Pregress on Puppet Master

I find it interesting....the process.

First you see something that for some unknown reason compells you. The more you paint...the more you change trying to say something with whatever it was that compelled you.

The process is enlightening...and a growing experience on a personal level and as an artist.

The hands are ONLY BLOCKED in....they have yet to be painted...the cloud I added because I wanted to emphasize the godliness of the hands and thought I might add a ray of sunshine behind the cloud pointing to the hands....but at this point I'm not sure I need that yet.

All of this obviously has to be refined....but I am slowly finding a language with this painting.

If there's one thing about me...It may take me 20 years to get something right...but I will say.....I don't give up easily.

My new release piece

I get so stressed working on the Puppet Man that I started this piece. I just made the face up..started painting and the started feeling where I wanted it to go. I think at this point it will be nature...tropical. I'll keep adding elements. I'll suggest water at the top of the canvas and at the bottom...I may even add some shells...not sure.

Puppet Man

OMG...yes, this crazy thing is still around and still not done...I started it and the composition was all wrong...I wasn't happy with it because it wasn't saying enough for me....so I'm still trying to salvage the piece. My thought is that I would add another canvas on top...and then have other hands on the top controlling the man whose controlling the puppet...kinda like we're all in the hands of a greater being....I'm not sure this will work...but that is the direction I am going in. I'm having a VERY difficult time with his face because the photo is blurry and you can't really see his face distinctly...and the other problem is I have to find some hands to paint at the top....I could do all this and wind up trashing the thing...of which I've thought about many times....the only problem is I'm hard headed and don't give up.

I think IF it does turn out...I'll have to frame it so that it's once piece but seperated...like a triptych if I'm saying it correctly.

Another Life Drawing Session

Finally made it back to Life Drawing. With the weather being bad I need to push myself. I really do enjoy going to the Art Barn. It usually winds up being about 5-6 people there. Several of the men are sculptors. At times Gerrie and I are the only females there other than the model. It's a two hour session with the model starting at a few minuets with poses and builds up to 30 and then an hour.

Her face is all wrong...but I was more concerned with getting the pose. It's good practice...practice...practice.

Another release piece in progress

I painted a little today on the Parisian Puppet Master, the three little girls and my release piece that is evolving as I put my brush to canvas. I like just painting from my head and changing things here and there until I feel alright about it. I'd like to incorporate some collage and mixed media into this if I can.

It's a learning process...about painting and about myself.

I find that when I do these kinds of pieces they always wind up being very earthy...they are about nature. I think it's leaning that the top will be water...the bottom-earth. I would like at this point for this painting to be Gauganish.

Done With These...slowly moving forward....

Journey of An Artist.....

Wow...it's been a long time since I've written a post. I guess I'd have to blame it on "life". The daughter got married...we then made a trip to Prague, New Orleans, Tampa, Richmond, Maryland and Kentucky to help my daughter out after being in a car accident. Then I bought a dog (GoldenDoodle) since my husband got a promotion...Like I said..."LIFE"!

But I started the New Year thinking..."why do I have these paintings I don't like?" So I decided to re-do some of them..finish what I was working on and do more of the things I enjoy...like just painting from my head....instead of doing these up tight paintings that have to be so precise. See...that's the rebel in me.

In the photo..the paintins on the floor...are ones I've finished..some I'm working on and tonight I started the exotic one. I started painting from my head...so we'll see where it goes.

This year I am NOT focused on entering a bunch of shows...my focus is "produce"! And just enjoy the process.

Update on Italian flower girls

oops! I thought I'd posted this update already....I painted more on this...but it's still NOT done...taking a break from it!

Organic Abstract

I had to put down my three Italian girls for awhile...It get's just too tight for me...so I started something with no rules....(there really are lots if done properly) an abstract. It seems every time I try an abstract it turns organic.

It's evolved over time and it's still evolving....

Slowly adding color

Here's an update on my three flower girls in Italy...I'm slowly adding color. I thought I could just glaze over it, but am having to re-paint over it...Not sure what I want to do if anything with the background....I'll figure it out as I go. Intuit....isn't that what you call it? Feeling my way through this....

Up-Date on my Little Italian Girls

It's 10:18 pm, and I've been painting most of the day. I'm sure my arm will be screaming at me tomorrow....Hope you can notice a difference...

Flower Girls in Italy

Yes, it's been awhile since I could immerse myself with painting. The wedding the adjustments, etc..

