Day 24

If you haven’t seen my studio in a while, it is because it is a huge mess. I don’t understand these artists’ profiles that are so pristine and perfect. I think they have professional photographers come over after they have cleaned out everything in their studios. It just doesn’t seem real to me. My studio is like a mad-scientists lab. There are things everywhere. No matter how hard I try to stay tidy, in the moment of creation, nothing else matters. Then night comes and I am too tired to clean up, just to make a mess the next day.

My painting studio is tiny. It is less than 10’x10’. It consists of two drafting tables, two work benches, shelves, flat files, and stacks of things. There isn’t a lot of room to move around. I have a larger space in my basement that is dedicated to framing, packaging, and storage. I am saving my money right now to build a large space on my property, so I can take on more students and teach workshops. This will hopefully happen within the next two years.

Artist/makers, do you have any cleaning /organizing tips?

Day 22

(January 31) My husband told me to not talk about the weather anymore, but it’s freaking cold! I have to apologize to the people waiting for packages this week. Mail services is limited because of the temperature. I also haven’t had child care all week, so my communication hasn’t been the best. I hope to catch up when my husband is home this weekend. Thank you for your patience.

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Day 20

Oh my goodness, I have been bad about getting things up on the blog. I have written in my journal every day for the last 22 days. Turns out, my writing is a lot of half-finished paragraphs and random thoughts. All good stuff, but not for blog content. So here I am, talking about nothing, again.

Someone suggested I paint a snail, so here we are! I have always wanted to paint a snail. I don’t know. I read this story to my daughter and there is a snail named Gail. I know they are pests to some, but aren’t they interesting and magical too?

Day 18 and 19

Painting is not just jumping in and painting, and voila!, it is a masterpiece. Any artist will tell you, there is a lot of prep involved in each project before it is made.

I start by finding a subject. I have a collection of specimens, and if I don’t have an actual specimen, I will spend days scouring the internet and looking through my book collection. I also take a lot of photographs for source material. I need to have a good feel for the subject, and I need to be able to visualize what the subject will look like in the painting. This takes research.

I like to say that I am a little like Larry David. I don’t like to write the script down before I start. An important aspect of my process is improvisation. I have to be able to visualize the subject of my painting before I start. But once I start, I respond to the piece with intuition to create the external composition.

Then the fun starts. Painting and adornment with 23k gold leaf. I will do some process videos in the near future and go into more detail about that soon!

Day 16

We are buried under snow right now. Well, not literally. But it is snowy, and cold, and miserable. While painting this, I thought of glistening snow surrounding a crisp fallen leaf. I tried to find peace it. It made me look out the window and reflect on nature. I thought about how my children look at the world with fresh and wondrous amazement. My use of glitter is meant to imply this innocent way of looking at the world.

I mustn’t forget that the world is glorious.

Day 15

I inherited my grandmothers very large collection of costume jewelry. For the last several months I have been using the damaged beads and odds and ends in my handmade watercolors. The green bead on the bottom came from her collection and inspired the luna moth above.

Day 14

Am I better? Am I worse? I don’t know. I have always been bad.

My brain just thinks visually. Impulsively. I have always made art with my intuition. Writing is not like that. It’s planned, it’s ordered. There are rules. Bear with me while I figure mine out.

I am kind of having fun though, figuring out my words. So thank you for sticking with me.