a little afternoon painting

I spent a good portion of the morning on this computer, reading what many of you have been up to.  I was frozen to my seat by procrastination.  It reared its ugly head and I had to fight it! 
Finally this afternoon, after a quick trip to the airport to drop someone off, I went up to my little room and just started squeezing paints onto a pallet. 
I'd started this painting of this house about a year (or two?) ago, but pushed it aside.  It had had boats in the foreground, in dry dock, but I never cared for the way the painting was going.  I did, however, like the house.  Before I started to paint, I pulled out the photos that I had taken of this local scene, and decided to combine two of them.  I know this is not finished, I think the house is now lost up there on the rise, and it is hard to recognize that that is water in the foreground, but I worked for about an hour, and decided I had to stop or I might end up with mud.  I am working this in oil, and it is very small...4x6...

I'm also thinking that the top of the tree in the middle stands out too much.  I want to add highlights to the pine trees, and maybe I could tone that tree down.  Yes, I think the eye goes there, and I don't want it to be the focus.  Any suggestions?

Keeping Myself Busy

Good Morning~
So here I go again, trying to update this blog.  Sorry about the blurred photo up above.  I guess I  still have to get used to my new camera, and I hope to change that soon enough.


There have been some special people celebrating birthdays this month, and so I took a break from painting and drawing to make some cards.  Actually I did continue with my painting, I just did it in a different way.  This first card was made by gluing a magazine photo over a painted background,

and then painting over her features and the flower on her clothing.
I then added the details in the way of papers.  I decided to change the recipient of this card when I found an old fortune from a fortune cookie that I had once opened.  I removed the three words and added the fortune.  My girlfriend will no doubt be amused by this woman and the words,
 "awaken your divine nature within"

This next card was created by painting a background and "finding" the figure in the paints and tissue papers that I had glued down.  Then details were added.

 This little girl (below) is clip art that I received as part of an online art site.  I added the crown, and the butterfly is a fabric scrap.
                                           


This floral was very simply made with paper and stamps, with the flowers highlighted by- oh dear- the acrylic stuff that makes things shiny and adds dimension.  SO SORRY for not running upstairs to my little room to see what the stuff is called!

 And finally, for a dear friend in Texas who always surprises me in one way or another, a Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all.  I hope to be back soon!  I am off to bake a cake~

I am an Artist

There.  I've said it.  I have to believe it if I've said it, right? 
This past week, I have been in my little art room painting and stamping, cutting and gluing, and having a grand time.  I am simultaneously working on greeting cards, and those "journals".   
I will post some photos soon(?).   I am still figuring out my new camera.  I can't remember if I'd mentioned that my last one was dropped back in July, and I couldn't decide until recently, which way to go in order to replace it. 
I am an artist.  Why is that so hard to say?  I think I have to validate my reason for putting myself in that room for hours on end.   I don't make money on what I do.  Would that help?  I used to work in advertising, but I didn't call myself an artist back then. 
It is just an inner urge(?) to produce something.  I know You know what I mean.  Thank goodness my husband is understanding.  He plays the guitar every night after work, after dinner, after any bill paying, and after reading the newspaper.  Usually while relaxing with the TV on.  Yes, it is usually late!  But he knows how I feel.  He gets it.  Thank goodness he isn't the type who requires a full course meal every night (or a shiny, sparkling clean home, or a wife who works outside the home!)  Our four kids are grown (the last two are graduating from college this year- yea!) and so I don't have to provide meals for them, either (at least, right at the moment, I don't!)
It is Saturday morning.  We have some errands to do today, a mother to visit, and some finishing touches on some projects around here.  AND, it is a beautiful day outside.  I may try to squeeze in a walk.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Talk to you soon~

The Sketchbook Project

Well, here it is...The sketchbook that I'd finished, promised to share, and even mailed already to the Brooklyn Art Library.  Beginning with my cover, and page by page...

"D-R-A-W   

To some painters, draw is a four-letter word, but to become the confident,

successful artist you want to be, drawing must become a treasured part of your everyday life." 

I cut this quote out of an American Artist magazine a while ago, and it just

seemed like the perfect "writing on the wall" to begin this sketchbook.

As the Line Moves

In its own doing, points

Of feeling take shape.  Design

Curves with the gestures of time.

The slow hand works to catch

A heart quick in its choice

Of meanings.  What firm marks

Reveal and order, the mind

Feels while the drawing forms

Those inward places opened

By the line as it moves.

                       Martin Robbins

  I couldn't ignore the ways we write to each other, on Facebook, in texts and emails, and the symbols that
we use.

