I wanted to show you this underpainting technique. Very likely, painters use it all the time, but I thought you might like to see it applied to sculpture---in this case, this little wave-riding Poppet. I decided the imagined light would be coming from the front, so I underpainted warm lights everywhere the sun would touch, and cooler, lavender hightlights in the shadows. Since red is translucent, the final color is affected as if by external light. Suggesting an imaginary light source isn't for every piece, but the right application can be very effective.******
There are lots of billboards in town for McDonald's new line of gourmet coffees, McCafe.
Weren't we stupid enough for Starbucks? Now McDonald's is charging $2.50 for a cup of coffee worth about $.35. We really don't need coffee in the car as often we have it. And we don't need our coffee to be desert.
Sheesh. This is one bit of phoof I can do without. It's not that I'm giving up all phoof. Humans need a bit of phoof, after all.
But I'm certainly more aware of the 'invisible' sort.
And the ridiculous sort. If I want something with 900 calories, I'll go for a slice of cheesecake, enjoyed and savored, not a faux coffee full of syrup and fat absently gulped on the freeway.
I don't mean to harp on this one thing, but I'm a coffee drinker from way back and this crap is making us look bad.
Is it possible we've been taught to think we need an awful lot of things we don't?
I can make lists of 'em. Can you? What a bunch of sheep.
It's true, these last few months have made us more conscious about what we spend our money for. They've made me think about a great many things, not the least of which is what it means to be a professional artist.
For the last six months, it's meant being willing to work about twice as hard for less money, making some difficult decisions and becoming a lot more flexible about my views on business, success, balance and goals.
It's also meant learning to stay focused under pressure---not to lose sight of the work or the inspiration behind it.
The key word here is 'learning.' Sometimes I still panic. Sometimes I still don't want to get out of bed.
Oh yeah---sometimes I remember it's not about me at all.
****We finished a new bell jar, this one a sort of nursery for small brains. I like the idea of little brains creating chaos of the joyful abandon type.
Untrained ideas can be dangerous.
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I like the idea of having one's own little death in possession, sitting innocently as a vase of flowers on the dresser.
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And finally, there's a new "Cosmic" Poppet in our Etsy Store.
There are links in the sidebar, but I'm told that some of you get this blog via rss feeds and the sidebar doesn't show.
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It's the weekend. I'm going to do my best to be productive, but to take some time out too. Like money, it's probably a good idea to watch what we spend our time on. Maybe I'll dust off my thermos.
