New Painting

< Two 8"x10" paintings for the Summer Greene opening. I'm currently working on a 16"x20" of my three Japanese kokeshi dolls.

A Productive Saturday

Feels like I've gotten things done today. I've been working out with my husband and I got my own gym membership today so I can go by myself if he's busy. My car is mostly loaded up for the American Made Craft Show tomorrow in Chester, I've gotten some more time in on the sewing machine and I have a 16" x 20" toy telephone painting started. Could it be that I'm a little nearer to finding a reasonable working balance in my life? Of course, it's always a work in progress. It's funny how things can work out. I've been mulling over how to do a top hat for my Halloween costume - the Mad Hatter, of course! But I wasn't thinking about it when I stopped in the thrift store today. We needed a lamp for the living room since the knob broke off the old one and we've been turning it on with pliers. They finally had one I liked, and then it dawned on me that I could use the lamp shade as the structure for my top hat. Excellent since I was planning to keep using the larger shade from the old lamp and didn't need the new one. I use this lamp shade as a swift when I need to turn a skein of yarn into a ball. The skein sits on the shade. I put the lamp on the floor, unscrew the finial so the shade will turn freely and away I go winding the yarn into a ball. My husband and I love Halloween so, naturally, we produced a kid who isn't into it at all. I kinda let that put a damper on my celebration but this year I've decided to get dressed up and hang out with my friend who lives on Main St. in Newtown. It's a trick or treat hot spot, unlike our house. Nobody comes here at all. I was going to take pictures today but I'm having trouble with the camera battery. These pictures are recent anyway. I'm really pleased with the pendants on this one. They are made of the seams that are leftover from deconstructing the felted sweaters. It pleases me that I keep finding ways to use almost every scrap.

Larger Than Life

I'm delivering this painting to the Greene Gallery today. This was really fun! It's the first in a series of larger-than-life vintage toys I'll be doing. I've got a sweet vintage metal box of crayons to paint next, more phones and some Ohio Arts toy teapots after that.

Finished Painting

Well, my attempt at creating flow didn't work so I had to rely on good old fashioned discipline to get the painting done. There are too many distractions on the weekend. In this case, knowing I'd have to drive my son somewhere but not having a set time for it until his friend texted him. Anyway, it's done and I'm happy.
We had fresh peas for lunch and they were so good!

The Neurobiology of Excellence

Right before I came down with that virus last week I had picked up a couple of books at the Goodwill. One of them was Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. I was particularly interested in the section, Flow: The Neurobiology of Excellence. For me, flow often feels like a state of grace in which I've gotten out of my own way. I'm totally focused on what I'm doing but in a relaxed joyful way. It's been a while since I experienced it while painting and I really need the occasional dose of it to keep me going. Better still, I want to develop a set of work habits that can help me access it on a regular basis. A way to enter flow is to "intentionally focus a sharp attention on the task at hand." It's a bit like meditation, once the intruding thoughts have quieted it becomes self reinforcing. Ideally, the work should be at a level of difficulty just a bit more challenging than one is used to.
So for the time being I've stopped listening to NPR talk shows while I work. I'm trying to get my mind quiet before I paint. It may be that some soft music may help. Nothing I'm doing is really new but trying to deliberately, systematically train myself is new to me. I'll let you know how it goes.
This image is the painting I'm working on, another close up of a glass jar against a blue background. Getting some of the highlights in is making it more fun to work on.

The Process of Painting

This is the painting I'm working on now. It's really helpful to me seeing it reduced in a photograph. I'm past the worst point, that part when the painting looks pretty awful and I just have to take it on faith that by the time I'm done it will work out. I don't know rather it's just the way I paint with acrylics but it seems to take a certain number of layers to get the effect I want. This reminds me of a talented friend of ours who went through a phase of giving up on his paintings too soon, to the point that he restarted one painting so many times that he finally gave up on it. This was a terrible shame because each one had some really good elements. As in so many other pursuits, it's probable that he would have learned more from sticking to it through the tough spots. Even if the painting still didn't work out, it would be worth it. I've heard it said that you have to love your painting enough to make some bad ones to get to the good ones. The universe won't strike you dead for making a crappy painting.

New Mason Jar Painting

This is the latest of my paintings, delivered to the Greene Art Gallery last week. The one I'm working on now is a vertical 11"x14". Before Kathryn got the finished one on the wall someone expressed interest in the same idea but in a vertical format. I aim to please. Dan already sold his big red painting of jars and glass marbles. I'm not surprised, it's a great piece of eye candy. Makes me want to paint bigger. Maybe I don't have to worry about the sluggish economy? Yesterday I heard from a greeting card company looking for submissions so that's percolating in the back of my mind too.
I've been running around this morning, cleaning, getting pictures taken to list more mushrooms in my etsy shop and then to get groceries. I need to setttle down and paint this afternoon.

Done

OK, on to the next!

Works in Progress

It's a sloppy snowy/rainy gray day here. The word that popped into my head this morning was: boring. I'm bored of winter. Oh well. So here's what I'm working on now. The painting is an extreme close up of two canning jars against a blue background. It's 8" x 10", a warm up for some 11" x 14"'s and a study for a bigger version. I'd like to see this really big but with the market being what it is, smaller is what is selling. The painting is a bit beyond block in. It's painted in acrylic and has a bit of a dry look to it but it will look a lot richer after varnishing.
The monster purse is just a fun thing that I started last night while watching a Discovery program about King Tut. I think I'm going to make it into a handbag rather than a shoulder bag and it will probably end up in my etsy shop.