Recycling fun....

Found an old unfinished painting in a closet upstairs while looking for who knows what!  The canvas was at least 10 years old so I have learned a couple new things along the way.  Updating the subject matter, enhancing the composition, and exploring what the painting wanted to say was fun and now it is done!

My theme/interests through the years seem to stay the same, as I am always drawn to the spiritual.  Happy places draw me in. This piece has no official title but has to do with releasing your blessings and giving thanks.

Blessings....
di

imaginary likeness...easy

People never like a picture of themselves especially women.  One paints a portrait and everyone but the person it is of, recognizes them!  Frustrating....but I keep telling myself doing portraits is for my growth as a painter and I will not let silly little things get me down.  However, I just did an imaginary face with some layering to complex the piece up and I really like it.  So, I will share it with you-it is only 9x12, a jewel for fun.....

Oh, the details....

So now it is time to make sure everything is signed, glazed, framed, documented....yeah, like the fun stuff (NOT)...However, complaining aside, it is so nice to have "The Village" pieces ready for the two upcoming solo shows.

Of course, I am in the artistic-hating-not satisfied with my work mode- but I know from experience that when I see them all hanging I will be proud and happy.

What next?  I need to find some more venues to show this series, work on my portraits of my Cronies, and I have some images in my head of where I want to go with my next series of work. Sketchbook time!!!!

FYI...just for inquiring minds, it took me close to two years to put this "Village" series of 25 pieces together.  As they say-Rome was not built in a day.....

first four portraits

These are the first four of my
"Crones" series... (crone=friend)...and what I have discovered is that I will never be a portrait artist!  I am attempting to do representational paintings of friends but none of them have been -spot on-....oh well, it is good practice and each week the class I am taking gives us a different approach/technique to use...so like medicine-it is good for me.  I actually enjoy doing these, I just get frustrated when I can't get them exactly accurate...but of course being me, I only give it one shot instead of persisting until I am satisfied...onward

Working on final 'Village" piece

This piece is 3'x4' and will be the final piece in "The Village" series, I have been working on.  The title of it will probably be Community as it incorporates a lot of the characters I have created in the past two years.  There are about 24 works in the series so I now have a packaged show.  The series will be shown in two solo shows this year and hopefully, I will find some other venues.

My next series is going to be a spiritual woman series and I am planning on it being much more textural and loose.   In a creative trip one never knows where life will take them, but I have to say that the journey so far has been a great ride!  The portraits I have been doing of friends, I will continue to do as they are good technical practice for me.

Hang in there with me and thanks for viewing my blog and following my path of creativity with me. I am solitary in my studio pretty much and your viewing my ramblings means a lot to me.   di

Overworked Piece...but I did it

Only 48 more portraits to go in the online class I am taking.  This week we were suppose to practice glazing for fun on a drawing of a face.  I, of course, have to make life difficult and decided to do the faces of  friends  (with no guarantees it will look like them).   I massively overworked this piece but next week will be better.  It is not terrible and does have a resemblance to her.  I am calling this one "K", as her first name begins with K.  For the rest of the week I am working on a 3'x4' piece for the Village show.  Will show that as I get further along.  TaTa .....

OLD CRONIES....

I am taking an online class, "Let's Face It 2017", in which for 52 weeks we will be doing a face a week.  This week was introduced by a guest instructor and we did glazing on top of a monochromatic painting.  I have always wanted to try this technique as it is what the old masters did. I had a really great time trying this procedure out.  The process is slow but if you build up slowly over time, you will have a really stellar piece. (Which I will do in the near future). ...So-  most everyone else in the class is doing pretty faces but I want to do 'mature' faces.  I have put out a call to friends, old in friendship and a little old in timeline, and hope to do most of them during this year.  I see a show coming up titled--"Old Cronies"....stay tuned....

Back on the right road again....

Just finished this piece for my "Village" series.  The title is A Walk in the Village, am I clever or what?  So that is all the discourse for today, just sharing....Di

Reworking, tweaking....

Not my usual style but what I am working towards ...BUT  (note to self) I have to get the present stuff together and looking right so it looks like a  cohesive body of work.  This face is done over a piece that I never liked and I am glad I 'went for it'....it is much more interesting now.   Back to work....

My World....

As I have mentioned, I have a solo show coming up in April and have been assembling the pieces I want to put in it.  This picture is a recently completed work (as in today) and I consider it my intro into the show.  I titled it, "Welcome, to my World", and it represents me in color and some of my imaginary characters being created in black and white.  The orbs as always represent the 'gift of Life' and for me will never be black and white.  Life is real and such a joyous gift.  Though the face is somewhat realistic, I just can not go without excessive color and brushwork.

