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Glitter and a Mess

Posted by FOX

Here’s a hand painted Christmas ornament I’ll be taking to an ornament exchange this weekend.  It’s covered in a beautiful sparkly glitter called “glamor dust” that looks amazing with Christmas lights shining next to it.  If you want one, email me.  They make great Christmas gifts and can be customized to order.  I can create your family in snowmen and add names, year, sayings, etc.  $5 + S&H unless you are local.

If you have ever worked with any glitter or even touched it, you know it makes a mess.  Speaking of mess, who wants to help clean this up? My studio looks like a bomb went off.  *sigh* Such is the life of the artist… I’m all over the place!

On a final note, here’s a sneak peek at a Christmas gift I’m working on.  I can’t post the whole thing until 1. After Christmas (in case someone actually reads this thing to prevent the recipient from seeing it) and 2.  It’s not finished… I better get working.  Do you have any idea what it is?  It’s on a canvas that is 48″ x 12″.  Fun size to work with.  I love this color blue.  It’s a Matisse acrylic paint called Design Cyan.  Just using water changes the depth of this rich color.

Remember for today:  “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”  – Thomas Merton 

Sketchy

Posted by FOX

I’m currently working on a bunch of things and trying to update the portfolio on this site.  There’s more murals to come.  I actually have “real” photos of them and have to get them digitized.  I used to work in a photo lab and really miss all that 35mm.

In between everything else, I have my sketchbook.  My sketchbook is sort of like a diary or journal even though it doesn’t contain many words.  I’ll write my ideas down in it or a word here and there.  Most of it is scribble sketches and practices for larger works.  I always carry this size around with me.  If I have an idea or see something inspiring, it’s right there to capture my thoughts in an image.

I wouldn’t post everything in my sketchbook since it is like a diary, but here’s a couple:

I like to always be creating something even though it may not fit into the body that I’m currently working on.  I’ve been seeing a lot of butterflies out lately and thought I’d sketch one out.  I left out the shading because I intend at some point to color it in with colored pencils.  The other is a sketch of my favorite flower – the tulip.  Both strong and fragile.

Just Paint Over It

Posted by FOX

One of the great things about painting is that, if you don’t like something, you can just paint over it!  I did a painting in an abstract class a few months ago.  It was really horrible.  It was a lot of brown and the composition didn’t make any sense to me.  I was hoping that I would re-visit it and make it work but it’s just been stashed in a closet.  Viola! Now (after I finish painting those red edges) I’ve got a new, blank canvas.   I have an idea about what I want to go on this canvas, but you’ll just have to check back and see.

Yes, that’s a GALLON of Gesso.  Gesso is awesome for the purpose described above, as a surface primer and to create a texture on the surface to be covered (or not) later with paint.  This canvas has a 1.25″ edge.  I prefer to use the deep edge canvases because they still look okay if you don’t put them in a frame.  The brush I’m using is a Creative Mark Mural 50, which is a flat 1 – 15/16″.  Big, flat brushes are fun to work with because they are quick at filling up a space with paint and they force you to be loose with your movements.

On a fun note, I also love to watch movies about art and artists.  I rented The Forger the other night and really liked it.  It stars Josh Hutcherson, who was in The Hunger Games and Alfred Molina, who is in a lot of great movies – including another great art movie Frida.  Anyway, The Forger, had a good story and touched on some of the struggles artists have making a living.  It also provided some good insight on how art can be used to communicate emotion that is very difficult to express.