Things You Never Thought You Could Do With a Printer...

Ooooh, I love it when my post titles sound so provocative!

I was copying some scrapbook paper onto thin sheets of paper to use in my paintings, and this is what came out! Apparently part of a book had slid down into the feed tray, and went right through the printer with the paper.

I've run book pages through the printer before, but never like this. I'm amazed that it didn't move around as it was being printed--or (gasp) chew my printer up. I hadn't thought of that until just now--takes away all the fun of sounding so provocative...Boo.

Playing at Portraits With Jenny

Jenny and I were playing around the other night with the new camera. We took turns taking pictures of each other, and I think these are the best of the bunch...

Lots More Sketches

Here are sketches from the past few days--I've got the itch to try something new in my paintings (new for me, that is), so as soon as I get done uploading these I'm going to start painting!

Illustration Friday Packed

If you've time, please take a look at the swarm of Flygirls I've painted this week!

Another Flygirl! It's a Swarm!

Posting all this stuff makes me feel as though I'm on a roll!

More Sketches

So, what's the difference between a year ago, and today, as far as drawing goes? Here's what I think:

1) I'm playing while I'm drawing--It's just a drawing, after all--it's supposed to be fun (and isn't everything, really?).

2) I have, to a certain extent, silenced the critical voice in my head. Well, I still hear the critic's voice, but I try to keep it down to a buzz rather than a roar.

3) Danny Gregory's books--He made me realize that drawing is as much about seeing as anything. To see takes time.

4) I'm relaxed, not so attached to outcome (see my reposted post a couple of weeks ago, to hear all about my epiphany).

Sketching

It's amazing to me to think that a year ago, I would have said "I can't draw." Now, it's such a pleasant and enjoyable activity! I've been sketching during 'downtime' during the last few days, looking through magazines for inspiration...

Illustration Friday: Clique

She dithered and delayed, but eventually, she followed the crowd...

Another Flygirl

Here's another--more to come!

Golden Open Acrylics

I ordered three tubes of Golden Paint's new "Open Acrylics" (They allow more time for blending, not getting tacky as quickly as normal acrylics) in my last order from Dick Blick--tried them yesterday--OMG, I am in love. This may revolutionize my painting technique.

Or not. But the paints work great...

Examples coming soon!

Hmmm...

The Flygirls

Wings or no wings? This is one of a trio of girls who were originally supposed to have wings--these have been sketched in digitally, just to see 'what if'...

Wise Words

From the 'note from the Universe' that I received this morning:

The secret behind miracles, Karen, is that the one performing them begins without any knowledge whatsoever of exactly how they will succeed, yet still they begin.

Seems particularly apt for today, for some reason, so thought I'd share.

Begin!

Joel Plays Football

Here's a picture of the stadium where Joel played Friday night:


And here's the second play of the game:




Joel's first JV football game was Friday night--exciting for him, nerve-wracking for me. He's number 85, the one moving to the right across the field (up on the screen)--the one who throws the 55-yd touchdown pass in the second play of the game. Yes, I'm proud of him--and all his bones are still in one piece, so I'm happy, too.

Lest you think I'm just a worry-wart mom (which of course, I am)--Joel broke his arm in fourth grade, and had to have a plate put in to hold the bones together, and the surgeon said, and I quote, "If he breaks it again, it'll just snap off at the end of the plate." NOT what a mom needs to hear.

That's You, Mom!

Funny story about this girl--I'd brought seven new pieces into the house on Saturday night--spread them out on the pool table and asked Joel and his friend what they thought--Joel pointed to this one and said, "That one's you."

Fast forward to Sunday night. Katie'd spent the whole weekend at a friend's house--came home, looked at the paintings, said, "Oh, these are all new! And hey, that one's you, Mom!"

I'm not sure that I see it, but obviously something's there...

Illustration Friday: Island

Home in hand, she stood alone, in the stormy seas...

Katie Playing Volleyball

Last year in seventh grade, Katie went to a couple of volleyball practices (at our little school, sports' practices are during lunch recess and games are on Fridays after lunch). She got very discouraged because she wasn't very good, and didn't try out. My college roomie, Kelly, came to visit shortly after and helped Katie work on her volleyball skills. This year Katie went to tryouts and started at the first game on Friday.

I'm always proud of my kids, but this fall Katie's really impressed me. She ran for Student Council President against three other very qualified students--she lost, but the point is, she tried. She got up in front of the whole school and made a wonderful speech, and was brave enough to try to do something that she might fail at.

