Two Month Hiatus!

 The painting show (of course) didn't happen.  I was given information on the particulars of the nature of the work to be shown too late.  

I am still looking for a show, or at least a space to show my work in person, so we can have the wine and cheese and grapes and chocolates etc.  Maybe I'll have to do a summer show and call it my birthday... or do a show at my Half Birthday on Jan 16th.

Still working on ideas.  I haven't been painting much. I have been coloring in what publishers are now calling ADULT coloring books... I am calling them ALL DAY coloring books because it takes a whole 8 hours to color one page as the content is so teeny. I am having fun. However with so much to do (looking for work, looking for gifts) they are much more time consuming than Garfield themed coloring books... so I may switch back to Garfield for a bit.

Everything is OK with the hiatus.  In my profession I am either working hard 12+ hour days or hardly working and then working on projects of my own.  Here is a sample of the book I am coloring in.  It's called ANIMORPHIA by KERBY ROSANES  https://www.facebook.com/Animorphia/

http://www.zifflin.com/   this link is for the publisher's information as they are great too and you can buy the book.  I think I got mine at either Barnes and Noble or Michaels.  

He's really COOOOOOOOL!

Also, Tis the season for making presents and this is one set I have been working on:

2015 Ornaments

These ornaments are medallions cut by my Dad using fallen branches.  We found them at the base of my Grandfather's favorite cluster of Birch trees at his camp in Vermont.   My Grandfather's ashes were scattered here in July 4th 2015.  The picture below are ones I made last year from what I bought at Michael's.  It was requested I make them again from Grandpa's trees so it would be more meaningful.  I don't have pictures yet of all of them from the camp branches but the one pictured ABOVE is one.

2014 Ornaments

Happy Holidays everyone, and I hope to come back sooner with something awesome.  I may do a few stories on past paintings in my galleries that have no back story yet.  

Also I shall put more on the Etsy Paintventure site soon to buy.  I will be bringing down the prices since I don't need to save them for the show anymore.  :) Talk soon.

PREPARING: TEENY ART SHOW

Teeny Art Show

Pre-sale on Paintventure's Etsy Site

~ Art will also be in the Show - 

I have been painting on and off during the past three months.  I have some pieces now that I feel are "finished".  I will show you a few so you can get excited with me! 

Click on the pictures to go to the Etsy Site for pre-sale (and to be able to zoom in) before the art show. Thanks!

Last Teeny Art Post

Final Post for this past May's Teeny Art send outs!   ___________________________________________

  Started by dripping paint on the teeny canvases to let my imagination find a story or a picture, this one looked to me like a pair of pants, and then I thought, what if that pair of pants was saving this kitty from the paint puddle at the bottom.  Fred was always drawing animals that had one eye bigger than the other and I thought of him when this one was done.   I met Fred within my time at the craft store and knew we would be lifer friends immediately.  He is one of those people who's Aura is so bright you need shades.  He is a Chef in the Marines and those Marines are so lucky to have him feed them every night.  His food is delicious, and that's an understatement.  He is also major silly pants.

Matt is by far my silliest friend, and if anyone would deeply appreciate a Thug plant eating dinosaur who has seen some stuff in the clink and then got out, and fancied up for a tuxedo, tails and top hat party... it's Matt and his zombie fighting ninjas.

  Sven is my friend Kristen.  I met her in High School and we get our nicknames from a world history assignment where were were assigned the groovy give-no-shits Country of Switzerland that made sandwiches and everyone was named Sven. Jealous much?  Yeah, we're still pretty much like this... and are relaxed about planning a backyard hammock chill out sandwich eating groovy hangout session.   

Annie is one of my besties from the Dorms in College.  This painting no way represents her or anything about her, but we both work so much in color I thought I'd see what she thought about grey and swoops and seagulls.  Non plussed ;)  I also used have the painting for my signature... which is like... so art school.

