Painting class trip the Crocker Art Museum

I had so much fun yesterday! Can you believe I've never been to an art museum? I was trying to think of why...I think it has to do with your family. If you didn't grow up doing it, you probably don't think about doing it as an adult. I guess. I dont know! It also has something to do with my own cocky attitude I've always had. The idea that somehow I don't need to see some famous artists' work-- I make my own art.

What a dork I've been.

I was so inspired!! I loved wandering around and letting myself sink into the paintings.

I was surprised to love the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit. I knew about the cakes...I didn't think I cared about the cakes. And...truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of the food paintings. I LOVED, loved his figurative works!!

No photo's were allowed on the ones I really loved, but I was able to take a picture of this one, that belongs to the Crocker:



Here's a couple of my other favorites in other exhibits:




"Autumn Landscape"
Oil on Canvas, 1960
Jerrold Ballaine



"Gold of the Caucasus"
Acrylic on Canvas, 1969
Fred Thomas Martin




"Winters Blue Cold"
Oil on Canvas 1990-1991
Christopher Brown

Figure Drawing #16

Ok, at this point I'm numbering posts instead of classes- I haven't a clue what class we're on!

We've been working on back muscles, portraits, and lots of seated poses.

Here's my favorites of the week:




I really want to get Mikes face. I think this- with more time- could be very close!!

Whats lost is found, what was scabby is...

well, still scabby. I'm mildly afraid I'll never actually look cute like my friends. This is so good for my terrible vanity problem. I have to see this blackish red thing in my peripheral vision 24 hours a day. And I have to suck it up and act like I don't care about it. Because I shouldn't....because I'm a grown woman. Oh my pride...

My bag was found, exactly where I suspected. Frankly I'm lucky no one decided to just grab my pencil sets out of there! I'm so relieved. I really didn't want to lose almost an entire semester full of work!

Here's a part of my life I don't write much about...(for those who may not know me personally) (which I think amounts to...zero? whatever...it could happen)...

my messy house.

I'm having a party here Friday night. I'm very excited! I wanted to get friends together to hang out without anyone having to bring a present or kids. It seems the only time women tend to see each other is at their kids' schools, kid's birthday parties, baseball games, or the occasional baby shower or blessingway.

So, no one has to be having a baby, or turning older, and no kids...just food and giggling. I love it.

My only hurdle?

My disaster of a house.


I'm really only posting this so I can post before and after shots. I need motivation. I'm a mutant type of person who usually doesn't care about house work. I just don't keep up with it at all. At least this house cleans up nicely and has plenty of room- without that, there would be no party.

Hopefully I can post Friday midday pictures of both my unscabbed nose and my un-crapped house!!

Craptastic!!

Today sucks.

Anyone who knows me knows I get really upset about fairly trivial stuff.

Currently its the fact that my portfolio bag is GONE. Gone with all my colored pencils, my sketch box and an entire semester full of Figure Drawing work. Yes....a hundred sheets of gestures and studies. All due pretty soon. Probably $75 worth of pencils and supplies on top of the bag thats worth..ok, well...$40, maybe.

Where the heck is it? I had it at Thurdays painting class...and I can't see a window in which it wouldn't made it home with me, but it seems like the only option. I've called Folsom Lake college, they told me to contact my professor. But she walked out with me! And another class came in as we were leaving- and I knew some of the students in that class- if someone saw me leave behind my giant bag, they would have stopped me.

Tonight we are reviewing our portfolios...wonderful I don't have one!!

And if I don't write today, I'll be over 3,000 words behind on NanoWrimo. Very frustrating. What happened to this weekend?

Well. I lost Saturday because I decided to go out with my friends. We had a BLAST....even got all of our noses pierced.

Of course...today, mine looks like THIS:


Nope...not black jewelry- it's a tiny blue stone. Covered in caked blood. Cute. It wont stop bleeding today.

And my house is a mess...and i have a party hear on Friday. Totally my problem...my fault...I'm just frustrated.

WHERE IS MY PORTFOLIO?????

