Art and other Creative Endeavors...

A limited palette of primary colors

2009-05-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Untitled Landscape

12 x 12 • Oil

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been limiting myself to just primary colors. When I say primary colors, I don't mean the traditional colors found on a color wheel, but a blue a red and a yellow. Whatever I interpret to be those colors.

I get excited when I create those rich browns and secondary colors. And no matter what colors you get, they will always work together -- at least that is what I have found. I suppose it's subjective...

I was taking inventory of my paint colors yesterday, and noticed that I have quite a collection of barely used greens and purples. I can remember a time when I was searching out these colors, knowing only that I would know them when I saw them. Working with primary colors has helped me to find those secondary colors, I think. The process is so much more satisfying for me, as I am an intuitive painter anyway.

It's also nice to know during the challenging economical times that all I really need is three tubes of paint, plus black and white. We always have what we need, don't we?

Work in Progress

2009-04-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

I've been staying with these landscapes, and restricting myself to just three colors. So far I like the color that I get from these. But because I am working with limited references, I have to keep changing the composition. Two steps forward, one step back.
This is where I usually just add another color, but I want to stay the course here (did I just say that?). It is so close to completion.

So, I'll just sketch for a while, finding the next one, and then start painting it, with the hope that the solutions for the current work will come to me. I know they will, they always seem to eventually. But my inner 5 year old is screaming right now.

Checking in

2008-12-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

Another year, almost over..... I found this unpublished post from last February... February!

It is still as relevant today as it was 11 months ago, but I'll get to that later.

What I would like to mention now is that my husband and I bought our first house and we converted part of the garage into a studio for me. So all of that procrastinating I did for the organization of my space in the spare room of our apartment wasn't for nothing. Believe me there was procrastination, and I was overwhelmed. I had so much crammed into that little room, I didn't know where to begin.

Moving to a new home after 16 years was cathartic. It forced me to re-evaluate almost everything I own. I sorted and downsized, and then I did it some more. I learned how to recognize and let go of the things that no longer served me. Quite an accomplishment for a pack rat. (I blame my parent's and their depression-era childhoods for this). But I also think it sort of comes with being an artist. I love my new studio, with it's white walls and skylights. I have big plans for this space. I may even document it here.

Untitled Landscape III

2008-02-14T10:32:00.001-08:00

Untitled Landscape III

40" x 30"

Oil on Canvas

I like this size. It feels large enough to be considered a larger painting, and yet it is still a manageable size. The palette makes me think of paintings I have done in the past involving water and flowers. It feels familiar and new at the same time.

Untitled Landscape I

2008-02-06T11:32:00.001-08:00

Untitled Landscape I

40" x 30"

Oil on Canvas

I finished this piece months ago, it was sort of a catalyst for me. I've been working with landscapes for a few years now, and with each painting, I feel that I have more to see and to explore. I just recently finished a commission that was based on this piece. I will post that soon.

I plan to do a lot more landscapes in the near future, I get hung up on titles. I'm thinking of forgoing titles for now.

I think some paintings benefit from a title, it's easier to reference them, that is for sure. I prefer to not give these specific titles. I don't think they need them, and I don't like to sway the audience.

And now we have...

2008-01-28T12:18:00.000-08:00

Untitled Landscape II

40" x 30" Oil on Canvas

I finished this one last week, it has been on the easel for about 2+ months (?) It feels like forever, but it sure feels good to have finished a painting. I am working on a commission now, so I have been working on 4 paintings at a time, to keep the rhythm going. So far it's working, but last week's rainy days took the good light away from my studio. It's sunny now, so I better go, you know, make hay while the sun shines....

Still here..

2007-05-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is the latest.

Between Paintings

2007-03-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

Alive and Kicking, just doing "other stuff"
I did this drawing a few weeks ago. I was in love with it, I kept it where I could see it. It was my creation. The honeymoon is over I guess. I have no idea what I was thinking when I finishd this.

Work comes and goes, and comes back and the art sits on the sidelines. I think a lot about the balance of my work. The right amount of design vs fine art. I am both of these, designer and artist. I hope that I can do both well. I am trying to come to terms with this, and move forward. KNow how to schedule my time.

