CED13- 30 and CED13- 31 Last...two pieces of my January series. Finally posted early this morning. I have been working on both of these at the same time since Wednesday...wanting the pieces to 'end' my series but also have some sense of a flow between these two works. So I would draw a little. Erase. Redraw. Think. Look back at the whole body of work. Repeat. Maybe commit to going over some of it with my watercolor pencil or ink. Repeat. ...now, they are finished... CED13-32 and CED13-33 The new Creative Every Day theme is...light. I have my first two pieces finished, posted them this morning. Trying to stay away from my black watercolor pencil, watercolor, acrylic and india ink. I will allow myself some light rendering with a regular ol' black pencil and some skinny Micron lines- but that's it. Gotta keep it light. Light colors. Most likely jeweltones. Light touch. Going to try to to belabor the piece, keep it looser. Splats, drips, doodles, block rendering, extended life, welcome back into my life. How I have missed you. And note to self...geez, lighten up! Don't be so regimented. Got back to some sparkle and whimsy girl! And the day is young. Finished with my daily piece, but next I have an unresolved commission I need to contact and complete...some more pieces to show to a new friend in CA, hopefully these can push me closer towards my goal...got a second chance to turn in my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project (long story short, I missed the deadline and was so bummed but I can still finish it and turn it in, YES!)...gotta work on my marketing materials...mail out some art...clean up? nah, skip that one...make some angels for future angel bombings...take a break to look at some sparkly thangs...oooooh, nap break for sure!...write up a final cheer newsletter...check my short/long range plans for what I am teaching for the rest of this year...finish up and post the Youth Art Month Flag slideshow...write up my new article for Art Hive...and, you know...maybe find some time for some fashion illustrations.Or a tattoo. Or both. Or all of it.
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Mackie, on the interwebs. The last days of January were...a blur. Teachin, artin', travelin'...it just escaped me and I didn't MAKE time to blog. (notice I didn't say 'have') In my defense, Mackie was always on the computer when I did want to blog, so I am not totally to blame. Look, I even have proof! So, uh...here's a wrap up of the last bit of January. Last weekend I traveled to Daytona for a Florida Art Education Association board of director's meeting, John came along and we stayed an extra day to have a mini-vacation. Some great networking for next year (more on that at a later date), planning for conference and gave my Youth Art Month report and then, just some quality time with my husband. Good times! One of the biggest take-aways from the weekend (beside a little tan!) was meeting a very special lady. On Sunday, per usual- I am up way to early...and John, well..he is not. So I head out with my art bag to find a spot to draw and while I was wandering around I stopped in the hotel gift shop to look for my mandatory jewelry purchase (I buy a piece of jewelry every time I go on a trip, at least one piece...uh, sometimes more) and I met Alma. I knew there was something special about this woman as we quickly bonded as I looked for jewelry. Turns out....she had experience in the jewelry industry, designing and was the perfect person to help me select something- we chose a bracelet in a gunmetal mesh with sparkles all over it. Her husband was also in the industry, and she also worked with galleries and spoke candidly of selling work and attending gallery parties. We talked fashion, of silk scarves by Lanvin and Bottega Venta, her love of green to compliment her once auburn hair. I could clearly see that hair in my mind, this amazing woman before me with an amazing head of red, sassy hair. Alma asked me if I was an artist, and I said yes. When she asked if she could see my work I happened to have the pieces I just finished with me, so I took them out and put them on the counter. She loved my work. I talked to her about trying to do this whole art licensing thing...and she told me to keep going, not to stop. She said many encouraging words, and it was such a sincere moment. There were a few times I just had tears in my eyes, that I had by chance come into contact with such a kindred soul. So, we went back before leaving Daytona, after lunch on the pier and some 'angel bombing'...and I gave Alma the last of my angels that I had with me. This angel, in a zebra dress and red heels, was reaching for a star inscribed with the word, 'inspire'. How fitting. I promised Alma that I would see her again in the fall. And I will. I had these intentions to write this big ol' diatribe of my work for this month, what I was inspired by...to try to explain it all...but well, I have two unresolved pieces I want to complete and another one for February (more about that later)...and that is all I can think about...how to come to some closure for the month of January...so here is just some rambling comments... ...started with the idea of 'darkness'...I interpreted it as ladies with dark hair with tattoos and piercings, which I think is lovely...in the 6th piece of the series I added a peacock feather tattoo which prompted me to go off on a tangent with a peacock feather motif...then I tried to reel myself back in, only to get distracted by calla lilies and dragonflies in my tattoo designs...then I started thinking, 'I need to work with my backgrounds more', so I focused on that...then I kept thinking about a phrase I love from an Avett song...so I started working with text...and then, another piece of text, a quote I love: ...so I started thinking about light and dark, and duality...how within each one of us we have the potential for both good/bad, light/dark...and I guess the Louis Vuitton Spring 2013 fashion illustrations I completed this month, heavy with black and white graphics and pops of yellow were still in my head and inspired my colors...so I created a piece that included a portion of the text, and then went on to just the idea of the duality...and then, wait- I met Alma and she inspired me to create a picture of a fiery red-headed muse whispering in my girl's ear...then back to my black/white/yellow images...and now I am trying to close up the series. I have the last two pieces, still painfully unresolved. My goal is to include many of the elements from this whole month...don't know how it will turn out...but that is where I am at. Enough for now. Gotta go make some art. Will post final pics tomorrow for the series as well as the first piece in the new series and all kinds of other things related to art, cheer and sparkle...
