Gabriela - Part Two

Gabriela was loaded into the back of a truck, with the toys and collar we had bought for her and I drove away in tears.  Oh my god!  I had just "returned" a living creature, something I never thought I'd do.  We thought it really was for the best, for us and for her.  No matter what I was thinking in my head, I was heartbroken.  


A week went by and I had an art show coming up.  But little Gabby stayed in our hearts and on our minds.  Gracie and Eugene didn't seem to care on iota, but Ernie and I certainly realized how much she had imprinted on us.  After much discussion, the same Saturday I was in my booth at the art show, Ernie made arrangements to bring Gabby home again.  Obviously this time she stayed.  

How cute can you possibly be?  This is our little gal at 4 months old.  

Gabby was a happy, exuberant puppy who played until she crashed.  She loved the Big Dogs (although they weren't as tickled with her completely inappropriate behavior.)  She seemed to do fine with animals, adults, children.  Our only issue was her energy level and learning how to deal with her.  

Here Gabby is watching Eugene watch the squirrels.  Eugene is a great example for her. 
She would curl up with Eugene every chance she had.  Still will, if he allows it. 

Something, somewhere along the way happened and Gabby evolved into a frightened little dog.  She began to run from friends, feared strangers, shook and manically circled around the house, disappeared upstairs into her crate and just hated anything out of the ordinary.  We attributed it to her hound personality and energy.  We eventually took the crate away, and I sometimes would leash her when friends came in, to prevent the circling behavior and to allow her to be with us and see no harm would come to her.  She absolutely despises car rides and although Ernie would drive her weekly to the park to run, she never could enjoy it because of the rides.  She couldn't wait to get back home and Ernie just gave up having another running buddy.  

So about a month ago, after reading about a trainer in Richmond who sounded just like someone I'd trust, I decided it was time to deal with Gabby's issues.  She is now 4 and I can't imagine her continuing to live in fear of the unknown for the rest of her life.  I called Jenn Kyzer, of Dog Talk in Richmond.  And Gabriela is on the road to a new way of being.   

Next post:  Gabriela's transformation begins.  

Gabriela - Part One

Gabriela, or Gabby to us, is our little Clown Hound.  She is a beautiful girl dog, who wears a one-sleeved sweater draped coyly around her body.  We were told she was a beagle - lab mix, but as she grew taller with her slender face, I decided rightly or wrongly, that she is Fox Hound and lab.  Her litter mates, except the one that looked like her, all resembled labs and she has webbed toes. Otherwise, we'd have no clue.  

Gabby came home with me one day after I went to adopt another dog from a local rescue group. The other dog was larger and I thought more suited to our household and Eugene, whose companion he'd likely become, since Gracie was aging early and had begun showing signs of her legs giving up.  So, I waited for the foster mom and the dog I was to meet when it was mentioned by my contact with this rescue group that she had the cutest pup from a littler she was fostering in the back of her truck. This little girl pup was on the way back to her littermates after having been spayed.  At 4 months old, what I MET was a frightened, drooling, timid little hound. (What I BROUGHT HOME was another creature entirely!)   I took her out of the truck and walked around with her a bit, hoping to ease her fears and distract her.  Well, I fell in love.  Again.  


On a side note here:  I truly believe that if we open our hearts and minds, our furry companions come to us when the Universe decides it's time.  


So, I adopted Gabby after spending an hour with her and the other dog didn't show until I had finished with the papers for Gabby.  Home we went, fresh stitches and all.  I thought she'd be good with our dogs and she reminded me a little of our recently deceased Gus.  Another hound mix.  Gus was a great, quiet and peaceful dog.  


My husband chose the name Gabriela, but my friend Polly says it's because Gabby herself "told" him that was her name.  Polly is an animal communicator.  


So here's what happened in the next two days.  Gabby crawled under chairs and tables, and was fairly meek as she met the big kids. She was very submissive as the older dogs sniffed and introduced themselves.  We kept her safe (stitches!) and in her crate much of the rest of the first day.  The next day Gabby "wilded-out" on us.  She was all over the other two dogs, had crazy energy, and was so silly and fun.  She wore us out.  THEN, she wouldn't leave Eugene alone.  Gracie couldn't stand her energy (ha, ironic!) and Eugene didn't know what to do.  He kept looking at me asking "why?"  So we reluctantly called my contact and told her we didn't think she was the right fit for our household.  It broke our hearts, but Eugene was becoming aggressive with her, Gracie already was aggressive with her and Gabby didn't seem to understand "no" in dog language, much less human language.  I had art shows coming up and we didn't think it would be fair or safe to keep her.  We wanted her in the right home as much as we wanted to keep her.  


