Happy New Year - 2011!

Redwoods

I believe that before you can move forward you must reflect on the past.  The above painting was done back in 1979 and for better or worse, I believe my painting style has changed as much as I have changed as a person.

 _________________________________________________________________

It seems incredible, but the Holidays are over yet again and now its time to get back to reality.    My reality for 2011 includes getting my Real Estate career moving into high gear, as well as my art career.   So, if anybody needs to buy or sell a house, I'm your gal... and I will throw in a piece of art work as a house warming gift to boot!  Woohoo, what a deal!   And maybe, just maybe 2011 will be a year of breakthroughs for me!

May 2011 truly bring peace on earth and good will to all.

Check back soon, I've been busy and I have lots to share!

Tribal Dance

                                                           TRIBAL DANCE

Well, Thanksgiving is over, I can't believe it!  I had a house full of company and it was a lot of fun but I'm glad its over and I can get back to a normal routine!  Thanksgiving dinner came off without a hitch thanks to the many cooks in the kitchen... in fact we were actually standing around looking at each other for a while as we were so far ahead of ourselves.  The food was delicious and the company was great!  Everyone was gone by about 3:00 on Sunday and I've been taking a snooze ever since.  I think I'm just about rejuvenated.  I haven't had a lot of time to paint in the past couple of weeks as I was cleaning house and getting ready for turkey day, but I did revamp the Ghost Dancers, they transformed into the above and are now titled Tribal Dance.  They're still ghost dancers, inspired by ancient petroglyphs but the colors and movement in the painting are definitely leaning more towards the modern side.  I really like the colors and the way this painting turned out, it's a fun painting!

Ghost Dancers

                                     Ghost Dancers Debut

Admittedly, Halloween is my absolute favorite time of year, but I didn't actually set out to paint a Halloween picture.  It just kind of happened... as I fiddled with this painting the ghost dancers began to emerge, and I just couldn't turn them away.   This was supposed to be an experimentation in color and technique, but it was  pretty much out of my control once the ghost dancers took charge.  Have a scary Halloween!

Modern Art Inspired by Ancient Art

Well, I'm actually feeling hopeful.  I've been messing around with my big huge canvas and for a while I thought it was going to be a total disaster, but I threw caution to the wind and starting slapping up some bold colors and I'm actually starting to like what's beginning to emerge.  I started with an under coat of various shades of yellow, then added some burnt sienna.  Although it was looking a lot like a cave wall, I had to remember my mantra is "Modern Art Inspired by Ancient Art," and so far it wasn't looking any too modern.  So I had to ask myself what would turn this into a "modern" work of art?  And the answer is... color.  So I mustered all my courage and whipped up a brilliant aqua that will go great with the wall color and furniture in my dining room and at the same time it will hopefully turn my ancient cave wall into a fun, modern work of art.  I'm contemplating where to go from here, but I'm feeling pretty good about it... stay tuned!

Not Too Productive Today!

Weekends aren't usually real productive for me, but this past weekend my dear sweet hubby was out of town, so I found myself sitting in front of the t.v. quite a bit and then I would wander into the studio and slap some paint on a canvas, and then I would end up back in front of the t.v. for another little nap.  It was great!  I've got about 5 paintings going right now.  I used to think that you worked on one painting at a time and only one painting, but I've discovered that's not true.  While one is drying you can be working on something else... I also find that I frequently miscalculate how much paint to squeeze out of the tube and I squeeze out too much, so rather than throw it out, I try to work on another painting to use up the excess, if one of the paintings doesn't happen to need that particular color I just start a new painting.  I've always loved the realistic style, and I always want to paint in a realistic style, however, I think I've finally accepted that I'm just not that kind of artist and trying to do a realistic painting just isn't much fun.  Its really hard work, and this is supposed to be fun and relaxing.  I have the most fun when I just let loose and I end up with abstract type paintings usually with lots of color.  I didn't actually paint today, but I do plan on getting back into the studio tomorrow and will hopefully have something new to show you pretty soon.

