Requiem For A Paintbrush

  Oh Paintbrush, I knew you well.  You were such a loyal, hardworking paintbrush.  You were 3 inches wide (I mistakenly said you were a 2 inch) and were very useful when it came to gesso-ing canvases. In fact, that is how we first met. You were a class-required purchase, and on sale with the employee discount at Hobby Lobby. I was taught how to build and gesso canvases, with you at my side.  You were quick to learn as well, and applied a smooth, even coat to every canvas placed in front of you.

But you quickly picked up more than that. For any large area that needed a good blending, you were there. You were the king of skies, merging the purples to the blues, to the whites.  They always turned out smooth, as if pulled from the sky itself.

You were not daunted by the size of a canvas, in fact, the bigger canvas, the better. Large work spaces were your forte.  You were not cowed by the fine detail from the small, itty bitty liner brushes; they could fill in the flower petals in the fine field you could create.  There had to be you, before there was them.

You wore your dried paint and gesso marks well.  It showed your character, the number of pieces you assisted on.  And you always owned the gesso.  I had to look today, for a brush to take on your duties. This new brush was also on sale, though not on employee discount. Those days are passed.  This brush will be adequate, but not the same. It will not have the handling ease you possessed, or the thickness of bristles.  They just don't make brushes like you anymore.  But it was those very bristles that did you in. I wish I could glue them back!

Good Paintbrushes don't die. They simply loose their bristles.

Windmills, Broken Glass, and Boo-Boos.

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.

Uncorked

Remember this one?

It has now become this one:

I've titled it "We Are All Americans" and I like it alot more than I did with that icky, pastel, sidewalk-chalk-that-puked background that I had given it before! Turquoise is way better. I like turquoise. I sat down last night and just FINISHED it. Practically started and finished it in one sitting, painting the edges this morning after the rest had dried overnight. When I'm on a roll, I guess I'm on a roll!

I free-handed the image with a brush (usually some pencil work is involved, but not this time!). I actually used my own arm and handing holding a flag as the 'model' for the painting, obviously exaggerating the colors and bone structure and stuff. I darkened the skintone as well. My arm was too pale for my point and currently has something that looks like New Jersey drawn on it in blue sharpie because one of my friends decided to play Connect-The-Dots with my freckles while I was working. Yeah.

This one is going to Phoebe's in July (and will also be for sale at Hip Sips this weekend!) and is part of the political thread of paintings I'm working on now, for that month's "theme." The title refers to the current immigration debate and, overall, the subject matter is drawn from my memories of the 2005 immigration rally we had here in Indianapolis.

I was working for the Spanish-language station then, so we had a front row seat to the rally, a march that would start at a downtown Catholic church, and wind its way to the City-County Building, Indianapolis' version of city hall. There's a big square to the south of the building, and we had a platform set up for a good view of the speaking podium so that we could take it live (even though most of our viewing audience seemed to be at the rally). We were all set up and ready to go and its nice and quiet and then... We begin to hear chants of "Sí se puede!" and a sea of 20,000 people, wearing white shirts and carrying American flags, flows from the street into the square. It was amazing. They swarmed in, chanted and rallied, and the leaders speechified. Some of the other stations had just pulled up on the street to get a few minutes of video and then boogie out, but the crowd filled the entire area; those trucks weren't going anywhere; and some of the people even tried to climb on top for a better view!

It was all a very peaceful demonstration, and, at risk of sounding like a hippy, there was a strong and welcome sense of togetherness. These people wanted to put on their best face for the rest of the city, as if to say "See? We're not out to get you, to undermine you, we ARE you." The crowd around our podium was almost more mesmerized by us than the speakers, and I probably could have had 200 people doing the Hokey Pokey if I had just asked.

I took that photo that day, and, I guess that's part of what inspired me to paint this picture. With all the rallies in all the cities that year, it would have been great if some legislation would have been passed at that time, as pay off for all that hard work. But nothing was, and it would be amazing to see that kind of action again. Hopefully, people aren't feeling too apathetic, defeated, or scared to speak up in those kind of numbers again.

First Thursday, New Works, and HIP SIPS!!!

Sorry I hadn't posted in a while.

