Shy. And apparently stubborn….

I’m working on a painting of the back side of a sunflower which will be called “Shy”. This seems to me to be taking much longer than it should. What is it with me? I thought it was just the mosaics, and the time consuming nature of that medium (which everyone who works in it will tell you). Apparently not. Or this particular painting is being stubborn. I think I’ll blame the painting.

I had painted the first layer of petals some time ago, and today managed to put some of the second (closer) layer on. I only got about 2/3 of the way around the flower in the time I had to spend on it. And no, I’m not telling you how long it took… There are some funny reflections on the greens which aren’t there in real life. Eh. They will be reworked pretty extensively once the petals are done. And maybe then I’ll get a decent picture. Or not.

So this will be my last post until at least the Monday after Thanksgiving, as I will be out of town. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.

Til then….

Art Every Day – Day 21

Today’s art consisted of rebuilding a small part of a rock wall on our property, stacking the granite by trial and error until I could find a combination that is sturdy. It didn’t occur to me to take pictures of the wall (not that it’s much to look at) so I found you a little treasure to enjoy in it’s place:

Bonus points: What’s the name of the piece playing in the background and the composer?

Watching glue dry…

A strange looking start, I know. But I’m planning to try something new with this one. By overlapping glass on the flowers, I hope to give them a somewhat 3D look. The centers are an extremely deep purple, almost black, that I bought for Garden Diva. Although you can’t see it very well, there is a sheet of white wispy stained glass to the left. Ignore that. LOL. I had planned to use it for the flower petals, but it’s a very cool white, and the freshwater pearls which will be glued to the centers were too warm a white to suit me together. So instead I will use a warm pink and white wispy stained glass. But I can go no further until the glue dries on these. Just as well. I’m getting hungry, and I get sloppy when I start thinking about foraging through the kitchen instead of paying attention to what I’m working on.

I might actually set this aside now until after Thanksgiving. I ordered a tiny glass grinder bit to help with shaping the intricate petals and I don’t know how long it might take to get it. Also we’ll be travelling for Thanksgiving anyway, so I have those preparations to deal with. Not that I have all that much to do – it’s not like it was when my kids were little. But it makes a fair excuse.

Not sure what’s in the air today, but it sure has caused a lot of dangling participles. Eh. So what.

On a roll or in a rut?

I guess there’s a fine line between following a theme and being stuck in a rut. Odd that I should even contemplate that, being endowed with such a short attention span, but I wonder which it is nonetheless. Having completed the winter scene yesterday and revisited the photos of the bare tree postcards I sent last June, I was inspired to go ahead and get on the oil painting versions of the gold leaf postcards today. I have scumbled a very thin layer of burnt umber over the whole things, then added the basics of the trees in a mixture of burnt sienna and burnt umber. I will add a bit more detail and correct a couple of small things I don’t like, but to overwork them would make them lose their starkness, which is much of what I like about them. They’ll probably sit awhile before I come back to them, because the backordered glass for Poppies and Willow came today (only 2 days behind the rest of the order! Go Delphi!)

These canvases are 6” square, by the way. I will eventually frame them in simple black wood frames and hang one above the other on the wall. Which one should go on top?

What?!? 3 weeks ahead of a deadline?!?

Ok….if you’re a member of the Great Bay Art Association, avert your eyes – quick!

Today I painted a mini watercolor for the exchange we’re having at the December meeting. I would hate to spoil the surprise, although knowing me, there’s a good chance I’ll end up doing something else anyway. It is 3 whole weeks away, after all! I just wanted to know I had something to share without being up against another deadline. This deadline thing is cramping my style.

Another crappy photo, which doesn’t pick up the colors well. Ugh. Whatever.

This is Midwinter Sunrise, 3”h X 4.5”w watercolor on Arches 140# hot press paper.

I really like photos and paintings of bare trees against a beautiful sky. Which is weird, since I don’t like winter. I have already planned to do a couple of bare trees on canvas board covered with gold leaf. In the mail art exchange I participated in last June, I did a series of bare tree paintings on top of gold leaf, but they were acrylic on paper. I wasn’t especially pleased with the way the acrylic seemed to “float” on the gold leaf, so I want to do two more and try them in oil, and frame them for our guest room. Anyway, here’s a peek at the postcard versions:

And I still haven’t touched that sunflower painting……

Design for a new mosaic - December

I don’t think I posted about this before - it was done about a month ago (maybe two?) but I don’t see that I have shown it to you. This is a drawing for another mosaic – a winter scene inspired by the theme of Ciel Gallery’s current exhibit “Winter Whites”. I have some white polymer clay tiles that I experimented with quite some time ago. Using a pasta roller for the clay, I rolled some silver leaf on top of the clay, and the result reminded me of the type of striations you see on birch bark. So a little research into some winter scenes with a creek and some trees for inspiration turned up the following pics:

Also, I received most of the glass I ordered for the Poppies and Willow, but one of the stained glass sheets I ordered is on backorder. So, my dilemma, which really sounds so very minor when I write it down, is whether to wait on it. I would like to start that one with the flowers, and of course, that’s the glass I have to wait for. Maybe I’ll end up working on two at once – something I have never done before. I often have other things in the works (for example, the painting I still haven’t finished!) but mosaics take up a lot of space in the studio. Eh…….I don’t know what to do.

Duh…I should finish the painting.

^^

Art Every Day – Day 13 (sort of)

Yes, I have taken a couple of days off. I needed it. In fact, today was almost a day off from my life – I slept like a baby last night until quite late, then spent the day wandering around: went to the mall, briefly visited a friend, met up with my youngest son, came home and watched Top Gear. But last night I hosted a Life Drawing class for some friends – so I haven’t been a total indigent. We have just started this evening group (there has been a morning group meeting for quite some time) and it’s a great thing for me. I need drawing practice, and this is a wonderful, low-pressure, no-judgment group. Each person takes a turn posing for the group, and everyone else talks and laughs (sometimes at their mistakes) and gets a little better with each attempt. Last night I had one small moment when I thought I would make a drawing that I was actually proud of, and then DJ said her hand was falling asleep and had to move! I would put a picture of the drawing up here, but the pencil marks were so light I couldn’t photograph them adequately. So you will have to take my word for it – because I would never lie to you. Really.

In other news, I was notified today that my latest mosaic, Oak andAcanthus, was accepted into the exhibition at Maplestone Gallery. Maplestone is a new gallery in Creemore, Ontario, Canada that is devoted to mosaics. The grand opening is December 12, 2009. I’m honored to be juried into their grand opening exhibit!

And tomorrow my husband and I will deliver the commission mosaic Dream of the Dragonfly to its new owner in Burlington, VT and visit some of my husband’s cousins. The last few times we have seen his cousins has been at a funeral, and it will be really refreshing to visit with them without that sadness hanging around the corners of the room.

Sorry I have no pics today, but if you’re really, really good this weekend, maybe I’ll put something up on Monday :)

Now what do I do for Art Every Day?

I haven’t posted any pics for a couple of days, but that’s not becuase I haven’t been working on this! It’s only because I worked on it until I couldn’t see straight to type. Now I’m fighting the urge to take a nap. I have been so high strung over my deadlines on finishing this piece, that I could just collapse in a heap. As of about an hour ago, the piece was finished, photographed and submitted. Ahhhhh……

	detail of upper right
detail of lower left	detail of ball chain

The ball chain is the stuff you buy at the hardward store to replace the pull chain on your ceiling fan. I don’t know why I think that’s so cool – I guess because it’s so pedestrian an item, and a marble mosaic makes me think of Roman baths or patrician homes in Pompeii.

Honestly? I liked it better before I grouted it. The white veins in the black marble seemed really interesting before being grouted. Now it looks to me like I dribbled the lighter colored grout in the middle of the black. Bummer. But this being the first piece I’ve done in marble, I learned a lot from it. I really love working with it. I love the feel of it, and because I used the thin tiles available from Mosaic Rocks, it cuts well (although the green could be a little unpredictable). God forbid you try to cut the thicker stuff (some of which I got from Mosaic Art Supply) without a hammer and hardie at your disposal! Oy….

Art Every Day – Day 7

YAY ME!

I’m on schedule! Marble is done, now to do the pre-grout sealer, let it dry overnight, then grout tomorrow. There have been no major roadblocks yet – one minor one. Yesterday I stopped at Home Depot to pick up the proper sealer for the marble. (Grout can stain marble if you don’t seal it first) I wanted the type that enhances and slightly darkens the stone. I was pretty sure I knew which one I wanted, but the packaging has changed since I last considered buying it, so I was dithering. An employee came over and tried to help (bless his heart) but he didn’t know any more than I did. He then called over someone else, who then argued me out of the one I thought I wanted. She insisted that I buy a different one (which was WAY more expensive, by the way), so I caved. Guess what? I tested it this morning, and it is NOT the one I wanted. So I have to return that tonight – but no biggie. This is the kind of set back I can handle!

Beer me. I deserve it. :)

Art Every Day – Day 6

So last night after I posted a picture and ate half a carrot cake dinner, I went back to work on the gold travertine. My goal was to finish the gold last night, but I realized at one point that I would be better served to fill in some of the black around the lower acanthus leaf instead. I have no idea why. It seemed like a marvelous idea at the time. Of course today’s commitments took a little longer than expected, so it was 4:00 before I even got started today. I have now finished the gold travertine and it’s time to start dinner. I’ll come back to it again tonight and get some more of the black done, then tomorrow finish the black.

See you tomorrow!