On the 3rd day, I crated Gabby and put her in the van, met my contact and sent her back to her foster home and siblings.  

Eugene

The last post was supposed to be a blog about dog training and my little "beagle on stilts" Gabriela.  But once I began talking about Gracie, the post took it's own path, so I went with what was apparently on my mind.  


So I'll continue and segue my way towards Gabby.  

Eugene is our 2nd dogchild.  He is a huge mass of hairy mutt with the biggest head you could possibly fit onto his body.  His droopy eyes are so sweet and friendly.  He's the Mama's Boy in the family and we're bonded together pretty tightly.  I've painted him most often.  


Eugene was a rescue from the pound, aka Chesapeake Animal Control.  I decided we needed another pup for Gracie to play with and keep company, due to her high level of energy. (Boy was I on the wrong track.  Gracie didn't need ANY dog to keep her company.  She managed quite nicely to handle life as a loner.)   He looked a lot like her at first;  same coloring, long hair.  He sat in the rear of his cage and I went home in tears after my first visit.  The next day I went back and had the keepers bring him to me.  Poor thing.  He was literally dragged down the hallway as he wouldn't budge willingly.  He wouldn't lift his head, he was so afraid he tried to become the floor.  I straddled him (something I'd never do again to a dog) to pet him.  He lifted up his head and tried to greet me as best he could.  That did it.  I knew he would come home with me, but first I had to bring all the other kids out to meet him and see how they got along.  Since he sat in the rear of the small yard, and showed no sign of aggression, it was decided.  


Poor fella was afraid of everything.  I would stand in our driveway, leash attached to us both and walk to the end.  He'd sit.  I'd sit.  He'd finally stroll down to me and sit again.  I stood.  Walked to the end of the leash.  and wait.  Repeat.  I believe the first walk to the end of our driveway took nearly an hour.   


Same thing with the car.  Deathly afraid.  I'd put him in, drive down to the cul de sac about 4 houses away.  Come home.  Repeat.  Slowly adding in more mileage, I did this every day.  

Finally we were able to enroll him in puppy school.  Did Eugene blossom.  Wow.  Everyone loved (and loves) Eugene.  He was the perfect student.  Worked for praise.  He was so awesome our trainer suggested we consider training him for therapy work.  So I did.  
Eugene worked as a therapy dog for about 4 years, until I became too busy to continue.   He was an amazing therapy dog and still thinks his job is to greet everyone and offer his back for a rub.  Yet he'll protect me in a heartbeat.  I could go on with stories from his therapy visits, but that is not where I'm headed with these posts.  


Eugene is now 10 years old.  He is the poster boy for puppy school and what love and patience can bring to a fearful animal.  I don't know what happened during his first 6 months of life, and I think he still has bad dreams sometimes, but it's hard to fathom what he was compared to the awesome fellow he became.   (Thanks P.J. and Lisa Marie!)  

Gracie.

I must say we've been blessed with wonderful furkids.  I've rarely had a problem with any of my dogs....the worst has been my old lady Gracie and her incessant barking, which has never let up since she was a young dog.  She likes to tell us everything that is happening, and make her presence known.  To everyone.  All the time.  


Gracie is half collie, half black lab and is a strikingly beautiful animal.  She came to us by way of a student of mine in 1996 at the age of 6 weeks.  By 8 weeks old we knew she'd be a handful and by 10 weeks, we realized we'd be taking our first dog to puppy school.  Gracie is an alpha dog, and not a very good one, but alpha nonetheless.  So we had to get some of her assertive behaviors under control, teach her acceptable behavior around our other two dogs at the time (Gus and Shadow) and we had to open our own minds to "learning dog."

Gracie is very intelligent and learned quickly.  She also was smart enough to look at us like we were nuts when we asked her to do something repeatedly.  It was like she was saying, "...duh, did you guys not see me do that the first time?  How many times must I sit and stay, already?"  Gracie is a mix of two working breeds, so we needed to get her a job, to stimulate her mind and deal with her energy.  We introduced her to agility and she was a natural.  Learned instantly, was very fast, but unfortunately got bored easily.  (again, did we not see her do that once already?)  She wasn't fond of other dogs, either.  She's always been a bit of a lone wolf, so to speak.  


