procrastination in action

this is what happens when you start cleaning in the studio, I guess.  you came across some brilliantly colored and textured old backgrounds that have the beginnings of a sketch (this time of an elephant), and decide to play instead.

see the top portion of this painting?  thats how all of this was.  red/orange textured paint and a simple sketch that I needed to figure out.  I love his energy!

found a 'before the before' shot. close to how it started today

and I just looked up his meaning here and am floored again with how animal energy comes to me when I need it.  I was looking at the painting, searching for it's title.  and the words "at ease" came to me.  the background leaves nothing to be at ease about, but he is standing sure of himself, grazing on what is around him with his trunk at his mouth.  he does not seem troubled or tense about what is going on around him at all.

the article says ;

Do you have a long, hard journey in front of you and need strength to make it through? Are you taking care of friends or family during tough times and need support? Elephant, as a Spirit, Totem, and Power Animal, can help! Elephant teaches how to nourish the mind, body, and spirit, so you are strong during trying times.

just floored.

so, he will be titled "At Ease"

Elephant teaches how to use what is around to nourish us, to listen to the guidance of the Elders so we remain calm and sure footed when times are difficult.   this is the way to help our tribe.

time to meditate on this totem coming to me at this time.

until later,

Jenny

The Weary Lightworker, a new painting

I've been in a creative mood lately it seems, which fits me fine!  a bit of dabbling in paint after a bit of dabbling in the garden has been very soothing lately.  my soul needs a break from all the heavy stuff, and this painting is a reflection of that.

per usual, I started with a pose I liked via unsplash.com and used it for body position and shadow reference.  I was also inspired by a class by Lucy Cooke in Lets Face It 2020 where she created a "Modern Matisse".  I knew I wanted to try my hand at a bit more pattern, more background to my painting, but I wanted it also in a style more my own.

this was the pose I was drawn to for this class.

(forgive the placement issue, blogger has changed the format and I'm not used to it yet.  not sure it will do everything I wish it to)

I sketched out the pose;

added some bold color;

then I found a painting by Matisse that felt good to me and found some colors

then to start painting!

and at this point, and for the rest of the painting I wondered "what have I done!?"

The Weary Lightworker 

8/6/2020 Jenny gabrenas
her crown is askew as she takes a rest. she reflects on how to continue her work, as she loves this world so deeply.

I fiddled way too much with the feet/legs that aren't even close to the center of attention.  everything else seemed ok, but those non-important (and off the canvas of the original photo) feet really threw me for a loop.  I finally am to the point of aquiescense with the appendages, and might be finished with the effort of fiddling with such unimportant details.   the problem is they are all I see right now.  

so, I now turn my attention to the things I like about this painting;

I adore the message.  she is me.  I love the world and it's inhabitants.  I wish to help spread the light to all souls in order to help rise above the chaos, but I am so very weary.  I will take my time to rest when I am overwhelmed by things, adjust my crown and get back to it.  

I love her sweet little face and her crooked crown, symbolizing my humanness.  my faults that are present because I am here on earth and have forgotten what my spirit knows.

I love the textures in the background and the pink peeking through.  I love the white and pink chair.  I love the folds in her clothes.  I love her hair.

so, there are many aspects of this work that I really can appreciate, so I will keep my focus on those.  and, thats exactly how I can keep my calm during my difficult times.  I will focus on the good.  what do I like?  what is good here, now?  where is the pretty color, where is my joy?

I hope this painting gives you some joy, something to focus on, something that can inspire you to rest, take a breath and adjust your own crown.

until later,

Jenny

a new painting finished

I'm behind with posting my newest painting here.  although I've posted her on my other social media, I wanted to hold the story about her coming into being.

this painting was helped along as a response to Lets Face It class week 4 with artist Amy Beeman.  I had found a beautiful reference photo that matched what the class was doing, at my royalty free happy-place, unsplash.  I've wanted to learn how to paint red hair so was waiting to paint this model and was excited to dive into learning a little about using the Postershine app to help distinguish where highlights and lowlights are in the photo.

photo by branislav belko

(I go to unsplash to get ideas, color schemes, and inspiration for new paintings and to unwind and relax.  this is my happy place.  there are photos of places and cars and trees and just everything, within reason)



I used this reference loosely, as a guideline, but didn't care if I got it perfectly.  I just wanted the feel of her;  the long, red hair with highlights; the slight tilt to the face; the soft expression.   I did a quick sketch of the reference photo, just trying to get everything in roughly the correct places on the face.

I then went to town painting her.  didn't get any progress shots until the end.  it was a good day with motivation and I worked a long time, ignoring my own body pain and just doing the work.

"All You Need"

her title was the song that kept playing in my head as I painted her, so had to use it.  she makes me happy.


sweetie almost immediately put it up in my shops!

heres the society6 page for the art print

go to page and then scroll down to find more products 

society6 has new merchandise out, too!

