Suspend

Suspend
Oil on canvas

24 x 48

More painting. I'm really REALLY running out of wallspace here...I don't get it!! We buy a house and I thought--YES! I'll have so much more space to hang paintings! But I don't and it's weird. Oh well. 

These dark, dreamy sort of girls are fun to paint, although my house is starting to look excessively girl-centric. Part of it is because I like painting hair. And arms for some reason. Part of it is that I feel like it would be weird to paint guys. ??? I don't know. I try to get my husband to model for me but he's not really into that sort of thing. I guess you could say I'm evening things out--I've got four dudes in the house, I've got to have some female company even if they're somewhat two-dimensional.Oh, HA HA my sides are aching I'm so hilarious.
Ugh...what am I talking about here? I have no idea. I'm really tired.

Mistral

Mistral

Oil on canvas
30 x 40

Today (actually, yesterday really) I decided that I need at least a week away from my sewing machine. And not some little five second lets-make-some-artist-cards break--a real break, where my sewing machine is unplugged and my stash is hidden away and I FORCE myself to do something else. I've been dying to paint lately, so instead of going, "No, I can't, I have so many quilts to make!" I said "Yes, you can, the quilts aren't going anywhere, the trip isn't until September!"

So I did. And it was fun. Kinda short lived because I was determined not to overwork it and ruin it, but satisfying.

In other news, I received a beautiful little quilt for Swaziland in the mail yesterday...pictures to come soon.

reach

it's been a little while since i did any art. and i haven't wielded a pencil in a coon's age, so this was fun. plus it was a pleasant reprieve from the two days of a cranky baby with a fever. sweet release i tell you.

and now to bed with me.

chapeau

now all i can think about are all the ridiculous hats that have been popular over the centuries. and about how gross it would be to have a cephalapod on your head. my middle son asked, "you wike drawing girls wif octopusses on they heads, don't you?"

"yes," i answered. "yes, i do!"

medial

this is an absolutely ENORMOUS painting. i think it's like 48" x 60" or more. i had so much fun with this just slapping a ridiculous amount of paint on with a palette knife. it was sort of freeing to not meticulously dab on tiny amounts of paint like i'm gonna run out--i've seriously had the same tubes of paint for like SIX YEARS so i don't know why i'm so uptight. 

anyway, it was fun. but i have no idea where i'm supposed to put this huge thing now.

a much needed break

recently i've been attempting to whittle down my half-finished projects list but working on one thing every day. my self-imposed rule was that when i ran out of something (i.e. thread, quilt binding, etc.) i would set it aside and pick up something else. well i'm happy to say that when i ran out of thread for the advent calendar quilt i'm aggravatingly close to finishing, i decided i needed a break from sewing. so i started painting and drawing.

first i painted this for my room. it was fun. i love orange.

then i drew these. i picked up these hideous brown cheap frames from a yard sale a month or so ago, sprayed painted them a cheerful yellow, and then shelved them because i wasn't quite sure what to do with them. suddenly inspiration hit--why not draw some simple little portraits of my husband and i to hang above our separate sides of the bed? and...voila! silly ink drawings that look pretty much like us. though i think my face is WAY chubbier than this in real life.

then...drumroll please...after a YEAR AND A HALF of being annoyed with this monstrosity, i finally decided to just finish the dang thing already and move on. i have to say that as difficult and obnoxious as this was to paint (why oh WHY would i think that many colors on one huge canvas was a good idea??)i am pretty proud of it. and i have no idea where to put it. alas.

i feel pretty good getting back to doing art. i've spent the last year mainly sewing which is fun but i've been jonesing to wield a brush for months now.

i guess i'll call it a series

"yearn"
9" x 13"
Watercolor on cold-press paper

more watercolor

"the sky might fall"
9" x 13"
Watercolor on cold-press paper

hooray for instant gratification!!

today i decided to foray into the world of watercolor...don't ask what the inspiration was, i really can't say. but wow, it's fun to finish a painting in an hour!


"Zephyr"
9" x 13"
Watercolor on cold-press paper

the highest form of flattery

...is imitation, right?
so i decided to start copying some of my favorite artists. it can't hurt to learn new techniques, and i've really wanted to loosen up lately. so i decided to do a few studies of royo's ingravidos work. the first study i did was on a clayboard. i'd never used one before, but i really enjoyed the process. it's time consuming, but fun.



the second study i'm doing is in oil. it's a work in progress, but i'm really diggin' it, man.

poppies (not puppies)

last night i began an uncharacteristic painting. i wanted to try something different. quick. not so detailed. in other words, the opposite of what i normally do. this morning i put a few finishing touches on it, but for the most part it was done in a little under two hours last night. i'm not usually into flowers, but hey, everyone has to paint them at least once. so now i'm all set with the obligatory flower painting. maybe it isn't spectacular, but yay for the instant gratification!



"Poppies (not Puppies)" Oil on canvas 30 x 30