  I sent this one to my Mom's best friend from High School Stephanie.  Her son has really beautiful red hair and I always had a crush on him... so I sent her this one as a thank you for always thinking of me and sending bake ware from the store she manages :)  She is not online unfortunately and probably will never see this post about how wonderful she is... so it's a good thing I send her USPS mail every 6 months to tell her :)

                                                      Andrew is a friend from my days as an internship coordinator at a Film Festival.  Somehow it reminds me of the arrangement of the festival offices.  Andrew was my youngest intern at the time as a Senior in HS but he took on about three off-season programs and was a  HUGE part of making the festival run that year.  He was a pleasure to be around and continues in the film industry as a documentary filmmaker.

  NICOLE.  I did one more in this style of crisscross boxes and I do not have a photo of it.  Hers has drawings of little kitties in windows.  She took some photos and posted them of her neighbor's cat in the window and I think about those cute photos all the time.  I would blow them up and make them big for my walls if I had the wall space.  In cities you are always seeing kitties in windows and it is so precious.  KITTEN!  What are you looking at!?  So if you are reading this Nicole and have your teeny art handy please take a pic and I will update!That's it :)  

TEENY ART ARRIVES! part 3

Aunt Val. More like an older sister who was out of the house before me.  She's my Dad's Sister, and when I was very young I knew her as getting ready for dates and driving me around in her car putting on frosted pink lipstick and just being totally awesome.  There is a shift in energy when we are together... everything is loopy and fun, emotional and full of laughter and sass.  She has... WE have been through a ton of I-wish-this-wasn't-happening-but-it-is moments in the past two years that I know *I* wouldn't have been able to get through without her.  All I can say, is she is the Aunt who knows all the dirt on yours truly.  

  I thought this ocean teeny art was just for her.  She like my Mom's sister Tilee loves the Ocean.  Since she's my RISK IT ALL AND LAUGH ABOUT IT LATER relative... it seemed fitting to give her the painting that I was trying out a new brush with and it happened to come out terrific.  This painting also makes me miss my home in Lynn, MA...but I know it is a risk-it-all-and-laugh-about-it-later kind of time for me.

______________________________________________________

MOM. <3<3<3 My Mom is always there to go to a museum or any destination with me no questions asked.  So much so that one Halloween I took a vacation and was going to spend five days in Salem.  She said she would like to come, and I said that was fine but I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to experience and she would have to go to those places with me, because I planned a solo adventure.  She did.  Sometimes I am like "I AM GOING TO DO ALL THE THINGS!! IF YOU WANT TO COME KEEP UP!"  

My friends are mostly like "meh" and she's always like "ok"

     I was like "I'm going to Art School" and she was like "ok", and I was like "I'm GOING TO WORK IN MOVIES!!!" and she was like "ok" and I was so surprised my whole life because I hear of other relatives and parents being like "YOU CAN'T GO TO ART SCHOOL, you must do something practical"  and my Mom was always like "ok" My achievements are hers :)

     SO my Mom got the first one I made on this teeny art mission.  I was going for an impressionistic style (Monet, Mary Cassatt) and also an abstract representation of that style and came up with what I know is a blond lady in profile wearing a blue bow in her hair and a blue dress sitting at a table with tea, but you can only see it if you are standing at least 20 feet away from the teeny thing. :)

You'll see it.  And if not you will see the duck with the hat my Mom sees in there too.

______________________________________________________

     Shannon is my 3rd cousin?  I dunno hahaha.  I know we are related and she is on my Dad's side.  That side of the family is huge and I don't know anyone's exact relation to me, I just know they are.  Grandpa had a million brothers and sisters, so.  I don't know Shannon very well, and if I met her before last year I don't know.  I say this all because I do not have a little blurb about her except that she had a bottle rocket war with my cousin on Independence Day and plays some great horseshoes.  She told me that her daughter says it's DEFINITELY a Mermaid in the painting.  :)  

Teeny Art Arrives!

Some Teeny Art have new homes!  Below is the first one USPS delivered swiftly to Destinie Curran (Ellis). To my surprise she had framed it shortly after it arrived!  So nice. 

