Paint 100 Paintings

Fall 2011

2011-12-11T20:16:00.001-08:00

I believe I left this blog at 68 paintings. Another semester gone by, and between work, a car wreck, and my first block semester I had a lot of stress a few distractions.

The first project was that we drew a word from a hat, and I traded my first word (toy, remembering the toy themed projects I already had to do twice in the Intermediate classes) and got children's book. So I started by thinking about art that had to do with children's book, the themes that are discussed or not discussed in children's books, and a professor pointed me towards Henry Darger for inspiration.

I found a picture of Samantha and I as kids modeling our Easter dresses and drew material from that.

69

My dad doesn't like it, I could tell. He didn't want to admit it to me but this bothered him. It's about distorted memory, my childhood fascination with death (which when explained just made him stare at me oddly), and the current absence. Samantha can never return, she's gone, and the memories shift and fade a bit, and she is just absent, you know? The next painting is a little more Darger-esque, and when I told Dad about the rabbits being about not really understanding death and funerals and not being allowed (um, by him) to go to my gram's funeral he was rather uncomfortable. So no, he doesn't really like my work. (Keeps asking me to paint a picture of his Harley.)

According to my classmates, I'm the creepy one.

71 72

73 74
75

So afterwards, I was rather tired of thinking about death and darkness. It had made September, which is also the anniversary of both Sam's birthday AND death, a very hard month and I was just done with that. So I was going to paint still lifes...

76

Except then, October 6th came along. I got wrapped up in Occupy Houston and lost track of painting, but my professor, Rachel, was so glad that one of her students was thinking of politics she suggested I just do something to document Occupy Houston. So I did, putting together a collection of an Occupied newspaper, collected images, statuses, websites with QR codes, arranging them in a timeline. I also documented Live-stream images of the raid in Boston in October which I witnessed live online.

I don't know how this sits with me as art, but it seemed to be Rachel's goal to get me to stop painting and think outside the brush (as much as I enjoy the brush). I have to admit: I don't get it. I've taken art history courses, one specifically on Contemporary Art, but contemporary media gets a tad lost on me. Maybe its my design background but I don't see that as art in my mind, but design. I'll just call this whole project one painting.

77

The November project was delayed by a car wreck. I was struck at a light by another driver who was running a red as I was advancing after my stoplight turned green. So I lost a week and a half to dealing with insurance and having to shop for a new car (I got a 2012 Nissan Frontier, 4 door). I had trouble thinking of a project. I ended up deciding, on a whim while goofing around in the studio losing my head with my friend Em, that I would snap a quick photo of each member of my block class. Then in Photoshop I mish-mashed everyone together and made a single person with a piece of everyone and painted that. I wish I had had more time, as it feels unfinished. Rachel liked the Photoshop better than the painting, and insisted I do some more to see how I liked it (again, away from the brush I want to study and back toward the design I walked away from...) Mixed reviews.

We'll just call this one 78.

This post is long enough, I'll write a new one to talk about what I feel like I gained this semester or want to focus on now.

Spring 2011 in a nutshell!

2011-05-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

Basically, I worked like a crazy lady this past semester. We moved to an apartment near Reliant Stadium to be closer to school, and I worked at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston as a temp retail job that ends, well, today. I focused on my painting class and also had a printmaking class, so I was working 30 hours a week with two studio courses to stay on top of.

Like I've shared in the fall's blog post, I was going up for Block. Block is the name for a group of courses at the University of Houston that serve as quality control. You compete against your classmates, and you only get two tries. Basically, you take painting fundamentals and intermediate painting, and you can apply at the end of intermediate. If you get in you're in and don't have to compete any further, but if you don't and you have tried twice you're just out and that's that. You can still get a general Bachelors of Fine Arts and dedicate a minor, but you can't get the Bachelors of Fine Arts Painting and the intensive studio courses that go with it.

This semester, I tried for the second time.

And I have to tell you,

I GOT IN!!!! :D

I'll have my own studio in the Junior Painting wing this fall and will be studying under Al Souza and Rachel Hecker. :)

You may now imagine me doing ecstatic happy dances. :)

And here are the paintings that I am counting toward this blog. I've been learning to let go of less successful paintings.

64. Fiona Rae Project Insert a toy into an existing painting, like I did last semester with the Alice Neel pieces. Based on Fiona Rae's. Work in progress detail below.

65. From our combination painting project, Hello Picabia.

66. From the same combination project, Kill Dorothy.

Update 5/30/2011 Better pics for the next two paintings.

67. From the final project, a still life Art Student's Breakfast.

68. Memories of My Backyard

This month I've been working two jobs and also teaching after school art classes on wednesdays so I haven't painted anything since Art Student's Breakfast. I actually really enjoyed that still life so I plan to do some more this summer.

Spring 2011, Project One (10 paintings, again)

2011-02-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

The thing about not getting into block last semester is that I need to retake Intermediate Painting again this semester for my second (and last try). So you're going to be seeing me redo the same projects I had assigned last semester, and I want to try to do a few more on the side. I've started working at the MFAH as well so I'm a busy girl!

I was a lot more relaxed this time than I was last semster, perhaps because I know what to expect. I did let my brush strokes relax, and I didn't get so wrapped up in the details the way I did last time. Feeling like I managed to do better work this time, actually.

54. Ground Focus, the apple is the figure placed in the ground of the large pattern.

55. Figure Focus, the painting focuses on the figure rather than the ground.

56. Bird's Eye View, rather than doing one painting over again in a different way we did an above and a below point of view.

57. Edge Focus

58, 59. Matisse Format (left) and Hiroshige (Right) per last semester's explanation.

60. Grid.

61. Inserting a neighbor's painting into yours, I added Kirby's Monster can painting and reworked my grid to be asymmetrical.

62. Everything in my vision when I look toward the still life, much better than last semester's.

63. Worm's Eye View, a favorite. :)

My first show piece!

2011-02-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

53. Red Cranes, acrylic on canvas board. January 2011, currently on display this month (February) at the Sweet 16 show at Liberty Station on Washington Ave in Houston.

12x24 inches, acrylic on canvas board, varnished and ready to frame!
Available, $75.00 Contact me.

Printed statement:

Red Cranes was born out of a desire to feel comfortable, to embrace beauty and be happy in simplicity and color. The setting alludes to the marshes of Louisiana where I grew up, yet with a dreamlike quality where one can't quite decide where the setting is exactly. In the trees? The bog? Moss? Stark against the pastel and teal background, graceful red cranes dwell content and resplendent against their backdrop, commanding the attention like a white crane amid a dank marsh.

Catchup! 48-52, works from Fall 2010.

2011-02-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

Ok I've let this go long enough, so here we go! These are all acrylic.

48. The Goring of Julio Aparicio, bull fighter severly gored (but lived) in May. Painted in November 2010. Acrylic on board painted over poster paper.

49. November 2010, Bull theme in Hiroshige style. Acrylic on canvas.
50. Ferdinand, acrylic on canvas, I'll post a better pic later I could have sworn I already had one...
51. Grappling Hook, I was getting burned out on ideas by the time the final project arrived. November 2010. On birch board.
52. Dots, November 2010, on birch board. My friend Magan has called dibs on Dots, for once she gets settled. She just got back from a volunteer stint in Kenya and is currently residing on a friend's couch.

I have over 50 paintings!

2010-12-18T16:42:00.000-08:00

I will update with photos for 48 and onward, I have been neglecting this blog thanks to school and now because my hubby and I have nabbed an apartment in the Museum District, both ten minutes from school AND ten minutes from the museum of fine arts, so I am all about packing and moving across town right now. Really excited!! I promise I have not forgotten this blog, quit painting, or died. :)

I won $600!

2010-10-10T17:41:00.001-07:00

18x24 canson drawing paper, mungyo brand soft pastels over willow charcoal.

So, my local Jerry's Art-A-Rama had a college-student only drawing to win $600 of art supplies. When you made a purchase you could sign on the chart for an entry.

