Half a Studio is better than None

I decided to  be creative for the floor, choosing a diagonal checkerboard of the standard (in-stock) colors I found at Home Depot. I was afraid the white was too bright and the beige too dark!

I found an excellent demo from Armstrong floors on Youtube which I watched several times. It reminded me that one had to start in the middle of the floor and work to the edges.  There were wonderful geometry-like steps to make a perfect diagonal starting from the middle, and they worked perfectly.   I just wish I'd paid more attention to which half of the floor to start on.  I spread the glue on the back half of the room and waited. And waited. And waited for it to be tacky-dry enough to start. Then laid the tiles you see. Don't they look wonderful?

So, the next step is to spread glue on the rest of the floor. Wait for it to dry enough. And again, go back to the middle to lay my next tiles. 

Are you asking yourself  how the @#$^$# am I going to get BACK to the middle, across that very strong glue?  I sure am. Stay tuned. I think this project is stretching out a bit longer than I had hoped. 

Thank you so much!

To all the lovely and special friends who were able to come last night to the reception and wine tasting, and to see my artwork, a hearty thank-you! I was terrified - something like stage fright? -  but you all made it into a happy and memorable evening: I only hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did!

 A special thank you to my Big Sister Sally for the generous and delicious provisions she brought  - and served  and maintained etc - all the way from Ann Arbor's famous Zingermanns - oh my, Sally: you've outdone yourself.

Thanks of course to Pat of Fieldstone Winery whose wines made all my paintings look so much better. And to Christine who made it possible.

I do apologize to every one of you: the turnout was so nice that I wasn't able to spend as much time with each of  you as I would have liked.  There were countless times when I rudely interrupted a well-begun conversation with you, to greet the next newcomer - so many unfinished conversations: we will need to manage to continue some of them, and soon.

My artwork is still on display at Fieldstone Winery in Rochester, and will be through the end of  November.  I hope that if you were unable to join us last night, you will still manage to stop by during the month  and take a look at what I've been painting in the past year.  While you are there, try a glass of Pat's Tempranillo: it's a lovely red with the peppery character that I always enjoy in a wine.  I'm trying to resist opening the bottle I brought home tonight: need to save it for a special occasion. Although maybe having the reception behind me could be considered that . . . .

And finally,  a glimpse of the end of the evening: that's my dear husband Michael and sister Sally, recuperating a bit after cleaning up.  And a better view of the wall where the paintings were hanging.

What 's Happened to My Beautiful Studio???

Lew inspects the progress.

Well, I DO know what happened.

What with the show at the winery, this seemed like a good time to endure a makeover.  Our small ranch house has half a basement unfinished - painted concrete floors that my husband would like to tile.  The other half of the basement is "finished". Over the  years we've been here we've already torn down the paneling which held the damp against the cinder block. We also tore down the (too low) drywall ceiling, leaving studs and rafters.    What was left was the floor, still covered in very old industrial carpet and very VERY old linoleum tiles.  So that's going too, finally, and Good Riddance Indeed.  Others may not define this as a finished basement anymore, but it feels so much cleaner already.  Never quite knew what lurked above the ceilings, behind the walls, and under the carpet. 

We'll do a bit of patching with hydraulic cement, repaint the cinder block with Drylok, and finally install fresh NEW linoleum squares, the kind you are meant to have in a not perfectly dry basement.



And THEN I get to have my studio back.  I can't wait! 

Last Minute Preparations - Fieldstone Winery and Art

It has been a good month for art and painting, and then a really busy week. Maybe not that special to very successful and confident artists.   But for me,a  none-too-common experience.

For the month of  November I will have my artwork featured exclusively at Fieldstone Winery, in Rochester, Michigan.   On Friday November 1st  - just a week away! - we'll be installing the artwork, posting labels, setting up a card rack. The following Friday (November 8th) will be the big day, a reception (and wine tasting!) at the winery, for friends to see my newest artwork and taste Fieldstone's wonderful wines.