Sometimes you feel like you want to paint. Sometimes, you have a really good idea in your head, and you're staring at the canvas, and you know exactly what you want to do, and it just doesn't want to happen. In that, you don't even want to pick up the brush. Kinda like wishing my eyes were some kind of laser printer and if I stared at it long enough, the image would just appear. Added to general business, that's how I've been feeling lately. I know what I WANT to paint, I'm just not feeling it.

I did finish two paintings and have a nice start on two more. I have two more canvases ready to go (little ones, to compliment one that's started), one I need to build and finish for a display at Hip Sips (more on that later) and two more blanks that are starting back at me.

Without further ado, here are the two finished:

The loose "theme" this month at Phoebe's is patriotic/political. I've been a bit pissed off, lately, about current events, so I decided to act on the political side of it. The first painting I've called "Lost Moon." It's the name of the original book Apollo 13 was based on. I love that movie. I'm sad we're not going back to the moon anytime soon, and it's a shame. This one is similar to that other moon painting I did, but with different colors and added clouds. It's spray paint and acrylic and reminds me of those nights when the moon is still rising and looks so large and golden colored in the sky.

The second one is tentatively called "The War." If I think of a name that fits better, I'll change it but for now, eh. It's VHS tape glued onto canvas, then spray painted, then little oil board stencil letters glued on. It says, "My generation had not seen war. You said we were soft. Happy now" I also just realized I forgot to put a question mark on the end...but there weren't any in the stencil package. I think I'll just paint one on in black. Anyway. It refers to alot of the talk nearly ten years ago, when we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Elders" on the tee-vee political shows were always discussing how this was my generation's war/Vietnam/Desert Storm/conflict du jour. They always remarked how, while my parents generation was so scarred by Vietnam, they still had it to strengthen them up, or prove they were men, or grow up, or whatever, just like our grandparents had WWII and Korea. My generation, Gen X/Millennials, had gotten off easy; how could we ever stomach such a test? Please. Now these wars have dragged on, while the rest of the country just kind of chirps along, and now the War in Afghanistan has been the longest lasting war this country has ever fought. All on the backs of Gen X/Millennials. Are we strong enough now for you? Or are we still selfish little pansies? Do we now have an excuse to wage wars for the next 50 years based on Millennial politics, just as the last 40 have been constant rehashing of Vietnam policies/fears/politics like the Boomers always have an excuse to do? Yeah.

These two are very obviously works in progress. They both have to do with the Arizona "Papers Please" law and all the insanity roped around that issue. I've also discovered I desperately need to buy more of that rich blue color of paint before I can finish the one on the left, or the two little ones that will accompany it. I gotta get on that. I have two weeks to finish them...but first...

HIP SIPS!!

Next Saturday, June 12, come on out to Modoc, Indiana, and see my booth! I've been graciously lent a tent by my coworker and friend, Gary Gallinger, and he helped glue some PVC pipes so that I could make some panels to hang my work from ('walls' for the tent). The whole event is at Wilson Winery, in Modoc, which is just south of Muncie, or just north of New Castle, if you prefer to drive out on I-70. There will be Jazz, Wine, and, of course, ART. So yeah, come get drunk, listen to some music, and buy my stuffs. :)

I've been hard at work preparing for the event. I have some stuff ready to go, work already done from the Eiteljorg event, but this one is outdoor, so there will be a whole other set of set-ups to accomplish. And I have to keep in mind that I'll be transporting the entire set up, work and all in a Toyota Yaris. It's a hatchback, and that sucker can haul, but I'm limited by a five foot packing height for everything. This will take some cleverness. I have a three day weekend leading up to the event, so I have much to do next 'weekend.' I'm excited and antsy and can't wait. All paintings that I have finished will be for sale at Wilson Winery, including any new ones that are 'meant' for Phoebe's. And *crossing fingers* I'll be able to accept credit cards! I've applied and have been accepted through this company that runs an app off my IPod, so as long as it actually works, and doesn't freeze up or something unforseen, Visa and Mastercards will be accepted. And checks. AND CASH. So yeah! Bring a friend!

Lastly, I wish I could post some pics from this month's First Thursday, but...I didn't make it. I got to the edge of the Indianapolis area, and felt like I was going to pass out while driving! I had to pull off to a parking lot and chill for a few minutes, and then turned around and went back home. I was really mad at 'myself' for not being able to see the gallery with my spraypaint art displayed, but I know when I'm beat. It wouldn't really do for me to be all scraggly looking and sickly and then try to sell art and stuff. I'm gonna try my hardest to make it up to Muncie before take downs so that I can see, but we'll see, with all the Hip Sips preps.

Ok this post is ungodly long. There will be more later this week about the Hip Sips preps, and those 'in process' works when they're finished!

From The Earth...

One last spray paint painting...or at least psuedo-spray paint painting:






This one's called "From The Earth." The background is spray paint and the moon is painted in acrylic. Hence the "psuedo."

I've always wanted to paint the moon, but, maybe its just because of my eyes being bad, the moon has always had a nice glow around it when I look at it. In photographs, its very clear, but I wanted to make sure it had that glow. How I see it.

The canvas was repurposed from the second attempt at the Pineapple painting, the one that I overdid and ended up kinda grey-looking. If you look closely, you can still see the outline of the pineapple beyond the black parts. I was wanting to cover up the spray work underneath, and more spray paint will cover up spray paint nicely. It just dawned on me how to make the glow behind the moon! Spray!

The acrylic moon I painted very rough, let the paint stand up in little peaks to simulate craters. Best part: I pointed out about where Apollo 11 would have landed to my boyfriend when I finished it, Sunday night. On Monday's episode of the Big Bang Theory, they were pointing a laser at the moon, more specifically, at the Apollo 11 landing site.

Also on Monday, after taking From The Earth and the others to Phoebe's, my story for the day at work was about some kids that broke into the Carmel Performing Arts Center Palladium and sprayed words all over the dry wall. Spray paint, all day. I was joking on our way up there that it was really an art form...but really they were just being juvenile. And not that bright: They almost misspelled "Carmel" as caramel, and had to correct it. Duh.

Stuff like that keeps happening, I might start believing THE MAN is watching me, like Big Brother or something!

Anyway, I was so happy with my painting of the moon, I almost didn't want to take it to Phoebe's for sale. I like it! But maybe someone will like it more and buy it, and that's the point. I could cover my whole house with all my work, but I'd rather it go to someone else's house. Eventually, I'll run out of room. I'm on the fence about painting more moons, like a moon series. Maybe some half moons, or a copper moon (when its low and large on the horizon some nights). This will all follow the political stuff I'm gearing up for, for Phoebe's July show. It's supposed to have a patriotic theme, and we were discussing how, sometimes, dissent is the best form of patriotism. Or at least questioning and not blindly following is the best form of patriotism. I've got three ideas so far, and canvas is on sale this week. Yay! I can't wait for my weekend!

Spray Paint: El Fin

I think I'm done with spray paint...FOR NOW (Cue dramatic music!). Well, almost done. I figured I'd experiment with this one canvas as a final test- mixing acrylics and spray paint, but really, its a way to finish off/cover up another failed experiment. But first the pics!



The first one, "Angry Flower Girl," you've all seen before. But but but! Wait! There's more!
I re-worked it, just a little bit. The black lines around the form I sharpened via a stencil, and I'm happier with it now. I had free-handed it in the first go-round, and I do like the crispness the stencil gives. The stencil doesn't quite cover all of the blurry bits of the black from before, but I'm cool with that too, like a weird shadow or something. Two feet wide, four feet tall, I declare this one done.

The next two are both on canvas. They are 18 x 24 inches, one laid vertically, the other horizontally. In the spirit of their gi-normous Radish predecessor, I've named them "Pineapple" and "Tomato." I kind of did them at the same time, I'd paint the background of one, and while it was drying, paint the background of the other. I'm really happy with how the Tomato turned out. You can't tell as much in the photo, because my camera simply sucks, but the colors are blended where they need to be, sharp where they should be and its just all around crisp. About as juicy a swirly tomato as I could ever paint. Yay!

