Checkin In...

If you are still following me- you are the loyal, among loyal blog friends. I have been here in a big way. But not Here. I can't even begin to tell you all the here and theres I've been.

Blame my IPad!  I do love it, and my new Sensu brush and art apps for art on the go.

The Lion Knows

 

I'm so excited to share some great news with you! So many of you have followed
me since the beginning when I was just learning to draw and then as I experimented with different mediums and styles, through various workshops.
I can't even begin to tell you how much your encouragement has helped me move my art along.
I now call myself an ART-cheologist because I know that I am digging and excavating layer by layer my potential in this art journey. It's not just a passing fancy, but a deep and enduring longing in my heart to find out what I'm made of, whatever talent I've been given, how far I can take it, and how much I can share it.

Well, my news is that my Lion above was juried into the Roswell Art Show and received an Honorable Mention and a green ribbon! UPdate: The Lion KNows won People's Choice Award at the Roswell International ARt Show. also. The original has sold! Prints available on canvas or archival paper.
That may not be great news to you but I was absolutely humbled that I was in the top awards for a show that included fantastic art from all over the world- among 269 entries. I entered for the last 3 years and never received such an award.
This painting represents another mile-stone for me, another marker as I think it represents my current level of skill and I can see progress in this painting.
I want to play with the "Big Boys". I want my art to be exceptional and I am still determined to dig further and this award has spurred me on.
Your encouragement has been invaluable.
I hope you are still enjoying my art, your own journey and may we all be blessed with an extra measure of magic.
And simply believe in it when it arrives.
 

"Wandering Voice"

22x30 on Fabriano Paper. Acrylic  "Wandering Voice"

She was such a pleasure to paint. I can't even tell you. I've always loved to sketch faces but when I went to paint the sketch,  I always struggled with blending the acrylics and them drying too fast but this time it wasn't a struggle. The paint and I danced together and she came forward as easily as could be. Don't you love it when that happens?

In case you don't recognize her this is a study of the top portrait of the Delphic Sybil by Michaelangelo that he placed very prominently on the ceiling of Sistine chapel. I love her strength and beauty. She was a powerful woman in her time telling men their fortunes and predicting outcomes. She was a priestess. It is said that when she died she became a wandering voice that still speaks to the ears of men in dark riddles about the future. I'm just weird enough to love that too.  I've been to Delphi, in Greece, where she worked and lived. I've been to the Sistine Chapel and seen her painted image. Maybe that's why her image followed me around. I often wonder why we must paint or write certain things and get them out of our heads. What is the mystery of that? Why does a subject or object or landscape call to us and how do we decide that we must paint or write certain things above all the others?

I painted her in a fresco style and she has fine little cracks all through her which gives her the aged look I was going for. It is improbable that anyone will ever buy this painting because she's not in style or would fit in anyone's décor I know.  But I don't care- she feeds my painterly soul.  And I expressed her with my own visual interpretation. She will always remain with me and maybe I will hear her someday speak in dark riddles about my future.

Zebra From Anotha Motha

Odd Chick got her wings...

This is odd chick getting ready to fly!!!

 

 

 

 

 

I went and signed up to tandem jump out of an airplane before I even talked to Sweet Farmer about it. I was afraid he would talk me out of it!

I handed him my camera, a kiss like it might be my last, and happily jumped in a plane that took me up 11,000 feet.

The only scary part for me was that little roll out of the plane- I didn't want to get caught on anything like the step or geeeeez- the propeller! Then there was a 45 second free-fall and what a RUSH! I tried to stay totally present so I could recall the memory with great clarity- but even then, ITs HARD TO PUT INTO WORDS. I have nothing to compare it to. The cold, the speed and the rush of the wind on my cheeks and the ground whirling below me like a giant pinwheel. I have to admit I was glad when the chute came out and slowed things down a bit so that I could soar. I even spread my arms out like a bird to see if only for a minute I could feel in small measure the freedom of the spaciousness of the sky. 

 

It was a glorious flight on a sunny day at Port Aransas, Texas. And it was a dream checked off on a list titled, "Wild & Precious Living".

I loved it. I hope to do it again whenever I get another chance - I will jump at it! I was light and weightless in the sky.

It looks like I didn't stick my landing but I swear I did- or at least I felt like an Olympic champion when I landed on my feet - but then all my weight and the earth touch like a magnet to the ground.

I kept waiting to be scared but truly it was peaceful. Sweet Farmer thinks it's funny that I'm more scared to talk on the radio when we're flying our plane (now that stops my heart) than I was to jump out of a plane! Go figure.

 

What's on your bucket list?

 

 

 

Seriously....

This was an actual sign on the door of an art gallery on a street I was browsing in a tourist's town. I had to laugh because I wanted to meet the owner(s) whom don't seem to take themselves too seriously. But it was closed. lol.

