Six Word Memoir

Line Drawing in Progress

But first, the snow.
More on the way. Okay, so enough about that.

This Chuck Close love I have right now forced me to grid some 130 lb watercolor paper the other day. I let it sit, now quite sure what to do with it but knowing somehow I needed to make these grids work. I finally was inspired by Buddah's soft face and I got busy.

In this you can see the Chuck Close book and the start of my line drawing. This should be interesting.So here I go working out the nose shadows.Here I put a little distance between myself and the piece so I could see how it was coming from afar. Sometimes it's easy to forget to step back. We all get so involved in the piece it's easy to get lost in the work.

Okay, I'm gaining. No cramps in the hands, just a few hunger pangs to deal with. No lunch for me until this is over.

Did I say no lunch? Who am I fooling besides myself? I noshed on tuna sandwiches with Dan while he played some tunes. Think to yourself: Nellie, Tim McGraw, Eminem, Puff Daddy, Brooks and Dunn....I'm singing along, I'm bouncing along, I'm swearing along. It's all in good fun, just Dan's style, not mine. Back to business...

Voila. One finished piece. I gridded and then used fine point Zig marker to draw diagonal lines in each of the boxes. Interesting result. It looks really good from a distance. I'm not so thrilled about how it's represented here. I see it matted in red and framed in a thin black metal frame. This will sit well near my altar. I am contemplating doing one of these of the face of Jesus, too.

The Green Man Cometh with Chuck Close

This is a picture of me when I woke up this morning, beore I had coffee. I was lost in thought and trying to decide to wear my pink panties or my boring white ones.

There is always a lot going on and there are so many posts that I don't write that I should write. There is so much that I leave out that I want to share. Tonight as American Idol decides who's getting cut I am going to tell you What's on my mind...

• The sale of the restaurant and hotel, tomorrow it's official. This means more breathing room in my life



• Green Man...the male equivalent to Mother Earth. I feel some art coming up around this and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I think thoughts of Spring are creeping up on me and I seem to hear him whispering...



• Chuck Close, the artist. I am blown away by his self portraits and can't stop looking at the volume lent me by my artist/teacher. Please take a moment to Google this man and see what you get, I couldn't decide which of the sites had the best information on him. His work is fascinating. Gridding and painting.



• Moving...I have found new digs and am working out the kinks. I can't wait to relocate to a place where I can truly spread my wings and start anew. The one year anniversary of my big D (and I don't mean Dallas) has somehow freed me.



• Painting...finding my groove. This isn't easy. Fine art at school is different than the mixed media approach that I love. I am being challenged and ultimately that is good. I am enjoying the process even though it has been excruciating at times. I feel willing to make mistakes in order to learn and can I say this: I AM MAKING MISTAKES. Teacher says that if you like one in ten paintings or if one in ten paintings really work then you've done well. So there! See, I didn't know that. I thought they would all just fall together. Uh-uh. NO! I kind of struggle with embarrassment because in my circles I am the artistic "go-to" girl and now...well, I'm just secondary. I am learning to be okay with secondary because I know it is temporary. I am still trying to figure out my style. Bear with me, because it could get really ugly! (No pity, friends, I am okay with all of this. I think it is helping my personal growth quite a lot).



• Personal growth...I am reading "Conversations With God....Book 3" by Neale Donald Walsh. I am moved to tears with hope. Even if you don't believe that God came and spoke through NDW every word you read is beautiful and uplifting. There are times in this book that I have had to put the book down and laugh out loud. God is hilarious.



• Love...the slow but sure mending of my inner world...the constant and reassuring love of my baby brother, mother, father, former in-laws, children and friends old and new has brought me a feeling of support and community. This was much needed.



• Happiness...it's inevitable. I write A LOT. I draw and paint A LOT. I think A LOT. I pray A LOT. I believe & it's all good.

Ride the wave, friends. Just ride the wave.

P.S. That isn't really me in the photo above.

Maine Snow Storm Forces Art Students to Paint

Roof #9, acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas board
Roof # 10, acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas board
Roof #11 acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas board

The snow here in Maine is crazy big. Crazy I say. I haven't seen this much snow in years. My back aches and my shovel cries when I just think about moving all of it. But, when life gives you snow storms make lemonade, right? The saying goes something like that.

Tuesday night the Heartwood gang decided it was Cranium night. We ordered pizza and sat around the dorm's kitchen table and played a rousing game involving acting, drawing with your eyes closed, humming and other oddities. It was fun and my team won. As we entertained ourselves inside the storm brewed outside. Soon I was snowed in.

