The Moody Dreamer
This is a 4″x6″ mixed media painting. The sides are painted turquoise and .75″ deep.
This painting is $55 and is available HERE.
Scarlett is not the best at getting up in the morning. She is moody to say the least. She comes by it honestly. I am not a morning person. She was special helper at preschool today which was great because it gives me something to wake her with.
“Scarlett, time to get up! Remember, you are special helper today!”
She literally FLEW out of bed!
I need to have one of these motivators every morning, it made life so much easier!
Aspirations
This is a mixed media diptych on wood.
The sides are 1″ deep and are turquoise.
SOLD
Painting, painting, painting….eating it, breathing it, living it …. these are my aspirations…but they are tiring.
Raven
4″x8″ mixed media painting on brick.
Night Of Artists Nov 5, 6, 7 2009- Art Barns, Edmonton
mixed media on paper, 10″x13″ (GUESS WHO?)
As some of you may know, I have been accepted into Night Of Arists this year. This is very exciting for me. I remember, ages ago, traveling around Alberta while Chris performed at several NOA events. It was always a great night and yet, a little hard for me. Here were all of these great artists doing their thing. Putting themselves out there and I was too much of a coward to let anyone see my art. I really did hide away and sometimes would go months if not more without drawing or painting at all. Can you say envious? Or, I will be honest, JEALOUS? It felt kind of lousy, even though I was there celebrating and supporting my husband’s music and drinking in the beautiful art surrounding me, deep in the pit of my belly, it hurt.
SO GUESS WHAT?????? Now I get to REALLY celebrate NOA the way it should be celebrated. For the first time.
I have to tell you, hopefully without sounding like a cocky-cockhead, I am really proud of myself. Yeah me!
AND
Thank you Denise, Chris R. and Sandra b/c I know you bugged Phil to let me in. And thanks Phil for listening to those three wise women.
NOW I BETTER START PAINTING OR I WON”T HAVE ANYTHING TO SHOW! YIKES!
Tickets available by contacting moi, maria@mariapcewynters.com for $25 each. (Free ACEO giclee of one my pieces for each ticket purchased.)
Girl On A Train
This is a 5″x7″ mixed media painting on paper.
This morning as Imogen ate her hot cereal I realized that appearances are starting to matter. Scarlett requested the curtain closed because the sun was in her eyes. I closed half of the curtain and left the other half opened. Scarlett asked me why I did not just close both curtains and I said it was nice to still be able to see outside. Disgruntled, Imogen stated that I should just close both curtains as a passerby might not only see her wearing the bib I made her put on so she didn’t drip on her clean clothes but also that Mickey Mouse Club House was on the TV. I hadn’t even realized. To be fair, I think she even found this humorous but I bet that would be different in a few years.
(OK, OK, I promise right here right now to never make her wear a bib again. A tea towel or a napkin would have been more appropriate for a six year old).
This painting makes me think about being clueless to her growing up. Sometimes I think I only really see my kids in photos. Look how old she is getting. She looks so young when she is sleeping or standing next to her 6′ 2 daddy. But in this picture she has some sort of wisdom I guess I miss when I am dealing with her on a day to day basis.
Lady With Hat
This is a 7″x10″mixed media painting on paper.
Up in the loft again today. I have a head cold so I thought I would just have some fun. No pressure, no commissions, just me up here painting. Nice.
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.
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!
Green Eyes
New ACEO of my green eyed girl looking so innocent. I wonder what she was up to?
ACEO available here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16765407
Poppies
A beauty amongst the beauties. Don’t you think?
8″x12″ profile canvas (3″deep). The sides are painted red.
Double click on the painting to get directly to my etsy shop.
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!
What Is The Opposite Of The Midas Touch? (‘Cause That Is What I Had Today)
Boy, today was difficult.
Some days, you go to the drawing table and it works. Most days, thankfully. It may take a little pushing or pulling but eventually, it works.
Today was not one of those days.
I was finally feeling well enough to work, Chris took the girls out, and the loft had cooled down to a workable temperature, but no matter how much I pushed, pulled, prodded, stamped my feet, yelled, pulled my hair – yes, it came to that – not matter what I did, it just did not work. It was like the opposite of the Midas touch. Dare I say, I created some mighty, mighty crappy art today! I started to think : maybe I have lost my touch. Maybe I will never create another good piece of art ever again. Maybe everything I create will be like a mediocre piece of grade 7 art- not even that good when you were in grade 7, and even worse when you are … well, we don’t need to go there. I feel bad enough already.
I know that we need to make little messes every now and then to get to the good stuff and that it is all part of the creative process, but it was still a very frustrating day.
I can’t post any art today.
It would just be to embarrassing.
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.
Horizontally Challenged
Not only am I not a landscape artist, I will take it one step further and say that I am not even a horizontal artist! I have painted quite a few paintings over the last six months and I have only completed one horizontal piece. (The above painting of Lilies). The other horizontal painting I started never got finished. This is rare for me. If I start a painting, I usually finish it, but not this one. This one was NOT good and was going to remain that way. So I ditched it.
None of this matters really but yesterday I was just wondering why I like vertical so much. I was looking at a new painting that I was working on and it struck me: VERTICAL! AGAIN! WHY?
