Acrylics Alert!

Haven't disappeared. Just took a break, turned 46, and - actually been painting.

The kind of painting that takes forever.

No, it's not the procrastinated commission (the deadline is June-ish, so of course I am doing everything I can to not do it yet...). Been working on a new painting that was marinating in my mind for a while; a new style, new medium, new support - and it's having countless iterations.

When I brought it to the two critique groups I belong to, there was a multi-shock effect by me working in acrylics (Nava? Acrylics?) on a relatively nice-sized (Nava?? Big??) canvas (Nava??? Canvas???) with relatively cheery colors (OK, you get the idea...).

There is something very freeing in trying somethign new. Plus, after almost 2 years of intentionally avoiding the use of purely line (I was forcing myself to learn more about shapes), it feels sooooooooooooo good to be back in my comfort zone and play with line like there's no tomorrow.

So - here it is, acrylic on canvas, 24"x24" (hey, stop snickering! To me, that IS big!). Not yet titled, still unfinished, yet to be reworked and metamorphose until I'm happy with it. You are more than likely to see it again in its next stage.

It seems to stir up some serious emotional responses - I wonder what's yours.

Acrylics (yes, me!) on Canvas (yes!!)

Procrastinate NOW!

That is my all times favorite quote of Ellen DeGeneres: "Procrastinate now, don't put it off".

And I always follow this advice, diligently. As - well, Ellen's gotta be right.

Several months ago, I created this collage that was exhibited in a show at a big-shot hi-tech company. I made it especially for that show, and it ended up with a red label of "Sold". Almost none of my artist friends got to see it, as doing it for that exhibit was a very spontaneous decision, and it was finished at 3am the night before the deadline, hung in the morning and then sold within a week.

It was a good thing I took a photo of it, as I really liked it. It was one of those pieces you put a price on with the hope it won't sell. Well, that didn't work.

Then, a friend of my niece saw it on my blog, and asked if I would do a collage of her son as a gift for his Bar Mitzvah.

Flattered and optimistic, I said "Sure!".

She sent me photos and information on what he likes, and I sat down, printing a lot of images to use as collage material. Took me a while to select the reference image for the collage. I consulted Myrna, who has done her share of commissions, and she gave me the wise advice to make sure and do something that I will enjoy working on, as otherwise it can get very frustrating. "Find something that will entice your creative juices, and do the best job you can, as if it's for a show".

So I did.

I worked out an image that actually excited me, composed it on the page to make it interesting, design-wise, with tight cropping and some fun negative shapes. I was actually excited and all ready to get started.

Only, it didn't happen. My sister was visiting at the time, and we got absorbed in sightseeing and shopping sprees, then there was that vacation in British Columbia, and then... and then... excuses galore became very handy, while the canvas and materials got neatly stored in my studio cabinet to never see the light of day again.

That was almost 10 months ago...

Earlier this week, that friend emailed me that they've just finished painting her son's room, which now has "a green gray turquoise-ish wall", and she thinks the collage would fit beautifully on that wall. That is, if I am still up to it. Am I?

Um... am I?

Took me a couple of days to decide that yes, I am. I'm a strong believer in serendipity, and if this collage suddenly pops up now, maybe it's happening for a reason. It can get me back into collaging, which I love but haven't done in a while. And tackling a commissioned work can be an important learning experience. And, the commissioner, her son and the green gray turquoise-ish wall are located in Israel, so if I go for it I get to flutter my eyelashes and announce myself as an "artist whose work is internationally collected", which has a nice ring to it.

So what do I do to make all this happen and get eternal fame?

I blog it.

Smart move. Highly efficient and utterly practical.

But I hereby admit my fear. All artists know the dread of facing that white surface, and if you add to it that it's a new image, and then add the fact that it's the face of someone's beloved son, and it being a collage, which is trickier than a painting - well, see what I mean?

So, I'm scared. And hence I procrastinate. And hence I blog it, as it kinda commits me to do it, as I know for sure that some of you will keep bugging me about it.

OK then. That was the first step.