Sometimes my life, my art feels like this too. I'm in, I'm out and sometimes there all the time unless I'm someplace else? Are you like that? Or are you one of those scheduled, driven, stay-on-task, stay-in-the-moment kind of people?



sign Peter Hurd used outside his studio door

Sometimes I take myself too seriously. I add too much weight to my creativity. Pretty soon, it's like putting on shoes filled with concrete. It becomes a burden. Joyless.

I have to remind myself to enjoy my blog without the crippling worry that I don't always write with grammatical accuracy. Or that I have nothing super-interesting to show or tell.                         just post.
I have to remind myself that my drawing should get better but that every piece I produce is not going to be better than the last one.               just draw.
I have to remind myself that when no one buys my art that is still a valid and important endeavor and that has value simply because it brings me joy.                    just paint.
 So I write and draw and paint what I love and add important exercises in between and then back off and start back again serious, not so serious.... again... and again.

Following are a few of my recent journal pages.

My attempt at charcoal on gesso with pastel, trying to improve my hair strokes, thinking about light and shadows more.

My attempt at mark making with pen and no eraser- loosening up, trusting my instincts.

My attempt to visually express deep disappointment.

My attempt to draw postures and gestures.

 

My attempt to improve my anatomy and specifically, hand drawings.

 

My attempt to draw glass and work on values.

Some of these attempts are serious and some not so serious. But I have attempted- that is something I take very seriously.

 

Thank you to all who visit my blog. I treasure your comments and your thoughts.

Seriously.

I do.

A trip down Grateful Avenue.

This is my grandson, Cash, helping me celebrate St. Patrick day. We go to Target and borrow their hats to take our pictures. It seemed like a leprechaunish thing to do.

I draw almost every day now. I have a joined a site called "Drawing Tutorials On-Line" and have found it to be an endless source for learning and exploring. It also has running videos of poses of dressed and nude models for a pseudo life drawing experience and practice. I highly recommend -worth every cent.

Also, Pauline Agnew, an energetic Irish artist, over at Seedbed Studio is still encouraging me even after taking her class and is a constant source of good suggestions for great art books - (check out: "Drawing and Painting People). Her second class produced amazing art and we were invited to that event on-line. Check her out. She goes above and beyond as a teacher and gives honest and helpful critique of your work to help you move forward.

 

It's so amazing to me that a girl on a farm in rural New Mexico has access to so many amazing options that continually keep me inspired and pushing further.

You would think that Someone GOOD is looking after me and encouraging my art.

i want to make Him proud.

 I'M so G R A T E F U L

for the opportunity to do art, see art, be with artists.

Speaking of inspired- I took another art day through our museum and they were featuring New Mexican style design and art. Check out these lovelies.

Kim Wiggins - local Roswell, NM artist.

 

 

IN LOVE ...just in time

So much is happening over here! It's hard to stop and take the time to document the adventure and the PASSION I'm feeling about my art, about my life.

It waned for a while, quite a long scary while. It's hard to write when my soul is dry (sorry). The creative mind seems to take its own vacations. I still try to draw and paint through the hiatus, because it's much like the pounds I gain when I quit working out.

I lose ground if I quit the work.

I make myself draw and seek out inspiration from on-line classes. And remember.....it always comes back to me. Better.

 

It shouldn't make a difference, but it is SO VALIDATING when your art sells and my daughter sold SIX, YES SIX canvas giclee prints of the sheep painting (see last post) and sold the one above! (see me happy dance!)  I did manage to sell an 8X10 print of this one (on my own, mind ya)

 

It is so much easier, for me at least, for someone else to sell my art. Self-promotion is a tough sell for me.

She tells me to just hush and paint and she will keep them from being under my bed or replacing another painting on my wall. I LOVE IT!! I am taking the kid to Paris in September - if she keeps this up, she'll be paying her way in art sales!

I've fallen in love with charcoal and golden gesso. I've fallen in love with messy, and grungie, and scratches and hatches, and shapes and lines, and shadow and light.

Oh, it feels so good to be in love with my art again. It really feels fresh, raw and exciting like the first time- but a deeper, richer passion like what happens with Sweet Farmer and I over and over again. well maybe not just like it.. but you know what i mean..

REally, it's also like a new plane to stand on after a tough climb. REFRESHING.

I n v i g o r a t i n g.

I hope you are in love with someone, something - that makes your heart beat faster today. If not keep climbing, keep working, keep seeking- it's just up ahead... right around the corner.

30 X40 Canvas with Acrylic "Stay Curious" (prints available upon request)

 

You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind. The rational mind doesn’t nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth, because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating.” -Anne Lamott