Several years ago, my sister and I visited Venice. With its spectacular architecture, gorgeous bridges, warm people and of course, the view from the Grand Canal, I couldn't help but adore the city. Over the years I've often joked that it's such a romantic place that I was nearly tempted to hold my sister's hand! It's a magical city and I have never been anywhere else in the world that I have loved more.
One of my favorite places in Venice is the Guggenheim museum. I spent hours there, exploring Peggy Guggenheim's home and completely lost track of time standing in front of Modigliani's portrait of Frank Haviland. I have always appreciated Modigliani's work, but only fully grasped the true depth of texture and color by seeing it in person. Peggy was the former wife of painter, Max Ernst, and entertained many now famous artists in her home. When I sat on her original white leather sofa and imagined all the artists who might have sat in the very same spot, I cried.
I returned from Venice feeling inspired by its history, grace and charm. I began to paint curvy abstract nudes, influenced by the gentle flow of the canal, the arched bridges and quite frankly...the ridiculously beautiful women Venice seems to be filled with! It only seemed fitting that the women in this collection be graced with Italian names as a reflection of my experience there. This piece, tentatively called Ilaria, has been sitting in a box in my studio, half finished for I don't know how long. It's the only piece in the collection I used collage on, which might be the reason I got stuck and wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take her next. With fresh eyes, I began working on her again and as it turns out, she was nearly done when I packed her away. I only added another layer over the collage, making it a little more subtle.
What do you think? Do you like the name Ilaria or do you have a different suggestion? Is she perfect just the way she is or would you like to see me make the collage a bit more subtle?
Instead of new paintings on canvas to show, I have a few new bangles again this week. The process and materials are very similar to how I create my backgrounds and I'm really enjoying making these little pieces of wearable art!
This is my 100th post. Woohoo! As a celebration, I'll send one of my bookmarks to the 1st person who comments on it!
As you know, I am quite busy with commissions in the last few weeks, so I don't have any new paintings to show. I don't intend to share the commissioned pieces publicly until after they are with their new owners, however, I won't leave you hanging!
I love doing commissions, but I also often find it necessary to take quick breaks from them to keep my creativity flowing. I think it's because with commissioned pieces, there is pressure to blend someone else's ideas in with your own. If I find my creativity blocked, I simply stop and work on something that it doesn't matter what the final result is. I can experiment, get it out of my system, then get back to the commission with my whole heart.
This week I experimented with these bangle bracelets and am so thrilled with how they turned out! The material I used to create the form of the bangle is recycled. Can you guess what it is? I'll also send a bookmark to the first person who guesses (or the person who gets the closest if nobody gets it exactly), so you could potentially get 2 bookmarks!
Remember the show 'It's Your Move' from the mid 1980's? It starred Jason Bateman as a scheming teen whose mother was dating the new neighbor across the hall and he was always coming up with some outlandish plan to get rid of him. I used to love that show!...probably because I thought Jason Bateman was so cute. I stumbled across it on Youtube tonight and have been watching old episodes while I finished the 2 paintings I posted on Wednesday. I've just finished them, so the photos were taken in artificial light again.
I added more color to the hair, blending various tones to give her hair a bit more texture and highlights. I was going to make her eyes brown, but they seemed too flat to me, so I dotted a tiny bit of metallic green on top. Now they appear more hazel and also have a subtle, interesting sheen. I added some eyebrows and tidied some lines around her face and she's done!
I had originally planned on making this girl's eyes brown as well, but just wasn't happy with it, so I painted them over in blue. I used the same metallic green for her eyes as I did on the other girl, tapping just hints of it on top of the blue. It's the same green from the background, so it subtly repeats color and unifies the painting. I'm really pleased with how she turned out.
This week I have been working on some commissioned paintings, but am not ready to show them just yet. I have also had the same two girls sitting half finished on my painting table all week and am finally ne-e-e-e-arly finished with one of them. I have a few finishing touches left to add to her before she is ready to be photographed. This painting, called Liana, was finished earlier this week and is on 5 x 7 inch canvas. She is one of several short haired girls I have painted recently.
Detail showing hint of Declaration of Independence embedded between layers
Rather than sharing my new work with you this week, I thought it more appropriate to share an old painting that is NOT so fresh off the easel. I don't often feel the need to make a statement with my art. I'm generally content just to paint something pretty and to enjoy the process of creating. This painting was different. It was painful and raw and I felt like it had to SAY SOMETHING.
I remember exactly what I was doing on September 11, 2001. Who could ever forget? I was watching the tragedy live on the news, with horror and disbelief. I had moved from the USA to Northern Ireland only the month before and I have never felt as far away from home as I did that day.
I avoided a lot of the news coverage that first September. I had made a choice to leave a place that despite its imperfections seemed secure, to live in a place that has had political upheaval and paramilitary violence for over half a century. It was impossible to believe that the place that was home my entire life, the place that seemed so strong no one dare invade it, MY AMERICA, was suddenly not any safer than the rest of the world. Facing the fear that something could happen to someone I love dearly or that America might not represent the same security it always had was just too difficult. Each time I thought about the events of September 11, 2001 I cried…sometimes I still do. I didn't know any of the victims and will certainly never understand the level of grief their friends and families must have experienced, and yet like every American, something about it still felt so close to home and I am not the same person that I was before that day.
On the first anniversary of 9/11, a program was on about the terrorist attacks. It showed all the footage I found too difficult to watch previously. I forced myself to watch it…the interviews with people who had lost loved ones, the footage of the planes actually hitting the towers, the people running through the streets in fear, the tales of the many heroes that day…2 hours documenting an event that profoundly changed the lives of everyone around the globe. It was then that I was overcome with the need to create.
This painting was part of the healing process for me. Its two gold “towers” represent not only the images of destruction that were flashed thousands of times on TV and seen in newspapers around the globe, but also America’s strength. The buildings are gone and so many lives perished on 9/11/2001, but MY AMERICA still stands tall and shines brightly as a leader for the rest of the world. The terrorists tried to destroy our will and our way of life, but failed, as it only renewed and strengthened our sense of patriotism. We wept for our dead and still sometimes fear for our security, but continue to live our lives as we please. The red, white and blue represent our flag, of course….but they also represent a lot of other things to me. They represent bravery and justice. They represent all the heroes who died working so hard to save lives or have ever died defending our way of life. They represent a place where everyone is equal...man or woman, black or white, Protestant or Catholic…we are all the same. They represent a place that is imperfect, as are the people who live there, but is beloved none the less. The 'fireworks' texture is subtle, but it is so American to me, and embedded between the layers is a copy of the Declaration of Independence, as it is embedded in every American’s heart. Very few of us know it word for word, but we all know what it stands for…FREEDOM!
I may live abroad, but in my heart I will always be proud to be an American...now, if only I could say that without hearing 'at least I know I'm free...' in my head. It might be cheesy, but that song ALWAYS makes me cry!
I finished the first of my short haired girls tonight. I'm not 100% positive that I am done with her, but I will leave her for a while, instead of potentially overworking the painting. If I change anything, it will be to make her hair a bit more choppy, as it is smoother than I originally sketched it.
I finished this piece tonight while watching a movie. The movie was romantic and charming, but had a bittersweet ending and I am in tears! This girl was originally going to have layered, sassy hair and a bit of a smirk (see her as a WIP on Wednesday's post) , but her eyes and mouth changed as I was painting. I think she reflects how I am feeling after that movie...I need a hug!