I like how these notebooks came out

the redbubble site has changed.  I, for one am not a fan of change, and I find this one was counter-intuitive.  oh well.  

heres the link to the photographic print.  if you scroll down, you will see "available on +46 products".  click on that, and it will show you all the products that painting is on, and you can click on the one you'd like to see.

they have a new, second tote.  this one is cotton!

and here is their spiral bound notebook.

as I browsed my shops I have found I need to do some work to make it a bit more easy to navigate in redbubble, and I need to add my paintings into format for the newest products in society6.  I'm not the best when it comes to this tech stuff, so it might be a slow and frustrating process for me.  but, at least I know that things need to be worked on.  apparently some things change while one is dealing with life-stuff...  how rude!  time to play catch-up.

in the meantime, I look fondly at my new artwork, and know I am surrounded in love and peace.

until later,
 Jenny

introducing frank the skeleton; a halloween tale (photo heavy)

my sweetie loves halloween.  I mean, he is passionate about it.  he's gotten a big outside display going now, thanks to friends and family getting good deals on after-halloween sales and giving him halloween decorations for christmas.  he sits outside with his cauldron of bite-sized treats waiting for trick-or-treaters to come.  though, in our neighborhood there is usually a non-stop parade of kids, so it's practical to sit outside anyway.  he goes 'reverse trick-or-treating', which means during a quick lull in kids he will take said cauldron of goodies and go to our neighbors houses to let them have their pick.  a few of our adult kids and some friends will sometimes come over to hang out by the fire with us,  all because sweetie is such a kid on this day.  halloween is a big deal for us!

this year we saw some life-sized (for me, at 4' 11") skeletons at a good enough price and sweetie grabbed one to bring home and call our own!  he carried it by it's neck around the store like it was walking by his side, making people smile to watch, and buckled him in the car to go home.  I was happy and excited to add to our growing display.  (we're gonna need a bigger yard, soon).

sweetie's been stressed out at work and I thought a little intrigue and lightheartedness was in order so I decided to make his coming home time a little brighter by displaying our new purchase in different scenarios, ala "elf on a shelf".

the first day, October 2nd, saw our new skelly, frank, getting rid of some unwanted pounds;

actually, I wasn't sure this was going to be an ongoing thing,

but the reaction I got from this first surprise cemented the idea of doing it all month

on October 3rd frank wanted to read sweetie's fortune;

what sweetie saw when he walked in the front door

a crow friend stopped by to see what cards would be dealt

October 4th had frank helping to take Lucy-pup outside;

but he kept passing out from losing weight from day1, so needed to sit and take a drink of iced tea before sweetie got home;

I think pixel kitty is confused by the whole situation

on October 5th sweetie was home for the weekend.  frank wanted to enjoy some fresh air while we took Lucy for a walk; 

"I'll just wait here"

he might have fallen asleep by the time we got back to the car.  

who could tell- no eyelids...  or eyeballs, even!

October 6th was my birthday and sweetie took me to the fair.  frank didn't seem to miss us much;

sweetie was back to work on October 7th and frank was cleaned up neat and pretty to welcome him home that night;

I had a load of laundry to do on October 8th, and frank was kind enough to give me a hand.  what a nice houseguest!  

frank was being a little silly on the 9th.  he'd seen pixel kitty hanging out on the cat tree and wanted to see the house from that vantage point;

on Thursday, October 10th frank figured he needed a good scrubbing from all the fur he sat in while on the cat tree;

"hey!  a little privacy, please!"

on the 11th I caught him coming out of my bedroom after he woke from a nap;

Saturday, October 12th, frank decided to help sweetie with yard work;

he couldn't stop playing in the pile, though, so not much help was had;

"wheee!"

it was D&D night on October 13th, and frank wanted to join in on the fun.  sweetie said if frank helped set up he *might* be able to be a guest player;

after a busy weekend frank fell asleep with some light reading on Monday, the 14th;

frank had a mishap on the 15th.  he fell down and broke his wrist, poor thing!  he took a look at sweeties 3D printer, but found the break is in too bad of a location to be able to fix...  frank has a sad;

he's holding his own hand,  hoping for a cure to his dilemma

**cries**

sweetie surprised me the next morning, the 16th, when I went to move dear frank, and I couldn't find where his hand had run off to!  I figured it would have fallen out of his other hand in the night with pixel kittys rampages (cause "pixel is crazy", said in the manner of the SCRUBS line "hooch is crazy", if you know the tv show).  I looked on the floor near where frank was located and couldn't find it, said oh well, and went to move him, only then looking directly at his face;

he must be very hungry by now 

to be gnawing his own hand!

