January 6, 2009

Jackson and Meagan
Photo by Rick Brandt

We are truly enveloped in the winter season with heavy clouds looming overhead all day spewing a delightful mix of ice pellets, snow and the kind of rain that freezes on contact. With this particular array of precipitation comes cold temperatures making my studio just on the under side of comfortable.

With this in mind i decided to head to a warmer space and write a second book in the Adventures of Sophie Series entitled, "A Walk in the Woods". The story line involves Sophie and her brother, Jackson who is based on a recently deceased canine who was blind, energetic and an over-the-top loving Vizsla. The background of the story is a walk in the woods with more writing and non-fictional info on the flora and fauna of the central Pennsylvania woods.

Peace Always

June 8,2008

FInished!!! As with any painting there are areas that please me as well as some that do not. I struggled a bit with this painting as I had no real idea of what the outcome was to be, no real sketches to start from and found it hard to paint everyday whether in the mood or not. I hope you enjoy the finished product. After a few days of letting the paint dry (Normally this does not take long as I paint with acrylic but the humidity has been outrageous so I will allow a few extra days of drying. I will take it to be photographed. After it is photographed slides and a tiff file will be made so I can post on my web site and/or enter shows. I plan to bring this to the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh annual show screening in two weeks and may not have time to have it framed for the screening-normally for this screening I would but as it often does the date has snuck up on me and I don't have enough time to follow my usual protocol.

peace always
Sharon

June 6, 2008

Photos show regular view, view when finished today's session and close-up of heart.

The day I had decided it was best to put my dog down, I had been to the vet earlier in the day and she was describing the results of Jackson's chest x-ray to me. Jackson had diabetes with many complications including blindness. I had a hard time controlling his diabetes even with his twice daily shots of insulin, careful home made food and regular blood work. Diabetes is an insidious disease and eventually his body had given all it could and it was time for him to leave this earth. The X-rays showed several areas of cancer, the retention of lots of water and an extremely large heart. When I talked with my friend later in the day about his health she stated "Jackson died of a heart that grew too large!" If you had met my dog (and I would suspect many Vizslas) you'll know exactly what I this means.

But How does this tie into todays painting session. On the upper left behind on of the clouds I painted a stylized heart. I used a diagram from a Biology course on line and played with the lines until it became the shape(s) it is now. Sometimes when I paint I will actually be consciously thinking of the symbolization I am using sometimes things just appear (such as the lemon in the upper right side).

May 17, 2008

Most of today was spent doing "other" things but I finally stole a few hours and started a new painting entitled  "Jackson's Trip to Heaven". I do not have a preconceived image of what this painting is. Unlike some artists who have a painting in mind in its entirety when they start, this painting started with only the smallest "thumbnail" drawing of Jackson's face. I had forgotten to check paints before I started and was somewhat limited to paint supplies. On the first layer I used a warm blue acrylic mixed with a cool green for the outline. I started with Jackson's head transferring what I had drawn with pencil in a thumbnail sketch to paint on a canvas. The head was not translating into shapes that felt correct. Additionally, the head was low and at a weird angle so when I added a body it looked cartoony and wrong. I turned the canvas to the right and started layer two with black acrylic painting a close-up of his head. A dribble of paint came down from one eye which I decided reflect the sadness Jackson would have felt (as well as my sadness) leaving his family. I was unhappy with this layer.  I felt this painting should have more sub-stories  so I could tell a more involved story about Jackson's trip to heaven and not simple show emotion as I would in a close-up painting of his head. I then turned the canvas once more to the right and roughed painted a dog in the upper right, some clouds, and trash can with brown paint. Because of the two layers of earlier lines I had opportunity for happy accidents. One line became a leash, there are mountains from those lines and a faucet with running water from layer two. Every painting that I do does not always start in the same manner. Some start with a more comprehensive pen or ink drawing, some paintings are compositional figured out in the first layer and some like this one, take a while to get where they need to go.

May 16, 2008

I finally did it and started my next painting. For one reason or another I had lost my painting momentum and used gardening, cleaning, hiking, yapping on the phone as well as any other distraction to avoid starting a new painting. There's a deadline looming albeit a several month one, but I know once the sun returns to Pennsylvania the outdoors will be beckoning quite loudly and it will be harder to keep myself inside to paint. As promised I will document the painting photographically each time I finish a session, the result being a diary of the progress of this painting. Today I stretched the canvas and painted two layers of white gesso to prepare the canvas surface. Because it is raining outside I will have to leave the canvas alone until tomorrow when the gesso has had a sufficent amount of time to dry. As I indicated in an earlier post (April 18th) My intention for this paint is to paint a vision of my newly departed Vizsla titled "Jackson's Trip to Heaven". The canvas is a hemp canvas from Near Sea Naturals  and the stretchers are from Upper Canada Stretchers.

May 13, 2008

Following yesterday's (May 12, 2008) thread of incorporating vegan issues in my artwork I decided to talk a bit about another painting I did, "Blah, Blah, Blah". Whenever I am excited about something new I feel compelled to share that excitement with those around me. In the case of newly becoming vegan I, like many newbies, felt compelled to share all the many facts about food processing particularly those concerning the use of animal and animal products. In this painting there are two people in the background, one in the fore. One is my neighbor who is represented with a crack in his head (too much information) and the second is my daughter who is looking away with interest somewhere else. Some of the symbols in the painting are the "Om" symbol which is often use in yoga, an owl which represents itself (I had seen a Bared Owl in the woods earlier in the week) and a dog which is my dear departed Vizsla, Jackson (see April 14th post). 

April 14, 2008

I would have liked to continue the thread I had going for the past 2 days about the piece "Not Quite Dead", but today have to put my eldest dog down. No matter how hard I try to forget, I can't help watching the clock and thinking of the event that's about to occur. Jackson is a 10-1/2 year old Vizsla with a loving personality and an obsessive compulsive nature. Until he became really ill his main objective of the day was to love well and search out un-attended foods. Over the past few days I have been wondering aloud to him of all the wondeful things that await him once he has donned his worn out sick body. There will be plates filled high with food strew about for him to eat, open garbage pails filled with food, a lake with unlimited fresh drinking water, a soft warm bed and a body to curl up next to. His sight is back once again and he can race with his old friends Tuck and Magik, 2 greyhounds that used to run with him in the nearby woods. "This time", I tell him, "You will be in the lead".

I've decided tomorrow to stretch a canvas and start my next painting which will be tentatively named, "Jackson's Trip to Heaven". I intent is to document it'sstages in this blog recording the progress as I work including a photo of the painting at the end of each painting session. I have not yet approached a painting in this manner so it will be new to you the reader and me as well. In my next blog I will continue with writing about the piece "Not Quite Dead" (See April 12 & 13, 2008)