photo inspiration

In the Scavenger Hunt I'm currently part of, we're supposed to give our partner a jpeg image with a strong color. That color will end up be the predominate color in the art piece we make from our Scavenger Hunt finds. I passed my photo along this morning. But I happen to love the place I took pictures of so I thought I'd share some of them.

art journal - new layout

It isn't often I'll post a page from my art journal here. Maybe the whimsical stuff, like my Russian Studmuffin pages. But not too much else.

However, I really like this layout. I think it's one some of my friends might like for their own art journals. :)

#LOFNOTC

I've finished Her. Haven't finished Him yet. I don't know when I'll get back to that one. My mind is on other creative ventures at the moment.

I've also submitted #LOFNOTC (as this painting is officially called) as an entry in a tarot card contest. The cards needed to be inspired by Amanda Palmer... as this painting is. And we also had to submit which card we wanted our artwork to be. I choose The Magician. The Magician speaks to one's creative actions and a willingness to take risks. It also has to do with recognizing one's potential to communicate.

I think this painting says all of that and more. When all is said and done, I'm very happy with this piece.

Zen Garden - a small step

Today I started building my bottle wall in the Zen Garden. Wow, this is hard work! Building the wall isn't too hard (though I'm a long way from finishing it!!!) Mixing the cement; now THAT's hard! I did it and everything came out ok. But it wasn't as easy as I had been imagining.

It's a long way from completion. Right now there are 3 layers of bottles. I'm envision more like 12 - 15 layers of bottles. I don't think I have that many empty bottles. I might have enough for another 3 to 5 layers. Guess I need to get drinkin! Or make friends with a local bartender.

the start of the Zen Garden; aka the first Zen moment

I see this as an art installation. Some call it gardening. I call it art. But my long-range vision is more about the art than the plants. So I feel it belongs here. Below is a before shot of the tiny little plot of land. The picture below that is after about 3 hours of work. As it progresses I'll add more pictures. The picture above is before I started any weeding. It's quite dense, filled with sticker bushes and mimosa trees. I do love mimosa trees. They have a prehistoric look about them and once a season are covered with feathery purple flowers. I do plan on keeping a few of them. But I can't keep them all. They sprout up like weeds. So I selectively removed most the trees. Mimosa's have such soft wood I was able to get the small ones with the electric trimmer. The larger ones required a hand saw. I also used the electric trimmer on the sticker bushes and then removed them from the spot using a rake. I got spooked once when I came across what looked like a dead rat. On closer examination (close, from a distance!!!) I realized it was a dead rat: a Halloween dead rat. It was part of my Halloween graveyard last year.

The picture above is after about 3 hours of work. I started early, 9ish, and then finished in time to go to brunch with my sister. I knew when I got back it would be too hot to continue. I think I got a good bit accomplished though. I've got all my supplies for the next step already. I'll do that next Saturday morning.

The next step: a wine-bottle wall across the back. As secluded as this little piece of land looks in the pictures, it actually overlooks the street and a neighbor. It's shielded by pine trees but if we're going to have a Zen spot, we need more seclusion. The wine-bottle wall will also have a recycled window set into it where we could have a view down the hill, if we wanted it. The wall across the back will be high, maybe 5 feet tall. I'm considering putting a wall around the other sides to make the Zen Garden completely contained. If I do, those walls will be low, maybe 3 feet tall.

After that: when the wall is completed I'll focus on creating a Zen seating area for us. This fall when we get our bi-yearly load of pea-gravel, we're going to get a double-load. We want to increase the size of our parking pad and spread the remainder of the pea-gravel thru the Zen Garden. I'm going to make cement paving pads and lay them in to create a path and a patio area. I'll also leave a few small beds for plantings. Or not. I might only have bonsai trees and container gardens in the Zen garden. That would be most lovely.

Vampire Schoolgirl - WIP

So... I wanted to paint a vampire.

No, not a sparkle-y one. Not a NoLa Rock-Star Vamp. Not even an Old World Vamp... Though in the coming days I might do each and every one (though probably not a sparkle-y one. I don't do ~*~sparkle~*~.)

I decided to paint a young-punk-sexy-schoolgirl Vamp.

So I am. She's a WIP but I'm digging the composition so far. This will be a fun one.

Laughing Dog

First, the photo is incredibly dark. The flash kept bouncing off my varnish so I had to take the picture without it. Second, the background is way too dark. Yes, it was dark in the original photo. But it didn't translate well to canvas.

Anyways, this was just an exercise. I'm constantly in awe of artist who turn out good quality work very quickly. Some people seem to do a painting or two a day. I on the other hand get a painting 75 % complete in a day, then let it sit... for days, weeks, months, years.... So this was an exercise in ~completion~.

It ain't great. But I do like parts of it. I like Ellie Mae. She came out pretty good (though her detail is lost in the photographs.) I don't care for the background. I need to work more on backgrounds.

Him and Her; WIPs

Not a lot of progress here. I haven't been in a painting-mood all week. I did add highlights. And on Her I've softened the skintone. I still need to soften Him up a bit and then lay in my details.

current WIP

This is how I'm spending my long holiday weekend. I started the first picture, Him. Then I realized how time consuming the background would be and how much down-time there would be while each canvas dried before the next step. My short-attention-span made me start a 2nd canvas. The first layer is the basic black background. On the second layer I did a scumbled paint over the black. On the Him canvas I scratched in pictograms from different Native American tribes. On the Her canvas I scratched in lyrics from different Amanda Palmer and Dresden Doll songs. The third layer, I started painting in the figures. As I say, a work-in-progress. But I'm liking the direction so far.

this painting has spawned one more piece. i'm currently working on a Robert Rauschenberg-inspired piece for the Art From The Heart group. And i'm hung up on this theme. Since Mr. Rauschenberg liked to do what he called "combines", basicially mixed media collages, i'm using this painting as well as news clips and photos of the more recent horrific stories currently coming out of Iran.