Leaving room to breathe

It's time for bed now. Here's one of the
first portraits I did in acrylic. I love
the energy, which comes from my dear
friend Susan, who is a vibrant, brilliant
and kind person. I like the fact that she
looks like she wants to jump out of the
chair and rush off somewhere.

In 2004 when this was done I got so
excited about my new lease on life
in art, as a painter in acrylics,
after 10 years doing watercolour,
that I entered every show imaginable.
It was a great learning experience,
but I found out that if I don't have
the energy to be wildly enthusiastic
about everything I'm doing, I'm probably
overdoing it and need to cut back.

Artists, like everyone else need to find a balance between, work, life
family, friends, love, laughter, reading, sleeping, eating. Most of us
have to do other work to support our art habit, even if paintings
are selling well. So... I learned to pick and choose. I learned to
make enjoying everything I do my number one priority. Of
course that's not always possible, but it's a great goal.

There are hundreds of sites on the net that give you relaxation
techniques. Here's one:

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART00521

Have a time-to-breathe-freely day.

Finishing touches

Turns out I did think about recording the process
before I began the Elizabeth portrait progress
photos I showed you here recently.

Here are two photos of the portrait of her sister, Madeline. One is taken a few days before the other one, and in that time
I completed the painting. The silver is real silver leaf -- lovely
stuff to work with, but be sure
to glaze it, or it goes black.

Madeline, was the center of the triptych featuring Sean, her brother, Madeline and
Elizabeth. She was 10 when I began the
work, and an astonishingly sunny child.
Her happy nature and the easy confidence
of a well loved little girl, made the painting
almost effortless.

Right now it's late at night and thundering.
I'm waiting for my son to get home from
his Prom, and to bed, because we have
to drive him to the camp bus for 8 a.m.
So I'm going to sign off.

Have a calm-after-the-storm day.

Seeing a painting whole

Different people will give you varying viewpoints
on how to check a work for flaws. At art school
we were taught to draw and paint aerobically --
work up close, move back, take a good look, move
in. John Sargent apparently felt he'd
walked miles with each portrait -- and the evidence
is there -- the best of portraiture.

Here's a painting that I absolutely loved when I
was painting it in the studio. I don't have a decent
photo of it, so the straight lines are curved, forgive me.
But, looking at the photograph, is another great way
to see what still needs work.

I put this painting, The Poem, in a show in March,
and I felt proud of it. It's 4'high and 2' wide. I still
like the colour, mood, expression on the girl's face,
the feeling of mystery, and the dress. But I'd like to
refine certain elements.

One of my favorite teachers suffered from a
compulsive
need to fix works when they were in an exhibition,
to such an extent that his watercolours
had little 4 inch squares on certain corners,
on top of the actual painting, in sections of the
painting he was still reworking. Rumours circulated
around the art school that he had frequently gone into
galleries, taken a painting down, removed the frame,
and begun reworking the watercolour on the spot.
That must have driven his dealers mad.

In my case, the urge to change a work is usually
reasonable.

Right now the reasonable thing to do is to go to
bed. In the morning I'll see everything in my
studio in a whole new light.

Have reflective night.

Fine tuned Tuesday

Well friends,

We have sure been busy around here today. Just clicking away at life. It was nice and cool -- my favorite spring
weather. I wrote my list of things to manage last night and got through most of them.

What I didn't do was try and weed the masses of forget-me-nots out of my garden. Apparently it was once thought that if your sweetheart wore these flowers near his heart, he wouldn't forget you. Mine would look odd leading a seminar in Calgary with a little bouquet of these delicate blue beauties tucked in his dress shirt pocket. So I trust that I'm not that easy to forget. Yes the plant is invasive, determined, but undeniably way beyond pretty in its sapphire dominion over our yard. I plunked
a bunch in an old enamel jug.

I'm also sprouting morning glory seeds, pictured
here beside a vase of the perfect roses Steven buys me
each week to ensure my memory stays sharp.