I took a plein air class that set me back..mentally (I took it after the wedding and hadn't rebounded yet)....but I got up..brushed myself off and came back to the studio to start once again another laborious painting. This one was taken by my good friends in Italy that attended a very traditional Italian wedding and sent this along to me in the event I could make a painting of it. Years later....here I am starting that painting.

For me this painting was about the color in the ribbons and the baskets...and then the personalities of the little girls...the one on the left passively looks down at the one in the middle..the one in the middle is in the middle of it, actively doing something...and the one on the right...being contrary and stepping on the ribbon of her basket. You may remember that little girl with the pig tails. She is the one I did years ago that was accepted at the Salon Show.

I started off with just umber...then umber and black...then I introduced white....just working on the values ,drawing and details. For me it's about finding shapes in the folds the hair, etc...once I find these things...then I can soften them. I know there's a better way to do this...but I never seem to follow rules....as I guess I am a rebel at heart. When I'm done getting the drawing and details and values right I'll glaze in the colors. I did this on my painting of Makenzie when I was taking a portrait class in Chicago.

Just a note...I have a new appreciation for plein air painters. The sun...shadows keep moving constantly and you have to keep readjusting your painting....I think I'll stick to a photograph that doesn't move!

Franklin Goose

I just had to take a moment and post about a shop I have encountered that I absolutely love!

Franklin Goose. It's a baby-children's store and on-line store that features very cool products that have been researched to be the best in the industry for baby/children and the environment. Safe and green! I have ordered several times with this company and have been totally delighted. I love that they have done their research to protect our children from hazards of toxic paints, varnishes that may be harmful, etc. I was able to go to the store in Richmond while there this past summer and it's adorable on the inside! They have painted murals around and all their displays are recycled items which is good for the environment! Very, very cool products. I love it!! Check it out...http://www.franklingoose.com/retail/richmond.php

Theresa Bayer

I just wanted to share my latest purchase by Theresa Bayer...an artist who lives in Texas. I found her on Daily Painters of which I subscribe.

Check out her website....She is also a very interesting person.

National Academy Reopens - artnet Magazine

National Academy Reopens - artnet Magazine

Walking among the Giants

So Wednesday I drove into Chicago to meet two other fellow artist friends to gallery hop. We met at the new CAC (Chicago Artist Coalition) in their new location which turns out is in quite an industrial type area. It was hard to park as close by were a lot of movie trailers getting ready for some production of something. I know Oprahs studio is close by. It was a windy day and we had several strikes against us when we found several galleries were gone! We gave up the endeavor and went to the Loop area and went throug the Columbia Univ. Photo Gallery and walked in Grant Park among Magdalena Abakanowicz forest of headless giants made of iron. It was awesome. Now I know how tiny children feel walking downtown with a bunch of adults.

The best part of the trip was sharing ideas and thoughts from each other. Exchanging ideas and learning a different perspective is always refreshing.

Madness on Canvas

You know that desert landscape I started...and just never really liked? Well, this is what it turned into...after the need to slap paint like a kid without intention...so I call it my madness on canvas. No doubt I'll work on it again. But doing this helps me to want to do something structured again. I am like a pendulum. If I swing too far one way I want to swing back. It's like purging a need. Self discovery.

Struggle

I haven't posted for awhile. It's partly due to planning my daughters wedding and taking advantage of the sun when it decides to appear...and lots of yard work along with a lot of travel.

But part of it is that I started working on something I haven't done before and is a little foreign to me...and on top of that I am searching for something...that something being a new style, or whatever. I usually know when it's "right" or suites me, and I haven't gotten there yet. I guess I'm somewhat of an intuitive painter. I'll post what I started out with. I got tired of what I had and just smeared color all over it...now mind you...I am not abandoning the painting....I am just abandoning the approach. Part of this is that I feel the need to play!!!!

When I smeared color all over it ,I went to Home Depot and bought a drumel tool and different attachments. I started doing all kinds of crazy things to the canvas...just to see what would happen. So I learned what worked, and what didn't. I use the canvas like a piece of drawing paper...I just paint out a glob and see how I feel...

I almost never do landscapes...so don't really know how to approach it. I have learned to take it in sections or shapes...etc....but when do you break the rules....when do you forge a new path? The path less taken?

This is my yearning to break away from detail and tightness...eventually I'll get there.

This will probably wind up in the trash can...but it won't be a total waste, because it allows me the time to "play"...and discover.....and release....then...I'll start on another up tight piece again!

Life Drawing Study

Things are slowing down a bit.....

