slightly wonky


A good week…except for the general snow disaster

Okay.  Remember how I was complaining about the “dusting” of snow the other week?  WELL.  As those of you in the Northeast well know, now we had something to really cry about.   Yes, snow…lots of it…before Halloween.  I am lucky to be writing this email at all, as there are many people who are STILL without power.  Can you imagine?  Not good.  Think, “The Shining” but with more, yet likely smaller, houses.  Really not good.  The scene of our backyard:

Looks worse than that last photo I posted, right?  Now, I grew up in upstate New York for my elementary school years.  Their snow makes our snow look plain silly.  BUT…I do not recall EVER having snow in upstate New York before Halloween.  It’s just not right.

I’ll stop whining now. 

My son’s halloween costume, which he refused to wear trick or treating but was happy to wear at home in order to help dad with the mail:

No, I did not make that costume.  I gave up for two reasons: 1. a crocodile was too complicated to make, and 2. I had a strong suspicion that he would not wear the costume in the first place.  Don’t even get me started about the costume that I slaved over last year that he also did not wear.  My child finds halloween too stressful.  Hmm.

Art-wise…I think that this was a pretty successful week.  I had a GREAT printmaking workshop with Catherine Kernan over the weekend.  SOOOO GREAT.  She does all sorts of crazy things with woodblock prints.  I found her to be such a good teacher and very inspiring.  Here are my prints from the weekend:

I like it!   Next:

It’s odd how different the background paper looks, even though it was the same for all of the prints ( I mean the white area at the perimeter).

I saved that one above from being a muddy mess.  Nice!

Catherine really liked that one above.  It looks better in real life.  Last print:

You can tell if you have a good teacher when the quality of your work really improves.  I felt that this was true at this workshop.  It was a lot of fun!  All of those prints are made from just two blocks.

I also had some success with painting.  Here it is:

My teacher really liked it.  He had some helpful comments along the way.  It also didn’t feel hard to do.  I’m wondering if the fact that I was actually in a bit of pain at the time of doing it (think: big headache), somehow helped.  Because of that, I wasn’t totally focused.  My thoughts kept getting interrupted by my discomfort.  This sort of quieted down any inner discussion about judging the work as it progressed, as my mind was preoccupied.  Not that I’d like to be in pain when I paint, but I am wondering somehow if it actually was a help!  Sound crazy?  Perhaps so. 

I like the painting anyway.  Comments?  Everyone have a good halloween?  I think that I’ve consumed enough candy to last me until 2013 at least…not that I’m letting that stop me from munching on more “fun size” calorie bombs.



Lots of figures and faces…and a new addition to the studio!

Today, my car said it was 32 degrees.  That’s cold.  I know…talk to me in February…that will seem balmy.  Still, I feel like I was wearing sandals just yesterday.  Not only is it cold…but it SNOWED last night.  Here’s what is left on our yard:

Look at that sad little water table in the background!  It can be a skating rink for squirrels.

This week, I definitely made some odd stuff.  I decided to dabble again with figurative work.  I started by “copying” a face from a Klimt painting:

Klimt’s painting is, of course, stunning.  I was just trying to study his way of rendering the face.  Then, I did this one:

A little blurry…think of it as a “fuzzy filter” to improve the appearance.  Hmm!  Then the next one:

Strangely enough, that one looks a little like me.  Not on a good day, of course.  I showed these to my painting teacher.  He said that they were “postmodern”.  Hmm.  I guess that means anything that isn’t “modern” pretty much.  He likes modern painters, like Pollock and De Kooning.  So…I think that he prefers much more loose and “painterly” paintings.  That means more apparent brushstrokes, etc.  As a result, I tried in his class to invent a figure painting that was more painterly:

I know.  The red is a bit much.  I think that I’ll try again,  but with a more neutral color for the figure.  It’s hard for me to paint a figure without one in front of me to look at!  I know…practice, practice, practice.  Detail:

He had some positive things to say…but this might have been to encourage me.  He did not like the red, though.  Hmm!

In my other painting class, we worked on an long 18″ x 48″ painting.  We were told to pick three colors inspired by “regeneration”.  Then, we had to mix the colors, and choose one for the background.  The shapes were made with stencils that we cut out of paper which were insipred by shapes from green/red peppers.  Interesting!  The teacher, Adria Arch, is wonderful.  I highly recommend taking one of her classes.  The outcome:

It was fun to do.  I’d flatter myself to think that it looked a bit Marimekko.

