Boring Yet Essential

Well this is sometimes how I see it….

You know these little exercises you do over and over and over and yes OVER again.  Either to keep your life running smoothly (grocery shopping anyone?)  or to help master a skill (throwing a football, practicing piano scales, writing those cursive letters)


This is the repetitive exercise I have been doing…

I am trying to render that pesky rounded egg form convincingly in oil.

Obviously easier said than done.

  I am taking notes, trying to come up with the right “recipe” of paint to oil.  Also I am trying to figure out how much to mass (or block in darks to lights) and most importantly when to leave it alone.  

I blocked off this gessoed watercolor paper into sixteen sections and plan to do a little something different in each one, hoping to hit that jackpot of rounded rendering success,,,

Wish me luck!

What do you do with your work, life or passion that is boring yet essential?  What do you do to keep plugging through all the repetitions?

Kenhide Wiley

Wow Kenhide Wiley is not only incredibly talented but really describes his work in a direct, down-to-earth great way that is actually understandable!

Would love to see this man talk in real life sometime.  

New Display Space

I am so thrilled with this new space to display some of my work…

It’s at CrossRoads Art Center.  A wonderful place to go hang out, take a class and look at a lot of great art.  An added bonus is it is right by one of the best antique store in Richmond!!

Thanks so much to Jenni Kirby and the gang there for making me feel so welcome!

Valentine’s Day Passion

“It’s a good thing I have my library card, because I am checking you OUT…;)”

This is the cheesy valentine devil that makes an appearance in my art room every February 14th.  He is a great way to celebrate, whether or not my students have that "special someone”  (in fact it is really good if they think they don’t and are feeling left out)

some other cheesy V. D. sayings...

“Well, here I am.  What were your other two wishes?”

But what does this have to do with art you may ask? Well doesn’t art help us to tap into our passions?  Either as a viewer or participant?  

“Do you have a license?  Because you are driving me crazy!”

Hope this is a wonderful non-overated Valentine’s Day for you and that you get to indulge in your favorite creative passion!

Let me leave with this final closing V.D. ditty…

“if I could re-arrange the alphabet, I would put I and U together…”

Makin’ It Happen at Boka Tako Kantina

So my husband and I went to this cool place for lunch a few weeks back.  I already knew the food was incredible without having even stepped inside the place (and not just because it is getting rave 4 star reviews from many sources) 

Just how is that, you ask?

Well because it is also one of the food trucks downtown at just about every fun event.

If you want to see a fantastic menu hit this...Boka Kantina. Richmond, Virginia

First thing we notice when we walk in is … bland walls, meh.  Of course, no wonder since food trucks do not have to ever worry about decor!  Which then prompts me to ask Patrick Harris, the owner, if he would just like to display some of my art.  To which he responds, 

“Sure.  Do you do murals?"

Next thing I know we are planning on a series of three of them and the rest is (unfolding) history…

First the rough sketch for approval of mural #1…

Then marking off the space 

(Patrick was beginning to wonder if paint was ever going to hit the wall)

But don’t want to paint it crookedly or not space it right…

Slowly but surely the paint finally did appear...

Every heard of “measure twice, cut once”?  

Well my take on that as a painter is to gesture in and rework easily.  Yeah I know it does not flow like the first saying but I think you get the idea...

Chalk transfers really help with readjustments and composition...

In the end Patrick persuaded me to go darker than I thought would work (I was wrong, he was right).  

A combination of dark rust and tinted highlights help to make the rusted screw “pop” away from the sign

The rust and corrosive metal look was more successful than I had even hoped for

FINISHED!! (I think, guess I should check with Patrick on this)

Now onto the next one…

Disorganized or Just Organic?

Organic or Organized..What Works Best in Making Art?

I have been knocking this concept around the old noggin for quite sometime, just like the "Competition vs. Creativity" deal I blogged about earlier this Fall.  It was really on my mind over the holidays, having just moved houses, not getting into my studio as much as I would like to and stuff like that.

So as my usual first step in contemplation of such matters, I turned to the dictionary to help me wrestle with this...

Even more enlightening than the actual definitions was the associations made with each word.  For instance,  with the first word below many ads for ADHD meds came up and with the second, "organized crime" was used as an example.

Hmmmm......

dis·or·gan·ized

[dis-awr-guh-nahyzd]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

functioning without adequate order, systemization, or planning;
uncoordinated: a woefully disorganized enterprise.

2.

careless or undisciplined; sloppy: too disorganized a person to be an 
agreeable roommate.

Origin: 
1805–15; disorganize + -ed²

Related forms

un·dis·or·gan·ized, adjective

Can be confused: disorganized, unorganized.

NOTE:  Not my personal living area. Computer file image, really.

Also computer file image, but in all honestly could be my desk any day of the week. 

Except I take my coffee with lots of creamer...

or·gan·ized

 [awr-guh-nahyzd]  Show IPA

adjective

 Computer file image, definitely

1.      affiliated in an organization, especially a union: organized dockworkers.

2.

having a formal organization or structure, especially to coordinate or 
carry out for widespread activities: organized medicine; organized crime.

Yes it is organized but will it help make art?  

both courtesy dictionary.com

On one hand with disorganization, it is annoying to be forgetting, and events, especially if it lets someone down-constantly looking for things is no fun.  Yet on the other (this is the creative in me talking), if things are too micro-planned out, then that creative spark and passion can get stifled or even snuffed out.

New Year + New Resolutions = EUREKA moment

While in my studio cleaning and rearranging this morning, it dawned on me.  You see I went into work but nothing was happening creative-wise so I just intuitively starting cleaning and putting things in their "home".  Whoa! I started organizing when I didn't want to.... I wanted things to just flow.

Why did I do that?

Because good art production needs an organized base. 

Only then can the creative juices organically flow and not be halted by having to look for that misplaced brush or to clean up the paint accidently spilled because it was in the wrong place.

So disorganization and organic are NOT the same in my book. Organic good.  Disorganization, bad.  The fact that confusion is listed by dictionary.com as a related word does not help disorganized's case.

As I have heard before..plan excessively but then be in the moment.  It is the planning but just as importantly the letting go of it that lets us truly be in the moment of creating...

Happy New Year!  May 2014 be the perfect balance of planning and creating for you!

VisArts Art Supply Drive for the Holidays

What a great way to brighten a little one's holiday! 

 The VisArts Center of Richmond is having a 

holiday art supply collection for needy kids.

It is so wonderful to see the bin filling up at the center, but let's get it overflowing!  If you remember the next time you are picking up a little something at a drugstore or even grocery store swing by the school supply aisle and spend an extra couple $.  Then either send it my way and I will drop it off next time I am there or bring to them at 1812 W Main St RVA.

Thanks for considering it!

Kathy