Back To Doing

I am back to doing or am slowly getting back to doing.  Doing what?  Something. Anything.  I don’t know.  At the core is a need to create and explore.  One thing I know is that doing leads to documenting.

Not long after finally creating something, I took a class at Wet Paint.  It was about self care and collage, so I’ve been playing around with shapes and not getting concerned about the results.  

I don’t even know what this is, but I created it.

This did not turn out initially or now, but I put it to good use and experimented.

Layer one was in Neocolor IIs (water soluble) used in the way I have used them in the past.  Since I didn’t like the result, I used a water brush, let that dry, and put more color on top with Neocolor Is (not water soluble).  I can see myself pushing this further and playing with this more.  

Today’s Art

I’m back to being creative  Two days ago, I started to draw out a painting. Yesterday, I felt both very tired, lazy, and unmotivated, so I spent several, refreshing hours knitting. The rest of the day, I just took it easy yesterday. Last night, we watched Metropolitan Opera’s free streaming of Lucia di Lammermore.

Today, I’m a little more motivated to get a few things done, including cooking. My neighborhood group send out their regular newsletter and encouraged people to do sidewalk art, since there are a lot of us going out for walks multiple times per day.

It’s a little brisk and windy today, so I went for simple and cheery.

Let's Post More In March Than In February

Wow! I only posted once last month. Here's to posting more in March and drawing and painting more, as well. 

Since I don't have any of my own work to share, let me share Kat's painting of my niece's cat, Drogo. I sent Kat several pictures of my niece's cats from when I was in Texas, last month. 

My niece is a veterinarian and just opened a vet clinic. In early February, an abandon kitten showed up and became the clinic cat. Lizzo was 10 weeks old when I snapped this picture. She had to go into the cage when a challenging patient was scheduled to visit the clinic.

This picture makes me smile whenever I look at it.

Paint Strokes

Hello, there. It's been awhile. Since I have a lot of new hummingbird pictures, I painted from one of the new ones.

#344 - 2019 Cabin Hummingbird

I'm back to feeling lost when it comes to painting backgrounds. The background for this one was originally a darker, duller red. I changed it since I didn't like it. 

I've been picking up my paint brush here and there and one frustration has been with paint strokes. To remove the barriers to just paint something, I decided to draw out some simple shapes in a pattern and practice filling them in. It worked well, since it gave me more than one try to fill in a shape.

While doing this, I found myself slowing down and thinking about the edges of the paint brush and how to best use them.  I have busy week, so I might practice with this a bit more.

Wow, Wow, Wow

It’s like the universe said “you, you need the information in this video”. I’ve watched some of Alphonso Dunn’s videos in the past and I think I need to watch more. In this particular video (and the one which precedes it), there was a lot which clicked. The breaking things down and seeing applies to all of it. The directional stuff seems like it would help with paint strokes.

By the way, part of my current non-focus has involved mindlessly scrolling through Facebook. I’m not sure why I am wasting time this way, but it’s sure easy to burn up time once you start! While I ate lunch today, I checked out part 1 and 2 of the drawing fur videos. If I am going to spend time looking at a screen, this is a much better use of time!

Tee Hee

It makes me so happy when a piece of my artwork ends up on a promo piece for Art 4 Shelter. The dock at sunset is one of mine and it's on one of the versions of the postcard sent out to advertise the event. It helps that I sent in 7 or so pieces in January. It might also help that Simpson Housing Services is one of my clients. Even so, I really enjoy it when this happens.

This is a terrific event. Mark your calendars now!  It's on May 15th from 6 pm to 9 pm at the Machine Shop in Minneapolis.

All I Want For Christmas Is The 1890 Census

Did you know that most of the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire in 1921? I didn’t either until recently. I have been repeatedly falling down the rabbit hole of genealogy research trying to map out potential family trees as part of trying to solve the mystery of my biological roots. While I believe the paternal side of my biological mother has been addressed with the help of a person who has been researching 8 branches of his family for 30 years, I have been building out the maternal side of this line and also trying to figure out the mystery of my biological father. There’s much less to go on with trying to figure out my biological father, so it’s been quite a bit harder.

On the bio-father side, I believe I solved one mystery without the 1890 census, but it would have been easier if it was available. I was trying to figure out Anna and Albert U1 to see if they were the same or different than Anna and Albert U2, since both the Anna's and Albert's had birthdays within several years of each other, both families immigrated to this country within several years of each other, and they immigrated within several years of each other.  It turned out they were the same. While there are a lot of family trees to look at on Ancestry, I'm finding that there is a lot of inaccurate information out there.  

