"Awe" 7-26-12

Gone are the window edges, the bar that went across the painting in the dead middle, and the pink billowy curtains. None of that added a thing to the painting and it looked strained and confined, not to mention cut off at the sides and in the center of the painting. Moon and stars are moved over but they may be moved again tomorrow. It works better now. At least that's my take on this one!

"Awe" 7-23-12

I am having annoying problems with my shoulder (chiropractor thinks it is inflamation of rotator cuff) and also tendon problems in my forearm. Of course all this is in my right arm and I'm not thrilled with working with my left arm. I can only do a little each day, and doing chores that seem totally benign will kick off the shoulder big time! I'm icing, using the TENS unit, putting on every spray and cream I can find. We shall see what develops with this one. I'm annoyed especially because I have the time to work on it, but can't.

"Awe" 7-20-12

Each day a little more gets done. It is beginning to take shape and look like what is in my head.

Miss Puss and the Fallen Flower

Miss Puss and the Fallen Flower      Oil on Canvas    20 x 20

I had not planned to do a painting of my cat with this flower arrangement. The flowers were given to me after the reception for the Pastel Society show at Carrollwood Cultural Center and I had them in my studio for decoration. Miss Puss seemed to like them and constantly jumped up on the table to examine them, sniff them, and pose with them, and I thought she was very cute, so I grabbed a new container, a white cloth, my camera, tripod and a long metal ruler. I could slide the ruler under the drapery and she focused on the wiggle just perfectly. The result of that photo session was this painting. Stay tuned...it turns out that I now have a live model willing to pose, more or less, as I place her, and a new series of paintings have been birthed. I am working on Miss Puss and the Sunflowers, which will be followed by Miss Puss and the Stargazer Lilies, and then Miss Puss and the Roses (maybe). The lily flowers are the fake ones I bought a long time ago for the Awe Painting, but found out that the real ones I was going to have her pose with turned out to be deadly toxic to cats, and so that idea was scrapped in favor of the fake flowers. But it will be OK, as I have lots of photo references to the real thing.

"Awe" 7-13-12

Progress after the second day of work. My shoulder hurts (rotator cuff problems, we think) and so I knocked off to give it a rest for a bit.

Feeling Series #10 "Awe"

It has begun, after much angst, thinking, rethinking, searching for flowers and the right container, procrastinating, having art shows to hang, and so on and on.



I ran into an old friend in the supermarket who is a painter living in my area. We chatted and I told her about "Awe" and my hunt for Stargazer Lilies which were abundant around Easter but a hard find until a few days ago in a New Tampa Publix market. I laughed about how my house smelled like a funeral home with all those lilies. About half an hour later she called me to tell me that all parts of the lily plant is totally toxic to cats and if they get the pollen on them and lick it they can die, rather quickly. Who knew? So, the upshot of all that was to cut off the private parts of those beautiful lilies and put the flowers in the guest bathroom with the door shut, so Miss Puss could not frolic with the lilies. Prior to that I knew I would have to work from photographs. I have a good assortment of fake Stargazers, but I like to work with the real thing, at least for a short time in the beginning, and then often at the end. So I had to photograph the still life, and the blown up version is on the floor next to my easel. It helps to have that as a guide, especially when I have to put the real flowers in the guest bathroom when I'm not working. The canvas size of this painting is 48 x 30. I will keep you posted on my progress.