Went to Life Drawing at the Art Barn..here's a study....with the weather getting a bit better I have been taking advantage of the sunshine and working in the yard. This also is good for my soul...along with painting. There are so many things I want to do....if I could only cut myself up in tiny pieces and spread myself around.....to accomplish all that I want to!

I'm getting ready to go scuba diving with my sons in Key West and hopefully get some photos that may inspire me for a painting. There is a lot of craziness in the Keys to take advantage of!

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. ~Theodore Geisel

Best of Show for Reflections of Copenhagen

Went to the reception for a show I hung "Kool Heat" in at the Southern Shores Art Gallery and found they chose my painting to grace their window. That was a compliment for me.

The reception was great. A major turn out! Lots of interesting people...and several other galleries were having receptions (First Friday). Michigan City has declaredd the area an official art district and I see great things happening there.

Saturday went to the reception at the Art Barn. I love the Art Barn. I'm going to post some pictures for you. I'd love to paint it some day. Anyway, I discovered I won Best of Show for "Reflections of Copenhagen"!

I always feel funny winning an award....because there are always other paintings that are worthy of the award as well. Not to say I really, really needed the lift. Sometimes you can work so hard on a painting and it goes no where...and some times you work so hard and it's just nice to get the recognition. I paint...because it's a part of my being. I have to paint. It's like breathing for me. A language I am still trying to cultivate.

Parisian Puppet Master Update after Saba Dive Trip

I absolutely have not had enough time to paint lately. Why does life get in the way???

We took a dive trip to SABA...a Dutch Carribean island for a week and I've been running since we got back. I'll post some pictures of the island. It was really wonderful. The island has the shortest runway in the WORLD!!! It's not for the faint of heart. When we left the island they had to chase the mountain goats off the runway. The island only inhabits 1500 people. They live like mountain goats also as everything is straight up or down. They have a rainforest and cloud forest. We hiked the cloud forest. 2.5 hours and my knees couldn't go down without pain by the time we got to the resort...I could go up...just not down.

The diving was awesome!!! All the coral reefs were alive and beaming with life. It was like diving in an aquarium. Saw a giant reef baracuda that looked like a shark. We saw areas where the sulfer was coming up from the underground valcanoe and we could put our hands in the sand and feel it's warmth.

Enough of the trip. Still trying to figure out how to make the painting look more contemporary...I decided I wanted strings attached to his hands...like he also is a puppet...someone is always pulling our strings....I still have not addressed the fence seriously..still working on the man and puppet...since they are the main focus...I don't know why it takes me so long to work on these things. Some people pop out paintings like theres no tomorrow....I envy that...but I can't. My paintings are painstakingly done. Sometimes they become a burn out for me. I put so much time in these things that I feel like I should charge a billion dollars for them....no one understands why paintings are so expensive...because of the TIME that goes into them!!!!

Stress Release

What do you do when you get all tense and tight from doing tense and tight paintings??? Let it Rip!!! That's what I do. Sometimes I want to NOT think...but just flow...fast, quickly and just enjoy being like a kid again...not worrying about how it's going to look. After I do this, I am ready to move forward on a planned ,tight piece.

This canvas was given to me by a friend that was moving. The canvas was warped and the canvas wasn't stretched properly and it had way too much slack on the stretchers....so I used it for my release piece.

I'm done with Reflections and had started The Puppeteer....yes, another controlled piece that has a LONG way to go.........(if my arm doesn't fall off first). The hazards of painting and over use of ones arm. What is NOT fun is the fence. I'll probably spend more time on that fence than anything else. It has to be just so correct or it'll be soooo noticable. Remember in drawing 101...when the professor let you pick something to draw... your shoe or a bottle, and the students thought drawing the bottle was so much easier...and then later realized that drawing the shoe was easy and the bottle...much harder....because it has to be just so right. WEll that's that crazy ornate fence! So when I get stressed on the fence, I'll take down my "release" canvas and slap some more paint on it....and just smile....like a kid....that's doing it for pure "JOY"!

Street Performers from Around the World

Street performers from around the world...that will be the series I start on now.

I started a large canvas of a Pupeteer in Paris on a bridge over the Siene. His puppet which is a rocker is dressed like his master, and the Pupeteers hands are doing it's charm for his little friend.

I'll post what I've gotten done in a few days...when I can get the drawing and placement down.

Reflections of Coppenhagen-Update

I thought I was done with this and then decided I didn't like the sign as dark as it was so I lightened it. I likeit better lighter, but am having a hard time covering it with a consistent color. Maybe this is the drawback of acrylics. Also the other sign shows through and it was hard portraying that and having it look right.

