Thoughts on My Painting

In general, I feel that I work in a fairly intuitive manner. I don't have a "method" per se of getting a painting done, but I do have natural inclinations to the way I work. I did not have any painting instruction during my short time at ACA, so I am for the most part a self taught oil painter. Most of the techniques and modes of the medium are not knowingly a part of my painting vocabulary. Any that I do employ have been discovered by trial and error, and a few less by reading.

I have been taking some note of this way of working in the past week and have come to the conclusion that the feel or mood of a painting is more important to me than the exact representation of a particular subject or environment. Technique must follow vision and it is only a vehicle to get to that vision. I have known this personal supreme importance in a wordless sort of way for a long time. These observations that have long been nothing more than intuitions are very difficult to spell out.

All artists are creating illusions and my work in particular with its use of anthropomorphic mythology and narrative pushes this fact further. Even in the embryonic stages of an idea, I am first struck by the feeling of the image in my mind. If the feeling is strong enough, I move ahead to the research step. If it isn't, the idea is put on the back burner to cook until the right combination of images and words come together to meet that emotional standard.

As far as technique, I do not follow the traditional method of blocking in shapes, working from form to detail. I jump in right away starting with a few lines for placement of the subject and go straight to the eyes working out from there in detail. This is the way I see.

Painting delivery

There was some doubt about the delivery of "The Flowering Bull" yesterday to the clients. With a few days of ice and snow, a drive over to their place back in the woods by the river and up a long driveway looked unlikely. But by the afternoon I got the all clear for the meeting.
The wife in the couple had not told the husband about the painting, only that it was a surprise and that he would love it. I have to say I had a few moments of fear on the short drive over. This would be the first time he would see a piece of art he was about to spend a lot of money for.
They met me in the driveway and in we went for the unveiling.

I have to say how overwhelming it was to see the expressions on their faces. They absolutely loved the painting. Relieved, we talked for awhile about the work, their collection and beautiful home. I headed grateful. Grateful that these lovely people would value my painting enough to spend their hard earned cash to own it and equally that they connected on such a deep level with the image. As I got into the car they said, "We will be contacting you again."
Wow.

Today's Painting

I come from a long line of obsessive cleaners and this morning I got it into my mind to rearrange the studio. I was convinced I would be able to make to a better area in which to work. So after two hours of that this morning, I went on to painting with a renewed view of my space.

I love how he is revealing himself......I am at the intoxicating "wow" moment where the vision is coming alive. Our hero shall indeed rest on shallow waters.

Dinner with Trish

Last night I had a fabulous dinner with friend and fellow PAQA member Trish Williams at La Sardine. La Sardine is a wonderful French bistro in my building that has Prix Fix night on Tuesdays, where you can have a 3 course gourmet meal for $25. YUM! After we finished every last drop we realized we should have taken pictures, but we were so distracted by the deliciousness of our meal, good wine and great conversation that it never came to mind.

Trish is holding an origami ornament my son Ty made. Ty made quite a few ornaments to sell at Christmas to pay off a new laptop he got this fall, but business was not so good this year and he was left with a bit of inventory. I bought his remaining ornaments to give to friends.

I am off tomorrow for a get together with some friends for a non football weekend. For those who partake in the sport, enjoy the game!

Must Have Cardigan

The Must Have Cardigan #2 progresses, I have now completed the body, knitting the fronts and back in one piece.
I love cables! I am so glad I am finally at the level of knitting that I do not have to consult the chart for every line and can blissfully knit away knowing what I should do next. Things have also become faster since I learned to cable without the extra cable needle. Now I am knitting the sleeves, both on one long circular needle. Although I do not like dealing with the two yarns wrapping around each other, I prefer having sleeves that are the same size. I have made identifying the individual sleeves easier by color coding with the markers.
The yellow marker on the far right is where I begin each new row with all the rest being green on that sleeve and only purple on the other sleeve. The orange clip indicates my increase row, so I can keep track of when I need to increase next.

Today's Painting

I found a bounce light in my camera drawer which helps a bit on a snowy day.
Now my shoulders are screaming, so I have to lay off for the day. Good progress today. I am still really on the fence about what I want to do with the environment.... As usual I will probably get it nailed down last as I can't commit until I see that the subject is telling me. Or is that hear what he is showing me?....

Michelle meets the new President

Friend and fellow member of PAQA, Michelle Hardman went to Barack Obama's inauguration. Michelle worked tirelessly for the Obama campaign traveling to several states to get out the vote message. Michelle also organized getting art quilts hung in the Chicago Obama campaign office.

Michelle is wearing a scarf created especially for the events by Susan Shie.

You can read about Michelle's interesting experience meeting President Obama at the public greeting held at the White House in this Washington Post article.