work, work, work, work, work.....

here's a bit more of my lady - i'm refining the darks a bit and working some on the figure. the "work,work" i'm referring to is not my painting...it's the yard!!! i started yesterday with the intention of just weeding down the front walk and..one thing led to another..and before you know it i've weeded the whole dang thing!!!!! - and that means pulling out maybe a million wild strawberries, the very bane of my existence!!!!! we're having the fam here tomorrow to celebrate jen's birthday and i really need to be finishing the back - a bit more planting and stuff...so that's my afternoon!! - and then tillie and ollie are spending the night so jimmy can take jen out for a proper birthday celebration...if we get things in good shape outside then all i'll have to worry about is the inside for our party on friday...when would i even have time to paint, anyway?? good thing i took a few pics as i went along..and i think my do-over on the venice painting has gone by the wayside...i worked on the design issues and now the issue is to crop or not to crop.....i've had opinions going both ways - so much to do..so little time....

more stuff...

so here's the scoop...since i started over on "venetian red", i thought i'd start with the darks. it needed to dry a bit so i started another piece i've been wanting to do...an old bag lady reading on a bench. first the venice painting...as i look at it on camera, i'm not that sure i've fixed the design problems that much...hmmmmm...anyway, i've started on the bag lady and placed darks and will continue to work and post as i go along. i'm still not sure what to do about "venetian red" but we'll see.... my problem is i have to get all my painting done asap since we have mike and ginny arriving for the member/guest golf tourney a week from tomorrow and the upstairs need to air out... all the paint smells can get a bit overwhelming! - anyway - another glitch...we're hosting a little soiree for some of the participants next friday and i've got to get cracking on stuff for that! - this place is a madhouse and a funhouse all at the same time!

with some work...

ok - so here's another phase of the painting...at this point i'm thinking the shadows on the left are too severe and too dark, according to my reference. i'm also not happy with the design...my center of interest is too much in the middle of the painting. at this point i can either scrape it off and start over..(not possible because the paint has dried too much...or wait til it dries and then restretch it and make it smaller but with a better design..(also risky because it may not dry enough to be sure i could dismantle it by next weekend, when i have to deliver it to be juried (or not) into a show.)...this morning i made the decision. i'm starting over - with a better design and just a bit smaller canvas. i can put in some good hours tomorrow and we'll see where we get. so far, all i've done is put the venetian red ground on it and done the drawing....why do i get myself into these messes??? - my art spirit would say...growth!

venetian red

here i've put down a ground color - often i use venetian red as a ground so a bit of it peeks through the rest of the painting - helps to add interest and to unify...as i was putting this wash in i had an inspiration! -i'm going to name this painting "venetian red"! more to come...

first stage -

the first thing i did was to draw the image on the canvas - the perspective is important and i'll tune that up as i go along but it really helps to draw the eye back and give the painting depth. i don't necessarily start off with a charcoal drawing on every piece i do - often i just start right in painting...using the brush to draw...with this complicated piece, it was better to start with a fairly correct drawing. the next thing i did was to place some strategic darks..i painted these quite thinly so they would dry for the next stage. i need to photograph that again since something happened with the photo i took. i'll post that next time.

venice - photo

my friend sukey and her husband bill went to italy for a romantic and adventurous holiday a while back. she gave me this glorious photo of one of the canals in venice, thinking i might like to paint the scene. so i thought it would be fun to document a painting as i go along...over the next couple days i'll post different stages i go through and in the end, it may or may not look like this photograph. i just might put my own stamp on it.....anyone can do a painting that looks like a photograph - that's not the idea of painting - you want to try and capture the feeling or essence of the place so we'll see how it progresses.

new commission

it rained all day today...i mean all day. what a bummer - i got so much done in my yard yesterday - even the frenchies came over to lend a hand - planted all my flower boxes..upstairs and down..i wanted to finish the yard today but couldn't get it done. i did start some commission work but i can't post it yet - maybe tomorrow.

