Back in the Studio

The studio is still being put to rights but I knew I needed to get back to the easel so I started up again. It has been a couple of weeks. I needed to take that time to re-arrange and be ready for a new productive year but, UGH! I forgot how hard it is to start back up after a longish absence. Everything feels clumsy and I feel rather dull and awkward trying to paint. I am gritting my teeth and keep working in spite of the voices of doubt and disparagement in my head and through what I know as Resistance, with a capital "R". I am starting to get back in the groove but not without a struggle. I think next time I will do my best to not take so much time off.
I am very new to daily painting. For that matter, I am fairly new to painting period! I am realizing that it isn't just my lack of skill that is contributing to the length of time it takes to make one small painting, but I have also been trying to paint too complicated of a composition. I am going to finish the current painting in progress and then simplify, simplify, simplify. Deep breath and keep going. Here is my progress so far with about 5 hours (most daily paintings are 1-3 hours) and more to go:

Oh yeah, I am aware of all the things that need to be corrected and I am just in the blocking in phase. I will fill in the history of the objects when the painting is finished.
To finish up this post, I have been inspired by two wonderful women this week. One is actually a young girl and her story is both uplifting and so very sad. Jessica Joy Reece was 12 years old and had two brain tumors with no cure. She chose to spend her time not only fighting the disease but spreading joy to other kids through making "joy jars" to give to kids fighting cancer. I had "liked" her page on Facebook, something that I don't always do. Over the months I came to admire her courage and positive loving outlook on life. She started a foundation called NEGU (never, ever, give up). She did so much, and touched so many people in such a short time. She seemed to be hanging in there but the other day took a turn for the worse and suddenly passed away. I realized when I read the news (with a bit of swearing and many tears)  how much this brave young girl really touched me. How can I give up on trying to be anything but my best now? I can't, so NEGU is now my motto too.
The other inspiration is someone I had posted links to before. She is an artist I greatly admire and is painting in a manner that I am striving for myself. Here is a link to Terry Strickland's latest blog post. Take a look at her current painting in progress. It is a contemporary painting of the Three Fates. I, myself, have had sketches for a painting of the Three Fates in my notebooks to paint for a few years now. Being a weaver and spinner as well as an avid reader of books, I have come across descriptions of the three fates many times and love the picture they paint in my head. Mine will be different of course but along the same lines idea-wise. I don't have the painting skills to paint the picture yet but will sometime, in the next year or two. I am looking forward to following her progress with the painting.
That is all for this week. I will be heading over to post on my Renee Weaves! blog now.
-Renee

Winding Up the Year

Ah, Blogger is working again so I can get this post going!
I finished my first color study, at least as far as I plan to take it at this point. Here it is:

Again, I am having challenges getting a good digital picture with the correct color balance. I am not surprised when I realized that my camera is now 8 plus years old. My poor camera only has 3.2 mp and is literally falling apart bit by bit ( I have had to resort to glue a couple of times). It has been a good camera but I think I will need to replace it soon. I did do a little playing around with the lights and darks in Photoshop to get the photo to read more like the actual set up but I didn't tinker with any color correction although I probably should have. You get the general idea of the painting from here and, at this point, that is all that is needed. I would like to add that the paint that has white mixed into it reflects weirdly, and not true to color.
While I am saving up for a decent camera, I will use my husband's. He says it is "ours" but I found that only one person at a time can take pictures during those wonderful photo moments! We also have different photography needs, not to mention that we look at the world in different ways...
I have a couple of more oil sketches and my first plein air attempt which I will be sharing next week as well as a fun little side project.
As we are coming to the end of the year I, like many of you, will be taking a bit of time to reflect on the past year and think about what I want to accomplish in the next. I am putting together a personal challenge. I will be posting the details soon in a special post but here is a bit of the background for the challenge:  In 2012 I will have my 50th birthday (if the world does decide to end that year it will be extremely ironic!). I decided that I wanted to create a personal challenge for my 50th and have it benefit one or more of my favorite causes as well. I did the math and realized that starting this January, I will only have 15 months to complete said challenge! I will have to get busy!
That is all I am going to say on that now as I want to carefully think over the details before I put them out there publicly. I am hoping to get input and encouragement from all my friends as I think I am going to need it. Sometimes your friends have a way of taking things to a wonderful new level.
I had a wonderful morning at my local life drawing session. It is always a pleasure to spend time drawing with other artists. I want to finish up by mentioning a couple of new links in the "artists who inspire" section of my blog. First is Karen Martin Sampson who is from Vancouver Island, B.C. Her work is beautiful and inspiring. If you click on the Links on her web site you can find her blog. She is generous with her knowledge as well. Thank you Karen! A second link I would like to mention is for another artist I admire, Terry Strickland. Her blog posts often include video clips of her process. I hope to do that one day myself. I also have two other links that are important to me, Women Drawing Women, and Women Painting Women. I probably don't have to tell you that women artists are very much under-represented in our galleries and museums, not to mention history. I love to see how women interpret the female body and person. I find it is very different from the male perspective (anyone surprised?). I will be sharing more artists on my blog now and then in future posts.
Finally, a couple more changes I made to my blog. I have been on FaceBook for a while now and have just joined Twitter. If you use these social media platforms, please do look me up. Mention Art=Life in the message line of FaceBook to let me know who you are and I will be happy to add you as a friend.There are links to both FaceBook and Twitter in the side bar.
I would love to read your comments if you wish to use the comment link at the bottom of this post and you can also share the post on FaceBook and Twitter using the links below.
We have been having very wet and stormy weather here lately which will continue for the week. Perfect for working in the studio.
-Renee