I've been rolling right along with my preps for the Clowes Hall show.
I got my new camera, a Canon Powershot A495. It's 10 megapixels, but hey, I'm upgrading from a 3 megapixel camera, so the clarity is stunning as far as I'm concerned. I was worried about being able to afford a camera at, basically, the drop of a hat, but I kind of lucked out. My old camera, a college graduation giftie from my mom, happened to die just as Canon was rolling out their 14 megapixel cameras. This dropped the price in the formerly new 12 mpx cameras, and, of course, practically clearanced the 10 mpx. Yay for good timing!
And with that, I bring you these beauties:
These are four of my latest paintings, all to be shown at Clowes. I'm calling them all "Bouquet - ..." (Bouquet- Pink, Bouquet- Yellow, Bouquet- Rose, Bouquet- Green, to be exact). The Yellow one and the Rose one are flowers the BF has given me. I'm not sure what the yellow flower was called, he always finds such interesting flowers that I have no idea what they are. The Rose is the flower he gave me for our anniversary. (Awwww.) The Pink one is some little flowers that grow across the street from my house; I have no idea what they are either, but they are cute little round things with vibrant color. The Green is because, well, every Bouquet needs some greenery, right? They range in size, with the Rose being pretty big and the Green and Pink being very small.
And then there are these guys:
Together, I'm calling them "Power." (Power One, Power Two, Power Three). They are painted from photos I took last time I went home to Illinois. About 20 minutes from my grandma's house, there are a crop of these things. I can see them from my grandma's town, but they are itty bitty, only a half inch tall. Then you drive. And drive. And drive. And they get bigger. And bigger. And bigger. The photos I took, I think, are awesome. A storm had just passed, and these were to the east of me, so the storm was retreating to the horizon in the pictures, adding that dark sky look to the background to make the windmills pop out really well. I painted them with a nice, bright blue, because, well, I wanted to. There are two more that I have yet to take pictures of, the last one just finished today, so they'll be up shortly. These will all be at Clowes too.
The one in the middle is the one I started with, but, geez, that thing gave me so may problems. The windmills are a very geometric form. The blades, no matter what place they are spinning in, are each a certain degree seperated from the others. Get that angle wrong and the whole thing looks off. I painted the blades on that middle one at least twice (three times in some parts). I painted the background with such a nice, blended blue, that it was difficult to re-blend in areas where I needed to. Frustrating. But finished. And I'm happy with the results.
I just loved the grace and shape of these windmills. They're like the future, but then, there they are, in the middle of a corn field, next to some old barns that have been standing since Woodrow Wilson was president. It's like when I remember that my great-grandfather was born in the same year the Wright brothers first flew a plane, and lived to see all the leaps in technology before he died in 1994. That was alot of advancements. And here they are, spinning away, next to an old farm barn. Or, as a friend put it when he stumbled upon some windmills in a field, "If we had a case of beer, we'd STILL be up there, watching them spin."
***
I've been working on framing my paintings. I bought a nifty lil mat cutting kit at Hobby Lobby (40% off coupons rock!). I've pretty much got the mat cutting bit down. I've been hoarding frames from Salvation Army and Goodwill and such, so I only have two more frames to acquire. For reassembly, I was told a quick easy way to secure everything within the frame, but with the larger ones, it's just not going to work. So I think tomorrow (with another 40% coupon!) I'll be purchasing this device that shoots lil holders into the frames (or, as I've been calling them, tabby things). I figure, if anything, I'll be able to make some side money cutting mats and reassembling frames, to earn back its purchase. Anyone need some mats cut?
I don't work well with glass, though. I cut my leg, I cut my finger, and I cut my other finger! All on my left side, too! They're starting to heal up, but last weekend was a bit disheartening. Or it was all just the loss of blood. Hard to tell. I've started wearing my leather work gloves when messing with the framing glass, so that's worked out.
I did break the glass on a large frame though. Grrrr. And then I broke it again while trying to move a piece of plywood today! Just not cool. But, there's an upside! I have an art friend who works in stained glass, and she said she'd cut the glass down to smaller sizes for me, which works out, since I had some smaller frames that needed glass! Win!
I have an exstensive list of things that still need to be done, 10 days to do it all in, one painting half done, 4 that need to be photographed, 3 blank canvases that are calling to me, solid ideas for 2 of them and 1 canvas that has vexed me for the last time and will have something painted over it soon.
That's the rundown for now, I'll have another update soon, with all that stuff I promised in the previous post. For Reals.
The one in the middle is the one I started with, but, geez, that thing gave me so may problems. The windmills are a very geometric form. The blades, no matter what place they are spinning in, are each a certain degree seperated from the others. Get that angle wrong and the whole thing looks off. I painted the blades on that middle one at least twice (three times in some parts). I painted the background with such a nice, blended blue, that it was difficult to re-blend in areas where I needed to. Frustrating. But finished. And I'm happy with the results.
I just loved the grace and shape of these windmills. They're like the future, but then, there they are, in the middle of a corn field, next to some old barns that have been standing since Woodrow Wilson was president. It's like when I remember that my great-grandfather was born in the same year the Wright brothers first flew a plane, and lived to see all the leaps in technology before he died in 1994. That was alot of advancements. And here they are, spinning away, next to an old farm barn. Or, as a friend put it when he stumbled upon some windmills in a field, "If we had a case of beer, we'd STILL be up there, watching them spin."
***
I've been working on framing my paintings. I bought a nifty lil mat cutting kit at Hobby Lobby (40% off coupons rock!). I've pretty much got the mat cutting bit down. I've been hoarding frames from Salvation Army and Goodwill and such, so I only have two more frames to acquire. For reassembly, I was told a quick easy way to secure everything within the frame, but with the larger ones, it's just not going to work. So I think tomorrow (with another 40% coupon!) I'll be purchasing this device that shoots lil holders into the frames (or, as I've been calling them, tabby things). I figure, if anything, I'll be able to make some side money cutting mats and reassembling frames, to earn back its purchase. Anyone need some mats cut?
I don't work well with glass, though. I cut my leg, I cut my finger, and I cut my other finger! All on my left side, too! They're starting to heal up, but last weekend was a bit disheartening. Or it was all just the loss of blood. Hard to tell. I've started wearing my leather work gloves when messing with the framing glass, so that's worked out.
I did break the glass on a large frame though. Grrrr. And then I broke it again while trying to move a piece of plywood today! Just not cool. But, there's an upside! I have an art friend who works in stained glass, and she said she'd cut the glass down to smaller sizes for me, which works out, since I had some smaller frames that needed glass! Win!
I have an exstensive list of things that still need to be done, 10 days to do it all in, one painting half done, 4 that need to be photographed, 3 blank canvases that are calling to me, solid ideas for 2 of them and 1 canvas that has vexed me for the last time and will have something painted over it soon.
That's the rundown for now, I'll have another update soon, with all that stuff I promised in the previous post. For Reals.
Beautiful paintings Joy, can't wait to see them in the frames. It will all come together, it always seems hectic the last couple weeks. I am sure that massive loss of blood makes it all seem much worse tham it really is LOL. Great blog post!
ReplyDelete