Guess who won?

:D

Yup! I must have signed up about a dozen times I was in Jerry's so often that I ended up winning! I never win anything!! Got a Pablo studio easel which I set up in my bedroom to draw at (thus the pastel above) and the mungyo pastels and some matisse paint for school and a canvas and like oh so many types of drawing and painting supplies. :) More than I can use actually.

So I set up a goodie bag for my friend Em's little brother, Warren, who has just switched to the fine arts major, so that he can have some good pencils and a pack of prismacolors and that biggie paper pad and a medley of erasers and a prismacolor sharpener to start him off for school, and I gave Em some brushes. I also set aside a beginner's oil set and some hog bristle brushes to give to my young cousin Kyle for Christmas this year, and I'll add a small bottle of linseed oil to that and some canvas boards.

47

2010-10-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

38x38 inches, acrylics on canvas.

Oh man, we are inching toward 50 paintings and the halfway point!!!!!!!

This is the third and final painting for the toy project in Intermediate Painting, to take a section of the one of our artist's (Again, I have Alice Neel) paintings and insert the toy in a place you would not expect it. I give you, Crayon Teeth. Mouth and nostril area of the Fuller Brush Man.

46, painting two of three

2010-09-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

The next toy-in-artist's-style project is to use the toy and a painting as source material recreating either a Hiroshige or the Matisse postcard that was handed out.

So I did the Matisse for this, sampling the crayon box for the curtains, and the clothing from people in Alice Neel's "The Family"

30x26 acrylic on canvas

45, 1 of 3 for Toy And Artist Project

2010-09-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on 25x30 inch canvas.

Painting 1 of 3 for Project Two, insert a toy into an artist's work, in Intermediate Painting. My artist is Alice Neel and my toy is a 64 pack of crayolas (WITH A SHARPENER IN THE BACK ^_^) and I inserted it into Neel's "Elenka." Have to paint like Neel, and match dimensions and compositions.

Alice Neel's "Elenka":

35-44 First Intermediate Painting Assignment

2010-09-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

So I'm taking Intermediate Painting at the University of Houston this fall, and my proff is Gael Stack. I was told that if I wanted to learn, to take Gael's class. So I'm in it with several friends from Fundamentals of Painting from Spring.

Gael's first project for us was still life. We were to make 10 paintings based on one still life, but to do it ten different (assigned) ways. So I set up a still life and spent nearly every day for about 3 weeks painting small still lifes. This is acrylic on printmaking paper.

Gael really liked my Matisse postcard painting. We took a Matisse postcard she gave us and recreated the painting composition using our own source materials from the still life.

This took me an hour and a half just to figure out how to draw a scallop pattern, and then I spent a whole day painting the lines with some tape. I just laid the tape down, painted one line changing the color when I reached another scallop, then moved the tape down to the right a little and did the next line, and so on till I finished. The assignment for this one was Ground Focus, or Figure in Ground. So there is the head of the plastic dinosaur in there. The stripes come from the cloth on my still life.

This one was to do a different perspective, so I sat on the floor. I still didn't get the girl's chin perspective right but I promise I drew it right and then my brain went all OCD on me.

This was to combine a classmate's painting with my own. I zoomed in on Zoe's grid and combined it with a re-working on my grid.

Figure Focus, and Repaint Any Painting. The Figure Focus was so light, delicate, and decorative I just had to do it again with thick palette knife painting.
Hiroshige, take a Hiroshige painting and recreate it involving your source material. Mine was inspired by the plastic dinosaur, and was based on Hiroshige's festival flag that I tried really hard to copy the lettering for. I also added some decorative patterning to the flag, water, horizon, and sky.
"Paint Everything You See" Simple enough, and my least favorite.
Edge focus, I did an abstract of the plastic dinosaur. I named this Migration. :)
Detail.

Grid pattern, elements and colors taken from a mostly red and white fan.

Now Including Acrylics

2010-09-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

Ok so most of what I am doing is not oil, its acrylic, because the arts building at U of H is not set up for the ventilation needed for oil, as its an old music building. So we use acrylics in echoing rooms.

For the sake of reaching 100 paintings and keeping on with the blog, I am going to start including acrylics.

Out of the Darkness

2010-07-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Samantha Lynn Morgan
September 28th, 1986 - September 8th, 2005

My mom and I are fundraising and participating in an Out of the Darkness walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in honor of my little sister Samantha, who took her own life September 8, 2005 just shy of her 19th birthday. Sam suffered from bi-polar disorder and borderline personality disorder.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is at the forefront of research, education and prevention initiatives designed to reduce loss of life from suicide. With more than 33,000 lives lost each year in the U.S. and over one million worldwide, the importance of AFSP's mission has never been greater, nor our work more urgent.

The walk is in November, and Mom and I are each trying to raise 200 dollars. If you can, please donate through this link.

In her note, Samantha described her pain as a mental cancer that she could not be free of. I think that's a very accurate way to describe it. Like cancer 30 years ago, many patients of mental disorders such as bi-polar or others can not cure themselves but simply live out life while treating their symptoms. With advocacy and medical research, cancer is much more treatable now than it once was, and surely the same can happen with mental disorders. AFSP funds research aimed at improving our understanding of suicide and ways to prevent it as well as educational activities to increase awareness about prevention, warning signs and the psychiatric illnesses that can lead to suicide.

31, 32, 33 and the progress of 34,

2010-07-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

I won't include the count of acrylic paintings I did in school in my count, though I will attach some at the end.

For my final this past spring I did three portraits in oil, after swaying my proff to let me work by the doorway in oil so the fumes would blow out. :) (I'll work outside if I have to!). The plan was to do three portraits in three different ways, all in my favorite medium.

The first one was painted from a picture taken by a webcam of my friend Alison Gayton and her two girls. (Recently the oldest daughter chopped off her hair with scissors, and now looks like a little boy... I was sad.)

Second, I suckered my bff Kristin Thomas into sitting "for twenty minutes" with cupcake bribery. It took 2 hours. If she looks miffed its because she was waiting for me to finish so she could go to the Woodlands mall before it closed.
The second one I decided to experiment with monotypes after seeing an article about them. I got my friend Amy Barnes to sit for a quick drawing, then placed the drawing under glass and painted (with thinned oils) one color at a time over the glass and pressed watercolor paper on it with a brayer. Got this:

I definitely want to get some more practice with live models, it was fun painting Kristin but I definately need more practice to keep her form better. The easiest is still painting from a photo, for the most obvious reasons, but it just feels different to paint from a live person.

Currently I am working on a painting of a Tibetan buddha, Padmasambhava, for my friend Matt Greer. He threw me a reference photo and I went at it. So far this is what I have:

My laptop, er, broke on vacation. (Wasn't my fault but it's a long story about an angry drunk guy and I don't feel like typing it all over again. Rest in peace, Studio Laptop.) For now I will try using my netbook in the garage despite its tiny tiny screen.

And here's a few choice pieces from the spring 2010 semester in varying mediums.

#30??

2010-03-21T23:59:00.001-07:00

If the unfinished toga girl and mountains counts as 29 then this would be #30. This is a portrait of Melissa taking a nap with her baby, Alannah. I'll post a better pic when its daylight and the paint dries, the blue lines are less bright than that, its just french ultramarine.

"Melissa Napping with Daughter Alannah"
oil on canvas, 24x36inches

Can I just say that this painting, out of all my paintings, the one that looks THE closest to what I saw in my mind when I set out to paint? THE CLOSEST! And I really like it. I usually draw out my lines with paint and cover it up when I do portraits but I chose to keep the outlining this time, and I took a simple approach to the painting this time. I think I often overwork things and give up. This whole painting is 4.5 hours of work.

Work in progress shots & head details:

Buddhist Community

2010-03-12T05:43:00.000-08:00

If you have come to this blog from Buddhist Community thinking it actually belongs to the troll who's copied my user name (Since Shad told me he is adding my blog link to his posts now), I'm kind of glad you did. I can actually show you here that I am a real person and not the troll. I am not responsible for any of his postings even when he takes my name and pics of me from various public websites to try to fake it. This is the internet, do not believe everything you see in web forums.

