Update Friday

Painfully slow progress, isn't it?

I would like to invite you all to an open studio event I am participating in this weekend: the Fall Foliage Art Studio Tour in the Monadnock region which coincides with the Dublin Art Tour.

You may remember that I moved from my studio downtown at the beginning of the summer? So instead of everyone looking behind the sofa at my cubby... I will be in my friend Luann Udell's art studio. She makes fabulous fiber art and jewelry art and she's a lot of fun, so I am excited to hang out with her for two days. If you are near Keene, she is on Roxbury Street, East of Main Street about a half mile. Just look for the signs. :-)

I will be bringing this work in progress along so if you would like to see me working on it come on by this weekend!

Update on Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Here's a very warped update!  I took away the hairs that were on her face for a cleaner look and have started all that grass!

I really wish I could buy open stock pencils locally that are not Prismacolors! Coloursofts are my workhorses but I don't want to wait for them to be shipped to keep going, so the pencils here will be very mixed. Good thing they play nice together: its a mixture of Coloursofts, Prismas, and Luminance pencils. 

Beginning of Norman Rockwell Series

I've been wanting to do a series inspired by Norman Rockwell for a long time (ask my friends, they are tired of hearing about it) and I am finally diving in. The idea of the series is to combine the sense of humor of Rockwell but apply it to today's social environment. I want them to say something about family life TODAY and all the wonderful weirdness of it. Issues I am thinking of is the plethora of extracurricular activities kids are in, the infusion of gadgets in our daily lives, working Moms, Dad's new roles, etc. etc.

The reason why I haven't started yet is because the set up on them is more than I am used to and I am not sure how I will market them... or if I will.   I just feel like I have to do them and after just having my 38th birthday I am ready to risk it and to do the series, before I hit 40, lol. That is what you do right? Hit 40?

So I started my first one... its a simple one, in that it only has one model. The next one will have multiple models, props etc so I decided to do my first one with just one model (even if she [my daughter] made me pay her $20 for the honor of portraying her).

I think the title will be "Wrong Place or Wrong Time." A little girl stands on an empty soccer field, ball in hand, cleats and pads on, but also dressed in her ballet outfit and bunned hair. Did her mom drop her off at soccer when she is supposed to be at ballet? The viewer can guess, but down near her feet will be two google calendar event bubbles for "Soccer Practice on Thursday" and "Ballet Class" on Wednesday. I wonder if she looked at the calendar before she drove off in the SUV?

It is 24" x 36" - which is huge for me. I plan on getting these photographed after and if I frame them, framing them open air (no glass) &varnished to cut framing costs and to keep the weight down - glass is heavy. If I varnish I can't use Polychromos like I usually do with my portraits, so I am using Coloursofts and Prismacolors like I do on my still-lifes. The paper is my favorite Fisher 400, which I am running low on now! Varnishing these may backfire. Whenever you varnish a colored pencil drawing the darks will deepen and some colors will change a bit. That's why I will be having them photographed professionally first and then trying the varnish. Hopefully the varnish won't change them much!

Keene Sentinel Article

I was recently interviewed for an article in my local newspaper. The article is for a piece they do every other week focusing on a member of the community. It will be online probably only for a week. You can see the new "little" piece I'm working on it it too.

http://www.keenesentinel.com/articles/2010/10/02/community/monadnock_profile/free/id_414222.txt

Nopales

Cactus Salsa

In November I am going to be part of an exhibition at Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego California along with my online critique group: Louise Sackett, Katherine Tyrrell, Gayle Mason, and Vivien Blackburn. 

The show is supposed to reflect the wildlife in the park. Here's a snippet from the Mission Trails website:

Mission Trails Regional Park encompasses nearly 5,800 acres of both natural and developed recreational acres. Its rugged hills, valleys and open areas represent a San Diego prior to the landing of Cabrillo in San Diego Bay in 1542. 

It has been tough for the group to come up with subject matter for the show as all but Louise lives far from the area. I live in New Hampshire, on the east coast, which seems mighty far away, but Katherine, Vivien and Gayle live even further away in England, so I am not going to complain. 

On the Mission Trails website they have listings of pretty much all the plants that live in the park. One was the prickly pear cactus (the one and only cactus in the park) which I am very grateful for! So when I went back home to Illinois this summer I visited a Mexican grocer and got myself some prickly pear cactus! I know... show in California, I live in New Hampshire and I picked up the subject in Illinois... at a grocery store. Well you do what you have to do!

So to end an unnecessarily long story, my cactus has been getting browner and browner in the fridge so I had to do this piece now! Its a collection of ingredients for Nopales Salsa! 

I'll be doing a couple of more pieces for the show soon... thanks to my stepsister Lisa who lives in San Diego and who sent me a bunch of goodies she and her son picked up for me!