Creating Through Grief

Today has not been a successful art day for me as you can see from this image:

I have redone and reworked this mermaid at least 4 times so far. Adding a face, painting it out, doing a new one...over and over. At one point today I had her in the trash bin and later I was scrolling online and saw this one painting, and I thought "Mine looks better than that". So I dug my mermaid out of the trash bin and started painting out and sanding over her face yet again. I don't know where this will finally end, or even if I should be trying to paint anything today. Sometimes it is therapeutic and sometimes it's frustrating.

One of my friends of 30+ years is dying at any moment. I jerked awake dozens of times last night when I thought of her, so the sleep was more of a nightmare than anything restful. I'm doing what I can to process this event and although it is a part of life, it is one of the most difficult parts to accept. Even though you know it all comes to an end for all of us at some point in time you still have to go through all of the emotions that come with the territory. Death is not a new thing to me and I have already lost dozens of people that I loved very much.

None of that seems to matter when Mr. Death comes calling. I do not have the same view of death as most people do, either. But even with a reincarnation viewpoint about life and how it continues it's still not any easier to experience. I'm just dealing with this as best I can, and moving on when I am ready. Today it is music, a walk on the beach, some more art, and whatever emotions come out are okay with me.

A Florida Painting Demonstration

This video is a demonstration of how I painted one of my Florida paintings.

Faces #15 and 16

Putting a bit more intention into getting caught up on this challenge after being down for the count last week.





I find it fun to do faces of males from time to time. There's not so much importance placed on how beautiful or pretty they are and I like relaxing a bit when I sketch. Smudging and smearing the ink is fun, too.

Bottle Babe #7

I have been working on this one for some time now and I have finally gotten it to an acceptable point.



This close up shot shows the top part of this Bottle Babe.



This is a shot of the entire piece. #7 in my wild and wacky series that I call Bottle Babes.



Quick sketch to add another face to my 29 Faces Challenge!

New Tools !!!

I am already 5 days behind on this month's challenge to complete 29 faces.

Today I forced myself to go out. After all, there was a 50% discount coupon for Michael's that expires today and I needed some new sculpting tools for projects that I have planned. It was worth the trip because I got a great set of tools and saved money and got out of the house for the first time in 5 days. YAY!!!!!!


Just look at these awesome tools in this little zippered case! Now I can get more detailed features into some of my pieces.

Florida Series

Here is a video of pieces from my Florida Series. I currently have over 60 paintings in this series. This video is from 2008.

Today Has Been Cancelled

On my way to the hardware store yesterday, I stopped at the local Dollar Store and bought these items:

I have big plans for these childrens' items. They are going to become part of my Bottle Babes series. Unfortunately, I can't get started on them today because I am dying. Not literally....it just feels like it. I started a new vitamin and mineral program and my body is detoxing and I can barely move because every cell of my body hurts. I considered taking a baby aspirin, but that defeats the purpose of the detoxing.

Hence I have nothing new for the 29 Faces Challenge today. Perhaps I will be able to scribble something later tonite and post it in here if I can get my hands to stop shaking. What is this....withdrawals? Gee whiz.

Okay, here is my daily entry for the 29 Faces Challenge after all:

On the Table

This is one of the new pieces that I am working on.

I'm on my way to the hardware store today to get some materials that I need to develop a new idea that I had last week. My Bottle Babe series was initially created to be vases or candle holders, but now I have another possibility in mind. It could take me several weeks to work this out, but in the meantime.....

Mermaids on the Beach

This video is of my Mermaids series of paintings that I began several years ago. There have been additional mermaids since this series began, and some of them were commissioned pieces.

2 Charcoal Sketches

Charcoal easily adds contrast to a drawing. Even a simple line drawing can appear more finished. It's messier than other drawing substances, but I enjoy the effect that it creates.

Bec's Art Journal page

I have been working on a personalized journal for my sister. The text in the pages of this journal are about our lives and times together.

These pages are about our 4 years living in LA in the early 90's. Suffice it to say, they were some of the craziest years of my entire life. All hell broke loose during the time that we resided out there and when we decided to leave, we went in different directions with our lives. We continue to be close, but then who couldn't love my sister??

A Nude in My Art Journal

This little whimsical gal was added to the same journal as the Lounging/Languishing in Love. Both are done in acrylics with some collage bits and gel ink pens.



This page was done some time ago, but this video will count as my Day 6 of the 29 Faces Challenge. I'm sure that no one will object since I have been busily working on some other art projects. Right??

Nevermind...I felt guilty about not doing a new face for the Challenge today, so I quickly sketched this one over an old line drawing and added some water soluble oil pastels to her face.

Done.

The Egret Regrets

I really enjoy doing line drawings. It's easy and fun.

I call this one The Egret Regrets. A friend of mine was going to write a book with that title and she asked me to do some sketches in preparation for illustrations for her book. Plans have changed, but I can still do sketches of him quickly and easily.


He is being added to my 29 Faces Challenge for Day 5.

29 Faces---day 4

Today I opted for a series of quick and easy peasey sketches again.

I'm just not in the best frame of mind today, so I took an easy out again on this challenge. I'm working on some other art projects. Some are going well. Some aren't. Some days are just like that, so you just roll with it.

Day 3 of 29 Faces Challenge

Keeping it very simple today. There is a lot of football pregame coverage to occupy my time today and I was up at 6 AM watching Mike and Mike in the Morning. Hence, my little face for today has not absorbed much of my time or attention.

I love doing these simple line drawings. They are Easy Peasey. I make them fast and loose by grasping my pen very high from the nib point. Then I can make swift strokes with the pen which are relaxed and loose. I used to practice this a lot when I was doing outdoor art shows.

Small Faces #20

This one is part of my Small Faces series that I first began creating last summer. This particular piece was started in December, but because gold leafing is so tedious and time consuming, I never finished it until today.

This piece is done on a 6 x 6" masonite panel using many different substances. The whole process is explained in my two classes: Mixed Media and Small Faces.

I'm very happy to have it completed at last. It has so much texture!!!

Lucretia

Scribbling fun with water soluble oil pastels in a whimsical journal page.

Continuing with the playful and nonsensical in the 2D format. I'm attempting to build a crown at the moment to add to one of my Bottle Babes figures and it's giving me a headache. Building 3D figures is a whole new area for me, so it moves slowly. Mistakes happen, but I am learning. This is a good thing.