Worked all day doing technical computer stuff. Which means I sat on my butt. And stuffed my face with salty things. I got up from time to time like they say you’re supposed to. You know, stretch. Run a mile. Walk ten feet to the kitchen counter and snag more Cheezits.
Well, one outta three isn’t bad. Depending on which one.
So when five o’clock came around I was more than ready to head down to the studio and shake some things up. Like my jiggley parts. I put on my newest CD from Putumayo, African Beat. And then I followed that with some Anderson Family Bluegrass. Because my taste in music is as eclectic as my taste in junk food. If it’s in front of me I’ll either listen to it, eat it…or paint it.
This time I got two outta three. And they were good for me.
Here’s the Anderson kids. They’re local, even though this was recorded in Nashville. I’m into plugging the local talent.
Speaking of local talent, I’ll show you what I did tonight. Oh, it’s very much a work in progress but if you’ve been wondering every time I show you another canvas loaded with layers WHAT is she going to DO with that thing…and I wouldn’t blame you for questioning that because, quite frankly, so was I…well, tonight I just grabbed one of the 2X2 background canvases and had at it.
This is what it was when I began.
I turned it every which way. Squinted. Danced around with a paintbrush in my hand and discovered…ponies! Somewhere on the canvas was a mark that told me horses live here. Even as I drew them I continued rotating the canvas. So they’re every which way. Upside down. Backwards.
But it was confusing with all the energy bouncing off that canvas. Ponies everywhere. Dots. Squiggles. Lines. I needed to block in some areas of c.a.l.m.
I began blocking out some background areas. This is where I started getting a feel for the composition and the style of the horses.
This is where I left it tonight. I changed out some of the original horses and will no doubt change out one or two more before it’s done. This is still early days, maybe 50% finished. Maybe 40. Really, I. Don’t. Know. And I won’t know until I get there.
So that’s how I spent my Wednesday. Not much studio time but enough to go to bed feeling like I accomplished something. And I always sleep better when that happens.
WHOO-HOO!!! Today is the first, the very first ev-ah…. RANDOM ACTS OF ART WEDNESDAY.
Or, to keep things simple, RAAW!
If this is your first visit to Arty Life you can read about it here.
The rest of you gather round. I’ve been spreading the luvvvvv around town all week. Here’s the proof.
This one is under a bank of mailboxes.
In front of the water district building.
My vet’s office. Had a little front office SWORN TO SECRECY help with this one.
Haha…this one looks like a simple windowsill but no no no no….not just ANY widow. This one is in a GALLERY. The current show? The Art of Love. There’s something oh so delicious about this particular placement, don’t you think?
A bus stop. And…
“When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.” Buddha
Here’s one from my friend Amee, passing along the rock I gave to her.
Here’s what Amee said when she sent the photo. “I had fun ‘planting’ rock. Inspires me to want to paint some too and keep them in my pocket for the right time and place… Who knows what could happen if people all over the world started to pass this along….I spent time putting love into the rock before I left it hoping the one who finds it ‘needs’ it.”
So my sweetums, It. Has. Begun. The ultimate Easter Egg-Art Token-Magical Mystery Scavenger Hunt. The Johnny Appleseed planting luvvvvvvvv challenge. And it doesn’t have to be rocks. It can any mini-art token. It can be words of encouragement rolled up and tied with pretty ribbon. Use your imagination. And every Wednesday be here. Send me photos by Tuesday to make the post. Or post on your own blog and link up down below. Link signup closes on the 25th at 11:59 PM PST. But opens again the following Wednesday.
Help spread the word. Like this post on Facebook. Tell your friends. Let’s make this into a MOVEMENT!
Well my sweetums, if you read yesterday’s poor excuse of a post you will recall I PROMISED you pictures today.
And you shall have them!
First are the eagerly awaited evidence of studio construction.
This is the back wall, the one opposite the door. The only plywood still to go up is the triangle above the windows. Is that the eves? Well, it was too high because it’s on a hill and Mr. Spouse decided next week will do.
And this is the front. With Bean sniffing around. Probably tinkled on something because he’s a dog and this is quasi-outdoor territory.
The wall of windows to the south. They will never be this clean again. Oh, that’s right, they’re not up yet. Ohhh…look at those boxes of skylights!
