Sad, Lonely Canvas

I haven't painted in what feels like forever.  Again, the day job has made me super busy-crazy, as it always does this time of year and I've just contented myself with hanging with family & friends and catching up on all the new TV shows when I have a free minute.


But every now and then my eye catches a blank canvas and I feel all this guilt for not making something out of it.  It's like it's all sad just sitting there blank and lonely. Like that lamp in the Ikea commercial.


Happily, I just found this quote from Joe Brooks and I'm totally inspired.  Not only do I get to see him open for Tyrone Wells in San Diego in a couple of weeks, he's made me want to go pick up a paint brush RIGHT NOW. Unfortunately, it's almost midnight and I have an early morning tomorrow. Sigh.


Sunday, though, will be a painting day.  Guaranteed.


The world is a blank canvas, life is a painting.
I don't want a pencil to rehearse,
I don't want an apron to wear.
I want a star shaped stencil
and a palatte of the brightest colours you can find.

                                                                       - Joe Brooks

Delivery

Fall Leaves is dry enough to take to my sister!!! Which is extraordinary timing because they're listing the house this week. I always do better with a tight deadline. Just ask my boss.

I delivered it tonight after work and helped get the house ready for listing pictures and fun staging. All personal photos are down and my generic pictures and paintings are up. It looks spacious and ready to sell. Fingers crossed for a quick sale!

Here are a couple pics of the painting on the awesome orange wall. I'm so glad nothing in the painting clashes with the wall.

Fall Leaves

This is one mother of a painting. It was an ambitious undertaking to say the least. It's 36x48. Let me clarify. That's three (3) by four (4) FEET. It's practically a toddler bed.

I don't often paint big paintings and now I remember why. It's hard to keep perspective, the canvas doesn't fit on my easel very well, and it takes a shwack load of paint.

It took forever to do - mostly because I did a bunch of other paintings in the middle and every time I looked at the size of the canvas and what I had left, I got a little overwhelmed. I had to use a grid on this one so I didn't lose my place and it felt like I'd work forever, think I'd put a pretty big dent in it, and then realize I maybe did 1 1/2 grids.

But finally, after months of going cross-eyed, it's done! It's going to look so good in my sister & brother-in-law's orange kitchen/dining room. Just in time for them to sell their house and move to the fabulous new place. I'll see if I can get a picture of it on the wall as soon as it's dry enough to take to them.

Fall Leaves (36 x 48)

Fall Leaves playlist is 25 songs instead of the usual 15 because I needed a little more variety to keep me going. It has lots of songs that are favorites of the kids' (Stuck Like Glue), some for my sister (Sweet and Low), some for my brother-in-law (Typical), some that just make me think of them as a family (Livin' the Life) and some just for me (Let's Get Lost).

1. Audience - Cold War Kids
2. Dear Avery - The Decemberists
3. Only the Good Die Young - Glee
4. Smile - Lily Allen
5. Stuck Like Glue - Sugarland
6. Livin' the Life - Martin Sexton
7. I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab for Cutie
8. Tighten Up - The Black Keys
9. Sunshine Song - Jason Mraz
10. Sleeping Sickness - City & Colour
11. Typical - Mute Math
12. Sweet Pea - Amos Lee
13. Modern Love - Matt Nathanson
14. Worried About Ray - The Hoosiers
15. Sweet and Low - Augustana
16. OK, It's Alright With Me - Erik Hutchinson
17. Let's Get Lost - Two Spot Gobi
18. Marchin On - OneRepublic
19. This Is Your Life - The Killers
20. If It Was Up To Me - Stabilo
21.  Rock and Roll Radio - Waxpoets
22. She's So Lovely - Scouting For Girls
23. New Shoes - Paolo Nutini
24. New Amsterdam - Travis
25. Sins of My Youth - Neon Trees

Summer Lull

I've been painting, I promise! I just don't have a finished product to share yet. Fall Leaves has been taking forever, I started a few smaller ones, and I've been putting the finishing touches on some other ones. Also, it's summer and I don't want to spend all my time cooped up in my sauna of an apartment, AND I have a new nephew and would rather spend time getting cuddles.

In other news, I finally delivered Sprocket to my friend; she took her to Pat yesterday and reported everything was a hit!

Phew!


I have a week off from the day job and plan to spent quite a bit of time painting. On tap:
  • Fall Leaves
  • More Fall Leaves
  • Even more Fall Leaves

and, if there's any time left:
  • Jungle Babies (new nephew present)
  • Happy Colors
  • mom present, yet to be named

City Stroll

This is my first painting that ended up as a gift. About 7 years ago, I decided to teach myself to paint with oils. I bought a bunch of 'how to' books, followed the instructions, and this is what came out. Gotta love how much you can learn from books!

I still love it and it still hangs in my sister's house.

City Stroll (16x20)

Sunny Sunday

I had a wonderful week of holidays that was filled with art. Two paintings completed, Etsy set up, art chats with Erika, and yesterday, a day of music courtesy of the Youth Singers of Calgary, especially Kidazzle (with my friend's daughter) and OnCue (my friend's group).

All the groups are amazing and put on wonderful shows. OnCue even sang some Mraz, making it all the better for me.

And to top it all off, today is a gorgeous sunny day begging me to be outside. Nothing like a big glass of iced tea, a good book, the smell of flowers, and a little sunshine.

Happy Sunny Sunday!

Summer Reading

A friend from work moved back to Ontario about a month ago. It's been strange not having her as part of my morning 'check-in' routine or a friendly ear for when I need a movement break but I'm sure she'll be much more productive at her new job without me interrupting her and hovering in her office doorway!

Before she left, we had a team retreat at my place and she fell in love with Connemara Berries. Sadly (for her), I had already promised it to someone else. And so, I decided to paint her something as a going away gift. She chose this one from a photo by my friend Ky.

A little note about the lovely Ky. She's the most wonderful photographer. She has this uncanny ability to take something common and make it extraordinary. Things like a single rose, berries, leaves, a dew drop, a rusty fence, or a book. Makes for an abundance of options for painting!



Summer Reading (9x12)


Since my friend and I share a love of singer/songwriters & CBC Radio2 tunes, I HAD to make a playlist of my current favorites.

1. Early April Morning - Brendan James
2. Dreamcatcher - Elizabeth & The Catapult
3. Victoria - John Mayer
4. Tightrope - Green River Ordinance
5. When You Find Me - Joshua Radin
6. Awake My Soul - Mumford & Sons
7. Come Home - OneRepublic & Sara Bareilles
8. Forever & Always - Parachute
9. Winter Birds - Ray LaMontagne
10. Set the Fire to the Third Bar - Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright
11. Perfect Heaven Space - Travis
12. Drifting - Tyrone Wells
13. Can't Go Back Now - The Weepies
14. Distance - Christina Perri
15. This = Love - The Script

ETSY!!!

I opened an Etsy shop! It's still 'under construction' but I'm super excited for it to be up and going.

Today, I visited with my friend Erika and we talked about our respective Etsy shops (among other things). We discussed banners, avatars, names of the shops, all the extra work involved (payments, return policies, how to list, what to list) and how to make our shops stand out against all the other art shops. So much to think about!

The plan, once I'm done all the promised paintings to friends and family (which are the next 5 or so), is to paint some small ones to sell and to use any money I make to travel. And then take pictures while
I travel to all those exotic places, paint them, list on Etsy, lather, rinse, repeat.

Erika's shop, The Passionate Pencil, is going to be awesome. She's an absolutely amazing artist and she'll have some fantastic art for sale soon. Go check it out!

Sprocket

Oh my goodness!! It's been almost 2 months since I posted anything and longer than that since I've finished a painting. Which also means I broke my New Year resolution 4 months in.

Fail. Major fail.

Except this is painting #6 since January, so if we average it out, I'm ahead of the game. Yeah. Let's do that.

Anyway. I finally finished Sprocket, the surprise dog painting I was commissioned to do. It really took forever to complete. Not because I didn't want to work on it, but because I was so absolutely exhausted from the rest of my life that I couldn't bring myself to work on it.

My friend took a picture of the almost finished product to reveal the surprise last weekend. It was hard for me to give her a picture when I wasn't done yet and couldn't stop myself from telling her to make sure Pat (the birthday girl) knew what I still needed to fix. My stomach was in knots and what little fingernails I had are now gone. And it was all for naught.

I just heard the surprise was a big hit and that there were happy tears & major excitement - especially because Pat just painted her basement and Sprocket matches perfectly. Big sigh of relief from over here.

Sprocket (20x24)

Now Sprocket strikes me as a Joss Stone & Amy Winehouse kind of girl, so I listened to Introducing Joss Stone, Mind, Body, & Soul, Color Me Free, and Back to Black while I painted. Lovely tunes

Work with No Results...

I painted and sketched practically all weekend and haven't finished a thing, so no pictures to post yet. I've got 4 different paintings on the go at the moment - the most I've tried to juggle so far. I don't think it's working. I have a hard time figuring out which one to work on when. The one I should be trying to finish first isn't the one I want to work on and so on and so forth.

I worked on the dog painting the most. It took forever to sketch out because she kept ending up looking like a hyena instead of a dog. I really need to vacuum up all the eraser bits all over my floor, but she looks like she's supposed to. I hope.

Fingers crossed I finish at least one this week!

Days Off

The best part of having a day off work is the hours and hours of uninterrupted (provided the on-call phone doesn't ring) time to whatever I want, whenever I want, for however long I want.

Today, I want to paint. I also want to read, watch movies, sleep, and ignore all housekeeping/errands that need to get done. Which is exactly what I'm going to do.

I've been missing my free time lately, since weekdays were full of over-time and weekends were more of the same. I may still have to be on-call this weekend, but the bright side of that is being required to stay within city limits. A reason to decline plans and stay home to paint some more. It's nicer than saying I'd rather be alone.

I've done a lot already today. Painted the outer border of Baby Clothes, Freud, and Connemara Berries (1/2 of it anyway), worked on Fall Leaves (that one is going to take FOREVER), and sketched out a couple new ones.

I'm sure there will be more to post soon!

Connemara Berries

My day job has been killing me lately. Research proposals, weekend workshops, meetings upon meetings upon meetings, plus the regular stuff. Stress x social anxiety = nutcase me.
Relaxing activities, as minimal as they've been lately, did inspire some painting. The weekend workshop was in Banff and our afternoons were free, so I had oodles of time for exploring and picture taking. Which, of course, didn't happen but I at least got a couple pictures when I wasn't networking. Ugh. I hate networking.

My one reprieve was Sunday night. An evening out with like-minded friends to see Joshua Radin with Laura Jansen and Cary Brothers. Such fantastic singer/songwriters! As my friend Jen said, it was the best $25 I've ever spent. It was the perfect wrap to a busy weekend.

Happily, painting just seemed to flow from there. This is another one of Chris & Kelly's from Connemara, Ireland.

Connemara Berries (9x12)

A few weeks ago, I noticed the list of J names on my iPod is quite a bit longer than any other. And they're all fantastic! Does anyone else have this? Maybe it's because my tastes run one direction and that's what they all sing? Anyway, the discovery just screamed for a playlist for painting.

1. Jack Johnson - Dreams Be Dreams
2. James Blunt - Into the Dark
3. Joshua Radin - Sundrenched World
4. Josh Kelley - Opposite of Me
5. Joss Stone - Free Me
6. Jose Vanders - Blue Notes
7. Jim Bryson - Freeways In the Frontyard
8. Joel Willoughby - Museums and Churches
9. Jeremy Fisher - Goodbye Blue Monday
10 Jamie Cullum - London Skies
11. James Morrison - Broken Strings
12. Jon McLaughlin - Beautiful Disaster
13. Jim Cuddy - Pull Me Through
14. Jason Mraz - Conversation With Myself
15. John Mayer - Perfectly Lonely

A Piece of The Puzzle

This has nothing to do with painting or music (though Cara loves both) but it's important to share.

My friend Cara and her husband are in the process of adopting a baby from the Democratic Republic of Congo and after months and months of working and waiting, they just found out they're #2 on the waitlist. Yay!!!

It's unbelievably expensive to adopt a baby from the DRC so they've set up a few fundraisers to help bring their baby home.

Right now, they're selling puzzle pieces of this 1000 piece puzzle and they plan to hang the completed puzzle in their baby's room. Makes me all weepy thinking about it.

Please take a minute to check out their site, A Piece of The Puzzle, and donate if you can.

Adele

Adele's new album 21 was released today! My favorite songs at the moment are Someone Like You & Turning Tables (but I've only listened to the whole thing twice so far). I foresee lots of listening to the entire album on repeat in my immediate future. So good!!

Family Trees

These two paintings were done from small (4x4) prints I found at Michael's.  When my brother and sister-in-law first moved to Calgary, we had lots of fun decorating, talking about paintings, what color to paint the walls.  They had to do lots of finishing work on the house - tile the fireplace and create a mantle, landscape, build a deck, a fence, etc.  It ended up looking fantastic.  I painted these for them to go on either side of the mantle.  They had to be done twice, due to a fiasco with varnish and cracking.

Note to self: ALWAYS USE SPRAY VARNISH!!!

They moved to the US a year and a half ago and I still miss being able to pop up to their house for a visit.  I can't wait until they move back to Canada!  I'm going to paint them something new, just to have the delivery as an excuse to visit more.

Family Trees (16x20)

Family Trees (16x20)

Mumford and Sons

I already loved Mumford and Sons but watching them perform on The Grammy's last night gave me chills. The amazing kind of chills you only get when you hear something full of emotion and heart and beautiful harmonies.

LynnieC you have my endless gratitude for introducing me to them.
Next step: visit you in London and see them live.

Chinook Days

I had all these wonderful plans to paint this weekend. Shows what I know.

The picture of The Dog (it's a surprise and on the <1% chance she'll check out the blog, no names until it's done) didn't have enough definition for me to make him (her?) look like he's supposed to look.

Plan B was to keep working on Fall Leaves. I had blocked in the background greens right after Baby Clothes was done so I figured I could keep getting those colors blended. Except they're not blending the right way and it's leaving weird brush strokes. I decided to be a grown-up and just set it aside instead of throwing my brushes somewhere. Throwing something would have been MUCH more satisfying.

Since it's an absolutely beautiful day outside, I went for a muddy, slushy walk and felt much better. When I got back, I opened my patio door and some windows and this is what happened. Not my best, but I did the whole thing in less than an hour. I feel better now.

Happy Chinook everyone!

Mountain Peace (8x10)

Baby Clothes: Part Deux

I absolutely love this painting. It's a baby (or first birthday) gift for my cousin, her (almost) husband, and (obviously) their baby. More parentheses anyone?

I mostly love it because these are the baby's actual onesies and blankets hanging on their line. Since I've had the pleasure of visiting them, it's almost as if I'm sitting on the deck enjoying a sunny morning in Broome. I say morning because I'm pretty sure I'd die in the afternoon heat during the wet. During the dry too. I'm a wimp.

To my dear Carla:
It's taken a while for you to find your happy place and I'm so glad you've discovered it in a beautiful country with a wonderful guy and an adorable kid. Oodles of love and hugs to all three of you!

Let's place bets on how long it takes to ship to Oz!



Baby Clothes (9x12)

 

I recently heard the new album from Plain White T's and remembered how much I loved them. So, as a way to reinforce my obsessive tendencies, I made a playlist of all Plain White T's songs from their last three albums. Kind of fitting, don't you think, for them to sing me through a painting of clothes?

Albums
1. Every Second Counts (2007)
2. Big Bad World (2008)
3. Wonders of the Younger (2010)

I happily sang along to each and every song while painting. I'm so easily entertained.

Maddie's Barn - Again

Here's a closer picture of Maddie's Barn.  Thanks for the update Jenn!

Simple Joy

I started this one a few paintings ago and it's been sitting unfinished, just staring at me. Since Baby Clothes has been giving me fits, I decided to abandon ship and work on something else.

I love the simplicity of it. Just a few flowers in a window box on a beautiful summer day. This is another of Chris and Kelly's shots. From Venice, I think.




Simple Joy (9x12)



I absolutely, unequivocally, love Jason Mraz. If you haven't heard more than 'Lucky' or 'I'm Yours' (shame on you!), check out the rest of his music. Better yet, see him live. He's one of the few singers who actually sound better live. I promise, you'll love him too.

As an homage to my love, I made a playlist of all my favorite Mraz tunes. Here's a selection of the current favs. Just hearing the first few notes of any of his songs can brighten the worst day. Simple joy, indeed.

1. Sleeping to Dream
2. Who Needs Shelter
3. Sunshine Song
4. Life is Wonderful
5. Make it Mine
6. Song for a Friend
7. A Beautiful Mess
8. You and I Both
9. Details in the Fabric (ft. James Morrison)
10. No Stopping Us
11. After an Afternoon
12. Did You Get My Message?
13. The Dynamo of Volition
14. Love Love Love (Hope ft. Mraz)
15. Shy That Way (Tristan Prettyman ft. Mraz) - because I'm a dork and love that they're so cute and engaged and all.

Maddie's Barn

I just found a picture of Maddie's Barn!  I told you it was MUCH better than the replica I did for my dad.  It just reinforces my need to paint him something new.

Check it out here.

BTW Jenn, the STA peeps (me, specifically) are missing you terribly and need to have a visit soon.

Freud

First painting of the year - DONE!!!

I can't wait for my friends to get back from the Caribbean so I can give it to them (the lucky brats are on a cruise enjoying warmth and sun and water. I so hate them right now). Of course, it'll be a while before it's dry enough to deliver, but it's done nonetheless.

I also just need to complain about the fact that all of my friends are either somewhere warm and wonderful right now or they will be soon. One in the Caribbean, two different sets of friends in Cuba, one off to Mexico, one off on a cruise, and another off to Hawaii. Not to mention the cousin in Australia who keeps dangling the tropical 30•C temps like a proverbial carrot. What's up with me staying in cold (okay, slightly warmer than last week) Calgary?  I seriously need to make some travel plans. 





Freud  (20x24)

 As for Freud's playlist, I decided to put my iPod on shuffle for 15 songs and see what came up. Not a bad selection.

1. August Moon - Sara Bareilles
2. High Horses - The Swell Season
3. Up All Night - Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans
4. Our Day Will Come - Jamie Cullum
5. Did You Get My Message? - Jason Mraz
6. Jolene - Ray LaMontagne
7. Sympathize - Amos Lee
8. Yes - Coldplay
9. Happy Ending - Mika
10. I'd Rather Be With You - Joshua Radin
11. Last Request - Paolo Nutini
12. Smile Like You Mean It - The Killers
13. Edge of Desire - John Mayer
14. Understand - Joss Stone
15. Either Way, I'll Break Your Heart - Augustana

Resolutions

I've never been a big fan of New Year Resolutions. I still make them, but am well aware that no one ever keeps them (me included). I mean, I'm sure everyone has good intentions, but I just end up grumpier than normal when I'm at the gym (because, really, anyone who's happy to be there in the first place is on something) because the gym and pool get overcrowded for January, maybe a little bit into February, and sharing my space and altering my routine is not enjoyable. At all.

Think about sharing a swim lane with 10 people. You swim a length. Wait. Swim another length. Wait again. You catch up to someone and get kicked in the face. It creates a jam of swimmers who are now just treading water waiting for the person who thinks doing the doggy paddle is enough to qualify them for lane swim. Lovely times.

Anyway. My point.

I've decided to try making a resolution this year that has nothing to do with my weight or health. I'm going to paint one painting a month. I wanted to try weekly but thought I'd like to at least pretend to have a life.

So here goes. One painting a month. January will be Freud. He's so close to being done, just some color adjustment and we're good to go.

Cross your fingers I make it past February.

Losing Yourself

There is no better feeling than losing yourself in painting. To have absolutely everything fade away and your sole focus be on colors, lines, and brush strokes. Time passes unchecked, worries and stresses disappear, your mind is completely empty. It's glorious.

I did it tonight. Time didn't exist. I felt the stress slide off my shoulders and I lost myself. When I came to, I realized 4 hours had passed; my back, shoulders, and hands ached (in the best possible way); and I was exhausted & re-energized at the same time. I feel fantastic.

I hope everyone out there has something that does for them what painting does for me. I wish empty minds and a few hours of stress free joy for you all.