The Weekend 30 Minute Challenge

I have work to do.

Drawings to make.

Plenty of refining on my plate.

But wait, there's more.

That 30 Minute challenge a couple of weeks ago was a good thing. Just take two little 30 minutes over the weekend to do something that restores yourself. Now for an artist this seems ironic. What we do is very personal, very much a part of ourselves. It is also a performance. Heart, mind and soul are engaged, and there is technique. So what do we do to replenish? How do we keep ourselves refreshed?
There a few bases that I tag. There is a very appealing show at the Dallas Museum of Art about a couple who lived the creative life. Their friends were Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Hemingway and Picasso to name a few. You better believe I am heading down there. I reinstated spa when Dave issued the challenge so there is a masque and some slathering coming up. Oh yes, that rejuvenates. And even though I don't drink very much, we have a brand new margarita machine. Smoothies are great for eating more fruit, but last night it was frozen mango Patron margaritas. Double, double yum. I could feel the Vitamin C in action. Well, maybe it was a little of the Patron as well, but we are no longer worrying about scurvy. See the berries above? Hm. On my face or into the machine? What would Sara and Gerald do on the Riviera? I can see the Picasso now, "Strawberry faced woman sipping magarita at a bullfight." So join me this weekend in your own challenge. What will you do to recharge your batteries?

Blackberries in Progress

A friend could use some cheering up. She is under the weather.

So let's send her a peek a boo of her berries in progress.

It has a little way to go. Not done yet. Here you can see the start.

We want big plump blackberries, a sifting of sugar snow, and a pink and yellow glow. We have the essentials down. Now comes the part that's fun. Oh berries are berries yes, but I cannot be happy with just that. These berries will have some class and a bit of playfulness. The brushes will get smaller. It will just take a kiss of color here or there, but what I am after is a smile that a friend can share. Feel better soon.

Don't sell to the tinkers, Jamie. We would all be so sad. Just take care, bring her juice, a hanky and really good drugs. Have you put the pool in yet? Fed Ex just delivered our Margarita Swirl machine. Really. So the muses today...kind of a southern thing. ( even if they won't let me embed it. )

Yep. It's summer. Getting the mixes and the ice. Nachos? Sure. Coming up.

10 Muses and 50 Huzzahs

This is the part where it really takes patience.

Remember where we started?

I mean how many spikes of green, how many strokes does it take, to make it done? This particular part of the painting is a central hub. It has to flow. The greens have to move us. Right now they have to move me. How do I keep myself from green fatigue? I use the other two colors in the triad too. So darting in and out will be browns and lavenders, references to sky and earth peeking here and there. Don't worry , I'll spare you. We'll take a break from this painting for a few days while brush and I play in all these greens. Watch for blackberries here tomorrow.
So as I said on Monday, I need 10 muses and 50 huzzahs to keep me moving through all the fun stuff there is to do. What do you do when you're into a task and have many others as well. What keeps you reaching for your dreams?



Ahh, my friends will get that one big time. C'mon Brush.

The Awkward Teenage Phase

Puberty isn't pretty.

Feet are too big for the body.

Arms and elbows knock over everything.

We pray for grace.

But there's all kinds of acting out.

There's a stage in a painting when things seem a bit out of control. We are there. I am pushing and pulling everything at the same time, working all over the painting. Development is uneven. We're making that jump from pure abstraction and pattern to the detail that suggests realism. Values will become more important. In art that means light and dark (In life and teenagerness, you're on your own.). So the piece is not purely one thing or the other right now. I like those spaces in between. Those patterns. So you'll see some of them masquerading as visuals hints, suggesting the real thing. The larger elements and their appendages will be refined, grow into themselves so to speak. So there's lots of work to be done, but we are well over the halfway mark. We don't want to tame the beast, just make it, hm...socially acceptable.

Now, I need a muse. Ah yes, Christopher Walken...my weapon of choice.(even if they won't let me embed it.)

Yes. Let's go Brush. We have some refining to do.

If I Had a Fairy Godmother

She would be brilliant and kind and loving.

She would show me the path to critical mass.

She would anoint me with the kind of energy I had last year at this time. And give me some great shoes to go with it.

Seriously. I am going to need 10 muses and 50 huzzahs to get through this week. Did you ever ever feel that way? Course corrections are like that. Transitions are like that. Wouldn't it be great to have our own Bibbity Bobbity Boo? Last night I was looking at the current painting and decided I would become a naive painter. I also thought I should take up karate and the marshal arts and be dating George Clooney. I could DO Lake Como. I am not sure if this was at 1 am or 4 am. I blame Tyra Banks. Yeah. The Sunday New York Times had an epic article on her and her "fierce" drive for power. Made me feel like a total lump on a log. Yesterday, I was minding my own business, getting my calendars printed out for the summer. Mapping out the season's direction while sipping a frosty Lemoncello on the patio. Birds chirped. Squirrels buried pecans. Hydrangeas blossomed. It was good.
Tyra is non stop bop. She's also way younger than I am and a super model to boot. Tyra also has a Fairy Godmother. Her mom. Her mom who insists that Tyra research and begin with the end in mind, who manages her career, helps keep the focus strong. That much was incredibly clear from the article. Her phenomenal success alway begins with a clear direction and continues with a guiding hand.
So here I am today. Leaving the paint alone. Working with the calendars and my plans for the next course correction, the next push towards that target I am after. Whether it is to find America's next top model, get a grip on today's economy, or be a painter's painter, ya gotta have a plan...but it sure wouldn't hurt to have a Fairy Godmother. Oh yeah, it is Organizing Monday.

Uh Oh, It's Getting A Little Whacky

We-oo. Brush had Stafani movement in him yesterday. Some of those stripes rubbed off on me.

But let's blame it on Jeff too. This came by email.

I had to have movement in that cascade.

I had to set up some color and texture.

Even though this will all be going neutral.

Huh? Neutral? But you're setting up vivid color. And what did your friend Jeff ever do to you? Organized chaos. Cacophanies of color. Where we come from color is alive and parading down the street at any given hour. Is it black and white? No. It's cafe au lait, sienna, vermillion, azure, and K and B purple. We play with color like we molded little minds, with vigor, intensity and a sense of humor. Ho hum will not do. So good luck to my friend Jeff Jennings on the opening of his new show in Houston, June 9. If you are near there, go by, it will be worth it. And for me and Brush, well we're going back to play some more. I feel the need for some golden ochre, some raw sienna moss, some greys and a kiss of cerulean blues.

My Muse today? This one is for you Jeff. You're an All Star. ( Even if they wouldn't let me embed the thing...:)

4 Triangles and 1 Arrow

Focus on the right side of the painting.

There's a rise, a spacious cascade and a parade of little triangles.

Here's the first of the four shapes that will pull us back in after taking that trip to the top.

Here's the next one that starts that sweep right to left.

And here we have the central duo that catch the sweep and start the ascent again.

I've been holding back. I love this expanse, the falling cascade of thinly fleshed pure glaze. It's mostly a mossy veil and underbrush perceived at a distance. But these palmetto shapes act like hands. They point us in directions as easily read as an airline stewardess's fingers pointing us to the exits fore and aft. You can see in the last set, I've started adding detail. So watch these spots for line and color that whispers, soothes, beckons. 1 arrow of warm rising, a cascade of gentleness down, and 4 simple triangles. Those are my pals today.

Hm. Now for a muse...ahh, here..diagonal stripes and a sweet escape...Look at all the geometry.



We-oo. Off to my sweet escape. Come on brush. We-oo