Brush with Happiness

While DH was preparing the turkey/brine bath, I was in the basement.  Painting. 
Turns out I have a love-hate relationship with most kinds of commitments, obligations and promises, ESPECIALLY if they are "only" to myself.  (I'm great and reliable when it comes to fulfilling promises as well as others' expectations.)

So when Lisa Daria Kennedy and Carol Marine combined forces I found myself persuaded that DAILY painting would be a good thing.  I did okay for four days.  Four!

But immediately after that I began dragging my heels, making excuses, gnashing my teeth and generally being avoidant AND miserable.

What's up with THAT?  Let me just say that you are never too old for introspection, or therapy, or changing how you think about things.  I had taken a break from the pressure I felt about EVERY day, and returned to my easel with enthusiasm, fresh eyes, a new roll of paper towels and new ideas.

 I fiddled around with some semi-satisfactory paintings.  (Thanks Paula Mingolelli for helping me add more seasonal indicators and re-grading the landscape a little.  This photo doesn't quite show the sky the way I want it... but then, maybe neither does the paint!  Best thing about oil paint is the infinite re-does.)

 My Chilly Kitties are coming along. Pretty primitive, but they just make me happy with all that texture and palette knife craziness.



I increased the contrast between fall color and trees and twigs that had already dropped their leaves.  I'm still green with envy wondering how Wolf Kahn would do this, but it's better than the old version!









Challenged myself with a harder still life set up and was pretty happy with the result. 
I hardly ended up with a photographic representation (which hadn't been my goal in the first place), but I'm pleased with the color relationships, the shininess of the Clementines and the glassiness of the glass (even though I don't think the actual glass was quite as cock-eyed as the painted one.

 
 

 
And I went through lots of my photograph references.  I have plans for several bigger works.  Watch out for sheep!  Barns!  Vistas! Allegories!.
I may be sorry I added cold wax on this... experimentation IS at least part of what the creative arts are all about! If it works as planned you'll hardly know there was any purple involved!


And I have ideas for several series of paintings.
And I got to listen to several very very Faborite CD's that have been hiding in the basement.  No heavy metal for me!
There's a Hippo in the Bathtub by Anne Murray.   
Can We Go Home Now by The Roches
Tribute to Vince Guaraldi which must be out of print.  But you could get the idea here.
It's great to keep accumulating MORE reasons to be thankful.
Hope you have plenty, too, dear reader.

Illustration Friday: Suspense, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

Illustration Friday, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

Calico's groundedness made him wish for wings.

When have YOU wished you could fly?

Woodstock Gallery, Vermont, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

I love this gallery in Woodstock, Vermont. The art is wonderful, their attitude is uplifting.. now if they just had coffee and comfortable chairs...

(If you click on the photo, you can see about 30 paintings or other art works that they had when we visited in October 2011. I'm buying lotto tickets to use on art!)

Day 18: Playing in the Wax - Trois Poires, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

This is actually mixed media as I started with fabric dye on a rubber stamp, then painted acrylic craft paint on a layer of wax, then stenciled contrasting colors and finished up with a bit of pearl ex.
2011-November-8-004-w

This is my second go at the topic. I think I like it better than the first (below). Feel free to let me know which you think is a) more artistic or b) more illustrative of the challenge.

Illustration Friday - Mesmerizing, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

I learned a few new things about myself and Photoshop... but this is not as mesmerizing as I'd wanted!

Boundaries, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

I liked the Cicero Quote... but then realized that what I was thinking (and what crept into the illustration) had more to do with my own words.
Digitally drawn with Sketchup and Photoshop and clip art inserts.

As usual, you can click on the image to see it bigger at Flickr.

Sunshine, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

This is my response on the tenth anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001.

(Click on the image to see it larger at Flickr.

No Knead Bread: First Loaf, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.
Who knew that the angst of bread making could be avoided if you just mixed the dough the day before?
My ONLY angst with this was that my chemo-nose couldn't smell it while it was baking.
Whole wheat or rye tomorrow.

Regolith, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

It was my intention to compose a work that was nearly monotone, grayed and calm, in contrast to the vibrant (some would say HYPER) colors that I usually work with. By the time I finished, I had probably created a couple dozen layers, which is more than I usually have the patience for. As I worked, I discovered colors.. some lilac, some yellows, blues and oranges. So, as always, there are compliments in hue. There are also compliments in texture/line.

It reminded me of dirt. But in a good way. When I looked for words that meant dirt, I discovered regolith... which refers to all the stuff that rests on rock. Could be silt, eroded rock, salt deposits or even broken down organic material. So there it is. Regolith.

Illustration Friday: Disguise , a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

"“We get so much in the habit of wearing disguises before others that we finally appear disguised before ourselves.”
François de la Rochefoucauld

...and it makes it very hard to tell who is who (or what.)

Got Dogma?, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.

Between the mainstream media, alternative media, social media I just had to vent.
I despair that Us and Them will ever listen, hear or understand let alone compromise and agree.
Could the US have another horrible, bloody, not-very Civil War?

Illustration Friday - Influence, a photo by Sultry on Flickr.
Rather than illustrate what it might look if someone were under the influence, or someone were influencing something or someone, I got the idea to "do a sheep" and then analysze what the influences had been on me.

• My love of knitting and most things "fiber" urges me to choose sheep whenever possible! Fat sheep, skinny sheep, white sheep, black sheep, horned sheep, polled sheep, old sheep, young sheep, male sheep and female sheep. If they're wooly, they're eligible models.
• A while back, I decided that Illustration Friday would be a weekly challenge for me to learn more about Photoshop and digital image making. I haven't had any classes, and haven't read any manual all the way through. I ask people random questions and use the "help pages," sometimes. Mostly I just click and experiment. The day I discovered how "layers" worked was a giant step for this artist!
• I like my art to have a sense of fun. Either for me while I'm doing it, or for the viewer when they are viewing it. Sometimes both, but not necessarily.
• Color is what I love most. Often bright, sometimes more subtle, but always color.
• Once I get thinking about shape, composition, rhythm and all the other things artists are told to think about, I have an inner argument with my dead mother. She was a trained artist. And a critical mother. I try to take what I like and leave the rest... but you probably know how BIG a mother's influence can be.
• If it's a good day (and more and more are!), I think about my painting mentor B.L. She always finds something to like. She usually asks what was I trying to say (and often I didn't know I HAD anything to say)!
• And then I see hints of painters whose work I've admired through the years. Thiebaud for his outlines and unexpected colors. Bonnard, Vuillard - ditto. Matisse for his patterning and seemingly casual approach to draftsmanship. Steiglitz, Steig, Feiffer, Renoir and even Lucas van Cranach for "attitude." Durer and Wyeth for observing carefully.
• And then there are the admirers, friends, family and critics. They have an influence, too.
  

Photos to come
I am definitely addicted.
To encaustic "painting" that is.
I have now sacrificed our electric frying pan to wax melting.
I have purchased a temperature regulator, a wood burning tool and a tacking iron.
Tomorrow I'm going to spend part of my "allowance" on a heat gun.

I worked on some encaustic panels instead of either reading OR eating.

See what I mean. Addicted. in a good way.