April 6, 2015
I believe this is almost finished – just a few areas that I feel need more work. The photo isn’t wonderful – there is a lot of reflection off of the sheen of the background – a result of the linseed oil I used on the background to maintain a level of transparency. Now I’m trying to encourage my kids to make me more origami creatures so that I can continue on with this theme. Either that or I am going to have to take up the hobby myself…
March 22, 2015
Spent a little more time working on this one. I want some of the book paper to show through in the background, so I am working with chromatic black and zinc white for drapery as they are more transparent than the ivory black and titanium white I usually work with – and used for the crane. I combined them with a generous amount of linseed oil to work with them as glazes. It needs a lot of work yet and I have to decide how much I want to show through. Still a work in progress…
March 15, 2015
So I’ve started working on a commission based on A Crane Called Frank. And I thought I would play with some of the oil mediums to see if they might be something I want to use in this new painting (which I’m calling Francine at the moment). I tried out Galkyd, Neo Megilp and Galkyd Gel. And in the process this small storm ensued.
And here is the beginning of Francine. I’m just building the background now. Chances are very little of this will be visible in the final painting, but we’ll see. I just need to put on a few coats of clear gesso to seal it really well and I will be ready to go.
Lastly, here are a couple of drawings from this week. One from a figure drawing class that I’m doing – no, she did not have an inordinately large head, I just messed up the scale – and a small drawing I did during the week while thinking about folded paper in preparation to begin Francine.
January 25, 2015
“Your audacious life goals are fabulous. We’re proud of you for having them. But it’s possible that those goals are designed to distract you from the thing that’s really frightening you—the shift in daily habits that would mean a re–invention of how you see yourself.”
– Seth Godin
It’s almost the end of January and I am already behind. I have more items on my list than I have time to do them. That’s ok though. Good things are still happening regardless of my lists.
In an effort to improve my drawing skills, I am building the habit of drawing every day. I’m also trying to paint every week, although that just isn’t going to work out all the time. As much as I may have liked to, taking my easel and paints to Canmore last weekend to fit in a few strokes here and there between ski runs just didn’t seem all that practical. I did paint this weekend with the evidence below (still not finished…). And I have been drawing. Evidence of that below as well.
January 4, 2015
“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen
I’ve been missing from my blog for a couple of weeks, but now that the holidays are over and it’s time to get back to normal life, I’ve also returned here. Over the vacation I didn’t do as much painting as I had wanted but instead spent time moving my studio from the basement upstairs – I actually have a real window now… and a door too! It’s all very exciting and I’m looking forward to many happy hours spent there. I did spend a little time painting and below is the result. I still have a ways to go on this one. Working on the vase frustrated me, so I moved on to the flower knowing I will come back to it and see what I can do yet.
December 21, 2014
After a very busy couple of weeks I finally had a chance to do some painting. And since I seem to have been working on the same thing for a very long time, I decided to start a new painting. Which means I am starting to accumulate unfinished pieces. I’m hoping that the Christmas vacation will allow me some time to get ahead.
December 8, 2014
November 30, 2014
Still working on this one…
November 23, 2014
“We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.” – Henry James
In September I was away from home working at our annual convention. On the first morning with my room service breakfast, I was brought a small little daisy in a tiny glass vase. Sitting there with the morning sunlight coming through the window I loved how peaceful it looked. So I photographed it. I continued to take photos as the poor little thing slowly died. This is the second of what I intend to be a series of six images. I don’t think they’ll read exactly like a progression – that’s not what I’m working towards and the treatment I intend for each of them varies. I’m somewhat daunted by what I will be attempting with a couple of them, but I figure that regardless of how they turn out, I am committed to finish all six and if nothing else, it will be a learning experience. I’m also starting to play around with a few new oil paint mediums. I enjoy working with Gamblin’s Cold Wax Medium, and with the beginning of this piece I’ve tried out Gamblin’s Galkyd. Not sure I like it, but I will play some more and suspend my decision for awhile yet.
susanne semchuk 