Last call for paintings

Work in progress: "Tethered," an oil painting featuring a frog balloon and a guinea fowl
Work in progress: “Tethered,” an oil painting featuring a frog balloon and a guinea fowl

I am in the final stretch for finishing paintings to show at the upcoming Festival of the Arts. Although there are still a few weeks until show time, oil painting has its own schedule.

I paint with lots of layers of very thinly-applied color. Each layer requires proper drying time, so that the paint can coalesce and not create gummy or sticky patches. Normally, drying time is not a problem, but up against a deadline I’m counting how many layers I can apply and still make the window. In addition to drying between layers, the finished piece will need to be dry enough to frame, a process which then has its own timeline (two weeks for custom frames).

Luckily, I’ve finished most of the pieces I want to show, including one I just wrapped up yesterday. But the vision that came to me last and strongest I’m still working on. Fingers crossed.

Artist at work

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Getting my most recently-completed painting, Promises, custom framed. The challenge of finding the perfect frame to add gravitas to my monkey portrait was very satisfying.

I’m very, very busy.

As I reach the cutoff point by which any paintings I produce will not be ready in time to show, I am also fully enmeshed in the “action needed now!” phase of booth planning. In the center of where those two meet and overlap is labeled AT FULL CAPACITY (especially when you consider all the domestic responsibilities that come with end of school year for my three young boys). I have so much to do that I reach the end of the day without knowledge of how I came to be there.

It’s an exciting ride, but the adrenaline is starting to fade. I look forward to looking backwards.

Paintings in progress

Every day, I’m joyfully daubing paint in my studio. So much so, that I have little time to type today. Instead, I’m going to share some paintings I’m currently working on.

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This painting I’m calling “Envy”.” It features the color green, as in green zinnias and a green ladybug.  There is some nefarious exchange happening, and I can’t yet tell who is the seducer and who is the seducee, but something is afoot.

13184607_1036764653080025_1574424419_oI just finished this painting, entitled “Promises.” It features a non-plussed monkey in party frock and strewn irises. I keep painting monkeys despite them being a little difficult to portray; the wrong slip of the brush can go silly or cro-magnum. I’m very pleased with how she came out.

 

 

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This is the newest painting I’ve undertaken. It’s a long panel, with a semi-abstract background and a guinea fowl with a balloon in the foreground. In the balloon I’m going to depict a blue frog, which in my work has always stood for death/change. I’m really hoping I’ll be able to finish this in time to show at the Festival in June.

 

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With this piece, I wanted to explore different textures and how they could relate together: depth, the long, sinuous lines of the back leap, the furry continuity of the caterpillar. I like the implied movement happening here. This piece needs a lot of build up to achieve the depths I’m looking for.

 

13161338_1036765506413273_663393118_oThis painting of two very different types of birds communicating had been set aside in favor of commissioned pieces. At some point I had lost the vision for this as a result, but it is coming back to me now. I’m going to be taking it up again this week with renewed fervor. Some of my best pieces have had breaks in the middle, and I’m hoping this results in a strong finish.

Consumption

Consumption, solo show in Portland, OR, 2012
Consumption, solo show in Portland, OR, 2012

I had my first solo show in Portland in 2012. It took me a year to prepare for it, and 4 years to be ready to show again.

I think many artists live to show their work, but I am not one of them. For me, it’s an exercise into being excised, showing too much, shrinking from exposure. Which is really too bad, because I do think my dolls have to be seen and handled to be truly experienced; and oil paintings get flattened by photography when in life they change based on the light and one’s perspective, shifting to reflect your view.

Death frog, shown at Gallery 114
Death frog, shown at Gallery 114

The support and encouragement gleaned from showing one’s work is invaluable. I always get such positive interaction and affirmation for my artist’s voice. It’s just me: I’m introverted, and I’m weird, and I’m shy. Sharing my work daily through social media has helped me to stretch, I think. I hope that showing in public won’t be such a trek through the Himalayas for me this time.

I have exactly two months to work it out. Ironically, I do find myself consumed with the notion of showing again. But I am proud of my work, and sit certain I will likewise make myself proud with the showing.

Doubling Down

Work in progress: dahlias and hummingbird oil painting
Work in progress: dahlias and hummingbird oil painting

The good part about having a huge, looming show objective is that you’re given carte blanche to create your work. There is absolutely no bad part (except that there is still, strangely, never enough time).

Portrait: rabbit in scarlet frock
Portrait: rabbit in scarlet frock

More than ever, my head is filed with dreams and dolls. I scramble to get them realized before they dissipate. They also begin to compete with all the show logistics I’m struggling to understand: the commerce, the merchandising. The being in public.

I’m really hopeful to have a lot of new work to display come the end of June. I am juggling 3 dolls and 4 paintings at the moment, with thoughts and plans for much, much more. I paint and sculpt and sew and sand and seal in between everything else, then try to fit in a little bit more. I’m not going to lie: it’s heaven.

Except for the part about never enough time.

We’re in!

Three of my dolls, standing sentinel in the doll cabinet
Three of my dolls, standing sentinel in the doll cabinet

On March 21, I found out that I’ve been invited to show my paintings and dolls in this 2016 Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts (I wrote about being in front of the jury in this post). I then promptly spent the next ten days or so completely overwhelmed and unable to form much cohesive thought.

Then I got back to work.

I’m very excited. Very honored at the inclusion. And very intimated at the prospect of standing with my work in front of an art-loving crowd. As someone who is most comfortable surrounded by dolls, covered in paint, and in the rowdy presence of dogs (in other words, within the walls of my art studio), this will be well outside of my comfort zone. But before I could deliberate, I signed the artist contract and sent it in. I’m committed.

In addition to creating new work, I am now deliberating things like branding and interior walls and merchandising. It’s a lot to consider, but luckily I have almost three months to get it together.

Watch for updates!