I was really happy with how the Pineapple was going too...Until I botched it pulling the stencil off for the last time. For some reason, the stencil pulled up some of the background colors. This truly makes no sense, since it didn't do that to the tomato at all! But, unfortunately it did. Then, in a moment of sheer genius (sarcasm!) I decided to spray some paint into a baggie, not to huff, but to capture it in its liquid form, use an old throw-away brush (the paint will harden bristles horribly) and try to touch it up. Okay, okay, worked alright on the black bits, the light blue bits...The orange bits? Not so much. It dried darker than the surrounding orange. I quit while I was a little ahead for the part where it got weird in the yellow part. In a perfect world, I would have just accepted how it was from the beginning, and tried to pull it off as some kind of chipped stucco look, or something. In a perfect world, my stencil wouldn't have screwed it all up!

Then, to do one better, I tried to re-do that painting on a whole other canvas. Annnnddd theeennn I screwed that one up too. I tried to "dirty" it up a bit with some extraneous flickers of black spray paint, which just dulled all of the colors and looked messy. No go. So, in the end, I accepted the imperfections of the first Pineapple (if everyone turns their noses up at it, it will just go in my kitchen, so there) and sprayed all over 2.0 to fit it for a simple, acrylic-meets-spray paint makeover.

Then I'm done with the spray paint. It's loose and fun and all, and I think I'm about played out with the loose and fun style. Every once and a while, you have to go back to the 'harder' stuff, for me, the still lifes and intricate paintings that make me sit and concentrate, instead of flit around and fly free. I'm grounding myself, if anything it will reaffirm my skills. Then, later, when I get bored of sitting still, I'll go back to some kind of sillies again. That's how I roll.

Also, art networking is freaking fun! I've nearly got 200 'fans' or 'likes' or whatever on Facebook and I thank every one of them! My goal is to pretty much get my stuff out there, and, hopefully, on someone else's walls, and the only way to do that is to be present for everyone to see.

I'm thinking my next turn will have some politics in it. Given my background in current events and political cartoons, there are some subjects I can't ignore. Sorry if you prefer to keep politics out of art, or don't care for my opinion, but hey, its my way to express what I feel. You're welcome to your opinion and form of expression as well (as long as it doesn't involve tearing up my art--that's just mean).

I've got the Hip Sips--Art, Jazz, & Wine Festival coming up June 12, in Modoc, Indiana. It's an evening event, so come see! Great atmosphere, I promise. ;)

And, I think I'm going to take a stab at submitting my art for juried review at Oranje Indy. Or just Oranje. But since alot of my friends aren't in Indianapolis, I added the Indy as a reference. Looks like a nifty event, fun and flit, like some of my work recently, so we'll see. Not trying to jinx myself, it is a juried event, but it never hurts to try right?

Then I'll get a better camera and my pictures won't suck! Yay!

Ok bye.

What I Learned Today

Ok Grrrr.

Spray paint can be frustrating. That is what I learned today.
I like other kinds of paints, like acrylic, because if you mess up, hey just paint over it. Spray paint you get one pass.

I reworked "Angry Flower Girl" by making a stencil for the black to sharpen it up. I actually kind of like that one. Not sure if it's up there very high, as happy as I am with the "Radish" but hey. You gotta know when to stop messing with it.

Speaking of which. YOU GOTTA KNOW WHEN TO STOP MESSING WITH STUFF.
I made two more canvas versions of the swirly food. One, a tomato, came out freaking awesome. I'm so happy with it, I can't wait to share pictures. Like, I was so happy with it, I did a little happy dance. Yes, yes, I like this one.
But...I made one more. A pineapple. I have a thing for pineapples, their shape intrigues me. I have a bunch of little pineapples all around my house, mostly concentrated in my kitchen. They're just cool. So, of course, I had to make a swirly spray paint pineapple. It had all the promise of the tomato. I had used some spray adhesive to hold down the tomato stencil's little pointy bits. Worked great. Did the same for the pineapple and it tore up some of the (very dry) background colors/layers! Not fair! Then I tried to fix it. Yeahhh. I should have quit when I was ahead. I started to, in a moment of stupidity, lay the stencil down so I could try to respray it (or something like that). Rule #1 for spray paint: ONE SHOT AT IT...Don't screw it up! Rule #2 for spray paint: Attempting to violate Rule #1 will cause you to SCREW IT UP!