Like I said...I'm just never done with a painting...there will always be something...

Cawain of Paris

This is a picture of one of his paintings that someone on Facebook posted. Now you can see the comparisons of what I acquired several years back and what he's doing now..

Cawain of Paris

So here's an update to several older posts. Many people have been looking for Cawain of Paris and until now he had fallen off the earth.

On my Facebook Artist page someone notified me and sent me his site! I have posted it belowe.

I find it odd though...as though the artist went through something that changed him because his work for me has changed a bit. Post a comment and let me know if you feel the same way.

I am posting a picture of his that I acquired in Paris several years ago..

Mahmud Cawian

www.badzinski.de

http://www.badzinski.de/cawian

.htm

Mahmud Cawian

www.badzinski.de

Reflections of Coppenhagen-Update

I haven't been able to paint as much as I'd like, due to my shoulder again. I'm certain it's repetitive stress syndrome...but anyway.....

This painting has been fun and a different challenge for me...as I keep finding different things that I didn't see before...such as...under the shelf up towards the top there is a scene of the countryside and the top of a building which is a reflection of the reflection of a building with windows reflecting the image. Also in the far left window someones light is lit and the shade is cockeyed. Also a reflection of another window above the man and a tree. Now the interesting thing is that there is also a door that is reflected on his head which I haven't painted yet.

So many little things in this painting....

Quotes for the Soul

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~Henry Ward Beecher


Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~Scott Adams

Another up-date on "Patriot"

Softened some areas and lightened the background....

As I said...my paintings are never done...and I think that's because...I get too involved working and get sooo close that I stop being objective. When you put the painting away and relax and then walk upon the image fresh.....then....you see some problems.

In Progress "Reflections"

Painted a little more over the week-end. Still in the mapping and refining stage.

An interesting observation while working on this...When I was working on some of the splotches on the window...I noticed that the reflection of the baby in the baby carriage on the bike had a reflection of a babies face in the window. Also the whole city block was reflected in the window.

What I am always amused with when working with photos is that when you really start looking, you find things you would have never ever noticed. That's what intrigued me to do this. I think the title "Reflections" is perfect. It reflects the time I was there and all the reflections in time and space.

Started A New Painting...

I know....I'm doing it again....working on a painting non stop for hours on hours without eating lunch..staying up till 11:30 and painting....now the arm is killing me again! I just hope it holds out so I can go to Life Drawing tomorrow.

This will be and is a very difficult painting. I took this in Denmark at a Cafe Station in the middle of the square. You can see through the booth...see him and see from the reflections in front of him...and then my reflection also. It shows the Danes coming and going and all the hustle and bustle. I'm hoping to make it more about all the color. Right now I'm spending tedious time mapping this thing on the canvas. It's taking hours just figuring it all out.

The Patriot

It's done... (I think)..I hope..unless something pops out at me later which usually happens.

I look at this and still wonder....A full colonel that went rouge or just a guy who likes military pins????

Maria Pace-Wynters

This is my new acquisition. "Dream Me Up". I absolutely love it. I am an artist that loves to paint and I love to collect. I only buy if it speaks to my soul such as "Dream Me Up".

It's odd, but I find at most gallery openings the majority of people there are ususally artists. So I guess it winds up that artists support artists. Very few people off the street or people who are not connected to art come to these openings.

This artist is Maria Pace Wynters who resides in Canada. Check out her web site:

mariapacewynters.com

Patriot

A little more each day. So much little stuff in this painting and my shoulders bothering me again. I painted from 10:30 till..well I just stopped and am no making this post. An up-date. I think I'm going to call him Patriot because he has some Full Colonel wings on with a pin above that has red white and blue.

Anyway...Still working on him...

Beginning A New Painting-Blue Eye

Since We're still under a state of emergency due to the storm of the century and snow coming up the door with drifts in some areas of 5 ft., I thought it the proper time to start my new painting.

I ran into this fellow in Boulder, Colorado at the Boulder Fest. I was walking around with my brother and sister in law and found this fellow sitting working on some jewelry. My brother asked to take his picture and he agreed for $5.00! I was intrigued and scared of the man, but there was something about him that really captivated me.

He had all kinds of things on his hat (including the proper insignia for a full colonel) on his hat which I will put later. He also had a strange looking jewelers loop on his left eye which I am not putting in and I brought his hat down farther.

Amazing what being snowed in can do to you...gets you UNdestructed!

I'll post again when I'm done.