However, Gracie loved to run.  Like the wind.  We'd take her to the school a few blocks from our house and let her go inside the fenced area.  She'd just take off, alone, and run like crazy.  We'd watch in amazement and sometimes have to corral her, to make sure she wouldn't bolt out of one of the gates.  Eventually Ernie began taking her on his runs and they'd easily put in six miles.  You know who came back exhausted and it wasn't the dog!  Gracie was then, and still is, an amazing animal.  


Sadly, Gracie is losing the use of her legs.  We've seen it slowly coming on these past few years, but the last few weeks her decline has accelerated exponentially.  We've done all we know that we can - provided supplements, fed her homemade and holistic foods, kept her on pain medication and other meds to combat her arthritis.  Exercised her and kept her weight down.  Visited the vet, used laser treatments and acupuncture.  But now it seems her age and her high-test personality are going to get the better of her.  Which is awful, because she is alert, eats relatively well and wants to be included in our activities.  She sees and hears well, still.  

Gracie is a Daddy's girl and I know Ernie is struggling mightily with the inevitable.  To watch his beloved running buddy lose her legs, of all things, is heart wrenching.  We plan to help her in any way we can until she is ready to leave her body.  We don't know what that means, exactly, but we adopted her for the long haul.  Right now, she insists on doing as much without assistance as possible.  She's not ready to say goodbye yet, and neither are we. 

Update on A New Direction

When I held a group painting event in my backyard in June, I began a huge painting of sheepdogs.  This was playtime for me, so I figured I'd piddle around with some of the "toys" I've been gathering for the past few years.  

 I added thickener to my acrylics and used knives to apply the gooey paint.  It's probably one of the loosest beginnings I've done in many years.  I loved it going on so fast.  


Two days later, I went into the studio and began adjusting. 

Now I had something to build upon.  Using a combination of knives and brushes, the painting began to take shape. 

Here I need to deal with some compositional issues...one dog is falling off the canvas and there is too much space on the other side.  I'm not about to repaint all three dogs and lose the spontaneity - I'll lose enough of that as it is.  So I need to balance the darks I think.  After a few more versions you won't see, here is the current painting.  

Since I'm working on this inbetween other paintings, it may be awhile before I resolve this one, but I'm very happy with the direction it's now taking.  It may be dogs, but it's a very different application and approach than in my previous work.   Fun.   Fun, fun.   

Animal Rescue

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated" ~Gandhi (1869-1948)

I am a huge fan of animal rescue.  All of my pets are rescues and have been since I was 20 years old.  I think people who do rescue are the angels of the world, watching after creatures who are abused and forgotten.  Their work is without end, can be heartbreaking and is often without recognition or understanding.  It makes me furious and sad whenever I read some foolish person comment about someone caring for non-human animals more than people.  As if humans are the only animal worthy.  

So my recent experience has left me not only baffled, but cautious.  

When my pet painting business exploded with requests, I felt like I needed to give back.  For me, that was by donating to rescue, since most rescue groups are entirely volunteer and usually need every bit of monetary help they can get.  Volunteers are usually not hard to find, but money is.  So I created a calendar and donated proceeds from the sales to a group called BARK.  I also choose a special case each year to help - usually an animal that needs surgery and if saved, will have a chance at a normal life.  I've also donated portions of some of my sales to various groups if they sponsor an event in which I am participating and I've donated countless paintings for auction benefits over the years. I don't do this for accolades or attention, so most people don't (until now) even know about my chosen philanthropy.  All I've ever asked for is acknowledgment my donation was received and sometimes I ask how funds are used or how much a painting brought at auction.  This helps me gauge which group to continue giving to and for business reasons, how my work is valued. 

I learned in February of a dog that needed surgery and a rescue group needed funds to pay for it.  The email arrived from a friend, so I trusted it.   Perfect.  Exactly the kind of project I try to support.  I emailed the contact and was put in touch with the president of the rescue organization.  I then made arrangements to pay the balance of the medical fee. My check was mailed in March.  By May, my check had not been cashed so I contacted the president to see if my check had been received.  I thought it was lost and I'd need to stop the check and reissue a new one.  But the president did not return my email, or phone call, or any subsequent attempt to reach her.  By June, I had attempted to find out what happened on numerous occasions, but still no contact.  I was being ignored. Or this person is rude.   Or maybe too busy, or maybe in over her head.  I have no clue.  But I began to worry less about the cause and more about my check floating around out there. 

