Lace is a Bitch to Paint

Lace is a bitch to paint. There. I said it. I am not a fan but at the same time, I refuse to let the difficulty get the best of me. The latest painting that I am working on is a portrait of my grandmother walking with my father, who is eight in the picture. I can probably assume they are going to church, based on their clothing. My grandmother is wearing a shawl made of dark lace and it is not an easy thing to paint. Did I mention it is dark lace over a light dress? Even worse! If it was dark on dark, I would have to just worry about highlights and the details would be blended together with the underlying fabric. But when you have dark lace over a light, let's say white, dress, you have a lot more details to worry about. I like the challenge though, and I LOVE this photograph, so I will continue trying to make this work and look like actual lace. This is the very early stages of the painting and still needs a ton of work. It's mostly underpainting still. I'm also not sure which series this will be for, which will determine whether I cover the eyes or not.

My grandmother has a VERY intense look on her face. I wonder if someone snapped her picture when she was deep in thought or just upset that her picture was being taken. Hmmm.

September Art Newsletter

My latest newsletter is now out. If you would like to subscribe, just click on the link: September Art News via #constantcontact

The Affordable Art Fair with the Julie Nester Gallery

This Fall I will be showing my paintings at the Affordable Art Fair in New York with the Julie Nester Gallery. It is my first time being in this fair and I am very excited to have my work shown there. The art fair runs from September 30th through October 3rd. If you are in NYC, please top by and check it out!

One Out of Ten

As an artist I am trying to not take it personally when something I am working on doesn't come out exactly the way I wanted it to. I can't expect a masterpiece every time, after all. As my friend, artist/poet Scott Inguito once told me, you're lucky if one out of ten is a winner. But it's difficult not to be hard on myself when I paint a really great piece and the next two don't measure up.

The painting above is one of the paintings I completed this past week. I think It's one of my stronger paintings and I was very excited that it came out so well. The next painting didn't come out as well though. I still haven't completed it, but right from the start, it's not looking the way I want it to. Something about it just isn't right. Her right shoulder looks too big, her head doesn't seem proportional. Perhaps its that it's not a strong image to start with. Perhaps it's because I am not painting it well. I'm not sure what it is, but it's not working for me and it's hard not to get frustrated and just toss it.

So what do I do when something just isn't working the way I want it? As much as it is hard for me to work on something I no longer like, I have to complete it. Sometimes things turn and it works out. The painting starts to look like I want it to and all is well in the world. Sometimes things don't work out and no matter what I do, the painting is not to my liking. Even in times like these, it's important for me to finish paintings that I start. I think it's a good lesson in perseverance and will help me grow as an artist. It's good to force oneself to problem solve at these times.

Reminding myself that not everything I paint is going to be a keeper is important. I can't go into a career in art thinking that everything I do has to be perfect. That would just set myself up for some depressing times when things didn't work and could hinder my ability to paint every day. Also, I realize that what I may dislike, others may like. No one has as more critical of a eye for my artwork as I do. What I may see as a flaw, others may not notice. My least favorite painting could be somebody's favorite. You never know, the painting you hate could end up being a masterpiece someday!

Another School Year has Started

Me, happily painting in my studio.

The 2010-2011 school year has started and I am happy to say that I am not there. Today I would have had to report back to work had I not quit my job in pursuit of an art career. Today I would have had to get up at 6am and drag myself out of bed, wishing I could sleep for another hour. Today I would have received my class lists, figured out which kids were in the wrong math class placement, lesson planned for the first couple of weeks of school, and done numerous other things to get ready for my 14th year of teaching. Today all of this would have happened, but it didn't.

This summer I did not have to watch "back to school" commercials and have the anxiety of summer ending too quickly creep into me. I did not have to cram in as much painting as possible before I started work again.  I didn't have to wish that I could quit my job and just paint for a living.

Even though my teaching job ended in June, today is really the first day of my new career since it is the first day that I did not have to go to work outside of my studio. I am finally living my dream of being a full-time artist and it feels great.

Another Hot Day

Yesterday was another hot day in the studio. I thought it was a hot day all around until I took a break and walked outside. Turns out it was really nice outside. It was just my studio space that was sweltering. I guess that's how it goes when you work in a second floor studio space facing the sun and with no air conditioner. My space is also in the center of the warehouse too so I don't get much air from the windows. It's the price I pay for cheap rent and good wall space, I guess.

Despite the heat, I did have a good painting day. It helps that I started with a pretty great image that I loved. The strong shadows and high contrast just made for a great painting. The position of the face, with the elongated neck...I was in painting heaven! I love paintings like this that practically paint themselves in one sitting. I still have some highlights to put in and the really dark areas need to be touched up. I can't ever seem to get a solid dark area on the first pass. Of course, then there's the dreaded (for some I'm sure) dark bar over the eyes. This is another one that will be hard to cover, but as we know, it's a must.

This image makes me wonder what this woman was doing when this picture was snapped. It seems obvious to me she is a swimmer, but the way that she has her head tilted seems to sensual for a "just got done with my daily swim" kind of pose. 

12" x 12"

I'm Melting...

Yesterday was a very hot day in San Francisco. It was in the 90s and if you've ever been to SF during the summer, you'll know that we are used to more winter-like weather during this time. In fact, it usually damn right freezing sometimes. I don't think as San Franciscans were are equipped for this type of hot weather. I grew up in Southern California where the weather was easily in the 100s during the summer and in the 80s during the winter. I know heat. Correction: I KNEW heat. Having lived here for 18 years, my heat proof skin has become somewhat thin and yesterday I was suffering. My fingers were swelling and holding a paint brush was not fun. It is times like these that I am happy I don't paint with wax every day. Having a heating palette and using a blow torch would have been unbearable! Good thing San Francisco only gets allotted three days of summer per year.

Despite the hot weather, I did manage to get some painting done on my latest piece. It's pretty much done. I just need to go back and add some accents to the second girl's skin. Oh, and then there's the wax but I think I'll wait until the next cold day to do that, which should be coming up pretty soon. I'm pretty happy with this one. I think the two girls look very sweet and I'm liking working on the rectangular panel too. I usually work in squares but this piece seemed to lend itself better to a rectangular panel. I'm trying out different sizes and shapes now. It is 20" x 16".

I just think these two girls are so cute and I love their pose. The original photo had 5 people posing together but I think just these two made a better composition. Painting this in yesterday's heat made me want to join them in that pool. Ah, that would have been refreshing, but probably not a good way to paint. My panel would have gotten wet. Yes, I realize I am just being silly. Here's a close-up:

"Two Girls in a Pool", 20" x 16"