Milkweed Complete....I think

Milkweed is complete, at least I think it is. Sometimes it is hard to know whether I have reached a spot of completion. It will have to sit around for a few days or weeks and I will decide if I need to change anything.

Confessions and Pope Francis Portrait

 

After being knocked out of painting for a week with a bad cold I finally got back to the Pope yesterday and finished him up. I am so excited to give him to my Parish. I think having someone waiting to get a painting makes the process even more exciting. I love to hear that my work is appreciated. Some days after posting a new Blog I keep on checking my stats over and over just to check if anyone is looking at it or, best of all, left a comment!

 photocopies taped to canvas

 

pencil layout for painting

 

I have started laying out a new painting which will be for my cousin. She makes wonderful needle felted animals and figures and has agreed to barter a nativity set for a painting.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMermaidsMuse
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mermaids-Muse/

And this is where the confessions come it.

I am not very good at drawing, I never am satisfied with the way that I draw, especially people and especially from life. When I paint people I almost always use pictures and either grid the drawings to enlarge to scale, or like I am doing for this painting, I blow up the images on my printer  cover the back with charcoal and then trace the image onto the canvas. I think this must be a major disgrace in the painting community. I do it because I want to paint realistically and get so frustrated if things are not in the right proportions.  I am trying to get better at drawing, but until I improve a lot or get the chance to paint from life I am going to keep on using the tools I have available. I would love to get the chance to paint from life but with kids that is currently fairly impossible.

I have started a daily sketch project, I am trying to sketch from life everyday. Some of my sketches have been of the kids which is a real challenge because they will not stay still. I am working with a pen because I want all of my marks to be purposeful and I have not worked with pen much in the past.

 

Today I went to the art store and picked up two more whites to add to my pallet. I am learning a lot about how to use different whites in painting skin tones. It can make a big difference which white you use. I bought Gamblin Titanium Zinc White and Winton Soft Mixing White, I will need to do some experimentation to see how they work. I also bought a new brush because it felt so wonderful in my hands. It is a Catalyst by Princeton with polytip bristles. I hope it feels even better with paint on the tip.

Busy Days and Busy Walls

The last several days have been very busy preparing the house for an appraisal. We are hoping to refinance and were given three days notice for the appraisal. I have been patching walls, cleaning up clutter, hanging pictures, painting, replacing a broken tp holder, etc. I put the kids to work cleaning the floor with spray bottles and rags and sent Nathan outside to pick up sticks. Till tomorrow afternoon I have told them toys are off limits.

 

 

One of the pictures I have finally gotten around to hanging is this Cityscape painted by my grandmother.

I have hung more than 15 new pictures on our walls, both photos and paintings. It is fun to just sit and enjoy the new atmosphere.

Ongoing progress on "Preparing the Todah"

Jesus and his stick

While I still have a long way to go on this painting, I am finally happy with the placement of Jesus in this painting, the sketchup model really helped me with placement and size and also with the background. I just like to know how the painting works spatially.
 My art teacher kept telling me to just make it work as a composition and to eyeball it but my architects brain really needed to understand the space and to design an exterior space in order to feel comfortable with the placement of things in the background.
I am placing an olive tree in the background for additional references to the happenings during the Easter triduum, and because lots of olive trees would have grown in that geographic area.

I love the way this little Jesus is poking with his stick. It is such a toddler boy thing to do. My son did some stick poking of his own today. These days sticks tend to be of the light saber variety as Star Wars is the current favorite pretend.
 He was helping my husband in the front yard. They were filling up our new planter beds with dirt. For a four year old he is very tough. He was maneuvering the 40lb bags of dirt around by himself. Not picking them up exactly but he could move them and hold them up. He helped Daddy get all 24 bags on to the cart at Home Depot.

I wonder how many times little Jesus helped Joseph and Mary? I just imagine him right beside Joseph in the wood shop learning how to smooth and cut the wood. How much did it slow Joseph down at first to have him there? Imagine how much help he must have been once he got older.
Every day I have to decide whether to slow down and let my kids help or if I just want to get it done as fast as possible.  I need to remember to let them "help" as much as possible while they still enjoy being there beside me.

Can art be a career... because I chose the wrong one?

The "sequester" is making things difficult at my house. My husband's job is being affected. He relies on availability of overtime work to make ends meet, and to allow me to stay home with my babies.

With the drying up of overtime and possible cutting back on hours looming ahead of us due to the Governments inability to create and follow a budget, we have been discussing the possible need for me to go back to work.

I feel hopelessly overwhelmed by the prospect of finding an architecture job. The Architecture field does not seem to be thriving these days, so I am concerned that there will be no jobs available. The nature of Architecture work does not lend itself easily to part time or temporary work. Companies want people who can work full time or more and who do not have the concerns that children bring to a Mother's soul.

I love Architecture and wish that it could fit well into a life with kids but have not yet found the right opportunity to make that happen. I would love to design Churches that bring glory to God, but right now I am teaching my kids to give glory to God. Can anything beat hearing your two year old sing Jesus loves me or answering my four year old's questions about Jesus and Heaven?