saddened by his new lifestyle change with a missing hand (well, not missing anymore, just not attached), frank went to mope.  he was soon joined by a pack of alpacas trying to cheer him!

see the cute little alpacas on either shoulder?

on October 17th frank wanted to meet my sweetie at the front door;

no slippers or beverage with him, though

frank decided to check to see if the bathroom sink drain was leaking on Friday the 18th;

even minus a hand, he's still quite handy

another busy Saturday for sweetie and myself.  when we got home on the 19th, we interrupted this cozy interlude;

bun-bun assured me frank was a gentle-skele-man 

Sunday morning on October 20th was a quiet, relaxed time spent at home, just chilling on the computer with the family;

Monday the 21st was spent with me on the couch.  frank kept annoying me by asking what we were going to do that day.  he would not let up, even though I told him I wasn't feeling well, so I put him in a time out;

someone pointed out he looks like he's peeing.

guess he was mad at me.

and look at pixel, egging him on!

the next day, October 22nd, frank apologized for being annoying (and then peeing in the corner while in time out), by making me a vegetable pot pie.  he's forgiven, the scamp;

"ta-da!"

Wednesday October 23rd and all is well.  frank was feeling dapper and tapping his toes to some internal music when sweetie got home that night;

he reminds me of Jimmy Durante 

without his famous nose

"ah-cha-cha-cha!"

frank got on the floor to play with the critters on Thursday the 24th;

Lucy wasn't sure she wanted to be friends

even though she likes bones

 "really, mommy?"

pixel was ok to give a good sniff

and then frank fell over with the giggles

frank said TGIF on the 25th, and stopped to smell the flowers;

 he's been envious of sweeties mustache, 

so got out the pretty paper and tape

you may notice he planted his hand.

he said it was to see if he could grow another one

I told him I dont think it works that way, 

but he wanted to try

Saturday we did some more preparations for our halloween display, and frank got into the spirit of things;

he hasn't taken off his mustache yet, here.  

maybe he thinks its a costume?

on Sunday the 27th, frank was getting pretty anxious to open the candy.  not, yet, frank!

he doesnt think we'll have enough candy for kids AND him

stop trying to eat through the bag, frank!

frank's not a patient fellow

October 28th and halloween is getting closer!  frank seems to be getting ants in his pants, or something;

frank fit

so frank sat

just like pixel

our crazy cat

frank heard through the grapevine that we're expecting rain on halloween, and he got a little glum;

"please don't rain on our special day"

pixel saw the sadness settle in and tried to comfort poor frank

frank even did a little sun prayer for a favor

Wednesday, October 30th had frank happier, as he heard trick-or-treating would be postponed until Saturday for rain and high wind worries.  frank went upstairs to chat with pixel... possibly to plot something.  I worry about them telling secrets; you just never know whats next with those two!

"yo, dude, wash your knee!"

it's halloween!  sweetie had the day off, so we went shopping and came home with a couple new pets for frank;

I think they like him

pixel wasn't so sure about things, though.  

he had a 'fuzz incident' a bit earlier, but I didn't catch photo proof.

he was swatting it, and his tail was HUGE

friday, the day before the big trick-or treat day, and tension was high for frank!  he knew he had one big day of the year, and he had to be on point with the scare.  I caught him giving a pep talk to some of his co-actors;

"I know you'll all do a great job!"

I caught pixel listening in a little later;

looks like he didn't agree with some of the spooky talk.

either that or he wants to be part of it

sweetie came home with a surprise.  when we went shopping for on-sale pets for frank on halloween I got the thought of getting this guy only after we had gotten the chihuahua skeleton, and cracked myself up;

meet "Ferter"

(please tell me you got it, so I'm not over here cracking up by myself)

todays the big day!  November 2nd, trick-or-treat day for our town, and sweetie and son #4 had some help putting things together;

frank met Steve the dragon for the first time

frank saw how many parts Steve was in and passed out.

he does that a lot

"you put tab A in slot B?  are you sure?"

yay! all together now...

YAY!

"look at me, now I'm a dragon!"

what are you dragging?

"NO!  me!  I'm a dragon!  nevermind"

frank has Steve all tied up for tonight

and even Lucy is pleased with the display

resting time

sweetie still setting up

frank now has a sword and a guard dog at his side

part of the cemetery

pretty!

the night was very busy with tons of happy kids (they were circling the cauldrons, 5-6 deep waiting at times!), lots of neat costumes to see, some pups to give special treats to (the owners were thrilled), and lots of praise to the mastermind behind the amazing display!

sweetie was in his element

frank and the whole cast of characters got a lot of complements

and a few photos were had with them

"bye everyone!  thanks for letting me play!"

"now into the trunk I go, until another spooky day"

I hope you enjoyed our tale of frank.

until later,

Jenny