ArtPact #16

(Originally published on May 02, 2007).


. . . actually, not quite an ArtPact, and I am shamelessly stalling here.

But - I have just received my very first recognition on a painting of mine, so I am quite excited.

There's a wonderful company that makes instructional videos and DVDs about art. They are called Creative Catalyst Productions Inc., and have produced some of the very best art videos out there.

I never knew they also hold online art shows. WackieM informed us about it last year, when I took the first portrait class with her, and urged us to post a painting to their 'Portraits' show. I was the only who had the guts to do it, and I posted the first painting of Nitsku).

Their next show had a 'Still Life' theme. Again, on a why-not basis, I posted a painting that I created when I took Paintermon's "Watercolor Beyond The Obvious" class for the first time. The class in which we came up with 20 paintings of the very same still-life (Remember?).

Since I hardly ever do still-life as a subject, and that first series was of a setup of kitchen appliances, I chose one of my favorite paintings from it, and entered it in the show.

A week ago, I looked at their webpage, and saw that my painting, which used to humbly live in the 14th row (they order the paintings alphabetically, by the title), suddenly got upgraded to the second row!
And, it had a small text under my name saying "Honorable Mention".

HOW VERY COOL!!!

I was beyond ecstatic, sent Emails to The JohnnyB, WackieM and DaskieM and another friend (who still does not have a blogname). Three of these good people replied with cheery congratulations, while DaskieM's response took me aback, as her email said in a very lukewarm font, "I am glad you entered a painting in a show. I remember this painting".

Now, that was cold. I mean, out of all people, how can DaskieM, who is one of the more supportive people I've ever met, and always encourages me about my art (except when I use too much purple) is so indifferent to this major achievement of mine?

Trying to find consolation, I looked at the website again - and lo and behold, all the awards have disappeared!
Only the Best of Show was till there. The rest, including 1st, 2nd and 3rd awards, Juror's Choices and Honorable Mentions have evaporated, as if they never existed. So much for fame, Eh?

I was totally confused, wondering if they've changed their minds. I mean, how typical! The first time a painting of mine gets mentioned, on the verge of awarded - and it doesn't even last 24 hours?

And I kept hearing the voice of self-doubt (which sounds just like my mom's...) in my left ear, "They probably found a better painting than yours" . . .

. . . But today, I received an Email informing me that the Winter art show is announced.

And yes,the Honorable Mention is still there, quite intact.
It's not an actual award, but still, having my painting being mentioned in a show that has over 100 submissions, well, I am happy!

You can see the show here, and if you click on my painting there ("Kitchen Scape #6"), you can read my description and the juror's comment.

I guess they haven't found a better painting after all...


WackieM is telling me that I should get some fun art freebie in the mail.
I am hereby awaiting...

ArtPact #7

(Originally published on January 7, 2007).


Last week, I showed an only-started-and-too-busy-and-sick-to-finish underpainting.

And so, this week, in full repentance, while crying "peccavi!", I am posting two finished paintings.

I worked on them quite a bit, brought them to my critique group, got the usual "The background is not quite finished!" comment from JanieP, who was right - as usual - and I went back home, reprimanded, to work on them a bit more.

And, here they are.
Finished, so I hope.
Well, mostly.

They are both - yet again - pomegranates.
The first being the continuation of last week's underpainting:

"Outcasts #1",
Watercolor on W/N CP Paper, half-sheet (15"x22", 37x55cm).

Both paintings have a very similar composition, but they are done in different techniques, and have different moods.

"Outcasts #2",
Watercolor on W/N Rough Paper, half-sheet (15"x22", 37x55cm).

"That's it with pomegranates!", I cheerfully thought, "I can go back to painting people!!!".

Hmm, not quite.

Yesterday, we had the annual holiday party of our watercolor society.
Among other things on the fun-packed agenda, we had an enthusiastic speaker from the Triton Museum, who elaborated how beautiful art is usually all about the subject, while exquisite art is more about the idea - thus not always beautiful nor eye-pleasing.
And I bowed my head in shame, as I realized that I haven't gone far enough with the idea on these pomegranates, as I was trying to keep them pretty-looking.

What's wrong with me!?

As BearGal from our critique group (yeah, now you have a blog name, dear!) said, with increasing exclamation marks:
"You want to show decaying pomegranates?
.Then, paint decaying!
.Take it further!!
..Be daring!!!"

Even The JohnnyB said, "Outcasts? They don't look like outcasts! They look ripe, even sensuous".

Y'all must be getting pretty tired of these pomegranates, Eh?
So am I, trust me...

But I am not sure I am done with them.
Not just yet.
I need to see if I have the guts to really make a painting that will capture the essence of how they look, dry and rotten and pecked by birds and forgotten, and overall, looking like outcasts.

Back to the easel, then.

ArtPact #6

(Originally published on December 31, 2006).

OK now...
This is going to be a very humbling experience.
On the verge of humiliating.

Last week turned out to be very busy and hectic, with Christmas evening and day, and The JohnnyB on vacation (which did not contribute for my painting mood, as painting is a solitary thing, y'see), and then him getting sick, plus the frantic application for a CARICOM visa for me, and then the plague that took both our computers away, and me getting the cold from the JohnnyB in between - - - and you expect me to paint?!?

OK, OK, you're right.
I made a commitment, yeah, yeah...
OK - I said OK!.
Steady on now.

So, against all odds, I started a painting last night.
I was quite pissed and stressed, and very rushed - the worst time to paint.
Actually, it can be a very good idea to paint when you are in such a low mood - nothing beats art therapy, but only if you paint what you want and feel, and not what you should be painting.
And I, as we all recall, need to paint them damn pomegranates.

