that the longer you’re married, the more you start resembling your spouse.
Both of these began with a blind contour from the same photo of me, but by the time they were finished, they sure look a lot like my husband and myself!
Stay amazing!
I joined a thirty day challenge to celebrate International Women’s Day. Thirty portraits, thirty days, thirty minutes each.
What a whirlwind those thirty minutes were. Instead of chiming, I wished Alexa could say “Brush Down! Hands Up!”
To keep it simple and quick, I used only india ink, white gesso, graphite and a white pen. There are a couple with some spot color, but not too many.
What a great experience this was. It stretched my skills – I definitely don’t paint realism, and gave me the opportunity to learn about the fabulous women who have come before, the women we are now and the women we are raising.
Stay Amazing!
When my daughter was in elementary school, it was pert near impossible to get her up and on her way.
After one particularly challenging morning, I wrote her a poem:
Monday, Monday
What a bummer
How much longer til it’s summer?
So up I got and off I went
Cuz summer won’t come until the school year’s spent.
Funny thing about poems. Here it is, 20 years later and she and I both remember it.
As soon as I finished this painting, I knew her story was in that poem!
Just for the fun of it, here are some of the process pics of her.
Stay Amazing!
Way back in January…remember January? Going out? Being with friends? Hugging them? Toilet paper?
Way back in January, I did an art show and the woman in the booth across from me was fabulous! I was fascinated by her and her steampunk top hat. It took me all day, but I finally got up the courage to ask if I could take a picture of her. She was my muse.
In that funny way the universe works; marrying disparate items, events and emotions, Holding My Breath was born.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In 2017, Hurricane Irma came through leaving downed trees and water, water everywhere. Along with the rest of my property, my chicken coop was flooded and my chickens were stranded in there.
Dressed in black construction bags for pants – the duct tape held them up – and kitchen dish gloves, Husband waded into the coop to catch my terrified chooks. The chickens were squawking, the husband was swearing and I couldn’t stop laughing.
He assembled a temporary coop that sufficed until we could get out for the bits to create a better solution as it was apparent that it would be quite awhile until they could return to their coop -three months to be exact.
Husband proceeded to build the Taj Mahal of coops. The plan was to have something on wheels that we could reuse should we ever flood again.
Once the waters receded, the plan was implemented: Attach the coop to the tractor and pull in behind the workshop into the chicken run. Easy peasy, right? Wrong! This beauty with its pressure treated lumber and cedar shingle roof was not to be moved. No way. No how. Off came the roof and various other bits and finally we were able to drag it behind the fence.
Fast forward to 2020 and the creation of the new studio.
All those shingles, plus another full pallet that hadn’t been used were still in the building. I knew immediately that I wanted to paint on them.
As I worked through this painting, the news worsened. Any interaction with anything from the outside world made me feel like I could feel the germs crawling on my skin. Still does. I can’t possibly wash my hands enough.
We’re all holding our breath right now. Better days will come and there will be more muses to meet and deep breaths to take.
For now, there’s art, there’s sunshine and for today, still toilet paper in the linen closet.
Stay safe my loves. As my mom always said, “This too shall pass.”
Once upon a time in the Land of Disney, there was no such thing as fast passes or, lines permitting, unlimited turns on any given ride. There were no MagicBands for hotel guests. Imagine this, if you will, a time where entrance to the park came with a little stapled book of paper items called “tickets”. There were varying values, but the best and most expensive ticket (at a whopping .89 cents) was the ‘E’ ticket. This ticket got you on the latest and greatest rides! An ‘A’ ticket got you a ride on the street car. An ‘E’ ticket? Submarine Voyage! A ‘B’ ticket? Casey Jr. Train. An ‘E’ ticket? Matterhorn Bobsleds! You get the picture. It was ALL about the ‘E’ ticket rides.
I am definitely on a ‘E’ ticket ride this year!
The majority of the summer has been spent taking online classes from the fabulous Ardith Goodwin. I can’t recommend her classes highly enough. Some of my works in progress from her classes include these guys: “Comb-over Carl”, “Tony Toupee” and “Bob, but I Call Him Dennis”.
And just when I thought life couldn’t get any sweeter, I met Carolyn Seiler through our mutual friend, Maxine Trainer. These women are amazing artists, mentors and animal lovers. Carolyn owns Carolyn Seiler & Friends – An Artists Co-Op in Cocoa Village, Florida and guess what? She asked me to join her artists in her gallery!
Insert happy dance here!!!
As of one week ago today, my peeps and I are part of Carolyn’s wonderful tribe of artists! I’m still pinching myself and find that I’ve been using the word “Gobsmacked” a lot.
As for those Disney tickets? I have some unused sets of them around here somewhere and judging by what people are selling them for in Ebay, I might just make enough to pay for parking should I ever go to the parks again!
Hugs,
j.
I’ve spent this week shaking my head and thinking, “Really? You really said that? You really believe that?” I’m dismayed and for the short term, dismayed I shall remain.
I met myself on the paper this week because “Rita” and I are wearing the same expression. It made me chuckle when she appeared because even The Husband said, “That’s kind of how you looked last Sunday.” (Occasionally he has flashes of being observant although finding me screaming into a pillow may have given my feelings away.)
Enough of that.
Have you ever played with Scribbler? You create a line drawing using your mouse, start scribbler running and it fills in all sorts of wonderful lines within your lines. Clear as mud? Here examples of images I created using Scribbler.
For “Rita”, I printed out the lines and the circles on deli paper and then used them for collage.
Scribbler is crazy addictive and the more I play, the more collage fodder I create!
Scribbler only works on the computer, not on the phone. Check it out and have some fun!!
Until next time.
Hugs,
j.
Actually, I was weeping with laughter.
As I’ve said in the past, I never know who is going to show up when I paint. Yesterday was no exception. The more this gal emerged, the funnier it became and the more I laughed. The Husband even came into the studio to ask what was so funny.
As I paint and as my people come to life, they often tell me their stories. This is hers:
If you’ve ever been in a casino, you’ve seen me. I’m at my favorite slot machine and have been here for quite some time. I am totally confident that the big payout is coming with the very next pull on this one armed bandit.
Until next time.
Hugs,
j.