Now I should really start working on it.

But first, let me go rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Anything to not get into the studio...

Show's Over

Had the big show last weekend.

Amazing, how much work is put into a show that is on display for less than two days!

You go through the process of selecting the artwork to submit, a process garnished with extreme self-criticism over the quality and its chances to make it in. (being a juried show).

You send in the photos, pay the entry fee and then spend days sweating blood and biting your fingernails over whether it will be accepted or not.

Then you get the answers, and you mat and frame your art. (not an easy task sans fingernails).

Theeeeeen you deliver it for the receiving process.

Theeeeeeeeeeeeeen you hang the show ('cause you forget what a tough job it was last year, 'cause LimaB is in charge of the hanging and you want to help her, and 'cause you secretly admit to yourself that there's an immense satisfaction in that labor once it's all done). It takes 6 hours, you go home all scratched from metal frames and un-taped wire ends, swearing you'll never ever do it again.

Four hours later, you put on something presentable and try your best to look refreshed for the reception - scratches and all.

The day after, you get up early to do gallery sitting ('cause you volunteered....). Your romantic vision of spending the time chattign to art appreciators turns into a nightmarish policing due to little kids who insist on plucking seashells off a certain artwork and playing catch amongst the panels. Their parents, needless to say, don't bother to keep an eye on their unleashed offsrpings, as they are too busy themselves caressing other textural pieces or sneaking forbidden photos. You transform into a reprimanding monster, repeating the mantra "Please DO NOT touch the art". Soon enough, the word "Please" is omitted from your vocabulary. After an eternity (OK - four hours) of that kind of fun, you go home, swearing you'll never ever...

The day after, you go to pick up your artwork. Of course nothing sold - why would it? and you have a nice chocolaty handprint on your painting. you go home, swearing you'll never...

The day after, you go to drop your winning painting at the community center, where it will be on display for the next 2 months along with the other winners.

Oh yeah... I got an Honorable Mention on my "Dust to Dust" piece.


You think "hmm... maybe, after all, I will do it again next time".

(Im)mortal Creativity...

Creativity has many faces - here's one I find quite intriguing.

Now, that's what I call a series!!

(click twice to play)

Some Like It Hot

Another year, another month, another painting challenge by WackieM.

And this time, we're not just talkin' 3 random colors. WackieM has raised the bar, and we've got to a higher level of complexity.

The lottery now includes 3 categories:

- Mother color (namely, one color that's used to harmonize the whole painting, either by mixing some of it into all the other colors, or by having it as an underpainting or as a glaze).

- Design Element that will be dominant in the painting.

- And - a Basic Compositional Design.

Challenging? You bet.

Took me more than a week to gather the guts to go for it. Partly because we are to work with one image, and stick with it throughout the month, changing and altering it based on what the dice have in stock.

"Wait, but didn't you take that crazy class, where you painted 20 full-sheet versions of the same thing??".

I did.

"And didn't you do this class twice?"

I did.

"So what's the big deal?"

Ah - commitment. Committing to one image, knowing from experience that I'll get tired of it after a couple of versions - that is the big deal!

See, playing with arbitrary colors is easy; emphasizing one design element is also fun; but, when we come to composition - that's when I become the absolute master of finding excuses why I can't do it, too busy (hey, our Annual Party is in Saturday - lots and lots to do!), too cold (our furnace died for 3 days, and I was miserably frozen blue), too hard to find an image, too chicken!

It wasn't easy to choose an image. I didn't want to go for a portrait yet again. While many artists are intimidated by portraits, that has become my comfort zone. Unfortunately, heads and faces are attached to bodies, so I know need to kick myself out of that zone before I totally forget how to draw/paint the rest of the figure.

I had several image candidates, which was another wonderful excuse for procrastinating - until I recalled an image I took 3-4 years ago at the Renaissance Faire. It was the first time we met these two comedians, Moonie and Broon, and totally fell for them. They were hysterically hilarious, totally silly and extremely skillful at what they do. I took a lot of photos that day, one of them shows Broon doing his fire-swallowing act. I've always wanted to paint this image, but kept postponing it, as the head is extremely challenging on it. It's tilted backwards, tongue stuck out - it looks wrong even in the photo!

