Now That I Have Your Attention
The meeting will now begin
What do two white ravens need to discuss?
The would like it to be noted in the records
They are not albino
They simply have some type of mutant gene
They like that they are symbolic of peace
And they really like the gold sequins on your hat
That is all
The meeting can now be adjourned
Hello everyone, now that I have your attention, I just wanted to let you know that I will be having a Etsy showcase in the Art section Aug10 starting at 12 am for 24 hours. All of my new stuff from the last week will be up. I’ve been working really hard and I hope that you enjoy it!
Thanks,
Maria
Summer Grin
This is a new ACEO I did today. Even in this heat I managed to get a little bit of work done.
I love this cheeky grin. This summer, I feel like I have watched baby Scarlett turn into little girl Scarlett.
The Pear Tree
We have the most amazing pear tree growing in our back yard. I get real pleasure looking at this tree that we planted, only three years ago, in a yard that had nothing (and I mean NOTHING) in it. Not only has this tree tripled in size but it has fruit for the first time! This in EDMONTON! Truly amazing. This painting pays homage to our pear tree. The fruit hasn’t really made it to this size but one can dream.
Every Girl Needs A Big Hat
This is Scarlett looking less like a baby and more like a girl with attitude!
This is an original mixed media ACEO on 100% rag paper.
The Orange Peeler 2
This is an original mixed media piece on 100% rag paper.
I had this little painting taped down for ages. I needed the the drawing board so I decided to finish it and I am glad I did. Poor little neglected painting.
This painting is of Scarlett peeling oranges. I have done several versions of this subject and am working on a large canvas of 5 Scarletts peeling oranges in a row. I call it The Orange Peelers or The Orange Peeler Factory. It all started when I discovered that by giving Scarlett a bowl of tiny oranges to peel I could buy myself at least 20 – 30 minutes of free time. This was an event to remember and to even document! HA!
Girl With Fox
This is a 11.5″ x15.5″ mixed media painting done on 100% rag paper.
This painting kind of strays a little from what I usually paint or at least the way I paint. I used a historical photograph I found on the web as inspiration. I usually take all my own reference photographs, but I just found this photograph so intriguing. Who is this girl holding a fox? It just looks like something from an old fairy tale. I had it pinned on my wall for the longest time and just had to paint it.
Another Still Moment
I did this ACEO today of Scarlett. It is another study of a moment when my two year old was unusually still and contemplative. A moment to celebrate.
PRETEND- Illustration Friday -Looking For Fairies Amongst The Flowers
I was looking for fairies in the Garden
I left a little cottage teapot for them
So that they could set up house
Perhaps they would prefer to sleep within the flowers
If I were a fairy I’d live amongst the poppies
Their big papery petals would be my walls
and close by I would have lupins and foxgloves and hollyhocks too
Their lovely fragrance would surround me as I
drift
off
to
sleep
Another Circus Girl Painting…
This is a new Circus Girl painting that I just finished today. It is a mixed media piece on a 4″x8″ profile (3″deep) canvas.
In The Wings
Yesterday was Imogen’s novice ballet recital. She did a great job. Some of the older girls were so beautiful dancing their solos. I got all weepy about it all and then right in the middle of the show, everything was stopped and a teacher came out carrying a sobbing little girl. Her parents were called and when she saw her Daddy approach the stage her little body shook and she sobbed even harder with relief. That was just too much for me. Tears were streaming down my face. It would have been very embarrassing if it hadn’t been so dark in the theatre.
This multi media piece is called “Waiting”. I did it a little while ago. This is what I wrote about it at the time:
How much time does a dancer wait in the wings? Certainly more time than actually dancing. I am sure it is true of a lot of things but I am so intrigued by the world of dancing right now that I couldn’t help but paint this.
A Still Moment
This is a painting that I just completed of Scarlett sitting at the dining room table. She is so still and at peace, not at all like her normal two year old self. There was just a beautiful stillness at that moment that I wanted to try to capture.