 Destinie is a fine artist We attended the same High School.  We had a nice online messenger conversation last week to catch up. I really do miss the art class crew.  Creative people really are the best. Check out Destinie's work on this Facebook page.  You might not see it due to her controls, however she will be sending something in return I hear and when that gets here I'll follow up.  

 The second Teeny Art I got wind of arriving was from BBF Jodie Boduch (Zdrock)!  It's a kitten waterfall! Jodie and I met in Madame's French Class during HS. I decided I was going to sit on the other side of the room with the Sophomores because they looked like they were laughing and having a better time than me. I thought I was pretty special that I moved myself over there.  Jodie did too and we have stayed friends since.  Sometimes I remember some French.  Je t'aime Jodie. 

Jodie is also a creative person!  She writes books, and has her own company Much Ado Marketing.  She also makes the best Martini's and has the best taste in everything.  She influences my summer reading list always. Oh yeah and she also runs marathons.  So that's why I kinda thought this one was for her... always flowing energy somewhere that ultimately ends with her and her 3 KATZ tearing around the house with a toy mouse. 

Thanks Ladies for the pictures and the shares and the love!  It was very fun to do and brightened my spirits as well.  As more come in I shall post stories.

Teeny ART! (Random acts of Art)

Good Afternoon.  It is about 70 degrees on this Sunny by the beachside day.  I'm sitting inside for now, but plan to head over to the beach to read soon.  

 I love to paint and decided one night I would do what I'm best at.  Being Kind. I painted 13 teeny artist trading cards (ATC's),  put them in tiny envelopes and cards I created myself.

I am sending these out to people I know on Facebook as it was a neat and easy place to publish my give away.  I did put my blog site on every envelope ( I think!) so you all can follow me here if you want as I'm trying to get back into blogging as it's a nice head space for me. 

I don't want to give away what everyone is getting before it comes to them in the mail so I am going to post more when I hear that people have gotten their "teeny Art"

ITALIAN PAINTING

I am finally calling the Italian themed painting for my Aunt Valerie finished.  

Not much else to say but it's finished!  Horay!!

Artist Trading Cards "ATC" - because I did.

I have a stockpile of "Artist Trading Cards" blank of course, and I am always deifying these little 2.5" x 3.5" cut pieces of Acrylic Pad Paper.  They sit in my drawer, wanting to be masterpieces that I trade with friends and artists and just have this awesome Artistic lifestyle sipping Martini's and being posh and wonderful... but since that doesn't happen for reals, and most likely won't, these cards just had all this unnecessary mysticism, or hopes and dreams, put on them, that stunted their potential and growth.  

So I was cycling through an emotional roller coaster in my Artist head one evening and decided... I'm never going to be the posh cool Artist that receives this beautiful fantasy of give and take pen pal art making and I got pissed about being alone all the time, broke and invisible so I opened all the little packages and started painting them all the color brown that you see on the package below.  I don't like it when my life is not ever like my dreams.  Art Therapy.

This started as an assignment from the book "Drawing Lab."  A person is to make art using a small inanimate object.  I chose these that live in the drawer dedicated to pencils in my drawing desk drawer: 

Wooden Sculptures acquired years ago Mom gave them to me.   I don't know who she got them from.

The gist of the assignment is limit your color palette and only use the object throughout a series of drawings that you complete each in five minutes or less.  The rule of the book is don't get too precious about it.  The assignment is fun and sketchy and no pressure art.  I really free up creatively when I "draw" with paint, I don't really relax drawing with pencil, I can't really "paint over" mistakes when I draw.  Erasers don't really erase.  

I started with four dinky acrylics that comes-with-the-dollar-stretched-canvas-purchased-at-Christmas Tree Shops and used those to "use them up"  but they actually ended up nice flowing paints.  Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre, Cobalt Blue, and Cad Orange.   I started just using two round brushes size 0 and 2.

