Tuesday, July 20, 2021

"Farm Roots" painting progress and result

hi there, and good morning, or afternoon, or evening.  i'm meeting you wherever and whenever you are, cause that's how i roll.


as of starting this post, it is monday, july 19, and my goal for the foreseeable future is to work on sketches and paintings each weekday.  i'm going at my own pace, as my body permits, so it may be slow progress, but i'm documenting as i go.


this morning i did a quick sketch (if you remember this is going to be a not-perfect abstract painting of my childhood home) on my drippy canvas with water-reactive pencil and then sprayed lightly with fixative.


 

i'm pretty pleased to have this unique perspective of the house before it was renovated and the shape of the back was changed.  this is the look of many memories playing on that lower shed roof, trying to climb my way up.  a happy day it was when i finally had the strength in my little body to fight my way to the crest!  that roof is no longer there, as it now has a big, beautiful sun room on top of it, but the base holds the sun room just as strongly as it holds some beautiful memories in my heart.


a little more work to the sketch, and it was onto the fun part of painting this piece!  i am going for it this time, and chose wild, fun colors to represent the endless days of exploration i had as a young child.


i decided to make the windows much smaller, and i like that look for this painting.

i chose colors based on the values in the B&W photo i have.
i didn't like how my focus was drawn away from the little shed
whose roof was the main subject for me

i like this color better for the shed, even though the value is off

and here is how it hung on my wall for a while as i pondered the next move. 

i'm thinking it needs a little bit more, and am waiting on some art supplies to come in so i can play a bit more on the canvas but with new stuff!

 

tuesday morning, after thinking about what and how to add, and talking it out with sweetie, i had a plan, and it was good.  didn't want to wait for new supplies, i just went in and did it!

 

here is my final piece, titled "Farm Roots".

i added my swing set and a drippy tree that i saw in the paint to the right, and added the word "roots" in pink, darkened some pink areas here and there and in the windows.  i darkened the green behind the house and added a 'bush' to the left of the house to soften the lines and to represent the huge lilac bush that hides that side of the house.  all those drips reminded me of roots and i ran with the theme of that, up-played all the drippiness, and used the play of words for the title.  

i took a lot of artistic license to this painting and i'm happy and proud i was able to get to this point of experience that i can play with my art instead of trying for exact likeness to the photo.

until later,

jenny


Sunday, July 18, 2021

an old painting, and new work

well, hello there!  long time, no see.  i've been busy in the garden these few months, with no motivation for other artistic pursuits.  i'm currently waiting for tomatoes to grow and have had an encouraging word or two from my grandson who was in the state, visiting for a bit, so the motivation has struck again.  yay for encouraging words from important people!


i had started working, before the grandkids came to visit, on my older painting of the farm in which i grew up.  (no, i dont speak that properly, and usually dont type that way either, but you should have seen that sentence before i fixed it!)


then




now (still in progress)




after getting motivation i started one of my crazy underpaintings with no subject in mind. (no before photo of the painting before finding the subject).  when i turned the canvas to let drips fall, i was met by a vision of an abstract landscape, and i knew i wanted to do an abstract painting of my childhood home.

 

i then painted out the sky, tree, and grass areas a little bit while letting some of the underpainting show.

it's all drippy, just the way i like it, and i scribbled the word "FARM" in the sky to keep my mind in the 'loose' department!


then i found the photo i wanted to paint of the farmhouse

the farmhouse, back in the day

 

and i cut out the house, just to better see where i wanted to place it on the canvas


i'm excited to get a loose feeling to the old house.  i won't be going into perfectionistic details at all, wanting it to be 'wonky' and fun!  fun is where it's at for me!  if it isnt fun, then why am i doing it?  especially painting and looking at my art.



i bought this book over the weekend and with my newfound motivation i plan on doing the exercises within and doing a bit of sketching and art each weekday.  that's my goal this week, and i'm hoping this will be a daily habit i will continue just for funsies.

lucy would rather me be strictly at her beck and call, but she's just gonna have to deal


i'll keep you posted!
 
until later,
jenny