No longer a comment virgin!

A special thanks to Sandy Sandy, a fellow SmARTist, who posted the first comment! I'm hoping she will be the first of many, from many. I also just added a "myspace" space. I just realized just how extensive the on-line networking can be. I LOVE looking for and at the artists' blogs. (I've also found quite a few of my former students! ...so they'd better behave! lol) I'll be looking at facebook and twitter in the next few days.

Hmmmm - so what to post tonight. I think you'll get my "Boats fer Rent" - I know it's an odd perspective, but I remember 4th of July at the Dead Lakes - Uncle James & Aunt Pearl's place. If I remember right, to get to the lake, you had to go down the hill, and there were several small docks. I also found a Dead Lakes picture or two from the Florida Memory Project . It has a large archive of photos from the state with a pretty good search tool. Great site!

This painting all started with the cricket cage I purchased at an estate auction. It caught my eye and reminded me of one of those childhood memories that gets massaged occasionally. It's hard to see detail, but there are crickets in the cage, worms in the boat, a turtle on the bank and fish shadows in the water.... and a bug here and there.... hope you like.

A Horse of Many Colors.

I had been looking at a couple of Southwest Art magazines and was inspired to do this one. I like to do bold unexpected colors. (I have a bookcase I painted for the co-op that has a large funky colored tree on it that is in the same style.) These kinds of paintings seem to come quickly and flow once they get started.... and they are fun without a lot of thinking. I think doing things in unexpected colors helps me exercise my skill of seeing light and dark and shades in between. I'm hoping it will lead me to better ability to do more realistic looking paintings. I'd like the ability to do realism if/when I wanted to - but I'm not sure realism will be my "niche".

Painting to me is therapy, and when the real doesn't look real combined with my sick desire for perfection - it may not be the best idea for me to think realism will be my voice. BUT, I do love a good challenge. Guess I need to listen to my mood and let it dictate what the painting will be. Hey maybe that's why I seem to have 5 paintings started at one time! lol Anyway - I present my Horse of Many Colors and hope you enjoy! The original is an 8" x 10" acrylic.

SmArtist Artist ...in training...

A few weeks ago I took a leap of faith and have invested in myself and my art by registering and committing to a telesummit. If you click on the title you'll go to their registration web page to find out all they are offering. You know some of us education types.... suckin up all the information we can about what we do. I actually enjoy those meetings and inservices I go to when it applies to something I'm interested in. Things like brain research and how it applies to learning. Treatment of ADHD, (now all known as ADD I understand), etc. Now I will admit I CONSTANTLY doodle during most, but I have ADD so I can multi-task... no I NEED to multi-task in order to pay attention! ...but I digress.

I'm really excited about getting the information. Self-supporting artists - portfolios - how to find corporate buyers , tax and law information and more... all in the next 7 days. All from what appears to be credible qualified people. It's all going to be completed via an on-line format and I'll get a CD and a link if I can't catch it as it is taking place. (Which is a GREAT thing because in spite of my registering for the pre-summit sessions, I wasn't able to get to any of them as they were taking place!)

...soooo I'll be pretty busy these next few days and I may not post anything (also trying hard to do regularly) for a little bit. I am adding two photos... one of a tractor a former student now an adult and friend (Thanks Tonya!!!) took a picture of and then the painting I created from it.

As someone with strong roots in a rural farming area this was "home" and easy to invision the what the inside of the barn might look a little like (which was fabricated from a shallower region of the brain ;). I seem to have a "cartoony" (to me) edge to most of my attempts toward realism - but to me pleasing to my eye. I like the monochromatic color scheme here and learning the white/black color mixing to create the difference in shade was a little challenging. Definitely a learning experience! Hope you enjoy too!

Putting it in Order...

I just have finished painting the tops of my paint and putting them in my new organizer. I'm forever moving from home to school to class and it's been abnormally challenging to find the right color when ever the tubes were just dumped into a traveling bag. I'm hoping the craft tote I purchased will make the flow of paint go easier.

Newsworthy, our co-op didn't make it. ...not enough people to commit to their part in order to pay rent for this month. I'm glad we didn't have a lease. I feel with a little bit more planning initially would have helped us make it a little longer. I've not given up on the thought, and talks of another building has already emerged.

Also, I'd like to thank the members of the Northwest Florida Artist Guild for making me feel at home at my first meeting. I paid my dues, and look forward to our monthly meeting and workshop. The visiting artist was Joan Matey who does "miniature assemblages; mixed media art oddities, puppets and stage props" (got that straight from the site.) She spoke about art and emotional expression. She was featured in a documentary about her Bye, Bye, Bi-Polar Bears assembly, which is now in the appreciative hands of Patch Adams. It was quite a piece! Who would have thought I would start my first Art Guild meeting with tears. The piece was in honor/homage to a brother-in-law who had struggled with mental illness. Very moving, and hits close to home. Joan's creativity pours from her pores. I was inspired.

