puppy portrait complete

i sure had fun creating this one!  i had a hard time stopping to let the paint dry, and started again early this morning.  painting is a lot more fun when the subject matter is near and dear to your heart!


here is where it rested last night;

i had some issues with his left eye looking a little high or something so i worked on that first thing.  i worked on the coloring in his face and added a tiny bit more color on his chest.

i thought i was done there until i took this photo and had a hard time with his left ear.  what is it with me being wrong on the left hand side???

so much better now.  i could just kiss that nose!

until later,
jenny

newest paintings, and more in the shop!

it's been a busy few days for the man and myself, getting new photos up in the shop for lots of cool merchandise!  we have seven new paintings up, with loads of ways to get my art in your hands, from inexpensive note cards to the more pricy items.  i want to make sure you can afford my art!

three of my paintings made a double appearance with the full painting and then a cropped version.  the views are also a little different for mugs and phone cases, and of course shirts, which i think are pretty cool!

we have "trust";

as a laptop skin

as a shirt

and a mug, among other things

and cracking open, two versions as totes and other items;

this one has many items

this one is only for prints and tote bags

buddha also has many options to choose from;

and a different look, cropped from the painting;

these are all available at my store, HeavenSpirit Creations

i've also started two new paintings over the last few days.

"starchild" in progress

and a project near to my heart, of my 15 year old pup, pita;

here he watches over my work

in progress

need to work on his eyes

with his photo as reference

i'm pretty happy with how these are turning out, so you may see them in the shop soon.

until later,

jenny

new products in the shop!

i'm still giggling since hubby resized a few more photos of my paintings in order to make them into awesome new merchandise up in my shop now!

you can order "lotus #4" as a print or canvas;

or as a tote!

or a pillow!

or note cards!

or even a shower curtain!

or what about "sing" as a note card?

or a phone skin?

more products for these and other artwork are in my society6 shop!

until later,

jenny

art challenge day 6

i am seeing improvement in my quick sketches and i'm happy about that.  i'm finding it both difficult and liberating to be doing these timed sketches.  i'm not afforded time to erase any lines, just letting the finished product be as it is and not giving (too much) judgement.  they are totally being an abstract study of the human body at this point, and that's what i must see them as.  each day i start out my one minute sketch as a newbie for the day.  i know it will be good for my art, i can see my progression already, but it's very difficult to let go of perfection.

todays work, day 6;

i will have an update soon about new merchandise in my society6 shop.  we scanned some new canvasses today and sweet hubby has been working to get them re-sized for the various items and uploaded to the store.  we are now waiting for the photos to reliably show up on site.  for now, i'm giggling at the photos of my artwork on tote bags, clocks, notecards, and a shower curtain!

until later,
jenny

new art challenge!

in order for me to try and get back on track i have decided to do another 30 day challenge.  this time i will be using the live models at croquis cafe and doing one session a day.  their sessions are a good 20 minutes or so long, with different length poses for you to draw from, in real time.  the models come into frame, get into a pose and hold the pose for one minute and go into another pose.  today was my first official day of sketching this way, and have 5 one minute sketches, 4 two minute sketches and 1 five minute sketch under my belt!

just a few examples of day 1;

for some reason i like the two minute sketches better than the five minute ones.  i am loose with it, get the idea across, and don't have to get into detail as much.  with the five minute sketch i am able to go back and fiddle with things and that creates messiness to me.

it will be interesting to see any noticeable difference in my ability between today and day 30.  i won't be bothering to update every day, unless i'm really happy with a pose i did or something, but i will post the last days sketches to compare.

until later,
jenny

finished!

i went back and did just a little bit on my canvas and she called it finished.  not where i thought she would end up.  i initially saw her in leaves, with feathers in her hair, but she wanted to tell a more simple story.

"sing"

(and now that i see her here, i see i need to fix her dreads where i played with her skin tone in her shoulders)

until later,

jenny

kicking and screaming

i am one of the kinds of artists you may not hear about often.  you hear of the artists who paint their fears, their hearts are on their sleeves.  they paint thru the most horrible points of their lives.  they paint while in body casts, they learn to paint with their feet when they can't use their hands, and then their teeth when they can no longer paint with their feet.  they will find a way to paint when the earth is crumbling away beneath them.  they will find a way to paint!

*

i am not one of those artists. 

this is hard work for me.

*

when i am depressed i do nothing.  not one thing.  i am sludge.  a breathing mass of darkness.  breathing.  i am breathing.  thats what i do.  thank god for these things we do instinctively.



it's very frustrating to me to be one of these kinds of artists instead of the other kind.


today i told myself i MUST go to the studio and paint.

*

"just do a little bit.  it'll be good for you", i said  to me.

*

and i went to the studio, and i worked on two canvasses.  i worked for an hour on them.  an hour total.  and that was plenty for now.  i'm working on these baby steps right now.  just little moments of getting out of my head and onto the canvas.

yes, i moved, the image is blurry.  

not gonna fix it, sorry

i've sat with her in my living room, playing with her in my head for about a month, and today got to the actual act of physically touching the canvas.

i changed the color to her hair beads so they didn't disappear, i changed her lips a little, color and shape.  gave her more definition to her face with shadows and highlights, added and then scrubbed off some feathers.  played with the lights and darks in her neck, added an overall terra cotta glaze to the whole canvas then lightened up her headband.  she is now back in the living room and i will continue to listen to her.

here she was before

this one...  this was a canvas i had given up on for a while.

it had a little life to it before.  it had a sad lotus and blues and greens splattered with my india inks.  it was a little lost, but it is a totally different canvas now!

as i was creating a background on a white canvas, i decided to print the inks i had used onto this sad canvas.  i was using oranges, purples and reds, and i put both canvasses face to face, so the ink would smear onto this one.  the effect was magic!  some ink had gone into the lotus and i was happy with that.  i wanted to fix the flower anyway, so painted it out again, letting the ink spread into the cream colored paint without mixing too much.  i then re-painted the stem, added a highlight, and played with the background a little more.

after i took a photo i felt the lotus wasn't happy until it knew where it was, so i made sure to add some  depth, water lines and ripples, so it knew it was above the water.  pretty pleased with how it's turned out so far.  not bad for an old unloved canvas.  

so, if you find me down the road, and i am doing well with my art- selling, doing art fairs, whatever- know it has not come easy.  it has come with lots of breaks where i couldn't get off the couch.  it came with tears and frustration with myself.  it came with inner tantrums.  it came with incredible anxiety.  it came after i wasn't sure i would be able to get up in the morning or if i wanted to.  

until later,

jenny