Back to Work

Well, spring break was a little bit of a disappointment, but we tried to make the best of it. The weather was cold all week, getting into the 20's every night, so we didn't get to go hiking or camping. Later in the week, John heroically tilled the garden and I planted a few more strawberries. But otherwise, I didn't spend much time outside, as hoped. I did get some work done on my paintings and three new canvases stretched, and I worked a little on a quilt I cut out a while ago.

However, we instituted "FunDay" on Thursday, to make up for our lack of intended fun in the earlier part of the week. So, on funday, we went rollerskating, yes, rollerskating! We went during the little kid time, so we were the only people over twelve who weren't chaperones, which was probably appropriate since we were both a little rusty. After rollerskating, we went to Cici's for all-you-can-eat pizza, which is also fun. And then we went shopping at the mall - something we rarely ever do. Fun day was supposed to extend late into the evening: we were going to go here Jeremy play some of his new music some place in Jackson. Unfortunately, we hadn't anticipated how exhausting funday would be - so we ended up crashing by nine.

My sisters and neice came to town for the weekend, which was exciting, until I got food poisoning from El Ranchito's and spent the weekend in bed.

But, now we are back at work, ready to wrap up the semester. (Yes, I realize we still have six weeks left).

In other news, the fourth season of Northern Exposure is released on DVD, and John and I are anxiously awaiting ours in the mail.

Painting Report

I'm already getting confused with all the waiting, so this morning I put together a chart of when I did what and how long I have to wait to do the next thing.

I now have three paintings with the drawing transferred and the imprimatura completed.

I have about five more weeks before I can begin the next layer on any of them.

but (have I mentioned this?) I decided I didn't like the fourth composition and decided to go with a different one. Another Goya rip off - but with some changes. I needed a lot more people for this composition, so we snuck some images at church Sunday night when no one was looking, unfortunately that meant that they weren't very well composed, but i'm playing with the images trying to fit the people together the way I want. at least the light is the same on all of them.

My goal for spring break (next week!) is to finish drawing that one and transfer it to the canvas and do the imprimatura. Also, I'd like to do watercolors of the three images I haven't done yet.

So maybe I'll have some images to post after spring break.

Funny Pictures of Willem

For some reason, he was just being too funny this weekend. So I have lots of pictures to share: Willem in a tree, on a slide, in a bowl, in a bowl chasing his tail, and sleeping.

Clem Snide

I really like Clem Snide. And so should you.

Carl Sandburg

I am uploading a bunch of my music to put on our new IPOD. In the process I came across a CD that John and I bought on our honeymoon, not anticipating quite how cheesy it would be.

We went to Carl Sandburg's home one day during our trip (one of my favorite poets). The home is actually a goat farm because his wife was a prize goat breeder. He had one daughter who was mentally disabled and another who was divorced with children and they all lived in this home. So when he died, the wife sold the house and left immediately - I suppose to make enough money to support their daughters. In effect, the house was left almost exactly as it was the day he died: furniture, dishes, magazines, books and their memoribilia. It is now a historical museum, but some people live on the land and still keep goats there for visitors.

We like goats, so we got goat fudge and goat cheese. We also bought Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories for our future kids. And we got this CD.

It is some of his love poems set to music. Now Chara once gave me some of his children's poems turned into songs, and they are marvelous. So I expected something similar. But instead it is this sort of eerie flute and strings with a man reading poems in a breathy tone. I don't mean to put it down, but there is a bit of a cheese factor. Ah, well.

Anyway, I really do love some of the poems. And with our anniversary coming up, i thought I would post a poem for John.


Explanation of Love

There is a place where love begins and a place where love ends,

There is a touch of two hands that foils all dictionaries.

There is a look of eyes fierce as a big Bethlehem open
hearth furnace or a little green-fire acetylene torch.

There are single careless bywords
portentous as a big bend in the Mississippi River.

Hands, eyes, bywords - out of these
love makes battlegrounds and workshops.

There is a pair of shoes love wears
and the coming is a mystery.

There is a warning love sends
and the cost of it never written till long afterward.

There are explanations of love in all languages
and not one found wiser than this:

There is a place where love begins, and love ends
- and love asks nothing.

And Finally

I finally finished four of the "modern" paintings I started a while ago. They were mostly done, but still lacked some finishing. I have plans to build a new type of frame/support structure than what I usually use when I paint on wood. I'm not sure when that will happen. At some point I'll make some better photographs of them for slides, but these are all I've got now. So here they are:


St. Matthew
oil, charcoal and collage on birch




The Good Shepherd
oil, charcoal, and collage on wood panel






These images are loosely (or closely) based on other Christian artifacts from the early christian period to the late medieval period. I have three or four others from this group that are still unfinished at home.

Gardening Again

I got John a seed starting tray for Christmas, and he bought seeds and was growing these beautiful little lettuce and broccoli sprouts... that is until we came home one day to find dirt strewn all over our bedroom and bathroom. Seems Willem thought that would be more fun.

We've got a new tray ready, but John hasn't replanted the starters yet. We were probably too early anyway.

