Thursday, April 6, 2017

Calla Surprise

Here's the surprise masterpiece, almost completely dry and in daylight:


There is absolutely no chance at all I can reproduce this.  I actually tried last night, and will try again tonight just for kicks.  But I have zero expectations.  Sometimes accidents have the best results.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The 78 Series

Fun fact:  I haven't run a brush through  my hair since the end of December.  Yes, it's true.  When my right arm was not working I had very limited brushing ability so it was braids and a hat every day.

Every.  Day.

Now when I get out of the shower my hair basically braids itself.  Saves some time in the morning.

Anyway, what's up out in the world?  March was a crazy good month in my painting world - my art ADD almost couldn't handle it.  I wasn't going to post pictures of any new pieces until they are totally finished, but that could take forever so here's the beginning of the 78 Series.


This wasn't the first, but it's one of my faves.  I'm painting on 78 records.  I love that you can still see the indentation where the label is, and I've left the hole exposed for a reason - that's one of the parts I haven't finished yet.  Most acrylic paint dries with a matte finish, and if you know anything about me you know I'm all about the shiny shiny shiny.  My intent is to give these a clear coat of resin, but I had some technical issues (seriously, technical issues that required replacement product from the company) with the first couple I tried and now I'm hesitant because I don't want to ruin my faves. Resin is time consuming, sometimes temperamental, and requires a totally level surface and a dust-free environment.  Got that?  Level and dust free.  I'm screwed on both counts.  So I've been procrastinating.  Soon, tho.  Soon.  Here are a few more of my faves:



That pink and green one is a hot mess, but I love it.  The pink is going to be sooooo rich when it is shiny again.



I'm naming the pieces after the song that's on the flip side of the record.  That last one is Sweet Georgia Brown.  Fitting, eh?

So here I am up to my eyeballs in 78 records, and then the art ADD kicked in again.  Look at this totally awesome piece that might be my favorite thing ever in the whole world:


It's called Alien Vortex.  Those colors are going to POP when they are shiny again.  Love love love. You may have noticed by now that I tend to work in series.  Like the Moon Flowers.  And the 78s. Now the Vortex Series.  These are 10" x 10" cradled panels.  Here's the next two:



I can't stand it.  I'm so fascinated by what paint can do.  I am telling you, this is totally my happy place.  Good music playing, a glass of good bubbly, two dogs wreaking havoc in the other room - that's the background of my happy place.  Most of the people I know don't get as excited about paint as I do (what's wrong with you people?!?) but I'm in a couple of Facebook groups that are populated by paint freaks.  It's both fun and frustrating - fun to see what other people are doing, and fun to see them get so excited about it.  It's like having a zillion cheerleaders.  Frustrating when some people get so focused on how they want their piece to look that they don't see the beauty in what they create if it doesn't match their expectations. Fluid paint is a wild animal.  You can't have expectations - it does what it wants.  In fact, here's a story about what happened to me last night:

I was done painting for the day and was fighting with my laptop so I could work on this blog post.  It was pretty quiet around the corner, which usually means there is suspicious behavior over there.  Sure enough, Rabbit had peed on the couch (mom - don't read that part).  So while she was having a time out in her crate and I was washing a load of blankets, Roxie and I went next door and I figured I would paint something while waiting for the laundry to finish.  Jack Johnson CD on, paint mixed, no idea what the end result will be, started to pour, and WHOOPS!  I dropped the cup of paint mid-pour. And here is the result:


Whoa.  That's a crappy picture - colors are off - and the paint is wet so anything could still happen, but I posted that picture in one of the Facebook groups last night.  As of right now, 430 people have reacted to the photo, and it has 52 comments.  So long story longer, it's nice to have a place where people get you, because they are paint freaks too.

In other news, the weather has been crazy and I don't want to talk about it.  But I saw this on Sunday:


It's a good sign.  Unfortunately, about eight feet away is this:


In the interest of full disclosure, that's the pile that slides off the roof at the back of my house, and it might not fully melt until June.  But still.  Bring on the warmer weather - I'm ready for new spring growth.