In my portrait class, we used colored pencils.  I asked why colored pencils never seem to be in “high art”, only commercial art.  Who knows???  Somehow, it’s just not seen as a fine art medium.  Does anyone out there know of an artist who uses colored pencils?  What do you think of his/her work?  Here is my profile portrait:

I was really happy with how this turned out.  This isn’t a great photo, but I think that I got a good resemblance and the coloring was decent.  Maybe I should do portraiture?  Only because I enjoy it so much…

Okay…the BIG surprise of this week is….

I have a small etching press!!!!!!!

CHECK. IT. OUT!!!!

Yes, it’s small.  But it has a press bed of around 13″ w x 20″ l.  This will take some typical sized plates and paper:  8×10 plate…9×12 plate.  Ideally, I would have a bigger press.  BUT…a bigger press is big $$$$.  This little press was being sold by a lovely gentleman in Newburyport.  It was his wife’s.  I hope that he felt that it was going to a good home.  I’m worried that the shoddy desk will collapse under it’s weight.   I hope not.  I haven’t printed with it yet…CAN’T WAIT!!!!



This and that
October 21, 2011, 12:45 pm
Filed under: Drawing, painting

This was a week of artistic randomness.  Portrait?  Abstract painting?  Woodcut?  You name it.  I have time now to get back into my classes, now that open studios are over.

My portrait class was last night.  Our teacher had the model wear two different hats, which was a challenge.  Here is the first one:

The model liked it so much that she took a picture of it with her phone.  Most of the time, models aren’t at all interested in what we draw.  She was interested and involved in all of our discussions in class.  Our teacher was taught to do portraits under Conger Metcalf.  His portraits were RIDICULOUS.  Anyway, he had lots of sayings that we are all beginning to repeat like mantras…”No raisins!” (in reference to nostrils)…”Pin the ears!” (ouch).  I suggested that we have a seance to try to reach Conger for his thoughts on how things were going in class.

Here is the other pose…with a BC Eagles visor, no less.  I left out the emblem.  (I had to draw the line somewhere…pls excuse the art humor…)

The model decided to read her book, and we drew her.  Usually, I stand when drawing…but this time, I had to sit down or her whole face would be obscured by the visor.  I’m not sure if I’m keen on drawing hats.  Detail:

In my painting class, I was annoyed with my last painting.  I wanted to get away from realism.  So, I experimented with colors and marks:

If the photo looks odd somehow…it’s because I accidentally took the photo with the painting upside down.  Now, it’s right side up.  I know.  How do I know?  It just is.  I had a watercolor teacher in grad school who was an old-school classicist architect.  We were doing housing as a project in studio, and every week he’d ask, “So, how many units this week?”  Meaning:  how many housing units, Meaning-meaning: You crazy contemporary architects don’t even have a sensible design process.  Thus, the idea that this painting has an orientation would probably be hilarous to him.  The other one from that class:

My teacher felt that this one was very “busy”.  What do you expect?  I’M BUSY.  I guess my paintings don’t convey a sort of “zen” feel to them.  Go figure.

I did some small canvases to play around. 

I photographed them at an angle, so that you can see the sides a little.

Now a portrait that I TRIED to keep somewhat loose and messy:

And an odd bit of squiggle:

I like the fact that I can completely paint over any of these if I so desire.  Acrylics are great in that way.  They are all just sitting on my desk…wondering when their time is up and I obliterate them with a new picture.

In a different painting class we did “blind contour drawings/paintings”.  This is basically when you try not to look at your paper much, and you try to trace the edges and forms that you see.  Our teacher brought in some natural objects to paint…shells, seed pods, bones, etc.  In these next two drawings, we actually had a paint brush in each hand at the same time…it was surprisingly fun…

I was looking at a vertebra.  I thought that it turned out surprisingly well, all things considered.  And a shell:

We also worked on negative space paintings.  Here are two of the vertebra:

Any comments?  Suggestions?  Artists that I should look at?  We often look at Alice Neel’s work in my portrait class.  She does really colorful, eccentric portraits.  I just orderd a book of her art, so I hope to get it in the next week or so.  Please check out her link…so inspiring…



