Day 24: 28 Day challenge

Here is "Water" all done!  I am pleased with this piece.  Today I will seal it (first coat of varnish).  I used Neocolors II for some highlights throughout this work.  Water completes my 4 Elements series.  Healing Woman (AKA Cheryl Dolby: http://healingwoman.blogspot.com/) asked about the wording in this piece.  The text, I should have explained, is from Seneca, in Latin, and I carried over the essay in each of the works.  The Greeks, Aristotle in the 4th century b.c.e, identified the 4 fundamental elements as being fire, water, earth, and air.  I thought that an essay from Seneca would be appropriate as one of the constant elements in this series.  I found some very old text (1915) of essays from Virgil, Seneca, and one other philosopher, whose name escapes me.  Anyway, there are two other papers that carried over into each work as well and those have no significant meaning other than I liked them and they help tie all the works together.  The concept for this series came about as a class I was going to teach at The Studio.  We were going to create an abstract based around ONE of the 4 elements.  I completed "Fire" first as an example.  Well the class did not go, being 2 days before spring break  imagine was at least part of the reason, and so I decided to complete the series before this gallery show on April 19th.  Its done!  I can now move onto more mundane things.  I really can't wait to get those things out of the way.  I really am itching to get back to the breast cancer donation I am working on and I have another abstract brewing in my brain, something that has been back there since New Years Eve!  OK so 4 more days in this challenge...until tomorrow.

k

Day 20: 28 Day Challenge

First I need to publicly thank my friends both here and on face book for their suggestions, comments, and critiques on the piece I am working on for a donation.  I can't tell you how much they mean to mean.  Laura...we think alike..I have shelved my piece for a day or two and will come back to her.  There is a lot I have to work through in my head first.  So today I went back to my "Water" piece.  And yea, I had just shy of two hours to in my little studio and made some real progress.  I will have to scan my beginning on this piece tomorrow as it has a coat of polymer medium on it right now.  Coating papers, selecting papers and ripping and tearing are all part of the process and so I would say 3/4 of my time in the studio was spent doing that.  I still am not sure of the images that I wish to transfer but at least I have a "small" idea of where the piece will go.  I am hoping to get more than 3/4 of the way done tomorrow.  I actually might get this finished before the show! 

k

Update, Day 19 - 28 Day Challenge

Here is my "work" from yesterday evening.  Boy I am not liking this after I got a good night sleep.  She is at the double ugly stage!  Not sure If I want the bird white, not sure if I like the background, and she needs a ton of work with artist crayons, Neocolors II.  Not sure if I like her hair.  Oh well, I have been doing these portraits long enough to know that if you stick with it through these ugly stages, you usually get a swan (from ugly duckling to swan is what I mean).  So today I am hoping to work a little on water.  That won't be until late at night again! 

k

Day 19: 28 Day Challenge

Just a quick post to say that I was running all day long.  I headed into my studio about 9 PM CST and lasted about 1.5 hours.  Working on my donation piece made me feel happy that she is well underway.  I will post a picture first thing in the AM.  She is still wet.  No progress on the 4th in my elements series and that is the one that has to get finished first.  Argggggg.

k

Day 18: 28 Day Challenge.

Zipping right along, I thought today that I was going to "fall of the wagon."  I came home with a colossal headache and tummy ache.  From about 1-3:30 PM I laid on the sofa.  I just hate when I get these headaches because all productivity flies out the window.  Regardless of the headache, I went down to my studio at about 3:30 and was able to work about hour.  I managed to finished sealing/varnishing "Air," so officially it is finished.  I moved onto the "Water" piece and laid down the dress pattern tissue and coated with polymer medium.  I also coated a few more papers for this piece.  Now I just have to decide what images I want to transfer and how many.  By deciding this I will then have a feeling for a basic layout of papers.  In between coating of materials, I then worked on my breast cancer donation.  Here she is so far and indeed in the ugly stage.  Geesh, as I finish this post, I still have a headache but realize that there are only 10 days left to this challenge and how perfect is that because on the 19th, my gallery show opens!  Time has flown and there is still much to do!  I would love to finish this breast cancer donation so that I could help Michelle's Pink Ribbon Angels sell raffle tickets for it!