Then this one had to start coming alive.  I was having a great time with the assignment just being what it was, and then this magical thing happened where my imagination just started flowing through my arm and doing that Zone/Sync thing and a story happened, and an unlikely friendship happened.  :)  So for the last two I broke out all the little brushes, including my awesome Princeton Select brushes.  I used a teeny bit of white (cheater) and definitely took more than five minutes (sigh... FAIL at directions...)

EYE CRINKLES!! SIGH :) Happy Giraffe is happy.

THESE BRUSHES HAVE SOULS I SWEAR!!

The finished pieces did end up getting a proper home to my good friend Annie. I was visiting and I have a compulsive need to gift her something when visiting.  We went out to chill at the lake where I dug some sweet caverns with my feet in the sand as she talked about all things.  Annie is one of my only friends that I really listen to and don't cut in with advice too early. 

 Her husband Matt came home while we were out.  Annie had left the cards on the Kitchen table.  When we came back, Matt said VERBATIM what was going on in my head when I was making them. He was describing the little story that was on the table.  I wanted to cry... it was so moving.  I don't think I said a word though.  It was just one of those things that never happens.  My thoughts transferred into the work.  :)  "He was going to eat him, and then he doesn't, because he thinks 'this one isn't scared and could be a friend'"

It was just so arresting because he said it exactly in the same words as I had in my head.  Psychically connected, or psychically imprinted into the art?  hmmm.

I may have just teared  up.  It was pretty Magical, the whole experience and I definitely hope to make some more someday and see if I show someone and that happens again.  If I ever die I want Matt to write all the reviews of my work to let people know what was going on in my head.  :)

So here's the next batch to be painted, someday. :)  I have to get back to Val's painting!  AHHH!  :)  I must stop being so precious about that one too, and just get some wine and dimples paint already.  

Carla is cool too, and you should check out her website sometime and her art.  

Distracted by Actors...happily...must be Disciplined like a Jedi.

I'm awake and I should be sleeping.  Got caught up in the van gogh movie.  And this cute critter.

Dimples Paint.

I went out with a co-worker (who is 20) the other night and we being frustrated working part-time at a retail shop decided to go out and, well... whine like babies.  When I (35) should be getting off my ass and getting more film work I was swearing a lot about suffering through this retail job.  Like every other word.  I am proud of it, yes I am because it's better for me than that quiet thing called holding it in, or even meditating, which isn't really an outlet.  The difference that day was we were sitting next to a family in "Not your Average Joe's" and well... we were trying to clean it up with code word "dimples."

So "DIMPLES" get to the DIMPLES point already, Paintdimplesventure.

This week my main focus has been the detailed task of cleaning up my shaping, perspective lines, coloring, and my language.

my coffee went cold you can tell because it's the map from harry potter on the cup when it's hot.

I am having perspective issues with the cheese and cracker board.   It's been a little hard to imagine the vanishing line for me.  So feel free to steal the photo and draw over it in PS if you can see what it should be.  The "Ah HAH" moment has been lost on me.

Dimples Grapes and Dimples Sunflowers.

Dimples Highlights and Dimples Shading

Dimples Blurry Dimples Trees in window and Dimples more refined bricks in the Dimples wall.

There it is.  I hope to work more on the dramatic lighting this week but needed it to dry a bit before I went ahead and did some wash over the background wall.  I'm getting way more detailed than I have to, since the style is more like the reference photos in the background that I think my Aunt is looking for... but this is what happens when I paint.  I do whatever happens for a long while and then I go in and change it.  It's like it has to reach a certain Jess-style point before I can let it go and make it someone else's.  It's been happening since... I picked up a brush and dipped it in paint.

   It becomes more matchy of Aunt Val's Kitchen colors every time it's worked on, but for some reason, it's easier to have bright base colors to tone out with grays and tans later to create the sages and wine colors she likes so much... it takes a little mixing and not straight from the tube to get the subtle color with these water mixable oils since they only come in a few numbers of colors.  I'm getting there I swear with a lot of help from my color wheel :)  And all the other painter's say "DUH" but I must remember... this is the first time I'm using oils and now that I know it is a challenge to pull out the intensity of color in oil... I will be, you know... using it a lot more for my own work.  :)

This guy is way faster.  Watch :)

Three Months and a Wedding.

