Well, another three hours were spent on these hands today after the advise from a fellow artist that I needed to "warm them up". I do not have the energy to do another thing to them nor the time with my deadline being this week so these are what they are. I still have a couple of things to do to finish the piece completely but I see light at the end of the tunnel! Fran, thank you for holding my hand through this process today! :)
Monday, March 10, 2008
Hands reworked... AGAIN!
Well, another three hours were spent on these hands today after the advise from a fellow artist that I needed to "warm them up". I do not have the energy to do another thing to them nor the time with my deadline being this week so these are what they are. I still have a couple of things to do to finish the piece completely but I see light at the end of the tunnel! Fran, thank you for holding my hand through this process today! :)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Big painting update
Well, I had requests to continue posting "work in progress" photos of my big canvas so here's the latest. I will be spending more time tomorrow trying to work on the hands. They will be changing quite a bit. I'm more than a little unhappy with them at this point. So, here it is at this stage... nearing the end. My deadline is this coming Friday.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
What a week!
This was such a busy week! Besides stuff for school with the boys, Bible study, and keeping up with home, I have spent numerous hours still working on my big painting. It is almost finished. This coming Friday is my deadline so the next couple of days I will be crankin' to finish. I'm bringing it home with me from the church tomorrow and taking it to Fran's Monday to work on it. She has a big easel for me to use. The hands have been the thorn in my side so they still need some work. Dealing with them yesterday for hours had me in tears several times. I'm trying not to get discouraged. I also changed up the sunrise pretty drastically and it looks so much better!
The student teacher for Sam's class had her baby this week. She had been asked along with several other teachers to create a clay tile to be fired and made into a large exhibit in the school. However, due to the delivery, she was unable to complete her tile so Sam's teacher asked if I'd do it in her place. Of course I said I would! I've always wanted to try clay so here's my first official try. The theme given was "things you love" however, since I'm making it in place of Mrs. Pavlas, I did things that she loves. I know she did her baby nursery in flowers and butterflies (yes, she had a girl!) so that's what I went with. Sam's teacher said Mrs. Pavlas particularly loves roses so that's the flower I chose. I LOVE working with the clay! Now to get it fired so I can glaze it!
Monday, March 3, 2008
BIG Work in Progress
Well, I had such a busy weekend and got my hubby to the airport for a trip he's taking for a week to Florida for a conference. I finally got ALL the laundry caught up and packing for me dh... well, I almost asked if he were planning to come home. He could rival any Diva on the planet. He takes everything except the kitchen sink including his own coffee beans, a french press, and enough clothes for a month long trip! Anyway, I was too pooped today to paint since that takes so much out of me. BUT, I did snap a photo of my 3x3 foot canvas in progress. Comments, suggestions, etc... welcome. I still have quite a ways to go, as you can see... one entire side as well as working on more light/shadows, especially on the hands. The head piece will be painted over. Right now, it's just gauze type fabric glued to the canvas for texture. Anyway, it's coming along. I'll probably get back to it Wednesday.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Checkin' in with a spew alert!!!
Well, the past few days I've been trying to juggle everything in life. This past week, I spent 3-1/2 hours a day working on my large canvas. Thursday, i finally had a turning point in my attitude towards it. It actually started looking like what is in my head... finally! LOL! I've been able to identify the things that have been frustrating me about the piece as well. I now see light at the end of the tunnel and am happy with how it's progressing.
Thursday, I had committed to taking dinner to a family from church going through some hardship. I decided to pull one of Chuck's meat loafs from the freezer knowing that would be delicious. Well, when I put it in the oven, I thought it looked a little different but the thought was fleeting... So, I proceed with cooking it and in the meantime, baked brownies, made mashed potatoes with gravy and broccoli. When I took the loaf out of the oven, Chuck happens to walk into the kitchen and he says words that caused my heart to stop. "Honey, that's not meatloaf." I'm like, "HUH?" "No, that's the stuffing I use when I make stuffed cabbage. Don't you see the rice?" Well, I HAD wondered about it but thought maybe it was a bunch of tiny pieces of onion or something. I knew it didn't look quite right but hadn't given enough thought to it to realize that it really didn't look quite right! After my heart started beating again, I busted out laughing hysterically. This is so typical me in the kitchen! LOL! I do not like cooking and have struggled with common sense in it ever since I got married 22 years ago. Anyway, at the point I realized I just baked a meat loaf for a family that isn't really a meat loaf, it was 6:00! No time for a change of plan. I decided to take it, tell the story, and just risk it. Well, I had saved back enough for me and the boys (Chuck was out that evening) and guess what? It was delicious! Even my picky boys ate it and asked for seconds! So the Mystery Meat Loaf was a hit and now I'll be trying to duplicate it! As soon as I got home from delivering the meal that night, I called my mom to tell her the story knowing she'd get a big kick out of it. I thought she might pee her pants she was laughing so hard! I'm just thankful that I'm in a place that I can laugh about something like this and not panic and worry about being judged by someone based on a silly mistake. It truly was funny. :0
Max spent the night with Granny last night so Sam got to sleep in bed with me and Chuck, which is a big deal for him. He started reading to me about 7:45 and I totally passed out.... and slept until after 6:00 this morning! The week finally caught up with me.