Volleyball is the same thing. She struggled with it last year, but worked hard and came back this year to be successful. She's 4'10" and never been on the volleyball team beore this year, but kept going.

Somehow this all fits in with the epiphany I had last year--but somehow, my kids 'get it' now, while they're young, rather than when they're 43. Yay!

A Trio of Girls

Not finished, but wanted to share these.

I've got a garlic pork roast in the oven for dinner--wrapped it and am slow-cooking it (250 degrees for 8 hours). Yum.

Images from Outside

The Anniversary of My Epiphany

I'm re-posting my post from exactly one year ago, when I realized I could "do" faces--this was a HUGE breakthrough for me, as it opened the door for all 'my girls'--and it's been one year, today...

An Epiphany (originally published 9-5-07)

Isn't that a lovely word?

Epiphany...

You'd think, growing up so completely Catholic, that I'd always have known what it meant, but I didn't discover the word until college. It's one of my favorite words.

So, as I said yesterday, I've been struggling with faces for quite some time now. I've tried all sorts of things: gluing down faces and painting over them, sketching them and then transferring the sketch to the canvas, painting them freehand--and while I like the faces I draw, I was never happy with the results when I tried to paint them. Last night, I realized what was wrong. Part of the problem was PAINT. I can hear you saying 'Karen, if you're going to paint faces, then of course there's going to be paint!' and yes, I realize that. But I couldn't get the paint to do what I wanted it to do. I couldn't blend and shade the way I thought I should, couldn't paint delicate lines... I was very frustrated. This led to the second problem, which was that I wasn't making something that had a part of ME in it. I was getting so bogged down in the whole concept of painting a face and what it should look like, that there was none of my soul going into the piece.

Of course, you've already spotted part of the problem in italics above. I was thinking about what it should look like instead of just letting the image happen all on its own. When my cell phone turns on, I have it flash the message "just be the conduit" and yesterday, when I turned on my phone and saw that it was like a great big light bulb went off in my head. EPIPHANY! I need to just let the faces happen. I don't have to be in charge.

I don't have to be in charge.

Say it to yourself. "I don't have to be in charge."

Wow. That's a biggie. All I have to do is pay attention to opening up to something bigger than myself. I don't have to worry about what the face looks like, as long as it's the REAL image.

I may not be making myself clear, but yesterday something very profound happened to me.

So once this huge idea got through to my puny brain, I thought about other faces that I'd done and liked--on quilts. Quilting Arts magazine had a challenge a while back for self-portrait quilts, and I did three of them. (Of course, I didn't actually submit any to the magazine, but that's an epiphany that will have to wait for another day.) When I thought about these quilt faces, I realized that because they were from fabric I had let go of preconceived notions about shading and color and shape and line, producing images that I felt (and still feel) are very potent and real.

My first coat of paint is dry, so I'm going to wrap this up. Just in case you missed the important points in this heavily italicized post, let me summarize:

...what I wanted it do...
...the way I thought I should...
...what it should look like...

...let go of preconceived notions...
...just be the conduit...

I DON'T HAVE TO BE IN CHARGE

wow.

Illustration Friday: Clutter

Amidst the cluttered city streets, do lonely hearts there dwell...

Macro Photos

In my pursuit of photographic knowledge, I've read all about cool macro lenses for my new Nikon D60. The drawback, of course, is that these lenses cost as much or more as the camera itself.

Then I read about macro filters, which screw onto the front of the lensj just like a UV or polarizing filter would. I found a set of +1, +2, and +4 at Amazon for under $15.00 and decided to try them out.

Now I realize that these aren't top of the line, but I also know that the depth of field when I use these will be so short that it may not matter much. These were some of my experiments from this morning. These pictures have had nothing done to them except resizing the files. I'm sure the fact that I wasn't using a tripod affected the clarity, but I love how there's just that one super-sharp spot where the camera is focused, and then it blurs out from there.

You can also create a macro filter for your point and shoot to allow you to be even closer to whatever you're shooting. If anyone's interested, I'll post instructions tomorrow--

Illustration Friday: Memories

Her eyes spoke of memories that words could not...

Judging at the Fair

I spent the morning with my friend, Jacquie, judging the art entries at the Tulare County Fair. Jacquie's an amazing artist and friend, who threatened to step on my foot every time I started to say something deprecating about myself--

Saw some wonderful art; inspired me. Tomorrow morning: back in the studio.