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Yes, I have been working on a new magazine and promoted to Managing Editor!  We are improving each issue, publishing quarterly…and having a great time bringing you designer articles, interviews and fashion “get the look” articles.  Check it out!

A quick update:  I went to China in March 2011 for ten days!  My French friends from Montlucon came to see ME this summer and we took them to Yellowstone.  I am making jewelry now and still playing around with my yarns, as well as spending lots of time with my Photoshop program.  My family is fine and my granddaughter is now 6 yrs old.  She is going to be an artist, a gymnast or maybe a rock star when she grows up!  And the BIG NEWS:  I will be retiring from my teaching career this summer!  I am very excited and looking forward to more travel and creative time!

Painting by Fiefi

Ahh, Le Tour de France!  This event takes on a whole new color when one has actually BEEN to France!  And, when Lance Armstrong actually has a condo less than a mile from us, I am paying more attention.  You see, I have to have something other than a “sports event” connection to pay attention.

So, I’m watching along with my husband…but differently!

For a “foody” blog to keep up with the regional cuisine of the villages and regions the bicyclers visit,  check out this one:  “Good Things”  at http://realnobodyslikeus.typepad.com/

Gotta go!  There’s been a bike crash in the front of the lead pack!  And another massive pileup!  Ciao!

Une Fenetre sur la Loire

I’ve had an artist’s block because of a difficult painting choice.  Can’t explain what happened.  Luckily, for me, I’m good at digging myself out of a hole, even if it’s by avoiding that which is pulling me back down.  And, so, here it is!  I have a beautiful new painting!  Albert’s little cave window looking out at the Loire River, has a strong hold on me and worked like a rope pulling me upwards!  The other is sitting on the floor next to my easel, I glance at it occasionally, but it will probably never be finished.  I’m moving on with new plans! 

My first step at getting on with painting came in March…with a painting class, which required me to get my paints organized and get painting at least once a week for five weeks.  It worked. 

My advice for artist’s block:  Sit awhile, digest what’s happening, swallow your pride and make one little decision and follow it through.  That little decision will be based, even unconsciously, on what you need deep inside, and will lead you back to what you love…because an artist must follow the heart and spirit.

[See my June 29, 2009 post for more about Albert.]

Such a dilemma is hard to explain.  Fear, embarrassment, guilt.  And hope.  Baby steps are required.  I tell myself to turn this painting toward a different direction, loosen it up, have fun with it.  But I’m stubborn.  I see what I want and it’s not ”loose.”  Friends have suggested starting something new, just get my brushes flowing, singing my music again.  I may have to take that advice if I want to move forward.  For now I’m finding my creativity in other places: my elementary school art position, jewelry, sewing.  Perhaps the writing will propel me into an action.  I guess you’re getting a real taste of the process….

Abbaye Royale Day 3 and 4

Such a delicate value study is getting more complicated!  My thoughts exactly?  Aargh!

Day 3 ended with such frustration that NO picture was taken AND I wanted to throw a sheet over the whole mess!  (I’ve seen that on old studio photos of artists!  Now I understand why.)  Chosing to continue looking and contemplating the errors, I left the painting on the easel…out in the open…where my friends could see it.  Luckily, only one friend arrived and said she didn’t know anything about painting, so don’t ask her opinion.  Okay, fine.

Today, having decided on a path of repair, I covered the offending colors with a thin light blue, then lifted the fresh paint out where the shadows needed to deepen…rather than appear flat.  I think it worked.  Still, I am not satisfied with the colors.  I want it to be “clean, pure, filled with light and inspiration.”  Complicated.

Stay tuned for more “repairs….”

Abbaye Royale painting day 2

Okay, okay…it still looks very blue.  For personal reference, I’ve left the original blue in places…I want to see the differences.  As planned, I’ve over-painted a bit of gray over the first columns.  That helps.  Also, switched to a smaller brush.  I worked on the background of the nave today using the grayed blue.  Placing the values in the back is helping me with the complexity of the structure.  I am now able to work the value scale in areas.  I can see that this painting will probably take me longer than expected.  Always seems to work out that way…seems to be my “MO.”

