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.

Oragami Deer

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8"x8" watercolor
No title yet. I'll have to ask my half Japanese sister-in-law. I'm sure she can come up with something clever. So lovely to sit inside on a rainy holiday and paint for four hours. Norman gave me a digital record player, so I situated myself at the table, recording great old vinal, and painting my strange Animeople.
I find animal headed people everywhere now. Perhaps its a Jungian thing, all these artists, fishing images out of the waters of the collective subconscious. I sometimes write to other artists when I find their animeoples. But they never write back. I guess that 'collective subconcious' prefers to remain anonymous on a conscious level. No above ground grouping together.
Two Animeople oils almost done!

Two New Watercolors

Sorry, Kind reader, I am working quite a bit, I just seem to be falling behind at photographing and blogging the work...So, to get started catching up, here are two new watercolors.

Pets
6.25"X6.25"

The Queens Tea
6.25"X6.25"

I think I may have mentioned I paint at a cafe' near Phineas's preschool. Going all the way to my studio would loose me a precious half hour of painting time. But painting at a coffee house is a challenge. I have learned to choose well lit corners where I surreptitiously spread out my painting paraphernalia so that no one can sit too close. I realize it is probably better business to let people see me work but I'd rather glare at people in general than socially chat about the painting. So I tip up the paper block with my purse and try not to smile to invitingly. You can join me anytime, of course, for a cup of tea.

Branching Off Blogs

well, kind Readers, I am sorry you will now have to go to another blog to get my fairy house info. I started a new blog to make it easier to just see paintings and home art if that's what you like or all the workshop and new fairy house pictures if that's where your interests lie. I hope this comes as a pleasant surprise to you!

Birds of Prey and Watercolors in the Rain

Birds of Prey (click for larger image)
another animeople, another bad pun. sorry.
Phineas is in a coop preschool twice a week. Instead of going home and folding laundry or cooking more floors for the next woodland house workshop I'm going to a cafe around the corner from the preschool and working on small watercolors while nursing a cup of black tea. Something about this rainy autumn weather makes me long for the bright light and gentle colors of watercolor painting. My old friend. My paints are dry and crackled. Like the zen grinding of Chinese ink I sit and rub them softly with water to revive them, listening to the rain and the cafe' chatter.

But Im still getting used to the finality of watercolor painting. I think I would have given Mrs.Robin a hand holding up a lollipop to her nestlings. Really I just think it would be fun to paint a lollipop so I imagine it will show up in a later piece. Meanwhile I'm working on Queen Elizabeth having a cup of tea with a Rhino head. hee hee.

Shows Over and Benjamins First Art Sales

Well, kind Reader, and so ends my back to back shows. Fun socially but not paying off any credit card debt any time soon. And I now have quite a few bottles of wine left over to drown my artist angst in, since not many spectators wanted wine in this hot weather.

But Benjamin came home pockets bulging with his earnings. A casual comment about 'passing the hat' and he took to doing dance/performance art to onlookers at Periscope gallery. To his amazement coins really were dropped into his hat. He then went on to draw little pictures for the onlookers and amassed almost six dollars in change. He refused to pay the bridge toll though so any hopes that he'll start supporting me were dashed on the rocks.

Two commissions in the works. One an owl in a tree straight up and the other a double portrait. And the next Animeople painting coming soon, titled, "Birds of Prey". Really I am too tired and need to take time off. Ha ha ha. Not likely. Being a mom and an artist is lovely- two fabulous jobs which I enjoy, up to about 4 o'clock every day, whereupon I would like to curl up in a warm place somewhere and sleep for a quarter century. And today, at 4:00 I only feel the pull of half eaten apples and forgotten lettuce turning into smelly liquid, books socks and toys strewn about, dust buffaloes on parade behind doors, dinner to cook, boys to teach and clean, projects unfinished, holes in fences and cracks in ceilings.

Note to Self

So my new lesson is...don't have an opening during an already visually overwhelming event. yes. That about says it all.
Oh and come to the opening at Periscope Cellars Gallery in Emeryville this Friday night!