Paint and clothing...

Here are the "22 Owls"  from the GuessWho? show. I had fun painting them and they have gone on to a good home. I added them to my inside painting photos of the Christmas card this year. Since the painting is only 10x10 inches, I used a small brush - but I worked on being playful and not tight. I've already had a strong suggestion that somebody else would like owls another year- so I'll have to think of another playful approach - but something different too.  Maybe not even a tree but something else for the "framework" - and a different "feature" owl. Well, one thing about that painting was it was a sitting down,  working on a desk painting and thus, a much neater project. Like most artists, I tend to really get into my work - which can mean paint right up my sleeves. An artist's apron isn't quite enough for me. I do much better in a lab coat. I had a lab coat that was a wrap-around style and that was perfect as it could be simply wrapped looser if worn outdoors over a jacket. Alas, it finally fell apart. I have another one but it is button-front.  Chris Charlebois has a great dark blue mechanic's coat that I covet - and it is wrap-around. He works in oil, which can be messy too. Another artist I know says he seems to attract paint and was merely showing people around his studio when he ended up with a big blob of paint in his hair. I usually work in acrylics and they really stay on fabric. In fact, with a fabric medium mixer  (or even without!) you can paint on t-shirts, sweat-shirts and so on and have designs that last beautifully through washings.  For artist's clothing, the paint is more apt to be spatters and blobs than designs - but the lasting quality is there so an artist has to be cautious on what is worn in the studio. It would be very easy to end up with no "good" clothes at all! ... On the other hand, there are some jeans sold at Holt Renfrew for $340 whose special feature is that they are paint-spattered.  Well, there is one expense an artist need not spring for. After all, if they were worn by an artist, no-one would recognize them as expensive style. Instead, it would be assumed that the artist had mindlessly gone out in public in her studio clothes.

Back View- drawing or painting?

Here is a pastel from a week ago. There is some discussion in the pastel side of the art scene as to whether pastels are drawing or paintings. I usually think of mine as drawings since there is visible paper... as there is in this case. I used a tinted paper, but it is still paper. If a pastel is covered from edge to edge, then it gets considered to be a painting. The pigment that forms the chalks used is the same pigment used in paints. In acrylic paints, for example, the pigment is suspended in a plastic emulsion. Pastel is a combination of chalk, pigment and a binder. Paper is usually textured to hold the pastel in place and finished works are displayed under glass for protection. However, they are as lasting works of art as any other medium. Unframed, they are easy to store and take up less space than canvases. Since I love doing figure drawings but they don't really sell in this marketplace, I'll continue with pastels for figure work on a general basis. They also give a chance to play with colour in a different way. I was pleased to have a good chance to work on a back view.

Nice lips - just not red

This Elena from a two-weeks ago Friday painting/drawing session---- most of them paint, I work in pastels. I think Elena has lovely lips and I worked to do them justice - only they aren't the exaggerated red lips I mentioned in my last post! Maybe I should play with this and do another drawing from it, to copy that style and see what happens???
   
Around here, some effort is being made to prepare for Christmas- just used the pot that had the Japanese lanterns in it for a base for a pot of greenery - salal, cedar and red-twig dogwood - by the front door. I think the lantern painting is finished and will post it later. Not much to do for gift-shopping as gift-exchange has been cut back. I wish I had some kids to buy books for as there seem to be more exciting and imaginative books out for younger kids these days - as well as some of my favourite picture books still around. Ezra Jack Keats "A Snowy Day" is one I've long liked. A new one out called The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywell for 2 to 5 year old's looks like a lot of fun and could lead to some interesting chats about colour. I'm excited a about an upcoming book by Sophie Benini Pietromarchi about colour. She teaches workshops for children in Europe and this  new book is aimed at children 8 and up and artists of all ages. More later- I anxiously await it! In the meantime, there is a delightful book by the same author - called The Book Book- with all sorts of imaginative projects. For one thing I am going to sharpen my pencils by hand (especially coloured pencils) and save the shavings to try something different to play with in my sketch book play projects.

Warts and all...