Please note, this is my account: http://www.buddhist-community.com/WonderlandAlli/

One of the troll's several accounts, specifically the one faking to be me, is: http://www.buddhist-community.com/VVonderlandAlli/

He uses two V's to mimic my W.

To clear up the whole thing in quick notes.

Yes, I know he stole my name and pictures.
No, arguing with him will not make him stop.
He uses multiple accounts to give the illusion of a mob of supporters, so yes, he is talking to himself on the internet and spends a good portion of the day doing so. Just absorb that for a moment. I hope you are growing a little compassion.
There is no moderator on the website and I am waiting for it to just die off.
I do not delete my account because 1) he wants that 2) its the only proof that the fake account is not actually me.
Yes, you do need to stop replying to his posts, however offensive. If you argue with him, btw, he will just start using your name.
No, I do not know where Leo is and I have been unsuccessful in contacting him since October/November 08. He disappeared after E-Sangha was hacked and has not been back.
The troll has been going on for months now, he's not likely to stop any time soon, but you are likely to egg him on if you can't ignore it.
Just ditch BC and find another (MODERATED! This guy is IP banned from many web forums, getting away from him is not as hard at it seems.) web forum to participate in, because unless Leo miraculously shows his face again. There is no need to cling to the site, let it go.
He started hating on me because I said that Second Life is a game in a forum thread, and apparently he is some lame computer junkie who lives on Second Life and he was very offended. It is likely this touched on some need to validate his lifestyle that I don't even care about nor was attempting to offend, and when I wouldn't bend to say it was anything more than a game he went off and has been a total nutjob ever since. Samsara in action, folks. To think my comment was meant to derail the thread from another "The internet and all things on it are an illusion" debate...
Just move on. I did, I am sure that like me, you have much much MUCH better things to do with your time than entertain him with angry posts.

I love university!

2010-02-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

I love university, though it keeps me rather busy. My current oil painting all the way from last semester needs 1 more phase of work when I have time before it is complete, but I have been painting with acrylic in my "Fundamentals of Painting" class taught by Debra Barrerra. My drawing has had improvement and plenty of opportunity for geusture drawing in Jay Giroux's Intermediate Drawing class. I'll have to post some work later but I just wanted to write here that I am working on my art, I just have not been doing much oil painting due to focusing on my school work. :)

Update

2009-11-10T00:23:00.000-08:00

Did work on the mountains today

.

Wow...

2009-10-20T13:08:00.001-07:00

It's October. I'm pretty sure I hadn't meant this to be a MONTHLY blog!

I have stopped working on that painting of the buildings on the water, mainly because I was getting too agitated over it and had to just put it aside. I won't do good work if I tweek out.

So instead I am working on this in my spare hours (when I am not at work, or in class, or studying for that stupid bio class that I am totally getting A's in only because I study at all hours.)

It's so not done. And that is a turned away face not an awkward phyiscally incorrect face, there will be far more hair later. The last shot is a zoom in on an area I most recently improved on.

Kristin gave me canvas!

2009-09-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

Kristin gave me two 24X36 inch canvases that she said she'd "Never get around to using them because I take so long to paint"

You bet your ass she does, she does glazing, and like, once a month, on giant canvas, and moves very... very... slowly... Look at how often I've been painting since I moved, now consider that she thinks I paint a lot. >.>

I'm turning 26 on Sept 22. :O

So Monday is officially declared Painting Day, last week I finished (save for a few more highlights now that its dry) the water portion of a pic of Copenhagen that I am doing for my parents. (No pic yet, sorry.) I've posted WIP shots before.

Mondays are pretty much my only days off, ever. Since I don't always have time to paint I do a lot of drawing, so you're going to see more posts on the I <3 Ink blog I have (see link in side bar). Aly finally sent me writing, so I am finally drawing panels for our graphic novel collaboration. :)

I have two 24X36 inch canvases... now I just have to decide what to do with them. I haven't done a portrait in a while, I may do that. I wonder if I should do a self portrait or another person. Dunno. I'll post tomorrow with some pictures (and a shot of that water).

Settled and Enrolled

2009-08-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well it was a late enrollment due to some technical issues with my application (that UofH took forever to write me back about when I kept emailing them...) but I am now enrolled in school, financially aided (I think, it looks like everything has been covered for the semester), and quit one of my jobs so I just have one during the semester. It was hard to find classes that I need that weren't full.

Taking Art History II (Can be taken before Art History I oddly enough) and Biology on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and US History on Saturdays. So I at least made it to 12 credit hours, which is full time, which fulfills my promise to FAFSA.

Also, Andrew got his social security card in the mail and can search for a job. :) Yaaaay! He's going to apply for UH for the spring semester as well.

I didn't get to sign up for any painting classes, I tried. They were ALL full! :( I do get art history though. I have about 5 hours between Tuesday and Thursday classes to spend doing whatever on campus, so that's like, drawing and study time. I've decided, if I do all my schoolwork then, then I have any days off (and generally I will have daytime off and not be working till 5 in the evening) I can paint.

2 weeks from now, classes start!!!

Moving Day!!!

2009-07-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so its happening! The green card is with Andrew, along with a packet of information labeled OPEN AT BORDER! My curiosity is piqued... I am flying up to Edmonton this Wednesday, I hope to spend 1 day packing and then the next day loading the van and cleaning and I have to go by the vet and have the health certificates printed up, then we'll meet some friends for Indian food and then the next day hit the road, and I'm not willing to stop at a hotel until we're in the states again. I expect this trip to take 5-7 days and I'm bringing my camera so I can update blog/facebook along the way. :)

Other life stuff, retail job cut my hours by over half, boo. Restaurant job gives me as many hours as I want, yay! Called University of Houston and was told my application was blank on the previous education area, stupid internet form didn't save that section, AND my transcript went to the wrong campus. BOO! Got a new transcript in 10 minutes, went in person to UH and corrected situation, getting what should be an acceptance letter in 7-10 business days from this previous Thursday. YAY! Classes start Aug 24 so I'll have to go register as soon as I get back, and find financial aid.

Gonna quit Coldwater Creek and just work at the restaurant. We have new management at Coldwater Creek, and I do not like the changes at all.

Will have time to paint more often from now on (once this is all over) and will finally have painting classes, which I think will make for some great improvements.

Also, went full vegan as of July 1, lost 6.3 pounds. Sister in law got engaged and wants a Hawaiian wedding in 8 months, goal is to lose 39 pounds before then. Making some good progress! 32.7 pounds to go!

28- Waterlilies

2009-07-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

Waterlillies, oil on canvas
Looks whiter in the picture than it really is, its actually greener. Not sure why.
Maybe because its wet?

When the river was too full for me to go paint the area I originally wanted to paint, what better for a substitute than to attempt to paint waterlilies on an easel named after Monet?? :)

So I have bronchitis in the left lung, and I was packing my paints in the dark and forgot my good (bright) yellow, so the only yellow I had was naples yellow to go with veridian, french ultramarine, burnt sienna, and paynes gray.

This was a hard one, with all the pads and grasses around I had trouble pinpointing my subject sometimes and I took liberties with the placement of the pads. The wind was moderate and the flowers and pads that rose above the water bounced around a lot. I gave it my best shot.

Here's some detail shots from the painting:

I learned I have little grasp on exactly how I should render a giant, flat, smooth, leaf without it looking like just a shape and more like a leaf. :/

Pictures of the lilies on the water and the surrounding neighborhood, welcome to my childhood summers:

Last post in May?? No wonder Dan got worried!!

2009-07-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't had time to paint for a while due to being so busy at work. I'd lamented this fact to a few friends, and explained to Dan via email.

Then we get two new managers at the store, and my hours are cut. Less money, but more time for painting!! :)

I got an email today from Jerry's Artarama, they are doing a steampunk theme contest.... Cash prizes and all! :) I am now working on sketches to do a painting (or a big drawing, haven't decided) of a steampunk setting for Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.

