Missing my Friend!

This is the beginning of a tryptich mosaic tile wall art. Ran out of glue, so have to wait to do the other 2. Thought about Michelle while doing this, she is an awesome mosaic artist friend who just moved to Chicago. We miss her at the Stutz, and I'm sure they miss her in the Carmel Arts and Design district too!

Coming and Going

After spending a couple of "dry" weeks, artistically, I decided to just DO something! I have always loved figures, but haven't attempted to paint them very often, thinking I need a model, and why pay for a model when the first paintings for a while won't be any good. So do you see how backward this thinking is? I decided to just do it, paint figures without worrying about making them realistic or even attractive to anyone but me. This is the start of my efforts. I began from a gestural drawing done in open figure last week. This isn't done, but not sure what more to do. It's large-ish, 34" square. It's oil with some charcoal. The charcoal is another piece which I decided to leave in, even enhance. Usually I just use charcoal to sketch the rough outlines, but I like charcoal, and I like line, so why not emphasize that? I kinda like it.

Are the Roses Finished Jumping?

I have worked on this pastel painting, adjusting edges and color saturation to emphasize the intended focal point. Can you guess what it is? Thanks to Pam Newell, my pastel instructor, for the critique of my earlier work.

White Mums

Finally, a new painting! This is pastels, done from a still life I set up in the studio. I kinda like it, it feels happy! Last week I put down a deposit on a new studio space! Vicky and I are going to share a great spot on 3C at the Stutz. Since the classroom is closing, we're going to move Open Figure to our studio. This should be a fun and exciting new venture!

Creativity Cycle!

So long since my last blog...

Creating art is such a cycle, currently I'm in the phase where I try something different each day. Nothing is turning out very good, I'm throwing a lot in the trash. Yesterday I started something that MAY turn out good, a largish pastel and charcoal still life of mums in a pitcher. I quit when it seemed like each stroke I made on the paper was a mistake! The trick to starting this one was to think about it before I went in to my studio. I needed to bring something to do a still life of, so I spent a few moments in my garden. Also brought in some Christmas bulbs and strings of beads. Hopefully this will lead to Holiday Show items!

Speaking of the Holiday Show, AAggghhh! It's coming up fast, I'm in charge of it and don't know what I'll exhibit myself. Lots of preparation work to do yet, but have had some volunteers, so that takes some of the pressure off. Thank goodness there are FRESH artists as well as SEASONED ones willing to pitch in!

Admitedly this pastel painting has nothing to do with the rest of this posting, but is something I did a few weeks ago from a live model. Sometimes it's good to look back at what you've done in order to see where you're going!