seeing & hearing

I think this has been the most beautiful autumn I've ever had. It hasn't really gotten cold which is a definite plus. There is an oak tree out back that seems to contribute to the sanity in my life. It's leaves are changing color and falling off slowly. Soon the trees will be bare and the leaves will be raked up. So I made this painting for now and for the time when they go away.

 

Sometimes the wind will blow some leaves into the house (hey- there's one by the painting) and I just let them. As you can see, we have hardwood floors. So there's a few leaves indoors. I like them. If I get tired of them, I can just sweep them up and send them back outdoors. But for now they stay.

My painting powers seem to be waning, but I've been more inspired by my jewelry lately.

Step 1:

  

Step 2:

 

Working on Step 3.

I really like putting words in the backgrounds. Words, spoken and written are not my strong point and I so appreciate others who have the gift of LifeWords. :)

new necklaces

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I wrote a post the other day and suddenly I was off the page and it was gone. Disappearing posts, comments, emails are starting to mess with my mind. So I'll just let out a little primal growl and be done with my complaining. Ok, I feel better now.

I've gotten to the place where I'm running out of blank canvas. Fortunately I've got a few paintings that are prime candidates for gessoing. Because the way I paint doesn't leave hardly any texture behind, this is very easy to do. Some of my paintings have been painted over 3 times. It seems like a  rather Darwinian tactic (survival of the fittest) but that's how it is.

On the good side, I've said goodbye to 4 paintings in the past week or so. Two were purchased and two were given. Both forms of transaction brought me equal happiness. I kinda like that ratio too. What I ultimately don't want is a bunch of paintings forelorn and rejected in the corner of the garage with dead bugs and live spiders making their homes within.

I have some plywood which I can paint. I kept looking at the woodgrain and seeing a landscape. So I gave it a light coat of colored paint so that the formations stand out:

 

So there is the world in a piece of wood. I gessoed over that the next day, but it was somewhat interesting for a while.

I've not been too excited about my paintings lately (ho hum). My neckalces, however, have brought me much joy- just like the fortune cookie said they would.....

landscape

This is the sort of land my parents will be driving across on their 1500 mile trek back to California. It's long, but I love that drive.

I wanted to try a landscape picture. It was a lot of fun to do, but I'm actually not all that crazt about it. My 11 year old son really likes it though. And he rarely likes anything (he's like "Mikey" on the old Life cereal ads). So he can put it in his sparsely decorated room.

when they grow up

they will be necklaces

 

(made using a wood burner)

awakening

"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware..."

I liked this quote and copied it quickly realizing later I had completely forgotten to get the source. *Sigh*

This is the painting I'm currently working on. It's about "awakening". Parts of it I really like and some (as my painting teacher in college used to say) "aren't working". Which I always took to mean a kind way of saying you really don't like something. Fair enough. I'm putting it aside for now and will come back when I get a better sense of where it's going.

BTW, my comments section is waiting for someone to be the honorary first (or second...third for that matter).

in between paintings

these are the sort of things I did more when my children were younger and I didn't have time for painting

These paintings don't look so impressive in their unfinished state. Then again, they may not when they're finished either. But I will document he process nonetheless. On the table this morning (because I can't use an easel with this method) is the earthy one.

how they begin

 

Sometimes I feel like I'm still just coloring in between the lines.

more pomegranates

 

 

 

where I left off tonight