And yet, as I said - sometimes, you've gotta get out of your comfort zone, and dive into the water, head-first.

I threw the dice to pick up my 3 categories, and the results were mean. Yellow-Green as the mother color (ewwwww!), Direction as the dominant design element (hmm), and an asymmetrical composition. Well... that didn't make me happy at all.

But I sat myself at the table at 9:30pm last night, and started to lay yellow green and other colors on a piece of Tyvek. Now... that was not my sharpest move, as Tyvek really calls for texture, and - for those of you who are still following, this painting is supposed to be dominated by direction - and too much texture will compete with it! So, in my eternal wisdom, I managed to even up the challenge for myself.

But, I already started, and I'd be damned if I gave up.

I thought I'd just put one layer, let it dry and continue the day after . . .

. . . at 1:30am, I found myself gazing at what I think is the finished painting. At least for now.

So, here it is. Sure is harmonized by the yellow-green, has a clear direction (what do ya mean what direction?? diagonal! work with me...), and is asymmetrical.

First challenge combination is met.

Next.

Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth?

Not in this case.

Got this link from NancyBJ (THANK YOU for sharing!!!), and was stunned.

Click on a mosaic mural, then click on parts of them to see the paintings that make that part. (for example, choose the 'Trust' mural, and click on the horse's eye...).

Apparently, one artist, Lewis Lavoie, decides what the mural is going to be. He then has the panel painted by different artists who have no idea what the completed mural will look like. He organizes these murals, sells prints for fund-raisers, and then eventually, they auction off pieces of the mural.It's truly mind blowing.

This movie demonstrates how the United Nations mural mosaic was created.

And this explains how he is getting these incredible results.

I think I'll go explore this website for a day. Or Two.

ArtPact #19

(Originally published on May 14, 2007).

Yup - after many months of scraping what to post as an ArtPact, I am suddenly on a creativity spree.

Is it the spring that's sprung?

Is it the fact that after all the stress and lack of time, I decided to make time and put my art at the top of the priority list, while I can?

Or is it actually time pressure? I mean, next Tuesday I am leaving for 3 weeks in the Promised Land, and I only have so many days to be in my studio, of which I am making the most!!

On Sunday, I created another wonderful collage (which I cannot post here, as it's a surprise for someone in the holy land). But, in between collaging my self-portrait and that surprise, I kept feeling that it really is unfair that I neglected my favorite man... you see, it's been over 8 long months since The JohnnyB got the last page for his personal calendar, and this project got shamefully and shamelessly abandoned.

So, today, I made the page for May... May 2006, mind you, as he never got his May page (I know, I am lame!). Since I am hooked on collage now, and my studio is all covered with painted tissue papers, screwed-up brushes, paints, stamping tools and gloss medium (the latter is used for adhering the tissue paper to the surface on which I am collaging, and is then used to keep me busy trying to peel it off every part of my body) - I made a collage of him. Poor The JohnnyB, he got really allergic to something in the air since last weekend, consumed his Claritin pill every morning, and spent most of this weekend alternating between being miserable, cranky and napping.

"Spring Napping", Collage on matboard, 5.5"x7.5"

Now, on that calendar, each painting/sketch/collage is accompanied by a proper calendar page, with photos of the monthly theme. As this collage was drying in the sun (it was 4:30pm when I was done!!!), I sat at our nice shiny desktop, in order to create the calendar page, with the very same software I always used for that fun purpose.

It was then that I got a nice reminder that we now have Windows Vista, whose greatest hobby is to crash for no reason. That's actually not quite accurate; it's not that Windows Vista itself is crashing. Just certain applications.

Like the new and improved(?) Windows Mail (what used to be the highly stable Outlook Express), that now crashes at least 4-5 times a day, just 'cause it can, and I keep forgetting to save the Emails I compose after every 2-3 sentences, which enriches our usually-quiet neighborhood with loud juicy multilingual curses. OK, so I got used to this. But today, as I was trying to create the calendar page using the previously reliable MS "Picture It!" software, it kept crashing, as if we have Windows Vista or something - Ah, wait, we do have this delightful new product, lucky us!!!

