Green and Gold

Certainly not colors I'm seeing outside today with the blizzard (ahem, if you can call it that.  We got far less than the 27" called for) yesterday.  These are two variations which ended up looking similar in color palette after playing around with the color versions I am working on right now; additions to the Royals Series.

Las Laguna Gallery

So, I have two pieces in a show called "Women in Art".  There are 17 other talented artists as well, and I really wish I could be there for the opening, but it's on the opposite coast, and I'm pretty much the typical starving artist.  Plane ticket and hotel accommodation money is not at hand.

That's one of my items, the woman with the crown.  If anyone is in the area of Laguna Beach, California, check it out and let me know!

More Details!!

Another from the same 'Royals' series.  The hustle and bustle of the season is slowing down personal art time, but here's some of the latest ....

Details, Please!

Part of me likes the nondescript, generalized rendition of the 'details' in my paintings: the 'placeholder' brushstrokes used to indicate hair, or accessories, or clothing which I start out with and paint over with more and more accuracy as I go on.  Another part of me feels impelled to continually add more realism each time I sit back down to paint more.

The need to show this increased detail may come from somewhat of a lack of confidence on my part, as well as a need to see if I can render certain parts more realistically so that I will not be judged as someone less skilled than I might otherwise be assessed.  I'm generally less comfortable showing my 'looser' work without explanation - - that it's somehow intentional, and that while I am capable of painting more realistically, ["better" ?] I just happen to prefer this particular work the way I have it ["unskilled" ?].  I hope that will go away in time, both the lack of confidence, and the fear of simplicity.

Above are details of a recent painting (which I showed in a sepia version in the last post).  I'm not done with the jewelry, I have much more to do.  See the sepia version for a general sense of how it looked before.

Recent Works in Sepia

 From my Stepchildren Series

 From a new series, The Royals (WIP)

Recent Polaroid scan from this past summer.

Re-covery

I have three Polaroid SX-70 cameras, the original, the Alpha, and Model 2.  All are in varying states of distress, but the Alpha, which was the first one I owned, had a leatherette covering which was so dried and crumbly that it caused anything it came into contact with to be stained with a rusty brown filthy dust.  I had to carry it in a plastic bag, and as I often go withs several cameras on my shoots, not being able to just sling the long strap over my shoulder was a pain.  So this summer I said no more.   I took a heavy rasp and sandpaper, and tried to remove as much of the cover as possible, and then commenced with a variety of duct and electrical tapes.  The whole thing is eyeballed, and not perfect, but it's so great to be able to pick it up without getting dirty hands.  :))

First Pinhole Polaroid of the Season

10 second exposure on a lovely summer day by the Hudson River in a little park between Soho and Tribeca in NYC.

Taken with this camera: The Arunas Cigar Box Pinhole with Polaroid back....