20,028...the sweet freedom of fiction

Meaning, in fiction you can do whatever you want. Including solving a major problem by simply allowing a giant lion of sorts to be able to shape-shift and become a water beast. And I've decided this character can breathe under water.

Why? Because people write about elves! Because Frodo's ring called to him, because Aslan is a freaking lion who talks...because of Santa Claus and the tooth fairy...

NO RULEs!!

Fiction is a wonderful, wonderful world.

Especially because my character has a giant cat that he can ride on who shape-shifts when the need arises. Beautiful stuff.

I'm sleepy now, enjoy my nerd-tastic picture. Deathly Hollows comes out next weekend... I'm almost scared to see it, I love the book so much. Don't mess with my Severus too much, screenwriters!!

(I'm pretty sure no one who reads this blog is into Harry Potter, but, it is my blog...)




**Ok...I should never post after midnight...yikes. I do like the Harry Potter image, though!!**

a conspiracy: now finished

This is the result of last weeks painting featuring the clarinet and the pipe:


I'm pretty happy with it. It feels unfinished, but I like the space this has. More opacity might make this painting too flat.

Here's a close up:

Spontaneous performances- bringing classical music to everyone!

I was so delighted by this post on the NPR blog, Deceptive Cadence. I am a big advocate of classical music...to the chagrin of my close friends and family. I'm so tired of it being looked at as boring or outdated.

This post talks about spontaneous performances taking place all over the world by opera troupes, orchestras, etc. I love the idea that people are bringing this music to the street level- making it accessible and alive for people who may not have ever given it a chance.

I know that when I was in high school, our choir traveled to a huge competition to sing. Some of the school performed classical choral pieces- and I was hooked. There is nothing like having your senses overtaken by a performance! I remember hearing a large choir sing T.L. de Victoria's "O Magnum Mysterium". I have loved that piece since then.

When I was in college I got to hear a real life orchestra for the first time and was dumbfounded. It was only a rehearsal...but I was nearly in tears.

When I sang with the Nyack College Chorale, I routinely found myself choked up. I remember one time in particular when we where practicing and a friend of mine went up to sing a solo. I had never heard her sing as I sat several rows away from her on the stage. She was a voice major and was very passionate about it. I'll never forget it- the piano started, and then Kathleen began to sing. Tears rolled down my face- I had never heard anyone sing like that...in the same room as me! The beauty of it was overwhelming.

I had several such experiences through college, and they have formed a love of this music that will last forever in me.

So, check out this post on NPR....watch the videos. I hope we see more of this!

Figure Drawing #15

We worked on another long pose last night- this time of our clothed model, Kyle.

I had to start over, since my first take on this was too small, and innaccurate. I'm pretty happy with my re-do, though. I made it BIG, this time so I could get his face right. I need more work on this, though to finish the values. It's big, so, it's a lot of pencil work!

Oh yeah, AND I sing...

I almost forgot. I do sing. I don't know how well. People always are inclined to say nice things to you when you hold a microphone, but my paranoid nature plays against me with this. I'm not sure I'm as good as I think I am. That's ok, I guess. Singing is such a weird, tied up issue for me.

I do love crooning though. Last Saturday night Hickory Wind, which I sing with sometimes, played at a benefit for Twin Lakes Food Bank in Folsom. It was a laid back thing, and we were just playing our mellow stuff.

It was fun, and I got a good meal out of it!! And I get to be with such cool people!!

Painting class #11

We were to bring in 3 to 5 objects to create our own still life that communicates something. We were given some: a secret, a tragedy, a triumph, a conspiracy, an argument and a conversation.

What I came up with ends up, to me, being a combination of a few of those things. I at first gathered up a lantern, a rusted pipe and a pitcher. After further thought, I pulled out an old clarinet we have and was just positive it was what I needed in this painting.

Could I have chosen a harder thing to paint? I suppose so, but this is pretty rough. I love the feeling of the still life set up:


But the execution is pretty rough. Here's my underpainting:



And this is what I ended the class with:



Oh, I hope I can pull this one together. That back ground is...tough. I want to achieve some realism with the clarinet, but those keys are going to be a total pain!!