To paint is to express myself. It allows me to just play, and explore and only change what I fell needs to be changed. It is done when I feel it is. When I don't have the time to devote to my painting, I cook.

My latest acquisition. A reward for all of the hard work that I have been engaged in over the past few months. Cooking satisifiies that creative need and fulfills a purpose. I can justify this. It's easier to budget time for this.

I carved out time over the holiday to make this. Czech holiday bread. Until I have reached that place, where time managment comes naturally, I will have to be content to work, cook, knit, and just visualize the paintings. And get to them before they become stale. Or before someone else paints them. Which is more than often the case, and that just makes me crazy!
It also gives me an idea for another post.

Someone has been watching!

2006-09-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

One of my paintings was on Apartment Therapy yesterday!
It's nice to be noticed!

A commissioned tryptich

2006-08-12T00:41:00.000-07:00

50 x 79
Oil on Canvas

Here is a picture of the painting, outside. The only place I could get far enough away from it, to really see it.

More of that other stuff... and a little art

2006-06-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

I came across this cool tool today while surfing, it converts your web code into a graph.
the image to the left is this blog.
My own websites were not as interesting.
It really reminds me of some plastic toys that were popular at my school in the late 1960's. That is how old I am.

I have finally completed a commission that I started back in October (Sept?).
Commissions are hard. That is all I will say about it.
Other than I am happy with the way it turned out, and I discovered some new colors along the way.

One of those colors being "lilac". I am obsessed with it lately. The canvas I have on my easel now reflects this. I can't wait to finish it, but it's on hold...my work schedule was very hectic the past 2 weeks and now I am sick, I knew this would happen. My home life has fallen by the wayside. I am burned out. I just can't burn the candle at both ends like I used to.
Whenever I am sick, I ponder my life, take note of where I am, and am reminded of where I had hoped to be.
The priorities surface, and, once I have recovered I have a better idea of where I need to direct my attention.
It's always the art, then the home. One of my lifetime goals is to be able to create and maintain a nice home . I have never ever felt like I have succeeded in this. Something has always been missing in my development here. Being a cancerian, home is important to me, but I never seem to really feel like creating that. I feel like I have to make choices, and housekeeping always gets the back burner. Now that I have had 4 days to stare at the hovel, I see where I can start to return it to the home. Time for some serious spring/summer cleaning.
Actually, I do more clearing at the beginning of summer, and winter, not fall and spring like what is traditional.
I am slow that way.

Those quizzes....

2006-06-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

How do they know?

According to the "Which Big Lebowski character are you?" quiz:

Why don't you check it out? Or we cut off your Johnson!

Lightfall

2006-03-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

This painting has undergone so many transformations, I think I could have made it into three paintings.
But since I painted over them, I have just this one. It is slightly less intense in real life.
It is based on this watercolor,

I think my original concept was to explore the diffused light, but the colors I mixed up, violets and golds, did not want to be muted, so I went along with it. I like them both, but they are very different paintings.
I don't think my work is finished here yet. I think there is more to explore with these paintings. A lot more.
Which is a good because now I have something to move on to. I can get started right away.

The latest in a series

2006-03-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

I can't decide if this is finished or not... but I know that it is dangerously close to being overworked...
I've used a lot of layers of glaze on this painting, which is something I have thought about doing for a long time, but never took the time to actually do it.
I'm trying to be more patient these days with my artmaking and to pay attention to my process more.

I like the results so far, but I really want to finish something too. Breathe.

Music

2006-02-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

That David Byrne has gone and done it again.
He streams music from his website here. The playlists he puts together are fantastic. This month is no exception , an eclectic collection of pop music that spans a wide range.

Last fall, when I was thinking about my brother, and wondering if he was going to pull through, (he did), I listened to it all day, everyday. It was a blend of 60's psychedelic and music inspired by this era. I heard songs that could only be described as the background soundtrack to my early childhood. It took me back to kindergarten and the first grade... memories. During that time, I actually felt as if I went back there. Most of which I have not heard since the late 60's. I never owned any of that music, I was too young, but I do now, thanks to I-Tunes.

