Social Media: That Love/Hate Thing

When I opened up my blog this evening, I was shocked to see my last post had been in October of last year. My surprise stems partly from the fact that I'm often thinking about blogging - but apparently not actually blogging!  I enjoy the outlet and the effort of trying to post worthwhile or interesting bits, sharing my art and getting to know other bloggers and followers.  I'm embarrassed.  And thus, I hereby vow to post at least weekly unless I am at death's door or .... (can't think of another excuse).

One reason I've not been around is (yuck) Facebook.  That's where the love/hate thing is coming from.  Last year I met and spoke with Bradley Tyler Wilson, (his small and wackily charming bird paintings are below) at an area art exhibit and sale.  He asked me if I did FB and I made a face and said no.  In less than 5 minutes he convinced me I should do it - and use it strictly as a professional tool.  It's taken me weeks and weeks to figure out how to have a personal profile AND a page.  I just couldn't get the hang of it.  Not sure I have even now, but it's done.  I still think it's confusing and unless I get, say, a gazillion "likes", I still have to post everything in both places or it's just sitting there.  The only real advantage I see at this point is quick access to lots of my work for FB people.

Bradley Tyler Wilson's birds (now mine)The small one is 4 x 4,  6 x 6. 

They make me smile.

I have to admit to being distracted by finding old friends, lost friends, acquaintances and family members there, as well as seeking out artist groups (a recent discovery).

So I get my photographs posted to albums on my personal profile (Patrice Young) and then I set up my page (Patrice Lynne Young as that is my on-art signature) and re-post all the photographs.  Then I find I cannot change the name on the personal profile to match the page.  More confusion.

To top that off, another of my online artist friends posted that FB would soon stop letting those of us who do not pay to advertise link back to FB.  So what good is it to me if that is the case?  If anyone reading this knows more about this, please give me a shout.  Oh - nearly forgot.  My FB page is here patricelynneyoung.

I aspire to have as many likes as my heroine Holly Friesen, who at this blogging has over 1500!  But mostly, I hope to better understand marketing online.

And because all blog posts are better with cats:  Here's Sugarbuns - adopted last year after spending her entire first 7 months in a shelter.  She's all cinnamon and sugar...

Watch Birds; Watchbirds

 There used to be a little balloon in certain magazines when I was growing up.  It simply stated: "I'm a little watchbird watching you."  At least that is how I remember it.  I thought it was a sort of private joke. Today, thinking how birds do sit and watch - each other; for predators, for food, for "a signal" that it is time to fly, I remembered that little illustration.  As I watch them back, and paint their images, perhaps I seek to learn the signal too. 

A Gathering In Winter;   acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12. 

 

 

 

Wow - The images are wonderful. Now I've found that these were created in the 1940's by Munro Leaf - and were often illustrated to impart morals and proper behavior.

Munro also wrote many children's books, and even collaborated with Dr. Seuss.  He was rather controversial during the war years and is most famous for his book Ferdinand..

Perhaps all those watchbirds crept into my subconscious.  I especially love the one who sits on the tree branch.

One Track Mind

Multi-tasking may be a popular concept, but it doesn't work for everyone (like me).  In fact, I don't really believe in it.  I think that what really happens is that our brains switch tasks so rapidly from one task to the next that it only appears we are doing more than one thing at a time.  And if the brain fails to switch in time, one or more tasks suffer.

Last week I finished two paintings for an upcoming show barely on time.  That same day I got a call saying one of my painted furniture pieces had sold in an adjacent shop, but that a bit of touch up was needed before it was delivered.  I wasn't surprised - as the little red desk had been there for over a year!  That's how slow sales are. So I loaded up my paintings, a variety of reds, glaze, topcoat, brushes, etc., and headed out for the forty mile drive.  I dropped off the paintings, hurried to get to the shop before five, did the touch-up, picked up some Chinese food and headed home.

After dinner I was happy to have some new work for my blog - until I realized I'd forgotten to photograph the new paintings!  And so forgive me for posting three of my personal favorites - paintings I've never been able to part with.  Note that Black Bird was painted before my divorce - and subsequent name reclaim. 

Grumpy Chick, 6" x 9" 2008

Black Bird/White Wind, 2005. 36" x46" 

 

 

The Watch, 2008 14" x 18"

Small paintings...

I Will Return, 7 x 11, acrylic on raised panel $135.