I am also going to the lake again this weekend, and I have intentions to go paint the lake.

For their June sale, Jerry's had Monet easels (normally $269 bucks!) on sale for.... wait for it.... $39.99!!! XD And I had just gone in for a tin for turp and brush cleaning!! So yes, I have a proper french easel for plein air now! I am leaving the one from Dan set up in the garage as a studio easel and I'll be taking the wooden one out with me because it has the built in art box and can hold my palette for me while I work. Now I just need a big sunhat, its been over 100 degrees daily here in Houston, the heat has actually made me congested. :/ Which sucks.

You know what doesn't suck? Andrew, my hubby, got approved for his green card! The embassy is mailing it out this week!! XD YAY! I am flying up to Edmonton on July 22 to go get him and we're going to drive down together. He should have his card in the mail any day now. :)

I'm a happy girl.

3 Points

2009-05-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

I miss video games lately.
My paint dried onto my new giant plastic palette so now I have to clean it. :(
I kinda want a tattoo, I'd put it on my right hip, but not some tiny little hidden one, a big one going up into the ribs. No idea WHAT though, I just kinda want one.

That is all. :p

27 - Copenhagen - WIP

2009-05-14T12:56:00.001-07:00

I'm working two jobs now (Locatelli's Pizza in evenings and Coldwater Creek during the day) so I've been a busy girl, but I have been painting a bit. I have a work in progress shot of a picture of a riverside urban scene in Copenhagen. The canvas is 20x24 inches and I am planning to make this a really good painting so I can hang it in the foyer to replace an old painting from college that Mom has been hanging for years.

There was another painting but I had had a lot of wine and I was playing with what can copper paint do when mixed with things. Well its just awful so it doesn't count lol!

Side note, I sent my application to University of Houston in April and my transcript has since made it over there from the community college, will let you know what happens with that!

25 had to be BIG, and 26

2009-04-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

30x40 inches, oil on canvas. "Bluebonnets"

25 Paintings!!

1/4 of the way to 100!
*confetti toss!*

Woot. :)

I found the reference photo for this at WetCanvas in the archives, the original was very blue toned from being taken in the evening but I used photoshop to turn the clock back a few hours and painted this. It reminded me of so many old abandoned houses you see along the highways, left in empty fields, here in east Texas. And I just loved the sea of Texas bluebonnets!! I just finished it like half an hour ago. It took wednesday and thursday afternoon to do the house, which I let dry over Easter weekend, and then I worked ALL day yesterday and today starting at 9am and not stopping till 5 on Friday, and finishing at 3:30 or so today.)

I like the landscape part, though I see structural flaws in the old house. I don't do houses and structures too often, so this was good practice.

I do consider this just practice, this canvas has some dried acrylic deep underneath that I couldn't completely hide with sanding and gessoing, so it was great for practice but not for hanging.

Over the Easter weekend I took some time at the camp, my grandparent's lakehouse-trailer, to do some plein air. The area they are in is called Shamrock Shores for a reason, it is really, REALLY green. I started with a focus on the woodpile, and then built out from there. Yes, those hoses do have ductape on them. Pawpaw does all that plumbing himself, that's the line the take the water from the shower away from the trailer and into the garden. (After 30 years of the water being set up this way I can say that Suave shampoo and Ivory 44 don't seem to hurt the plants.) This is a corner of the yard and then neighbor's heavily gardened yard, boatshed, and sporadic rusting pieces of chain fencing. I don't think its a terribly great piece but my grandparents really love it so I am going to varnish and frame in come December as a christmas present to them.

"Wood Pile", oil on canvasboard, 6x12 inches

Also, before I go, I still don't have a job but am waiting to see if someone calls me this week. *crosses fingers* I've just been filling time with painting and devouring DVDs of Simon Schama's "Power of Art" art history videos. Go Go Gadget BBC!

Lastly, I'll share a pic of my new workspace. Dad said I can't paint inside the house (new floors and whatnot) so I've commandeered the garage. The stacked rubbermaid containers serve for more workspace and getting the laptop close to me so I can see my reference image.

Me, painting at the camp this past Saturday. I grew up spending summers, Thanksgivings, spring breaks, and Easters here.

Texas

2009-03-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

I am going to Texas to "establish domicile" on Wednesday, I don't know how long that will take me so I am going to box up my art supplies and ship them ahead of me to my parents' place. I have to get a job, Texas driver's license and voter registration, bank, phone number...

because "establishing domicile" is more than just having an address to go to.

24 - Sunset Beach, Vancouver

2009-03-21T13:53:00.001-07:00

When Andrew was in Vancouver week before last I put a camera into his bag and made him promise to take some seaside pics for me to paint from. :) I liked the logs bracing the beach, and the 4 stray logs by the water. I wonder were they pushed or did the earth actively resist our attempt to form it the way we wanted it, rather than let nature do as it pleased...

Didn't sketch this out beforehand, just painted it from nothing onto the canvas. Did reference a photo though. Some of my lines aren't matched up perfectly with the photo but I think it turned out well anyway.

My life...

Me: Bleeeh...
Andrew: what's wrong?
Me: Painting water is a bitch...
Andrew: That looks like believable water, hun. It's calmer but its believable.
Me: Yeah but it doesn't look like THAT water, THAT water has fine waves all in it.
Andrew: Maybe you should use the tiny brush instead of that brush.
Me: .........Maybe I'd of thought of that myself if I'd eaten breakfast. *goes for poptarts*
Andrew: Maybe!'

My water still isn't perfect, btw.

BTW, the Watchmen is one of the best movies I've seen in a while and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

We leave for Montreal Tuesday to go do the immigration interview and enjoy the city. If I don't post another painting before then I'll be back Saturday evening. GO GO GADGET GREEN CARD! I'm counting down the days... I've adjusted my playlist to reflect this with "L'ours" by Tricot Machine, as they are from Montreal and even though I have little idea what they are singing about I enjoy their music.

Update of Stuff

2009-03-13T22:11:00.001-07:00

Well, since the dog painting I caught a cold, arranged and sent Andrew to his medical appointment in Vancouver which he came back from the next day, and am now mostly over the cold (it was sinuses and crap) and am awaiting March 24 when we fly out to Montreal for the interview. I am so ready!

It was so nice out today, but I didn't paint because there's not really anything growing in yet that I want to paint. :/ So I went shopping and got a new pencil skirt on sale for 30 bucks. Yaaaaay! I just needed to get out the house. All week I kept saying "I'm gonna paint today, I'm gonna paint today" when I was sick and then just didn't have the drive to do anything. :/ Will probably paint tomorrow then.

Totally going to see the Watchmen tomorrow night!! <3 It just looks so freakin awesome!! And speaking of comics-turned-movie, did you know Hugh Jackmen has an X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie releasing this year? OH YA! ^_^ Speaking of X-Men, I've had a wallpaper of Magneto with baby ducks on my computer for a few weeks now, its by Brandon Bird. The actual painting title is "Sir Ian". It's pretty much the best wallpaper ever.

Kinda feel bad that I don't have any drawings or paintings to give you here :/ I guess I'm a bit of a slacker there. But I will paint tomorrow, because I've actually had a little withdrawl lately.

Yesterday (Thursday, March 12) was Andrew and I's 4th wedding anniversary. :) We went to cajun bistro restaurant called The Red Piano, there were two dueling piano players, it was fun. I had a vegetarian dirty rice. Never had it without beef before, it was totally different from anything my Granny ever made. Not sure if its actually cajun then, but it was tasty. And the only vegetarian thing that wasnt a salad or appetizer. Also I ordered a Hurricane but it lacked the size and knocks-you-on-your-ass alcohol percentage that a Hurricane in a New Orleans bar actually has. The waitress brought it and I'm like ".... Hurricanes aren't supposed to fit in a tumbler..." I miss New Orleans now.

23- Hockey Balls are Awesome!