I could not find anyone connected with this rescue group other than the president.  No board members, no national affiliation, no other phone numbers, and apparently all emails went to this one person.  The website is completely void of identifying information.  This caused all of my alarms to go off and I began to think I'd been scammed. I found the name of the person who originated the email asking for help and this person did respond to me right away.  As a matter of fact, she was able to get through to the person I'd been trying to reach very quickly and I was assured that my check had been received, but not yet cashed.  Hmmmm....so what is going on? Was the kind person originating the email being scammed, too?  Why would a rescue group not cash a donation check? Was there even a "group," or is this just one person? Will my check be used to pay a salary?  Will it be used fraudulently? Will they steal my account number and make a fake account?   Why is this president avoiding me, since we've never met and all I have requested is some acknowledgement that my check is, or is not, in her possession?  I don't know any rescue group that has enough income that they can afford to let donations sit around on a desk. I have no way of knowing what is happening. 

As you probably figured out,  I gave up.  For the first time ever, I went to my bank and reluctantly put a stop to my check.  I will donate the equivalent in funds to another group.  If the president of that group is indeed all about rescue, she should rethink how she responds to generous donors and how she is running her organization.  Her reluctance to answer a simple question has led me to have serious doubts.  A rescue organization can ill afford to have potential donors questioning its validity.  I've been assured that the little dog received surgery and is in a good home.  I don't even know for sure if the little dog ever existed.  

I will be much more cautious about all organizations that purport to be in rescue for the good of the animals, before I donate a single penny.  

Painting and Playing

Several weeks ago I invited a number of artist friends to join me in my backyard for a playdate with paint and whatever creative materials anyone wished to bring.  So, on a very hot, humid Saturday we gathered in as much shade as we could find and began working together.  


I originally did this two years ago after my collaboration experience with Mike.  One of the things I do not get to do often without taking a class is to paint with others.  I teach and I love that, and glean much from my students, but it is not the same as painting with them.  

This is a photo from the first playdate, which I dubbed Collaborationathon.  I had only two rules : anyone attending must create (just watching not allowed!) and everyone had to be open to allowing others to work with them -even on their piece.  We had a blast.  So, two years later, we had Collaborationathon II.  

This is a photo from the most recent day....Mike is using a cement trowel, borrowed from Liz, on my canvas.  He is swirling paint and thickener that I have poured onto the canvas as it lay on the ground.  A few others had their hands in there as well, so this one did become a bit of a collaboration.  I had originally begun a painting of two dogs that I repainted on a different canvas, so this was a perfect surface to play on.  

This is Bun, working on one of Mike's large panels. 


Artists are often creative alone.  We need that time to process and work.  We do find ways to connect with one another and we do take workshops, classes, etc.  But just having a fun day to let loose, try something new, or have other input into a piece while working on it is so enriching.   I hope to host more of these in the future and can't wait to see who attends and what unfolds.   

The Beginnings

I am often asked why I paint the colors I do and what got me started painting like that in the first place.  I have a difficult time explaining it in the 60 seconds most people are willing to listen.  I began thinking about it quite a lot this month.   What really started the thinking was a visit with our friends and my first commission clients, Keith and Leslie.  We know this couple from my husband's job AND because they stole our wedding date from us.  (ha! so now it's public knowledge, Doogie!)  Seriously, we both decided to get married at the same time and really did pick the same date, but since my husband and Keith both worked in the same department, that wasn't going to work at all.  They legitimately beat us to the punch.  


So, back to the painting.  While chatting with my husband and some other friends at the Gosport Arts Festival last month, Leslie mentioned that they were my first clients.  Yes, indeed.  They were. They saw a painting I had done of my pup Gracie and Leslie wouldn't give up until I agreed to paint their "kids."    

This painting is about 24 x 36 inches and I began it quite realistically.  I had been painting in pastels and some acrylic, doing beach scenes, florals and people.  My work was no different than dozens of other artists doing the same thing.  And I was bored.  So, I started painting wild colors, a lot, LOT of red, all over Gracie.  Then adding sweeping gestures of bold blues and oranges and yellows.  Colors I typically did not use and nothing found in any dog I knew.  I left the studio that night and didn't look back.  
The next morning I went into the studio and poor Gracie!  She looked like she had been born in flames.  wow.  Helldog.  But, I loved the striking colors and now I had the challenge of bringing it back.  This was done in 1996.  It's not a great painting, but I learned a great deal by doing this one.  It's the painting that helped me turn a corner and was the beginning of my maturing process (if you can call it that) as an artist.  Following that painting, I began to take graduate level classes and began to explore color.  Not intentionally, but that is where I was headed.  