Wishing
There is nothing wrong with a little wish now and then. There is the star wish, the fountain wish, the birthday wish and of course, we can’t forget the wishbone wish. I’ve wished for plenty of things in my life. The only problem with wishing is that we are always to the future, which kind of implies that we aren’t enjoying the right now. I think that my next wish will be that I don’t wish anymore because I am just enjoying right now too much to even care.
The Other Visual Artist That Lives In My House
So, lately I’ve been trying to paint any chance I get and sometimes, actually most of the time, that is when Scarlett is asleep and Imogen is not. This is not good for Imogen. I try to create interesting games or better yet, give her fun crafts to do while I am painting but the other day she told me I was really boring and all I did was paint. OUCH. This is not what mummy wants to hear. Especially, when mummy thought she was doing such a great job at playing along with her make believe games. This days game involved me being the Evil Queen that poisons her with the flowers we got from the dollar store and, I just need to remind you, this is while I am actually trying to paint. So, I was a little sad and I’ll admit, worried, that my painting days were numbered.
Then, something happened: she started to paint from the same reference photos that I use. I guess she figured: ‘if you can’t beat’em, join’em’
So, here is Imogen’s version of ‘Wooly Hat’ . I think that it is pretty amazing. I know I am slightly biased, and I will admit my ulterior motive is that maybe, just maybe, if she sees her art posted it will buy me more painting time. I know, not exactly Mother of the Year, but what can I say? I want to paint.
The Orange Peeler
My orange peeler.
One day I handed Scarlett a bowl of tiny oranges and was surprised to see how long it kept her busy. As I watched her I had this weird vision in my head of rows of toddlers peeling oranges. An orange peeling factory. I am still working on a large 2’x5′ canvas of six Scarletts, all peeling away. Meanwhile, I have painted two other versions of just a single Scarlett.
Anyway, all that aside, this is a great way to keep a two year old busy when you are working in the kitchen.
Circus Images Dance In My Head
Circus images are swirling around my head. This story is slowly writing it self and I am being very cautious and very attentive, trying to listen carefully to the direction it wants to go. It is an exciting process. What is going to happen next?
Art Right Now
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso
When I was a little girl I would do art any chance I could get. I loved to be creative and was always encouraged by my Mum. It was fun. I enjoyed doing it. In fact, there was nothing I liked better. It was never a chore! It was never dull.
So, what happened? When I was a teenager I romanticised about a lot of things: Marriage, children, getting older.Visions of Picasso danced in my head. Like Picasso before me, I saw my future self eating dinner and then taking my fish bones and making a clay relief. I would have a bohemian house with piles of art and reference books on the dining room table. I would paint along side of my toddler. Look at us painting together for hours at a time. I won’t go as far as to say I imagined myself wearing a striped black and white t- shirt and shorts but I will say that I was totally out of touch with reality. First of all, toddlers require constant help when they do art, and their attention span is all of oh, lets say, 15 minutes. If you are lucky. Also, I can’t stand stuff all over the place, let alone my dining room table. I need that table to feed my kids and I don’t want their grubby little fingers all over my good books! Not to mention that I don’t even like fish very much, let alone a whole fish with bones.
I guess as I got older so much stuff got in the way of the pure process of creation. I had a constant dialogue going through my brain. Is it good enough? Who will like this? Is it too commercial or illustrative? or not enough? Is the palette to cold? Too dark? Too muddy? How could I tap into the pureness of what I was doing if the whole time I was doing it my head was questioning whether I should be doing it all. I don’t know who initially put these questions in my head. College, University, people of influence all played a part. Life isn’t the way I imagined it. The fun in art definitely was no longer part of my process. I no longer felt excited to create. It was just so much pressure: to create art that everybody likes is really hard.
Now, it has come full circle and as a Mother I watch my girls create and I am inspired by them. They don’t worry about the outcome. They just enjoy the act of making something. Anything. When it is done, it is done, and they move on to the next thing. They don’t dwell on it. It is about the process not the product. Sure we all want to create art that we like, and that other people like too, but if that is all we focus on it becomes a chore and where is the fun in that? It is so nice not to be in that angst ridden part of my life. At forty, it is so great to be able to reassociate art with fun, and know I can still learn new stuff even if it is stuff I knew at the age of three.
