It is early Sunday morning. Too early to do anything but drink some coffee and try to wake up. It is still dark outside. I have a lot on my agenda today, starting with a weight watchers meeting at 9:30 and then a hike around Lookout Mountain. I need to go grocery shopping at Trader Joe's after lunch and then make some soup for my lunches this week. I will also cook up 4 days worth of oatmeal with apples in it. Then, I should have studio time later in the afternoon.
I did do a little work in my studio yesterday. I research squirrel sculptures to get some help on the clay sculpture that I am making in my IB art class. That was interesting. There were lots of plaster squirrels for the garden, quite a few carved from wood, but I only found one example of a squirrel done in clay. It was interesting to look and I did get some ideas on how to treat the back legs (I had been struggling with this.) My research should prove to be helpful.
I laid in a background base for my painting of Jetta. This is another painting where I started by collaging pieces of torn magazines onto the canvas support. This time, I estimated where her sweater would be and used blue papers in that area. I guessed pretty good. Once the papers were dry, I lightly sanded them and applied a thin layer of gesso. Next comes the oil paint. Because I will be painting Jetta wearing her turquoise blue sweater, I wanted a background that would contrast with the blue. I also needed a color that would allow her silver hair to show up. I selected yellow for this. The yellow also brings in a sense of happiness which reminds me of Jetta and her tendency to sing her words when we were visiting her this past summer. Though she is in a care facility, she always seems happy.
I finally finished my painting titled "Rainy & Raven". It is 24" x 36", made from collage torn magazine pages and oil paint on canvas. I worked from a picture I took of Rainy & Raven this summer while we were visiting Raven in New York City. We were drinking wine in a small wine bar, I can't remember the name of the place or the part of the city we were in. Raven would need to help me out with that one. I love this picture of my two girls! The only thing I changed from the photograph was the color of Rainy's shirt. She was actually wearing a pink/magenta colored shirt but I chose to paint it green for two reasons. First, it creates a nice contrast against the dark red background. Second, green is one of Rainy's favorite colors. I originally had strong black outlines everywhere as this is how I drew in the image. I decided that the lines were too strong, especially in places like their lips. I toned down the black lines in their facial features, but did keep some of them. I struggled capturing Raven's skin tone, but after many variations, I felt as if I finally got it right. This is a large painting, I am not sure where I will hang it.
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