Some of the really cool black came off the pineapple. *sigh* I am sad. This is so not cool. In the morning, I will try to fix it. But for now! Now, I go to sleep and let the thing dry overnight. I can't possibly screw it up while I'm sleeping. That's what I get for trying to get it finished quickly so that I could sleep with the satisfaction of having that idea checked off my mental list. Rule #3 for spray paint: Don't rush for no good reason. You WILL screw up.

Let's review:
Rule #1 for spray paint: ONE SHOT AT IT...Don't screw it up!
Rule #2 for spray paint: Attempting to violate Rule #1 will cause you to SCREW IT UP!
Rule #3 for spray paint: Don't rush for no good reason. You WILL screw up.

On that note, I will sleep off this weird bipolar-esque art feeling of on the one hand, accomplishing something, and on the other hand, SCREWING UP.

But hey, I could always just hang the pineapple in my kitchen.
'Night.

PS: Pics will follow on my "weekend" (Thursday or Friday), as my camera takes way to long to cooperate. It is a ridiculously concentrated effort and I'm putting the evil lil device on notice that it shall be replaced! Some day.

Spray Paint Endeavours

I've finished my three spray paint efforts. I'm reluctant to call them grafitti art, but they were inspired by a contest that was going to be held at the Art & Soul by Phoebe Gallery, in Muncie, but was cancelled after some unwarranted controversy. Anyway, here are my three pieces:

The first one is called "Angry Flower Girl." Why? Because it looks like an angry flower, but also like a girl wearing a green dress with red hair.

The second one is called "Yeah." Figure it out.

The third one is called "Radish." once again, figure it out. Sorry, all my creativity went into making these things, and I had very little left to devote to naming.

I definitely like "Radish" the best. I'm just really really happy with how it came out. The other two are like evolutions. "Angry Flower Girl was my first try. I painted that one free-handed, using some Krylon paint, some Valspar paint, and some off brand Wal-Mart kind for the black and white. I like the flow of it and I like the shape of it and I'm glad with how the colors blended in some parts, but other parts I think I overworked a bit. I like how it moves and the shape of it all...I didn't use stencils on this one, so I might still go back over the black parts with a stencil. I'm torn.

The second try was "Yeah." With that one, the background, the purple and white cloud bits, are free-handed, but the black parts and the word are stenciled. I sketched this out while watching "This Is Not A Show," a REM special that was on Sundance back in March. I was just watching and listening, and this popped in my head. I scribbled it down with a bunch of sharpies, while my boyfriend looked at me, puzzled. I liked the colors, and the three lines in the corner are something I draw to symbolize speech or thoughts. Just my little style. I'm cool with how this turned out, it is what it is. One thing I learned, though, was that next time, I'll probably use some kind of low-tack spray adhesive, instead of little bits of rolled masking tape to stick the stencil down to the plywood. When I sprayed the black, you can kind of see some spots where the paint dusted under the stencil, and the masking tape left a clear, undusted spot. Not happy, but there's nothing I can really do about it. If I try to change it, to fix it, I'll just screw it up. One thing you have to do sometimes is walk away before you make it worse. I had to stick the stencil down somehow.

The third one I did is called "Radish." I'm the happiest with this one. The stencil was fun, I figured out how to not completely screw up the rest of the picture while stenciling (I didn't cover the entire thing everytime on the other one) and I like how the shading on the radish came out. It was a last minute decision and it worked out well in a medium where you pretty much get one shot at it. Spray painting is definitely an artform where you better just make a plan, stick with it, and get it right on the first try, because there are very few re-dos. Acrylics are just the opposite, you can re-do and re-do until you have a big wad of paint on a canvas, and then you can still re-do, because all that extra paint just adds an interesting texture to the background. For reference, come see my painting "Tomoe" in real life. That one has, like, three other paintings under it that I got mad at and covered them up.

The swirly style of the radish is another marker of mine. I like to do these random swirly fruits and vegetables. I've done pineapples and tomatoes in the past, but never anything this big and with spray paint. I may do a pineapple and a tomato still, for the June show at Art & Soul, but I'd probably do them on canvas. These paintings are 4 ft by 3 ft, for the most part, and on plywood, so I'm going to have to get creative as to where I can store them! I love painting big, but, man, storage is what really limits me! Also, I really need to get a higher megapixel camera. My shots of these paintings really suck. Hmmm, I think after my next sale, that may be on my list. :)

So, what do you think?