Music is so powerful.

Dreaming...

2006-02-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

I had two consecutive dreams last week. Both left me feeling that I was getting ahead of myself, and that I had to go back and take care of something before I could move on. That I kept having to start things over and over.

In one of the dreams, I was buying new dishtowels, I was carrying around my old dishtowels, and not only was I in the wrong store, but I completely forgot that I was left in charge of a scared four-year-old girl, whom I had left at home.
So I had to leave the (wrong) store and race back home, to take care of the girl, without buying new towels.
When I walked out of the store, I realized that the right store was next door. It has the same layout exactly, but I was in a clothing store, not housewares. A mistake that I felt that I had made before. And, as usual when I am shopping, being in the wrong department doesn't stop me from, well, shopping. I am easily distracted. Especially when shopping.
My unconscious self is nagging my conscious self, but what is it trying to tell me?

Moving Forward

2006-02-07T16:28:00.000-08:00

I know, I am supposed to propel my life forward, that was the goal when I started this blog.
Lately I really feel as though I am ...
I've got four paintings in the works, yeah, you read right. Four.
Photos coming just as soon as they are done.

Lately, I feel as though I am a working artist, and that these paintings themselves, or the act of creating them, will lead me further along my path. I can't exactly say how or where, it's just a feeling that I have. For once I don't feel like I am wasting my time, while I am painting, but rather "at work". Nothing on the outside has changed, really, I've changed on the inside. I am more focused now, than I have been in a long time.

I attended a workshop over the weekend that involved the mapping out of my intentions. It was an involved process, that included meditation and art and all messages led to the same intention:

I must get myself out of debt. ASAP.

Really, if I did this, I would be moving ahead and it would (dis)solve a lot of my problems
(problems = obstacles in my path). Not that I don't know this, but it has been a bit more refined. I've been thinking a full-time job was my intention, and it might be. But ultimately the goal here is to pay off the credit cards. I also feel as though I could never paint enough artwork to in a year, much less sell it, to earn a living off of.
I am coming to terms with this, and getting more comfortable with the idea of working for the man.
I really have no resistance to anything. I am ready to be out of debt.
So, universe, are you listening? Did you hear what I just said?
Good.

More work

2006-01-29T16:25:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of turning this into an oil... stay tuned...

A Parting Shot

2006-01-29T16:03:00.000-08:00

I've been home for almost a month now, But I just wanted to post this picture. It was such a nice afternoon, crisp snow on the ground. sunny skies and cold. My favorite winter weather.
This was taken in a restaurant called The Pearl of Prague. It is in the Frank Gehry "Dancing house" building in Prague.
We had a liesurely lunch here, as we sat and watched over the city, reflecting on our trip, and the life that we would soon be returning home to.

Weather Report

2005-12-31T03:02:00.000-08:00

It is -6 celcius out today.
Location is Melnik, Czech Republic, a small town 45 minutes outside of Prague.
There is 6"+ of snow eveywhere. It's beautiful but unbeliveably cold for this Los Angelino.
There is so much I would like to have recorded on this trip, but I just can't seem to find the right time and place to do it.
I have been knitting a lot. And reading a little. Reading makes me sleepy.
I brought the book "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle, but I can't seem to force myself to read it. I know that there is some valuable info in it. Especially pertinent to what I am experiencing here on this trip. This will be the last time that I see my in-laws alive. I can't stop thinking about that, and yet I know that I should just be in the present and love them while they are still here.
We leave in 3 days and I am dreading the good-byes. Last year's were bad enough.
I don't want to think about it, but yet I cannot stop.
This isn't something a person wants to dwell on, I am not close enough to ask them what I could do for them - that's really up to my husband, anyway. I am here to support.
Stay focused on the present and the positive.
Happy New Year!