The color scheme of this bugs me. I suppose right now, it's analogous, but I tend to like things that cross the color wheel a bit. What should I do? Add some colors to the clarinet that don't exist? That hurts my brain a bit, but I think it is the answer.

Figure Drawing Class #14

Ok...this was last Wednesday! I'm such a bad blogger.

We had one pose for an hour and a half- it was wonderful and terrible all at once.

I started with a gesture and proceeded like normal until about 25 minutes in, I realized- everything was off. REALLY off. This pose was very very foreshortened from my point of view and I had made her legs too long, her torso too long...and thus everything around her was wrong.

SO frustrating!!

I think, in the end, I came very close to getting it right. At some point, though, with a model in front of you, you have to make the best of the time you have. I did this by getting her face right...and I feel I did.

I know her legs look short, but they aren't'!! I swear!! I loved this pose- she wore red shoes, a straw hat and a black boa. Diane is awesome!

Forgive me, NaNoWriMo has eaten my brain.

At least for the last three days. I'm behind, too!! I'm supposed to be up over 13,000 by now, but I'm at just over 10,000. Above is a word count calendar for this month. It really pays to stay on track, let me tell you!

I think I can catch up today. All it takes is a couple day of NOT writing your 1,667 words, and suddenly, you are stuck with a deficit that will take hours to make up!!

I like my story, I think. It's different than I'd imagined it. It's a fantasy, for sure, but I need to start making it more fantastical, I guess. It doesn't really matter, though. It's good to write. Even if it's utter crap.

I'm still researching my "real" novel. (I'm not sure whats so real about it) I've got some wonderful library books I'm charging though. I'm taking lots of notes. I guess I'm a geek- I love research for research's sake. I need to work on my other characters, too, it's just that John is so central to the plot, I need to develop him completely. The girl in it (who used to be Nina, but I changed to Priscilla....there is alot in a name!!)is so much like me, it's hard to "research" how she'd react to anything. I know how she would act. I'm an expert on that one.

Finished?

"Losing His Grip"

I think it's done. I think. :)

Figure Drawing Class #13

We had a few long poses and a lot of 5 minute poses.

Here's one of my longer ones- photographed badly, as usual. I sighted this in quite a bit, but her head seems too small? I feel the face is correct, though. She's such a wonderful model.



Here's a shorter standing pose that is still in gesture-mode:



Last weekend I randomly attempted a self portrait. I haven't done this in years. I didn't finish, but I was interesting to try this again with some sight skills under my belt.

NANOWRIMO 2010!!!!!!!!

Woo-hoo!! It's already started and I am right on schedule to reach 50,000 by the end of the month!!!

Currently, I'm at 1,958 and cruising along on a story about a kidnapped queen and an impending war!!

I love Nanowrimo. It's not too late for you to start!! Ever wanted to write a novel? How about a memoir? This is your chance!! DO IT!!

I'm obviously passionate about this-- I think its an awesome opportunity to try writing on for size with out any fear of ridicule.

I hope to get a widget on here that posts my word count...we'll see if I can figure THAT out.

Here's a link to my author page, just in case I don't.

Painting class #10

Get comfortable...I'm feeling wordy. Maybe its because it's almost November 1st (and the beginning of National Novel Writing month!!), or maybe it's just my brain still in high gear.

I've read more books in the past 2 months than I read all last year. Thats kind of freaky. (and sad?) I told a friend that right now I just need to throw as much as I can in the till while I can still consume the information. It seems like somewhere around March my brain begins to slow and shut down it's capacity for processing new information. Weird machine, my head.

Any way...what was I thinking? OH! Yeah...painting....it's all sort of running to together in a really wonderful way right now. The characters in my head, the brush in my hand, the music playing in the car....all one force.

I am almost done with our most recent project. The object was to choose a phrase from a list given to us and express it in a non-representational manner.

One option was clear for me. I laughed out loud when I saw it: "Losing His Grip".

