Indian Silver Paint Correction

Beginning stages he's orange

I thought putting all the photos of the paint repair on Indian Silver together might be helpful. When you see the transformation happening in steps and all together it sometimes bring better understanding to the process. Again, the transformation that took place happened slowly and with several layers of oil glaze. If you add color slowly you can control the color.

Layering in oils with a silk pad



Layering....


Layering....


Layering....


"Fly!"
Graphite and Watercolor on archival bristol.

"Flying without feathers is not easy; my wings have no feathers." ~Titus Maccius Plautus

All Those Commercials And Stuff....

Brigitte Eberl's "Bjalla"
resin in progress

I watch zero TV.

Seriously.

It just doesn't hold my interest hence I don't have cable or a working TV. I do *have* a television in the house. It's this old set that has a DVD player and an old Nintendo 64 gaming system hooked up to it. If I or my son want we pop a DVD in the player and watch. Most days we either play board games or have adventures with his toys or we draw together. The TV cabinet usually remains closed.

Of course, the problem with this comes in when there IS something on that I do want to watch, like the Super Bowl. I love the commercials during the Superbowl. I find them most inspiring and rejuvenating and I just couldn't participate this year. I'm sorta bummed.

I thought about going up to my parents to watch, but neither my mom or dad watch sports, esp football. My dad is certainly not into sports and I never learned the game of football. I have no clue how it's played so I can't even pretend to enjoy it. No one has ever taken the time to teach me and hence I remain clueless. I guess a young woman learns such things mostly from male figures in her life. Well, I learned how to field dress animals and fillet fish from mine. I can field dress a bird without blinking an eye then cook it up for you how ever you want, but football.... that's GREEK to me and honestly a whole ball of messy confusion. But the few commercials that are circulating on Facebook did bring joy and inspiration. Perhaps next year I'll plan accordingly.

"Silent Admiration"
Graphite and Watercolor on archival bristol

"Silent Admiration" (detail)
Graphite and Watercolor on archival bristol

"Silent Admiration" (detail)
Graphite and Watercolor on archival bristol

"Age does not protect you from love, but love, to some extent, protects you from age." ~ Jeanne Moreau

Sunday Afternoons

"Arrival"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol

Sunday's are suppose to be a day of rest and although I try to calm my thoughts down a creative mind never seems to stop. Sunday afternoons have become a bit of a shopping day for me and my son. We have been enjoying several stores in the area and it's fascinating to watch his creative mind develop as we go about window shopping. Apparently he is just as enticed by the colors, shapes and textures of the house ware's section as I am. He can't seem to go past the colorful fry pans without stopping and admiring and I can't seem to get past that darned paper section without a complete melt down. We make a lovely creative shopping team. What a privilege to see the world through his young creative eyes.

Could I resist? Hell no! I think I could purchase every size box in that blue/brown combo.

More paper goodies
for the studio

"Joy"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol

"Joy is not in things; it is in us." ~ Richard Wagner

Day After

Steaks, ground and back straps, oh my!
Fueling creativity

Yesterday's painting session knocked me out. I have not been able to do much of anything artistic today. The little that I did try was scrapped. I almost forgot how intense canvas painting is for me. It's a very different experience personally than sculpting or illustrating. I've never been able to figure out why it's so different.

I do have to watch on days like today though for on such days I will get fickle and go through all my art with an extraordinarily critical eye and trash pieces. I've been known to literally put them through the paper shredder if I find I dislike them. Once you shred, there's no going back. I've hidden all the plates from the Four Seasons illustrations I've never finished. I dislike them all GREATLY and dislike the fact that it has taken this long to come to some form of completion with them. Once the "post-canvas-painting storm" passes I'll pull them out from the attic.

Of course, on days like this some little thing always happens to boost my spirits. Today my father brought a bag full of venison for me. Im thrilled I can finally try some recipes in my venison cook book which was acquired many, many years ago. I've been waiting that long to try them out. Sometimes you have to be patient. All things come in good time.

