May 27, 2008

Once again today I had a limited time to paint but I fixed some problem areas. Instead of the type about Felix the chimp (see May 18th) I replaced it with a quote from Todd Rundgren that more related to the painting.

"This is the ending of my song
It has made me blind and deaf and weak but most of all
It shows you that Im wrong
For you see its really twice this long
And if I should die tomorrow it will carry on"

May 26, 2008 Memorial Day

Photo by Rick Brandt


To all men and women who serve our country in the military (as well as their loved ones) in the past, present or future...Thank you-you are always appreciated.

May 25, 2008

I had a satisfying day of painting, gardening, hiking and yoga today.

As far as "Jackson's Trip to Heaven, I added more white to clouds on top of the pink which is giving them a more lofty look. Also added a rainbow behind the dog (who is now orange) to symbolically represent the Rainbow Bridge. The Rainbow Bridge is a poem that is THE poem for dead and dying pets. In fact on the few days before and after I put Jackson down I was sent a link to this poem, sent the poem via snail mail and had it recited to me by the fellow that was cremating my dog. My feelings at the time was "Fuck the Rainbow Bridge". I just wasn't in the mood to hear about happy kisses, clinging together in joyous reunions or looking into the trusting eyes of my faithful companion. I was upset and just wanted to hold on to that feeling. The disturbing feeling I got from the Rainbow Bridge poem reminded me of a story involving my daughter and I many years ago when she was four or five years old.

We had just arrived back in central Pennsylvania after visiting family in northern New Jersey and I decided we should get a bite to eat before heading home. I insisted on going to Eat and Park as I knew they had a salad bar where we could eat immediately and quickly move on and go home. My daughter was against going to this restaurant as she was troubled by the wait people who push their smiley cookies on kids. My daughter is one of those rare kids who did and still does not like cookies I told her that when the waitress came over after our meal to present my daughter with the smiley cookie she was to say, "Take your smiley cookie and shove it up your ass." Of course she has much better sense than I and did not say anything but "thank you" to the waitress when she was given the cookie but we both had a bad case of the giggles when it was offered.

May 24, 2008

Sorry guys. The rain here in central Pennsylvania has finally ceased for at least a few days-the sun is shining and I'm off to a dinner party.

May 23, 2008

Life as an artist is not always filled with excitement. Yesterday although my intentions were good I did not get a chance to paint because life needs got in the way. I would love to report that the reasons were of utmost creative importance but in reality it was a hair managing appointment (I have semi-long thick curly hair which periodically has to be tamed by a specialist), a trip to the post office, stop at the gas station ($3.99 a gallon!), long hike in the woods to tame my very energetic border collie mix, and the unexpected salad and a beer invitation from a new friend I'm just getting to know.

Today was a bit better with a medium number of distractions. I worked about four hours on two of my non-art related jobs:cleaning houses and selling yoga props, visited with friends, talked to my daughter a bit, went to the woods, watched two beavers swimming, did some yoga, and happily painted for the length of a Keith and the Girl podcast..

I worked on the leaf colors-made more progress getting the color fairly close to what I want and have moved on to work on the red dog. He may get a little bigger and possibly will change his red coat for one with more orange in it. I painted more of the yellow background-sky, but may change color completely when I work next.

May 21, 2008

In keeping with my self-imposed task of painting every day and documenting the results of that day's session, today posed a bit of a time challenge. A morning vet appointment, trip to the ATM, post office and then an afternoon shopping with my daughter who is about to move into her first apartment, left me a single hour to paint. Mostly I worked on getting the colors correct in the leaves behind the fallen bird and the cloud behind that. Not much else to say about today's session.

But a few days ago when I was picking up art from a show that had concluded I had an interesting conversation with someone and thought it was interesting enough to repeat here. Last year I painted "The Lesbian Amish" which was a series of four scenarios of the life of a fictional Amish woman. This piece had been sold before I even had a chance to show it by an art collector who has a lovely art collection of which I am fortunate to be part of. Because this annual show has a specific 6:00pm pick-up time I often find one or two persons waiting for me and we share a few minutes of conversation. This time was no different. I had a few conversations and left with three pieces under my arm. As I neared my car in the parking lot I was approached by a woman who asked me to pose with my artwork while she took a photo. She then proceeded to tell me that she now had "The Lesbian Amish" painting in her possession. Apparently the wife of the original owner had put her foot down and insisted that he get rid of my painting as it was highly offensive to her. So my painting exchanged hands and moved on to its new home which I was assured was safe and appreciated.

May 20, 2008

Today painting came much easier. I decided to leave the robin in and put her/him on a bed of leaves in the clouds so it didn't appear that the bird was falling from the sky. My main focus was still to lay down the basic colors although I focussed most of my attention on the two birds and the areas behind them. Right now one of the problems I am having with this painting is visually pulling it all together. Tomorrow I intend on working on connecting the mountains behind the red dog and the area of the two birds. I also hope to add more to the "earth" part of the painting (bottom section beneath the clouds). I have a few ideas such as Todd Rundgren's 60th birthday bash (see May 14, 2008), a hike through the woods and/or some issues that have come up concerning people and how their agendas can interfere with relationships. I have no idea at this time how to visualize these things and by tomorrow it is quite possibly that new ideas will replace these when I sit down to paint.