I had to paint it. I am neck-deep in the research phase for the re-write of Blood Freckles (which will probably NOT be the title, by the way). Most of my research has been about mental illness ad what it really means to be Schizophrenic or have Manic-depressive illness. I've found that the rabbit hole goes very, very deep and the possibilities for misdiagnosis are incredibly high. (an sad fact, but advantageous for the sake of my plot line) Especially for John Louwen...my character. He is no longer some words on a paper- after so much research and thought, I can almost hear him breathing.

It was clear to me that this painting is about him. About him losing HIS grip....the world falling away into a fog or an abyss. All the parts of him he tries to hang onto fragmenting into something he cant control. Beautiful and sad.

The form came to me immediately- and the paint just flew out onto paper (which I already posted about)



I don't know what it is about this shape that keeps coming out of my paint sketches, but I'm trusting that its what needs to be expressed.

Here is the piece itself- not finished, but heading that way:



And now with some more work on it but still not finished:


My other conceptual paint-sketches are around the piece...I'm still trying to figure out what else needs to be in this painting.

Figure Drawing class #12

We didn't have a model, but our professor was nice enough to do poses most of the night for us. I've been working on getting a completed drawing as well as getting the face right. I need to work on hands...I'm in complete denial of that.

Here's a study I did of Margaret's head and hand. The face is better than the hand- the hand is not so good.


Later, I took what was going to be a quick gesture into a more thorough color-pencil drawing. I start with blue/violet without any intention of adding other colors. I probably should have started with an ochre of sorts or anything lighter.



I am getting better at the faces....

Figure Drawing class #11

I think it's 11...who the heck knows.

We did some extended poses last night, one 45 and one 30.

I think I'm getting closer the getting the models face right. I see now that his nose is too long here. Gee...I need to take a portrait class... (and I will...next semester!!)


His back was turned to me for the second pose so I focused in on the musculature back there....his arm looks weird, though.

Painting class #9 ...part 2

Ok, now that I assuaged my curiosity about that Rothko painting (phew!!! Painters emergency!!), I can finish talking about last Thursdays class!!

We looked at our finished abstraction projects...not everyone brought all three. It was really interesting to see other peoples interpretations. To see how someone else paints a still life, then distills it down....very, very cool.

This is Kim's:



Kim saw the angles in the still life and carried them through all three paintings. I love how congruent these three pieces are!!

This is Cindy's:



Cindy explored bananas! She really, really did!! She researched them, explored the colors....she really put her mind into this and transformed this still life into something entirely different, but not random.

And mine again:



What should I with Mr. Bones? Is he worth finishing?

Tribute to Rothko...an experiment.

I've decided in my life to go straight into investigating anything I don't understand. In the past, I sort of adhered my opinions to some sort of larger entity thinking that if so many people felt a certain way about something, it must be true. Well, over the years I've realized this is not smart, nor is it healthy. It means I don't trust my own opinions. I'm done with all that.

While this applies to many areas in my life, Art is an easily applicable example. Photo-realism used to allure me. I loved the idea that people could reproduce things so closely to reality.

With all this exposure to ideas about modern art and different movements, I decided I had to pick an artist whose work DOESN'T move me, and absorb myself into it.

I think I might have mentioned Rothko before. (click on his name if you want more info)

I bought a book about him, and thumbed through what seemed like endless pages of dry-brushed color blocks that simply don't inspire me. Except one...

This is called Saffron. What struck me was the light tat comes from between the blocks of red orange. It's like the end of a cloudy day when the sun sets and breaks through the grey and makes that blinding stripe across the horizon.

I asked my professor how he did it and we discussed it a bit. After this I started looking at all his pieces differently. I need to see them in person. I want to see Saffron in person...

So, I tried to make my own. (respectfully, of course.)