TOO tired.....

well...the yard won today! - early today my hubby asked me to play nine holes this afternoon so i had to make a decision for the morning...and the yard won! - of course, my back is the biggest loser!! - i am absolutely NOT supposed to be getting myself into those positions and i'm paying for it now! - just another day or two and i'll be done and can head back up to my studio!...plus...oliver's here to spend the night with me while papper's working all night in the ER. we're counting down...i think only two more nights after this one...and we'll be celebrating!!!!!

natasha's beautiful daughter...

6x6 oil on canvas panel
so we finally thought to get my hubby's old digital up and running - hadn't been used since 2003...but i managed a photo - don't know if the quality is the same...but my new camera just arrived and when i get it figured out i'll be in business!! - spent a few hours in the yard yesterday and planned to get back out there today but life got in the way...i am beginning to think the studio time will be hit and miss at best until i get my chores done!!!

i am so bummed....

i finally got up to my studio today!!!! - yeah!!!!! - i have some commission work to do - small portraits - and i did a warm up piece of the daughter of one of my daughter's friends...make sense? - she's a gorgeous girl and i've been dying to paint her so i did and i am so bummed that i can't post it - i still have no camera!!! - i never thought i'd feel so lost without a stupid piece of technology...(or techanonogy, as my son used to say about the 6 million dollar man!...."we HAVE the techanonogy!")..but i digress...anyway - it feels good to be back and i enjoyed the process and the end result. but right now i'm heading out for a walk with my hubby and nels - the rain has finally stopped and i'm thinking i can get out and pull weeds VERY easily!!!...and very soon!!!!!! lyb

on the beach...

14x11 oil on stretched canvas
this painting is now at the left bank art gallery on st simons. it's a painting of one of etta's boys...some of my best painting fodder! - too busy to get to the gallery upstairs yet but soon...very soon....

found a new gallery

no time for painting...attended my grandson will's baseball game this morning at 10 am in zionsville...i think the wind chill might have been....1.....the actual temp was in the 40s and the wind was absolutely HOWLING!!! - but better weather's got to be ahead, right? - i discovered a nice new gallery in zionsville - right on main street - called the watts fine art gallery - if anyone's in the area it's well worth the stop. took a few grands to lunch and then headed up to the carmel midland gallery to take some new work - that's such a nice place! - long day, after a few extraneous errands and then tomorrow we're gathering for mother's day so it looks like i won't get to the studio til next week. i'm newly inspired after seeing such nice work in the watts gallery so we'll see what lies ahead!

home at last!!

so here's the scoop...we had a wonderful time - i got to paint a little bit but only for a few days...i really wanted to take a break and enjoy my friends and family. boogs and greg and joe arrived last friday so we shared the weekend with them...just as the weather was starting to get HOT!! before that, we had our couples' trip, played lots of golf, ate lots of food, played a little rummykub, visited my galleries and a few others...had a wonderful evening with our friends janet and paul (www.janetpowers-artist.com). we arrived home tuesday afternoon and i've been re-entering since then - with the warm weather, my yard has become unruly...and i haven't even gotten to my planting yet!!!! yikes!!!! i think i have my last tennis match tomorrow and then it's on to golf!! - but not before i get this place in some sort of order - don't know when i'll actually get to the studio again - i switched out some stuff and delivered some stuff in georgia and i plan to visit my carmel midland gellery tomorrow after my match. i have nothing to show for my work down there for one reason: - my camera DIED!!! - i was walking the beach one day and crossed over what i thought was a very shallow little waterway and sank up past my knees!!! - i freaked!~ - i KNOW what quicksand must feel like!! - my camera was in one pocket and my phone in the other - both totally submerged til i could extricate myself with davey's help! anyway - i have a disposable camera that i may have some stuff on but it's not ready to be developed yet - even at that i don't know how good my images will be - i'm excited about the prospect of a new camera, though...lemonade from lemons and all that....