WHEW!
October 18, 2011, 9:47 am
Filed under: Drawing, painting, printmaking

Arlington Open Studios was this weekend.  WHEW!  I am TIRED!  It was a great experience, albeit exhausting.  I really enjoyed talking to the people who stopped by to see my work.  It felt good when someone wanted to look through every print that I had.  It felt even better when someone wanted to buy a print!  I mostly sold greeting cards that were hand printed.  This makes perfect sense, as they are much more affordable than an actual print.  I did sell a few prints…but mostly to my friends.  🙂  (thank you!)  Thanks also to all of you who stopped by to say “hi”!  I really appreciated it!  This was the first time that I have had a good chunk of my work all together.  Granted, this was only my printmaking work.  I wonder how it would have gone if I had incorporated my drawings? Hmm…

So, I have a relief print of the local theater in Arlington.  You can see it on the table in the picture below.  It was a very popular print for people to stop and look at, as it’s a local icon.  No one purchased it, though, as it is hand printed and an edition of only 3. Thus, the price for each is over $100.  I’m thinking that perhaps I should make computer prints of this image, as I’m sure that a more inexpensive option would have sold.  Maybe even T-shirts and mugs?  Hmmm.  I was trying to keep this fairly “art” focused, not “commodity” focused.  I mean that I was selling originals, not reproductions.  Any comments out there on this idea????  I noticed that an artist who has watercolors was selling reproductions of his originals.  They were still over $100 each, so I wonder how well they sold.    Hmmm…thoughts?

Here are some images of my set-up:

another:

last one:

I’m pretty happy about the set-up.  I was trying to be really frugal, and not spend more than I needed to.  Most of the cost was spent on packaging the prints.  Unlike paintings, you can’t just hang bare prints up.  They are too delicate and likely to get creased or marked.  So, that was an expense packaging them.   Other than that…the baskets I already owned…the table was borrowed…the boards in the back were rotting in our garage, and I “repurposed” them as part of my display, etc.  Not bad, right?  Next time, I’m going to make my display taller.  When we had a meeting before the open studios, the artists behind me were concerned that my display would block people’s views to them past me.  WELL…look at the enormous set up behind me!  Next year, I know not to worry about that kind of thing, as no one else seemed to let that hinder them.

Beyond the open studios, my classes have been going well.  I really enjoyed my portrait class last week, as we were working in a “subtractive” way of drawing.  This means that the paper was made darker by a coating of powdered graphite.  Then, in order to get highlights…I erased the graphite and exposed the white paper.  Here is the drawing:

I was happy with this.  A close up:

It’s a nice way of working, as the midtones are already there for you.  I might have to pick up some of that powdered graphite.

My painting classes are a bit of a mixed bag.  In one of the classes, we had a model to paint from.  This is what I did:

Please excuse her face.  I need to rework that IMMEDIATELY.  Anyway, my teacher liked this, but I wasn’t so sure.  I liked the charcoal drawings that were in the background.  I painted over them and incorporated them into the painting.  I’d like to be a bit more abstract with what I do.  It’s hard for me not to try to draw the model, as I did in the portraits above.

My other painting class was fun and messy:

That was really fun to make.  Not so rigid, right?

My prints from my printmaking class were not stellar:

The color palette was not good.  Any time that I see yellow and red together, I can only think of McDonalds.  Grrr.  I have a new block, which is the fine, squiggly lines.  I’m not sure if I’m crazy about it.  I need to play with it a bit more to see.  It might be too “even” for my taste.

So, has anyone out there participated in an open studio?  How did it go for you, and what did you learn from it?  I learned that having lots of lower priced items will help sales.  I also learned that some people are receptive when you say “hello!”, and others want to be left alone to look.  It’s a challenge trying to gauge which approach to use with a person.  My favorite was when someone grabbed some candy as they walked by my table and were looking at the display across from me.  Seriously!  I think that if you are going to help yourself to the candy that someone is offering, you at least owe the person a smile and some eye contact.  Right?  A FASCINATING weekend of studying human nature…Thanks to everyone who stopped by and did chat with me!



Preparing for open studios!
October 9, 2011, 2:47 pm
Filed under: Collage, Drawing, printmaking, Uncategorized

I feel like I haven’t posted in AGES.  I’ve been working on getting my prints ready for open studios this next weekend.  It’s amazing how much work goes into participating in one of those things.  You think that you just need a table and the art, but it takes more than that.  I think that the next post I do will be AFTER the event.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  If you’re local to MA, here’s a link to the event. I’m still packaging prints, figuring out pricing, deciding how to display, etc. etc.

