CATCHING UP

While I'm 'away', I'm keeping a journal.

Some of it is just too pitiful and whiney and depressing, so I won't be sharing that part with you.  Arent' you grateful?

But..here's some that I will share.

APRIL 16, 2010


I’m painting edges. I really don’t like painting edges!

Some smart somebody started making canvases which are stapled to the wood stretchers on the back instead of the side. That means that a painting can be hung without a frame. That works well with some paintings. But, in my opinion, most paintings really look much better with a frame. In fact, almost of mine would look better in a frame.

Nevertheless, since my canvases are of the gallery wrap type, I MUST paint the edges.

Have I mentioned, I really don’t like painting the edges!

Why, you might ask, do I buy canvases with edges which must be painted? Because that’s the only ones I can find, in the size I want, on sale, at my Michael’s store.

On sale…those are the operative words.

Starving artists are all about ‘on sale.’

You might also ask, what’s so bad about painting the edges?

You might be thinking, why doesn’t she just paint the edges as she paints the canvas front?

Well…

Because.

Because I often don’t really know exactly where I’m going with a particular part of a painting until it’s nearly finished. So, if I paint the edges as I go, they might just wind up wrong.

But mostly, it’s because I forget. I’ve painted for years with no thought of having to paint the edges. Change is hard.

So, I’m painting edges…and might very well go over the edge here in a minute.

APRIL 17, 2010

I’m digging through all my unsold paintings and trying to salvage something by either completely painting over them or by making some changes and/or additions to what I’d already done.

Yesterday, sick and tired of painting edges, I grabbed one of my old canvases on which I had ‘played’ with many layers of textured paint. Something rather magical happened.

I finished the painting of a mountain waterfall in record time and I really like the results.

Then, I started one with the figure of a woman looking into a store window. Of course, I have no reference picture to go by, so it’s not going very well. Again, of course. Why do I keep doing such a thing! I love the idea and might just put this one away until I get lucky enough to run across a photo with a woman in that exact pose. Ha!

Today, I am doing a small one…an 8 x 10 with an evening sky and some yucca plants. They are a nice change from saguaros. So far, it’s looking rather good. Maybe Mom is helping me paint this one.  My mother loved yucca plants!

I slept well again last night. I am grateful for what I’ve learned about stilling my mind.

In WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE, the author writes about really being in the moment…really being aware. He suggests you consider the very moment you are in as though ‘it is the best it will ever be.’ It took me a while to ‘get’ this, but what I came away with is that if you really believed that, I think you would become sharply aware of absolutely every sensation you are having and truly lose yourself in each experience. What you are feeling..inside and outside your body or the emotions you are having….What you are seeing…in minute detail…What you can smell…How the very air is moving through your nostrils or on your skin.  The tiny flicker of  your eyelash when you blink.

What is the result of this awareness? For one thing, it’s been a complete relaxation leading to a deep sleep, when I’ve done it at night in bed. I haven’t done it too much in the day time. Perhaps I should.

Another result is something quite profound.  So profound, in fact, that I can't even begin to find words to describe it.

APRIL 17, 2010 EVENING

I am somewhat pleased with the little yucca painting….YUCCA ROAD…I’m calling it.

There were parts of it that were pretty difficult. I painted and re-painted the sky multiple times. That is what I am the most displeased about, even after all my efforts. That and the smallest yucca which is flat-dab in the middle of the canvas vertically. There is SO much to watch for and try to avoid doing if you want to do a well executed painting.

I guess that’s what separates the men from the boys.

Or the girls from the women.

Or the artists from the painters.

Sigh.

In a few days, I will probably have another post for you.  I'm working on some paintings that are scary and wonderful!  They're scary because they really have the potential to be wonderful even after I've finished them.  My paintings often start out as 'wonderful' and end up as not so wonderful.

Once again, I sigh.

Keep your fingers crossed for these paintings that they may continue 'wonderful.'

I'm grateful for you guys...every one of you!