K

Day 17: 28 Day Challenge

It was a good day today.  Kaitie, my 17 year old, was riding high on the first 24 hours of having her drivers license!  And I found myself OK with it...imagine that.  I had an efficient 1 1/2 hours in my studio doing the following:  putting the first coat of varnish on "air,"  priming the maisonite surface for "Water," coating  some papers with polymer medium for "water," and working more on the background for the breast cancer donation piece.  I also found a little blurb in our local newspaper announcing my gallery show..oh yea I am on a roll :))))  Here is where I am at on the breast cancer piece.  It is in the beginning of the really ugly stage.  I am sure it will get worse before better!

k

Day 16: 28 day challenge.

patchwork background

Here are the two works from yesterday that I promised.  The patchwork background is in the vein of Kelly Rae Roberts.  I love this method of creating a quick and easy backdrop for the focal image soon to be drawn in.  Today I will add some paint to the background of this and do a quick and dirty sketch for the placement of my drawing.  The second work is my "Air" piece with the three transfers.  The windmill was a perfect symbol, at least to me, for air.  After all, air is something that the eye usually does not or can't visualize unless it is a very windy day and things are flying or windmills are turning :)  I am not finished...just need to cogitate on this piece for awhile.  So I am heading into my studio now and will work on the patchwork background.  If I get a chance and all is dry, I will scan later but life has be scheduled up the wazoo today....Taking Kaitie for her drivers license (if it does not pour), transporting kids to dance, sewing pain in the ass pointe shoes, and making dinner...

k

Day 15: 28 Day Challenge

OMG, I am more than half way through this challenge.  Never believing I could stick to it, I am so glad I decided to hop on board.  I have moved further ahead on my to do list than I ever dreamed!  Again, no pictures, but I promise I will have some tomorrow.  I was in the studio for about 2 hours today (not continuous) and accomplished a good deal.  I finished the secont coat of varnish on the landscape below and now all I have to do is sign it.  It is officially done.  I work more on third in my elements series, Air.  I managed to "fix" that third transfer to my liking and I put one or two more glazes on it along with some artist crayon work.  It is drying and so I did not want to risk scanning it just yet.  I think the work is through that "ugly" stage but I want to let it sit for a day.  I am thinking I want to actually take away some paint to brighten it in a few areas.  Moving right along, I put down a patch work background on a 8 by 10 inch canvas board.  This is in preparation for the sketch I completed the other day.  For tomorrow I am hoping to start the process of making/altering some papers for my final piece in the element series, Water.  The show is looming ever closer and pretty soon I will have to totally do the paper work to ready the labels /tags that describe the work with the title/cost/medium/etc... 

Pulling my hair out here in Illinois

k

Day 14: 28 Day Challenge

Kaitie, Colin, Claire

Last day of Spring break and we spent it at a beautiful outdoor shopping mall in Oak Brook Illinois.  My teens had never been there and my husband and I used to hang there many years ago.  It was a great day, in the 7o's, and bulbs were just showing their blooms.  We hit all of Claire's favorite stores and some new ones too.  Colin was happy because he spent it with Marc at the bookstore and then he got to go to his mecca, Best Buy.  We hit a sushi bar for dinner and arrived home not too long ago.  For my creative work today, I had about 15 minutes and I sealed the landscape that is below so no real pictures for today.  But I will leave you with my three children on Easter!

Day 12: 28 Day Challenge

Two precious hours is what I had today in my studio... We basically kicked back and realxed today after running all week long.  I finished this landscape that I started in my March Mixed Media and collage class.  Using the artist crayons (Neocolors II), I added just a few more refinements and decided enough.  All I have to do now is seal it with the polymer varnish.  I also had some time to work on AIR.  I added two more transfers making it a total of three and now I am hating the work.  I am not sure how to fix the darn thing and basically I feel like chucking it in the garbage.  I should have used only one transferred image, I think...  So now I have a challenge in front of me, what do I do with it?  Right now it is drying.  If I get time tomorrow I will take a critical look at it.  However, I highly doubt I will have the time.  Easter Sunday in our house hold is about Mass, celebration, and spending time with our family (my children's Aunts, Uncles, Grandpa)... Of course, it is also about the food :)

May you all have a blessed Easter.