All's well, the Heartwood teacher lives down the road a mile or two and she determined if we made the coffee she would come over and do the weekly critiques. Yes, small Maine colleges can do this kind of thing. We are on the tail end of a three week intensive course and the many snowstorms we've endured this season has created some major interruption and we needed to get at it and get it done!

Borrow a pillow, lend a blanket, steal a towel and toothpaste and VOILA I am a ready made pajama party~ The next day I was first up and first to break out the paints. By noon the teacher had made it out of her very snowed in driveway and was on her way over. I'd done one and a half paintings by then and it was critique time.

For me this intensive has been painful. I don't consider myself a painter even though I do paint. I have a steep and dangerous learning curve going on and it is, in one word...PAINFUL. I don't like my results and I'm kind of scared to post them here, but I'm going to do it for the sake of art and for the sake of CED08.

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER is a lovely art show coming up at Heartwood. Heartwood, by the way, has a public gallery. They do four shows of local artists and a smattering of shows of students and faculty. SIZE DOESN'T MATTER is an annual event and is a well attended show. A few students, a few local artists and some faculty show in this one. All pieces are under 25 square inches. It runs February 18-March 21 with the opening reception being February 20 at 4:00. If any of you New Englanders want to meet me there, just speak up I am at School on Wednesday's anyway so it would be great fun!

On the homefront things are settling down. I believe I have located my new digs. I believe I have sold my restaurant. I believe life is starting anew. The power of positive thinking, following my intuition and listening to the ever present inner voice has served me well. I'm coming out of hiding soon, blasting out of my self-imposed prison.

This elephant jammed into a box was a fun little thing I did while viewing When Harry Met Sally. Yeah, I'm a little slow about getting caught up with my movie watching.

And oh, Happy Valenetine's Day! I hope you got something sweet from someone sweet. I had fun making some greeting cards for the special folks in my life, and who doesn't love Dove chocolates?

The Dog Ate My Shoes and Other Lousy Excuses

Remember the dog from the earlier post? He did eat my shoes, honest. Luckily I picked up these fabulous ones to replace the chewed ones.

Did I mention 15 paintings in three weeks? Rooftops. Here's just one of the many pictures I am working from.

Wrestling matches galore. The Handsome One's kid is on the wrestling team so off we go each weekend from one end of the state to the other watching all 104 pounds of him get tied in knots.
School is wonderful. Scanner is broken, can't post art until it's fixed. I found a new home and am working out the kinks, will report on that in detail later. I am waist deep in snow bankings due to our old fashioned Maine winter this year. I'm a cooking, painting, traveling fool. Or maybe it's just that I'm a fool. HA! (only time will tell).

Oh, I can't end this post without telling you about the amazing house concert I went to on Saturday. I'm telling you I am one fortunate fool. Scott King and his friends Steve Jones, Erik Glockler and Ginger ?? played together at a mutual friends house. Can I just say....WOW! Ginger drums for Nashville musicians like Bonnie Raitt. Steve Jones is a master guitarist and the vocals of Eric Glockler, well, ...huh! Musical genius ensued. Think Johnny Cash, the Beatles, Led Zepplin, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and originals. I was mesmerized. I feel so lucky to know these people. And how about the fabulous hosts who opened their doors for this party. Amazing.

Kelly Rae and Blue Weimeraners

One has nothing to do with the other. Kelly Rae and blue dogs, I mean. He he.



I won Kelly Rae's 508th blogpost contest. It was my lucky day last Thursday as I won not one thing, but two things that day. Kelly Rae gave me $100 worth of prints from her Etsy shop and I was one excited girl! I got three fabulous prints.



I laughed out loud when I got the mail and saw her handwriting in red marker on the outside of the large mailer. WOO HOO! I WON!
Miss Muffett was home to take a photo of me opening the package.

And here's me with my lovely prints. Thank you Kelly Rae. I wish you continued success and peace as you go for the gold. Keep on keeping on.
And just for the heck of it. Here is my grand-puppy Otto. For the record I think I am too young to be a grandmother to this puppy. And damn if my daughter doesn't call me "Grammy Tammy." SH**!

Miss Muffett calls the dog her Wuppy which means Weimeraner Puppy. This is one N-A-U-G-H-T-Y boy. He chewed my slippers and he chewed my shoes. Maybe that isn't so bad because today I got some great new loafers and sneaks. Ah well, it's good to make the best of a bad situation.

In the art world Book Making class is over. Got an A. Alphabet project has begun. I have to do 15 paintings in three weeks. I will be posting the results starting on Sunday. My subject: rooftops.

And yes, I'm being creative every day. Here's hoping you all are, too. From me to you...

Muah!