Free Art and a New Inspiration

Paper Kite Gallery is hosting another Free Art event. Art is due on Sunday which is good because it gives me a reason to make some more art. (I still haven't gone through the damaged artwork from the OC show.)

I think I'll do a collage or a painting for this one. Change things up a bit.

In the meantime, here is one of the pieces that wasn't smashed. Well, not entirely smashed. I did this one of the Absecon Lighthouse and framed it in a table. (I know, tacky, but I thought it might sell on the boardwalk.) I haven't posted the pic before because it was one of the last pieces to be finished.

Though It May Look Like Disaster

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop


The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.



I didn't write last night. (I posted twice the day before, that has to count for something.)

I didn't post because when I arrived at the boardwalk I found that the wind had blown down my tent and destroyed all my artwork. We spent the next two and a half hours cleaning up the mess and packing the remains. By then the sun was shining and it felt like it was 100 degrees.

I decided to leave early and go home (we were supposed to stay until Monday). When I got close to the bridge into Philly, I called C. who told me that HIS car keys were in MY car. He hadn't called earlier because he "fell asleep".

Five minutes later, as I was stopped at the toll booth, I was rear-ended by the car behind me.


My head started to hurt fairly soon after that and I knew I was going to be sore today, but I just wanted to get home and go to bed. About a mile from my house my car started making a strange noise.

My right rear tire had gone flat.

When I got to my office, I was determined to blog anyway but I found that I'd left half a glass of ice tea on my desk. While I was away the cat knocked it over and it spilled all over the desk and onto the keyboard which was now not working correctly since it was sitting in about half an inch of water.

At that point I just went to bed.


I went to the ER today as I woke up this morning with a 9.5 headache and was unable to turn my head to the left more than about 5 degrees. I also had pain down my left arm. No breaks, but I could have told the Doc that. He told me to go home, take OTC pain meds and go see my family physician if the pain in my arm didn't go away.

Clearly, I have some sort of target on my car. The universe hates me. I pushed people into ovens in my past life. There has to be SOME REASON for all this crap. I know that nothing in life is "deserved". Good people don't have good things happen to them. Life isn't fair, etc. But honestly, I'm a statistical anomaly and I'm getting really tired of it.

Ocean City Boardwalk Art Show

My "Starfish" were the stars of the show - at least in my tent. They were easily the most popular of the "Sea Critters" series. I find that a bit interesting because they are a little odd. What I mean by that is they have less features than the other critters which you would think would mean less personality, but for some reason they are the critters most people choose as their favorite.

I had several people today ask if I was planning on doing a childrens' book with these characters. (I am.) One of the people making that suggestion was a Kindergarten teacher at a Quaker school. She was very excited about the designs and encouraged me to pursue the book.

But it wasn't all about the "Critters". I sold a fair amount of other prints: "I Love Lucy", "Fullmoon Horseshoes," and "Great Blue Heron Hunting" were the big sellers in the "adult" print category.

So far, I'm happy with the results of this little experiment. Tomorrow may be rainy so I'm not anticipating major sales unless it clears up later in the day. But if the weather is good I'm going to set up my easel and do a bit of painting on site. I'm also looking forward to working on some paintings based on photos from this trip. Crenshaw took a pic of me in the pool last night. There was a full moon shining behind the motel and the pool was glowing that otherworldly blue. I love doing night pieces and I think that shot will make a great painting.

Mat!

I just ordered a ton of mats from a lovely guy in NY ( http://www.precutmats.com/). He says they might even arrive tomorrow, which would be swell. I'm fretting a bit about this show. This is my first time...

There's probably no way in hell I'll make my 100 paintings goal, but I do need to get as many finished as I can. I also need to get some prints matted and ready to go. I ordered "show packs" from Pre Cut Mats, that is, the mat, a backing board and a clear sleeve for the finished, matted picture to live in. It seemed like a good deal and he gave me a discount which was greatly appreciated.

You wouldn't know it but I hate this last minute crap. Last night was a disaster sleep-wise so I'm not sure how much I'll get done today. I need to finish my painting of Lucy the Elephant and see if I can't get 5 or 6 more 8 x 10" pieces done. I also want to do a large size egret and maybe something more whimsical - perhaps a mermaid surrounded by the little cartoon like sea critters I did earlier.

Ok, back to work. These pastels aren't going to paint themselves.

Got Crabs?

Ok, so this is a semi-blurry pic of the larger painting I am working on. Trouble is, I'm at that point where I don't know if I'm done or not.

Sometimes I just know. Sometimes I agonize. This is one of those agonizing moments.

I'm quite happy with the crabs, but I'm not sure if the "background" is done or not. On one hand I like having the calmer background contrasting with the business of the marks in the crabs. But I don't know if it looks too much like they're just floating in nothingness.

Ugh.

The worst part is that I like it so far and I don't want to mess it up or overwork it if it is DONE. (Sometimes I don't know when to stop picking.)

32 Paintings Later

I am tired. The total now stands at 32 paintings. I'm still behind schedule but still.... jeez... that's a lot o' paintings. True, the are small but that is sometimes more difficult. Tedious, you know.

Too bad I'm not a Photoshop pro or I'd have them all posted here. Maybe later. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe I should get some sleep. Sleep is good.

So Far...

This whole 100 paintings thing is turning out to be a real challenge. I don't know if I'll make the full 100 but here are a few pics of the paintings I've completed so far...