...tonight I worked on the pieces for the Art Nouveau show that is fast approaching.  I feel like I have got a good start but still a long way to go.  I have little wooden plaques, some 8x10 canvases...all with some scrap of paint on them, even if it just the background color.  Hey....gotta start somewhere, right?  Still working with the Hedwig/owl inspiration…really having some fun with this theme…

About an hour or so into painting I picked up one of the plaques that I had painted with a coat of blue and quickly painted the simplified owl shape...but then quickly put down my brush to pick up a pencil….seemed only fitting that I elaborate on the branch…before I knew it, one of my trees had creeped into this small work…and then I started to think, yeah, that makes sense. Owls live in trees…yep.

So I unwrapped my new blank canvas and just started sketching…owl shape, check.  Crazy, curvilinear lines…check.  After going over the pencil lines quickly with black paint…ready.  This will be the canvas that I paint at the live-art event.

So that is where I am as of this evening.  Several plaques and small canvases in progress…three trays of ornaments not even opened and two packs of square canvases that need to be addressed. 

I moved my work space around a bit today...took time to drag my easel, table, chair, Pinky, msc paint and canvases out on the porch today to paint for a few hours...it was nice to work outside, definitely worth the hassle of moving everything...then I moved it all back inside, back to normal except the extra table is in the kitchen to accommodate the numerous canvases that are in progress...oh yeah, so that is what I was working on- the large tree painting...starting to 'carve out' some of the faces from the tree and adding some hair details...this one might take a while, I really get focused on one area (pic to the right shows where I stopped before heading out for lunch)...then I worked on some paintings for the Art Nouveau Harry Potter live-art event that this coming Wednesday.  I have ten 8x10 canvases that I am painting little owls one, some have ties, others are wearing t-shirts. At one point I brought some of my art supplies in the living room to paint while I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...had to be extra careful...did not want acrylic paint on the couch or floor...no mishaps, whew!  ....on a bit of a weird sleep schedule...need to sleep now...

The pictures below just show my make shift outside studio, working from the couch and then the final grouping…well, for tonight anyway, nothing is done…lot’s more to do!

...Fifteen trees.  I surpassed my original goal of ten and now I am half way to my new goal of fifteen.  (see slideshow, above) I photographed what I have so far, I can see where some days I focused my attention on the tree, sometimes on the background…just depending on my mood and perhaps what I was listening to on my IPod.  This is just preliminary drawing on all of these; I will go back into each one later and add more details, color, etc.  For now, just enjoying making black marks on a brand new piece of paper.  It is daunting (and exciting) to see that expanse of white and make that first mark. 

Besides completing the fifteenth tree today, I also took some time to open a book on Mucha and just sit and read.  To pour over the pictures, to try and expand my knowledge base.  Klimt and Mucha are two artists that I admire, but how much do I really know about them?  I know a little, I need to know more.  So…I just sat and read, looked.  I have all of these art books, I get so excited and I buy them.  Sometimes I look at them all the way; sometimes I just shelve them, like some treasure waiting for a time to be explored.  And I don’t always take the time to do just that.  So this summer, this fabulous summer, I am going to read every book that I own related to Art Nouveau, Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha.  When I am done reading them I am going to go through them again and sketch and make notes.  I am going to increase my vocabulary and knowledge of these artists and their work, and figure out the connections to my own art.  

Tomorrow, tree number sixteen awaits.  Tree number sixteen, now just a thought, to be put on paper tomorrow, marks to be made.

Special thanks to my husband for picking the music for the in-progress slideshow. (Cat Stevens, The Wind)