This experiment has really thrown me some curves. One thing is I do expect far too much of myself. The other is I am surprised by what I can accomplish. I was able to bring almost fours paintings to an almost complete state of finish. I am also finding that I am building on each piece and I will be going back to tweak and change as I advance on each one. working like this keeps up an amazing momentum, a constant feedback on what I need to improve. I’m far less attached to the one image I am working on as I have five others all staring at me, telling me “oh never mind THAT one – I’M the awesome one!” It takes the pressure off of THIS piece being my make or break. I have to say I really love working this way. The only drawback is that all of the pieces are small. I have a feeling I will be hitting Home Depot at some time and building a board on which I can attach larger canvases. This easel (It’s a Hughes easel) will allow me to lift and lower the paintings as I need – I have almost six feet of height on this easel to use!

Hmmm… Do I paint? Or do I go shopping…

 

It’s funny how you can be a practicing artist your entire life and it never occurs to you to do something so simple as to work on more than one piece at a time. I was completely taken by surprise when reading about one of my favorite artists that they worked on 30 paintings at one time. Why I missed that this is a common practice is one of my personal quirks I find funny. I was teased frequently for being “functionally fixated” and with reason. Despite  my entertaining inflexibility I have learned many wonderful new ways of doing things and working on multiple paintings at one time is a new way of doing things for me. I have to say I LOVE IT! I had the idea of setting up a drawing board with velcro  on it that I could attach a number of small boards to and it has worked beautifully. In two days I managed to do the underpaintings for 15 paintings. Each one was very much paid attention to – yet it kept me moving at a better pace than I usually do. I found my mark making getting more relaxed and confident, I started playing more and I jumped from piece to piece. This worked beautifully for the sketching, tracing and redrawing and underpainting stages. Now the challenge will be the final painting stage. I’m interested to find out what will happen with the pressure of having six different images waiting for their own specific emotional aspect being brought to life. So far this has been both fun and I’ve found a new depth in image making.

Just to show a bit of process and how a sketch is a placeholder for drawing I’ve got an example from the series I am working on for Illuxcon. I have prints of the original sketches taped to the boards I am doing the paintings on. the second photo shows the redrawn images on the boards (I still have some looseness in the background to be filled in with paint). Basically I use the sketch as a map to locate the main composition and then, using reference, I redraw onto the board and push the forms, anatomy and shapes to a more finished form. This is the part I actually enjoy the most after the initial idea generation. Drawing something and watching it come to life is truly one of the greatest pleasures. The next step after sealing these will be to do the underpainting which is for me is taking the line drawing and turning it into a tonal drawing. I’ll share that stage in my next post – I have some really fun ideas I want to try out this time!

This morning when walking the dog I went off on a tangent to our usual routine, much to the joy of the dog. It reminded me that time spent walking in nature is so deeply necessary to not only my physical well being but to my mental, emotional and spiritual well being. We didn’t go that far out of the beaten path; just enough to test the ground. The dog was covered in burrs and grinning and gamboling about and I made plans to make sure I wore better shoes tomorrow. I’ll have to remember to bring my camera. Years ago I did a daily hike in a small park in Pennsylvania that was a few blocks from my home. I would find all kinds of wonders in there and took lots of photos back when film was the only medium. Today with digital it’s a bit more instant in the gratification of capturing images of little treasures, but no less wonderful to have them. I am rambling about here in this post – but that is the point. To ramble about and just be while exploring is food for anyone’s soul.

I can’t wait to go again tomorrow!

I had not realized how much time had passed since my last post. It’s always easier to pick up my phone and snap a quick photo and throw it up on Instagram and type in a quick hashtags. Since the last post things have truly changed and my work has been both more fun and more intense. The bird series is still coming together and the Goldfinches piece was an incredible learning experience. In the next few weeks I will finally be revealing what I have been working on for the last several months. I have two Kickstarter projects in development and will be revealing them at Illuxcon this year in October. I am also working on an entire new suite of paintings that I will also be bringing to Illuxcon – I have been posting some of the sketches as I am very excited about the new direction.

I am also revisiting a favorite medium: Polymer Clay. I have been making silly creatures out of clay ever since I was a child and find myself coming back to them over and over. The Derp drawings has reawakened my love of the ridiculous and I am having a lot of fun with these. I have been posting a few teasers of the pile of these I have made and I can’t wait to show them all off in October!

Studio dog has been doing all of my resting for me!