I am an early riser.  I really do have a hard time sleeping in, regardless of how late I stay up.  8am this morning- I am up.  Per usual, I get up and start my day…but the mix of the early start and the blah weather brought spurts of productivity.  (Right...randomness at casa de Gironda....Mackie thinks he can fit in this box.  I didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise. It doesn't have much to do with art, but it was pretty cute.)  ...uh, I digress...this is what my morning was like...easily distracted...

I don’t know where the time goes…all of a sudden its 12pm and the new canvas is set up on the easel.   I must say, it felt like Christmas morning taking the wrapping off of the canvas, it is a bit of a chore since it is larger than I have been working…30x40 to be exact.  Grabbed my pencil and my Sharpie marker and just started drawing…pretty soon I had the beginnings of a tree.  And somewhere along the way the word LOVE appeared on my tree. Then I stopped around 1pm…at some point I sketched out a few designs on some small canvases (posted farther down) ...and now here it is 8pm and that canvas is still in the sketch phase…not a scrap of paint on the surface.

But I did do some art-related things today, the usual trip to Michael’s (I insist that I do NOT need a reason to go there…) and…oh yeah, WE LAUNCHED TIPSY ART TODAY!  Yes!  Now that is where some of the day went.  It feels great to have set out a little over a month ago and today make that idea and reality.  The website is live, the Facebook page is ready….sure, we will add some things to both, but it’s really there.  Don’t believe me?  Go to www.tipsyart.com. It is for real.  We did it!

(Right) A few little things I quickly sketched out...will be examples for the T'Art site at a later date....

Preparing for the week…Halloween tomorrow, my favorite holiday…gotta get ready for FAEA conference in St. Petersburg, I can’t wait to see the new Salvador Dali Museum…but I know my mind if going to be on this new painting…my eyes living in each shape, wondering what colors will live there…and where this work will take me.  I love this feeling…inspiration.

My friend, fellow artist, and muse Jessie posted this on our new web and the truth in the statement haunts me, so I will share it;

 "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."-Vincent Van Gogh


Yep, it’s kind of like that.

So…our AC is out.  Boo.  The repairman is coming on Monday…until then…just trying to stay as still as possible and as close to the fan as possible.  Painting seems to work, not a ton of movement.  I even got a table easel so I could sit and work vertically and be more comfortable.  As for the fan…staying close…only problem is it is drying my paint faster so …got..to..speed…up.  I took a few pictures as I worked, I like seeing the lighting change…makes me feel all disciplined and stuff.  

Still working on the ‘word fixation’ pieces.  I had worked on these a bit last weekend during a blur of creativity known as the infamous ‘girls art weekend’. Wow, I really got some work done.  Didn’t have time to work on these during the week, but I feel like I got a good start…just waiting to see where it goes.

PRODUCTIVE.  Yep, me. Productive...producing...making...creating...could not SLEEP because I was feeling so inspired...going to sleep at 3:00am only to wake up at 7:45am to paint some more...That was my weekend.  I made some art, looked at art, talked about art, and figured at a new business related to art...more to come on that one.  For now...here are the pics from a great weekend...

It has been a busy week so far...teaching my 8th graders how to stipple, making a contour line drawing of a shoe into an imaginative piece of art with 7th grade, learning about line with 6th grade, teaching how to create values with tempera paint with 5th...and my JV cheerleaders have their first game tomorrow...yep, that has kept me busy.  But wait, this is an art blog.  Why, yes it is, but it is also a 'hey, this is what my week is like and this is how I am trying to find time to paint despite it all because if I don't make art I will burst' blog...so, a minute to paint here...a minute to paint there...and little by little, progress, at least in my classroom studio...

It ended up being a pretty productive day. I used my rotating schedule to try and touch on a variety of things that needed to be done, and early on I was able to stick to my allotted time periods.  My trip to PBSC wasn’t as fruitful; I wasn’t able to pick up my artwork. ..maybe later this week.  I spent the majority of my ‘art time’ working on the round canvas, although I did manage to complete sketching in the hair/text elements on all of the paintings.  I wasn’t sure what color to use to fill in the hair/text on the round canvas; I finally decided on white with just a hint of turquoise.  The piece is still in progress…and I started painting more on the oval painting towards the end of the evening.

(Right; 'Love', in progress... around 4:30, I had just started to fill in the text on the left side) 

One thing that was a big inspiration to me today was the opportunity to participate in a painting session with a former student via Skype.  He had posted a piece on Facebook, I mentioned that we had both been painting at the same time and he had the idea to set up a Skype session.  What a great idea.  I haven’t used Skype since I went to Japan in 2009, so I had to install it again, find the camera…I never resolved the microphone so we had to use cell phones to actually talk.  We ended up painting for about an hour and a half, what a great experience.  One thing that is unique about making art now is that I am usually creating my work alone.  My husband may be in the other room, but I am in essence working by myself, maybe with my Ipod or Pandora playing on the computer.  There is a lot to be said about having access to other artists as you work, made me think of my time in the weaving studio, or working in my drawing and painting classes.  Yeah, I focus when I work by myself, but it also gives you certain energy to work around other artists.  What a unique experience to be able to work alongside a student that I taught almost ten years ago.   It was awesome to catch up, to talk technique, to talk aesthetic, to talk about just feeling like you have to create.  Amazing. 
 
(Check out his work; https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.schwager)

So all in all, good day.  The oval and round canvases are in progress, with the latter being close to completion.  The other four rectangular canvases have at least been sketched out, so those will be waiting for me when I am ready to start adding color. (Below; I moved the set up back to the kitchen 'studio corner'...the rectangular canvases are sketched and ready...the other two, well underway after a great painting session via Skype)

Woke up this morning, early.  Too. Early.  It amazes me how I cannot sleep in.  I was up til 2am painting last night and still woke up at 7:30.  Now I didn’t say I woke up completely motivated and ready to start the day, but awake nonetheless.  Sigh.  Awaiting me in the kitchen, last night’s projects.  One oval canvas, one round canvas and four rectangular canvases all white and ready to be painted upon.  Six surfaces, waiting for some sort of resolution.

One thing that I struggle with is maximizing productivity on my days off.  If I don’t watch out, hours will pass by and leaving me wondering, ‘hey, where did my day go? And, more importantly, what did I accomplish?’ It is a constant battle to make time for art, to clean and organize around home, and to get things done for school. (Notice I didn’t include spending time with John in this list because he always supersedes any item on any list, awwwwww) One thing that I have started to do is to work in ‘rounds’, rotating my activities in timed increments.  I even set the timer on my phone.  I will work on my art for x-amount of time.  The alarm rings.  I will move to cleaning up for x-amount of time, etc, etc.  I know that this seems very regimented, and it is.  But when I can be disciplined in this way, it works for me, and I don’t re-awaken from zoning out on the couch and find that I was wasting my time watching a Real Housewives marathon.  (Yes, guilty.) 

So far so good.  I really like to document my progress.  This helps me reflect on how I work, and make assessments on my productivity.  As for today, off to a good start.  I have six pieces in-progress.  Still working with the face going off the bottom of the picture plane, still exploring specific words layered and intertwined to form hair structures.  Love. Life. Truth. Self.  Laughter. Inspiration.  Just some things on my mind.  Started to experiment with exaggerating my favorite facial feature, the eyes.  Definitely inspired by the artwork of my friend, Jessie, who is an amazing artist and a big motivator for me right now.

Now, a trip to Michaels (of course) and trip to pick up my work from the PBSC show could derail me, but I am hoping I will be able to get back on track, so to speak, once I return from these errands.