If you have been reading my blog, you know I have been stressing about my November series, mostly how I will number/categorize the piece. So...gulp...gonna listen to my husband. Yep, gonna listen to him, after all, he is pretty smart, getting his PhD an all...he sees how much I stress about my crazy self-imposed numbering and rules and structures...and his suggestion was just, 'if you make more than one piece in a day, just pick the one you like the best to be your CED 'numbered' piece, then number the rest within the Fashion Illustrations.' Then I think he sipped his coffee matter-o-factly and sauntered into the other room all smart-like, with the cats following behind him. I think that is how it went down. Okay. Yes, great idea. That is what I am going to do...that way I can just focus in the fashion illustration for the month, but not stress about creating a piece within a separate series, not related...it makes sense to me anyway. I updated my CED blog with the daily pieces from Nov 1-4 and also the fashion illustrations, all the numbering is straightened out now and I can go to sleep (after 11pm, of course...sigh....) with a little piece of mind. On the agenda for this week...cheerleading practice with my two teams, a pep rally at IMS, more art and getting ready for the FAEA conference in St. Petersburg! Here are some more pics from the end of last week as well as this weekend... One of my paintings, 'Muse', made it into the FAEA Virtual Exhibition! Hooray!
So…maybe I need to get started earlier so I am not up so late…and on a school night, tsk, tsk. But I felt like painting, so had to do it…not trying to find time for my art, gonna make time for it, even got a poster to prove it. New mantra…please remind me. Back to the big painting that I left before my trip to St. Petersburg. I worked on the interior of the tree form, just getting some general values down in the figurative elements. Next time I can start focusing on each one and adding details. As I worked I stopped and photographed every 3-5 minutes…or whenever I remembered…thought it would be neat to make a time-lapse style slide show to document the painting showing from start to finish…whenever that might be. (below, some in-progress pics...didn't realize but I cut off some of the first pic, I started around 9pm) In the works right now…drumming up business for Tipsy Art (ya’ll know anyone in these parts that wants a Tipsy Art party? Give me a holler.)…working on this big piece for a show down in Boca…got to remember to go down to the Armory and Bear and Bird to pick up artwork…and, oh yes…I sent an email saying I was interested in participating in the next Art Nouveau Event, a Harry Potter themed live art event. I had to think about that last one. Not because I didn’t want to participate, not because it isn’t a great event/group to work with…but it’s on a school night…and it ends late. Really. Late. (Gulp…Nervous laugh…) But that will always be my excuse, and I can’t let that stand in the way. So I gonna start some Harry Potter works (my friend Siddhi is excited, I know she will keep me motivated), grab some coffee, and just make it happen. Updates to follow. Last but not least, I forgot to post my small experiment with glass from the FAEA conference. They had this table set up in the vendor booth where you could create your own glass design from various colored glass scraps…then give the piece to be fired in a small kiln and picked up the next day with a pendant clasp attached…all for a nominal fee. Totally worth it. I posted the before picture and the picture after it was fired. Turned out pretty good, and it was so much fun. Where to start? I just got back from my professional conference and I think this is the best one I have been to yet. I hope that they keep getting better every year...that would be amazing, and something to look forward to. Despite being tired from the journey to and from St. Petersburg and being exhausted from running to workshops and presentations...I do feel a sense of rejuvenation. Not only in my teaching, but also as an artist. It seemed like everywhere I turned over the past few days I saw signs telling me to be an artist-teacher. Something that I have felt for some time now. I got into this teaching gig because I love art, so the only way that I can maintain my sanity is to feed my desire to create art. I feel like there were many things this weekend that confirmed that it is okay to want to maintain my artistic self while continuing to grow professionally. I checked out the Dali Museum, the Chihuly Center at the Morean Arts Center and the Museum of Fine Arts...just wondering around, getting lost in all of the art, felt like I was feeding my eyes. Feeling ALIVE. In addition to my time in the museums, I got a chance to listen to other folks working through the same issues I face as an artist-teacher. From the general session speakers, Professor Chang's workshop and presentation I attended...it was all affirmation for me to continue to make the time for my art. And I finally got a chance to work with oils! (above, left) It was...different. I was excited by the smell of the oil paint, the palette knife, the new materials...Chardin's still life reproductions...but when it came time for me to paint...gulp.... Totally different painting experience. We're not in Kansas anymore, folks. I was frustrated, but excited. I feel like it wasn't a total loss, and I am going to challenge myself to try it again...but at the end of my short painting experience I just missed my acrylics. (Below, some of the pics from the Grissaile Workshop) ...in the words of Professor David Y.Chang; Can you live it? Sure you can. You can be a practicing artist.…your life changes…after a busy day of teaching…and then to know that you have done something artistic to yourself is a great feeling. I feel strange and sick sometimes without know why..and then I realize I have not done something artistic, something in my studio…I don’t feel right, food doesn’t taste right…the minute I get back to the studio, doing something creative, something that was meant to be practiced…my illness is gone. …How do we make it possible? Where do the ideas come from? When you do it you feel it….importance of attending conferences, to do things with your own hands…the immersion of studio experience should be the core of what we teach. Art teachers are practically all studio art teachers. We teach the practice of art, coupled with Art History and Art Appreciation... We can’t cheat ourselves…we love the practice of art…that is why we joined this profession. Taking joy in the accomplishments of our students’ practice of art comforts us…but why are we not doing what makes us happy? It takes commitment….It only makes you better. …Setting a goal is important. Being artistically alive is important. Being a practicing artist means you keep the art alive, alive means growth. We teach as a career, but we practice as a life. ...so that is what is on my mind tonight as I get ready for another week of teaching and making art. |
AuthorArtist and Art Teacher
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