Road Trip, part 1

There is nothing like a road trip...especially with family. 


 "Turn right on Frog Level Road," the sarcastic little Australian-accented-computer-generated GPS voice stated. We obeyed and a small scream escaped our throats as we realized Frog Level Road was only wide enough for one car and was made of dirt.  My passenger, who is also my sister, matter-of-factly stated, "Well, there's no turning back now."  No duh.  


This kind of thing never happens in the city.

We were traveling to Rose Hill, Virginia, where my folks have a summer home. I brought my camera and had hopes of taking lots of pictures of cows.  (I like to paint cows.  Cows are cool.)  We used to come here as children.  I have memories of bluegrass music being played on the porch, lightning bugs in a jar, walking to the creek. As a child I thought that this place was the most beautiful place on earth.  As an adult...I still do.  

foggy morning from the front porch

cows. 

Time hasn't radically changed this place.  You still chew the bark of the slippery elm tree if you have a stomach ache.  Still get together on Friday night to make music.  Still go to church on Sunday.  The people here are beautifully simple; they appreciate the earth's produce, peaceful living, ancient music and spirituality. I wish I could paint all of that.

Instead, I just paint the cows....

moo.

Just In!

these frames rock!

These fabulous frames are made of repurposed antique wood and already have a hardboard 'canvas' fixed to the frame.   The hardboard is a great base to use for mixed media - just slap on a layer of gesso or paint and you are ready to go.  They cost me $10 each (what?! you can barely buy a canvas for that!) and if you want one, it will cost you $10 plus a cookie.


This old wood has layers of paint and chips and scars, and if I sit quietly (which is super hard to do) I am inspired by the frame. I mean it is almost like I can hear a few lines of its story.  Yes, I know I'm shaking my head, too, but that isn't as weird as the time I witnessed a SQUIRREL FUNERAL! . . . I'll have to tell you about that another day.  


Anyway, here are a couple of paintings that were inspired by the frame and its story: 

angel.  
mixed media on wood in barnwood frame
using pages of an antique prayer book as a base layer

music lessons.
mixed media on wood in barnwood frame
using pages of 1924 ledger as a base layer  

(you can click on My Etsy Shop at the right 

to get the whole story)

Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.  Winnie-the-Pooh, philosopher

what was I thinking?!

I talked like I had too many shots of Monster Energy Drink....

I sweated...  

I got sick to my stomach ...

I didn't explain things well ...

I put out every single art supply I own...

in four different stations....

everything from handmade papers
to rusty metal pieces of trash ...

posted inspirational quotes all over the house
 (yes, even in the bathroom!)

STILL....

even with all of the overkill
(4 different coffee creamers for 9 people)

with all of the uncertainty...

with all of the different personalities...

there was laughter ...

we made art...

and it was good.

because Life is not Black and White and neither are Artists

Tomorrow!  Tomorrow!  Tomorrow is the first get together @ Front Door Studios and I am SO EXCITED!  I'm going to use way more exclamation points than usual today (and I use a lot!) !!

Coffee - check!

Towels in the bathroom - check!

Paint - check!

Brushes - check!

Coffee - oops, doublecheck!

Music! - YES!!

We must have music to do art!  Several color-themed playlists have been created for the first few Art Nights, it just took a while to decide on the perfect one for the first evening:

1.  Blue is way too sad and has many Lucinda Williams' cuts on it.  People usually have to ease into Lucinda...


2.  Yellow & Orange - almost went with this one- but didn't.


3.  Red - lots of songs about murdering a cheating lover....didn't want to get started so violently.


4.  Green - I need more songs for this list.  Suggestions welcome (yep, already have Green-Eyed Lady)


5.  Gray, Brown ...  We aren't going to be painting mules...I hope.


Tomorrow night's playlist is Black and White.


I think Black and White is appropriate because many times we (those who attempt to make art) think of artists as either Black or White.  You either HAVE IT or YOU DON'T.

• you can't paint? oh, you aren't a REAL artist.

•  you can't draw an exact replica (preferably portraits or historic buildings) ... then, it's really just a DOODLE.

•  if you can draw from your imagination - you're an artist!  if you have to use a photo reference, well, go stand on that side of the room.  

•  you use a projector to help you draw, *deep exhale* (insert sad shaking head here)

• you have an art degree?  hooray!  a bunch of professors who can't make a living as working artists told you if you fit your art into this box they've created, "YOU ARE AN ARTIST" (and here is the paper to prove it).  oh ...you didn't graduate from high school?  sorry, we will just call you ..."Scribbler". 

Yeah, I have this conversation with myself all of the time. 

"The artist is not a different kind of person, 

but every person is a different kind of artist. "

 Eric Gill, artist who worked mostly in Black and White.  

The Angel of St. Matthew, Eric Gill, 1931

Today you are an artist.  Tomorrow you will be, too. 

Hoppy Easter!

Hoppy Easter, Everybunny!

There's No Place Like Here

The last house we lived in was in a town where the nearest coffee shop was 60 miles away.  FOR REAL.   There was no library.  No bookstore.  No furniture store.  No restaurant without the word FAST in its description.  No bakery.  No ART GALLERIES!


There was cotton.


. . . and it was famous for an amusement park straight out of the 1960s that you would recognize from your reoccurring nightmare when the clowns keep chasing you and you can't find the road leading you home.


We didn't like this town.


It didn't like us either.


The house we live in today is right in the middle of the city on a crazy busy street.  People are always out walking,  traffic is pretty loud and sirens whiz by. I don't like to weed in the front yard because lots of people will see me bending over.  I try to squat and pull.  

I can walk to a coffee shop, an art gallery and restaurants that aren't part of a chain.  


There is no cotton.


City dwelling does have a small inconvenience, though:  parking.  For those of you coming to Front Door Studios on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday nights, you'll have to park on the side street and schlep all of your stuff down the block.


Afterward, we can walk to get coffee.....

Musings.

Muse:  a source of inspiration for a creative artist or one of the nine Greek goddesses, the daughters of Zeus, presiding over the arts and sciences

Painting has become more inspired 

since this Muse bounded through the Front Door