It took the better part of this morning when I probably should have been cleaning up this house. It was worth it. This very simple painting isn't simple. There are so many things pushing and pulling - I noticed it as soon as I began to layer the orange over the base of yellow. Here it was, mid-way:



And here it is after adding the piece de resistance....the super-muted violet stripe over the center yellow:

Indoors:



Outdoors:



I was marginally successful. The color across the top of the painting gave me a lot of trouble. I used acrylics, and of course the original is oil. I'm sure it's much more brilliant. I am happy I gave it a try, though.

Painting class #9...part one

Maybe when other people take classes, they just take them, do the work continue their lives. I guess I'm different. I take these classes so seriously!! I feel like I have to. I'm not a kid, this is what I want to do. This is what I should have done when I went to college the first time- I can't even imagine living on campus with 100% of my time devoted to my classes. I had no idea what i was throwing away.

That was music, though...and I had some other things going on with my brain (and, lets be honest, I was very immature).

I appreciate my classes so much and since I threw away my last educational experience, I am trying to put everything I've got into this.

I keep saying- "I need this info NOW." It's true- I mean to apply what I learn right now. Even today as I'm trying to develop a curriculm of my own for teaching lessons up here on the Divide (which is the community where I live). I am using everything I learn RIGHT NOW. Which makes me wonder how much effort I should put in to get an actual degree. I wont rush to finish off my general ed, at least.

We need money. Matts job has excellent benefits, but the salary leaves us close to empty each month. We were able to go to Disneyland thanks to my selling some paintings and Matt selling off some pricey items we don't use anymore. But, we still need a car. Two cars, actually. I've got to get a job.

The only job I want is to teach drawing and painting, and I think there might be a good chance it could work. We have an enormous amount of homeschoolers up here who need instruction. We also have schools with no more actual art classes at the elementary level. I'd love to work one on one with kids.

I've been writing up lessons...I hope I know what I'm doing!

Ok, anyway....back to class. I am LOVING this new project. Although, I take it all so serious I think my classmates think I'm weird. They're right- I guess I am weird. Ask anyone who knows me!

The project is to choose from a list of titles, and then represent that title in a non-representational painting. (does that make sense?) (representational=recognizable objects and form, non-representational=completely abstract)

My entire life has been a series of forced artistic attempts. I think. Everything I do pushes to hard on the viewer- it's my nature to overexpose the everyone around me to my own inner workings. The same is true in my paintings. I come right out and say "this one is about the objectification of women"...in the most obvious and unsuccessful way. I want to communicate in a way that allows more interpretation, more contemplation. No more visual sluttiness.

Here's some of my sketches and paint-sketches. I'm trying to be more loose with the brush. I want more movement. I can't move away from the rainbow-look, though. We are learning a lot about color theory and harmonies and such...I have a hard time picking a simple triad or tetrad---for me, if there's red, there must be green. But also yellow..and so...purple, blue....and a stitch of orange. And...there we go- every color makes it's way in eventually. I can't help it. Making I'll lose this, too...eventually? I'm not ready for that, yet.




This is my favorite of the pile...


Once I get painting, I'll let you in on the title.

Painting class #8

Last Thursday we embarked on our last painting of the 3 part project. I was pretty happy with what I came up with.

Here's the concept I came up with:


The resulting painting, almost done:



I am going to make the far-ground a bit more dimensional and perhaps add more texture to the foreground.

Here's all the three together:



The second painting needs work. I have no idea how to improve it until I painted the third piece. Now I have some ideas and bit of inspiration to tie the 3 together and maybe even save the weak one from being...well, weak.

Figure drawing catch-up post!

No good excuse for not posting lately- just had my nose in some books. I've been thoroughly enjoying fall weather complete with a fire in the wood stove, a blanket over my legs and books all over the place.

In the past week or so, I've done some good things in Figure Drawing, I think. I'm definitely more confident in tackling these drawing without getting overwhelmed.

Last week I cranked out this pose and managed to get the models face straight for the first time:



We've be experimenting with colored pencils in our gestures:



And I've been fumbling with them in longer poses. I lost some form here because I was so distracted by the fun of using the colors:



Last nights last pose- 40 minutes. It was a extremely foreshortened pose and I almost moved to change my view. I'm glad I didn't, because I think this is successful overall: