Optical Illusions and painting

This optical illusion shows clearly the necessity of backing up frequently from the canvas while painting. 

Gaining visual ideas from collage painting

Very cool video on painting from collage in order to find your visual ideas.  I was amazed how big the students were working.  It must be very freeing.  We're working on collage and painting in Henry Sinn's class and I'm hoping to absorb some of his free-spirited ideas and break out of my rut.  I did two collages today but don't think they'd be useful in a painting just yet.  I'll just have to keep working.

Composition Tips for Painters

Interesting post from Daniel Edmondson about composition.

New abstract painting

Abstract painting, oil on 11" x 14" canvas

Needed to relax after working on a still-life painting of a bean pot and squash, so I used the left-over paint on my palette for this abstract. I like the look of the red under-painting showing through and kind of wished I had used a bigger canvas. Definitely think I'll go for some more red tinting on future dabblings.

Where would we be without Photoshop?

Digital art

I had to give up on the portrait today to save the little bit of sanity I had left. Went to the Y for a long overdue workout of step aerobics and yoga. The incessant rains have curtailed my exercise a lot, along with this art blogging stuff. I sometimes wonder why I'm doing this and the severity of my delusions. Maybe I should go to a therapist and figure out why I keep hitting my head against a brick wall. The art thing doesn't seem to be working out and my images aren't exactly satisfying to me. But what else to do? I messed around in Photoshop with a blah painting. It might be starting to look better. Sigh.

"Something A Little Wrong With The Mouth"

Grady and Marley

Once again it rained almost all day today. We got out for a short walk with Marley in between downpours and he sure was happy (so was I--cabin fever is really setting in.) When we got home, his buddy Grady was so glad to see him, he couldn't resist snuggling up to his wet friend. Of course, I didn't get there in time to get the best picture, but this one is kind of cute, too. Poor Grady, we're going to take him to the vet tomorrow to be neutered. I hope he forgives us. He's such a sweet kitty, so trusting, I can't help but feel somewhat guilty. I know, I know, it's for his own good because he's a house cat. I just hope everything goes all right.

I've been trying to finish the portrait of Jerry and Seamus and it's not going well. John Singer Sargent, one of the most fantastic portrait painters ever, certainly got it right when he said "A portrait is a painting with something a little wrong with the mouth." If he felt he couldn't get it quite right, how could I ever do so? My painting has got a lot wrong with the mouth. I finally gessoed over Jerry's mouth and took another photograph because I had spilled water all over the original. I asked him "please, don't show your teeth." I've never been able to paint teeth and don't intend to try anymore. I'm not comparing myself to Rembrandt or any of the masters, but you don't see their portraits with teeth hanging out. They must have said the same thing. In any case, tomorrow I vow I'm going to finish that painting or go mad trying.

I didn't get any painting done today, but I looked at more artist's blogs/websites. Some are really great and I've gotten all kinds of ideas. There just isn't enough time to do everything, but I hope to post some of the really inspirational ones on my blog. I'm still learning and not quite sure about the RSS feeds?--maybe that's the way to do it? I wonder if there is some sort of protocol. But anyway, I did figure out how to put a link to some tunes. Not that it's necessary, but I saw another site with tunes and liked the idea. Mine aren't nearly so sedate--like classical music--but it's not rap either. Maybe I can turn them on to play and go into the next room and paint. I'll check it out tomorrow.

Not that it's that big of a deal, but it did make me feel good that someone from Etsy highlighted one of my paintings in a "treasure" room or something like that. I'm not sure what it means, but I thanked the person that did it.

One of the ladies in my step class this morning, who had just returned from visiting her daughter in NYC, told me some stunning news. Her daughter works in a gallery where the cheapest artwork is 17,000 euros (they don't deal in dollars). Most works average 250,000 euros. She said a man from Ohio bought a sculpture for 850,000 euros from a picture her gallery listed on the internet. It's stunning that people have so much money. And I feel somehow guilty about asking $200 for a painting.