Monday, October 02, 2006
Starting Over Again...and Again
This is a story of heartbreak. And of resurrection. I'm doing a commission painting for this super cool guy I work with. This above is the image that he gave me to work from. Below are the sad attempts I had at the practice canvas. I thought before I paint it big (24 x 48!!) I'd try it small. Not so much. I had several moments of despair, and in the end, in a fit of rage, I smeared paint over it with a dowel rod straight from a can of paint left over from my dining room. It's name is "Swampwater" (appetizing, no?) I'm pretty happy about the way it turned out, after all that. Oy, the pain of an artist!! I didn't even take a photo of every single re-paint. I started from scratch no less than 4 times. I think I'm going to attempt the larger canvas soon. 
p.s. I'm blushing over Angela's gushing blog about my class over the weekend. Thanks, Ang!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Flexing some rusty skills
In a former life, I ran a tiny but relatively successful business out of my teenage bedroom in my parents' house. (My dad to this day thought all I did up there was talk on the phone and paint my nails.) Ok, so I did that too, but mostly I made lovely little brightly colored things out of polymer clay. I made "canes" in any image that struck my fancy, then sliced them up and made beads, covered glass bottles, and made lots and lots of jewelry. I sold all these things in a little gallery in Columbia, Missouri called Poppy. A wonderul boutique. And still lovely even today.
There was something so strange about doing all the same movements that I used to do all those years ago. The rolling, the squaring up of the clay. I repeated those movements so many times. Muscle memory is a real thing. I read about it in the Creative Habit (on my "books" to the right >> Isn't there something you haven't done in years and years? I'm thinking of making a friendship bracelet. I had another little business making them for friends in the 4th grade. Almost got in big trouble for that one. Let's just say there may have been some investor fraud going on. Ooohh, that Tressa. I'm still mad that she made me go to the principal's office for the first time in my life. And I was such a do-gooder! I still remember my mom saying "Now don't let it get in the way of your school work." Sheesh! I was in 4th-freaking-grade!! How serious must one be? If you can't focus on a friendship bracelet business then, then when, I ask you? I was a pro at the knotting, too.
I've often wondered how my designs would be different if, after a college education and almost 10 years (ack!) exactly what I would do differently. I would hope to at least have better design and taste in color. Who knows.
So I decided to try it out again and here are the results. Not too bad. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with them. I may make some beads to embellish a quilt. We'll see.
Gonna go make a friendship bracelet. Well, maybe tomorrow.