In a bit of an Animal mood

This song was my personal anthem when I was 13...teenage angst? You bet. 

At that time in the past, the biggest band around was the Beatles. Now there's a lot of Beatle songs that tie into my memories, but even though 'edgy' wasn't a word then, that was how I felt about the Animals. They had a real deep blues base (love the blues...mainly due to them) and somehow most of their songs touched upon how I felt inside. 

They had a rawness and loads of rebellion that fit with the happenings in the world around me then. Think about all that was going on then...the civil rights movement, the Nam war, the atomic bomb drills in school, the questioning of everything...geez, how can a 13 year old deal with all that? 

I dropped out and tuned in to cope...but you know, it wasn't all bad. This culture had a depth to it that the older generation didn't get. We said 'man, you had it all and you are ruining it...it doesn't have to be this way!' And for awhile there were so many of us that they had to listen. 

They say that everything is a circle, and today I feel that is where we are...back to that point where so many of us are saying that exact same refrain...it doesn't have to be this way. And you know what? We've got their attention again...let's make it work this time!

Sue
http://www.1000markets.com/shops/ninedragons

Soaking in some Vitamin D and castle update

I can't believe it...a productive day all around PLUS I actually got to sit outside, barefoot on the porch (at the beginning of February!) and soak up some rays. :)
This is the view out my back door and I can't help but start to dream of what things will look like when spring comes. My favorite thing in the world is to just sit and listen to the birds sing while I look out over this vista. It was nothing like the cacophony that spring will bring, but I did hear several birds chattering happily.

I've been real busy with market business plus I have several projects going...this shows the two necklaces of square beads that I'm working on (loads of fitting to still make for these) and it shows the ongoing hyperbolic crochet piece I'm playing with...it sort of looks like a swimming stingray at the moment lol, but will be fun seeing how it changes.

And I know I said no more updates until this painting is done, but it's going to go into next week and I know you were dying of curiosity lol! The lighter tower roofs on the right are what I did today, tomorrow I will go back in and darken them with the same colors as in the other roofs. I also have to lay in the red trim in one area. You can see I started the sky on the left, but haven't carried it to the right yet, that's just a fresh coat of white to work on. I've misted in the back hills and knocked back just about all the castle buildings to get them to sit behind the figure just right. I'm still not quite happy with the hair but this is getting close to the final painting, as I've been taking my brush at the end of each session and working over the older parts to tie everything in together.

It just feels good to get so much done and still be able to sit outside and play hooky for a bit. Life is good!

Sue
http://www.1000markets.com/shops/ninedragons

Wearable Art Market feature - fatalattraction's le Enchantement

This week's Wearable Art Market feature artisan is fatalattraction of Le Enchantement .

Gale's work is uniquely her own style in every sense of the word. I've chosen three items, the first two leaning towards her wonderful sense of color and form and the last is just one that I totally have my eye on because it's well, just so me!

The Lady Sarah Textile Cuff just captures my imagination with that haunting color combination. Although it has a rose shape it makes me think of a lovely lotus sitting in one of Monet's paintings :)

And who on earth could not be captivated with the title of She was a Black-Eyed Bumper Car ?! Gale's product description have so much flavor I want to eat them right up :D

The last feature piece is the Taking Fire Ring which I just lust after, so couldn't not include it lol

I think we're lucky to have fatalattraction in our market to lend such a wonderful flavor!