And well, the day like today wouldn't be complete without seeing a major heart somewhere. Turned the venison packs over and the one had...yep, a heart. It's a frozen heart but none the less....a heart.

Ooh, a frozen heart.
Hmmpf....lol

"In The Field"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol

"In The Field II"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol

"Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in."

Have Canvas Will Travel

The tree wanted me to mention
that he practiced all morning for this shot.
He did good for his first photoshoot I think.

I've come to learn that those who are ambidextrous (which I am) probably have some sort of brain damage. Well, that really doesn't surprise me. Neither does the urge to drop everything in the office/studio and pack up a plastic container full of art supplies, including my canvases, and drive onto the backroads till I found the perfect painting spot and set up shop.

Yeah.....I set up a painting station right in my Chrysler on the side of a road in the middle of...I have no idea what country road. Street names and directions hold no weight here. It's about composition, shape, line and color when searching for landscape fodder. I just keep driving till I find the perfect spot that inspires. The cup holders, the arm rest and the passenger seat all proved to be perfect for the session once I found the perfect landscape painting spot and the huge bin I threw everything in was choice. It held everything neatly and cleanly and offered a buffer for spilling paint from the palette.

The entire session took about three hours. Only one person stopped to help the "damsel in distress" and they seemed disappointed I wasn't in need. Sorry dude....move along!

I documented the painting process of this landscape painting done in acrylics. It has approx three more hours until finish which will be completed in my studio using photos taken on site. I've mentally cataloged the entire scene and will use the photos only as back up should I need a bit of reference, in particular with the trees in the foreground.

Huge plastic bin containing
everything I'll need for the adventure.

Cup holders and arm rest
come in hand during the session.

Laying down gesso. Its sorta like
primer for walls and preps the canvas







Then is started to rain
which greatly changed all the colors



After hour three with
three more hours left till finish

"Rain"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol

"Rain II"
Graphite and watercolor on arrival brisol.

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, It's about dancing in the rain."

All Bets Are Off

The mountain against the color
of the sky is enticing me.

All bets are off for serious office/studio work once it snows! I love the snow. I love to watch it snow, I love to paint the snow and I love to watch the colors of a snowy day change from hour to hour. I have literally been sitting at my office window today doing just that...watching the colors change from hour to hour.

One of my favorite colors in the whole world is blue/grey. There is something so enticing to me about that color. On a snowy day this color makes it's appearance all over the place. It appears on the trees, the ground, the sky, the snow and just about everywhere there is surface.

There are only a few more hours left of daylight. I have decided to just enjoy the changing colors as it has been a lovely treat and feast for my eyes today. Work will always be there and I can work once it gets dark.

My hens popping out
into the snow for treats.

A week's worth. There's no stopping.
I'm on a major creative roll and greatly inspired.

"Snow Day"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol

"Nature chose for a tool, not the earthquake or lightening to rend and split asunder, not the stormy torrent or eroding rain, but the tender snow flowers noiselessly falling through unnumbered centuries." ~John Muir

Inspirations

"The Ribbon II"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol

Inspirations came in from every area this week. On the whole, a wonderful week...and now onto a weekend filled with art and projects.

"How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?" ~Plato

A Palomino Pony

"Johann" resin painted in
mixed media

A palomino pony has been the cause of many frustrating days for me in the studio as of late. The color wouldn't stick, and then the color was too yellow and then it was too brown and then it was too orange and then, I just left him in the corner.

Yeah, he was punished!

After leaving him for days and coming back with a fresh eye I decided that some purple would probably fix all his problems and it did. Light purple washes throughout along with some Pearl Ex Inference gold helped salvage this guy. After all was said and done he has turned out to be one of my favorite pieces I've ever painted. I learned a good deal of patience with him.

More views of Johann:







"The Kiss"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol

"How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said." ~ Victor Hugo