I strongly feel that my children need me to be here for them, my baby is only six months old and wants to nurse every few hours (day and night).

I am wishing that I had made some other career decisions. Why didn't I consider raising children when I decided to study architecture?

 

Painting would be a perfect career to combine with mothering... if only I could sell paintings. It can be done from home and at times convenient to me.  But I don't know how to begin to make any money off of my paintings. I don't know how to find a market.

I really don't know how to make it happen NOW so that I can keep our family from foundering.
I am trusting that God will provide for us and will open paths, but it can be hard to be patient when I don't know what I should be doing. Should I be looking for architecture work? Some other kind of work? Should I be trying to sell my paintings? Should I be praying that my husbands job situation improves and be can have more assurance of being able to cover the bills? Maybe all of the above?

Obviously this situation is weighing heavily on my heart since I am writing this blog post at 4:30am and have slept for no more than an hour tonight. But I have had time to pray the rosary, all four sets of mysteries, to Rosary Army's scriptural rosary audio. (I may have dosed off for a few minutes) But an opportunity to meditate on the life of Christ through all 20 mysteries does not happen often in the life of a mother with three young children.

If anyone has any advice I would love to hear your suggestions. And your prayers are always welcome and appreciated.

Slow Progress

 Pumpkins and Mice was completed during a painting class at Reston Community Center. It was a good way to loosen up after my painting hiatus. I had not painted since my daughter was born in August. I loved teh vibrant color of the pumpkins and enjoyed working on something that required less rigorous representation than portraits.



I have been planning this painting of Mary for some time now. I took pictures of a friend modeling the pose last year and have been waiting till the time felt right to start the painting. I am including the series of photos to show how the painting has been developing. I have a lot still to do but am very excited with the progress that has been made. The painting is titled "Preparing the Todah Sacrifice".

I have also been continuing work on "Contemplating Bluegrass"

 A good deal of my creative energy during the last week was tied up in designing and making my sons 4th birthday cake. He requested angry birds and I did my best to deliver. The kids enjoyed helping to build and paint the pinata, and everyone enjoyed the cake. I did need to catch up on sleep after the party was all over.  Unfornunantly my youngest chose the next few days to get her first two teeth and some restless nights followed.

 

 

The eyes of an artist

I am always amazed at the things we notice and pay attention to. When I worked as an architect and designed signs for one project I suddenly started noticing signs, everywhere. How many times a day do we read signs but never really look at them. Suddenly I couldn't not look at signs, I would notice what they were made of, the lettering used, how they were located on the site, how large they were.

When I designed lighting I began to notice all lights and would make comments out of the blue to my husband about the lights at the restaurant we were eating at.

Now that I am painting I see colors everywhere. I analyze them and think about how I would put them on canvas with my brush. It is really a wonderful way to see the world. It just is reminding me how we really do see the world with different eyes. Even from stage to stage in ones life we can see so differently.
This makes me think more about the way my children see. How am I forming their vision now when their mind is growing and developing so rapidly. If we teach our children to see and think about colors now will they have different vision in the future.
If we teach them to see Gods hand move in the world now how much better will they be able to see him in the future.
Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Works on Exhibit.

Two pictures will be on exhibit for about three months at the Reston Chamber of Commerce Building.
"Shades" and "King of the Coup"


Drop off was this morning and I am afraid I made a rather pore showing. I decided last night that the paintings really needed to be framed and since the store was closed last night I had to make a run this morning as soon at the store opened. I headed directly over to the exhibit and had to borrow a screwdriver to finish framing the pictures.

Coming into an exhibit drop off with two pictures needing framing and two squirmy children was not a great idea. Most of the people were understanding but the lady who seemed to be in charge seemed generally stressed and not too happy to have a 3 year old informing her that he was GI Joe. One lady tried to help by getting something for the kids to draw on but ended up scaring my daughter and got her started crying. The people getting ready to hang the show had to close the conference room doors to not bother others in the building. Luckily I was able to locate a pacifier.

I will certainly be better prepared for the next exhibit. And while I will still probably show up with two kids in tow, It we are only there for a minute to drop off it should not give them as much opportunity to create havoc.

Getting back on Track

I am working on finally getting back on track after a busy month of house rearranging, Christmas preparations and many wonderful guests. I now have a studio room from which to work and some attempt is made to keep kids from invading that space with limited success. I guess I should be flattered that my children always want to be in whatever room I am in, but it would be nice if they could play on their own sometimes. Everyday I look forward to nap time when I have a chance to pull out paints and get to work.

"Babes on the Beach" went to its new home with grandma as a Christmas present.

 I have been working on some color boards to have some color mixing recipes. Yesterday I completed cobalt blue and Grumbacher red.

"Shades" is apparently a controversial painting in the family.  I love the painting because it shows so much attitude and character but it is generally considered unflattering by the family, So I have begun another painting of my Mother-in-law that will hopefully show how beautiful she really is and be a better representation of her personality.

I need to make a canvas run soon so that I can begin several other paintings I have in mind.  My dear husband gave me a gift card to support my hobby and I am looking forward to using it soon.