I envy those who are prolific writers. Words come so easily to them. I am
not one of them. In fact I have a very
hard time “tooting my own horn” when it comes to me. I can’t lay out for the world to see my most
inner thoughts. Hence the very long lapse
in my blog posting.
Retirement 2 ½ years ago has put me in a very happy place.
So what’s new? Well (I’ve been told
never to start a sentence with the word “well”), I have been taking painting
workshops with various artists and many online workshops. The online workshops don’t seem to get done ,
other than watching the videos and taking it all in. Absorbing it all like a sponge so when I do
paint it all comes out in various ways without me thinking about it. When I paint I can’t think about what is the
correct way to go about it, or think about color choices because when I do I
freeze. I have to be free and not
think. I love making backgrounds. It is the most freeing. It doesn’t matter what
substrate I use. I have to admit I do
have a stack of what I call “unfinished pieces” just waiting for me to have a vision
for the next step. Eventually it comes
to me. When it doesn’t work out gesso is
my friend.
Until recently my largest painting was a 16x20 – for me this
was BIG. Then I took a workshop with
Annie Lockhart (http://www.annielockhart.com/) at Donna Downey Studios. We painted with our fingers, so liberating,
on 30x30 canvas. Oh boy that huge blank
canvas was a bit intimidating at first.
Annie made the whole process to be free, just my style. I got into it so much I ended up with six
canvases. We were given two for the
class. I was on a roll and couldn’t
stop. I finished 4 of the six and have
two by my easel waiting for the finishing touches. Then I took another workhop with Donna Downey
(http://www.donnadowney.com/) at her
studio, “Paint Like an Artist”. The
canvas here was , yikes 36x36. Again
paint with your fingers and create a background. Then step back and look at it and see what is
inside there. One of mine vaguely showed
a bird and a face. Not what I wanted to
see but I went with the bird. I call it “Bill’s
Bird”, Donna’s hubby liked it so I named it after him.
I am also covering boxes, wood and cigar (inside and
outside). This has been fun and
rewarding. All are different sizes and
shapes. Most are covered with paper and
embellished. A few have been mixed
media.
Then I switched to building my inventory of handcrafted
journals. I truly love making journals. This is my first passion, then painting, then
jewelry. I seem to dabble in way too
many artsy things. I guess that’s a good
thing. Keeps me busy and happy.
Before I forget I took a break and took a “Celestial Fusion”
class with Jean Van Brederode (https://www.facebook.com/jean.vanbrederode
) at her studio “Charmed I’m Sure”.
Loved it and her studio is to die for.
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