My portrait class actually met last week!  I was thrilled.  It was going to be cancelled for low enrollment.  Then, when I was at the first class, someone actually left after an hour because they thought that the class was going to be too complicated.  NOOOO!!!!  So, there’s only TWO of us taking the class, now!  I hope that they don’t cancel it.  I love drawing people.  Time just slips away when I’m doing it.  Here’s one of my drawings from that night…done in 45 min/1 hr.:

I’m generally happy with it.  I was using a 6B pencil on charcoal paper.  I actually recognized the model.  She must do this for lots of art classes!

I’ve also done some prints from my woodblock class.  I was working on a piece of really difficult plywood for this block.  It was impossible to cut…the wood splintered so easily…and it made the process a general pain.  No more.  My teacher said that wood like that is generally why people don’t like making woodblocks for printing.  I couldn’t agree more.  I’m only going to use the shina plywood from now on.  Here are the prints from that night:

I liked this one below the best:

It’s really interesting paper…filled with all sorts of bark and other fragments in it.  I loved it.

And another:

Okay, I held one of the prints up to the sun, so that you can see how transparent the paper is:

I also dropped into a drawing/printmaking class taught by Deb Putnoi in Brighton, Ma.  It was very fun!  Lots of messy drawing and printmaking combined.  Here are the assortment of prints from that class:

You’ll have to excuse the shadows, as the prints are all really curled for some reason…

I liked that one above.  Next:

Next:

That one above has a good bit of collage in it too…next:

Next:

Next:

I really liked the limited palette.  It was fun to be more “messy” and casual with the printmaking.  Printmaking can be SO fussy.  It just depends on how you want your prints to be.  Traditionally, they should be pristine…no thumbprints allowed and with perfect plate registration.  So, it’s fun to throw all of that out the window and just be more casual.

Okay…wish me luck with open studios!   I may have a bowl of some kind of candy on the table to entice visitors.  I suppose something that melts and becomes sticky or chocolatey would be bad.  No rice krispy treats or candy bars.  Come by and say “hi!”.



Some minor successes!

So, this past Friday evening was the opening to the portrait show that I have a drawing in!  It’s really VERY low key…but I was excited nonetheless.  The show is titled, “See You, See Me: The Art of the Portrait”, and it’s at the Belmont Gallery of Art until November 13, 2011.  Here is what some of the works looked like in the first room:

See the two women standing in front of a large painting?  The woman on the right is the artist of that painting, and it was so amazing.  It appears to be a portrait of her daughter looking at picture books in a sunny, but dark, room.  It’s an oil painting, and she’s clearly a talented painter.  Her name is Noriko Fox, and here is her website.

This is the room where my drawing was…you can see it on the back wall…just to the left of the guy in black:

closer…

Here it is!

Here is the funniest thing…So, I had to put a title on this drawing.  I did not know the name of the model, nor did I know any possible way to find out his name.  So, I made up a name…”Michael”.  He just looked like a Michael to me.  I just didn’t want to call him “Man”, or “Portrait”.  WELL…would you believe that there was someone else who had also done a portrait of him?  I am not kidding!  Of course, she had his correct name, which is “Dan”.  My friend, Janet, came to see the show and recognized him and confirmed that his name is really Dan.  Sigh.  If only I knew that!  At least we both did a good job creating a likeness of him, as pretty much everyone recognized that it was the same person!

Some other good news this week is that I sold three prints from the show at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT!  I was really happy.  Only one of my prints was selected for the official show, but the other two prints were in binders with all of the other prints that didn’t make the cut.  However, someone bought not only the one officially in the show, but the other two as well!    Not the same person, I’m sure.

My last bit of good news is that my basement workspace is finally furnished, and I’ve moved in!  I will show you a photo at some point, but it’s a bit messy right now.  I’m preparing for the Arlington Open Studios, so I haven’t had much time to really organize it.  I’ve been trying to make progress on packaging all of the prints that I plan to bring to the open studios.  Mark it on your calendar!  October 15 & 16 from 12-5pm at the Arlington Center for the Arts.  I’ll be in the big auditorium space.

Here is part of a woodblock that I have been working on.  This was printed by hand, but I’m hoping to print it with a press on Monday.  I’ll update you on how it turned out!



Little elephant…painful portrait progress…
September 28, 2011, 2:37 pm
Filed under: painting | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

My painting teacher asked us to bring in an object to paint, or “present”, in his words.  I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded intimidating.  He brought over a Rauchenberg book to show me an example of what he meant when I asked him about it.  Hmmm.  No pressure.  Setting the bar astronomically high…okay.  Have I already mentioned that I love Rauchenberg’s work?  I probably should have just crawled under my easel at that point, but I didn’t.  Maybe if I had a stuffed goat and a tire, I might be able to sort of get within the same solar system as Rauchenberg’s work.  Maybe not.