So, Leslie became enamored with this painting and asked quite a few times if I'd paint their dogs.  After some thought, I decided Sure.  Why not?  Soon after, they delivered photo albums.  Complete albums, just of the dogs.  It was awesome.  I delved into all the photos and pulled out the ones I thought would work.  The only request was that the two had to be together.  It was also my first venture doing a composite painting - taking elements from several photos and combining them into one.  

 "Cujo and Church," a 24 x 30 inch painting, was done in 1999.   My career as a pet painter was born. 


The colors I used became bolder as I learned more about pigment.  It wasn't until 2004 or 2005 that I learned other artists were painting in wild, unheard of colors as well.  I had never heard of Ron Burns or Jody Wright.  I wasn't mimicking anyone:  I loved animals, I loved color and the marriage of the two made sense to me.   I find it interesting that there are other artists out there who must have been catching the same energy waves as I was at that time, because when I read their bios or backgrounds, their stories are nearly identical to mine.  Now numerous artists are painting in similar ways to those of us who began this over a decade ago.  But one thing is certain...we all have our own style and if one looks closely enough, past the colors, none of us is the same as the other.  


So, Why do I paint with the colors I do?  Short answer: Because that's where I am.  

A New Direction

I've been wanting for a long time to move on to new ways of painting.  I've taken tentative steps in the past, through classes and experimenting, but it felt like I had pieces to a puzzle and they didn't all fit.  Now it's like I'm collecting pieces and eventually they'll all make a whole. 

Here is a piece I began painting at my Plant Zero studio last week.   I try to keep a painting going for students and visitors to see.  A client / fan / collector posted on her Facebook page a photo of her dogs' legs intertwined, which I fell in love with.  So I asked permission to paint using her image. 


I love this for the composition mostly.  And because it's a great way to move into more abstract paintings while doing what I know.  I plan to keep this looser than my usual work and hope it becomes a little more painterly.  Let's see how it goes.  

Spring Cleaning

I usually take a week off after my spring shows.  The only difference this year was that I did only one show.  Then one week off became two.

My husband and I spent the last two weeks catching up on all the projects we've put off the past year or so.  Ok, not true.  We didn't catch up on all of them....but we put a good dent into them.

My favorite has been the yard.  I love gardening, but due to an accident nearly 5 years ago, I was unable to do much for quite a long while.  I hurt my lower back and tailbone in a skimboarding mishap. Can you imagine a banana peel under my feet?  yep, that's the image...straight up, then slam! down on my butt on hard, wet sand.  I was hurt, but laughing so hard, my friends didn't know quite what to do when I couldn't get up right away....ah, sweet memories.  I spent the rest of that vacation sitting on an inflatable tube float my favorite child Alex thought would be funny to give me.  It was perfect actually, because I was NOT giving up my beach week.  But, I digress.  After 3 years of yoga and finally getting back to the gym with the best personal trainer in existence (yes, Keith, that's you) I am now as close to normal as I'll get.
Want another visual?  Four years ago, I was doing yard work and at that time, if I bent down for more than about 10 minutes, I would "freeze."  Nope, no warning, I'd just try getting up and I'd be stuck.  Now picture me planting flowers IN MY FRONT YARD, no less, and finding out for the first time I couldn't get up. First I panicked. Then I figured I couldn't just sit there all day,  so I rolled.   Laid down on my side, rolled around to get to a place with leverage, then hoisted myself up onto stiff feet and hips that didn't wish to move.  I only prayed no neighbor was watching or would drive by - I had to look like a crazy woman, rolling in the grass and mulch. I'd get to the porch, lie on my back until everything relaxed, and duh, do it again.   ahhh, MORE sweet memories.

Back to the point - now that I can move again, I decided to remake the front flower beds.  Keith, aforementioned personal trainer, helped me dig up and compost the bed last fall.  Oh, you thought this was going to be all words, blah, blah, blah.  Nope...here come the pics.  Befores and afters.

This is the front bed after everything but a few trees and shrubs were taken out.  I used to have my own version of an English garden - a mass of crazy plantings, basically.  This has been tilled with organic compost/topsoil and fertilizer.









Same view, with the new plantings mixed in with plants saved and replanted.  Plus new stepping stones.



While I'm thinking of it..this blog likes to move my words and pics around....I tell it where I want it, but once posted, it takes on a life of its own.  My apologies for the vast amount of space between some lines and photos.

Ready for work. 

.  

and today...after a week of mulching and adding in zinnias and million bells and sweet potato vine to take over once the pansies die back. 

