Abstract made with interior housepaint

This is a painting made with a bit of leftover paint from the recent reno project. It isn't stretched yet, but will be about 2 feet x 3 feet when finished.

Finally, some sun

It was wonderful to get a break in the cold weather today. The sun was shining, and the temperature actually reached somewhere in the region of +8. There were lots of people walking around in t-shirts and short sleeves.


I always get into a slump after Christmas, and don't get a lot of art done, but I am feeling a bit more inspired the last few days. I have been painting a bedroom, and chose a dark raspberry color. I haven't painted a room that dark before, and it has been a lot more work that I anticipated. I had to paint the walls with a tinted primer, and it has taken 4 to 5 top coats to get the color to look even and not streaky. It looks pretty nice, although I'm not sure I would ever choose to paint such a dark color again. I still have to finish the ceiling (I am planning on using a heavily textured wallpaper) and touch up all the trim, but I will post pictures once that is completed. I thought I had an idea about how to furnish the room, but now I am not so sure, and will have to give it some thought. It was supposed to be a pretty girly room for the two granddaughters to use when they visit, but I am also trying to make it a bit more mature so that I don't have to redo the whole thing in five years.


I also used some of the wall paint to make an abstract painting, and I will post pictures of that as soon as it dries.

watercolour landscape

Here are a couple of more paintings I completed while taking the watercolour course. The first was an exercise in painting clouds, and the second was foliage. I haven't done a lot of landscape painting, so I quite enjoyed painting these and I think they turned out well.

miniatures

I haven't been doing any painting for a few days, because I have been remodelling a spare room. The room has been used for storage for all my artwork. It has been piling up, but I hadn't realized how much there was until I had to move it all out of the room.
Some of it is quite difficult to store, like this 1/12 scale room I built many years ago. It is an alchemist's studio, and the alchemist has mysteriously disappeared.

There is a map on the table, spread out for close study.

One of the bell jars on the shelf even has a little fetus. There is gold and silver spilled on the floor, and glowing coals in the brazier.

It was great fun to make but now it just takes up room.

Pumpkin face

I came across this little guy at the bottom of a box of Reeses Pieces the other day. He must have been hiding there since Halloween, and I couldn't bring myself to eat him. He now lives on my bookshelf among the other skulls where nobody will mistake him for something edible.

My 'type"

Following a link posted by one of my favorite bloggers Bluepoppy, I entered my blog into this analyzer, and it came up with this image:

It says that, according to what I have written on my blog pages, that I am a doer:
The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical outdoor activities. The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

This is SO accurate! at least in terms of what I have written on the blog pages. Very cool!

I also did the Myers-Briggs test again, and it says I am an INTJ Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging. I AM introverted, but I DO try to refrain from judging!

It does align with the Crow totem, though - seeing a vision of the future, and helping people to get to that vision. As long as I don't have to leave my house and actually talk to people.

Senses

As I was walking to work this morning, I saw a young, attractive woman cross the street at the light. She was dressed in jogging gear and had her hair in a pony tail. She was carrying a white cane, and despite (obviously) being partially blind, she was marching along at a very good pace with her held high. I admired her strength and courage, and thought about how incredibly difficult it would be to be even partially blind. How devoid of beauty and everything that, to me, makes life worth living. I am such a visual person that any loss of sight would be devastating for me.

I know that if I lost my sight, the other senses would become stronger, but somehow, it just isn’t the same, and isn’t as fundamental to who I am.

Oh sure, I like music. But I only listen passively, and don’t get particularly engaged. I prefer silence.

I like to eat good food, but I like it even better if I can cook it myself, which requires me to be able to see.

I enjoy scent, too, and love to make my own perfumes. But crafting perfume isn’t as fully engaging as visual art.

I admire people who have learned to enjoy life without seeing. For a visual artist, that is the most tragic thing that could happen.