Two days of painting from the model - what a treat! There were five of us; one had to cancel due to illness unfortunately. We painted and ate and commiserated. Wish I could do this more often. Samanda was the ideal model, holding perfectly still and never complaining of fatigue. I wish I had been in better painting mode! I bit off a lot to try for a two day session and was originally planning a full figure piece. Even chopping it down to three quarter figure was a bit too much. My toned canvas also was not quite dry so I had to contend with that. After so much planning I didn't get around to toning the canvas far enough in advance - hand slap to forehead. Still, I managed to start pulling it together by the second day and have enough photos taken to keep working on it.

What really counts is that there was connection and learning and fun for these two days. You cannot put a price on that. The music was wonderful and don't even get me started on the food. Everyone brought something and my husband, Bob, cooked up a storm, serving us like our own personal butler! How many husbands would do that? There was probably more food than we should have had in good conscience. No popcorn for the evening film...nobody had room. And we watched  "Seraphine"  the true story of a middle aged woman who painted in the early part of the 20th century in France. She was discovered accidently by a german collector who was renting some rooms in a house where Seraphine was the cleaning lady! He attempted to help her get established but World War One broke out and he had to escape France in a hurry. He found her later in 1927 and began to help her again but she was not mentally stable and she ended up in an asylum. Very sad. Her work was amazing though and she did have an exhibit a few years after she died. If you get a chance be sure to rent this video - hope you don't mind reading subtitles (it's in French).  If nothing else it makes one realize how much better off most of us are in our attempts to make art than so many have been. Any time I feel like whining I will try to remember scenes from this movie.

Thank you to my friends for making the trek up here to spend such quality time with me. Definitely have to do this again!

I'm Being Set Up...

There is nothing like spending days and days getting set up. I'm attempting to be very particular in this since I want the painting party days to go well. Choosing the outfit for the model first off presented a couple of problems. It is a dark fabric with lots of small designs printed all over it in gold. What does that go with? How should a background look for something like this? Finding the red scarf for the headgear (matching the red in the skirt) only added to the dilemma. Fortunately I have a nice stash of fabrics which I've collected over the years. I pulled out everything.

I spent two days just hanging the stuff around the studio to see how it all looked in different lights. Do I want strong directional light? Soft diffused light? Natural light? What??? I began to layer stuff just to see what happened and suddenly it began to come together. I then spent two days layering and relayering. I ironed out wrinkles in some and allowed wrinkles to remain in others. I was blessing myself for buying that photo backdrop stand once again, though. It makes life so much easier.  I began, finally to put darker layers at the bottom and gradually layer lighter toward the top. Ok. Another two hours redraping but now I think I might have the right effect. I'll know in another week, just before the model arrives.

And what do I place her on? A chair? A couch? On the floor? Facing which way? Looking up, down, sad, happy, pensive? What is this painting going to say?

Heck with it. It is just supposed to be a couple of days painting for the fun of it. I can over analyze ad nauseum and that in itself gets nauseating. 

Oh wait, a prop...a plant stand with a silver candle holder on it? An actual plant? A bowl of Chili?...

Entering Shows

Today I decided to enter, for the first time, the Artist Magazine competition. I sent in a jpeg of "To Tell a Story" and am not holding my breath about the results. I would like to quietly forget that I entered and then be pleasantly surprised come August when the finalists are notified...or  not in the case of NOT being a finalist. 


The painting above is finished, I think. I can't do any more on it right now and my feeling is anything more would be unimportant. I don't even have a title for this yet. 


I did get down to Victoria (BC) on monday as we had to take our grandson home from Spring break. Morris Gallery is representing a few artists that I know so I stopped by to take a look and left my card. Everything I'm reading in the many newsletters I get are talking about how careful one has to be in approaching a gallery these days and it makes me question the whole premise of even needing a gallery. So many are closing and those that are staying open just aren't doing that well. They aren't excited about taking on new artists when they have difficulty selling those they do represent. I also receive numerous requests to be part of artist "books" and go with questionable dealers.  You pay for these privileges. No thanks. I do understand about fees to enter shows and as long as they aren't exorbitant I can manage to enter a few every year.  The new outdoor show season is about to begin. Maybe it will be a more prosperous year than the past few have been but not sure I am up to the effort. I could use a roadie.