What will I do today?  After posting this, I'm headed back to the studio.   I set up my palette this morning.  It's time to paint.  

After the Festival

An art festival from an artist's point of view. 


The Gosport Arts Festival is a show I have done for years and enjoy doing because the promoter, Millie Johnson, is wonderful and treats the artists with respect and dignity.   She has to be the kindest show promoter ever.  Some promoters seem to forget that the money they collect is already paid when we apply for the show, but nonetheless can make an artist's life miserable in various ways.  Millie does everything possible to make her artists happy, which in turn helps us have a good weekend and positive attitude to do what we are there to do: show and sell our art.  
Millie, Thank You, for promoting a quality show and taking care of us.  Thank you to all the Gosport volunteers who put in amazingly long hours to make the artists' lives easier.  


I also do this show because it's "home," or near where I lived most of my life, so I'm able to see a number of long time friends who may stop by.  

As for the show this weekend, well, the weather wasn't the best.  We had horrific winds which took their toll on us on Saturday.  Rain is tough, cold is not fun, but winds are an outdoor artist's nightmare.  ughh.   Watching your tent "walk" when it's blustery can be heart-stopping.  For artists not prepared the wind can destroy a tent or the contents.  In addition, Saturday was hot, muggy and attendance was minimal.  Sunday was a much better day.  The winds shifted, it was cooler and gorgeous.  Mother's Day typically is quite busy and sure enough, we had plenty of visitors.  Not as many as in some years past, and not everyone purchased, but considering the economy now, it was a decent day.  


Once back home, the next day is a full workday, returning art to gallery and studio spaces, doing paperwork, taking inventory, getting everything put away, and so on.  As every exhibitor knows, the exhibition weekend is fairly easy compared to the prep beforehand and the followup after.   That's ok.  It's all usually worth it.  

Getting Ready for Exhibit

It has been a whirlwind week.  I've spent as much time in the "office" as I have in the studio.  I've completed 5 paintings on canvas. (pics below)  I had begun all but one of them awhile back, some as long as two years ago.  It seemed a good time to finish them since I had a show coming up and not much new to take.  It's imperative to take new pieces to an art show, and I've always been up front with my clients that I paint for shows in April/May and August, but since I'd been concentrating on commission work, I hadn't really finished but a few pieces in the past year.  Last year I only exhibited in one juried show, plus a few benefit exhibits. A typical year may include up to 6 juried outdoor events. 


I do art shows for many reasons.  Since I don't take commission work any longer, I know my clients probably wonder why I bother to exhibit.  I do art shows to sell what I have and to see what resonates with the public as well as my peers and the show judges.  For me, it's never been about making a fortune, though wouldn't that be nice?  It's been about painting because I can't help it and wanting to support that calling by selling some of what I create - a self-sustaining habit, if you will.  Those who've followed me for a long time know I began with  seascapes, genre paintings, florals and pastel work.  The animals have been quite recent. 


OK, it's nearly midnight and I think I'm rambling. 
This past week I've been up until 2 a.m. - painting much of the day, breaking periodically for my pups to go out and to eat.  Late at night I get on the computer and print notecards, business cards, title tags, check emails, then pop back into the studio to finish up paintings, etc.  While folding and bagging notecards (so far, total of 4 hours doing cards and more to go)  I've watched a couple of shows (don't laugh: I like Celebrity Apprentice and American Idol as my version of easy listening.)  


Here are some pics of completed work, and I'm going to get some sleep. Tomorrow I have a visit to the vet with two furkids, have to round up paintings from galleries and get the house tidy.  And finish getting ready to show.  

      

New work - Productive week

It's been a very productive week.  Having a show on the calendar certainly provides incentive to get things done.  Susan B. has been here working nearly as feverishly on my notecard inventory and other non-painting tasks to help me ready for Gosport Arts Festival.  She's experienced nearly everything now, except for painting for me. !   Printing, folding, bagging and pricing notecards is another full day of work (actually they aren't completely bagged, but at least they are printed and folded); hours that I was able to spend (mostly) in the studio.  


So, since a blog about art should be more than words, here are some images of paintings that will be seen for the first time at the Gosport show.  

This is still untitled and not quite complete.  I began this over two years ago while at the beach one fall.  It's been hiding in my studio for awhile and after visiting the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit at the Phillips Collection recently,  I knew exactly where to take this painting.  

This one is now finished, but not yet titled.  
Check out the image on my April 19th post.  What a difference a week can make. 