2009-03-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

OK well here is the work I was ranting about, I think it could be better but I am so done, at least for today. Whether I touch it up tomorrow or not depends on my mood. I may leave it out my school portfolio and, once the thick layers are dry, place it in a frame and mail it to Sara to enjoy.

I should add, 8x10, oils on canvas board, a little over 4 hours work.

/rant

2009-03-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

I dunno what it is but I get apprehensive about trying to paint anything larger than like, 5x7 or 6x6 inches. I'm sitting here, the computer playing my favorite radio and my work set out before me, with the monitor displaying a cute pic I took of my dog, and I am trying to paint it. On 8x10. This is meant as a gift for my sister in law, as its her birthday sunday and she suggested a few days back I paint Ginger.

The underpainting is done, so far, mostly.

I may have drawn dogs like 3 times in my life, seriously. I was always a cat person and even having Ginger with me for like 7 and a half years, I don't really draw dogs. I do love my dog and play with her and walk her and all, I just don't really draw her.

I don't know if its that I am painting a dog or painting 8x10, but I can't bring myself to pick up the brush and keep going at the moment. I already got up, paced around, set up lunch for Andrew in the oven, and drank a mug of hot cocoa to pass some time. And now I'm blogging.

I'm only painting on 8x10 because I am out of smaller canvases of the right proportion for this. I'm pretty sure, I didn't see anything hiding under paper or anything...

Her head isn't placed right. Neither is the bottom paw. I drew it like 3 times over and over trying to place it right and failing. I like drawing people more, people are easy. Dogs are not. I know, I know, it's just a matter of I'm painting a subject I'm not familiar with. Bleh. I have to finish this though, I told Sara I would paint Ginger for her.

*sigh*

Something I share with Renoir: The desire to paint on really huge canvases.

Something I don't share with Renoir: The ability to do so mentally.

I got to see a Renoir at an impressionist traveling exhibit in Houston once, it was amazing. I spent all afternoon on the little bench in front staring it down, with a stupid school girl grin on my face, wondering how on earth did he do it. It was Luncheon of the Boating Party, 4.2 feet by 5.6 feet, approximately. I was impressed.

I should really go paint now...

Note,

2009-03-05T00:11:00.001-08:00

I am updating my deviant art account with paintings and drawings. The account is wonderlandalli. If you're here to check if this account is stealing art thanks for your concern but rest easy, its all me.

21, 22 "Evergreens, Nevermore"

2009-03-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

Taped up some 6x6 canvases and went out into the lovely and warm 41*F weather today, it was so nice to be above freezing. It was later in the day because I couldn't find my tape for a while... that part was annoying. But I went out and let the dog play off-leash in front of the apartment building while I painted my favorite evergreens again. Some crows or ravens (couldn't tell from so far) were hanging around so they've been included even though I would have liked a finer brush. I forgot that most of my small brushes were still in the bathroom after being cleaned yesterday.

Really this is probably the more interesting stuff to paint just in front my building. I don't live in a particularly interesting part of town and even if an outsider might like it I've become too apathetic to this street to notice. I mean, you've seen the view from my window!

I was out there for about 40 minutes, working on these simultaneously as if they were one large painting.

20 - Light and Red

2009-03-04T00:45:00.000-08:00

"Light and Red" 6x8 inches on canvas-board.

I feel good about this one, it was based on a stock photo I found a few days ago and really liked. I mean its not perfect but I really like it, even though I moved away from the photo on the sleeve shadows. After 3 hours I was starting to lose my focus for a moment when I did that but it didn't look bad so much as just didn't match the photo so I let it be. I started painting about 1pm and quit at 4pm, hastily showered and ran out the door to meet friends for the evening.

My big focus was this gal's gorgeous red hair, just floating around her head like that and catching the light all golden. :)

I've got a huge coffee table book on Impressionism, showcasing large prints of paintings and long biographies of each artist. It's over a foot long, and about 283 pages with size 10 text throughout. I'm halfway through, and am on the Monet chapter. (I really enjoyed Renoir and studied a potrait he did of Monet and Monet's big fuzzy beard before painting this.)

The above picture made me question my ability to paint for a little while...

17 - Shadows, 18-19 Acrylics

2009-03-01T15:36:00.001-08:00

I did some work today trying to paint from my drawings, this one is the second page in my smaller sketchbook. :)

I tried some others too but had to wipe them due to proportion fail.

Sorry for the shine, its still rather wet and I had a hard time finding an angle that didn't light up. Will replace it in a few days once its dry.

Drawing painting is based on is in this blog post.

Later Edit: We suddenly have light as late as 6pm again so I have more time to paint, so after cleaning up my oils I decided to use some acrylics since Alexis was still painting. I did the trees off the top of my head and the dill and tarragon are hanging against a red curtain in my window so I did that.

WOOHOO!

2009-02-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

My liberation is at hand!!!

We finally got the date for Andrew's immigration interview in Montreal (March 25), plane tickets have been bought (and we're taking a two day mini vacation while in Montreal that thursday and friday after the interview, that'll be nice) and moving plans are forming for late April. Texas here we come!

Canada isn't a bad place, but I hate Edmonton. It's all about where in Canada you are. If we'd of been able to stay in Halifax (which had NO jobs really so we had to move) I might be a permanent resident in Canada but that didn't work how we wanted it.

So, soon Andrew will have a green card in hand and we will be driving across the continent again. (We've done the Houston-Halifax route 3 times because we had to go back for the rest of our furniture, and we've crossed Canada to get to Edmonton. So Edmonton-Houston will be our 5th continental move.) My dog loves these week-long car rides. The cat is not a fan, really.

You know what this means?

UNIVERSITY!
I can work!
Andrew can work, too! DUAL INCOMES FOR ONCE!
Moist climate = my skin will be much more comfortable, Alberta is DRYYYYYY!
Hot/Warm climate year round, I can plein-air paint any day! XD

Daddy on the phone: You know Texas still gets into the 40's, Allison.
Me: Ha, that's not cold, that's just refrigerated.

*HAPPY DANCE*

Sunset on a Melting Roof (On a warped little building) (#17)

2009-02-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

I never really noticed how obviously warped the roof of the chiropractor office next door is. They should see about that...

I will paint after breakfast, I promise

2009-02-11T09:45:00.001-08:00

I meant to do painting earlier in the week but the weekend was all social and stuff, then Monday I was distracted and lost my daylight.

Monday night, my friend Ambyr lost her little sister to a blood clot (caused by existing thyroid conditions). Being short one little sister myself my heart goes out to her. Trying to be there for her as much as I can, though she lives all the way across town and it would take like 2+ hours by bus, so I might not see her till Friday night. :( Ambyr is going back and forth from home to her parents right now as well.

Her sister was the same age as me, though 6 months older. Same birth year though, same numerical age. I have some friends with health problems that are the same age as me, but I never seem to think of that stuff as being deadly.

I spent Tuesday sulking about Ambyr's loss and remembering my own and then pushing myself to excercise like mad out of a health panic.

I think I need the meditation of painting though, I took a photo of the snow with blue and pink light on it, its the rooftop and duct vent of the building next to me. I'll paint that after breakfast.

Aside from all the sadness this week within my circle of friends, I had a wonderful day on Sunday. We went to the art gallery downtown, and Alexis learned that I take 5 hours to look at exhibits that take her an hour to get through. :p I really really get into looking at art critically, analyzing the brush work, the way the colors blend or don't, trying to pry into the artist's method. I was really taken by the work of Sylvain Voyer, an Alberta artist. Acrylics. I was even more amazed when I learned the huge, detailed and realistic paintings were done in single afternoon sittings, out of doors. There were no photos taken back to the studio. He had some interesting pop art work but I was really into his landscapes and trees and butterflies. I plan to grab one of his exhibit books when I go back to the museum thursday night. I'm going to start taking the little drop-in art classes, just for fun every Thursday.

