Updates

Over the last several days I have made an effort to get my website up to date with nine new works. There are oodles more than that and I only managed six, but it always takes longer than expected. In all it was pretty painless since I was stuck waiting for my car inspections. I even sent out an e-newsletter to announce the updates. I have some missing prices to add, an image to locate, and figurative works to get added too. Never truly up-to-date, but closer than it's been in months. If only those juried show notices would come, I could have real news to share! (I'm so very impatient.)

I began subscribing (again) to Robert Genn's bi-weekly letters "The Painter's Keys". Already, I wonder if I should even get these. The link will take you to my fist "letter" and describes exactly what I tend to post in this blog. I suppose I get negative, but the purpose of the blog was to share a bit about what goes into getting to my "babies". If you don't want to know about my process, just visit my website to look at all my happy children. There, I feel better getting that off my chest.

Off of soap box and hoping to post another pastel by Thursday.

Until then...

Nut Grinder Image

The Same Old Grind, 16" x 12"

Spring Fever

No, I haven't started Gala yet. I set up a mess of stuff for it and the apples are in the compote in the upstairs refrigerator, but I haven't gotten it right yet. I took out the large pink and turquoise urn. I suppose I need to bring the apples back down to see if that did the trick. Sticking to my guns about a horizontal composition this time.

Meanwhile, I've been riding the roller coaster of Spring Fever and sporadically cleaning in the studio. Slow but steady wins the race. Took out a large bag of old mats for recycling which felt good. I also rescued a pastel board from the crappy figure drawing stuff and did a fun pastel of the classic red nut chopper like Aunt Bell used to have in her pink and gray kitchen! I miss that house...sigh. I got inventive with the ground color-wise and love how it made the thing sing. Will post image eventually.

Ordered the frame for Syncopated Pink Lady today complete with Museum Glass. OUCH. Using that stuff makes framing VERY costly, but I see why a piece might win an award with it versus without it and these last two are certainly award worthy if I do say so myself. The nut chopper - not so much - didn't get the gla$$. Still got a nice frame. We're up to $275 in frame orders, so I must stop! I may have to go back to standard size cheapos for a bit. Hate that.

Tomorrow should be nice, so I'll plug away downstairs again... and try to post that picture!

The Pink Lady

Well, she's finished! I thought I was done before we went away for the weekend, but when showing the photos I snapped to my sister, I discovered that the ellipse of the large glass was just wrong. When we got home that was all I could see! I spent just a bit of time this afternoon adjusting it and now am quite happy with the results.

Now for the title... I really want to use "syncopate" somehow to emphasize the retro objects and pattern. Syncopated Pink Lady or Pink Lady Syncopation? Hmmm... Just The Pink Lady is an option too! Got a wee bit of time to decide, so I'll ask Tom which he likes. He's really good at titles.

Visited New Hope, PA with my sister and stopped in at the Bucks County Art Gallery. The people were incredibly friendly and welcoming. I was impressed at how much information they provided without prompting and also that they let us look without interruption. I was concerned about the amount of work crammed into the large older house being used as the gallery, but realize that may be a benefit given the larger sizes of my work. Jennie actually recognized a friend of hers in a painting there and contacted him to say so. Turns out he knows the owner of the gallery and said he'd "smooth an introduction" for me! I'm hoping he gets in touch so I can make plans to go out again with some work samples. Of course, this means I need to get my website, resume and business cards all up-to-date not to mention get more of my apple series going. Work! Work! Work!

Procrastination

So, I finished Rome and managed to put off starting Gala until after a bit of family travel, but that's OK since the trip gave me some new ideas to incorporate.

The canvas will be a 36" x 48" and will take more time. I need to be sure of the arrangement before I even think about starting! I set something up which I like, but there's something not right about it. Not sure if it's missing something or if it's too much. I keep hearing my brain say, "Remember, less is more." Tom dislikes it all together - says it's not interesting to him and that I need to get away from fruit and flowers. I need to put his comments aside. Especially since he's said that in the past and ended up liking what I did with a painting and telling me he didn't expect the end result.

I will let it sit and rework the arrangement after another weekend trip.

In the mean time, I finally began a pastel of my friend Phil's glassware, custom linen napkin (by friend/ artist Annie Swincinski), and a Pink Lady apple. Yes, this is part of the apple series as is The Scarlet Letter from last fall.

I decided to do the under-painting in a complementary color to make the whites and greens more interesting with the underneath color peeping through here and there. I am working on an Ampersand Pastel Board. It is a very simple arrangement and works well in emphasizing the various forms - organic vs. angular. Here's the underpainting...



This is where I left it yesterday...



Better get it done!