Tonight I got to class with about 40 minutes left. The
voluptuous model had glowing skin, and a mane of long
curly chestnut hair, so I set to work. I'd pre-painted the
canvas with a red ground, ideally suited to her skin tone.
I'm training myself to see what I want to focus on quickly,
because I rarely have more than an hour to paint in class.
So here's my sketch.

Have an Elysian day!

When the cat's away -- wait a minute?

Today is unusual because Steven's in Calgary. The house seems
quiet even though there are still five of us in it. The cats
immediately snuggled down on our bed, something they
never do, and slept deeply and peacefully. Normally Fiona
is not allowed on the bed, and rarely in the bedroom because
she's too rambunctious. Timbah broke my bedroom shutters
last year climbing on them to see a bird outside the window.
So he's not allowed in unsupervised either. Today they were
pretending to be little angels.

I've been paying bills, cleaning off my desk, and finally -- after
weeding, doing laundry and making dinner, -- painting. I'm
working on a little painting that I'll show you, but I know it still
needs more work. Right now it's gone overboard with a riot of
vegetation theme. Easy to get into with the entire backyard
garden a sea of blue forget-me-nots.

Did I mention that I'm reading an amazing novel? I did
yesterday. It's late now, and I'm calling it a night.

Have a good travelling day.

Who do you love?

I admit it -- I'm not painting today. I'm just hanging out with my
family. Steven and I went for a long walk in the beautiful park near
our house. I cooked up some salmon steaks for dinner, and we
watched a T.V. movie afterwards. I'm reading a delicious book
by the author of Chocolat, so I'm sure the movie deviated
wildly from the book. Five Quarters of the Orange, is a wonderful read so far, -- witty, biting, incisive -- set in part in France during the Nazi occupation. It paints a terrifying picture, without ever resorting to a tirade. I'm having trouble putting it down.
http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/pages/news.html

Oh and we went to buy the flowers that have become a weekend
ritual. Steven bought me fine white roses, as part of my year-long
Valentine present, and gave me a perfect white wooden planter, he'd
built and painted, complete with an amazing planting of red white
and blue flowers. It sits at the bottom of our back porch stairs,
gracing the yard, and embarrassing the rest of the untended garden.

Not to be completely outdone I bought a huge bouquet of
lilacs for Steven-- the perfume is filling the kitchen.

I meant to write about all the painters I love, Diebenkorn,
Lucian Freud, Bob Burridge, Monet, Mary Cassatt, plus a
forbiddingly long list, but it's the weekend, and I'll get
back to painting tomorrow. Here's an hour- long sketch
I did in class recently. I like the light, and the expression.
There's almost nothing on the canvas, but the model's
personality shines through. I admired her great good
humour as two of the artists in the room had an intense,
loud debate on the subject of whether the model's
neck was long, or short. The model stayed in pose with just
the slightest smile, and ultimately settled the argument
--"long," she said.


Have a do-what-you-love- to-do day!

Animals and art

Mike Dooley who is part of The Secret and a wonderful guy, says that if you want to get along with other people, you should try letting them be "other people".
http://www.tut.com/
I have a massive urge to advise my friends, students, people
I meet in grocery stores, and anyone else who will listen --
like you for instance. But some of the most influential
characters in my life aren't people, and I've learned a great
deal, and had some of my happiest moments with them.
Our family animals are great stress relievers, great sleepers,
great eaters and they love a walk and a game more
than any people I know.

Our two cats, Timbah and Fiona, and Zoey the dog, rank
playing right up there as a life enhancer. After sleeping,
eating, and cuddling, play's the thing.

In the first picture you can see that Fiona won Steven's
heart over from day one. In the second picture she
is insanely jealous of the attention Steven is giving
to Zoey (on his lap). Fiona must be number one,
so here's her strategy for removing animals in her
way -- bug them. 'I know,' she thinks, 'I'll play with Zoey's
tail, and she'll get off Steven's lap!'

This is blog 101 for me, so I should either sign up
for Psych 101, or Watch 101 Dalmatians,
http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/101dalmatians/
in honour of Zoey who is 50% Dalmatian, 50% Border Collie/Lab,
and a delightful combo.

Have a playful day!