I spent the whole morning cleaning all my kids play area up and my studio. I can't tell you what a difference it made! I also realized that I had a stack of 4 chair cushions on a top shelf that I'd purchased second hand about 2 years ago. They needed a slight repair job. They were taking up so much space! So I pulled them down, did the repairs in less than 30 minutes and now have cushions for my kitchen chairs and a big space on my shelf for something else!
Max got home a bit ago and is in the worst mood imaginable. I can tell how tired he is. He's so cranky and whiney. Mom said he almost never went to sleep last night and was up before the sun this morning. Well, he'll be going early tonight, I can tell you that.
Well, gonna' run and check on him. He's riding his bike in the yard.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Life is a whirlwind
I have been running non-stop lately and have found myself falling asleep on the couch about 4:00 several days now. I'm thinking vitamins might be a good idea? duh?
Sunday after church, I joined a group of women gathering to help make wedding invitations for a sweet friends daughter who is getting married in June. The invitations are darling but each one involved about 15 different pieces! Yes, that's right... 15! And there are over 200 invitations to be made. We have a long way to go....
Yesterday, I went to set up for my Art Expressions Bible Study class and spent a few hours working on my 3x3 ft. canvas piece for our upcoming week of 24/7 prayer. Gosh, I have a long way to go but I made some progress. I'll be going to work on it every day this week.
This morning I got to Bible Study early to set out last minute things and go over the morning with Lori. I got there about 8:30. The morning went well and we, as a group, finished a month long collaborative project based on the Lord's prayer. Actually, 3 people still need to put finishing touches on theirs but we were able to lay out 15- 11x14 panels side by side to see the Lord's prayer running through all of them with each panel having artwork based on that small section of the prayer each woman was assigned. It is a powerful piece that moved me to tears. This piece will also be part of the week of 24/7 prayer as a prayer station. I can't wait to photograph it hanging.
Immediately following Bible Study, there was a leadership meeting that went from noon until 2:00 after which I was flying to school to pick up my boys. Then, I dropped them off at home and had to run back to church with a large plastic box to pack up all the artwork for storing until 24/7, which is the end of March. I also had to take care of some details in the office so I didn't get home until 3:00. By 5:00, I felt like someone gave me tranquilizers and I passed out on the couch.
Tomorrow, I plan to get a little bit of painting time in but have two meetings in the morning and my boys have early release so after I pick them up at 12:30, I promised Max to take him for new shoes... I swear, that kid kills his clothes and shoes. He often looks like a homeless child when I pick him up from school. Totally covered in food stuff, things spilled all over his clothes, dirt caked on him, head sweating, and holes ripped out of his pants... sometimes several pair a week! I can't figure out what the heck he's doing. Now this will be his third pair of tennis shoes in just a few months! And he has a wide foot and can only find shoes to properly fit him at StrideRite! Thankfully we have an outlet for them but still, while I get the shoes for more like $30. per pair instead of $50, I have to drive a good solid 20-25 minutes on the freeway to get there. While there, I'll see if we can find him some in the next size up for growing and saving a trip. The thing is, the last two pair of shoes were for them being trashed... not outgrown. I hope tomorrow at least he goes up a size so I don't purchase a third pair in the same size in three months! It's a good thing he wasn't my first born or there'd be no clothes for passing down. With him, you often don't even have to wash the clothes. When he takes them off at night, you just throw them in the trash! Pathetic... and geez, he's only 6!
OK, I'm going to go see if anything interesting is on t.v. and veg for a few moments before bed. And yippee... tomorrow night is Project Runway!!!!
Oh, I almost forgot... did you notice my new little bar to the side for my etsy store? Isn't that clever? Now you can see a few things I have for sale and have a direct link to my store! I've been busy uploading stuff since Saturday... a little bit every day. Go see!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Ready for selling...
Well, I spent the majority of yesterday going through all my vintage trims and laces getting them ready to sell. I can't believe how time consuming it is grouping them, measuring each piece, packaging them all pretty, photographing everything, uploading photos and editing, and then listing them on etsy! I did manage to get a few items listed but have LOTS more to go! Some of the items listed are:
Vintage Catholic Missals (beautiful books from 1957/1960)
vintage Italian flash cards
vintage/retro trims (a ton more to come)
vintage buttons with cards
These are a few things listed along with some of my art, of course!
If you have interest in seeing what I haven't listed yet for possible purchase before I list it, contact me. I also have several small figurines, mostly animals, that I will be listing for assemblages. Lots of dogs so let me know if you are interested. My photos didn't turn out well so I have to re-photograph all groupings. They need to be done outside I think. Better lighting.
So, go see what I've listed! http://Artvisionz.etsy.com
Gotta' get showered and ready for church...
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