k

Day 11: 28 Day Challenge

No pictures for today...  I spent most of the day running my teens around.  It was prom dress shopping with m y 17 year old first.  We found the dress, shoes, and a garter.  Oh and I forgot, the "perfect" earrings too.  Then if was off to the movies to see "Clash of the Titans" which was OK.   I love Greek mythology but somehow the special effects in this movie were not up to today's standards, rather shoddy actually.  Then I had to take my 17 year old and my son (almost 15) to dress rehearsal for the passion play at our church.  I attended.  The affair started at 5:30 PM and I just now got home (:35 PM).  My kids and another wonderful young lady performed interpretive dance to "The Passion of the Christ."  Very moving and draining....

OK so what was creative for me today...well I did start to pull together the art data out of my database to make tags up for my show.  And I coated some images for transfers with polymer medium.  After several coats they will be ready to transfer onto the current work in progress "Air."  And that was it for today.  Sometimes I wish there were 30 hours to the day without the need for sleep!  Right now I am pretty drained emotionally.  The passion always does that to me.

k

Day 9: 28 Day Challenge

Well this is day 3 of spring break and I had the great honor of watching my son, Colin perform at a local library for a mess load of kids and their parents.  He rocked of course and so did all the other young performers.  I am so proud of them all.  So I need to rant before I get to my creative time...  My husband, Claire (Colin's twin and also a great dancer), and myself were sitting right in back of a bunch of young boys (and girls).  They were all of 4, maybe 5 years old.  Everyone seemed to be interested in the performances.  But here is what really gets me or gets to me.  So the young instructor who was the MC and director of this event,  had all the children stand to teach them a few ballet moves.  Nothing complicated or especially hard.  She wanted to show them that a simple jump in the air is really quite complicated if you are a ballet dancer.  She asked these young boys to join in but they turned their noses up and said, and I quote, "Dance is for girls."  How could such young children already be so jaded.  These boys had seen Colin dance, lifting the girls, doing big jumps, and they insisted on sitting out.  What was so sad was that one little boy really wanted to dance but the peer pressure was too much.  When the instructor came to the part where she taught them a little dance to the tune of "Take me out to the Ball Game,"  this one little boy turned to the other boys and said, "Well this is sort of boy like."  I can't believe what I heard.   Where the heck did they get these ideas?  My guess is that it can only be from adults.  Surely they did not exit the womb believing dance was for girls?  Oh that so makes my blood boil.   No wonder there are so few boys taking part in dance.  Our ballet studio does these programs to promote the art of dance for everyone, entertain the community, and give our dancers an opportunity to strut their stuff.  I think we have got to target the fathers of these young children and maybe the mothers too...  What is wrong with you people?  Ok  enough of a rant, for now anyway......

I did make it to the studio at 9 PM.  Actually worked about 1.5 hours on my air element.  Will scan my progress in the morning.  Right now the glazes I put on are drying and I can't scan the work until dried.  What is ticking me off is that some of the papers are buckling from all the moisture but I think I can fix it manana.  Here is to my friend Linda who started me on this challenge.  At least I am making some progress...
k

Day 5- 28 Day Challenge

Here are the pictures from my class last night. I definitely am the proud instructor of emerging mixed media and collage artists. And today I worked on my in class sample collage from last night. I still have a way to go. Need a focal image and more shading... I also spend time today wiring some finished works and framing a triglyph (my phases series). These pics are bad but they are proof of my work today. Although framing/wiring works isn't exactly enjoyable for me, it is all part of the part in parcel of getting ready for a show. If I am able to sneak in some time tomorrow, I definitely want to work more on my landscape and finish ASAP.

This one is mine.

Framed Phases

K

Day three- 28 day challenge

No pictures yet...those will come way later maybe early tomorrow. My creative afternoon is being spent packing for the Mixed Media and Collage class I am teaching this eveing and tomorrow evening. We are doing a landscape that must include 5 altered papers (different) and one focal image that says spring. And so in class I will start/demo the technique. That is two hours of creativity! Yea me. I love patting myself on the back because no one else does. I will take class pics on my iphone because it is convienent but the quality is pretty poor... Anyway, those will be coming!

Linda, I have Day 3 and 4 accounted for :))))
k