My first "Accountability Saturday"--on Sunday!

Whoops! This week has gotten away from me. But I promised to let you know each week how I was doing on my 2 goals of painting something new each week and finishing up something old also. I had them done yesterday but didn't have a chance to post until today.

GOAL # 1 (New Painting):  I worked on a large acrylic painting this week and am making good progress on it. I finished 3 small origami paper "paintings" that I call "Mini Ori's". Here they are on the table, finished, with the mats and materials next to them and another small painting also.

They are each priced at $45.00 plus tax and make nice gifts because they are small. The images are 4" X 6" and in the frames, they are each 5" X 7". They have a hanger and a stand so they can either hang or be displayed on a shelf or table.

I went to Aaron Brothers and bought frames and finished them up and here are photos of 2 of them.

They are made of beautiful Japanese origami papers, cut and glued in place in symmetrical and/or asymmetical designs. Each one is unique. There is no painting in them because they are all collage.There is some gel pen line work to finish them.

I also completed another small 4" X 6" painting that I call "Illusions". It is framed to a little larger  8" by 10" and I may enter it in the Clovis Art Guild Miniature Show the end of this month. Here it is in a mat, soon to go into a copper metal frame.It doesn't show up very well on the seat of the kitchen chair but you'll get the idea.

GOAL # 2 (UFO or Unfinished Object): For the second goal of the week, I cut a lot of business cards that had been in a pile forever and I painted the edge of a giclee on canvas ("Parallels"--words about women and wine) so that it can be hung without a frame if desired. Price: $140 plus tax.

Did I meet my goals this week?
Yes! Could I have done more? Yes!

Tomorrow is already "Melodramatic Monday" and it's time to pick the projects for the week again. I think I'll choose them now and show them tomorrow. I want to complete the acrylic (Goal #1) and start machine quilting a flannel quilt that I've been putting off getting started on. Photos tomorrow. . . . . 

Buy, buy, buy. . . .

You know how they say "You have to spend money to make money"? That's what I've been doing the last couple of days. I have bought:

1. Small frames for Timberline's "Small Wonders" show that's coming up.

2. Large frames (32 X 40") online in bright metallics for the new love paintings etc.

3. Cards of "Flower Power", one of the newest ones that I'm going to enter very soon in a juried show and probably in the California Watercolor Association show.

4. Plexiglass for the 5 newest paintings

5. Mat boards for the newest paintings

LOTS of out of pocket in the last few days, but if you don't do it you can't hang them anywhere and you certainly won't sell them. Something like not winning the lottery but never buying a ticket for the lottery!

Night night!

The end of the week. . . .

. . . .  though when you are retired, each day seems much like the one before it and the one after it. The "living for Fridays" ends, because every day is almost like a working person's Friday!

I didn't write last night because I was sick. I had a bad spell of vertigo which started as we left for band in Fresno. Instead of tapering off and quickly getting better, it got worse and we had to come home without going to rehearsal. Being a person who almost never throws up, I hate being nauseated and physically ill in that way. I came home and went straight to bed and woke up fine, as usual.

The bad part is that the episodes are coming more frequently lately and I can't know when I'm going to have one. I don't know what triggers them so I don't know what to avoid doing or eating. The ear/nose/throat specialist is just about convinced that I am having "silent migraines" which aren't that uncommon, apparently. The "aura", nausea, and vomiting are present without the headache. Strange? And rather disconcerting. Hopefully, we'll figure it out before too much longer.

Today, I finished up the 2 paintings I've been working on--"Oversaxed" and the bright floral, as yet unnamed. I also prepared a background for tomorrow's demo for Yosemite Western Artists. The demo may be canceled if it is still snowing in Oakhurst. If not, I'm packed and ready to go!

Finished or Overfinished?

Well, it's either finished or overfinished. One of my favorite teachers, Kay Owens, always says you have to know "when to get out the hammer"--meaning you have to know when to quit on a painting. I may have gone too far on this one--I needed to get out the hammer sooner!--because I added some finishing details that feel a little "tight" for the rest of the painting.

I liked the initial spontaneous effort--it was nice and loose, with soft and hard edges, defined and undefined shapes, different sized areas, and a nice light pathway through the painting. Roy saw the crucifix/cross shape right away--the bari sax (a generic large sax in this painting)on top of and at right angles to the soprano sax which crosses the painting horizontally.

Almost finished with the painting, I added some little bits of embossing, because it's so magical when you do it  and a few other scribbles and pieces of collage and now, the painting feels contrived to me. Also, the lines of the musical staff emerging from the bell of the largest sax are too regular and don't do what I wanted them to do because it's difficult to control the paint as you blow it across the paper.

But, on the good side: the painting was fun to do, I learned things from it, and I generally am pleased with the overall effect. The best part of it was that I started it with no pencil lines or sketch. I just went for it and I need to start more paintings this way.

The name? Ahem. . . . I think it's pretty obvious, isn't it? The only question is: should it be "Saxy"? Or "Over-saxed"?

Tuesday Evening

 Well, things are moving right along! I have the 2 mannequins, Clementine and Sherry,  on the dining room table, ready for their ride to the Circle Gallery in Madera tomorrow. I also have almost all 16 paintings cleaned, labeled and ready to go to Allard's on Thursday. I have 2 to finish framing tonight because I just picked them up from the photographer this afternoon. They are "Cheers!" and "Siren Song" and I showed you a quick snapshot of them before but tonight I will post the professional photo of each of them and also of "Angel Dance."


These are numbers 3, 4, and 5 in my ongoing series of the same 3 women. The first 2 were "Parallels" (terms that apply to both wine and women) and "Be Ribboned", about Friendship.

So, here they are--thanks to Aaron Mullins at Mullins Editions in Old Town Clovis. I can't link to his website at the moment because he is making some changes in his studio and business contact information now that his dad, photographer Paul Mullins, has moved to a studio in downtown Fresno. The contact info at the bottom of my blog will still get you to Aaron. I highly recommend him. He does excellent work and is willing to take the time to work closely with artists seeking quality giclee reproductions.