Don’t even get me started on how useful it would be to have the census from 1950 going forward. Another thing, I’ve learned recently is that the census is not released to the public for 72 years, so I have to wait until 2022 for the one from 1950.

Having the progress slow down is frustrating, but probably for the best. It easy to get a little overwhelmed by it all.

On the art side, I am slowly getting back to making this more of a priority. I started this painting at Kat's Friday night open studio several weeks ago and finished it yesterday. I am out of practice, but it felt good to put paint on paper.

#288 - Chandler - 8" x 8" - paper

As part of getting art-making back into my life. tonight I spent some time organizing my art-making corner in the basement organized and that felt good, as well.

Why I Didn't Report

This blog is supposed to be about art and my journey with learning how to draw and paint. Occasionally, I'll cross over into the rest of my life, but not often. When I do, I try to stay away from the heavy or negative stuff of life, although it was really, really important to acknowledge Ella's death in September.

That makes this post way out of character for this blog.

If you just want to share my art journey with me (and that's fine), I would suggest you stop reading this post and go to the next one.

Before I was over the most intense part of grieving for Ella, what was happening in politics and our culture hit me like a ton of bricks and I spent several weeks walking around in a fog. One week after Christine Blasey Ford's brave appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I made a conscious decision to start being open about a painful part of my history.

I was sexually assaulted as a pre-teenager, by one of my brother's friends, and as a teenager, by my mother's second husband.

It's been scary, awkward, messy and uncomfortable to openly reveal this after so many years. While some people knew bits and pieces and several people knew most of it, it's mostly been a secret I've carried around.

I started to tell people by sending an email to my closest friends, followed by an email to my family, and another one to my husband's family.  I've received a great deal of love and support back from people. As important and helpful as that has been, something even more important happened. Once I started to share this with people, I was surprised at how much relief I felt from putting down the burden of carrying about this secret. In this crazy, messy world, I have been feeling lighter and freer.

However, that feeling has not carried over to my blog. Since I have not been capable of or able to write a blog post in more than 3 weeks, I think it's time to be open here as well. I am tired of hiding.

Another Busy Work Week

This week, I mostly played around with making brush strokes, so I did not paint with an intended purpose. It was good to just practice making marks.

Last night, I tried to do my September Art 4 Shelter painting and it did not go well. It's already been discarded. So I could end the night on a good note, I did a little planning for another big cat painting. This morning, after a good night's sleep, I drew out another Art 4 Shelter painting, so I guess I plan to work on a small work (5" x 7") and a large work (18" x 24") this week.

I did quick value sketches of both. I'm not sure that I am really massing values and value shapes, but I did think this is helping me think more "big picture" rather than focusing on the details.

Favorite Picture From The Minnesota State Fair

This is my favorite picture from going to the Minnesota State Fair, this evening. Have I mentioned that I love the camera I bought in November?

Noticing The Light

One thing that happens since I've started painting is that I will just notice that I like how the light is hitting something. It draws me in and I have to take a picture. This mostly happens when I'm at home with the cats. There's just something about natural, indirect light.

Ella was sitting in the chair in the kitchen with her body face towards the big windows, which she does not do very often, so there was natural light hitting her face and body in an appealing way. I ended up with 8 or so pictures of different facial expressions and/or angles of her face. She has always had these amazing ears. She is sixteen years old and has a number of health issues, however she is still so beautiful she can just take my breath away.

One of the pictures might become my next big cat painting. Since she is a gray cat, it really helps me to paint using a picture with good light.

Barn And Other Structures

In 2012, I went to a hoe down organized by friends who have an organic farm in Hutchinson MN.  This literally was a party to celebrate the end of the growing season (i.e. put the hoe down).  It was a potluck and included a barn dance. Most of the participants were from CSA-type farms in the area. I took several pictures of the farm buildings and now I wish I would have taken many, many more!

#237 - Barn & Other Structures

I started this one yesterday and completed it today. When I was working on the buildings, I kept thinking that this was going to be a terrible, terrible painting. After a short break and looking at it from a few steps back, I surprised myself that the buildings read pretty well. Certainly not perfect, but not terrible!  Things look vastly different over the end of a paint brush versus a few steps back.

How is life otherwise? Pretty good. Today is my anniversary and it started out with the arrival of a new flamingo. That's the good part of pretty good.

