Keeping Sane While Upside Down

Hello!  Boy, I only took a year off from posting, and once again there have been changes to how one posts!
I didn't mean to take this long of a break. I just got busy. LOL!  Who isn't busy?  I have more blogs to visit than ever, though they aren't listed on my sidebar (is it still called that?) and that takes up so much of my time. I am almost inhibited by what I read- the creativity floors me!

Since finishing the painting in the last post, I have painted, stitched, quilted (and once did all three in a pillow for a friend) needlepointed and made quite a few greeting cards, too. 
I have also been fortunate enough to visit my daughter with my husband at her home in Arizona. Not once, but twice! The first time was in October, and then in August we went again to surprise her for her 30th birthday. 
I took a few classes in July as well. Two were with Joanne Sharpe, and one was with Jane LaFazio.  The three were great fun and I dream of the possibilities for next year!
Since we live at the Jersey Shore, we tend to have visitors during the summer, so there was quite a bit of entertaining going on around here, too! 

The big thing that is happening right now in my life, and what occupies my mind and spirit most, is that my mother, at 89 years of age, is really beginning to show her years. NOT in her face, mind you, she has the skin of a newborn, but her physical and mental issues are growing.
Last night a dear friend of mine called and told me that her mom is beginning to have the same problems. Her mother is nine months younger than mine, but the way she describes her mother is how mine was 9 months ago.
I shot her an email this morning about how I try and cope.
This is what I said~

1.  Laughter- You gotta keep a sense of humor. Sometimes you have to shake your head, shrug your shoulders, and just- uh huh-and yup- your mother. She is going to come out with some crazy statements - go with them.


2. Friends- people who know what you are going through, and people who have no idea but are nice to be around. Escape your reality with both sets of friends.

3. Movies- we don't go anymore, but we will watch them on tv. all kinds. even the ones that make me cry.

4. TV- yup- I escape with decorating shows, sometimes oohing and aahing, sometimes BASHING the spoiled people who "will have to update" what looks perfect to me.

5. Bookstores like Barnes and Noble, where you can sit in a chair and read the magazines for hours without being told you can't do that. I do it with the books too. Why not the library? Boring. I like the Strand bkstore in NYC (I think that's the name!) but I don't remember if there are seats!
(side note- I went to B and N again today.)

6. This should really be in the top 3 - tied with 1 and 2- Expressing what is inside- on canvas, on paper, through stitchery- w/e through pictures and/or words. Sometimes the urge to be creative is so strong that I can't focus on what to do or where to begin. (Just yesterday I went back to a painting that I began in March or April, based on a quote I'd read by Anais Nin. I had been at a standstill, not knowing which way to go with it. I decided to play with it, and well, we'll see what happens.)

7. Internet- yes- fb, and blogs, and sometimes news articles!

8. Newspaper-My dad always told me to keep current- it was good for the mind, so I read the paper while drinking my morning coffee, and then do the crossword puzzle and cryptoquote. Even when I have to work, I will get up earlier just to have that time. I like looking at magazines for inspiration, too.

9. I mentioned reading in bookstores, but forgot to mention that having books at home to read is important. I always have shelves of them waiting for me. I buy them at stores, off the internet, and at garage sales.

10. Oh yes- garage sales and estate sales. You never know what might be there- to read, to admire, to bring home and create with.

11. Traveling. Best way to escape. Isn't that an ad campaign? day trips, weekends and longer. What a way to rejuvenate, though I have to say that sometimes it makes coming back home to "issues" very hard.

12. Exercise also helps, though I'll admit I'd forgotten this in the original email to my friend.               So that's my list of sanity savers. Have you anything special that you find helpful? See you over at your blogs!     xoxox   jenny

I Call Them "Three Peasants and a Baby"

The finished painting. 

oil, 30 x 40

                                                            The photo I worked from

Another shot. The white areas at the top of the painting are from the glare of the window behind it.

As always, the photo of the painting doesn't show quite the true colors compared to the scanned photo of the actual magazine picture from which I worked.  But the woman I painted this for was ecstatic, and I was pretty happy with the results as well.

There has been talk lately about the migrating butterflies, and the large numbers that have been spotted in this area. I hadn't noticed anything unusual until yesterday. I was admiring the back yard since it was the first day in a long time that I was seeing it with the sun shining, and sure enough, my eyes started seeing not one, not two, but dozens of butterflies flitting about our patio area. I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots.

 They landed in groups as well, but I wasn't quick enough to snap the photos. They seemed more skittish.
I included the following photo because the sky was actually this blue. I LOVE this combination of the bright green leaves against the bright blue sky.

 I have been posting some of my drawings on Facebook for a group that I am in.  The drawings are portraits stemming from the challenge, 29 faces in May, as seen on http://ilove2paint.blogspot.ca/p/29-faces-may.html.

I wasn't going to take part, then I started drawing, then I thought to post my blog address on that site, but alas, the directions are far more complicated than I have patience for, so I am just going to post the drawings here. I am behind because of my late start, but- OH WELL!!

This portrait started out as a self- to which I added the background doodles, then the headpiece, and finally the color. I'm not entirely happy with the way she was painted.

 This was an idea from the sketchbook people (through the Brooklyn Art Library.)  They are having some kind of challenge (maybe it's ended already) where you do a self-portrait on a 4 by 4  inch canvas that they mail to you. I am not doing that, but I took the same idea for this, and did it on watercolor paper.

 The last page of one of my sketchbooks.  Trust me, if I thought someone would sit still for me, I would do someone other than myself!  I've left off the shadows and lines for a more youthful face. (If only it were that easy!!!)