Better

Close to finishing this up. I am already kind of distracted by planning for the "painting party" I am hosting next month. I need to focus on what is in front of me, I know, I know.  Now, though, I am second guessing myself about what Sam will wear. Geez didn't I have this all settled? I even found the perfect head wrap to match the outfit - a red, like the red trim on the skirt, and
embroidered with gold threads and sequins! (Makes me almost wish I was back in the dance troupe).  And what kind of background? Simple...probably...maybe? Just lit by the window, natural light or an indoor spot? And wishing I had a proper model's stand. This wasn't supposed to be complicated. I have never, ever had a plan for a painting just fall into place. I look at what others are doing and I want to give up sometimes. Have you seen Marina Dieul's latest? It won an award at the Portrait Society of America 2011 International competition. Spectacular!  Click here, Murina Dieul, to see this beautiful painting! 


Meanwhile I need to spend some time pulling together possible items to use for next month. Try some things out. Think of what the theme will be. Sketch up some compositions. I often think of how I would have done a painting better AFTER I have finished it.  I don't have a whole lifetime ahead of me to come up with an Opus...better, better and better...all the way to 
BEST! There is still so  much for me to learn. It gets tiring. 

Taking Over

I love it when a painting begins to take over and almost paints itself. That hasn't happened for a while but it seems to be with this one. I am scarcely looking at my reference now...just going by the impression I get from glancing at it.  I've made a few changes in areas and now see that this is going to be a very different portrait from the one I envisioned. I am as curious as anyone to see how it will come out.
And now the snow is gone and the sun it out and yard work begins but it seems a relief after feeling so closed in for so many months. Ask me how I feel about it in another week or so and the clipping, trimming, planting, and general cleaning are in full swing. At least the painting is a place for me to take a break.

It Came Back

Normally I don't post twice in one day but today I finally took brush in hand and got back to the canvas. I was in an unable-to-paint mode all week long and was getting a bit depressed by it. It happens once in a while especially after completing a work that took a lot of effort and even more so when it's well received. It's funny how that works. I did good so now I can't paint? What's that about?? Too much pressure, I think, to repeat doing "good." I finally stopped caring about it today and was able to work again. It was fun too! I didn't allow myself to struggle...just let my intuition take over. Now this painting, which I haven't been too excited about, is beginning to look like something!  Thanks to all who have left such nice comments about my last piece going into the BoldBrush competition FAV15%. 


The images of the disaster in Japan have been with me all week too. I was in the 1971 earthquake in LA and I know how terrifying it is to have the earth move under your feet, your
home roll and shake over your head and feel powerless to anything at all about it. The aftershocks are almost worse because they go on for days, weeks, and months and you don't know when they will come except you know they WILL so you are in a state of tension all the time. I remember opening our apartment front door (once the initial quake stopped) and most of the water from the building's swimming pool came rushing in! The authorities came down the streets and had us all evacuate since we were right below the dam in the valley and it was ready to burst... fortunately it didn't. Stayed with friends in the Hollywood hills, wakeful all night waiting for the beams above our heads to start crashing down on us. Fortunately that didn't happen either. But many people were killed in that quake and there was a lot of damage. The people in Japan have my heartfelt sympathy. And the people in Haiti are still dealing with their disaster from last year. Worrying about being able to paint or not is pretty trivial in the grand scope of things. I am very grateful for my good fortune.

Selected for FAV 15%

"To Tell a Story" was picked for the FAV 15% for February's  BoldBrush Painting Competition. That makes twice now I have made the cut. I have to say the quality of entries has really picked up this year so I feel privileged to have been selected. Being found out of a crowd is always chancy and even though this is not one of the top awards it is still being noticed. And why is being noticed so important? It isn't really but it feels good. We're all only human and like to feel we are appreciated. I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about this whole issue though. I read an article about trying to "make it" in NYC and how even getting a one person show there doesn't guarantee fame and fortune. There are so many ways to make art and receive some satisfaction from having others like what you're doing. All the struggle to get somewhere, to be noticed, to have the awards, etc., etc., somehow take the joy out of the process for me. I am coming to realize more and more that if I am in the studio working that is the success I have always sought...time and freedom to make this stuff! What else is there? The night of acclaim at a gallery or in the newspaper  is fleeting. The result of the work remains and the thought of the new work to look forward to is all I truly want. Slap myself in the side of my head - wake up - you're on a great journey with lots of ups and downs and the trip is much more fun than the arrival. 
I haven't felt able to paint for over a week now. I think that ends today.