Dearly Beloved Child

My commission oil portrait of a baby born prematurely and who sadly only lived 4-6 hours, is coming along to my liking and I'm so pleased! I can be such a sorrowful artist that my system has a hard time going forward when all is not right with my execution as far as I'm concerned. This baby's grandmother commissioned this and she is not just a regular client for about 5 years, but I've also grown so fond of her as a dear friend though I haven't met her in person. I just feel like she's always paid such a caring attention to me and my art and I just want her to know I appreciate it and return the kind gesture to what's important to her.

Anyway, I spoke to her on the phone for the first time last week and I was able to ask her some sensitive questions about the baby that I felt uncomfortable to ask via email. And I guess that was the key so now I am able to go forward. :0)

Here is the rest of it, but it's all still a work in progress.

11"x14" commission oil portrait on canvas. The sunlight on the right is more yellow and will get even more so as I work on it; that section is very under developed right now.

Fuchsia of My Eyes

"Fuchsia of My Eyes" watercolors, image fits in 8"x10" mat opening.

So titled because I've yet to paint lovely fuchsia flowers that I can get gratification from lol The intent is always there. But for some reason, the journey from my eyes to my brain, to my hand, then to the tip of my brush results in something almost abstract. Anyway, there she is.

Today I went to the final liquidation sale of a gallery and art store that has shown my work. It's a direct casualty of our current economy. Just when they installed a permanent wheelchair ramp too! So I ended up buying the temporary ramp they especially built for me. It's a work of art in itself with beautiful ly cradled planks of wood in aluminum. Very sturdy. It's no wonder too as a sculptress built it who is a co-owner of the place.

She congratulated me on an article she read on me recently. I was surprise as it was the first I heard about it though I knew something might come up since I was interviewed. It's now published online if you are interested: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/62954 Yup, it's basically a plug for one of the galleries that carries my work.
I've been painting my oil portrait commission and I'm also sharpening up some of my basic knowledge. I am busy creating about 12 6x8 canvas color charts of oil pigments I use. When I'm done I will have 660 half-inch oil squares of colors to save me time trying to figure out what colors I will need for my next painting.

Most of the time I try a limited palette of yellow, red, blue and white then I mix my black by combining the primaries which result in nice harmony. But I'm getting very tired of those colors.

I'm still not feeling all that well. But this week I will see a pulmonary specialist who will run tests. I only pray his knowledge is useful to me as I know I will have to pay for it even if he's completely useless. **keeping fingers crossed**

Creative Process?

Theresa Bayer in my watercolor group posted the question: what is your creative process?

Good question! It's definitely something I rarely take the time to think about a I tend to not have the time to think about because I'm either trying to get something done for a show, competition, a commission deadline that's fast approaching ... anyway, I seem to respond to things with time constraints just to make myself insane, I suppose. OR keep me insane :)

I have about 60gb of photos I took because "I'd love to paint from them". But I have an inkling I paint more from other people's photos. I think it's because seeing other images means my idea is fresh, whereas painting from my photos means, I already "painted" it in my head while I was photographing so the fire is not as intense to go to through the actual painting process. I am still promising myself and those people whose patience I've stretched waiting for me to take enough photos of one subject.

Most of the time I get my ideas from a moment I'm having. THE RACE BEGINS before I lose my curiosity! At the earliest point I try to write myself a note about why I want to produce the piece; what inspired me. By writing a note I hope to rekindle the fire when it begins to fade, and in my case, it fades very quickly because I have short attention span. Then I dig around for photos and other visual aids to make the moment more concrete in my head. Sometimes I draw value studies and compositional studies, but I tend to do them digitally. I know, I know, it's really not good practice if I want to stay sharp.

I have pieces I've lost interest in that I've picked up, finished and sold. I've noticed when I do this that I go back to them a more mature artist and with less inhibitions

Often times I also fall into one of my dry seasons when I can't seem to get past little sparks of ideas, I think I'm having such a season while I try to let my health issues run its course because when I do try to paint something lately, they have failed to feed me (figuratively and monetarily haha!). I am so pleased that people seem to seek me for commissions, and even more ecstatic that they are always a combination of random Internet people who have stumbled into my website and way even more wonderful that some are return clients :)