Scary Christmas to Me

Christmas can be a bit scary.  I don't just mean the whole "getting-the-house-cleaned-&-decorated-(omg- where did we put those ornaments?)-&-buying-presents-&-wrapping-presents-&-making-food-&-no-way-will-I-get-all-this-done-in-time" thing.  No.  My Christmas is even scarier than that.

"What could possibly be scarier than that?" you may ask in astonished skepticism. OK. I'll show you.  Be ready to hide your eyes.  It's-

a blank canvas.  This simple white rectangle has struck cold fear into the hearts of artists for centuries, and I am no exception.  The fact that I hadn't done this type of work in- oh, let's see- since I got my BFA in 1993- served to increase the degree of terror by a factor of about- well, a lot.

But I forged ahead, because, you know- it's Christmas.  My baby (my daughter, who, by virtue of being my youngest, will always be my baby) had expressed to me that she wanted a painting of a big, red, 'abstract-ish' flower to set on her living room mantle.  I chose one of my red amaryllis photos, and cropped it to make an interesting (or so I hoped) composition. 

the original photo

I sketched the composition onto the canvas, bought paint, got out the brushes, took a deep breath, and began.

At the end of the second day (sorry, I forgot to photograph the first day), I was surprised at how far I'd progressed, and was feeling pretty pleased with myself.  I guess it's sort of like riding a bike; it all comes back to you...

...or not.  At the end of the third day, it seemed I hadn't gotten much done at all, compared to day two.  What the heck happened?  Well, I was suffering from a respiratory infection, and it could be that I spent more time blowing my nose than painting.  Sure, that must be it, right?

 

The fourth day was a nine hour painting marathon; I could hardly believe it when I finally checked the time and found it was 4:00.  I'd started at 8:00 that morning, and after being surprised by the time, I painted for another hour.  At that point, I felt it was approaching the way I had envisioned it. What bothered me was the first part I had worked on- the big flower at the top left, which now seemed too flat and too orange.  The stamens/anthers were also a problem; I couldn't decide if they needed to be brought out more, moved, or what.  Two days to Christmas and counting.

The next day I resolved most of the issues.  I repainted the left flower almost entirely, including the stamens, which I moved over toward the right.  I repainted the background for at least the twelfth time, and decided to call it finished.  Here is the final version. For whatever reason, the background color looks weird in this photo, but otherwise it's pretty accurate. 

But then, my final, and biggest fear reared its ugly head:  What if she didn't like it?  Of course she would never tell me; she'd just live a tortured life with this horrible thing on her mantle.  What was I thinking?  The painting really wasn't abstract at all- my own personal style had taken over without me even knowing it!

It was Christmas Eve, so I resisted the temptation to re-paint the whole thing (yes, that insane thought did actually cross my mind), and decided to wait for her reaction before freaking out completely. (Yes, I can hear you all laughing right now...) 

She loved it!  She said she liked it because she could tell I painted it- it was my "style".  Do you think she meant it?  Maybe she just didn't want to hurt my feelings...



OK, now for an abrupt change of subject... I hope you've been reading Seth Apter's online collaborative project "The Pulse" on his blog The Altered Page.  Part three, "Master Class", is now underway, and my answer to the question, 'If you could take a class from one artist from anytime in history, including the present, who would it be and why?' is featured on the Christmas day post.  Please click on the link above or the image below to check it out!

Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season to you all, my dear friends.  May you be blessed by true peace and joy.

The Real Meaning

As a general rule, I'm not a big fan of Christmas.  Not that I'm a Scrooge- I just think the commercialism has gotten out of hand.  I don't believe the true meaning or original intention of the holiday is that everyone should run around madly trying to buy gifts for everyone they know, spending money they don't have, and feeling stressed out because they can't get it all done in time.  It all seems so forced, doesn't it?

The most satisfying and enjoyable part of the holidays, besides getting to spend time with my kids, was making something for a dear friend.  My friend Linda is one of the best people I know, and I felt she deserved something special.  After all, she has to put up with me every day at work; she listens to my whining and my dumb jokes, and is still willing to help me in any way she can.  She makes me laugh every day, a talent which, as a special education teacher, I value immensely.  She is endlessly generous and thoughtful; for example, two of her Christmas gifts to me were a vintage brooch and a vintage book of maps!  I could say a lot more, but I don't want to get too sappy, so I'll stop there.  Anyway, here's the collage I made for her.

"Linda", 6 3/8" x 7"

Ingredients: vintage music book page, vintage map fragments, acetate, hosta bloom, stamps, 

thread spool label, watercolor pencil, stamped letters, glass beads, buttons, on multimedia art board.

I tried to include in the collage items and images that are important parts of her life, that make her who she is.  She is a seamstress and quilter, and a piano teacher. (How serendipitous is it that I found, in a music book she gave me, a song titled with her name?)  She is a gardener, and likes to make beaded jewelry.  I also included, (hopefully), all the states in which she has lived.

Making this was a lot fun, and so much more personal than going out and buying some generic gift.  I also made my son's girlfriend a necklace, which she seems to like.  I've made up my mind to make even more gifts next year- so I guess I'll need to start earlier!  Uh-oh.... maybe I should start now...

Have Yourself a...

Merry Little Christmas!

I want to wish all my wonderful friends a very merry holiday!  Your support and encouragement means more to me than you could possibly know.  It has been a true adventure getting to know each and every one of you.  Welcome to my Merry Little Christmas...

I didn't think I'd get to decorate for Christmas this year.  We're having our basement carpeted, so everything was crammed into the storage room; chances of digging the decorations out seemed pretty slim.

But- hooray!- we were able to find a few of them.  Here I am, very focused on putting lights on the mantle.

It doesn't look too bad; at least we found my little trees, which look pretty with the Buddha and the lights, I think.  Kind of an eclectic, ecumenical, inclusive Christmas- why not, right?

Arlo likes to wear silly hats...




































Or maybe not.

But Colin does enjoy putting them on him, and he's the only one out of the three dogs that will tolerate it.

Sunny and Scout really don't care, but  naps are always good...

My Norfolk Island pine served as our Christmas tree.  I had to go to four or five stores to find lights.  All that were left were a set of multi-colored and a set of blue LED lights, so I got them.


The electric blue is very trippy; reminds me of the sixties...

Caitlin making a goofy face at the camera while opening gifts.

Don't you like my warm and fuzzy Christmas socks?




Enjoy your holidays!