WIP #16

2009-01-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

I let the painting dry completely then sat down and did a new layer on it, trying to 1) relax and be "painterly" rather than meticulous, its that organized critical mindset that I get into that seems to really ruin me when I paint and its something I need to work on. 2) fix some colors and remove the red paddle for now so I can add it in again later. (It was skewed the wrong way and I couldn't reconcile it so I just painted over it for now.)

I didn't paint much this last week (obviously) but I have been drawing like a mad woman. :) My friend Aly (Yup same name as me but she has 1 L where I have 2) had her baby in the beginning of January and this week told me she's ready to start working on that comic strip we wanted to do together 5 months ago.

So I've been refining my character's features and she has done some drawings but hasn't scanned them and sent them to me yet so I'm not sure how far along we are. We brainstormed opening panels and did some thumbnails for it, so its up to her what pace we go at as she wants to do the pencil work and then hand it to me for adjustments and inking.

And ofcourse the drawing got me to draw other things as well, and made me work on characters for 3 different graphic novels I want to write (and I just don't know which to sit down and do first really.)

My problem is I have tons of ideas, and I don't finish things before I start a new one. Likely I will end up working on all 3 graphic novels, and Aly and I's comic strip, at once. A pace that works as a non-working-visa'ed housewife but that I won't be able to keep up in University. So I should really pick one and work with Aly as well. I'd like to get at least 1 comic book done (say 15-20 pages?) before I go apply for Fine Arts & Education at either Houston Baptist University or University of Houston...

Its like deciding which of your children gets to play soccer but the others have to wait till next year lol.

Regardless it takes a lot of sleep away from me, I've had a lot of bonding time with my sketchbook and actually will have to go buy a new one soon, I've got about 30 pages, but that's 29 because I'm superstitious and never draw on the last page of my sketchbooks.

WIP Painting 16

2009-01-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

Work in progress for Painting 16 - Dinghies

(why is this text underlined..?)

Sketch
Underpainting, 2 days ago
Adding shadow inside the boat today
Zoom in on this afternoon's work.
Taking a break now, will probably work again in about half an hour or so.

How does a girl go about painting still water without it looking like the boat is dry...

13, 14, 15 - Nose Studies

2009-01-16T14:55:00.001-08:00

I was about to clean up from my first painting today when I decided, why waste all these flesh tones? So I grabbed the three 4x4 inch square canvases, set them on cardboard, and googled Nose, choosing some zoomed in shots to paint.

I didn't sketch these out first, just started putting paint on.

I like them, I think I was overly ambitious in the first painting today, maybe I should spend some time painting each portion of the human body at a time before I try to put the whole thing together? Or at least facial parts.

Painting 12

2009-01-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

Looks better from a distance I think.

I did this picture to try out the "flesh tone" paint (which I found rather pink actually, maybe it should really be called Lips, or Tongue? The Parts Under The Skin That Make Zombies Drool?) I mixed it with titanium white, french ultramarine, and cadmium yellow light hue to get some variations, and a dab of the raw umber I used in the background with shadows. It was referencing a stock photo from deviant art.

I need more work painting people, for sure. (Then again, I need it on everything. *shrug*)

Drying... Shelf, obtained

2009-01-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

So maybe later I will add dowels or boards so I dry more paintings at once, when my output starts in increase. But for now, this will work, I picked up one for 25 dollars at IKEA while running around with Alexis today (it's her birthday). Paintings can't fall if they're laying flat!!

I also bought paint.

Payne's Gray
Raw Umber
French Ultramarine
Perm Alizarin Crimson
Perm Rose
"Flesh" as a base to work from for portraits, won't be using the color as is but I thought it might be a decent shortcut if not heavily relied on. It's a small tube.

And I got a lime-green with white polka dots pencil skirt. For 20 bucks on sale. XD It'll be cute with a few of the tee's I have. I love Rowena's... such a great little punk store. I tend to save up extra cash so I can buy their lovely rockabilly dresses.

I feel like a big spender today, lol! It was a treat. Now to refocus on the important stuff.

Expect a painting from me tomorrow. (Telling you now will help me make sure that I do paint tomorrow. I've got a stock photo picked out already.)

More Drying Rack Thoughts

2009-01-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

Einion @ Wet Canvas spotted my blog after reading a post of mine, and sent me a link to the DIY Drying Rack. Now, I don't have the tools available to cut up peg board like that, but it is something I could get Dad to make for me in Houston once we're moved down.

However this has set the gears turning in my head. The question is, what CAN I do with cheap shelving?

I think that after payday I will see if I can go to IKEA and look at the plastic shelving units they have, I know they have some that are going to fit my available space for under 20 bucks. Then I need to look at things like wire DVD holders and see if a couple of these would work for holding paintings upright to dry. If I can find (wouldn't it be a miracle!) some shelving that has pegboard-like holes, I can just measure the holes and get some dowl rods on the way home and make a shelving unit a lot like the DIY Drying Rack.

Or I could do a mini drawers set if the canvases fit it. (Again, will be bringing a few blanks with me to test for sizing and such.

I can't argue against ideas that could get me a functional drying rack for about 50 dollars.... :)

The Case for A Drying Rack

2009-01-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

This month, scratch that, this past week alone I have now lost 3 paintings due to things falling off Old Woody. This is making a case for a proper drying rack to be bought (and for Old Woody to hit the dumpster.) First the dog bumped it and caused Mountains to fall off the easel, and now my husband hit it walking past it causing my two plein air paintings (yes, even the pine tree tops *sniffle*) from Saturday to fall to their hairy deaths. T_T (Luckily, the Scarf painting was also with them and also fell but magically landed paint side up and had only a few stray dog hairs to pluck from it, so it is intact!)

I've moved Old Woody back against the wall best I can, so there might not be such a risk of bumping now. Just, the place it is at is the only place it can really be because otherwise the dog will be walking through Woody's legs 3-4 times a day. I forsee more paintings being lost that way.

Luckily Andrew gets paid (with commissions!) this Thursday, and its a strange pay period month where 3 paychecks come in one month. So I think I'll be going shopping for some kind of rack to dry the paintings on. And hubby, having caused the death of two paintings, can't really complain at this point. It's an investment I need to make (along with a tube of raw umber, alzirin crimson, and ultramarine blue).

Something like this or this would be great, its certainly cost-effective (rather than $1000+ racks that are also available out there, though I admit the pricey cabinet style rack would be wonderful to prevent passing pets from furring the edges.) It wouldn't hold tiny paintings on those wide wires, but if I put down a few sheets on poster board I have plenty of room to set paintings to dry.

I'll just have to check Colours, Paint Spot, and DeSerres next weekend and price the racks available at each chain. I feel pretty confident I should be able to find a drying rack for under two hundred dollars. It just needs to be no wider than 2 feet to fit into the space I have for it.

Until then, Old Woody is pressed further back against the wall, and I continue to be nervous about the future of Scarf until she's dry...

Painting 11, Scarf

2009-01-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

May I just say, I am SO FREAKIN PROUD OF THIS PAINTING!! XD

I think its a personal best so far!! :)

I found a great stock photo on Deviant Art and upped the contrast, downed the brightness, and messed with the color balance in Photoshop to actually bring the color out because it had a grayish "fog" over the photo from light. Then I used that as a reference.

Following in the tradition of the mountain painting (but hopefully not losing it to a fall on the carpet...) Here is a series of WIP images to review, so if you have any suggestions for me feel free to speak up! :) Canvas is 5x7 inches.

9 and 10!!!!!

2009-01-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

10! I've reached 10! That's 1/10th of my goal! :)

The weather was nice today, it warmed up to 1*C!!! So I went outside to paint. Having experienced -33*C not long before the holidays, 1*C felt really nice. I converted some old knit gloves to fingerless to keep my hands warm and went out to paint with a backpack of supplies and my easel.

Let me just say, the easel Dan sent me travels SOOOO much better than Old Woody! (Yeah I just named it that, Old Woody the Drying Rack.)

I first set up in the alleyway intending to paint the snow on the side road and the car tracks in it.