Okay, so now I’ll show you some paintings. Almost done. Not quite ready but close enough for show and tell.
I’m calling this one Family Tree. There will be more detail. More gold accents. It’s acrylic on canvas.
This one I’m calling River Rocks. Acrylic on canvas. Needs more layers. Stones need more work. Everything does. But I like to show works-in-progress because I think it’s cool to see where it’s been and what it becomes.
Reminder: If you are participating in Random Acts of Art Wednesday (RAAW) and don’t have a blog to link to, send me your photos TODAY and I’ll post them along with mine. If there are too many for the post I’ll make a gallery. There will be a place for links tomorrow. I hope to see LOTS of links and photos!
I’m sorry. So sorry. Please accept my aplooooooogy….
Sunday night/Monday morning. You know what that means….TaTa…It’s time for Show & Tell. Time for construction photos of The New. The Amaaaaaazing. The Soon To Be Finished STUDIO GRANDE II!
Except, umm…not today. (Hit it, Brenda!) The weather was fine. Mr. Spouse made progress. All the outside walls are up now. I can (and did) walk around inside and actually get a feel for the size. For how I want to arrange things. Got a lot to think about, you know. Work space. Storage. A comfy corner to sit and think. Did lots of brainstorming about that with Mr. Spouse and then I left him to his carpentry while I went down to the soon-to-be-decommissioned Studio Grande to paint.
I painted away the afternoon. Painted away the daylight. Painted away the chance to get a photo or three. So no construction pics until tomorrow.
And no art pics either. Because what I painted sucked. Bummer. Forgot to check my ego at the door. Stupid ego started talkin’ when I was working. No no no no no!
Tomorrow, tomorrow I PROMISE pretty pictures. Of the studio-in-progress. Of paintings. Pinky swear.
Meanwhile, because I KNOW you want a visual, here’s one of Precious Man Dog. Enjoy!
Arty Life is getting a makeover. Imagine that. Gonna pretty up this blog o’mine. Check out the home page. Notice anything? Like three columns now, instead of two. And my picture on the left because…well because the whole damn leaf moved there when I switched to three columns and I was so busy trying to fix the size of the center images, so FRUSTRATED that things were behaving BADLY that I said okay, picture on the left works for me.
Sometimes design by default isn’t such a bad thing.
Why am I doing this? Because I can. And because this blog is in the early days. Still figuring things out. Still growing. But mostly because when I went live with this sucker back in October I considered it a work-in-progress. Like those layer canvases I’ve been showing you. Not a painting yet but a start.
I imagine Arty Life will go through LOTS of changes as I grow into my blogging britches.
And not just design changes.
I just finished Liv Lane’s classHow to Build a Blog You Truly Love. Six weeks of discovering passion and purpose in cyberland. I’m dizzy, POSITIVELY DIZZY, trying to sort it all out.
I’m sitting on the sofa, feet up on the coffee table. Big exhale…I’m tired, a good tired. Been a good day, spent a lot of hours in the studio. I stocked up on canvases last year. They were on sale locally, 70% off if you bought a case. SEVENTY PERCENT. So I bought them by the case. All different sizes, from 3X4 feet to 5X7 inches. Big fat gallery wrapped canvases. CASES of ‘EM.
Ahhh…
And then I spent the summer and fall painting on wood. That’s just a little bit of it, up above. Plaster and wax (both hot and cold) need a solid substrate. Something that won’t flex and crack. So I built cradled panels, so many I can’t even tell you. I almost sorta forgot about all that canvas. The elephant in the room.
Not any more. The studio is chaos right now. So many works in progress. They’re all in acrylic. Not my favorite medium, not after the juicy lusciousness of oil or the richness of beeswax. And plaster is just plain old fun. But then acrylics mixed into glaze medium and layered and layered and layered and then turned into something magical…ah, I can handle that.
So I spent the day painting backgrounds. Just backgrounds. Random strokes, random colors. Filling the canvas. It’s fun, really. No ego involved, just me and the music. And with all the canvases I have, I could be doing this for the next month. Eventually the paintings will come to me. And when they do, I’ll be ready to go.
For a look at how a painting evolves, check out my recent post ‘Making Peace’.
