Stuck

I'm feeling stuck--suffering from a bout of artistic constipation.  Or maybe that's not entirely accurate.  Because I've been working steadily (if not very diligently) on this piece:  

And I really like how it's coming along.  But there's a human presence missing in the narrative, and I can't decide what form it should take.  Hmmmm.  Methinks it's time for a photo session.  

I'm also going to go hunt for some bits of nature tomorrow--look for a little bit of magic out in the world.  And maybe hit the library for some folk tales.  But tonight I'm going to kick back with some thank you notes and a DVD!

Tweet. TWEET.

I love this bird:

He lives in the right bottom corner of this painting:

I also started to get back into my Bird Menace Series today with this jumbo blue jay:
I'll finish him tomorrow.

I'm also thinking about what to do with these antique boxes.  I started painting on that open blue one about 5 years ago.  Since then they've just been kicking around in moving boxes.  But lately they've been occupying some space in my thoughts, and consequently earned some space in my studio.  I think it would be interesting to make some 3-D objects, but I'm a bit nervous about it.  I am awful when it comes to sculpture, or anything else that requires some sense of 3-dimensional space.  My sense of direction, for example, is truly an abomination.  So I'm going to ease into these boxes by painting on them, on their nice, comfy 2-D surfaces.

I also tidied my studio a bit today, which is a sign that I am ready to get my nose back to the grind stone big time.  I'm really excited about these current projects, and I'm chomping at the bit to get back into the studio tomorrow.  Huzzah!

I've been making more pitcher plants twisting down from the branches in this new painting.  And a little sparrow hanging out on a branch:

Here's how they look in context (so far!).  I like how they're all tropical and jungly--a totally different aesthetic for me.  Tomorrow I'll add some more, so that they're hanging down across the top of the entire painting.   By the way, this is a ghastly photo when uploaded to blogger.  The one at the top is more accurate, with the bright blues and purples.

I just want to take this opportunity to say, for the record, that sometimes blogger drives me nuts.  Here are my gripes: 

1) Sometimes, when I'm typing, blogger decides (at random times) that my prose should be in blue underlined text, like a hyperlink.  No blogger, no.  I will tell you when I want to create a hyperlink.

2) Sometimes, after I post, readers can click on my photos to see them enlarged.  Other times, nothing happens when photos are clicked.  Why, blogger, why?

Refining Things

Yesterday I spent the day refining some of the plant life in my new piece:

I thought that the hanging pitcher plants below were finished, but when I peeked at them again after teaching my afternoon class, I decided that they need more work.  I want to build the gouache up more to give them an extra shiny, velvety texture.
I do like the tangle of tree branches though.  Branches have always kind of intimidated me for some reason.  But I think that painting a bazillion birdcages in linear perspective has primed me for any challenge.

If You Chastise Me, I Will Blog

Thank you Anya, for shaming me into shape.  

I've been making progress!  I'm excited about this latest piece:

I'm particularly enthralled by the giant pitcher plants hanging in the trees.  I found some books on carnivorous plants in the library, and they've been a delicious source of inspiration.  

In art-business-related news, all of my paintings are currently hanging out in the world, instead of just sadly languishing in my studio, wrapped in their cardboard.   Aside from my show at LynnArts, I also have a little mini show up at the Newton Highlands branch of Brookline Bank. The New Art Center in Newton has a little satellite gallery there.   The work I put up is older stuff, but I was really happy with the way the little group came together.  I'll have to bring my camera back and take some pictures.  The paintings will be up in Newton Highlands for about three months, after which they will move to the Newtonville Branch to cross-publicize for my January–February show at the New Art Center proper.  Whew, that's a bit complicated.  In any case, all of my paintings are out there being looked at by people.  And I have even more, exciting opportunities coming up.  It also made me feel good and sort of special to be invited to hang my work, instead of having to apply.  It makes me feel like I'm going about this crazy artist life the right way.  Even if commercial gallery representation still eludes me.  That reminds me, I keep hearing about what tough times these are for art galleries.  Allston-Skirt closed down, and Pepper is closing too.  Geez.