So here is the pumpkin and the gourds- a bit of fun because of all the warts. They are still sitting in my studio but I guess they are destined for the compost box soon. Interesting to see the different shades of orange. I think the "Lanterns" painting is done now - although there will be one further "mull" and then I'll also see what the comments are at the critique. I'll have to buy some more mandarins if I want to paint some- the others have been eaten. I've been using pastels, rather than painting for figure studies again and I did two this past week - which have yet to be photographed- then I'll post them. The paper is easier to store than more canvases. Strangely, figure studies seem to sell in New York but not here on the West Coast. I wonder why? I was looking at some paintings by Milton Kobayashi. I like the way he crops the paintings tightly and has interesting space with the flat dark areas. I wonder why he exaggerates the lips so much? They have very red lipstick, very bowed mouths and quite full lips- basically all the models seem to have the same lips. -and then Malcolm Liepke has pretty well the same lips. Is this a male fantasy? I  might try tighter cropping but I think I"ll stay away from those lips.

The cards are here!

A bit of excitement as my cards for Christmas are here! I did them on the computer and then they were printed off at Apple. Originally, I decided to do the sunflowers on the front - but I couldn't have a vertical card and also pictures on the inside- and I didn't like it really chopped horizontally - so I ended up with it being one of four pictures on the front. The others are the dahlia bouquet, Isabella, and Nicola Valley. It looks quite good - if not terribly "Christmas-y". I don't do really overly "seasonal" paintings anyway.  So there is Isabella on the front- but Digby made it at the top of the left-hand column inside. It is fun choosing a selection of paintings and drawings. I put two pastels in too. I guess it will get harder to choose another year- unless I really produce a lot. Who knows? I can include pastel drawings again another time too.  Right now I'm working on a different "Lanterns" painting. I used one a few years back and it was a good painting of the miner's lantern but the lantern "flowers" were too much on one plane. This time, the miner's lantern is more obscured - and there is even another lantern there too, not too visible - and many more of the lantern plant going back in depth. I think it is a more interesting and complex painting- even if, currently,  not completely finished.  I think I will take it to the critique at our Christmas meeting and see what the verdict there is.  The Sunflowers, above,  are 40 inches by 30 inches. As a tribute to Van Gogh, I signed my name on the vase, as he did on his painting. They were painted from life- only the vase has been changed a bit. I painted it for myself and have it over my desk downstairs. I suppose I would sell it - but then I think I'd have to get more sunflowers next year and paint a different picture for myself. Cross that bridge when I get to it.... I think I am getting more into a floral mood again - although I keep looking at mandarins and thinking I'd like to paint another mandarin picture. Maybe I am in an orange-colour mood as I recently did a small pumpkin and some gourds. Those are too recent to be on this card. On the card, inside- Digby, a Roman street scene, floats hanging at Finn slough, a section of the "pots" painting, pastel of Wanda as a '30's singer, pastel of Ariel in a costume--right hand column, my Grand Prix painting, a small Terra Nova painting recently re-done and recently sold, the Danish Danish pastry picture, seedheads -alliums, Helene in costume, pomegranates, "22 Owls" from the GuessWho? sale. Definitely a variety of subjects! No card shark or rum runner as those paintings are still down at Phoenix art store and haven't been photographed. So maybe next year there will be the rum runner- there is a certain seasonality to that!

One for sale-

This is the third painting from GuessWho? I have it back at home and will sell it to the first bidder at $100 with $50 going to the Food Bank - just the same as at the GuessWho? sale. While we made over $2000 for the Food Bank and had some fun and even excitement, I think we would have done even better if we had not had the horrible rainstorm. Anyway, we'll give the fuschia a chance to add to the good. This 10" x 10" painting is in acrylic with some added collage for more drama. Acrylics are good in a kitchen as they can be wiped off if necessary - so are very durable.  However, this also might be what a powder room needs to brighten it up. Fuschia flowers are a bit like exotic dancers. The tender ones that you see in pots are more like ballerinas. This kind is perennial on a shrub-like plant. It was another of my "taking risks" pieces of art.

Cat from the GuessWho? sale

There was only one cat painting  in the GuessWho? sale - and this is the one.  (Yes, I painted it) It sold and has gone on to a good home.  I couldn't part with the paintings of Digby and Isabella so I found another cat to paint. "Chi" is Mike Hughes cat - and a very handsome one. The lady that bought the painting especially liked his blue eyes. The sale was a lot of fun with a lot of excitement and, hopefully, hooked people on the joys of owning original art. The weather, however, did not cooperate. There was an absolutely horrible rainstorm which interfered with some people coming out. However, we sold 44 paintings and one photograph and made over $2000 for Richmond Food Bank.  One quote  I once read, from a collector, said "What does it matter if my children inherit a few digits less if I leave them the art that touched my soul? What was important to me will remain in their homes all their lives. I know of no greater gift."   ....and with Christmas not that far away, maybe some of the paintings will be gifts now ..one size fits all....