Now I have to do drudge work as in painting the edges black on all the pieces, photographing, etc....blah, blah, blah, oh well- such is life.

PS  yes, I do look this old and I am embracing it....do not mind at all...

Hibernating and Working....

This is the first piece I have sewn in a very long time....about a year I think.  It is for a group activity and it only took me 3times before I got a square I liked!  I had to take a break from the textiles but now I am invigorated and ready to go again.

I am so glad that the Holiday season is over, although I did enjoy the festivities.  BUT NOW...I can get back to a schedule and be creative.
Which is what I like to do best.  I am still painting and have two solo shows coming up in the spring and summer so that in itself takes some time and preparation work.  

Hopefully, I will be posting lots of stuff in the near future.  Have two unfinished paintings waiting in line and a lot of ideas swirling in my head.  So,  I AM BACK.....see ya

New Show Scheduled

Just scheduled my first show of 2017.  I will be doing a solo show at the Etowah Art Center from April thru July of 2017.  The show will feature my 'Village" series, so I think it will be awesome!!

This is my newest piece and though it looks large it is really only 9x12".  I think it is a fun piece and hopefully people will like it.

This is the time of year that things go crazy so I am having to clear activities out of the way so that I have enough studio time.  Get cranky if I do not have my studio time.  I think artists are better off as hermits so that they can devote time to their craft.   Having said that, I am going to get back to work....ta, ta----

Play Days...

Went on a mixed media frenzy!  These are 4"x6" on paper little drawings.  Wanted a few free days before I committed to a larger piece and small little studies always bring out the creative side of one's self. This was two days work and I actually have one more but that made me not have a pretty presentation so you only get to see nine.  Tomorrow is a movie day and then Tuesday a meeting day BUT Wednesday I paint again.

 See ya..... Di

Inner Cities...

This is a 24"x 36" painting in the smokestack series..(maybe by the end of it, I will be able to paint smoke better...argh)...the idea behind the piece is how the city affects the city youth and the mentoring needed, solutions to the crime, crowding, biases, etc..in the cities.  I think my soul has been wretched watching all the killings in Chicago and other big towns.  It is a reactive piece to what is going on in our own backyards.  Have to admit I am figuring out my own thoughts, as I go along with these paintings.  Thanks for sharing the journey with me....di

Working on loosening up....

The title of this piece is, "I See You", and I am working on painting intuitively and going crazy.  It is all in hopes of getting looser and out of my lines.  Several people have gasped when I told them I thought I needed to loosen up but I really do.  I love shapes and kind of want to stay in the lines. However, that is really not a good thing....so here is to letting things fly--

We are Spirit....

This is my newest piece and it is titled, "We Are Spirit".  The blue/turquoise orbs are my symbol for our spirit, life force, soul, or core, and are my constant reminder to revere our being and our temporary walks upon this planet.  The floating bars are portals and represent the path we take by making choices and decisions.  This is part of the series I have been working on called- "The Village".
 

You can see from the group picture that 'The Village' is a happy, mystical place.
Hopefully, these paintings make you smile and want to make you visit.

The imagination is a powerful place......

Doing some smalls....

Doing a couple of smalls (9x12, 8x10) before I start a large piece.  Smalls are fun because they are pure play...This particular one has the most beautiful colors in it.  Hard to tell from a photo but it is really rich looking....Scrumptious...

Back to work.....oh, this is titled, "Geisha in the Garden"

Hmmmmm....

Not sure why I have a fascination with smoke stacks at the moment. But apparently, I am in the the process of a smokestack series.   My concern is that they are not current or a reflection of our times. Perhaps, in  the unfolding of the series, it will begin to relate with today.  Every current thing I think of is filled with anger, crisis, and conflict.  That, in my opinion, is not a good thing.....

 My main objective is just to keep painting and hopefully, by they time I have painted a thousand, I will be a master....and left my voice.

On to my next canvas and trying to figure out what to paint that connects to our time.

No title yet....

New piece which  I am really liking!  Haven't signed yet because may still do a couple of tweaks.  Working very hard to loosen up and I am getting there....No title yet but will think of something...enjoy and follow your passion-smiley face...

So......

So....I am taking this online class and I have promised myself that I will do as instructed.  Which, I might add, is not always easy for me.  This last challenge was to 'deconstruct and construct' within your piece.  Basically that meant that I need (as a painter) to paint, over paint in sections, texturize, and let things happen.  These are my first two attempts.  I have to admit that I am learning some new techniques and approaches.  My work was beginning to be too illustrative and I really want to get away from that, as much as I loved the pure color, etc.  So this is a start down a new road and we shall see....as long as I am learning, growing, and stretching....I am ahead of the game....I think!!!! DO NOT TELL ME DIFFERENT!!!!! or I will be sad...di