Quirky Dame's Art Blog

Back again!

Sorry for the long absence from this blog! The past month has been quite a month. The first two weeks were spent finishing a custom painting, housesitting, packing for my trip and going through some crazy stuff at the day job. But the last two weeks? I spent them in Hawaii... gorgeous, beautiful, warm and tropical Hawaii. And it was just what I needed. :)

I didn't have as many chances to do art related things as I wanted while I was there. But I did make a point to stop at the Volcano Art Center in Volcano National Park and it was incredible! Turns out an artist that I greatly admire was having a show there - though I was a couple of weeks early to see her in person - and I discovered several others, too. You can find their website here and the artist I referred to is Carin Loebel-Fried. But there's several others I loved, such as Dietrich Varez, Linda Varez, Kathy Long, Linda Rowell Stevens, and more.

As for myself, I did a few sketches, started a painting and took a bunch of photos. Right now, one of the sketches is being turned into a linocut, but I think I may also paint it. Here's a look at the sketch:

Here's a peek at the linocut in progress (though I think I'll end up redoing her in the future.) I did a test print a little after taking this picture, after I had carved some more, which helped me to see what needed to be cleaned up:

Here's the painting I started over there. It's the view from the lanai of my sister's condo in Maui. I've still got a lot of work to do on this one before it's ready to list:

As you read above, I have started doing linocuts! I've been wanting to give them a try again for quite some time. I figured my word this year is Expand, so it's time I did just that and start working on them again. Plus there's a Pet Portrait painting class going on in town in June and I plan on taking that class. It's a one week intensive, every night for five nights, from 6:30 to 9:00 pm, at the local art museum. It's with an artist that I love - Linda Infante Lyons - and have taken several of her classes. It ties in with a special project I have planned.

And before I end this post, a quick look at one of the pictures I took in Hawaii. I miss it there already:

Okay, I'll be back again soon. I'm planning on posting an entry about the custom order I mentioned earlier. Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Another owl...

So, I'm taking a bit longer break than I thought from the bird woman painting. I'm working out in my mind how I want to proceed. But in the meantime, I worked out a sketch the other day that I decided I would try to paint with oils. But I can't buy the canvas for it until this weekend, at the earliest.

However, while I was digging through the canvases and wood panels I already have and happened upon an 8x10 wood panel that I had covered in a coat of blue months ago. It occurred to me that I could do an acrylic version of this sketch, a more realistic owl, and then move on to the oil version.

So tonight, I sat down and got started on it:

At the top of the picture is the sketch I made and below is the first layer of paint for the tree branches. I also wrapped the branches around onto the sides. Here's what it looks like on one side:

There is at least a branch or two that wraps around the entire wood panel - top, bottom, and sides. I love how it looks when hanging up. :) This owl, as I mentioned above, will be a more realistic owl than the usual owls I paint. I'm looking forward to doing the even bigger version in oils. Fun! However, next comes finishing the tree and shading it. Woof. That'll be a challenge, but I'm excited and psyched to do it!

New Oil Painting Listed!

Just taking a quick second to post about my latest listing on BoundlessGallery.com. My new painting, Tranquility, is available for purchase now, but it will not be available to ship until March 22nd at the earliest. This is so that the painting has time to dry and also because I will be out of town from March 5th through the 21st. Where will I be? Someplace that looks much like the new painting!

Painting has commenced... ACK.

Here's a new vow I'm taking... I will never let myself go so long (8 months this time) without painting a portrait. Holy cow. Really not smart. I lose a lot of the progress I had made and then getting started again feels somewhat traumatizing. *g* But I have started. Woo hoo!

Got just an initial layer of paint on; however, there are several more, I'm sure, to be applied. As you can see, that lovely sap green underpainting is still very much showing through. Won't be the case when it's done.

I have to work out where the shadows are and get them applied now. Those dark tones can be a little scary to apply, but they are what really makes the painting. The base layer of the hair is on, but it will contain more colors, highlights, lowlights, etc. A lot more definition. My initial try at a background tonight was a total fail. I ended up wiping it off. I need to take a day or two and really think about what to do with it. Which will be easy because I need to give the current layer of paint a day to dry a bit. I actually do think I have an idea for the background, but I'm going to ponder it a bit longer.

And yes, I'll post a picture. I have to give the following caveat: this is only the first layer and, thank God, by the time I finish, this will look a thousand times better. *g* At least I'm being positive! :)

Progress has been made!

