It's been a crazy couple of days, a sick husband and child.  Last night I had to take my daughter to the emergency room.  Turns out she has something called RSV and pneumonia.  Very scary.
     I did paint, but I don't have much to say about it.  I'm still having a lot of trouble with the profile, especially my mouth.  Maybe it doesn't seem so great because the front view looks so "finished."  If  I remember correctly, I tend to paint the whole picture at once, not parts of it.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sunday, January 8, 2012 (no flash)

Oh, Who's That a Picture of?

     For the record, I did actually paint yesterday. I realized a few minutes in that I needed to find a photo for the other half of the painting.  Long story short, I looked at a box of pictures for an hour and found nothing.  Okay, I found some pretty funny ones from college, but nothing that pertains to what I'm trying to do.
     Without a picture to work from, I was pretty much at a stand still with this project. So my poor husband was assigned the task of making that happen.  He's not a photographer, and I was being super picky about the lighting, angles, and being in focus. After half an hour of shooting, I'm now working from three pictures.
     One thing I hadn't considered was how incredibly difficult a profile self-portrait would be.  I feel like with a front view you have the ability to look at the painting and see what's wrong and fix it. But with a profile you don't quite know exactly what's wrong, you just know that something isn't right.  I guess I still kind of have a reaction like 'Oh, who's that a picture of,' when I see myself from the side. Needless to say, I'm having a hard time with this half of the canvas.

I like how the fan behind the paining looks like a continuation of my head.

Revenge Is Best Served Cold?

     I dont have much to say today. It's like 20 degrees in my garage and I really wanted to watch Revenge tonight.  I only painted for about 20 min.

Close up from today

With the flash on

This is the photo I'm working from

Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Rose, and Phthalo Green

     It's pretty cold out there today. My computer says it's 20 degrees right now. Not the best motivator for painting in the garage.  Not to mention that today was my first day back at work in over two weeks. Even though I was tired, cranky, and cold I still kind of looked forward to my hour with my paints. I had forgotten about the awesome names on the tubes. Alizarin crimson, which reminds me of a prehistoric reptilian blood bath.  Quinacridone rose might be a slightly embarrassing side-effect from taking too much quinacridone. Phthalo green sounds a little sci-fi, but mostly I enjoy the unnecessary consonants at the beginning of phthalo.
     I added a little color to the sketch from yesterday.  I'm slowly remembering how to do this again.  Now I need to take or find some pictures to use for the younger me.

Without the flash

With the flash

This Is Going to Be an Expensive Resolution

     I had a job at MJDesigns when I was in high school.  I enjoyed the other kids that worked there, but I couldn't stand my bosses. Yes, I said bosses.  Boss A would tell me to do one thing, then Bosses B and C would want to know why I was doing that and not what they wanted me to do.  It was ridiculous. I quit.
     I still feel a little anxious when I go to that store (it's a Michael's now) because I always seem to see one of my old bosses, Susan.  I'm probably being paranoid, but I feel like she gives me an icy stare every time I walk in there. As if she remembers that 17-year-old that left them high and dry in the fall of 1997.
     I walked into Michael's today with the stink-eye on my face (for Susan) ready to buy some supplies. I walked out after spending $123 on canvases, Liquin, gesso, and odorless turpentine.
     I also came up with a couple of ideas for paintings today.  The first one will be a double self-portrait of my younger self poking my 31-year-old self in the face or arm. Now, if I could only execute it.

 This is my primed 24"x48" canvas in my cold, nasty-ass garage.

This is an initial sketch of me now. I'm having trouble with my chin. 

I blame the constant fear of spider attacks.

A closer view

So What Do I Do With This Stuff?

     I'm starting out with a 9"x12" canvas pad, and paints and brushes that haven't see the light of day since 2004.  Not optimal conditions, but I will have to make it work. I still am on the fence about using my cadmium paints. I was not expecting to need pliers to open up the paint, nor was I anticipating my Liquin to be so liquidy.  I guess I'm going to buy some new supplies tomorrow. I will also spend part of my day thinking of subject matter more inspiring than my left hand.

January 1, 2012 - A Resolution

    I have a BA in Painting. I can tell you the exact date I painted my last canvas; May 1, 2004. That was about eight years ago. That means I've spent about a quarter of my life not doing what I like best. Not to say that I haven't done some cool shit since then. I got married, played roller derby, became a mom, and started skating again. But I still couldn't help feeling like something important was missing.
     I suck at thinking of New Year's resolutions.  One year, 2006 or 2007, I didn't eat fast food.  I think I was expecting to lose a bunch of weight or feel amazing, but all it did was make me crave Taco Bell like crazy. (Yes, I ate it on January 1). I haven't really thought of one since then. I lost 20 pounds last year, and I quit smoking on my birthday in 2006, so those options were ruled out. 2012 seemed to be destined to be resolutionless.
     I was looking through my garage the other day.  Probably looking for light bulbs or sandwich bags. I saw my painting stuff from college, a purple ArtBin and an enormous roll of canvas. I may have even laughed to myself,  "Maybe I'll have time for that next year!" I didn't find any light bulbs or sandwich bags.
     So back to the New Year's resolution. This morning it came to me. I have to paint every day in 2012. I will document what I create, how I create it, and my thoughts about it in this blog. So here I go...