These people had no choice but to sit here, but I had to move quickly so they wouldn't know I was sketching them. This is called "The Waiting Room."  I know there are many, many variations on this theme.

                

                                            

 So there it is, and there I am.  Off to visit with some of you, then back to the little room upstairs.

bye!



My Painting, and a Shout Out to Susan!

Some of these are taken with a flash, some without.  I have been having fun with this painting, as all I have to think about is matching the colors as closely as I can to the original, and making sure that no part stands out any more than another.  Just copy.  There is no worry about composition. or focal point, nor choosing the color scheme.



I do have to turn the canvas over occasionally in order to work with a steady hand.  I worked on the two faces on the right yesterday, and I have already toned down the red in the one.  Last night, around midnight, I walked into the room and picked up a brush.  I swooshed the canvas with a brush over the face, then asked myself if I was crazy to start that at that hour.  I decided that though I may be crazy sometimes, I wasn't going to be last night. 

When I started this blog, my father had just passed away about 4 months prior, my sons were in their first year at their respective colleges, my one daughter was graduating from college, and my other, from grad school.  Since that time, the boys have done wonderful things while in school, and are now graduating in 2 weeks.  Daughter number 1 is a licensed social worker, has been married now for 7 months, and she and her hubby just became homeowners. Daughter number 2,  the nurse who volunteered for a year in a San Diego health/hospital for the homeless, has been working at a local hospital in pediatrics for the last year.
I am proud of them, always have been, and I don't mean to sound like I am bragging about them.  It's just that this blog, begun while dealing with a huge loss (my dad was a wonderfully intelligent, sweet man) has put into perspective for me, how life truly does go on.  Things happen, good/bad, but we go on.  If we are lucky.  And I am lucky.  I know it, and acknowledge it.
I haven't done as much writing as I did back in the beginning, though I am still reading others' blogs.  I am doing more art work, and learning from the generous artists who post their artwork along with their methods and the tools that they use.  Everybody serves as an inspiration to me.  The non-art blogs that I read are just as wonderful.  I see parts of the country I've never seen, talked to people in other countries, heard about books that I have gone on to read, read about movies that I may or may not see. I've seen people's gardens and home interiors.  I've read about illnesses, and likewise, fighting spirits.  I could go on! 

Have you ever thought about how "blogging" has influenced your life?  My friend Susan, of http://sueskitchen.typepad.com/black_eyed_susans_kitchen/  is the person who introduced me to blogging.  It was such an innocent meeting- I had run into her while taking a walk after visiting my dad in the hospital.  She took a picture, and mentioned her blog.  Sometime after that, I checked out what she was talking about, and I haven't looked back!  So I say- thanks, Susan!
How did you get involved/hear about blogs?  Can you remember? 
- and now, as is typical- I have been sitting at this computer for much too long, and have to get busy with my errands for the day!

Have a good weekend!
xoxoxo

Making Progress

This was the start of that commissioned painting.

Set up on the easel, sketched, and ready to paint.

I started by toning the painting.  I don't know who the original artist was.  If anyone knows, please let me know!

Till next time!

Step One

Last week, my name was given to a woman who wanted a painted copy of another painting. We spoke with each other, she explained what she was hoping for, we agreed on a price and I went to work.  I know this painting that I will do can never be shown anywhere, it is strickly for her happiness and benefit. She plans on hanging it above her bed.  I don't know (nor does she) who painted the original.  It was in an ad for a furniture store many, many years ago.  I am calling it "Three Peasants (and a Baby)".
I bought a canvas and began with the gesso.  It is 30x40, and I laid it on the floor in a corner of my living room to begin.

The second coat of gesso is drying. My Little Room Upstairs is presently being occupied by a house guest, and so supplies (and the use of the room) are temporarily on hold and somewhat out of the way. I hope that I can set this on my easel in my little room to work. Believe it or not, the room may not give me the space to properly paint and view as I go along!

We are having another Spring-like day with warmer than usual weather this week (as we've had for most of the winter.)  I am trying to get back into my daily walk routine. 
Stay tuned for progress on this canvas~
xoxoxo

Tidbits

On Saturday I worked at an estate sale that was a painter's dream.  The homeowner had been a ceramics painter and had many many vials of paints to go along with the shelves loaded with ceramic pieces just waiting to be painted.  She had loose-leaf binder after binder of inspiration photos, and how-tos, and two kilns in her garage.  While I wasn't about to invest in a new art form, there were beautiful art instruction books for sale. I couldn't resist buying a few.  The first that I am reading is a North Light Book,

It's an easy read, covering the basics, but I am picking up little tidbits here and there. 

I also bought a book shelf from the house sale since my books were beginning to take up floor space in my little room.  I spent a portion of Sunday and Monday trying to reorganize my supplies in order to fit this shelf into the room.

On Tuesday I went back to that tiny painting from the previous post. I decided to make the water curve around, and go back into the background of the scene. I also took out that tree in the middle of the painting, and now have to do something about the solid look of those fir trees. I made a black and white print of the painting with the hopes of seeing "values". hmmmm.

stage 1

ok- so the tree is gone.

the water curves back, but I need

to do something back there....and those trees still bother me.  I hope you can ignore that

awful shadow on the right.  I realize that color consistency in the photos is lacking.  (sorry)

        This is supposed to help me see "values".  I don't think it is helping me. 

So today, I hope to take a look again at this painting to see where I can go with it.  I think the tree on the right is an eyesore now.  lol.  If anybody has a suggestion (if anybody is reading!) please feel free to drop me a line. 

thanks~

jenny