It has been, yes.  Too long.  I agree.  I blame my Brother and my new sister in law. 

 They were married last weekend, see, and I was having much more fun paying attention the the happiness involved in that 3 month preparation than, psht, making CRAFTS.  My Mom however, made my dress.  Look how great my dress is.   My Mommy made my dress, and I am a Princess.  lol.  :)


   I'm the girl giving a funny look all the way to the left hand side.  My father stole Dana's Bride Linda away the second they said "I Do" and Dana was saying that he still had all these ladies.  :)  My family.  

I was barefoot and I am still 10 ft taller than any "normal size" girl.  But I got the "cute" gene, so it has been working out.  I make fun art and I make everyone laugh so that has to be something.

   Everyone from both sides bonded very quickly over making floral arrangements and putting up decorations on the day.  I guess there was group crafting happening.  It was such a memorable wedding and reception I can't imagine anyone not having fun!  My GRANDFATHER married these two crazy kids.  

ALRIGHT!  Enough jibber jabber!  Do you wanna see some painting?  I have some for you:)

This is where I started.  Gasp.  Stop looking.

This is where it was in April.  Above. 
Easter.  Dana announces engagement.  We all come together and make it happen in 3 months.  Forward to this past Wednesday night :

  So it's coming along, slowly and surely.  So glad I don't have a real deadline.  Today. ::arrow down::

 Clean Palate as of tonight, and here are some lovely grapes.

See you soon!

Aunt Val's Painting

In High School I painted a still life in the style of Paul Cezanne.  It was the hardest assignment I had to do.  I was so frustrated with it I basically told my teacher in such a bratty teenage way, that I was done.  She pushed for me to "fix" a few things and I was like F-That, because it was me the class was waiting on to move on to the next assignment, and I didn't want to be the slow kid.  It still looks pretty good, but that teapot is just not quite right.  I don't care. It has character...lol

So here I go again, trying to do this style AGAIN.  I will get frustrated, I will be upset, but I'm going to get through it because it is for my Aunt Val, and I love her.  She just loves those grapes in the original painting.  Besides I had a ball painting the rest of the painting so this should go that way as well... it was just ... SLOW for me to pick up on the style.  Of course there will be little me-isms in there which you probably can tell already my base colors of Blue, Green, and Orange are already predominant... I will TRY to get more colors in there.  There's some red, and purple and some yellow in there already I swear!

So you'll be with me for a while on this one, but I'll post some other interesting things in between so we won't get bored.   

I was sent a few reference photo ideas for this one.  It is my first time using Water Soluble Oil Paint for an entire painting.  It takes a long time (I work with acrylics usually).  Oh and I like challenges. 

 

I really need the windows open for this one so it has been put off until the weather was better. I started the color blocking part months ago and the window in the painting was putting me off.  Mocking me, telling me it was "off" like the teapot so I figured it out working on that section mostly today (about 2 hours) So it's still in it's baby-stages but at a point where I can let you guys start following along with me.   

I hope to get some more interesting objects in there as time goes on, maybe some cheese,  but for now these are just place markers since what I really want to do is start getting the landscape in the window (I'm thinking Mt. Vesuvius) to look decent before I muck around with the table.  As you can see, I have set up my faux "still life" so as I get bored of either working on the table or the 'scape... I can switch easily between them without too much fixing.  The point for this one is going to be trying to get the light just right through that bottle. 

The photos aren't great of what (to the right) I worked on today since I have been too destitute to purchase new batteries for my good camera and these were taken on my phone,  the first earlier in the sun, the second with just my overhead living room lighting since it's now.. 2:30am.  I tend to over explain things out of nervous habit...

More soon!