Blaugue

2005-12-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

For the past 2 weeks I have been in the Czech Republic. Today, I visited the National Gallery and saw some Czech paintings from the early 20th Century.
I have spent some time in this country, and have come to the conclusion, that Czechs have not really found their own voice or vision yet.
It seems that they were off to a start in the 1920's, when they became Czechoslovakia and then along came the Nazi's, bringing what was the first wave to a halt, then came the communists. We all know where that went.

I find myself wondering, as I stroll through the streets, looking at all of the amazing detail in the architecture, what would have happened, had they been allowed total creative freedom during those years?
What would this slavic country be like?
What would their art be like today?
It seems to me, that their expressions and visions may have been stopped short by the war, and other opressors.
The art deco here is amazing, and really pure. What is in store for them next, I wonder?

Fish Tales

2005-12-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

"I once caught a fish that was this big..."
You have got to take a look at this

I came to this link by way of NPR's site about endangered catfish in cambodia...interesting story. You can listen to it there too.

For the record, I don't think that I have caught a fish in my life.

Instant Karma

2005-12-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

Or something like that. I took a couple of days off from the painting, and I get a call from my freelance agency. It seems that a company I was working for last year needs someone this week. So now I am working full-time hours all week. It's an hour long commute, which means no painting until Saturday, unless I get up at the crack of dawn. Kind of too long for my comfort, since we are less than 2 weeks from holiday departure travel date, and I will be abandoning my art for 3 weeks....I am nervous and stressed, but I will have to make it all work out. If anyone is listening, pray that I can haul my butt out of bed early enough to at least make notes and "live" with the painting in daylight hours....damn winter.

This is positive too, $$. I am also hoping that I don't have to know Adobe In-design too well....in which case, I may be back in my studio on Tuesday, but I hope not. Really. I am ready to work hard.
No additional freelance work after Friday, though. I mean it.

I confess....

2005-12-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

My studio no longer has proper lighting on those gray days (like today) and when the sun goes down. Most days, I am fine with this, I can't paint everyday and I can keep it to daylight hours. But I still feel the need to create. I have re-discovered the art of knitting, it can be very meditative and satisfying. There is the excitement of getting new clothes, and I love, starting new projects.
I have decided to knit this,"The Ribby Cardi"
I have never knitted a sweater before, I have yet to venture beyond the scarf and hat, so fasten your seat belts folks. I will be knitting it in the colors below, Peruvian Highland wool in Celadon and Nutmeg Heather:

These swatches came from the elann.com site, so I will link it, hopefully I am not in violation of any copyright laws here.
I haven't actually knitted with this yarn, but it is extremely affordable, and comes in lots of nice colors. In fact almost all of their yarn is extremely affordable, which makes knitting possible, for people like me. Check it out.

Because I need someone to hold my hand, I have signed on to the "Ribbi Cardi Knit-a-long", So I will now be held accountable for the completion of this project.
At least that is my strategy. I have a history of not finishing knitted and crocheted projects. Unless, of course an afghan is supposed to take 13 years...
But, before I can start on this, I must finish my husband's Christmas present, a scarf, knitted on size 7 needles, the same ones, that I need to make the sweater with. It's going slow, too. So, I had better get busy!

Procrastination and a Work Ethic

2005-12-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

This is a re-occurring theme for me.
Katherine has been talking about not getting things done and progress.

I have been working on a large painting (for me, anyway) and I am 2/3 complete. I have reached that stage where I could finish it or mess it up and create a lot more work for myself. I already skipped a day this week, to let it rest and dry.
To top it off, it's a commission, so someone is waiting for it, so there is pressure.
Am I procrastinating? Have I not developed a strong work ethic? Is it all just part of my process? (that last one always works as the fall back excuse, doesn't it?)
I should know this by now. I don't.

Maybe I will just have to spend some quiet time with it today.

I am always a little hesitant to say my work is complete, scared actually, because in 2 weeks time, I may decide that it is not complete, and it will haunt me. This almost always happens with graphic design projects, because they are deadline driven. And really when it comes right down to it, is anything ever really completed? What was not added (or subtracted) from one work will go into the future ones.

What do I really want to do today?
Bake Christmas cookies and knit. It's one of those days.
Maybe it's just the holidays.