It's done!...

And I love it. After many months, a move, and unpacking I have found the focus to tie up this piece I began in Arizona. And I really think it progressed beyond what I had originally hoped for it. Time to get started on something new.

Mockingbirds

How tedious, right? Everytime you log onto this blog, all six of you, there is yet another picture of this painting in which very little has happened. It's like my magnum opus that never sees resolution. It's true, I am moving at a snails pace with this piece, but it has a lot to do with the packing, moving, and job searching I am tackling as of late.

Yesterday when I sat down I was able to see it with a fresh set of eyes, and I feel I am making progress now in a different way. The original idea I had of the painting had become irrelevant, and I was able to reframe it and make some choices that were outside the original concept. I can see a way through the piece now and ultimately to its ending.

I got some work done!

I had all week to spend some substantial time in the studio. And I took some of my frustration with my new cardinal piece and channeled it into good work on the mockingbird painting. I had invested so much time in this piece already I found it was a good motivator to keep going. I need this to come to fruition, right? It can be hard to judge the progress of this painting as all the work is so painstaking. But if you go to the bottom of the page and search the blogs by subject (mockingbirds) I think you will see I got some remaining gesso covered and a few birds more realistically rendered.

More more mockingbirds

I am taking very small steps with this piece as I am only able to work on it for a short while each morning. But this is the first week I have been able to show up and paint since I finished the piece of Memphis. I have either been too busy with applications or too busy with work. So "yea for painting!"...

Mockingbirds

I have begun articulating the pyracantha bush. This work is very slow going, and I have been spending a lot of time waiting tables. So there haven't been many uninterrupted afternoons of painting.

More work

It only took a few shifts at work to remember how much I like painting. I feel inspired by this piece again. I have put the pomegranates aside and after I got a good opaque layer of paint built up, I am ready to articulate the details. I had thought to put a crane in this piece, but it doesn't fit. It would cover up too much of the painting that already exists. Instead I think the crane will find a home in a future painting that I am planning.
There is still a lot of work to do. I am hoping that I could use some of my current pieces during a grad school interview, thus expanding my portfolio even further than the January 15th slide deadline allowed. Additionally there are so many ideas knocking around in my head right now, and I am anxious to produce it all. There is however only one speed in painting so I must be diligent.

Skunk cabbage and baby heads

I know...

I don't know...
I couldn't help it.

We spent Christmas in Silver City and I saw these amazing rattles at a local art gallery. (Click on Helen Wilson.)

This painting definitely has a direction of its own.

Sorry, the photo is most certainly not in sharp focus; but here is some of the work I have completed in the last two sessions.

Finished photo of Memphis posted under the Portfolio link.

AND In the Garden was accepted for a show next summer at the Central Gallery in Phoenix Public Library. YEA!

Mockingbirds 36" x 54"

I have started painting again - amongst the mess of all the grad school applications. This piece is on the same venetian red background that I used with the painting of Memphis. I like the effect upon the color that working on a darker ground has. This is a closeup of the composition. I'll show you the rest after I put in more time.