We still have no idea which friend(s) started the tradition or who is keeping up the annual tradition. All I know is that a new flamingo shows up every year on our anniversary. This year, the new one showed up some time between 10 pm and 7 am.

The not-as-good part is that I managed to cut my left thumb while making lunch this morning. It's not bad enough for stitches, but it was more than a surface cut. It still hurts. Later in the morning, I took a  break from working from home to go water the garden plot. While I was there I harvested some lettuce and managed to cut my right thumb. I'm really not sure how I managed to do in both thumbs on the same day, all I know is that having both of them bandaged is is annoying! I'm not superstitious so I don't think this has anything to do with it being my 13th wedding anniversary. However I've decided no more knives for me today.

Broken Streak

I had a long streak going. While painting, I have been cleaning my paint brush using the can with water rather than my water glass. An almost 2 1/2 year streak was broken today.

Sometimes The Universe (Or Craigslist) Provides Something You Really Want

Once I started using the tabletop easel I borrowed from Kat, I thought to myself that it would be nice to have an easel. The first time I looked on Craigslist, this one was listed for a very modest price. I picked it up this morning. As a  hobbyist, I didn't want to buy new or spend a lot.

To say I'm thrilled would be an understatement.   

Ever Feel As Though You Are Being Watched?

I'm noticing things outside my windows more. This morning, the three watering cans on the deck caught my eye.

I may have to try and paint this.

Personal Gallery

It suddenly occurred to me that I have finished many paintings, but have very few of them out. Until recently, I mostly painted on heavy paper in spiral notebooks, which is harder to display. For this round of painting class, I've switched to hardboard. Most of these are not long-term keepers, but I still enjoy looking at them.

Problem solved! The archway and many of the window in my home have nice thick ledges. My current paintings can lean on a ledge, until I want to replace them with a new crop. Then, I can gesso over the old ones and start over. If my feelings change about any of them and they become keepers, I can always add the hardware to hang them up later.

Woman In Chariot

I finished this one this morning. Backgrounds are still my nemesis. I fussed around with this one.

#192 - Heart of the Beast May Day Parade - 5" x 7" - paper - standard palette

Overall, this was a very fun challenge using an image that really speaks to me. I think it's the hardest thing that I have ever tried to paint, especially since it is so small.

I may have to look at other pictures I've taken at the May Day parade over the years and try painting from some of those.

Almost all of my 5" x 7" paintings on paper are going to Art 4 Shelter.  This year, the event is taking place at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on May 9th.

It Comes Back

From the pictures that I've taken over the years, there are a few images which just stay with me. This is one of them. It's from the Heart Of The Beast May Day parade. There is something so compelling and powerful about this woman in a chariot.

I finally decided to try and tackle painting it. It's a challenge. It has a ridiculous amount of detail, so I'm practicing making decisions about what to change, simplify, and so on. 

What I am happiest about is that I am out of my rut. Prior to vacation, I felt a little stuck or mechanical in my painting practice. I can't articulate what was off, but something was. I'm glad to have a daily painting practice, because if I just keep working the good always comes back.

I Painted A Face!

It's a fictitious face of a gnome, but still I painted a face!

#191 - Gnome Out For A Stroll - 5" x 7" - paper - standard palette

I like the gnome, flowers, and path. While progress never takes place in a straight path, I feel like I'm getting better at mixing colors, especially the ones in the face and beard.

This is another revisit. The last time I painted from the same source pictures was back in December 2016.

Drawing And Watercolor

If I don't document, I can't go back and compare where I was at various stages in the journey!

Currently, drawing has been less of a focus, although I still drawing everyday. Most times, it's right before bed and I'm just drawing something in the house which caught my eye. Most nights (unless I am really tired!), I pick something which allow me to work on capturing the relationship of multiple things to each other or the parts of a complicated thing to itself. Truthfully, I'm not doing much measuring or checking of angles and most of the time, I don't finish the drawing. Ever so slowly, I see improvement in my eyes and hand working together better.

On the watercolor front, I am being stretched. The class is really, really good. I am learning tons, but  I can't really do any of it, yet. Here is what I did for the most recent exercises. We were doing small, simple value studies. The top two pages were from pictures the instructor provided. The bottom one was from a picture I took of Split Rock Lighthouse. 

It is going to sound silly, but the idea of the idea of doing an entire scene in these exercises (even in a simplified form) filled me with angst. However once I was done, it unlocked something in my brain which caused me to be in the right frame of mind to see things differently on my ride to work early this week.