Sue
http://www.1000markets.com/shops/ninedragons

Where it all began...reference photo for my castle painting

Well, here it is, the reference I put together for my painting. I won't be showing the painting again until it's finished...which should be sometime next week :D I put the last painting update here too, so you can compare the two...there's been a lot of little changes since then, but close enough for comparison. A lot of other artists think painting from photographs is not good...and if one were to exactly copy a photograph they would be right. Areas that look pitch black in a photograph are not like that in real life. Colors don't necessarily work well in a painting (if you want a harmonious look) and sometimes you have to really play up contrasts and edit what doesn't work. And when you photoshop images together, well, they _look_ photoshopped and you most certainly do not want that effect in a painting. So...not only was I tackling a lot of firsts in this painting (first full motorcycle, first full building, first realistic landscape) I had to make the figure on the bike (me!) blend into the scenery. Plus, if you look close you will see that the photo of me on my bike was a horrendous reference picture. So...things I had to change were numerous. I lightened the castle so it wouldn't be so ominous. I left out the people at the castle door. I went with a light adobe color rather than mud yellow for the castle blocks. I edited out the huge wall patch on the tallest building wall. I got rid of the big black hole to the left of the coach house. And I integrated the bike into the scene (at least I feel so). There's so many little things that needed adjustments too...certain colors are sprinkled through out the painting so things will tie together...you may not see the slight hint of road color in the bike, but it's there. And there's hints of green in every single element in the painting. Anyways, to date I have blocked in all the white on the balconies but need to wait for it to dry to do the trim. (which is going to be a killer lol) I put in all the roofs on the tallest building and I've started the sky on the left...plus I went around the whole painting to tie things together. So...a few more roofs, finish the balconies, fix the windows and finish the sky...and that will be it....I can't wait!!!

Sue
http://www.1000markets.com/shops/ninedragons

Castle painting update - landscape completely blocked in

It's almost as hard to get a photo as it is to paint this piece, but it's close enough to give you an idea of how the painting works together now. The problem is that the camera will exaggerate the reds and downplay the yellows. When I bring up the yellows the red is way too intense and I then have to tone it down. So the trees lose a bit of that true orangish look and become a touch browner. The other issue is that after adjusting colors I have to sharpen the image and it sharpens the edge of the mid-ground trees way too much. So if you click on this photo to see the larger image, get up and step about 4 feet away from the screen and then you should see it pretty close to the real effect. 

I don't even know where to begin on explaining what I've done in the last two sessions. Yesterday I laid in the back hill on your right and put the mist cloud in at the end, it is a dusky pink and white mix...the pink looks a bit magenta in this photo, but in real life its a lovely lavender gray, because the green under the pink adds a touch of blueness to it.

Today I was bound and determined to get that lower right corner done. I had a heck of a time getting the colors I wanted, both in the rust and bright greens. There is so much going on there that it just started to look overworked, so I wiped it all down and started over. 

When I laid in the new base I started dabbing in the darks...and suddenly felt like Vincent Van Gogh was looking over my shoulder. For the first time I actually got his vision through a painter's eyes, all those dabs became details that weren't actually details...sort of pointillism but instead of merging to become one thing they separated into a mass of things in a single group...kind of hard to explain, sorry! It was very cool looking though.

Sadly, I couldn't leave it like that, as it wouldn't flow with the rest of the painting, so softened it out by whisking a soft brush over it, only a tiny hint of it is there, if you look for it up close. Then I became one of those mad frenetic painters...I just started throwing yellow citron color dabs in there in general shapes and directions of the detailed tangle in the reference. Then I did the same thing with the darks. I thought it would never work, but when the mad inspiration ended, I sat back and said wow. 

Understand that it's a really a mess of brush strokes...totally and completely abstract, not one actual leaf was painted. When you stand close everything looks undefined and a bit fuzzy, like when a photo is slightly out of focus except for the subject. But this is a good thing, because when you sit down on the couch and look over at the wall it looks like the most perfectly detailed forest ever painted, because the eye is reading the mass instead of details and I think that's how we actually see a forest in real life. Again, if you're looking at it up close you're not going to get that effect, but stand back and it just all works...if I sound amazed it is because I am, this is the first time I've come to understand how it works. 

Ok...so session wasn't done. All that yellow green threw off the colors in the castle. Suddenly it was looking way too pink. So I took some yellow ochre and glazed over all the buildings. I took a light blue and toned down the blacks and the whites in several key areas to make the figure on the bike stand out more. I dabbed in some burnt sienna accents here and there and then knocked it back with a little green. 

What I especially like about this composition is that the road leads the eye to the castle, but because the wall on the right curves and disappears it allows the eye to travel up and around the castle too and it ends back at the figure. I was taught that an eye needs to be able to move around the painting in the direction the painter dictates for the painting to work as a whole. So far it seems to be working.

Now I'm really excited...I get to do the balconies and rooftops and then finally the sky. This will be the most fun part because it will pull the whole castle together and the sky will soften the furthest stand of trees to give more distance plus soften the rooflines of the castle...can't wait to see it!

Sue
http://www.1000markets.com/shops/ninedragons