Anyway, I picked a small elephant toy that I’ve had since I was a kid.  My childhood friend, Anita, gave it to me.  Her dad was from India, and they went there on vacation.  So, here is my little elephant…in pretty good shape if you consider how old it is…

Cute, right?  He doesn’t stand up well, and tends to tip forward.  I think that either his trunk puts him off balance, or his front legs are a little too short.  I empathize.

So, here is my painting of this little guy:

I’m happy with it.  I mean…it’s no Rauchenberg.  I know.  Trust me.  This is what happens when you don’t crawl under your easel.  I’ve always thought that still life painting was kind of…ummm…not so exciting.  I gravitate towards abstract and messy art, so still lifes are so…well, still.  Maybe I need to try it again?  My teacher said nice things about it.  Again, I know.  He has to walk that delicate line of being somewhat frank, but not completely squelching me with reality.  It’s only my third class, so I think that he’s still trying not to scare/offend anyone.  He mentioned that three people left one of the other classes that he teaches, so perhaps he was worried about making the beginners in the class, like myself, run as well.  Comments?

So, I’m still not done with this odd/icky self portrait.  I know.  Just paint over the whole thing and start again.  My teacher suggested some abstract colored blobs to break it up a bit:

I don’t know.  I’d like to help it somehow, but it might bother me too much to keep working on it.   This is one of those painful confrontations with reality.  I need to go out and buy a lot more titanium white to fix this thing.  Maybe just getting a large tub of gesso and a paint gun would do the trick…I think that I get points for even posting it though, right?  Maybe not.  Sigh.



A weekend away…figurative work…
September 27, 2011, 10:51 am
Filed under: painting | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

For one weekend every year, my husband and I go back to where we were married…sans enfants.  Thanks to the generosity of my mom who is willing to watch my son, we can have a weekend escape!  I know.  How lucky!  We go to the place where we were married in the Berkshires.  It’s SO lovely…so quiet…just the noise of the wind moving through the trees.  Ahhhh.  I wish that I could bottle that and bring it home.  Perhaps that’s what those Bose noise cancelling headphones are like…sounds appealing.

So, I’m thinking about my next painting class coming up.  My teacher suggested figurative work.  I like drawing people, so perhaps I’ll like painting them too!  I made an effort not to “draw” the paintings.  Don’t get me wrong…I love the way that drawn lines look in a painting.  I just thought that I’d try to keep my paintings truer to the medium.  I basically reworked the two canvases that I had started in class.  This proved to be a challenge, as both canvases were VERY textured.  I mean…REALLY textured.  So, it was tough to do something on top that wasn’t abstract.  Here was the first one, based upon a suggestion by my teacher:

I think that you can see what I’m talking about with the “extreme” texture.  Here is a close up:

Okay, it wasn’t an assemblage, but still.  It was really tough to paint over that goopy surface.  Anyhoo…this was kind of fun.  I liked using the odd colors too.  I decided to do another one:

Hmm.  I layered this one a bit more, as I felt that it needed something to tie the abstract background with the portrait.  Perhaps I need to be a bit more abstract with the portraits.  Hmmm…

I’ve started another one, but this time…I began with a charcoal drawing on the canvas.  I have also added some texture to the canvas, but it actually relates to the image, as opposed to the two paintings above.  We’ll see how this one goes!

I found that the charcoal sort of smeared when I went over it with the acrylic medium, so I actually put most of the medium on the background.

I’ve also got a woodblock that I have to make some progress on.  I’m not using the gourmet shina plywood, but some other plywood from Woodcraft, a store in Woburn.  This is a royal pain.  I’m so spoiled with the shina plywood.  This other plywood splinters, is hard to cut, and is a general pain.  It’s made me sort of drag my feet about carving it.  I need to finish it up though!  Hopefully, I’ll have some prints next week to show of it.

The opening reception for the portrait show that I have a drawing in is this Friday!  So, if you are in the area…please stop by the Belmont Gallery of Art between 6-8pm on Friday.  I’ll be there!

 



I’m in!
September 21, 2011, 8:15 pm
Filed under: painting | Tags: , , , , , ,

So, I’m happy to say that my portrait drawing was accepted in the show at the Belmont Gallery of Art.  Yay!  This is a show titled, “See you, See me”, and it’s only portraits.  I saw some of the other works when I was dropping off my drawing.  Should be interesting!  (You can see what the drawing looks like in my September 8 blog post).  The show opens on September 30 and runs through November 13.  Please stop by!

