Plein Air and Jewelry

It isn’t really a plein air piece just practice.  I am committed to doing plein air this summer.  It’s something I quit doing a few years back and I miss it.  Seems I needed a push to get going again and I got just that from a friend who has taken up painting.  She wants to learn so she asked me if we could set a time to do it on a regular basis this summer.

We’re starting a week from tomorrow.  When I saw this image on the Weekend Drawing Event (WDE) over on the wetcanvas site it seemed a good image to practice on.

I’m also working on some poured pieces but they go slowly.  So while waiting for things to dry there I made more jewelry.

The first two pieces are Steampunk, a necklace and a broach.  Both have watch parts, a cameo and part of an old bracelet.  The broach is backed with part of a doily that has been stiffened with gel medium and the necklace is backed with an old poker chip. 

The third piece is another necklace, this time made from a scrap of copper, part of a painting on canvas that I didn’t like so I cut it up, part of a Godiva Chocolate tin and a few beads.

The jewelry is just for me and maybe some gifts; I’m still a rank beginner at metal jewelry so I don’t feel ready to sell any of it.  However, I do have one of the best instructors around.  I wish she would get her website going so I could point you all over there.  I am having fun doing it and may end up doing some wall pieces using the metal – fabric combination. 

I’m still dealing with computer issues; however, I am beginning to find my way around a bit easier.  Changes to the site are still in the thinking stages but changes will be coming.

Frustration

My computer is still sick; it’s frustrating and causing me to slack off on things I should be doing on it.  Love ‘em when they’re running well but when they’re not it’s hell.  Well, not exactly hell but not a good thing either.

I’m gradually figuring out how to get to programs; however, the one I use for updating my blog is one that I have trouble finding every time.  It’s not that it moves, it stays put but I seem to lose the way to get to it.  I can’t blame that on the computer, it’s my mind that isn’t working.

So where does this leave my blog?  Well, I still plan to keep it going but as long as I’m not able to post as often I’m going to spend some time thinking about the direction I want to take it.  It’s time to do some revamping to make it better for me and for readers.  I hope you’ll stay tuned.

Computer Problems

Such a headache they are.  Computers are wonderful when they work but when they don’t – ugh!  I’ve lost all of my files.  I know they are in here somewhere but have no idea how to access them.  For that matter, I have to really hunt just to find the programs I use.  With two exceptions, Photoshop (thank you Lord) and my Art Inventory Program, all other program icons are gone as is the list in my “all programs” file. 

Back-up, yes I know and I did.  However, when the demon attacked my computer, my back-up drive was in – it is now empty too.  That’s where all of my art inventory photos were.   At least I still have the inventory information, just no images.  Which is why the image on this blog entry is an old photo that I just scanned.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with it other than use it as my profile photo on Facebook, maybe a work of art somewhere along the line.  It’s my cousin Gail helping me learn to walk.  For now, I’m just trying to find my way around my computer.

Good Intentions Go Haywire

I have good intentions – always – but somehow I don’t always manage to follow through.  I’m attempting to stop that and in some areas I have been successful.

One that I have not been successful at is my intention of doing several blog posts ahead so I could just pop one in every week and add to them when I had time.  Time is something that I seem to fritter away often.

However, I at least have been busy thinking – about where I’m going and why I seem to be going so slowly.  I feel like something is missing but not sure what it is.  While doing that thinking there have been several AHA moments and I do plan to write about them because there may be others among you who have the same forward motion – or lack thereof – problem. 

Not today though, today I just wanted to pop in and let you know I’m thinking about what to share on my blog and show you that at least I have been consistently sketching.  One of the good intentions that I’ve managed to do…

Steampunk

 

First  --  the winner, Deano from Deano’s Den blog, go over and check out his blog, it is one of my favorites to visit, I love his work.

I’ve mentioned before that I sometimes go off on something other than watercolor painting. Jewelry is one that has gotten me lately and most recently it’s Steampunk Jewelry. A friend who got me started making jewelry said I ought to do some Steampunk. What’s that you ask, well I had the same question, I’d never heard of it. I believe the easiest explanation I’ve seen is that it is a combination of romance and technology by pairing “mechanically based found objects with Victorian influenced filigree, charms, chain and sumptuous beads.” In my case not beads but buttons.

I happen to have a couple of great button boxes from my mother and my mother-in-law. Naturally both are filled with the normal buttons one might need to replace a lost one; however, they also contain a variety of wonderfully elegant buttons. I used two on my first piece. And thanks to the friend who introduced me to all this, I also have a box full of watch parts. Adding one of those, a couple eyes as in large hook & eye from a fur coat and a bit of wire and I have a necklace. Now I’ll have to make some earrings to go with it.

Sketch, Sketch, Sketch

Sketch, Sketch, Sketch

But first a contest. Some time ago I opened an Etsy account but I haven’t done much with it. I’m going to but first I’d like some feedback about what to put in it. One thought I had was my watercolor monoprints. I decided to ask all of you and one of you who respond will get an original watercolor monoprint. I do a new blog post every weekend and post either Sunday or Monday.  When I post next weekend I’ll also check the number of comments on this post and use the Random Number Generator to select a winner. To have a chance to win you’ll have to comment. Here’s the monoprint…

Now about sketching -- I had been in the habit of sketching constantly; I carried some sort of sketchbook with me everywhere I went. For Valentines Day my husband gave me a wonderful book on sketching, An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory. He was hesitant because he knew it was something I did and he wasn’t sure I would find it interesting. That’s because he’s a lawyer, not an artist. It’s a wonderful look into the sketchbooks of several other artists. I love it! It was also a wake-up call.

In the past several months I found that I was only sketching about once a week. I tell my students to do it daily but I wasn’t following my own rule. Recently we were in Chicago and I was back to doing it everywhere we went. It was obvious to me that I hadn’t been doing it as regularly – my sketching wasn’t as good as I knew it could be. It’s like anything else, one needs to practice. In fact, I have often said it isn’t the gift of being able to draw, the gift is that I actually enjoy the practice. Sketching is a way to keep the drawing skills sharp -- eye-hand coordination. It’s just for me so it really doesn’t matter if it isn’t any good or if I try experimenting with something just for the fun of it not caring if the result is good or bad. Or maybe I just want to work on something like foreshortening – that’s a tough one and I always have trouble with it.

It’s time to get back to regular sketching – everyday. I’m challenging myself. Just do it!

This is one of the Chicago sketches. Every now and then I’ll do another blog on sketching and show you some improvement (I hope.)

My Art and My Faith

Old rowboats have another dimension to me – I think of them spiritually. Their very nature is quiet – they are often used by fishermen as Jesus and his disciples used them. That’s just one reminder of the spiritual connection. I also see an old rowboat, canoe or sailboat as a symbol for God – he will be with you and keep you afloat; however, one needs to take to the oars or set the sail if one is going to go anywhere.

Thinking about that now, almost all of my paintings have a spiritual aspect to them. I have the ongoing series of water related works and another of sacred spaces. The Sacred Spaces may be a church, chapel or cathedral or it might be a quiet spot in the woods or along the shore. And then there are the flowers, God’s jewelry, and the gardens with their garden sculpture, God made and man made.

God created, he created us in his image so we must be creative. Mary Daly said it better than I can: “It is the creative potential itself in human beings that is the image of God.”

Someone gave me their definition of the Trilogy that I now have on my easel – God, the father, Artist; God the Holy Spirit, Inspiration; God the Son, Expression.  By no means do I take that to mean that as an artist, I’m God.  But there is no question, God is an artist – just look around at nature, it’s awesome!