Nate and I have been busy with life lately, but we remembered that one of the things in life we enjoy is painting together. To that end we made some time to paint…finally! Don’t let life get in the way of your passions, its these moments of happiness that string themselves together that make your life what you want it to be.
Nate has ventured into the digital realm in his painting, Thanks to the invention of the iPhone…here are a couple of his first ones. When is Jules going digital? Not any time soon I don’t think, but you never know.
This painting was the second musical painting I did based on a song called Parsec by Stereolab. It was for a friend in California where it has hung in his living room for years now. He is planning to move back to Canada soon which I am very happy about, maybe I should do a companion piece as a welcome home present….hmmm.
I’ve been painting for most of my life. With nearly every painting I do, I sincerely believe that I will keep the finished piece for myself. Then once the painting is completed, inevitably, someone falls in love with it. When someone loves my work that much, I insist that they have the piece. How can I not, I can always do another one for myself…except that I never do.
So, finally, I recently decided that I will do a painting for myself. When it is complete, it will hang in my house, for me, no matter who loves it. The piece I am planning will be one of my musical paintings of a song that I have loved since I was a little girl: Old Man by Neil Young.
So that is my intention, only time will tell what happens to the piece if someone should happen to fall in love with it.
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Obviously, Nate and I love Art. We love painting and try to paint as often as we can. Gallery visits however, always seem to fall by the wayside. We enjoy going and are usually inspired as we leave, but keeping track of what is going on where, and working Gallery visits into our schedule seems to be consistently designated to the back burner.
This is something I have decided to change, and I found a great way to do it.
I recently began signing up for the e-mail lists of relatively local, minor and major Art Galleries. Now, as the emails come in, I effortlessly know what is going on where and can now easily add the event to my Google Calendar. Its simple and effective…why didn’t I do this ages ago??
I’m at the beginning of a series of four small flower paintings for a client…first up is the Lily of the Valley. That was my direction, just a painting of a flower. Although I know a realist work would be appreciated, its just not my style. I did warn her that I do not do realism and she said no problem. Off I go to start a painting.
The problem is, I know the clients taste, and I honestly do not think it is the type of painting I do. So I start on a precious little lily, and immediately hate what I am producing. In the back of my mind, I was trying for what I thought the client wanted, and that is never the road to happiness. The client catches a glimpse of it in progress and proclaims she loves it, but seriously…it is so hideous, I’m actually embarrassed I did it. Not too embarrassed to show mes amis reading this though, so here it is…
Right after I took this picture, I jesso’d the canvas, so it really didn’t happen, right? From here, I am going to begin anew, I hate it and I’m starting over, trusting that [...] Continue Reading…
I was having a random conversation recently with my friend Jimmy, about what else, but Art, and what makes art “good.” His take was along the lines of ‘Art lets you see what you want to see,’ basically the old ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ cliche…hmmm.
This discussion along with my recent re-obsession with all things Frida Kahlo, made me wonder why it is I love her so.
There are many reasons I enjoy gazing upon Frida’s work. I love the Mexican culture she depicts, her style of painting, her subject matter and her story. We all have a story in life, but knowing Frida’s story as I do, she truly inspires me. Frida lived her own life as she chose, as a strong woman of conviction. She took her adversities as they came, and worked through them, and most of all, she kept painting.
Nate has been busy!
This summer has not been the hottest weather-wise but it has been great for going outside, not leaving a ton of time for painting unfortunately.
However, Thanks to a few days of rain, Nate has completed some more new paintings this summer…
This painting is of the song Crazy by Gnarls Barkley.
Each pattern of dots and loops is an instrument that you can follow through the song. Each layer of the song was captured by my little Polaroid as I painted it and resides here on my Flickr account, if you want to check it out deconstructed.
This is the third song painting I’ve done now, and have so many ideas for future ones, I better get painting!
I’ve never been too proud of my drawing skills…I usually use drawing as a way to plot out paintings, but never as an end in itself. But I do find that regardless of your skill level, drawing is fun and time seems to stand still. Maybe its self-indulgent and that’s why I always put it on the back burner…?
Anyway, my friend J.L. recently challenged me on the spot to draw a pic of us and scan it back to him in 15min. My immediate reaction was “Can I have 20min?” I needed to find some paper, grab a pencil and find a reference picture. Plus I needed to plug in my scanner after wiping an inch of dust off it! Suffice it to say, it was a lot of fun. I do actually prefer to draw quickly. It was also a good way to get me to do something I love to do, which has been falling to the wayside recently with all the activities of summer. With summer taking over, it was just what I needed, some much needed summer art inspiration.
So I challenge you…draw a pic of someone in 15min and send it to me…
Don’t think about [...] Continue Reading…