So What Have I Done Lately?

Well, I'm creeping along with my big project... the first step is to create my cave wall and I will start by adding a bit of texture... as you know, cave walls are rough and full of texture.  I've been contemplating the colors that I intend to use and since the finished painting will ultimately go in my dining room and the colors in the dining room are teal and browns I think I will probably use predominately golds and yellows.  Unfortunately, I'm rather low on funds at the moment and I don't know if I actually have enough of the right colors to proceed much further, so now that I've gotten the texture on and I kind of know what direction I'm going, I'm going to stick it back in the corner for a while and contemplate where I want to go from here.  In the meantime I'm going to work on some other paintings using the colors I happen to have on hand.  I hope to get back to the big cave painting soon.

My Big Scary Project

                                    36 x 48 Canvas

About a year ago I bought a really big canvas with the intent of painting one of my modern petroglyphs for the dining room wall.  However, upon arriving home with my canvas, I immediately realized that I had a few problems to overcome.  The first being that I'm rather intimidated by working on such a large piece and I also discovered that I don't really have room in my studio to work on a piece of this size.  The other problem is that I normally do my petroglyphs in oil pastel, on pastel paper, but you can' really work oil pastel on a huge standard canvas, so I needed to figure out how to go about creating a petroglyph in acrylic or oil.  So with that being said, the BIG canvas has stood untouched in my studio for the past year. I haven't forgotten about it, I couldn't possibly forget about it as every time I walk into the studio... there it is... staring me in the big blank face!

So for better or worse, success or failure, I plan on documenting my efforts to transform this big blank canvas into a work of art worthy of my dining room.

Here goes nothing!

My Big Debut!

                                                        Tranquility in Motion

Tomorrow is the Artist Reception for the Art Hop at the Georgetown Library from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 and it's also 1st Friday in Georgetown, which means the shops stay open late.  I have one piece of artwork that was accepted into the Art Hop, and for those of you that can't make it to the big wing ding I've attached a picture for your viewing pleasure and curiosity.  I also have some pieces on display at Framer's Gallery so tomorrow marks my official debut and I hope its the first of many!  I'm looking forward to seeing what all the other art looks like, it will either boost my confidence level or make me feel totally inadequate... or maybe a bit of both.  Hope to see you there!

Autumn is in the Air!

                    Impressions of Fall                                                                   Impressions of Fall II

Today was a fun day! I went over to Georgetown and took some paintings to the Framer's Gallery for display during the month of October.  I may have gone a little overboard on the Autumn theme, but I can't help it... I get down right giddy in the fall... here in Texas the summers are so incredibly rough that with the first tiny cool front that wafts through I go into overdrive.  And so it was that I found myself painting fall leaves and everything in Autumn hues and I just couldn't stop.  Even though a bit cliche', I was really pleased with the Autumn leaves series and had a lot of fun doing them, I feel like I have truly immersed myself in the change of seasons rather letting the seasons pass me by! 

Getting My Foot in the Door

                                                       AUTUMN LEAVES

Once again I find myself unemployed, but I'm not complaining... I hated my job and apparently they didn't much care for me.  So, while I am searching for that elusive perfect job I am once again taking the opportunity to submerge myself in the quirky, subjective and fascinating world of art.

Even though I didn't much care for my job in the corporate world, when I got laid off, much to my surprise I went into a mild depression.  Now some artists thrive on depression and do some of their best work, but not me.  I sat in my chair and watched endless day time t.v. for 3 months.  So in order to break out of this slump I knew I needed to get involved in an art class.  I started taking an art critique/demonstration class led by Nancy Brown and Sue Nosler Gray.  This was just the kick in the pants that I needed!  Now I can't stop painting, I'm trying new things and surprising even myself.  I'm painting for me and not trying to please anybody else.  I'm having a blast and I think it shows!

So, let me know what you think!