Hopefully I'll have time to post more as they are completed.  

A good day is a great thing

So far, a weekend going well.  Thank goodness. 


I finally picked out my new smart phone after researching them since last September.  
I've recovered some photos, but alas not all. 
4th Fridays was steadily busy with new faces as well as friends and fellow artists dropping in for a visit.  
My large format printer is now cooperating with all new ink installed.  (what to do with the old ink which still exists? I hate to throw away ink!)  
A painting is completed.  yahoo!  

Knock on wood?  

For Crying Out LOUD!

For those who wonder sometimes why I don't get more painting done.  Or what my ratio of "other stuff" to painting time is some days.  Settle in before reading...grab a coffee, or something stronger. 


So, on Tuesday Susan B is here working steadily most of the day while I'm trying to get some painting done.  Two days prior, I wanted to get some prints done.   My large printer decides it won't play nice with the ink, so I have to order new ink before I can try to do some reproductions.  There goes my window for framing, but maybe the ink will arrive and I can get Susan to print for me.  Ink arrives...no time to load and print yet. I have a show in 3 weeks.  I get some painting done, but also need to check in with Susan to see what she needs from me for her task.  She spends much of the day getting all my contacts loaded into that the data program I bought for record keeping.  


OK, so I need to print postcards.  My small printer doesn't want to play nice with the heavy paper, so we have to feed one sheet at a time.   I begin to show Susan how to do that and aforementioned printer decides not to take any paper at all.  Great.  
 At least I can get Susan to finish up and print out mailing labels after that, for postcards that don't yet exist....but that means there is always hope and we're prepared if we do get postcards.  yay.  Printer takes the label paper.  double yay. 


After Susan leaves, I load photos of the two commissions I made progress on to show clients via e-mail.  Now if you keep up with this blog, you may recall last May my PC died and I now use a MAC.  um-hum.  I keep my images in iPhoto - a MAC program.  I like that I can drag and drop images into various other applications and into an online gallery for my clients.  So that's what I did....I dragged and dropped two photos into their respective online gallery folders, which are supposed to automatically send them into cyberspace with their sister photos.  


Thank goodness, I emailed copies before this, because what happened next was a huge cluster farce of craziness.  My folders would not accept the images, the gallery would not recognize my passwords, I had to reset passwords via email ( "NO, thank you I did NOT forget my password - YOU won't recognize my password,"  I mumble to the computer. It's actually more complicated, but I'll keep this short.  LOL. hahaha)  I go retrieve my new password page and follow directions, come back to my photo album to drag and drop and gasp!  the albums are gone.  AND those photos are gone.  no.  nonono.  oh no.  Eight months of photos are gone, to be exact.    


I spend the next hour trying to find said photos.  And come back and MORE galleries are gone.  Oh this is really not good.  I have to stop before I destroy all my images or worse.  These are family photos, client photos, art work photos.  My entire album of artwork images that took Susan about 2 days to create for me - gone. 


I spend 2 hours the next day at the MAC genius bar.  (Include travel time - that's 3 hours of painting gone.)  No luck.  I "won" the "You've stumped a genius" award from my nice genius guy who could not figure out what the good grief happened.  Really.  I'm not loving my MAC at the moment, but we think we had a corrupt file or program cause all the grief. 


This story continues, but I shall not.  To end this rant, I'll close with uplifting news.  My MAC is now attached to an external hard drive with 1 Tb of storage space for backup every day.  yup.  
My photos are gone, except what I had not erased from my memory sticks and what I could find on my online web gallery once that was recovered ( which thankfully included my art work album. yay - I had enough sense to back that up)  I lost most of my painting time today,  recovering what I could.    My humor is still intact, although my emotions are sorely in need of a rest.  


And I'll paint tomorrow.  At least that's the plan. 

Artwork Updates

Here are a few pics of recent images I've been working on for the upcoming Gosport Arts Festival.  None are complete. 

This is the most recent incarnation of this piece. I decided to keep the ear, as my dear friend Sarah pleaded with me to please, please keep it in. You can't exactly tell it's an inverted ear, but I like the way it brings the body back around to the left corner to enhance the S-curve of this composition.

This piece is of a pup I painted awhile ago for a commission client.  I loved this incarnation best, with the human's hand holding her timid companion.  

These two chow paintings are on 6 x 6 wood panels.  I have a larger chow painting in progress.  Something about the chow is calling to me lately. 

