VALENTINE FINISHED?

This painting has been on my easel since February.  I've been messing with it off and on since.  If you look at the progress pictures you'll see I was not happy with it for a while.

So, I've been puttering.  I added some colored paper, then added some actual petals from the roses.

I had to abandon it for a time while I worked one week, then we went out of town for a week, then it was back to work for a week.  By that time the roses were long dead and Darrell had taken the black board I was using in the composition for it's intended purpose.  Needless to say, I was working without reference.

This week I got out my pastels and used those - then I sealed the pastels in with matte medium - which changed the colors.  But, it added some interesting texture and I found the medium will 'melt' the pastels and you can use them as paint.

So, here it is, finished (or not).  This is this year's Valentine's Day Flower painting, as is.

Ten roses - ten years.

TRYING TO GET IT ALL DONE BEFORE WEEK'S END

First thing this morning I cleaned the floor in the studio so I could pin baste the 'Mystery Quilt'.  It's bad enough having to mop in the house, you shouldn't have to mop your studio floor....geez.

But I must say it's very nice to have room enough to lay out a big quilt - although this one is not big - on the floor and get it basted.

Afterwards I definitely felt the need for a nice walk so  Lucy and I headed out.

After lunch I went back to the studio and worked on my Steel Plant painting.

Here's what it looked like before I started:

And here's what it looks like now:

You might notice I used a lot of red in the underpainting, but today I used a very limited palette of just Indigo Blue, Quinacridone Gold and a little Cadmium Yellow Medium and lots of white.   I like it.  I will let it rest for a week and then look at it again.

NEW PAINTING STARTED

A painting on my easel!  It's been a long time since I started a painting.  I've committed to hanging my paintings in August and I thought I might see if I could get a few more big ones done before that.

Here is the first roughing out of another scene of 17th & Roxbury.

This is acrylic on canvas 20" by 30".   Wish me luck.

STUDIO FABRIC STORAGE

The above picture is the finished project.  Below are the process pictures.   I did some research about systems for storing my fabric stash.  I had criteria - I wanted to be able to see the fabric and get to it easily; I wanted the bins deep as possible because of the layout of the room's sloping ceiling.  That end isn't really usable space without stooping down.  I found this wire basket system through Organizeit.com.  It was expensive, but simple to install - a choice of time or money.  Being short of time, or should I say, Darrell being short of time, I decided to go for it.  

Darrell built the simple four section box, and installed the 'ladders' that the baskets slide on.  We found the other cabinets for free on Craigslist and he built toe-kicks for them, installed them and put new countertops of MDF edged with mahogany.  

I spent several days painting the inside of the old cabinets white and painting the outsides, and putting shellac on the top of the counters.  

At the last minute, I decided it might be fun to add some color - that short wall behind the new cabinets never really got painted properly.  I stopped at Rodda on the way home one day and picked up some dark yellow (gold) paint - it's called 'Hacienda Clay'.  I was surprised at how 'warm' it ended up being up against the already warm amber shellac.  Oh, well.

Now I just have to lug all my fabric up there, re-fold it, and organize it.

No problem.

ON THE ROCKY ROAD

I've been inspired...

First I did this pencil drawing above with plans to do something in fabric eventually.  This drawing was really just to help me figure out the darks and lights placement.

Then I put the outlines of the dark areas on a piece of white cotton.  I thought I was going to use the sewing machine to make the portrait with thread.  But, I began to doubt I was talented enough to do that.

So, maybe if I painted the lights and darks in, then when I put the thread lines in their placement wouldn't be as important if it was just a white and thread picture.

I soaked the fabric in water and spread it out on my formica board and started painting with my acrylic paints with GAC 900 added.  I was having so much fun, and it was going very well.  I got carried away.  It ended up being more than just a suggestion of a portrait!

After I was done, I started dropping paint drips and splatters on it.  I don't know...

When I hung it up to dry, there was a ghost image left on the board from the paint that had soaked through.  I quickly grabbed a piece of paper and placed it on the paint and used a brayer to transfer the paint.  There are two images because I added more paint to the fabric portrait and took a second transfer image after that session.  I don't have a plan for this, but it's interesting:

Then, more fun.  I took some photocopies of the same image and randomly cut them up then arranged the pieces.  Here are two of the fractured portraits:

 I don't know what I'll do with these, but they were very fun to make.