This weekend, I went to the Hyde Park Open Studios.  This was great, as my printmaking teacher, Selma Bromberg, has her studio there.  Her work is really beautiful.  She draws gorgeous flowers, then turns the drawings into prints.  She was doing a woodblock demonstration when I arrived.  I also saw Prilla Smith Brackett, whom I met at my woodblock print class.  She’s primarily a painter, but is starting to work more with prints.  Her work was also lovely.  It was fun to see some of the completed woodblock prints that she began in class.

My painting class is still fun.  My teacher did not like the big paintings that I brought in.  He likened one of them to a “shower curtain”.  I can tell you all of this as I’ve gone through many an architecture crit, and have heard it all.  I really appreciate his honesty.  I think that he’s a good teacher.  Let’s see if I can learn something, though!  He wants me to try figurative work, as that’s my background (as evidenced by the portrait drawing).  Hmm…okay…we’ll see!  I also did a few mini-paintings.  These are only 6″ x 8″.

It was fun to work on these tiny canvases…

I may have to revisit all of these…we’ll see…

On another note…I’m horribly disappointed that the portrait class that I’m signed up for will likely be cancelled.  It’s called “The Expressive Portrait”, and it’s at the Arlington Center for the Arts.  We need THREE more people in order to have the class.  I’m so sad, as it’s highly unlikely what we’ll get them in the time left.  Having a class cancelled on you is so frustrating.  I’ve had this happen several times.  I’m always dumbfounded when it does happen.  You mean…not EVERYONE wants to take this class???  WHY NOT????  I’ve tried to send out emails, etc. to other people who might be interested in signing up.  No luck so far.  If you’re interested…PLEASE sign up!  Seriously.  Do it now.  No joke.

I wish that there wasn’t a minimum number for a class.  I mean…don’t I count at all?  Doesn’t my enthusiasm make up for the low enrollment????  I guess not…*DRAMATIC SIGH*



Last Cambridge print studio…boo hoo!
September 16, 2011, 4:20 pm
Filed under: painting, printmaking | Tags: , , , , , ,

So, today was my last open print studio at Cambridge Adult Ed.  It was great to spend time with Paula and Cindy (hello, if you’re reading this!!!).  They are both accomplished artists, so I look to them for advice and suggestions.  Today, Paula suggested that I try to incorporate my drawing skills (limited), with the abstract work that I am so interested in.  As I struggled to think of something to “draw” today, I just looked around the studio for inspiration.  We share the printmaking studio with clay, jewelry, and…woodworking!  So, my subject today turned to the drill press.  Yes…inspiration can truly be found anywhere.  Here was my first print:

That’s slightly wonky, right?  Anyway, when I did it in studio…I was not impressed.  But now that I look at it again, it’s kind of interesting.  Cindy remarked how one’s frame of mind really affects how we view our artwork.  Old watercolor paintings that she had previously set aside were better than she remembered when looked at anew.  Distance makes the heart grow fonder?  Maybe.  The second one:

I can’t really make a series about drill presses…as those are the only two that they have!  Maybe a power tools series in general would be interesting…not sure what that’s all about.

I also worked on some VERY messy paintings.  These were very fun…albeit a big mess.  Here is the first one:

I know.  Garish colors.  I kind of like garish colors, though.  I feel like that person on the current season of Project Runway who feels compelled to “BEDAZZLE” everything.  If only I’d had some glitter… a detail:

Messy fun!  Then, I did ANOTHER messy one.  Seriously.  You’ll see…blobs of paint everywhere…

I know…right?  Another “hot mess”.  Another Project Runway reference…I need to get a life.  Detail:

Then I decided that less is definitely not more, so I did ANOTHER super chaotic one:

I know that if I was at school, a teacher would have taken away my paints by now.  Boo!

Detail:

Doesn’t it look like the melted ice cream in the bottom of your bowl when you have slathered on a grotesque quantity of colored sprinkles?  By the way…what ARE sprinkles anyway?  Have you ever eaten them straight?  They’re disgusting.  Like little wax chips…and the chocolate ones are no better.

Okay…so tell me the truth about the messy “paintings”.  (notice that “paintings” is in quotes).  What do you think?  Keep the messy stuff for when I’m eating ice cream only?  Should I put away my paints permanently?  Should I have my artistic license revoked?  Hmpfh.

Wish me luck on that portrait show.  I’ll break the good/bad news to you when I find out myself!