Balanced
A new painting, ‘Balanced’, 18″x24″, mixed media on wood stretcher.
I found this amazing photo on http://clancysclassics.blogspot.com/, actually in her etsy shop. Check out her beautiful work. She graciously let me use this image for a print of the final painting. Thanks Marianne!
Undecided
Another painting from my new series “Too Small, Too Young”.
Undecided, 15.5 “x 20”, mixed media painting on wood stretcher.
This series is about being a child now, looking back and/or remembering being a child and also about being an adult/parent watching your child grow up. It is bitter sweet to say the least.
Sometimes I find myself looking at my children and feeling unbearably sad. I know that this sounds crazy but it is because I am not really looking at them right now, instead I am thinking about how much smaller they were not so long ago or how soon they are going to be all grown and leaving me. Awful I know, but it is the truth. I think about how far away my own childhood seems now, how foggy my memories are. How young my parents were.
In many ways, these are timeless paintings. They live neither in or out doors but exist simultaneously in both. If as though, our memories can be in some other plain all together, existing in our mind but also in this place that shifts back and forth, in and out of focus. Often hard for us to grasp completely, save a snippet here, a smidgen there.
I guess in these works I am trying to capture childhood, mine and my children’s and to somehow hold onto it for a little bit longer. If I can’t manage it in real life, perhaps painting it will help me remember to think less and be more.
Circus Girl and Elephant
This is a 11.5X15.5″ mixed media painting of circus girl being rocked to sleep by Harriet, the circus elephant.
Circus Girl And Strongman
This is a 11.5″x15.5″ mixed media painting of Circus girl having her toes painted by the strongman.
ACEO Willows Beach
At the end of September we went to Victoria. September weather is usually pretty reliable and this was no exception. We had a few beach days with the girls. Scarlett is totally into the beach right now. She would throw rocks in the water and scoop water into her sand bucket forever.
This little ACEO is of Scarlett sitting on one of my favorite beaches in Victoria; Willows. In the summer you can get crinkle fries from the little tea house and eat them right on the beach. On a rainy day, you can sit inside and have a cup of tea. It is nothing fancy, it is charity run, but it is one of my most favorite things
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IF Similar
The Orange Peelers, 1.5’x5′, mixed media on canvas, 2008
A Favorite topic of mine. The ‘Orange Peeler’ Factory. This idea came about when I handed Scarlett a bowl of tiny little oranges and she spent 2o minutes peeling them. In a two year old’s world this is a very long time. Anyway, that was the inspiration and then I just let my imagination fly!
Just Too Small
This is a 24″x24″ mixed media painting on wood. The sides are painted tangerine. I actually did this one a few weeks ago but only just got around to taking a photo of it. If I can’t scan it in, ( just too large! HA!) I get a little lazy.
This one came about when a woman I am doing a large commission for was talking about empty chairs in paintings or photographs and how they made the individual viewer feel. It seems that for some people it made them feel sad and lonely and for other it was more welcoming. I couldn’t get the empty chair out of my head so when I was painting this one I decided to incorporate it. I made it a kind of ghost like child’s chair. She seems to be just leaving it to go forward, onward, to something else. Something more interesting. Such is life.
How do you feel about an empty chair in a photo or painting?
ACEO Circus Girl Study
This is an original mixed media ACEO on 100% rag paper of Circus Girl . I am in the process of writing a Children’s book about circus girl. This is another study of her. She really is one of my favorite characters to paint. The more I paint her, the more I know her and, the more I love her. I hope that you feel the same way.
The Girl With The Frilly Hat
This a new painting of an old subject. I am glad I decided to do a few more of these. Pure Joy.
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ACEO The Ballerina
Monday morning, I always like to wake up to someone including me in a treasury on etsy. It just makes the day start out right. Especially when it is with a group artists that are so amazing. In fact, most of them were already favorites of mine on etsy! Anyway, the piece that was included is called ‘Red Guitar’ (available) and the treasury is entitled ‘Little Women’.
