Gathering Peonies While I May

 

Peonies at Josie's, 10 x 8" oil on canvas board, from yesterday afternoon.

So I'm home, in a sense: I am packing to move and my life right now is the kind of chaos that happens when you're packing to move.

Which is why I painted this before going home yesterday, instead of kidding myself that I'd get any painting done once I was back here.

Photographing these things is still difficult, though. This one, for example? Lost most of the blue and violet tones in its green areas, making them more vivid and less natural-looking than they are in reality. I've corrected as well as I can, but it's not enough to make me happy. I suppose the thing to do is ... come see them for yourself, when they go to a gallery. :-)

White Petunias

Heartwood Petunias, 10 x 8" oil on canvas board. This painting, as I post this, is about an hour old. I went for a sunshiny effect even though it's very cold and grey out there. I'm pleased with the results. Glad that Josie Geiger basically shoved me out the door to go do something.

Now it's time for ice cream and Bailey's!

Irises Before the Storm

 

Heartwood Irises, 10 x 8" oil on canvas board

 

Six yesterday evening and the storms threatening, and I went out with my Guerrilla Painter Box and caught some irises, as the wind picked up and the sky darkened.

Glad I did it then: today, the rain and the lightning won't stop.

I'm still at Heartwood Conference Center & Resort, in lovely ... I am not sure if it's Chicog or Trego, technically, but it's a beautiful part of Wisconsin even with the thunderstorms.  Heading home tomorrow afternoon, maybe painting on the way if the weather and schedule will allow.

Heartwood Conference Center, Wisconsin

 

On the easel currently, my first landscape in Wisconsin. 10 x 20", oil on canvas, fast and loose, not really finished. More to come tomorrow.

At home, I've been in the midst of moving to a new apartment, and everything's been getting done except art. Being away from the mess and fluster has really, really helped.

Art Collecting for the Rest of Us

One joy of my adult life has been the discovery that art doesn't have to break the bank. And I mean real, original art. Good original art. Pieces such as this one, which I bought last night from Derek Davis:

Figure sketch by Derek Davis, oil on gessoed paper, 14 x 10"

Gorgeous, isn't it? Subtle, intuitive, full of light, life, and color. Guess what I paid for it. No, go on. Guess.

Twenty-five dollars.

Behold, I am an art collector, for less than it'd cost for myself and a friend to get dinner at Chili's.

This isn't a once-in-a-blue-moon deal. Most of us who make art professionally create things at all kinds of price points. In Derek's case, he paints quickly and does these studies for fun and practice, so he has a lot of them. He lets them go at $25 each rather than hang around his studio gathering dust. I got the benefit of that, and so can you: he was making more last night, when I bought this one.

Art is for everyone, and artists know it.

Computer Bugs (and traffic jams) for Art Crawl

 

These are made of salvaged electronic components -- transistors, resistors and fuses, oh my -- and polymer clay. All are quite small, and most are priced around $12 to $18. They'll be available at Saint Paul Art Crawl THIS WEEKEND, as well as more at Tarnish & Gold Gallery in NE Minneapolis.

 

I even made a  Trojan Horse!

If you're coming out from Minneapolis, be aware that I 94 Eastbound will be CLOSED from Friday night through Monday morning! Closure is from 35 W to 280, so be sure to find a detour if you'll need one.

Blue Pony, found objects, polymer clay, oil paint and wax medium, 12 x 12"

I lost some sleep creating this one. Kind of a lot of sleep in fact.

What happened was, I mistook one deadline for another and ended up with something like 72 hours to come up with two entirely new works. Oops!

This and the Red Bird are the result of that deadline. I had to simply make things; there was no time to second-guess myself. Though I hope not to pull almost-all-nighters again any time soon, I can't say I'm sorry I did it this time. 

What I'm loving are the various interpretations I'm hearing from people. Everything from "Aztec" to "Pony Express." I have my own associations with the piece, but I'm leaving those unsaid for the moment.

The Blue Pony and Red Bird are part of the This Old Mouse show at Tarnish & Gold Gallery in NE Minneapolis, starting tomorrow night at 7 p.m.; if you come out, I'll see you there.

Just completed: Red Bird

Found/salvaged objects, polymer clay, oil paint, wax medium.  7.75" high.  Just done today, and the paint's not dry yet.

I've had many of these objects for a very long time -- the decorative piece that forms the base of the wing, and the wire mesh part; I've had the old hinge that made the stand for it for a couple years at least. Bought the polymer clay yesterday for a dollar on sale. The electrical components come from OceanTech in NE Minneapolis.

This is going into a show; stay tuned for information on that.

Dalmatian in Progress

Annie, 8 x 10" mixed media on Rives BFK Tan paper.

And I have a dilemma, which is whether to try putting a backdrop (softly drawn in a neutral tone) of avocado branches and leaves behind her. This dog LOVES her avocado tree. And eats avocados whenever possible, too.

But the busy spot pattern on her coat is such that I'm nervous about adding anything busy to the background, lest it compete with her and make the drawing "noisy." So I'm torn, and thinking it over.

Mercedes the Chihuahua (or: 45 minutes & a snapshot)

Just completed in about 45 minutes at the Saint Paul City Ballet.  I had that much time, and a snapshot for reference. These drawings aren't as detailed and accurate as my usual drawn portraits (which take around 4 hours), but have a lively, sketchy quality all their own.

Thanks to Georgia Amdahl for the opportunity to do this.