I was way too pissed to go do it on the laptop, so - dear The JohnnyB, the full calendar page of the month of May '06 will wait, perhaps until I am back from Israel, or perhaps until Vista is stable (Ha!!! I kill me!!!).

Hasta la vista, Vista!

ArtPact #8

(Originally published on January 14, 2007).

The past week was, well, rough.
Emotionally, computerally, bureaucratically - you name it.

And, as much as I was determined to not let it all stop me from painting - it did. Big time.
I guess I have not yet reached the level of discipline that will force me to paint no matter what..
Which is why I'll never make millions as an artist, and thus depend on your generous clicks.

And yet - for those of you who do await to wash your eyes with some line, shape and color, here is something I did last year, for The JohnnyB's birthday.
It was his 40th, thus big, thus needed a special gift, thus I was paralyzed with no ideas.

Since I do not work, I felt weird to buy him something fancy and expensive (plus - I had no idea of anything expensive that would make him really happy), and so, I decided to do something that is more personal.
A calendar.

Yeah, I know - it sounds so lame, Eh?

Wait!

It was the ultimate ego trip: a calendar that's all about him.
Each month he got a pack that had a calendar page with pictures of him, a small gift and a little sketch/drawing/painting made by yours truly, all around a certain theme.


And so, January was dedicated to The JohnnyB's number one hobby:
beer brewing.
Here you can see him rolling the carboy, with the beer sizzling inside
(or whatever it is that beer does in its pre-fermenting stage).

The gift that went with it was a voice-recorder bottle opener, on which I have recorded one of The JohnnyB's favorite sentences on TV.

Very nice, symbolic gift, if I may...

However, in his eternal talent, the JohnnyB erased the recording before even hearing it...

February was about another favorite thing: smoking...
The JohnnyB somewhat resented that particular theme.
But hey, if a person smokes almost a pack of cigarettes a day, well, it deserves to be documented.

The gift that accompanied it was a cigarette lighter, shaped - and sounding - like a fire extinguisher. Very cool, and very relevant.

March was all about yet another one of The JohnnyB's famous hobbies, which is best described as causing bloggable disasters under the excuse of being a mighty handyman.
This particular one is dedicated to CherkyB, by the way and by the artist.

The little loving gift of that month was this T-shirt - which he never, ever wore, as an insulted protest.



But I compensated for it in April, with a cheery green sketch of him gardening, another thing he loves to do.

Due to the lack of success with the previous gifts, I simply went for a DVD from Netflix: The Constant Gardener. Real good movie, only not quite as pastoral as the name may suggest...

Then I came to a halt, following a traumatic visit to my homeland.


I only managed to get back to the calendar in July, in fond reminisce of our incredible vacation in the cook Islands, three years ago.
Here, The JohnnyB is happily tubing, being towed by the boat.
Minutes later, the joy turned into hysteria, as his hands were getting tired and he almost got launched into space, but the artist chose to portray the more pleasant moments of this ordeal.
For that month, the gift was a trip to Angel Island... can you tell I was starting to run out of ideas?
August was easy - our wedding.
We made it through almost four and a half years already - major achievement, Eh?

Gift?
What gift?

The joy of having me as a wife was enough, I blissfully figured out, and skipped the gift for that month...

(I strongly suggest you do not comment on this one, The JohnnyB. Tread v-e-r-y carefully here!).

Now, if you've paid attention, you'll notice that I still owe the JohnnyB six more months on this calendar...
Good thing the first one due is in May!

And now, The JohnnyB's birthday is about to happen again: 10 days to go!!!
But, worry not, fair readers.
I already have a gift for him.
I think he's gonna like it.
A LOT!

And yes, I kinda stalled on this ArtPact.
Some may claim I cheated, even, as I did not post something I did this week.

Ah well... Sue me!