The above ACEO is called The Ballerina.
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ACEO Folk Festival
This is an ACEO of Imogen at the Folk Festival this summer. It was so beautiful at this moment, magic hour. She loved it but as always, then she gets contemplative.
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ACEO Joy
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I’ve been feeling rather joyless lately about my art. Not for very long, just a few days but none the less, I started to think about why this last year I have been able to find such joy in painting. So much so that I couldn’t wait to get back to it. It has not always been like that. I used to torture myself throughout the process of doing a painting. I really never found much joy in the process, only the result. These last few days, I have been feeling like that again and it all has to do with that nasty old ego. It has stepped in and is trying to take over.
“Go away ego, I will continue to paint for the joy of it and if someone likes it along the way then that is just the icing.”
I did these two ACEOs tonight and it was fun. So there.
SOLD
IF-Balloon
‘She liked the argyle socks, but what she really wanted was a balloon!’
OK, I know this is a bit of a stretch but, having a latex allergy, I really can’t bring myself to paint these things. I also know that it is extremely hard to explain to a two year old that they can’t have a balloon because mommy’s lips will swell up like a blowfish!
Hold Still, Hold On
Hold still for one more moment
Stay still for one more second
More
These paintings are inspired by my children but are memories of being a child. Feeling scared and small. Time went so slowly then and yet looking back it seems so distant and foggy.
This is an original 12″x12″ mixed media painting on a 1″ deep wood stretcher.
The Cardinal’s song
“Cheer, cheer, cheer,
whoit, whoit, whoit, whoit,
chip”
I hear you welcoming winter
I welcome it too
It’s soft feathery flakes
Tickle my nose and cheeks
They gently land on my eyelashes
Cardinal, you are so red against the crisp white snow,
Like a winter berry
A Christmas bird
My favorite time of year
Winter is on its way and I am trying my hardest at being positive.
Opinion – Illustration Friday – I Talked To A Crow Today
I never met a crow that didn’t have an opinion about one thing or another!
This is a piece I did earlier this year.
The following poem accompanies it.
I talked to a crow today,
or rather, he talked to me.
I’m not sure what he was going on about
but he did go on and on and on.
I talked to a crow today,
he had an awful lot to say.
“Mr. Crow,” I said politely, ” will you please let me get a word in?”
But he wasn’t even listening.
He went on and on and on.
That is the way it is with crows,
and sometimes with people too.
Not really interested in conversing,
but rather in the sound of their own voice.
I listened to a crow today,
he went on and on and on.
Just Too Young
It is hard to be two. Everyone knows that you can’t teach a two year old in a ‘do what I say environment’. Don’t even try! To a two year old ‘do what I say’ means ‘do anything BUT that!’ and, make sure you pout your lips so they are touching your nose, cross your arms tight across your chest, and on occasion, throw yourself on the floor in a heap. Is it any wonder that ballet classes are offered to 3 and up? The problem with this is that a two year old sees themselves as ready and the idea that someone might even suggest that they may not be is insulting, to say the least!
UH OH … cue the lips and arms and ONE… TWO… THREE… dissolve in tears to the floor!
This is an original 12″x12″ mixed media painting on a 2″ deep wood panel.
Sad Music
She just can’t help it, some music just makes her so sad. And still, she loves to play.
This is an original11.5″x15.5″ mixed media painting from my Harlequin series.
Too Young For Ballet Class
Poor Scarlett. She is just a little too young for ballet class. (She doesn’t think she is though!) Next year, Scarlett. Next year.
This ACEO is sold …thanks Grandmother!
Harlequin ACEOs
Three new ACEO harlequin musicians available at my etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5037264
ACEO The Mushroom Tam
I did this mixed media ACEO last night. The tam is inspired by the artist Dadaya from Kyoto on etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5069929 I just love her stuff! It is so whimsical and colourful. She was in the same treasury as me yesterday. I have added her to my blogroll tniytoadstool-label.blogspot.com Check her out.