(part of my show at Sautee-Nacoochee this month)

For the past month, as I stewed over not having a vehicle, I couldn't seem to get myself working on anything but smaller pieces. I think (subconsciously) I needed to know I could accomplish something every day - and working in smaller formats allowed me to feel productive in the face of uncertainty.

After nearly a month and having replaced several parts as well as the engine or main computer, the problem with my formerly trusty van turned out to be a short under the motor mount that sent surges and/or low voltage to the various electronic parts, eventually ruining most all the switches and a motor or two. It was a bear to find, obviously, as it only occurred during the sort of driving that would cause the motor to rock in the mount (steep hills, hard braking, or revving the engine really high) - none of which I do if I can avoid it! The diagnostic equipment only finds obvious problems - rather like having an x-ray for a metabolic disorder - it ain't gonna show up...

And now after a couple of days of driving about in a rather preoccupied state, I have lost my camera!! Granted it's not the best camera - but the last thing I need right now is an expense, especially one due to my own carelessness.

Carelessness - now there's a word that really doesn't apply - I care lots! I'm just absent minded and easily distracted when there are lots of people around. I remember being very insulted as a child when I was admonished for carelessness. It was usually a matter of focus, just as it is now.

And without my camera, I cannot post the photographs of some of the newest pieces - so here are a couple I've not posted before...

Black Bird/Black Wind, 12 x 12 drawing in crayon and graphite (nfs)

And this little painting is titled "Renaissance Chick". This was a case of having this funny little ornate frame with only a postcard sized opening. So I painted the chick to go with the frame, thinking no one would ever buy it - and yet, someone did!

Back to painting I must go. I've a deadline for a commission coming up fast.

I don't have time to be sick!

I'm finally feeling almost myself. Geez, that was a terrible virus. I think it was actually two different bugs fighting over who would have my head!
Here's what I've been doing when I could get up a bit of energy and enthusiasm...
My continuing fascination is not just those birds but tornadoes/cyclones/thunderstorms, the amazing clouds formations therein, and the fury and drama they create upon this planet. In a continuation of my Black Bird/Wind themes, I spent one wretched evening working on the drawing below when I was too ill to paint. Last night and tonight I worked on the painting (above) and I think it's finished though I'll have to look upon it with fresh eyes in the daylight tomorrow before I can be sure.




















A couple of weeks ago, I posted a detail of a painting in progress, promising to post the entire painting. Here it is - still in progress, but much further along. The sky and background are nearly finished as is the water. I'm going for a swampy Everglades sort of waterway; the kind that are navigated by those fan or wind-propelled boats. I've still much refining to do on the three white birds, the crowned crane and the foreground foliage. My camera has exaggerated the colors, the actual background being more subdued.




















I've not been the sort who plans out paintings; often not doing any studies beforehand; preferring to draw images or shapes directly onto the surface with paint. But for this painting, I actually did a small mock-up as the composition is deceptively simple and yet not at all classical. I knew I was going to paint it rather large
(it's 30x 35) and I wanted to be certain to get the proportions right - right being what was half-formed in my head before I started.
I'm working to capture a mood and to tell a little tale. Don't we all of us look askance upon an interloper - a stranger garbed in finery greater than our own?

I hope to finish this one tomorrow during my "make up day" volunteering at the gallery. Being sick for two weeks really put me behind.


And just for fun, look what sprang out at me from the thrift store: A bobble crow! Nothing sinister about this fellow. He's made of painted stuffed cloth, an old bedspring, and a block of wood painted with the pithy saying: A wise crow reaps what you sow... and images of corn and watermelon. I didn't know crows had a fondness for watermelon?

I had to have him. Pensive fellow, isn't he?

more from January...

I find myself painting birds one right after another... Like many artists, I am especially drawn to black birds: crows, ravens, and of course - blackbirds, and red-winged blackbirds. But I like the shapes of starlings, grackles and other sleek avian specimens as well - and expect to see them all flitting and sitting on future canvases and panels.

Birds on a wire strike me as omens; sentinels, guardians... each waiting to be called to action. Birds on the ground are more playful, active, busy with the business of bird-ness. Birds in flight are either at the mercy of the winds or masters of the atmosphere. I do not see birds as threatening, though my large abstracted Black Bird/Wind series (two shown at right) often give viewers pause.