POR AMOR AL ARTE: 01/2015

Friday, January 23, 2015

little steps

my man has been weak: sleeping a lot, eating little and overall being a champ about it. but I'm worried, out of sorts. then there's my other little champ who balances things out but also demands a lot of my time

although I shouldn't say demands but requires.so what I really mean is i've been short of creative time, mainly centered on nights when things have calmed down.

yet for my stability, or should I say sanity, I sneak a little creative time into my days.

faces were haunting me a bit after 100 of them so decided to paint a few vessels instead. it has brought me back to folk art, which is where a large part of my art resides.

but....those faces and female portraits still call to me

bringing out a questioning relationship to the FEMALE. south so that a friend challenged me to paint or draw a male. I find them uninteresting but managed a replica of Renoir's self portrait.

after watching a movie about his later years on Netflix.

so many moments take up a day. and I for one believe in that wonderful line "the pursuit of happiness". and in that pursuit to grasp what matters and make a difference somehow

when the difference is really happening to us as reflected in these glimpses into significant others at the LA Art show. we are always feeding ourselves from others then bouncing back albeit amateurishly!

I feel vulnerable, sensitive, living tiny sensory moments

almost instinctively

quenching my thirst

bit by bit in black and white

then

maddeningly

then

hopefully through my brother's dream

then, somehow centered

faith filled within the chaos and the madness

filling my world with life and color

taking respite walks

trusting

in that colossal female instinct

and the fact, that we are all a gift to each other!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

i've been sketching. a lot. i feel it loosens me up, let's me practice. i like it. i love my simple mechanical pencil with it's forgiving tiny eraser.

i continue to draw faces trying to reach the 100 mark as challenged on Instagram. according to my calculations which I lost track of for a while, i am up to 90 or so. i had hoped to mount them on a board as a group, but many were gifted over the holidays as i painted them on wooden tags.

here are some of my favorites

it surprises me how they all come out looking so distinct and different. some are Watercolor, most are acrylic paints.

my greatest discovery has been the water soluble stabilo pencil which comes in several colors. i use black the most but also enjoy the red and blue.

this was done in chalk pencils

abd this with just water soluble watercolor pencils and gesso

as was this one. i have to say, i am really liking this simple monochromatic palette and i feel it represents me.

the focus is still on faces at the moment but really really want to start a series on vessels (cups, jugs, pitchers, vases, pots).

i have also been trying to frame and display some of my favorites rather than having them in the manila portfolio. once in a while i throw away a few too which makes my daughter very angry.

there are little ones and big ones,

and an occasional crazy one

mostly tiny ones so one of my resolutions this year is to begin painting larger.

tell a story

expand

let my subconscious emerge

in the meantime, an urge to purge and clean house has set in and i have been sorting and discarding, keeping only that which speaks to me. i have also begun printing a lot of photographs in black and white and framing. it's all part of starting fresh.

i can't believe it's been over a month and a half. yet in another i can since it does turn out to be the be the busiest season of the year. and there have been comings and goings by Jon & Claire, Martín and family, Tatiana and the best of all, a new family member.