Get at least two new paintings done before I move *EDIT: How about Two more paintings within my first month after the move?

I’m in good shape with time to spare! I’m happy with the way this new painting ended up… it’s almost a homage to my new home. The beige seems sandy, the blue like waves washing up, and the butterflies like discarded shells. I’m probably the only person who will ever see that in this painting, but I like it all the same. :)

Overwhelmed | 18”x24” acrylic on canvas

You can view the painting and details at:
http://www.dirty-paper.com/art/butterfly_II/13.html

Painting one of two that is. With company coming next weekend, I think I’d be smart to do a smaller, detail painting next to keep me refreshed, but also so I can accomplish my goal. :)

I just started in on the butterflies and I should get them all in this weekend in time to send out the official announcement via my mailing list Monday morning – that is if all things go right. If not, Tuesday will work too.

I hope it gets a good reception.

I have the new painting started and for some reason it’s been really slow going so far. Maybe it’s the distraction of the new home, the new state, the new weather patterns, heat, and sunshine. I don’t know, but this puppy is taking forever. I keep repainting and repainting and repainting the same parts. After a trip to St. Augustine yesterday I feel a bit refreshed and I managed to get all the under-painting done today when I started out. After a little lunch I managed to get a good portion of the fabric in. I’d say at this point I’m about 70% done. Good stuff.

I need to revisit some of the fabric around the girl. The dark pillow in the top right, and the duvet between her right arm and the pillows is making me crazy. I need to regroup and rework them. After that I finish up the top, bottom, hair, add the stripes to the lighter pillows, tighten up the painting, and begin pulling in the flood of butterflies for the lighter patches.

With a gallery in NC willing to take me on as one of their own, I need to get a good group of paintings together to send them. I also need many more in order to try and get more representation and exhibitions. Two a month will never do, but since the last painting took me roughly 28 hours to complete, more than two a month could be tricky. I’ll be doing more of the smaller pieces (6”x12” | 10”x10” | 6”x6”) to help break up the paintings, and of course I’ll be doing more studies.

Here’s to the beginning of my life officially as a fulltime artist. I’m crossing my toes so hard that things work out.

The painting I’ve started is called “Overwhelmed” and will have many many many flies on it. 18”x24” again and for me that’s quite large, here’s to getting things started in my new home and studio space.

So now what do I do? Just remove it? Pretend I did it? Hmmm… can I pretend that doing other artwork is as good as painting? I did six new studies since I posted this. Two of the six sold, three I kept top secret (because I needed them for an exhibition), and the other ones I’m using for the same exhibition. Six studies equals maybe 8 hours of work. That’s like a SMALL painting. I have two more studies to go too. Maybe at that point I can claim victory without feeling like I’ve cheated.

She’s done! I’ve been pretty happy with the results, although I worry that the painting is overall rather “cute” and not intriguing at all. We’ll see though. I’ve sent it out to the masses this morning and usually that’s good for a little feedback.

After a bit of a break I’ll be back up and rolling again. I’m not 100% sure of what I’ll do next painting-wise.

There’s something about being able to carefully track my progress that remains a great motivating factor. Today I completed one new drawing (I need to remember to refinish the boards for tomorrow’s drawings), and on the painting I did the background to the seat cushion and the cat.

The cat (my little girl Lindsey) was a part of the painting that really made me nervous. While I have her featured in two other paintings, this was the first go of her in this new, more realist style. I think she turned out ok… and so, tomorrow… jeans, stripes, and hair!

So I made a bit of a pact with myself to really rev things up this weekend and crank out some work. While I did get two new drawings done (http://www.dirty-paper.com/art/body2/26.html & http://www.dirty-paper.com/art/body2/27.html) and I got six other panels ready for drawings, I didn’t work as diligently on my painting. Something about this being a “holiday weekend” got stuck in my head and I decided to treat it much like a holiday. tisk tisk

Anyhow, this afternoon/evening I did get much of the background in order and I’ll be in good shape to get the piece done this week for sure. So far, I’m really happy with the way it’s turning out – let’s hope it continues this way.

Today I painted live at the Lansing Art Gallery which is located downtown here on a nice busy street. I worked from 12-2 in the front window of the gallery. After a few minutes of working, I managed to get a nice crowd going both outside and inside the gallery. What fun!

I seriously wish I could do this every week! Hopefully I’ll be able to find another place like this in Melbourne because it was just so rewarding. While I wasn’t able to work at my usual quick pace, I did get through a whole hand and started the other hand and just managed to get some pigment on the foot.

Perhaps this will be done early next week. Let’s hope so.