April 16 2010

Recently, my art friend Susan asked me ...”Just curious... how many hours do you typically spend painting/week? And how many doing business for art?” I couldn’t answer that accurately and thought I’d take a few weeks to keep my hours and compare. Well, I still can’t answer that accurately.  It seems there is always something unexpected going on. 

I’m getting ready for a spring show, so I’m spending more time on the computer and prepping - things I don’t do year round.  I’m also spending more time painting, so even that isn’t quite as normal.  My current guess would be for every 3 hours painting I spend maybe 1 hour doing business chores.  At one time I would have said 2 to 1, but since I’ve changed how I deal with commissions, and hired Susan B. to assist,  that has freed up my time. And where do I include teaching hours?  hmmm.  Of course, none of this takes into consideration the time I spend taking care of home, husband and my critter family.  Do I include that as well?  

What am I doing right now?  Well, I’ve been painting for about an hour.  Took a break to check on the dogs outside, sat here to get off my feet 

(I paint standing) and post to the blog.  I’ll be back to painting when I finish this.  So this would fit into a 4 to 1 ratio - 1 hour painting, about 15 minutes for a break and blogging, which I consider business, since I blog for my clients and students mostly. 

After show season, I’m going to try and make an effort to record my hours. I think I’ll divide it into quarters - home life, business attention, teaching and studio time.  I’m curious to see what the outcome is. 

Art for Showtime

I've had an interesting few days.  I received a phone call from a gentleman who I met a few years ago. He is promoting a local event which includes a small number of artists and he felt like my work would be a good fit.  I was tickled and honored to be asked to exhibit at this high-end event and was considering it.  After some thought, I decided the timing and expenses were just not right.  Then I received an e-mail about another high end show in another state, and again, the timing and expense of doing such a show just won't work.   But I'm beginning to think that maybe the Universe is telling me something and I need to pay attention.  I usually do and in the past, I've found it beneficial to listen.  One door closes, another one opens. 


 I AM going to be doing my usual show, the Gosport Arts Festival in Portsmouth in May, so I've begun working on a few new pieces while finishing some pieces I began one and even two years ago.  In addition, as seen in recent blogs, I'm still painting on commissions and getting those completed.  


So here are pics of the most recent new piece.  "Party Girl," which was posted not too long ago, was such an easy painting - flowed like melted butter- I expected that to happen again... but no.  I realize I should be thankful when those paintings do come along.  Anyway, what I love about this is the challenge of dealing with folds and muscles, depth and a sense of place, and personality. 

Here is an early photo of the current piece, not yet titled.  
I've drawn loosely, freehand and am working on laying in color here.  I discovered a new mixture of cobalt green and cobalt teal with titanium and just love the blue tones.  

                                                          Here is the next phase: detail in the folds of the sofa cover, tightening up the drawing a bit and finding the lights and darks.  










Here is where I left off today : the color is building up to create the depth I like in my work and I began to play with the darks and lights nearest the body.  I like the red as a place to focus and have the dog lie flat while the folds curl around her as she wiggles on the sofa.  I'm toying with darkening the background to enhance the light focused on the chest and legs.  My color challenge now is to make sure the palette remains in harmony.  I love the green, but think it's going to need to change.  Or take the red back out.  And maybe that floppy ear needs to go. We'll see.    

What's Going On

I haven't posted photos in awhile, so tonight I'm doing a brief post of pics.  

First, this is a photo of Bounty paper towels.  


After a trip through the washing machine.  


(they should pay me for this!)


Yep, my husband cleaned up a doggie accident and left paper towels stuffed inside the dog bed cover that he threw in the laundry room.  Days later, I put it in the wash not thinking to look inside and after the trip through on Heavy Duty mode - hot water, double rinse, high speed spin- I found a long, wrinkly mass at the bottom of the tub (we have a front loader, so it was just inside the door.)  I pulled it out and found this - 4 paper towels, still attached to one another and intact.   I've always favored this brand in the studio due to it's absorbency.  I'm sold for life.  

This pic on the right (or it's supposed to be on the right) is a painting I'm currently working on for an upcoming show.  
I began this one as I often do - a demo for an evening class.  It's slow going, as I'm still working on two commissions and doing this one half in studio, half in class. 

And this is Mikki - you may remember from prior posts. After settling on green for a background color, I'm now laying in the setting and finding tones that don't compete with the dog.  I've resolved a few other issues - a quirky front let, some odd shadows and once that background comes together will put final layers in her hair.  This painting went from frustration to fun after my aha moments.  (which I talked about in a prior post.)