Sunday, September 12, 2010

End of Season


The summer show season is over and I breathe a sigh of relief.  I still haven't completely cleaned out my car, but that can wait.  I need to clean a space in the garage for my tent and sides first. 

I've posted this piece, title Indigo Rhythm, 24 x 18 on sheet canvas because it was the center of my summer display and I sold it at the last show.  Many people had commented on how much they liked it, it drew attention for sure.  A couple had come by and I guess I didn't notice them ... after awhile, I can't remember who was in my space or not.  They said ... We really like this one.  Used to such comments, I replied .. Thank you.  Then they said they REALLY liked it.  I still didn't get it.  They then said they'd been by before and wanted to buy it.  I got it then and said ... let me get a bag, and off it went.

An artist's work is never done.  I need to create something as attention getting for the future.  I know this will never be repeated.  I've tried on occasion to duplicate something, and have always failed miserably.  I have to assume it's because I never set out with an intention but let the images flow. 

I may now have the energy to clean my studio, and actually get back to working.  I solved the problem of moving the vaccum cleaner from floor to floor by taking some of the cash from this sale and purchasing a machine for my studio, that will remain in my studio.  I got a good one, and tried it out this afternoon.  I didn't get all the cobwebs, and didn't try to pick up and order things, but got the worst of the dog hair sucked up.  I have an English Setter that is joined to my hip when I'm home, and he sheds, and sheds, and sheds, and sheds.  Too many of my paintings get so full of dog hair, I spend almost as much time picking it out as painting. 

I can relax ... I've reviewed my inventory and have enough to put on a good show in December, as long as I frame several more pieces that are in my portfolios.  I've hung almost everything hangable in the front entryway of my house ... I have a nice long wall open to a wide staircase with a picture rail.  It's a lot, but I like looking at my work everyday.  I have a few other pieces hung around the house but also have work by other artists. 

I've been to a Touch Drawing Circle, and although I haven't used that process in a couple of years, it felt so good to roll out the paint, lay the tissue paper, and then draw.  The images in several are worth enhancing, so I've brought out my pastels, and will set them with oils.  It's like looking for images in the clouds, and always a surprise, as more come to light as you work on the piece.  It's relaxing and thought provoking, sometimes wondering where the image came from ... of course, it's always from within the drawer. 

I painted a piece while at the ocean once.  I was more interested in the sound of the waves at high tide than the actual landscape.  I finished it in the studio and titled it ... High Tide.  On a subsequent visit to the same location, I took another path to the ocean and there was my painting ... a different view painted before I saw it.  The same thing happened this weekend ... I'd painted the river view from my bedroom window, but left out the trees that would have been in the foreground.  We had to fix a retaining wall in the yard, and the trees had to go.  There was my painting.  Our view is clear now.  I liked the trees, but also like this new view that's all open.  Change is good, even if you don't want it.  I'd thought the trees were  beautiful and they were, planted by a bird several years ago.  Nice Paper White Birches.  If it's meant to be, more will grow and the view will change again. 

Before my mind wanders any further ... and this gets to be a novel ... I have a supper to fix.