I am excited to get to the warm colors in the foreground columns and add a little in other areas to create more balance.  Feels like I’d be jumping around, but I need to see some other colors layed in.  Oil is wonderful…I can rework an area, or an entire painting, if I want to take a different direction.  Nice, huh?  Yeah, I like choices.

Abbaye Royale painting Day 1

Two hours…had to stop.  Two hours is about my max before I start getting tired and frustrated.  I really have to stop, clean up, step back and start again later.  I get too caught up in a color or space and need to move away.  In today’s case, I’m too blue!  I LOVE blue and it begins to permeate my work unless I can get some perspective on it.  Soooo, in this case, I can already see that I’ll need to neutralize that blue!

Please do remember that most artists will NOT show you their work at this stage.  We want it to be beautiful right off; but, like all good things, it takes time.  You’ll see my mistakes and you’ll see me fix them later.  I can see so many already and therein lies the frustration….  Painting for me is an enjoyment and when it is not fun, I’ll stop and step back…start again later.

Check back with me in a day or so…I’m really wanting to get back into it!

The starting drawing.....

Ever wonder about the thoughts of an artist while working on a piece?  Let’s give it a try.  To qualify this, I must first of all say that I am not a famous artist, nor have I sold a bunch of paintings…I’m an emerging artist, meaning I have a day job.  I’m good, yes; I’m goal-oriented, yes; and yes, I’d like to be “famous” to one degree or another as a painter.  So, this experiment may seem juvenile to some, but to others, interesting enough….

My process on this new painting began when I finished touching up the last two paintings, pieces I’d started and “loosely finished” in France.  “Yes, now I like it!  Parfait!”  And very quickly I began thinking about the next painting!  I pulled out my photos from my trip this summer (900 digital images) to see what “called” to me.  Many!  But what REALLY made its claim on my soul, what REALLY gave me the sense of passion needed to get started?  AHA!  The inspiration, the piece I felt excited about:  a beautiful light-filled nave in the Fontenaye Abbaye Royale!  In the photo the light spills in through undecorated, clear windows.  The stone is white with pastel values of pink and violet.  “There’s hope and a light shining through this one.”  Also, “This will be fun to paint because I’m learning more about values!  And I can draw the perspective to create an interesting composition!”

Canvas: “Can I use this purchased canvas?  No, the dimensions are wrong to create the feeling of height and that’s very necessary here!”  Settled on a piece of unframed canvas to be stretched later….

The drawing:  “Better use the plexiglass grid on this one….  Lots of deceiving angles here.  Don’t want to screw up the perspective with one column at the wrong angle.”  “Work at the table or on the easel?  Table…because I’ll need to use the ruler.”  I’m not a mathematical whiz, but I do love calculating and using rulers of all kinds, not anal, but love the challenge.  “Whoa, this is going to take longer than I thought…as usual, I’ve picked a complicated venture.” 

Three hours later:  “Halfway done…going blind.  Better set this aside before I screw it up.”

Four (yes, four!) weeks later, after deep cleaning the house for family visits, whitewater river trips, an Art Festival, trip to Glacier National Park, a week to unpack and reshelve my moved artroom materials and then the first week of school:  “Its Monday!  I only have ten more available days this month for painting!!”  I have a goal of doing one painting a month…not unrealistic when one has a day job.  “Ready.  Measure that.  What’s that angle?  Does it match that one?  Oh, look at that pattern.  Cool.”

Two hours later:  “Yes!  That’s a perfect perspective drawing.  NOW I can finally start painting!”  Tomorrow:  the fun part….

An interesting thought today after reading for a book club:  Everybody Who Was Anybody, a Biography of Gertrude Stein by Janet Hobhouse, Chapter One.   Gertrude was described as an adult Child, living in the present, egocentric and adorable.  I thought, “Of course, an artist MUST live in the present!  If we live in the past there are too many fears of what WAS said of our work; if we live in the future there are too many fears of what MIGHT be said of our work.  Children play.  An artist must play, with words, paint, clay, music.  I like to play with paint……..”