Still: I started - which is the hardest step.
Painted for a while, and crushed to bed.
But today, waking up sick and stuffy, with a splitting headache, pissed that we are going to miss the New Year's party we were invited to, I could not bring myself to continue - not to mention finish - the painting.

And yet, my pact says I post a fresh produce from the easel, no cheating.

So, here is all I got for you right now: the very beginning of the first version of pomegranate painting.

This is the initial under-drawing I made, based on the composition of the drawing I posted last week.
Not too bad.
The only catch is that I drew this with watercolor crayons, which have the neat attribute of dissolving in water.
It's a trick we learned from WackieM.

The good thing is that - as opposed to a pencil drawing - they do not leave graphite marks (which sometimes interfere with the painting).

The bad thing: they dissolve in water...
I know, like, Duh?
Wait!
My point is that if you do not draw strong enough, you pretty much lose a lot of the drawing, and end up tearing your hair and screaming in dismay while throwing things around, getting an even worse headache and becoming an overall very unpleasant and non-environment-friendly person, scaring the hell out of The JohnnyB, who sometimes forgets that artists have tortured souls.

Especially when their drawing dissolves away!

It's easy to see this is a classic example of such an occasion:
Once I did the first wash, only fragments of the drawing were left here and there.
Yep, I never learn.

Anyhow, let me repeat the disclaimer:

This is an unfinished painting.
It's only the very beginning.
The initial stage of blocking-in the major shapes with underlying color washes.
There are some areas that I actually like about it (and hopefully will not screw them up, as I tend to do in my eternal self-destructive talent), and others that are truly horrendous, and would be fun to cover with the next washes.

So, now it's up to what I do with it once I get the energy to continue.
Once I manage to reproduce the lost drawing, that is...

Most important: yet again, I did not break my pact!!!

Which brings up another resolution for the coming year:
To never, ever again, reach the point that all I have to post is a shameful thing such as this.

ArtPact #5

(Originally published on December 24, 2006).


Quick, before the week ends and I become a delinquent with my art pact!!

It was a real challenge to meet my commitment this week.
The winter blues has arrived, plus extreme tiredness, plus pre-Christmas feverishness, plus many more other lame excuses.

Another reason for my lack of enthusiasm was the fact that this week, I decided to actually start working on what I've been postponing for a while.
Here's the deal:
Several months ago, we (as in the critique group that I belong to), were offered to have an exhibit at the city hall of one of the fancier towns around here.
Obviously, we agreed.
Great opportunity, visibility and all.
You never say no to an opportunity to show your work.

But then came the catch: the subject is - - - pomegranates!

"Pomegranates", we all groaned in disbelief, "Why??".
'cause that's kinda the symbol of the town.
(OK, now... pomegranates, may I point out, grow all around, even in lesser towns, but that town has decided that they represent it. Oh well...).

Now, two issues with that:
1. The best way to drive any artist into a creative block combined with a huge sense of anti, is to dictate what to paint. Kinda collides with the whole point of art, which is to paint what your heart dictates.
2. Most of us in the group are anything but still-life painters. We have figure painters, portrait painters, and a lot of abstract non-objective painters. Still-life just doesn't do it to us.

So, for a few months, we all excelled at ignoring this commitment that we agreed to do.
Still, it's due in a couple of months...

WebbyM was the first one who started to work on pomegranates, and came up with some incredible paintings, and we all started envying her, as she was done, and is now painting cheerfully what she really wants to.
JaneyF and JaneyP have followed suit, with some real fun stuff, and then came GlazieM, with a wonderful painting dominated by countless hues of rich-reds. (She really didn't like it, though, exclaiming it looks like those Flemish shcool paintings, and needs a dead rabbit to be complete... Hmm... some artists just tend to be too harsh on temselves!).

So I decided it's time to face reality.

A couple of months ago, I picked some pomegranates from ShimmiR's backyard.
Beautiful they were.
Pink and smooth and plump and juicy and gorgeous.
Just like Nitzku's cheeks.

But unlike those glorious cheeks, these pomegranates totally did not cause me any desire to paint them. So they stayed on the kitchen table, rotting and drying and cracking, and developing character.

Last week we went to ShimmiR for Hanukka candle-kindling.
The JohnnyB went out for a smoke, and I joined him in the freezing backyard, and saw the very last remains of the pomegranates hanging on to a couple of the branches. The JohnnyB was appalled (what a lovely understatement) when I started picking them.
Can't really blame him.
They were quite, well, y'know, half dried, half rotten, cracked and filled with hideous-looking growths and and partly pecked by birds . . .
. . . I picked 3 - to his dismay and to ShimmiR's astonishment (she generously offered me to help myself to the rest of their garbage...).

But I ingored them non-artistic infidels.

I took my creative loot home.
In a double bag.
They were dripping, kinda...

And so, last night I got hold of my winter-bluesy-self, got my act together - and started a drawing, which I completed just now.

Quite rough and preliminary, and pretty much done as a basis for the paintings that shall follow - but hey, I met the ArtPact deadline! The week is not yet over!

Plus, I got my brush-mileage for the week. (more accurately, pencil-mileage, but it still counts).

So, here's my very first attempt at them:

"Outcasts #1", Graphite pencil on paper, 8.5x11.

Yes, they do not look very appetizing, but they have so much character, that I finally felt a tiny inclination to actually capture what I saw in them, and put it on paper.

Time to go help The JohnnyB in the kitchen. TexieD, his better 95% and their kids are arriving in less than 2 hours, and the level of crankiness is starting to rise...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!!!