I Would Dance if I Could

Hooray! My art is published in a national magazine! My signature piece, Springtime of My Second Life, is on the last page of the December issue of New Mobility magazine.

'Springtime of My Second Life'

11x14

Colored Pencil

Self Portrait Progress

Last week I mentioned that I had begun a new blog, Artists Paint Themselves,  to showcase artists' self portraits. I've had a lot of great responses and they are there for you to view. Today Katherine Tyrrell has mentioned it on her well known art blog Making a Mark. Please take a look at Artists Paint Themselves, and if you have a self portrait, just email me and we'll get it posted. Thanks!

As you can see, hardly anything has been done this past week. I just couldn't get focused. Today seems better, and I've begun two paintings. I'll tackle this later this week.

Announcement!!

I'm so excited!! I have started another blog and I hope all of my friends out there will take a look and then jump in and email me your work. The title is Artists Paint Themselves. The purpose is to share self portraits, not just ones done as mature artists, but some showing how we got to where we are. Please check it out. 

11x14

And speaking of......I've begun another self portrait. This is how far I've gotten. It seems like I'm jumping all over the place on this one. This is all colored pencils. I'd love some feedback.

Self Portrait; a Wee Bit More To Do

I cannot wait to be finished with this! There are so many things in my studio and head that are calling me, but this is a priority. I'd say about four more hours on the hands, and...voila!! Yesterday I spent thirteen hours in my chair without lying down for awhile, I think that's a record for me. All of that time was in the studio, and then when I got in bed I couldn't sleep and I sat there sketching some new ideas for paintings, and I woke up at 4am and almost got up to start painting....I had to tell myself to slow down and get more sleep. Now I've been working all day and I hate to even stop to fix dinner, but I'm hungry. Has this ever happened to any of you? Have you been in the zone for days on end, and nights, too? Tell me what you did about it. Thanks :-)

Self Portrait, Again....

Not much work done on this, but I've also been preparing canvases for three more 6x6s. I also have to start another colored pencil piece to submit to the CPSA show. I could use one I've already done, but of course I never think they're good enough.

More Self Portrait Progress

I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard, but I want to post this tonight because some friends have asked about it and I don't want them to think I'm a lazy artist who doesn't slave away every day. Thank you to all my friends who take the time to check in on my blog or who just ask me about it over the phone. You are all important to me. 

Cats, Self Portrait, and Reflecting on Reflections

Almost every day I glance at my computer ( and look who is always there, waiting for a scratch under the chin) and remember that I should post but I always want to wait until I have something bordering on  perfect to show you. You know how that is with us, our own worst critics. So today, here I am. And I'm here with my far from perfect work, but at least I've been real busy and I have a lot of things half finished.

These are two of the four cat paintings I hope to have finished by tomorrow so I can hang them in the gallery.  The one on the left still needs the butterfly to be done, but that's just a fifteen minute job.  They are both on deep gallery wrap 6x6 canvases. The one I'm working on now will have a dragonfly above the cat's head. These are just fun for me. We'll see if they sell.

 Now, to me, this one is important! This is one of the two I'll submit to the CPSA show, and I hope I get in this year. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. This  is a self portrait and I can't tell you much about it, you'll have to hang in there with me and keep checking. I will say those are my hands in front of me. Sorry it's so blurry, it was on my mantle and I couldn't get a steady shot. 

So, speaking of reflecting.....if you read my last post you'll know that I was advised to never use the reflection idea again. Well, here is another one that is hanging in my dining room, and I like it. Yes, I like it! My dining room table has a black granite top and the reflections in it are beautiful, so I just had to paint some. 

Thanks for coming back to see what I'm doing. Believe me, I spend way too much time looking at my favorite blogs. I don't always comment, but I'm there. Don't we have a great little world here, being able to enjoy each others' work and having the ability to communicate about art?

President Obama, Now Doesn't That Sound Good?

I couldn't tear myself away from the tv until about two o'clock, long after President Obama was inaugurated. It was so great to see so many people, braving the cold, waving American flags, wearing Obama knit hats, and chanting, "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!" Well, now it's a reality, and I pray for President Obama to have the strength to accomplish what we all want him to. I pray for him to be safe.

 

In my in and out time of the studio today, I worked on some more collages ( the one above has obviously not been trimmed yet) and then started a painting of my cute little nephew, Gabriel. I'm listening to my friends now, because so many have said they like my other work but my portraits are the best. I love to do portraits! The only ones I've done have been in colored pencil, so I thought I'd challenge myself to do one in acrylics. We'll see how that goes tomorrow. After that, a self portrait. Ooooooohh...scary. I've had to put my airport picture up to look at it for awhile before I start on it again. I got bogged down in details and knew I had to stop.

 I hope that our leaders will be creative as they examine new ways to deal with old problems.