A little wind, and that didn't take long to become total fail. The slight breeze kept making my canvas float off the easel and into the snow(or onto my palette!). :( After attempting two canvases, I got mad, packed up, went back inside, wiped the canvases and brainstormed over pancakes.

A quick note, when your canvas falls paint-down in the snow, and it is encrusted in snow, blowing on it and attempting to paint on it anyway does NOT work. I had to let it melt indoors and then just wiped it.

I needed cardboard (found some in the recycling stack) and tape (found green house painting tape in the closet). I packed up and went out again, this time to the front lawn of the complex. Cardboard and tape worked! (Once I got the tape to peel off the roll without splitting). Taped the cardboard to the easel after set up, problem solved!

I did two paintings in the hour and a half I had left to do them before the sun would begin to rapidly set. I tried to capture the golden light that was on everything. Not sure if the camera got all that, I wanted to take pics of the paintings while I was still outside but discovered my battery was too low to function and had to wait for it to charge inside. My favorite is the second one, the treetops.

Canvases are 6x6 Inches.

My Palette

2009-01-09T22:46:00.001-08:00

The oil paints I currently own and use are:

Large and most often used:

Phtalo Blue
Titanium White
Burnt Sienna
Cadmium Red Hue
Cadmium Pale Yellow Hue

Small and not often used

Mars Black
Phtalo Turquoise
Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue (an orange)
Yellow Ochre

How would you suggest I expand my palette?

Painting 8, Mountains

2009-01-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

So my friend Chris W. took some great photos in Waterton National Park in Alberta, Canada, and one of them I really liked and decided to paint from. (I'll see about getting her permission to post the photo here later). Granted I could use my own photos from my own trip this past summer to Waterton, but no, they're old the old camera that cant seem to be recognized by Windows XP. (My pride parade pics are on there too! That was a fun day. Such colorful people at pride parades, I love drag queens!)

I took progression shots of the painting as I worked on it. :) I think that might help people give me good critique on methods and how to paint. (I hope!)

I haven't quit!!

2009-01-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

Just the Holidays took up much of my time, and with the tree set up I don't have a lot of room to paint. I have mainly been drawing in my sketchbook from Facebook photos, and I am making a comic book (only 3 pages) to illustrate a friend's writing. :)

I have a painting date set for Monday at 1pm with my friend Rasa, so I'll be clearing out the tree sometime by then and setting up for painting and still life. Will have to see if anyone else (Alexis? Chris?) wants to come paint with us too. I wonder if I can get anyone willing to sit still for 20 minutes for a painting model...

I got new brushes, gesso, and lots of small canvas boards for Christmas so I am so set to paint now! :)

Also I checked with the US Embassy in Montreal, we are currently still in que for our interview date to be assigned but I was assured it shouldn't take much longer, so I am in good spirits. The sooner we get the interview, the sooner we get Andrew's green card, which means the sooner we can move back to Texas!! Then I can go back to school and be able to work (I have my eye on the Jerry's Artorama my BFF Kristin works at...) and I can go paint Plein Air year round since the weather is so great there. I'd love to take a trip to Galveston Beach just to paint. XD

So until then I am cleaning out my belongings, getting rid of stuff that isn't used (starting with books I have no more attachment to, I just sold a ton of them at 1/4 the jacket price, and got $125.) Most things are being given away not sold. Goodwill and friends that I call and ask "Hey do you want a pasta pot? What about a hamburger press??" :p I'm doing this huge Buddhist nonattachment thing to try and sort out what is unncessecary in my life. I cancelled our cable subscription, I have better things to do than watch tv or leave it on so that the comemrcials embed themselves into my subconcious.

I have to take down the 20 dollar Value Village tree, store my ornaments and donate the actual tree (and the life cycle of thrift store goods continues...) find homes for some of my paintings (Chris @ Faeries said he collects bad art so I offered him some paintings lol), sell the window air conditioner, figure out what I am going to do with this horrible couch... So much to consider. I think I will empty out the plant pots on the balcony and just leave them at Bill's door downstairs, he is an Apartment Gardening freak. :p

So I should really set up a plan, I already cleared out the books (I still have a lot of books though...) so I guess I'll hit computer stuff next, then clothes. That would give me a huge boost actually.

Edit to add: Took some steps, and prepped a bunch of canvases! Dry gesso, dry!!
I still have about 10 other canvases as well still cellophaned. I'm so set! :)

Painting 7

2008-12-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

I set up a weekly art challenge at the Young Adults message board I moderate, and the first image I have given them to use is a night shot of the door which is the view to my balcony.

My first attempt got wiped, here is a photo I took before doing so. I felt like it was flat, and I started with lights and it occurred to me later that if its a nocturne painting, start with the darks. (Duh.)

My second attempt is much more loose & painterly, thought not as accurate as the first painting, but I think I did better with lights and darks. I painted a dark blue wash over the canvas and then added my lights from there. I just hate that bow-tie of light on top the door, its from the photo being that way. I need to try doing some nocturn paintings by plein air if its going to have a bright light, though I wonder if a photo without a bright light in the middle is still good. I like this one a lot better than the first attempt. It has a lot of paint on it though, I just kinda slapped it on trying not to over-work my colors.

Dan gave me an easel!! :)

2008-12-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

Dan at Life from Paint sent me a new easel when I talked about my old cheapy from highschool was falling apart. :) It arrived in the mail this morning, and after about 5-10 minutes of fiddling with the clips I set it up and can actually like, paint at eye level ^_^ Fun! Now I just need it to warm up a little so I can go outside and paint with it! It's -23*C outside in the afternoon, and that's -13*F for those used to the Fahrenheit system. Kinda cold. >.> I set the easel at its smallest and it holds my little canvas boards pretty well. :) I'm doing more smaller paintings/studies to be able to focus on color rendering, large canvases can get a little overwhelming in a new medium (note how painting 1 still isnt finished).

THANKS DAN YOU ROCK!!!!

NEW CAMERA!!!!!1!!!!!!1 :p

2008-12-13T17:39:00.000-08:00

My Granny sent me Christmas moneys, and Futureshop had a great sale going, and I got Samsung L100 in red for $99 and an 8 gig SDHC card for $20!!!! I AM SET! XD

So here are better pics of paintings I tried to show you before with the webcam!!

Painting 1 - still in progress - Alyson and Aislyn

Painting 2 was wiped and the canvas reused, if you recall my saying so before.

Painting 3, my first Plein Air :)

Painting 4, my second (fail) Plein Air (That slash is from a piece of paper slicing it when still wet)

Painting 5, Bowl of Fruit & Veggies still life

Painting 6, attempted still life of Alexis (but she moves a lot)

Painted with Alexis Today 5 & 6

2008-12-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

So I managed to do some painting today, and I set up a bowl of fruit and vegetables to paint for painting 5. :) An apple, 2 lemons, a bunch of radishes, an orange, and asparagus sticking out the side for good measure. I set them up in a green ceramic bowl with a green bit of shimmery cloth from a Halloween costume in 07 as a backdrop.

Then I had a bunch of paint left on the palette, so I tried to use the leftovers to paint a portrait of Alexis. Obviously my ability to get painterly with skin tones needs a lot of work and guidance. I made use of my new paint toy, a brush that has pointed rubber on the end instead of bristle. I like it, and did some experimenting with it. Because honestly I don't know what to do with it, but damn if it didn't look cool in the store! XD

So I found my camera (an old Fujifilm Finepix 2600 from 2001) and then I got the USB cord that came with it, finally I held BOTH PARTS in my hand and not wondering where the other went! Excited, I put in charged batteries, inserted the USB, and turned it on thinking windows would pick it up as easily as XP did. No... I emailed Fujifilm about it and apparently the camera is not compatible with Vista at all. It doesn't even try to see it as USB storage. Poo... Next on my list, buy a new camera. Even the memory card is too old to have a slot on my multi-card reader on my laptop. I'm going to see if the photo center at London Drugs can burn me a CD of my files from the card at least. I have pics I want on that camera...

