This is not my calling in life. Or, maybe it is. I have no idea anymore. My creative brain takes me in so many different directions that I imagine that I am on some dusty intersection out in the country somewhere, only today, I've been saddled down with palettes.
As some of you may know, I have a small place on the web for visual artists that I call "Red Easel." It is where I share stories from my studio, tutorials, and it has emerged over the last 2 years to a nice little place for visual artists to share their stories, their tutorials, their paintings, and more. I also have listings of galleries, and I have an artist directory with over 100 artist listings if I can ever get around to finishing adding those artists that still need to be added to the directory. I even have information and resources for visual artists. A whole bunch of neat stuff in one place.
I was looking around TypePad this morning seeing what they have new going on and ran across a story about TypePad Champions, and boy was I surprised that I was on the list. Check this out!...
Well, today I won't be posting the Saturday Morning Skraw, but I have been drawing things up this week.
Plato once said "Necessity is the mother of invention" and working as hard and as long as I have this week in my studio, I got so frustrated and covered in paint that I decided I was going to do something about it. You see, I have 2 palettes that I use when I paint - a hand-held palette, and a table palette with a glass top for easy clean up. The problem I have been having is with the hand-held palette. After searching for hours online for a palette that would solve my problem of getting oil paint on my left sleeve and arm, and the occasional stress and pain I feel in my left arm from holding the palette a certain way, I sat down and designed my own palette - one that would put an end to paint on my left sleeve and arm, one that would rest comfortably on my left hip or belt if I wanted, and one that had the correct angle at the fingers that I could place used brushes in my left hand easily.
So you can understand what I created here, let's take a look at some artist palettes:
When I begin to draw, I always begin with simple shapes, observing first the shape of the object I am drawing. If you confuse your brain with all of the details surrounding what it is you want to draw, you'll end up giving up. Start small. Start big. But start with a shape.
Many of you wrote to me and expressed interest in seeing the completed painting, so here it is in all its glory. It isn't a masterpiece, but it is a painting that I am proud of and the family that commissioned me to do the painting are thrilled with it. I took it to Frame Warehouse to be framed - my favorite place in all of Charlotte for framing and they helped me and the "B" family find the perfect frame to set off the painting beautifully. We are all excited to see the painting varnished and framed and ready to ship this week.
So, before I ship it out the door, I wanted to share it with all of you. Here again, is the process I used to complete the painting ...
I adore the work of Georgia O'Keeffe. It is beautiful, magical, original, and simply feminine. The other evening I watched a story about her life on Lifetime television and received a renewed sense of artistic inspiration. She is an inspiration to all women who want to express themselves artistically, freely, and independently and in her day was considered a remarkable woman, paving the way of independence and self-expression to woman around the world.
Two-Faced. If you get red flags about a so-called "friend" or someone else - run like hell. Believe me, if they talk about others negatively behind their back - be sure that they are doing the same to you. That's what you call "two-faced," "back-stabber," or "Ali-cat." They'll act like a friend and then trash you behind your back. I don't know about you, but I have no use for people like that. They are ignorant, insecure, and shallow. In the meantime, a great stress reliever is drawing and this seemed like an appropriate subject ...
The Two-Faced Drawing:
