River Gods and Zip Lines

River Gods and zip lines...
two things you might not think go together, but in my world...
I am the queen of multi tasking, the empress of creative mothering, and heiress to the throne of put-it-off-till-later-so-we-can-do-what-we-want.
My house isn't too clean, but everyone is happy.
So Benjamin plays monopoly (rolling for both of us- "do you want to buy Boardwalk?"), while I work in the garden. And an hour of building a platform for a zip line is followed by an hour of wiring paintings for the Castle in the Air show. I rather like it. How dull it would be to do just one thing. Though I often do long for simplicity I soon find it dull when it occasionally shows me its serene face.

River Gods (framed)
based on Manet's Luncheon on the Grass (did you guess, dear reader, from my last posting?)
uh...14"X20"?
Did you know Luncheon on the Grass was Manet's version of an even older Roman artpiece called River Gods? (and that one was a version of an even older piece as well) It makes me feel like what Im doing- ripping off these antique portraits is more justified. MANET did it after all. And I actually didn't even know that Luncheon was based on this older piece until after Id choosen and find ref for Racoons. So how perfect to call mine River Gods. More odd intuiting.

Meanwhile, in the backyard....

Fearless Phineas getting ready to jet down the zip line. Parents, are you quaking in your Mommy boots? 12 feet off the ground, the line dives across the lower yard to only about 5 feet. BAM! They get going pretty darned fast. The beginnings of our future Ewok village?

Knight, Stuck, and Benjamins Interior Design

Knight
10"H-oil on wood
almost done almost done! The show goes up on the the first, opening is the 14th. I want to wrap up these last few pieces so I can get to the hellhole of matting and framing. I have the supplies but I need the quiet space of no children, the soft tap of rain on the skylight to keep me company while I measure and cut angles.

close-up of Knight


Stuck
I was stuck for awhile on stuck. I had boring grey walls and the piece was lifeless. Im not usually a fan of metalics but this pseudo-gold sure did the trick. I think I might go back into the hand/key and bring it out a bit. The tiles were a makeover course in perspective. Yikes. I didn't get it perfect but hell- YOU try. yeash.

meanwhile, in the intersection of art and home and child...I had woven curly willowbranches into my lamp shade with teh paln of hanging paper cranes all over it. But my six year old snuck in and tagged it before I could. He, of course, choose to have Bionacles (Lego Robots) crawling and climbing up it.

But his best stab at decorating took place weeks before I even noticed it- and I happily left it in place, for its whimsy. A Ferby riding my guardian dragon.

and finally- a sneak preview of the final piece. Can you name the painting it's based on? Come on- its a classic- right at the beginning of Jensons History of Art book.

Starting Smoking and Sofonisba

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Sofonisba
um...7" square
I can never remember her last name. I think it's amazing I can remember her first name. Anguisola or some such. Anyway- a very neat lady artist, who lived an interesting and all encompassing life as artist, court painter, wife and mother. A good roll model for me. Someone I'd really really like to sit down to a cup of tea with. After I learn Italian. And she really did look like a lemur. It wasn't exactly a stretch of the imagination.

I thought I'd lost three of my watercolors today. It took me an hour to find them. I felt so ill. Afterward I started smoking again...but not really. I did consume a cup of coffee late in the day as well as a large hunk of frozen cookie dough. Now everything is, suffice to say, VERY orderly and organized.

Watercolors on a Rainy Day

The Lovers
10" High

based on a very old German tarot card. I finished this one early this morning and then proceeded to paint another tarot card- the high priestess, which most likely will be finished tomorrow morning. It is a lovely and peaceful thing to sit inside with the heater blasting and paint light filled watercolors while outside the slate grey sky throws down heavy blankets of rain. I am so reminded of when I lived in Northern California- more Northern California, and the rain was constant and I only painted in watercolor. The nostalgia and melancholy of that time in my life hit me so hard I was impelled to buy clove cigarettes at the gas station after getting Ben from school, though I'm not certain if I will actually smoke them.

Business Card Dilemma

I just can't decide!! Dear Reader, what do you think? I can make a two sided business card-both sides color or just have info on the back and a color front. You know the drill.... I have to get my files to the printer by Monday. My last card had Geisha's hand on one side and the turquoise bird on the other. Should I stay with that or try to integrate an Animeople? My topics so often come back to all the diversity in my life. I paint many subjects- trees, birds, animeoples, figurative. Do I somehow try to represent them all? Should the front of the card match the colors of the back of the card. yee-gads. I have graphic designer block. (and yes yes- all these have the requisite bleed etc...these are the 'cut' images- and no border- thats my blogsite design))
here's the options:

A Watercolor, and Oil and a Website

A Watercolor, and Oil and a Website walk into a bar....
no but seriously kind reader- I finally updated my website! Do you know what this means! Can you imagine the consequences of actually having a website to show my work- both new and old??!
WELL let me tell you!! It means this blog can be what it was intended to be- a place to document the challenge of balancing being parent, artist, and home maker. Along with new art I can post silly pictures of my boys and their bento boxes, odd house projects and crafty doo-dads. I can rant about the art world and its trials and tribulations while a child stands upon my foot.
yay.
so go check it out!! www.sharoneisley.com I still have to tweak the site some- put in some roll overs on words and what have you but the images are there. And now its all organized so nicely with my series page, thanks to Alissa Feldman, who traded me ages ago. And Adrian-who put together the initial website- something like twelve years ago. Thanks!!


Flamingo's Masquerade
ummm-9" high? something like that. Oil on wood.
Don't you just love my professionalism? and don't you just love brown and pink together?

Peace Dove
8"x8" watercolor

based on a Sofonisba painting (Sofonisba as a lemur soon to follow-hee hee). The window is from Nelson Mandela's prison cell. Isn't it strange then that she is christian? But when one borrows from art history- there it is- all that christian and catholic imagery. Its the dove that is the point anyway. Take it as you will. I like that people will read it in different ways. Hopefully positive.

Freed By the Flame and Blind Faith

Freed By The Flame
ummm- oh shoot I dont know what size it is. Bigger than usual though. Maybe 20X30" plus the frame? I got this fabulous frame at the flea market. I live only three blocks from our best local flea. The kids eat and paint themselves with snow cones and get what they can with their dollar and I look for...well...fabulous frames. Like this one. Which originally had a really ugly flower painted on it. And now a moth- so much better- symbol of neurosis in my art. One of them has escaped. So look out world. But then, the moths never travel far from the flame.

Blind Faith
ummm...small again- maybe 8" high.
I painted Birds of Prey and then thought it would have been great to paint a hawk wearing his hawk hood and preying. I don't usually redo ideas but this one captivated me- and I like it when my paintings have some meaning- something to ponder. Is the painting a negative or positive take on blind faith? You decide. Oh- and he's a Peregrine falcon (not that it really matters but I just think falcons are neat).


my little dusty neurosis with its delicate feathered antennae. Only an inch high. Tiny brush.