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.

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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.

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     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! part 2

A short refresher about Teeny Art... 

I did a little painting project at the end of April beginning of May that had just about 15 people waiting in anticipation for a piece of teeny art.  I had a stack of Artist Trading Card canvases.  They are a little bigger than a business card but not by much and Strathmore Art Papers produces them to be able to trade with other artists. 



 I was inspired one night to paint a bunch, I put addresses on for several people I already know love personal mail and like my art.  After that I put the call out on Facebook to send them to people who would be interested in receiving Teeny Art.  They were taken up fast and I have a little mailing list for the next go-around.

There have been a few no big deal but time consuming life changes in the past 2 months that had me moving and starting over.  The dust has settled for the time being and I would like to post more of the art I sent out for that project :) This post will be for the three that traveled the farthest down to Florida :)

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My Auntie Lee who I call "Tilee" is my Godmother.  So if you think we are a lot alike, we are. :) I spent a lot of summers with her, my Uncle Tone (Tony), Cousin Antoine Merriweather (Ant/TONY) and Jacki "think you're so cool because Jessie's here"(Jaclyn).  I miss that summer tradition terribly.  

I was so looking forward to her visit to New England this summer as it would be like old times, but like new grown up times.  I will have to bundle her up in one of my 300 handmade scarves.  I also almost bought the Dirty Dancing CD that we listened to on repeat the summer she got her new Gold Honda Accord and we all drove around in style and Air Conditioning.  :) 

My Aunt and I share a love for the Ocean and the need to live by a body of water.  So I sent her this teeny art that they love so much. 

I am making a much bigger version to go in their bedroom.  For now the mini one is protected in a sleeve on the fridge.  You cannot see it that well, but that swish is a 24kt Gold swish.

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Ryan Soap on a Rope.

Ryan is a friend I found working on 48hr Film Challenges with Team LTJFilms (Love Thy Job).  Ryan is a talent who could help in any department on the set.  Ryan would always be there to just pick up a project I was in the middle of when needed for head of department meetings.  You really need that person on a 48hr challenge.  I was completely afraid to do these projects when my bestie and right hand art girl Janet went back to school for animation. I had no idea that on the three 48 challenges Ryan and I had worked on prior that he wanted to be in Art.  

He is of tribe weird (horray!) and is always up for something new.  I knew this was the perfect Teeny Art for him.  It could be anything... Mountains, a City, an alien planet, and I know Ryan will see it as different things all the time. 

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STEPHANIE SNOW WHITE

Steph is literally a Disney Snow White Princess at Walt Disney World.  She is a rare story where she put herself where she wanted to be and everything worked out exactly as she planned.  She has the Magic of Walt Disney in her and I just think she is an inspiration!

 

Over the years Steph and I have kept in touch from our time in the "Impressions" in high school.  She is such a big supporter of my random art weirdness and the need to send it to a home that I'm not sure how much TEENY ART she has of mine, but I know she wants lots more.  She always loves cute little smiling faces like me and here is the one I made that lives with her in the Magic Kingdom!!! Lucky teeny art that wished upon a star.

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"

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!

More of the Fish painting

As a painting progresses I like to take reference photos. Having a background in animation it's fun to see the echo of the animation process in the recording a painting.   I do this for myself, well, because it looks cool. 

I experimented with some mediums in this one using Gel Medium which slows down the drying time of the acrylic paint while giving it a gooey warm jello flow.  Seemed to feel in tune with the gooey fleshy snotty consistency of things in water all the time.

 These great cartoon ghosty eyes were happening all over the painting. I added some body to them as they became their own life.  

There are some freshwater fish making their way into this painting.  I had quite a few different fresh water fish growing up that have made it into there.  A Black Molly, a Fan tail Guppy, Some fake looking seaweed from a childhood tank... I quite miss having a fish tank. 

 The detail accomplished in these eyes were not premeditated.  They just came about in the swirl making process, and I tried to preserve it as much as possible.  I have never intentionally painted or drawn in this style before and it was quite a giddy surprise that I made something so cool looking.  Naturally I took 100 photos, in case I messed it up and had to re-do.  

I also added Dill seeds into the paint around the eye to give it a bumpy texture just to see what happens.  I have some Glass Beads Gel Medium that is hard to see in this picture, but they will be more prominent in the next set of pictures I will post on this painting.

Breaking the Fast of Winter

With a jar of blue paint leftover from another project this painting was born.

 I was thinking about what was under the surface of the ocean and a few swirls became identifiable fish.

I was inspired to create something on my new French Easel Mom bought me for Christmas.  Not quite outdoor weather to test it out in the field (like Van Gogh painting crows) but thinking about outdoors helps me get through the winter.

have to start somewhere

this is day one of the new blog that I will attempt to hook up to my Etsy Site "Paintventure" this way people who are interested can follow, and see how their commissions are progressing, and see the process of new work.  You can also contact me here