November--A Month of Family, Artist's Bio, and Creating a Logo

Looking at my last blog entry, I see it's been less than a month, but it feels much longer to me. November has flown by with lots of stuff happening, yet I feel I haven't accomplished much.

On the family front, we got to see our grandchildren more than usual. They came to visit us. The weather was chilly, but clear, which allowed the following:

 

 

Swinging over the front pond,

 

Warming up with a tea party,

 

And sleeping like a baby.

And then there were birthdays to celebrate.

 

Our oldest, Meg, turned 35!

 

I rarely bake, but I made an old family favorite, Red Velvet Cake.

It was a great party enjoyed by family and friends.

 

My mom with son-in-law Josh.

 

Our oldest granddaughter, Kelly.

 

Grandaughter Marin, our current reigning princess.

 

And proof that grandson Noah is finally warming up to me!

And then there was Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving in Vancouver, where all Mike and I did was take a couple of side dishes. Josh and Rachel hosted, and Meg brought one of her speciaties, mashed potato casserole.

 

Here are Rachel, Marin and I dressed up for the day.

After dinner we crossed the bridge to Portland, visiting my sister Barbara's house.

 

Here's the photo we took for Mother's Christmas letter.

And then on Saturday, before leaving Vancouver, we had a little gift unwrapping. Rachel, Josh and their children will be in Germany for Christmas, so the grandchildren opened some gifts.

 

Noah with his favorite animal.

 

Marin with new art supplies.

 

And the three little grandchildren listing to Mimi and Dabbadoo reading "The Night Before Chistmas." This is a clever Hallmark book with a built-in recorder, so Mike and I were able to read the poem at home and the kids can listen to it by simply opening the book and turning the pages.

So, with all this activity, I have not produced any new paintings, but have 2 in the process. I did spend a day creating my first (and probably last) logo for Godfrey Engineering LLC.


Hand created image.


Computer created image.

I also read "Starving" to Sucessful by J. Jason Horejs. He's a gallery owner who is getting rich off of "starving" artists like me who are looking for a foolproof and easy way to sell art. But, honestly, the book is a helpful handbook to getting into galleries and selling art. Using his advise, I spent a lot of time wrting an artist bio, which I needed to write for Coos Art Museum. It was a long process and there is much needed decision making. It is also a document an artist should have for one's portfolio. If any of you are interested, I would be happy to share my experience and show you what I ended up with. Just email me.

Now that I am caught up, I am headed out to the studio to PAINT!

Take Off: A New Take in my Series

As I've worked on the series of abstracted florals using watercolor, collage and acrylic, I've thought about using different subject inspiration. I had a great photo of a Great Blue Heron from one of our summer raft trips. I decided to use a left white shape to show off the bird.

You can see that I continued with the collage on top of watercolor layers. With this one, I used pen and ink as well as a small amount of acrylic paint for some added drama and movement.

Another way this is different is that it is small. Other pieces in this series have been on a full sheet of WC paper-- 22 x 30 inches.

 

Take Off 10 x 13

Cherry Blossoms: the Progress of a Painting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cherry Blossoms 21 x 29

Fun Art, not Fine Art

I've been wanting to take another go at the Western dancers that took to paper in Rodeo Nights. I sketched the dancers on watercolor paper again and decided to trace them on my new bigger tracing paper. Now I have the images ready to go for another try after this. Plus it was less paralyzing to start painting since I knew I had an easy start on a redo.

 

I thought about patterns and decided to go to the original rose boots I'd used in Rodeo Nights but abandoned when they became too dominant. This time I decided to use roses throughout the figures. I remembered back 50 years ago when my parents were square-dancers. My mom always made Dad a shirt and herself a dress or skirt in matching fabric. I also decided to go to the desert with this one and put prickly pear cactus in the painting.

 

Here are the invisible dancers!

I thought I'd worked out all the problems and had a decent painting at this point, but looking at it closely, the female's right foot is too small and her face just isn't quite right.

 

So I went back to the studio to enlarge the right boot which I could easily do since it was a white background. I simply added to the roses and leafy areas until the foot was a better size. The face was more of a challenge. I had to lift it out, yikes! I sacrificed the surface of the paper a bit, but I think it worked out. I'm happier with the face now.

 

Prickly Pear Polka 22 x 18

So it is not fine art, but I think it would make a great poster. Anybody know of a Western Dance poster contest?

But it may not be done...Now I'm wondering if the guy's hair is too dark.