Lisa's Day

Two Canvases Dismantled; One To Be Redone

I gave up on this one. I don't like two together. However, I really like Daphne on the right. So I tore her out and kept her to redo on another canvas. I'll sew it on and continue working. The one on the left was just torn up.

Here's just Daphne.

I gave up on Karen. I made a mess of the background. I experimented with stitching and beads, and decided I didn't like it. After hanging her on the wall and comparing her to Mae and the Two on Wood, her face is too pale, but I didn't feel like working on it. I tore her off the stretcher bars and tore her apart. Sorry, Karen, into the trash with ya. Moving on...

This is a closeup of the background, with colors washed out due to lightening in the photo program. Oh, well, I'm experimenting and learning.
 
 

Blog Changes Coming

Since posting pieces from the Journaling Project is going nowhere, I'm going to begin pulling them off the blog and/or drastically cutting down the postings.

Just FYI.

Lisa

Wood Duo Done

I'm calling them done.

And Another Food Photo

We cooked a turkey yesterday!

I'm going low-carb for a bit, so I thought it would give us a lot of leftovers. In this month's Martha Stewart Living, she shows how to "spatchcock" it **language!** - or, butterfly it. Rather easy. We didn't have any sides, at all. I made a vegetable soup with carrot, onion, kale and vegetable broth. That was done before the turkey so we had some. I made more Cold Summer Borscht Saturday. I had some of that before the turkey. When the turkey was done, that was all we had.

And Now For A Food Photo

Chicken Parmesan. Many recipes called for baking it all together - yeah, I don't think so. Chicken was breaded and fried in the iron skillet. Yum.

I'm Calling Her Done

"Mae" is done.

Here is a close-up. It looks washed out because it was dark and I used our photo program to lighten up the picture. You can see the beads and stitching. And I don't have too many rubber stamps, so I'm using the Ladybug stamp a lot - printing with paint needs a big graphic stamp. Anything with little detail gets washed out and just looks like a smudge.
 
 

J. Pieces Shredding

So, I went back through my 1997 journaling pieces last weekend, pulling out still more. I condensed them down to one paper lunch sack. I saved a few for mixed-media pieces. The rest I shredded. Steve walked over and stood watching me shred them. He said, "Wow, that's something I never thought I'd see."

Moving onto 1998 next - I'm being brutal. Sifting down to the essentials to keep.

And, in the midst of all this realization/clean-out phase, Natasha Wescoat posted this on her blog, about accepting criticism of your art: http://natashasartcandy.com/2009/10/28/risk-your-heart-being-hurt/

I posted a comment.

Wow. Had I put my work out there, maybe I would have gotten some feedback and realized what a crazy obsessive pursuit the Journaling Project truly was.

(sigh)

More shredding this weekend.

Update on Four Unfinished Suzi Canvases

I had this Neon Sign idea - painted on canvas and stitched on with book thread, plus some Xs stitched on also. Headlights to the left. Part of my Christening dress cut apart, sewn on, then a layer of pink over background, left of figure, and dress. Needs more paint layers.

Stamped layers of paint, including some brushstrokes here and there. Torn pieces of old 1997 j. pieces glued on, then stitched. Miscellaneous stitching. Beads - do you like the beads? And that circle of canvas upper left is black stitched thread, doodling with the sewing maching (not sure if I like it yet - just that bit, I like the rest).

Layers of paint and stamping in the background, and layers of paint in her hair. Background needs some work, and I have blue and green glass beads to sew on. From my bead collection.

 
And these two - put on some paint, stamping, and three torn 1997 j. pieces. Need to work a bit more on the faces, and lots more layers. I don't think I like two faces together.

Oh, and I decided to disable Right Click on Images on my blog. There was a controversy over at Suzi Blu, because someone discovered a woman had taken a Suzi image and made a video about art journaling using it, but not identifying her at all. See Suzi's blog: http://suziblu.typepad.com/

I found an article online that said don't disable right click altogether, but just clicking on images, and sent me here: http://javascript.internet.com/page-details/disable-images-click.html  Just copy and paste into widget - easy.

Bound Art Journaling Not For Me

This weekend I took apart my big hand-sewn book.

I just didn't like doing the whole mixed-media thing inside a book. It just didn't seem right.

 
 
 Now I have a big supply of Stonehenge, quarter-sheet size.
 

Mixed Media Painting in the Window - Thursday

Yesterday I took my camera with me and took some pictures of Eleanor Kotlarik Wang's painting in the window of Plan B Gallery. I didn't know the title of the painting - her website isn't updated yet with all the pieces from this show. As I was getting this post ready, I wasn't sure about posting the photos - would she mind? Would she consider it copyright violation? I didn't think it would be, since it's displayed in public, and I'm using the images to illustrate my personal experience viewing it, but since I had her website, I just emailed her to ask if she minded.

She replied and said she appreciated my asking permission, and the painting is titled Soar. She said she'd rather I post closeups and not the whole painting, which is fine - the one of the whole painting came out badly due to glare, and I was more interested in the details of the brushwork. There is an opening at Plan B Gallery for this show Saturday evening, but we are having Corey and Tim over in the afternoon for TI-3.

Plan B Gallery: http://www.galleryplanb.com/exhibits.html#ryan

Eleanor Kotlarik Wang: http://www.ekwangart.com/index.html

Here is a closeup of the figure - you can see the thread, and the texture of the paint. And windows across the street in the reflection!

 Here is just the skirt and legs. Lots of string, and I love how the legs and that swatch of orange on the right are just lightly scumbled on.

This looks like a strip of canvas, with two beads on a string.

A shot of the bead section, with patterned fabric or paper on the right. Such lovely colors. I love that red squiggle, top right, and the bright orange and blue.

A closeup of the paint - I don't even know if this is sideways...but it's gorgeous, no? I like how some layers are so thin you can still see the weave of the canvas (pink in center).

Another closeup of brushstrokes - mesmerizing. Depth.

This is a wider shot of the previous one - such gorgeous colors, and layers layers layers. Beautiful. Can you see why I stopped in my tracks?