Same painting, two photos

This is my painting for the" Go-go Grannies" here who work to support the African Grannies who are raising their grandchildren when the parents have died of Aids. I wanted to paint a sort of "universal" subject- a grandparent reading to a grandchild and passing on the gift of literacy. I was also interested in African fabrics and wanted to have something authentic as part of the painting. I downloaded some African fabric samples and then had them duplicated several times so I would have enough to collage them onto the canvas. The problem is, that the painting is dark and the light reflects off it- Maybe I should have  tried photography with a matte varnish and then added the satin varnish after- ? Maybe I will be wiser another time! So I think I will send the first photo in - better to have a bit of glare in the lower corner than on the face. Funny, the colours are truer and warmer on the first  photo too. It was done indoors under halogen lights, the second was done outdoors - sunny day, in the shade.

Unusual Wednesday

This is a 45-minute drawing of Wanda being a 1930's singer - from the recent Marathon-  love that hat and the feather boa!

The February issue of Chatelaine has an interesting piece in its Health section. "Boost your spirits by channelling your inner Picasso. A new study out of the University  of Illinois at Chicago reveals that people who create  (or enjoy ) art or music on a regular basis are kinder, more active members of society than their less arty counterparts.  Researchers say the mere act of going to a  gallery or museum improves tolerance, increases compassion and may even spur us to perform more random acts of goodwill."  I'm not sure about all that- except that we sure seem to have a lot of nice, thoughtful people in our group!  As for active- well we always seem to have some upcoming project or event. I've just done a painting for the Royal City Gogos. They are going to have an art tour to raise funds and also make people aware of the African grannies who are raising their grandchildren since the children lost their parents to Aids. I've photographed my painting once but I think I"ll try another shot since it is fairly dark. Then I'll post which ever photo looks the best.

The reason this is an unusual Wednesday? It would be our meeting but the Children's Festival occupies the Painting Room this week and we are cancelled. No drawing or meeting on a Wednesday night is unusual indeed.

Into February

I just did the February newsletter and used this pastel that I did at Life Drawing January 30th. The model is Ariel and we had her again at Adrienne's today. I totally love her hair! It is fun to draw.
I've been reading Janna Malamud Smith's book "An absorbing errand- how artists and craftsmen make their way to mastery". This is a book well worth reading if you write or do  any of the arts. She talks about the need to be alone to work in privacy but says "we also need to be stirred up, stimulated and challenged by others, especially others who share our interests and with whom we feel some modicum of mutual respect." She also says " our own thinking  and creativity are often better catalyzed and stimulated in discourse, not in isolation". I know that for me, being in my drawing group or having a demo at a Guild meeting can set the wheels of creative thinking rolling. For the past while, I've been putting notes from what the demo speaker had to say, right in my sketch book. I often do a drawing of the demo artist too! Then I think about it and write what my take is. Sometimes it is one little idea - for example I think I'll make an accordion sketch book just for fun. I think I'd use mine for Life Drawing. Sometimes I write that I can appreciate what the artist is doing but would not want to work that way myself. Even that is good, because it means I've thought about the way I work and why it works for me.

Latest photographs

Here's Charlie! This is a a 45-minute conte' drawing done at the Marathon put on by Phoenix Art Workshop. This was the first day, first set of poses and Guy posed as Charlie Chaplin. I might put in a couple of 3-minute sketches if I can get them to photograph because he had some good poses. This one was with a stuffed animal. I had a decent day getting photos of some of my recent conte' work...the light has to be right. I'm wondering if I can get some other hard pastels as I haven't been able to find any more coloured conte'. I've got lots of the black, white and siennas used for sketching but the other range of colours seems to have disappeared from the market. I prefer them to soft pastels for the kind of work that I do. They are certainly easier to carry around as there is not the same need for a huge assortment of colours. Also, I don't need the really expensive paper such as used for soft pastels. I just use Canson Mi-Tientes and then give them a light spray with a fixative.
One virtue to drawings of all kinds is that paper is easy to stack and they don't take up the space that canvases do. The disadvantage would be if I wanted to show them in a gallery, they would all have to framed under glass. So far, I'm just enjoying do these and I'm not thinking of showing the conte' work..... and now I really am at the end of the month!

End of the month already !

This has been a very *fast month* and I'm behind in photographing paintings and new drawings even 'though I  have a number from our workshop and then a whole weekend of Marathon drawing and painting - so more posts will follow. In the meantime, here is a painting that is going to go off to the BC Cancer Fund for the "Daffodil Ball" auction. It is "Spring in the Park" and I hope someone decides that it is peaceful to live with.  I love reflections- a whole, magical - even if upside-down - world.

Bouquet for this month-

Here is "Dahlia Bouquet" which I will use on this month's newsletter ...still to be done. Margreth grew the flowers which are the loveliest dahlias I've seen and then made this gorgeous bouquet - which just *had* to be painted! Of course, this was in the summer but I'm posting it now. The weekend painting project , mentioned last post, went very well. I haven't photographed the painting yet so I will probably post it next time. It has a bouquet in it too. Flowers are an interesting challenge as I think they should be recognizable as to type of flower, yet not be fussily "tight". I let this bouquet extend beyond the canvas so that there is a feeling of continued life beyond the frame. The funny thing is that I don't think of myself as a flower painter - I would love to do portraits almost all the time!- but I have actually sold all the bouquets that I have painted as well as many garden scenes. Well, I like flowers  so I suppose it shows. I  used gel with the paint to build up a bit of texture for surface interest.

Into a New Year

This one is called "Waiting Time" and was done last year at a workshop. The project was multi-media and the plan was to move a little bit more abstract. We had a model as a "starting point" reference.  The idea also was to put some personal feeling into the piece. Several things in my life then involved waiting so I felt a waiting and a time theme would work with the pose. This is painted on a cradled board. Three are several bits of collage = a textured wall paper strip makes the shelf- the original colour is the green at the right. That in turn inspired the green for the dress. I textured that  as it needed something more. The small clock is collaged and also several bits of the necklace and part of the earring. The figure is simplified and the neck lengthened- all experimentation. Next Sunday we have a painting session with the same model but a whole different theme and it will be just paint, not collage - as far as is planned. Of course, collage can always pop in if the work calls for it.