The painting added tonight I'm calling "Calling on Eagle Ancestors" and it's a 16" X 20" acrylic that started as finger painting. "I love playing in paint!" It is to honor the Native American woman's strength, power, humble & internal pride which can be paralleled with the characteristics of an Eagle. I love the colors and contrast. ...I'm learning and loving!

An abstract for fun... Entitled "Entwined". The original is still for sell, but I've sold note cards created in its honor.

This was one of those that just happened... (Same size as "Lobo's Boots")

One of the most difficult things I've found initially has been pricing my work. I have been told, the going rate for original paintings is $1 per square inch. So, that being the case, this one should have around a $600 price tag. I'll take it - but at this point in figuring out the importance of my art in my financial flow, all is negotiable!!!

Lobo's Boots and Realized Dreams...

It's been so long since I've been here, I had forgotten I had already posted this print photo. But - I'm leaving the post as I posted today. (Just illustrates my brain hiccups!) ...and so it goes:


This is the one that started it all...sorta. Many, many years ago I painted a picture of a washtub of roses. It was probably over 15 years ago. ...and it didn't produce many internal oooo's and ahs. There were a couple others in-between then and this one, with a lot of nibbles of creativity here and there. ...and then I got the bug.

This is a 32" x 40" acrylic (or some measurement like that - I'm in bed and don't feel like getting up... kidney stone #6 I'm afraid - and the memory capacity for numbers continuously diminishes!) It is entitled "Lobo's Boots" and I started with the real boots in front of me. I took the liberty of adding the background with a little biker consultation. I was tickled with the results. While I'm usually pretty content with self-satisfaction, the people in Lobo's life KNEW they were his boots. This external validation fueled the fire.

Since Lobo's Boots my art career has gradually moved upward. A charter member of Big River Valley Art Co-op, I'm getting expert instruction from a local professional, I've finished SEVERAL more paintings and feel I can legitimately call myself an artist. Someone besides family and friends have purchased originals and prints, with their new homes from New York City to Tallahassee. I'm stoked and realize I don't have enough time in the day to do what I love!

My plan is to use this blog as a means to share my work, the fun, the frustrations, the lessons and learning that happen as this part of my life develops. In the next few days I will be adding the collection and hope you come back soon!

It's A PRINT!

Yipee! It's a print. A while back I started that geranium/begonia painting and rather than turn the begonias back to geraniums I started another painting instead (the one on the left), and then another, and then another, and then another. Most days I'd rather paint than eat - which is quite a statement coming from me! I've several paintings completed...almost 5 now. ...and I have a couple started at the moment. ...and a couple I wonder if I'll EVER finish! lol

I'd love to get home from work, throw the paint-pants on and paint every afternoon - but with students just starting, testing , etc. I can't seem to get home at a decent hour and then I get home so tired - I crash. My painting has come to a slow crawl except for Thursday nights where I actually have started a painting class. I'm learning a lot about technique and things such as retarder (I love the stuff!). I've also learned that when painting black - you really don't use black paint. (Who'da thunk it?) and I also have figured out a portrait with acrylic paints is not an easy task!

All that being said... I took my first leap. I had prints made. ...Yes, now, once I sell just one... lol I'll consider myself an artist! I laugh, but I can't tell you how hard it was to show someone my work. I liked it, my honey liked it, his children liked it, my child liked it (I guess) and I jumped. My honey has a friend that owns a business as a photographer and he and his wife have started doing artist prints. It just so happened that the guy has a passion for vintage toy trains. ...and I just happened to have bought some to sell on Ebay. Needless to say - I love bartering!

I had it "set-up" and now can have prints made of any size, any type of paper, canvas even, if you like. The first ones are giclee' prints that are museum quality and will last more than 100 years. I've had a few already printed and if I get a special order I only have to make a phone call for the order to be in. It depends on how busy they are with weddings and such how quickly it will be printed.

I will be adding other photos of my paintings as I can. I'm going all out now. With little exception I share something that I didn't think I'd really ever put it "out there" for people to see. Breaking down walls of my own. Be gentle, be critical, give me pointers, ask for an order... for now I haven't set any prices - so all is negotiable at this moment. ...make an offer. :)

Turning Geraniums into Begonias

Been a long time - dream hasn't changed. Painting more often - struggling with some flowers - turned some geraniums into begonias - will try again maybe tonight. Having never had any formal training I have a tendency to go over and over the trouble spot again, leaving some pretty thick paint. I kind of like it that way as it adds texture to the mix. Guess it's just "my style". lol I've finally gotten the courage to take it to the local restaurant to test the "can I be a money making artist" instead of a "teacher that likes to paint." Makes it a little more frustrating when I can't seem to get it to look just like I envision it. I've just got to "finish" it!

Until the next...

me

...and I did finish it - seeeeeee!!!