This feels like my closest experience yet to a real ("REAL") gallery opening.  I'm nearly sixty years old now (should  I maybe not admit to that?), and this may be as close as I will get.  So, right now, this feels pretty darn cool.   To make it even better, I am currently feeling very happy about my artwork.   Don't know that anyone will want it on their walls, don't know that it will garner attention or awards or sales.   Bur it is as strong and confident and satisfying to ME as anything I have worked on for a number of years.     PLEASE let THAT part continue!
The illustrations here are little details from some of the paintings that will probably comprise the show.

If you live in southeastern Michigan, please consider coming to the opening.  I would love to see you at the reception - come taste some very good wine and visit.   Information about Fieldstone Winery can be found HERE.

A Happy Artist

Daylily Eruption

The painting at left had already been accepted, along with one other,  to the 2013 Our Town Art Show and Sale. The actual show was this past week, ending on Saturday. I'm happy to say that this painting was sold: Another good friend finds a good home!

And, the painting shown in my Sept. 1st post was accepted into the BSWP 69th Annual Exhibition, "Melange", opening this Friday at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center (BBAC).  However, to confuse things, I never WAS able to get that image to post correctly: the image here in the blog is turned 90 degrees. So I'm not going to try again!

Anyway, a good week for an artist, and I've actually found time to do some new work. I am also keeping busy getting artwork framed for my own show in November at the Fieldstone Winery (hope if you are local to Southeastern Michigan that you will consider coming to the opening!).

Momentum and Creativity

Having weathered too many interruptions to my painting in recent months, I have been contemplating writing a long-ish commentary on how important momentum is to creativity. All those lost ideas and lost enthusiasm.

However - recently I have somehow achieved momentum AND therefore creativity, and have chosen not to interrupt that momentum by taking time to write about it in my blog.

Recommendation instead: please "google" the words creativity and momentum, and peruse the articles you find - there were some very good ideas for keeping your head in the game, in spite of interruptions and other priorities.  . I  plan to go back and read them all again when this nice phase of momentum ends.

Wishing you ALL great momentum! Starting right now!

Paint what you love? maybe . . .

For some reason this oft-repeated advice has been bouncing around inside my head for a couple of days, and I don't even know why.

I do know that it's exactly what I did for years. After all, why not? If you love to paint, and don't know WHAT to paint, it's a happy solution. And, honestly, as long as you (to quote Mike Bailey), "paint paint paint paint paint paint PAINT paint paint paint paint"  (continue "paint" for about 10 years), you will certainly be learning your materials and techniques.  Absolutely nothing wrong with being very confident in your skills while creating artwork with images that give you joy.

However, I know also that many artists feel that the best creativity comes when you DON'T love your subject. After all, when painting a portrait of someone close to you,  you are not likely to  indulge in a green face or blue hair  (I do know one exception, but the "someone close" to that artist was NOT dear to them - anymore - and was represented in all the ugliness that their personality suggested - exceptionally creative, that portrait. yet accurate).

I've been happily painting cats and flowers for some years now.  I've often zoomed in to exaggerate

But very unexpectedly, I began to feel ready to move on. I feel like I've spent a couple of years now figuring just how and where to go from where I've been.  And just recently I feel like I'm beginning to find my way to a new and exciting place.  I'm painting what I love, but I've  more creatively defined what it is that I love.  Not just flowers and cats.  But high contrast. Dramatic shapes. Negative shapes. Patterns.  These are the things I love, regardless of the subject matter.

I posted recently about a breakthrough. I've included here the next painting along these lines, and I have a feeling I'll be sticking with this idea for a while longer.  

PS - Does anyone know why I can't get my tall narrow pictures to load into blogger in their proper vertical format? I keep resizing, but they keep on being set to landscape format.  Oh well. This one is not signed yet, but I WAS thinking it was to be portrait format. Maybe I"ll change my mind.