I guess the answer is fairly obvious. I am a figurative painter (mostly) and we humans are vertical by nature. So it does make sense. Let’s just say, I am horizontally challeged. Hey, come to think of it, having two little kids makes me horizontally challenged in more ways than the way I turn my canvas! HA!
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.
Things To Wear
I don’t get a chance to shop very often. Unless you count grocery shopping, and I do not consider dragging an almost two year old and an almost five year old around the shops, really shopping. Gone are the days when I could try on a dozen items, checking myself out for extended periods of time. Now to think about it, way too much time! Oh, if I had all the wasted time of singleness. But that is a whole other story.
Top 5 ways I shop (or at least feel like I have!):
(Not in any particular order)
The Dash In, Dash Out
Ok, so I have your kids busy in the double stroller. I don’t’ know how, perhaps one is asleep and the other has a newly bought toy or a treat I have withheld until just the right moment. This isn’t about giving you ideas on how to get your kids to be good while your shopping, it is about what you are willing to do to get some done, so figure that part out for yourself.
The dash in, dash out consists of running into the store of choice and quickly scouring the racks, usually the sale racks. Often you admire the clothes that are completely inappropriate for a stay at home Mother. Those beautiful pencil skirts at Club Monaco right now, for instance. Great for the office, not so great for running around the park or looking under furniture on your hands and knees for wayward puzzle pieces. This kind of shopping can result in not very well thought out purchases that hang in your closet, mocking you whenever given the chance. It also does not work very well when shopping for bras or bathing suits, which is, perhaps, why all my bras are a little older than I would like to admit and my bathing suit is celebrating a decade. On second thought, forget about trying anything on. You’ll never get that double stroller in the change room with you anyway! Just buy what you want and get out before anyone gets hurt!
Cover to Cover
Recently, I have discovered the joy of magazine shopping. I don’t mean catalogue shopping. This is more like window shopping while looking through a magazine. You know the magazine: Wish, Lou Lou, Chocolate are just a few. You can analyse each page, filled with the latest and greatest, without risking any compulsive buying and while the kids, at arms length, are splashing around in a bubble bath. This is definitely the cheapest way you’ll ever shop, just the cost of a magazine. Of course, if you are like me, you seriously run the chance of spending way to much on magazines! They are so conveniently displayed at the grocery store check out and remember, this is the shopping that you still do!
Ham, Peas and Panties (Oh, just get your mind out of the gutter!)
As I mentioned earlier, I do get to grocery shop. So what do those smarty pants at Joe do? How unfair, putting all those cute little numbers right next to the produce . How can you help but buy that sassy little blouse or those kick ass shoes? They don’t cost much more than a chicken. And besides, we’ve been eating way too much chicken lately.
Ebay Express
My husband has great luck buying clothes on ebay, but I can never find anything I like enough, or that fulfills the bargain shopper in me. Part of me is never completely convinced that by the time I’ve paid shipping, I couldn’t find a better deal somewhere else. Also there is the fear of losing the bid. When I want it I want it. I really only look at ‘buy it now’ items anyway. This could be part of the problem. Control freak that I am.I know, how did this get on my list if I don’t even like it? I guess, I just wish I could find something because you can do it in the comfort of your own home. . I just need to keep browsing, perhaps tonight with a glass or red. Now that is a relaxing way to shop!
Paint ’em
I really do love clothes. I mean, I love them! I could never, ever, ever get tired of shopping! EVER! It always makes me happy! Are you starting to see my dilemma?
This brings me to the fifth way: my new painting series, Things to Wear. These light hearted paintings allows me to enjoy( or even covet) a new desired trend without having to leave the house or having to spend any money. I may never have a enough money to buy a pair of PRADA shoes but I can paint them. I know, not quite as fulfilling but let’s face it, where am I going to wear a $500 pair of shoes? I have to admit, clothes are fun to paint, with all their different patterns and textures. It also gives me licence to mix styles, colours, and prints, in a way I never would in real life. But, by far the best things about painting this series are never having to look at the price tag, everything fitting perfectly and last and not least, never having to look at your butt in one of those three way mirrors.
Finally…
Well, here I am! It has only taken over five years but I’ve finally got my web page up and running! I am so happy! It is still in the works but with the help of PARADE and Chris I think that I’ll be able to keep this site interesting and current. Of course, having two little ones, time will always be a challenge. I just hope I can continue to find little snippets of time here and there so I can keep creating and even a little blogging.The work in The Current Paintings gallery have all been done since the of end January. For this I can give full credit to Scarlett. She decided that she would not only nap in the house (not in the car) but she would sleep in her own crib at night. All night! OK, OK, there was a little crying out involved but not half as much as I’d expected. These two hour afternoon naps have allowed me the time do art more regularly. Most often with Imogen by my side. As you can see, she is not only my muse (as is Scarlett as seen in “Tea and Oranges”) but she has also become my painting companion. We often play ‘Graphic Art Store’ where we both have deadlines and commissioned art to create. Imogen answers the phone, takes the money, meets with clients and paints so you can see I get off rather easy. All I have to do is paint and play along. It is not exactly the same as losing yourself in your art but I am spending some great quality time with her and really enjoying myself while being creative. I haven’t been able to say that for a really long time!Anyway, thanks for looking at my paintings! I hope that you enjoy them.