But what we have done... John bought a blueberry bush, which is one of the few you can put in pots. When every we live somewhere permanently we'd like to plant a bunch of berry bushes, but this is a good start. Also, I've planted some strawberries. I grew some last year in the ground, and they grew well, but they got that strawberry disease and the birds ate them, so I'm going to try a hanging variety this time.

and...


(sorry, original image lost)

John decided to re-plant some of his herb seeds in pots instead of in the starter tray, so here is a lovely view of my kitchen windows filled with plants (when it was actually clean for a whole hour). Okay, so mostly you only see pots, but they are (in the teacup) a carrot top I'm growing, John's cilantro, daffodils (from the yard), chives (which somehow survived the winter), John's mint, my new unnamed leafy plant, my huge aloe plant, my Wandering Jew, and the potato I'm trying to grow (to John's dismay) like I did when I was a kid.

Report: Week Two and a Half

I thought maybe I would wait til I had done a little more, but oh well.

I've transferred two drawings to canvases and outlined them in a thin brown paint. It took longer for the primer to dry than I expected, which is why I haven't transferred the third, although I can now, I just haven't. But, the fourth drawing, I'm not sure I like, so I may just put it on hold. I may change the image altogether. So this weekend I intend to finish transferring the drawings and do the imprimatura.

Well, okay

This is the first painting I'm working on (okay, I'm working on them simultaneously, so by first, I mean the first idea I developed).

The image I posted the other day, and have reposted here, is Francisco Goya's etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. It shows the artist sleeping on his desk, while menacing monsters emerge and converge on him. Reason and empirical thought, one of the many modern things we take for granted, were upheld as man's greatest acheivement during the Enlightenment (which some scholars say is the beginning of the "modern" period, others say it began with the Rennaissance). While many painters upheld the new advancements of the modern period, others resisted, fearing what would be lost. Goya is one of those who suggests that progress may not be all its cracked up to be. While the title might initially make you think, "without reason we get monsters? better stick with reason," Goya instead felt that the monsters were a necessary part of the human experience, which he was willing to battle for the sake of his artmaking.

Recently I've come to question the modernism I once loved. The problem isn't that all the advancements are bad (I certainly drive a car and use electricity, and I can't even begin to imagine how to not think empirically), but the problem is that we have become removed from their newness. We expect that things should be this way, and begrudge change. For example, the use of fossil fuels brought a lot of good things, but today we see that they also come with some problems, namely pollution and a finite supply. However, Karl Marx suggested that the problems become clear when the solutions become possible - and today, we see alternatives in solar and other green energy. Why do we resist change so much, when our present lives are the result of radical change?

So in these art works I'm trying to look at history, hopefully not selectively, to better understand where I am. And this seems to involve every aspect of life: everything I take for granted (or at least the things I am aware of taking for granted), I want to reevaluate.

My second painting is also an appropriation of Goya's subjects and composition, but the other two will be biblical narratives.

The watercolor is just a study, so their may be some changes - for one the canvas is slightly wider than the watercolor. I'm open to other suggestions. (and don't you just love my really sleek and modern ergonomical chair?)

Report: Week One

I've been pretty productive so far, and I'm excited about continuing these new paintings. Here's the run down on what I've accomplished so far.

Tuesday: I stretched two canvases on stretchers (the wooden supports for the canvas) that I am reusing.

Wednesday: I composed and photographed two of my compositions at home with a self-timer. I developed ideas for the next two. (I'm going to be working on four paintings right now.)

Thursday: At sunrise, John helped me compose and photograph the next two compositions. I took all these images to school and completed the arrangements in photoshop, then printed out several copies increasing the darks and lights to use as value guides. In my sculpture class, while my students carved styrofoam, I built three more stretchers. At home, I completed the first prepatory drawing for the first composition.

Friday: In the morning I returned to the studio to pick up the finished stretchers and built two more. (I had already prepared the wood at home over the Christmas break, so really I just assembled them.) I also got out the hide glue, which has to soak overnight, that I am using as the sizing.

Saturday: A busy day. I stretched two more canvases. Then I finished heating the hide glue and sized all four canvases in the living room floor. They need to dry for eight hours. While I waited i began and completed the prepatory watercolor for the first composition. (I think this is valuable because it helps me select what colors I will be using, and get accustomed to painting slowly and thinly. Planning is very important when using layers, something I don't normally do.) I also prepared the ground, so in the evening, when the hide glue was dry, I primed my canvases with flake white and linseed oil. These now need to dry for 3 days, or whenever it's dry to the touch.

Sunday: I completed a prepatory drawing for a second composition, and "stretched" (wet and taped down) watercolor paper for it.


I intend to finish all four prep drawings by tuesday, so that when the ground is dried I can transfer all the drawings, and do the first layer (the Imprimatura). I'm going to take my time with the watercolors though, since I'll have seven weeks between the imprimatura and the next layer. I am wondering now if I'll be able to wait seven weeks. I think that will be the hardest part for me - I'm so used to slapping wet paint together, letting the layers dry feels very foreign.

I'm debating whether or not to put images of the watercolors up - I'd hate to get a lot of criticism and then have to paint the image for the next year.