I have a cold :(

2008-11-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I caught a cold from 1) painting with Alexis while she had a bad cold 2) sitting in the car with Alexis for a long period of time 2) painting outside in the cold so much.

And stress.

Undernourishment probably didn't help either. (I got groceries today no worries.)

But ya, I haven't been painting because I'm feeling under the weather and I've also been moderating a teen/20-somethings spiritual/really-interfaith forum and we had a little drama that took two days to settle, that was stressful.

Tomorrow if I feel better I'll work on the portrait of Aly and her daughter some more. It's getting dry, I hope this doesn't mess me up. My palette is still in the freezer though. I have to remember to just paint, and if I don't like it come back to the reference photo later when I get more painting experience under my belt. (But I want it to come out nice...)

Got Tagged :/

2008-11-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

Dan tagged me. But I don't know anyone to tag back, so I can't really pass it on, but I'll fullfill the questioning part!

Dan said:

First the rules, if you have been tagged by me you must (if you decide to play along) 1: you have to put a link in your posting to the person who tagged you(that's me :) 2 List 7 unusual things about yourself. 3 tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and comment on their blog and let them know.

Ok then, I linked Dan there. :p

7 Unusual Things About Myself...

1) I have dyed my hair every color of the rainbow in my time. No really. Pink, blue, green, orange, red, purple, indigo, and for a very short time yellow. Then, mahogany, and a variety of browns.

2) I married my highschool sweetheart and DIDN'T divorce him 2 years later like so many marriages do now a days. We were long distance in highschool because my family moved after we started dating then he chased me down in Texas. <3

3) I have driven across the country 5 times and am soon to embark on my sixth. From New Orleans to Halifax, from Houston to Halifax, Halifax to Houston, Houston to Halifax, Halifax to Edmonton, soon to be from Edmonton to Houston. These were all moves. They all took about 6-7 days each.

4) I have set foot in every Canadian province that borders the USA except the Yukon bordering Alaska.

5) Joan Jett and I have the same birthday, Sept 22, except I'm 1983 and she's 1958.

6) I'm an ovo-lacto-vegetarian but I still prefer soy milk over cow's milk. (Cow's milk smells :/)

7) I first taught a bully not to mess with me in the 3rd grade by beating him with poison oak branches. I am not allergic to poison oak. He was.

Painting 4, total fail

2008-11-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, the dog does not get to come along on any more painting trips, unless maybe I have someone with me to manage her while I manage my painting supplies.

Painting 4, about 20 minutes of painting time. This painting's destiny: probably wipe. The grass looks a LOT greener in the photo than it does in reality, and my sky is also a grayer blue, so I'm thinking the camera was reading this light as blue. Maybe if I keep it it would be to reproduce on another canvas.

Today I had decided to try to venture out and paint from what's around me again, since last time it was so nice. The temperature was only a little cooler (supposedly 4*C but I don't believe the weather network was accurate today, it felt cooler than that) than it was Monday (about 6*C) when I went downtown with Alexis. It was also a little windy today and kept blowing the smaller (about 8x8in I think) canvas off the little gimpy 12$ easel from highschool. (The only easel I have that doesn't require a table to sit on.)

I made a decision that I didn't want my backpack to get all smudged with paint so I packed my supplies into a plastic bag and used that. Mistake, on the way there and back I had the handles trying to slice into my skin while holding the heavy bag, an easel, and the dog leash. Stick with the backpack...

This leads to the first reason Ginger doesn't get to come along on painting trips anymore, she wants to try to be the leader all the time and its hard to reign her in with my hands full. :/ Bad dog.

It's cold.

I get to the park and decide to sit on a bench where I can paint the other bench with the buffalo statue near it across the park, and get the great shadows that were cast by evergreens across the field. I give Ginger a long lead and tie her off to the bench. It's one of those retractable leashes so its a long thin rope. I set up my paints, my easel, the canvas blows right off onto me about 4-5 times before I even start painting. (I was still setting up my palette).

It's cold and breezy.

Painting goes well for the first 10 minutes, until the wind blows harder and knocks a now wet canvas which bounces off my arm and hits the ground, paint down ofcourse. With a string of curses I picked it up and decided to ignore the bits of fine gravel in it.

Then the dog runs a circle around the bench, no longer content to roll in the leaves on the side she's tied to, and knocks over the easel. I stopped it before it fell completely, Bad Dog, and lead her back around to her side.

I try to paint some more for another 10 minutes and the dog is whining and crying because she sees a cat across the way and wants attention from every passing teenager walking home from the highschool down the street.

It's cold and breezy and I can't feel my fingers.

And a palette knife doesn't work as a substitute for a fine brush (which I didnt have on me) to paint small branches.

It's cold and breezy and I can't feel my fingers, and the dog is being noisy. I give up. I unleash the dog and let her run around the field with her toy like a spaz, while I clean up and pack up my stuff, and then again with the cold hands, one holding the evil plastic bag, the easel, and the dog leash, the other holding the wet painting.

No more dogs on painting expeditions. Even if it is just the park 3 blocks away.

She's much better behaved when the focus is on her, and not on the things I am trying to carry.

Also its cold, I won't likely attempt any more plein air while I am in Edmonton. Once I'm back in Houston where its warm I will get at it again. For now, indoor paintings from photos or of the alley that I can see from my balcony door.

The Bad Dog

Paintings 1, 2, 3

2008-11-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

Painting 1 is still in progress and is big (12x16) for a first oil painting. I'll be updating with progress as I make it. It's a portrait of my friend Aly and her 14 month old daughter Aislyn all dressed up for Halloween, and it was Ace's first time to dress up. They used the same over sized blouse that was used for Aly to dress up as an angel when she was a baby. :)

Painting 2 you don't get to see, because I didn't care for it after I painted a woman holding a vase, and so I wiped and gessoed the canvas. Didn't think to photo it. But it still counts. I believe in recycling. :p

Painting 3 was my first plein air painting, and I really enjoyed the experience of painting out doors, no reference photo. So much of my art (digital and tangible) is based on references photos, copying a picture. Plein air was so LIBERATING!!! My friend Alexis and I went on the bus downtown with my cheapy 12 dollar easel from high school and a canvas. Alexis was going to draw in her sketchbook. We currently live in Edmonton, Alberta, and so it was going to be dark by 4:30. We had 1.5 hours to work before we lost too much light. Traveling on a public bus system with a wet oil painting, it is an experience. We painted the view of the Saskatchewan River from behind the MacDonald Hotel. Ice is starting to flow on the river, and the lack of leaves in the trees makes for a dismal palette.

Tips I received at wetcanvas.com was to practice on a smaller canvas, I was agreed with that the sky is nice (my favorite part) though the image quality makes it hard to see exactly what I had going for the rest.

Yes my image quality IS horrible right now. I cannot find my good camera anywhere to save my life. I am starting to worry it was lost outside the apartment. :/ But I could have sworn that the last time I handled it was at home... Anyway I'll replace the images with better photos when I get a hold of my camera or a new one. For now you get laptop webcam shots. Sorry...

Paint 100 Paintings

2008-11-25T09:37:00.000-08:00

This was great advice that I read in a thread on wetcanvas.com asking artists the best advice that was ever given to them. Paint 100 Paintings was my favorite tip on that list, and now that is my goal. The posters in the thread said that it should get you to run a pretty full gambit of experimentation, painting different subjects and trying different tricks, help you come into your own way of painting, and experience all the WTF moments that can come in painting. I've got a 2 yr degree in graphic design, but I realized that what I'd really rather do is be an art teacher one day. So I'm trying to take my art to a more tangible form rather than all digital.

A little about me: 25 years old, American living in Canada for the past 3 years, immigrating my husband to Houston very very soon, and I've been out of school while in Canada (and can't work here) so my mind is starved for creative endeavors. This is going to do my sanity a lot of good. (Because being a housewife is boring...) I've used acrylics off and on for years but my focus is on oils now.