untitled WIP of a milkweed pod

making more progress.

i wanted to paint a few smaller pieces while I was getting back into a painting rhythm and this was top of my list.

Can't wait to finish and finally get moving on some smaller skull paintings and studies then start some new larger works.

(this photographed really blue and purple on the right but it's not, but the background is really more of a warm gray throughout)

As I move forward this year I'll be making some changes to my blog. If you've followed for a long time you'll see I cleaned out a lot of older posts. I kept the more popular posts that bring traffic but otherwise I deleted mostly all most my posts from the past few years.

untitled work in progress of a milkweed pod

making progress

back to work...

It's been a long, artistically quiet five years.

But I can finally say, despite all my past failed efforts, that I am officially back in the studio.

I completed a painting the other day I started over a year ago. It was more about finishing something I started and feeling like I could finally move forward, than picking up where I left off.

You can see a pretty bad color photo on my facebook page. It's now signed and should be dry enough to photograph properly tomorrow.

Above is something I've wanted to paint for years.  I hiked onto posted property last fall to gather the perfect looking specimen, then let it dry thoroughly all winter in my garage.

Before I move onto any large paintings I wanted to get a few smaller one's down, just to feel like I'm more 'back in the game', if that makes any sense.

All I know is that it feels really good to be spending quality time back in my very missed, and very dusty studio.

Welcome 2012 and a feature...

I can't tell you how excited I am for this year.

In my 5.5 years of being a mother, it's all finally getting a little bit more organized.

Next week I return to my studio.

I've been finishing off a few to-do's around the house this week and this weekend we'll finish the last of our de-cluttering and organizing tasks.

I've got some art goals to reach but my goal is to keep them flexible.

My main goal is to sketch or draw every day, even if it's for 15 minutes.

My focus will be on skull and bone studies.

Secondary to that, I have a short term goal of 2 painting sessions weekly. Which doesn't sound like much, but considering how slammed I've been with graphics work, that has consumed every minute of my day, evening and even the wee hours of the morning, it's an improvement.

As I have slowdowns in work, I will increase when possible.

So my return will be slow but hopefully methodical.

To kick off the year, I'm happy to link to a lovely Artist Feature written about my work, with a focus on my brush use by Dynasty Brush (follow this link to read the article).

It was so kind of them, and quite honestly, made me feel pretty good considering I was somewhat unproductive in 2011.

Workshop day 3

Went in early today and stayed late. I painted from 8:30 am to 5:15 pm.

I am exhausted. But in a good way.

I work similar to Carlo which is cool because my insides aren't freaking out. :)

But also different enough that I'm getting some great pointers and insight from him.

It feels great to be in a workshop where my head isn't spinning because the instructors method and style is so drastic from my own, and where I can focus more on improving my skills and learning some new techniques.

tomorrow I'll go in early again in hopes of making some serious headway.

This photo shows my color wash in and the start of my final layer.

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Workshop day two

day two down. My final drawing, although this has been traced over with pen. can't figure out how to turn the pic on my phone.

finalized my drawing and toned my canvas and then I had a few setbacks.

Nothing I couldn't handle but still frustrating.

I ordered a claessans Belgian linen panel that turned out to be a nightmare. Considering what I paid for it I was a little disappointed.

Carlo works on CBL and wanted us to try it but the panel I ordered had a oddly slick and smooth surface. It wouldn't hold paint. I toned it, it dried and I could wipe it right off. Grrrr.

Even transferred my drawing and painted the lines and it wiped off.

Lucky it was end of day so I decided to head to the downtown Philly Dick Blick to pick up a Gessobord panel.

one of the other participants was nice enough to drop me off near the store (really no parking). So I picked up a few things and walked 20 minutes back to my car in the heat. Lucky for me I passed a Starbucks and took the walk in stride with an iced coffee in hand.

so tonight I'm doing a little homework to get back on track and one of the girls is going to meet me in a little early tomorrow so I can get an early start on my color block in. Hoping to have that done mid-morning to lunch so I can can start in with thicker paint after lunch.

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Carlo Russo workshop: day 1

day one is done and I'm glad. I always have such anxiety the first day of a workshop, compound that with a 50 minute traffic packed, merging after merging fastpaced highway drive into the city, and I'm wiped.

I was happy with my drawing progress and hope that I should be ready to transfer by lunch tomorrow.

I had a funny moment when I arrived to find the elevator out of service. Funny because I had just joked to some friends about packing so much and being grateful I could take the elevator.

not so funny this morning, but lucky someone did direct me to another one. by the time I found it and rode what was the longest elevator ride ever and wandered the halls aimlessly (all while carrying 50lbs of gear) I finally found my destination.

At least I got my workout in. looking forward to day two.




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