now I pretty much have none of those things!  

So, my house is in utter chaos, which I do NOT handle well, as my husband would readily tell you. And my art supplies are mostly in boxes.  As an aside, it is shocking to me, the sheer amount of art STUFF I have accumulated in the 4 or 5 years since I started this journey.  SHOCKING. I came face to face with all the art phases I went through as I packed, much of which I no longer use.  Sigh...

But the exciting part is that I'm actually going to have my own studio.  A little one, to be sure, but my own, no longer will I have the corner of our guest room.  It's going to take serious organization and planning to get it set back up again, hopefully far more functionally than my corner ever was.  Let's hope by the time I'm ready to go again I still remember how!

This is a picture of packing chaos I found online, I haven't even been organized enough to remember to take a picture of my own chaos.  I hope I get to catch up on your blogs soon, I miss you guys!

Dipping Back In

I've had a dry spell, to say the least, in terms of motivation to do art lately. But it's a gorgeous day here, my yard is in the early stages of exploding with flowers, and I finally felt like it was time to sit down at my art desk.  I've been wanting to try something Francoise de Felice ish from the week Kate Thompson did on her in Studying Under The Masters, I had done a rough sketch of faces but that's as far as I'd gotten.  It went off the de Felice rails pretty quickly, and I just went my own way with it.  I'm just glad I dipped my toes in again, especially considering that the online class from Gillian Lee Smith I've been waiting for is starting soon.

This one I did recently after receiving some pan watercolors I'd ordered (Grumbacher).   Danielle Donaldson recommended them in her Studying Under the Masters class so I was just playing around with them on a girl inspired by ones she paints.

Botticelli WIP

I finished up a couple of pages in my fabric/plaster journal this weekend, before attempting to dig into Botticelli in the Studying Under the Masters class that I'm taking online.

This woman started out as an image transfer, although she got completely painted over.

The Tuscan countryside scene out the window below was also an image transfer, and I painted the window over it.  

I like how it looks like Kate the Great (from my last post) is looking out the window.

Now, this scary looking picture on the right is a WIP, rest assured!  I've been watching the Botticelli week with Jenny Wentworth, and apparently Botticelli used to paint his backgrounds first.  So Jenny painted her background black and did her initial sketching with white charcoal, so I decided to try it too, although mine is on a piece of linen with plaster over it.  It was definitely different, to just not be drawing the areas that are dark.  Not sure exactly where I'm going with this, but I have really enjoyed reading about him and looking at his paintings this week.  I'm a total sucker for Italian Renaissance paintings - I've been to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and seen some of his paintings, and the Sistine Chapel,  but it was such an overwhelming experience that it's kind of a blur now.

Studying Under The Masters

I made a sudden decision to belatedly join Studying Under the Masters, on Jeanne Oliver's ning site here. It's going to be available for 2 years, so I don't have to feel in any hurry and I like that there are 9 different artists teaching it.  I've started watching the Gaudi lesson, he was actually an architect and WOW, I want to go to Spain now.   Below is a quick sketch and watercolor of one of his stained glass windows, done in my fabric journal on a really thin layer of plaster.

And speaking of copying, which is a large focus of this class, below is a smaller version I did of one of Kate Thompson's pieces (called Kate the Great), which you can see here in this blog post.  Kate is actually one of the teachers in Studying under the Masters, and I figured she wouldn't mind me giving it a try.  This is also done in my fabric/plaster journal which I actually made in one of her online classes.  

And I thought I'd share a couple of pics I took last week while my Mom and I were waiting for our men to finish golfing, sitting on a bench with this view of Bodega Bay. We went there for the day and got so lucky with the weather, as you can see.

Art Journal Stubbornness

In spite of what my blog may have lead you to believe, I actually have been creating a little art here and there.  But I've been doing it in a journal that has become almost impossible to photograph much less scan, and with my working hours and the weather I've had no good outside light to photograph in anyway.  So why, you may ask, am I continuing to work in this journal that won't even stay open on it's own?  Because I just can't stand the thought of an unfinished journal! Permanently unfinished anyway.  So I think I'm trying to hurry my way through it now, probably not the best mindset to have when creating!

But today, we had some sunshine around here, and my valiant husband has been at home trying to wrestle this journal into staying open long enough to photograph it. I know he tried double sided tape, rubber bands and various kinds of grippers, so he's my hero!

Coming out of Hibernation

You'd think the way I've been behaving that I've been living with the horrible cold and snow and storms that have beset other parts of the country, rather than the opposite record-breaking drought and unrelenting 68-70 degree weather we've been having.  At least then I'd have a better excuse for wanting to do nothing but hole up at home and read and watch Harry Potter and go to bed early.  Instead the sunshine has been cruelly taunting me, giving me no excuse for my behavior, so I finally got out in some over the weekend, then came home and pulled out an art journal.

A couple of these I had already started but never finished.  It felt good to just play once I got going, therapeutic as always and time just flies by.

NOEL Vintage Antique and Art Show

It was absolutely exhausting, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I met so many wonderful, appreciative people, and our hostess Sandy really put on a great show.  The only disadvantage of participating rather than just being a customer as I usually am at these events, is that I didn't have a chance to shop at all the other lovely booths - just as well I guess as I probably would have just spent my earnings!

Below are a few pictures of my booth, which was gratifyingly thinned out by the end of the show.  A very lovely man who was a fan of my work took lots and lots of detailed shots with his very large camera, so I hope he sends me some, as they'll be much better than mine!

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'm looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the holidays, I only plan to work on just a few gifts. I probably won't be posting much in December, but I will of course be keeping up with your blogs.  A little baking, a little shopping, some decorating and of course Christmas movies - my favorite time of year!