I worked on the bird/woman painting tonight! I got honest with myself and admitted that I was finding other things to do instead of starting on it. It's been awhile since I've done a portrait and I was getting a wee bit nervous. But then I was reading the interview I did on Huckleberry Bumpkin's blog and my quote got me:

“When my doubts about my art surface, I can let them paralyze me or I can push past it and continue to create.“

LOL! Convicted by my own words! I hate that! I decided it was time to push past those doubts and fears. :) One thing I've found helps me when I get like this is to pick one thing, one tiny, simple thing and do it. For instance, tonight I decided to mix up the paint for the skin tones. I have a little recipe from a previous art class that I like and it's all mapped out for me. I thought that was non-threatening enough yet it was a step forward.

By the time I finished that, I was feeling good enough that I decided to go ahead and sketch in the painting with the thinned out sap green paint.

Now all I have to do is wait for her to dry, then I can move ahead and begin the painting! I'm hoping that will be tomorrow. The paints are in the freezer, waiting to be applied to the canvas when it's ready. :)

I'm glad I nipped this in the bud before it got any further. Not so say there won't be any other moments like this, I know better! I haven't mentioned this yet on this blog, but the place I work at was picked as one of four organizations to receive donations from a ball and silent auction this fall. I was asked if I'd be willing to donate a painting for the auction and I readily agreed, as I'd been thinking of volunteering one. So I'm very aware that I can't afford to let myself procrastinate.

I've got several ideas of paintings I want to do and I'm not sure which one will work best for the auction. So I want to finish a few of them. Any others will be listed on http://juliebehm.boundlessgallery.com. That's something I had planned on doing anyway. The last thing I want is to be two weeks away from the auction and rushing to try and finish a painting in time!

Okay, that's it for today. Got to go get some sleep so I can stay alert and awake at work - things are crazy there right now and will be for some time - and so I can continue work on the painting tomorrow night. Yeah!

Interview with Huckleberry Bumpkin

It's up! That's right, the interview on Huckleberry Bumpkin's blog that I talked about in my last entry is up. If you're interested, you can read it at http://huckleberrybumpkin.blogspot.com/2010/01/expanding-blossom.html. I highly suggest you read all the interviews on her blog. There's some awesome talent there! Also, she has her own Art Fire shop and you can find that at http://www.artfire.com/users/huckleberrybumpkin.

Wish I Were There...

So, I ended up working on a different painting than the woman and bird. I did get the sketch from the last entry transferred onto the canvas. I had grand plans to finish the underpainting tonight, but I came home from work and was so tired, I promptly passed out on the couch for over 2 hours and slept hard. It was one of those days. :( I'm just hoping I can fall asleep tonight at a decent hour! Anyway, maybe I'll get to work on the woman and the bird tomorrow.

Earlier this week, I felt inspired to work on another painting - a 7x5 of a Hawaiian beach. It was inspired by a photo my sister took, though you'd never be able to tell by comparing the two! I just wanted to do a very simplified, colorful beach scene. This is the latest version:

Please forgive the tacky paper towel background. This puppy is very wet - I got paint all over my hand just taking this picture!

I think this is the finished version (minus an artist's signature on the bottom right, but it needs to dry a bit first) but then, I've thought the same thing two other times. :) This one's a little unusual for me, as it has some texture to it. Normally I don't have much texture - or any at all - in my paintings. I tend to paint very smoothly, with no visible brushstrokes. But that just didn't seem to be working for this one. It was crying out for something different. Combining that with my desire to experiment and push myself to try new things, I decided to play with it a bit. Do something I normally wouldn't do. Hence the criss cross ocean, the dappled sand and the daubed on waves hitting the sand.

I love the colors and just the simpleness of it. I want to be on that beach, listening to the waves crash and swimming in the gorgeous tuquoise water. The cool thing is, I will be there in less than two months! I can hardly wait. I find being by the ocean to be the most relaxing, peaceful place for me and I just thrive on it. I'm planning on taking lots of pictures while I'm in Kona and hopefully some of them will eventually become paintings!

This poor thing is going to need quite a bit of time to dry, but eventually it will be put on http://juliebehm.boundlessgallery.com for sale.

Btw, I'm thrilled to reveal that I will be featured on Huckleberry Bumpkin's blog this week! I believe it will be on Thursday, but I will be sure to post a link to it when she posts it. She's doing a whole series of interviews with various artists and artisans and I highly recommend you read them. She's found some very talented folk that deserve to be seen. I'm just honored and thrilled beyond belief that she wanted me to join that group. You can find her blog at http://huckleberrybumpkin.blogspot.com.

Off to go try and get some sleep. I promise to post update pictures of the woman and bird painting (really need a zinger of a title for that painting... bird and woman painting just isn't cutting it!) when I get some more done on it!