Bono

Bono 12x9 pastel on pastel primer coated watercolor paper

Portraits scare me a bit, I'll admit that right off the bat.  Faces are particularly challanging to me, it takes so little to get them completely wrong.  And with portraits there is the added difficulty of not just making it look like someone, but making it look like someone specific.  I decided I needed a little practice, so I started this one late last year.  It didn't look right and I couldn't figure out why, so I set it aside.  Late this winter I pulled it out again and with fresh eyes made a lot of corrections.  I think it's a pretty close likeness - the nice thing about chosing a celebrity instead of someone I know is that I don't think Bono will be calling me up to complain that I made his nose too long!

I decided to post this particular one today as details of his back surgery have been released, along with the news that many tour dates this summer have been postponed - I was going to see U2 twice this summer.  I wish him a speedy recovery, and hope to see them next year.

Approaching Storm

Approaching Storm 18x24 pastel on pastelboard

I recently suffered through a minor "painter's block" that lasted a few weeks as I got bogged down in obligations outside of my artwork.  The end of the school year always gets hectic as sports are winding down and summer programs are winding up.  It can be difficult to focus creative energy in such a chaotic environment.  Fortunately Mother Nature came to my rescue.

A rather spectacular looking storm blew through just at sunset.  It ended up not amounting to much, but it was beautiful to see.  My family and I stood and watched as the clouds piled up and spread out, their underbellies lighted pink and orange.  As it got closer we could hear it as well, blowing through the trees and finally reaching us with a sudden drop in temperature and a huge gust of wind, much to my son's delight.  It was an excellent reminder that sometimes inspirations finds you rather than the other way around.

Shadows

Barn Shadow 12x9 pastel

I managed to sneak in a few pastels the past two weeks, one small and one large.  This is the smaller of the two.  Before all the leaves came out on the elm tree near our bank barn, the trunk made some interesting evening shadows.  But what was supposed to be a quick little study ended up taking quite a bit of time.  It was a struggle to get the shadow right, to look like something other than veins.  It's been extensively reworked, and I'm not sure the paper can hold much more pigment, so I've decided to stop here.  It was quite the challenge, but hopefully I at least captured some essence of the late afternoon.

Wipeout

It's been a rather frustrating and frantically busy week.  Between a karate tournament, a soccer game and gearing up for the summer shows, I haven't had much time for painting.  And when I was able to carve out a bit of time, it really didn't work out so well.  "Wipers", or sometimes oil painters call them "scrapers", are a part of the process.  These are paintings that just don't come together and get wiped or scraped off.   It happened to me twice this week.

The first was a large pastel that has been sitting for awhile as I hoped to be able to salvage it.  But it never really felt right and I finally admitted it and wiped it clean.  The second was a smaller pastel that wasn't right from the beginning.  It didn't take much convincing to wipe that one off.

I'm finding that the more painting I do, the more willing I've become to admit defeat.  It's a hard thing to get past "I can fix this" but I'm getting more comfortable with the idea that it's okay to fail.   Looking back over the past year's pieces, I can see that I'm making progress, slowing getting better.  A step or two backwards is frustrating but at the same time it can be liberating as I know a step or two forward is just behind that paint rag.

Maple Syrup Ewer

Two summers ago my husband, who is an archaeologist, excavated a maple sugar furnace dating to 1840-1860.  It inspired him to try making our own syrup, so he tromped through our woods to locate a small stand of sugar maple trees and built his own furnace (in the front yard of course) out of cinder blocks.  That winter we collected about 60 gallons of sap and boiled it down to 1 1/2 gallons of syrup.  It worked out so well we did it again this year, and I even made about 1 1/2 cups of maple sugar.  It's a lot of work, but worth it.

The only problem we had was the lack of proper serving ware.  Then a friend pointed me in the direction of Joy Bridy.  Joy throws wonderful stoneware pottery in practical shapes meant to be used, including bottles, mugs, storage vessels and even bird feeders.  They are then wood fired, giving them interesting and unique coloring.

She had some long necked ewers that worked perfectly for pouring maple syrup, as well as being lovely to look at.  When not in use, ours sits on display on a kitchen shelf.   This spring as the sun started filtering through the window, the interesting shadows cast on the ewer caught my eye.  This painting of it came together in one very satisfactory 3 hour sitting earlier this week.

Plectrums and Lemons

Plectrums, for those who don't know, are guitar picks.  Their presence in this painting is due to a conversation with a friend.  Another friend sent me few to use as reference when I got stuck trying to figure out how to make them look like something other than blobs of blue paint.  Sometimes a painting is a cooperative effort!   I love how the picks add an unexpected bit of whimsey to an otherwise straight forward still life.  They are also an excellent excuse to use my favorite blues.

A step forward

A few years ago I painted a pastel of oranges in a black bowl that I thought turned out pretty well.  As I was recently searching for ideas to paint, I decided to try it again in oil.  This is the result.  I hung it on my wall to dry a bit with every intention of doing more work.  But the longer it hung, the more I liked it, and the more worried I got about messing it up.  Hard as it was, I decided to just leave it be; artists never seem to be completely happy with their own work.  There are little faults here and there that could be fixed, but maybe I'm the only one who sees them.

I've been looking at a lot of other people's work, trying to figure out how to make mine better.  Finally I realized what was missing - I need to pay more attention to the lighting.  I've been told this already, but it seems to have taken about six months before it finally sunk in.  I feel like this particular piece is a big step forward for me.

This oil, along with a pastel (Spider Plant) will be in the Spring Fling show in Sidney, Ohio next month.