My books on tape are working wonders for my concentration.  Now I just have to get to the studio a bit earlier in the morning and I'll be back in full swing.  

Here are some of my favorite one-hour paintings:This one is dedicated to my mom and stepdad, who have been collecting enormous amounts of horse chestnuts from their town green to use in my wedding centerpieces.  

And here's the little group of them.  Tomorrow I'm going to start my day with another one of these tiny paintings.

My tiny little attention span

In my last post I mentioned that this new painting was coming along much more easily than my previous large scale watercolor and gouache monsters.  If you read that last post, you may be wondering why (after looking at the image below) I've made so little progress over the past five days.

The reason is embarrassing, but I'll tell you anyway:  wedding brain.  

Lately I have been daydreaming about things I never thought I would ever care about in a billion years.  Like centerpieces.  Centerpieces.  And these wedding reveries have consumed other parts of my brain, such as those related to painting and (as I look around) housecleaning.  The problem is that I am incredibly excited.  But this is not sustainable.  We still have two full months to go and I need/want to focus on my work and make new things.  My hope is that once we get our invitations out and finalize things with our vendors and the minister, I will emerge from my wedding-obsessed cocoon able resume my normal life.  But just in case, I've taken active measures to get my focus back on track.

At the start of each day I'm going to make one tiny painting from start to finish.  I'm only allowed to spend one hour on it–no more.  When the hour is up, it is what it is.  I'm going to track these and see what happens.  I didn't think of this until the end of the day today, but during that one hour I did not have a single fantasy about place cards.  If I try doing this at the beginning of my day tomorrow, maybe I'll be able to keep that focus and channel it to my other work.  

Here is today's tiny painting: 

I think I should also get some new books on tape from the library.  They always work to clear my mind.  

Ribbonscape Anxiety, Anne Boleyn and Chapel Trains

I've been working on this new painting:So far I really like it, and it seems to be coming along more easily than my birdcage landscapes. Ribbons are much more forgiving than birdcages; no ellipses or mechanical perspective formulas to wrestle with, no painstaking, unforgiving invention.  So far, I just set up my ribbons in the studio and paint directly from them, adding in imaginary vegetation (critters coming soon) as I go.  To be honest, I actually feel kind of guilty and a little bit worried about the relative ease of this piece.  Is it O.K. for work to be painless?  I've been operating under the assumption that struggle leads to depth.  Without challenge and discomfort will my work be any good?  Will it be as interesting as my more embattled compositions?  I'm thinking of the difference between Benicio del Toro and Matthew McConaughey and I'm feeling a tad nervous.  But I'm probably getting ahead of myself (as I am often wont to do).  I'm still in the early stages of the piece, and there's still plenty of room left for agony.  

I should really take up chain-smoking and start wearing all black.

In other news, I started playing around with my Henry VIII paper dolls:

There is a good chance that this will turn into nothing more than a goofy personal shrine to my obsession with Anne Boleyn and everything else Tudor, but I've learned not to dismiss my creative impulses.  And it might turn into something interesting.  The book pages that I collaged onto her dress are pages about Anne Boleyn, taken from an old used book I had that had fallen apart.

On a personal note, when I look down at myself, this is what I typically see:

So I think of myself as being kind of scrubby and low maintenance.

But I've been discovering lately that I am secretly fancy.  We went to try on wedding bands.  I thought I wanted the plain circle of platinum.  Left with the circle of diamonds.  Went to try on wedding dresses, thinking I  wanted something very simple.  Left, giddily, with the chapel train and veil. And not just a short, little veil, a fingertip veil.  Notice my frightening familiarity with wedding attire terminology.  Chapel train.  Fingertip veil.  It's O.K.  I'm scared too.  Luckily, my future husband seems to think it's hilarious.  This morning he even mentioned something about writing a book....