 Edith Head said..."Your dresses should be tight enough to show

you're a woman and loose enough to show you're a lady."

"The present is an ever moving shadow that divides

yesterday from tomorrow.  In that lies hope."

My favorite architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

  Isn't it true?  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

This is so me, on so many levels.

The End

I had so much fun with this project, that I have started a journal with my mother as the subject of the journal.  I realized that even though I have many sketchbooks with drawings, I don't go to them often enough- my mind goes blank when one is open in front of me.  But with this idea of having a particular topic, the ideas sort of flow.  I plan to do one for my sister, who is having a major birthday soon, and then I think I may devote a journal or two to color combinations, architecture, oh the list goes on.  I am a collector of magazine pictures, fabrics, quotes, art supplies, sewing supplies, and instead of keeping, say the magazine photos in a file, I can do something artistic with them to truly enjoy them.

Do you keep a journal?  Do you write in it with stories, poems, quotes?  Do you draw in your journal? Make your own books?  Or use the ready-made?  I'd love to hear from you~

jenny

oye

I am having a heck of a time loading these pictures.   I am hoping that nobody saw what was briefly posted as I had not edited.  This used to be fun...(lol!)

YES!

I am just putting the finishing touches on my sketchbook (which is so much smaller than I am used to drawing in) for the Sketchbook Project 2012, and then I will photograph the pages and post them.  Hopefully, the camera and this computer will cooperate with me and I can find the pictures after I load them.  Believe it or not, that has been a problem here with me lately.
The topic of my book is Writing on the Wall, and it has been a good deal of fun.  Hope to be sharing soon!
jenny

Ideas Overflowing!

Not quite two weeks ago, my daughter was married in a beautiful church ceremony which was then celebrated at a location on the ocean. This is where he asked her to marry him 15 months ago. They live in Arizona, so there were many (and I mean many!) phone calls back and forth in order to plan this wedding. Thank goodness for cell phones and a great calling plan!  They are pictured here, walking along the water's edge, just before night fall.  Their photographer wanted them out there, and I can't wait to see her photos.  My other daughter took this one, and I love it.  It is such a perfect photo of the two of them- and the exact opposite of the rest of the night, which was filled with laughter and dancing.  Like the song says- "all night long..."- I have to say that all the planning was well worth it. It was truly the most fun that I have had in years.   

It's funny.  Now that this monumental event has passed, people keep asking me if I feel let down and at a loss for what to do~on the contrary. With such good memories from the day/night, I feel so renewed and ENERGIZED that I am back to my old problem of focussing!

I have been free again to explore these blogs, visit a local art studio/gallery, and organize my papers and projects to begin creating once more.  (My little art room was transformed into a guest room during the wedding weekend, so I had to clean it up, put away the "stuff", make the bed into a bed again (and not just another shelf to lay things on)  and whatever else one does to make a guest fell welcomed!) 

Upon visiting that art studio/gallery, I decided to become a member so that I would have notice of up coming shows, and maybe even try to enter one or two. Another result of that visit, was a flood of thoughts into my head concerning projects that I have been saving for when I "have the time."  "Focus, Mom"  is what my daughter will say to me, as we talk at times, and my mind drifts to another idea.   Focus.  I'm trying!

Two blogs I would like to mention~   http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/  where I find the coolest collage works.  She was the inspiration behind my painting  lespwa-fe-viv.   She also has another site with videos showing how she accomplishes some of her paintings.  She's great-

The other is somewhat new to me~ http://creativecarmelina.blogspot.com/  This woman seems to do it all.  She draws, paints, sews, crochets, and more~  It was in visiting her that I read about the Sketchbook Project.  You can read about that here~ http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject.  She has been posting her pages from her sketchbook.

I have decided to try my hand at this.  Basically, you sign up, pay a fee, and in the mail you receive a sketchbook that is coded for it's eventual placement in the Brooklyn Art Library.   However, before that, the book travels around to various cities, where people may browse through them.  I love this idea.  There is a list of topics to choose from, or you can let them choose one for you.   I have asked for "Writing on the Wall."  This ol' head of mine is swimming with ideas that I am hoping I can execute.   The sketchbook isn't slated to arrive for another 2-3 weeks, and it must be postmarked by January something-or-other.  As I complete my sketchbook pages, I plan on sharing them.

Meanwhile I might go back to  meet-azzie.html, and make a change or two.  My sister saw the painting and loved it, but I have to try something first.   There is also something else I am trying with one of the wedding photos.  Again- trying to focus and execute what is in my head.

I am going to head up to my room now...see you later!

jenny