Painting Pics

Just a quick disclaimer: these photos stink. I was taking them at 2:30 in the morning after I'd been hovering over this thing all day. I'll get "real" snapshots when I get this painting back in August. But for now, here you go. The first image is just of the portrait portion of the painting. At this point, it was probably about 50% completed:



Those are Edith Piaf lyrics around the edge. It says, "Si un jour la vie t'arrache a moi/ si tu meurs, que tu sois loin de moi/ peu m'importe, si tu m'aimes car moi je mourrai aussi...Nous aurons pour nous l'eternite dans le bleu de toute l'immensite/ dans le ciel, plus de problemes/ Mon Amour, crois-tu qu'on s'aime? Dieu reunit ceux qui s'aiment!"
I don't know how to type the accents over the letters in Blogger, so you'll just have to imagine I put them there.

The next sloppy picture is of the finished product. Please pretend you can't see all those godforsaken smudges on the glass...or my poor husband forced to hold this thing while I take pictures with his camera that I kidnapped:



The portrait based on a photo taken of my grandparents at their 50th wedding anniversary. You can't really see the drawing on the glass in the above photo, but that portion is based on my grandparents' wedding portrait from 1940.



I know this pic is completely blurry, but you can see the line drawing a bit better without the flash.

So that's it, folks. That's what I've been slaving over all week. I hope you're not disappointed. I'm still not sure what I think of my own work. I like the portrait part of it, but the rest...uhhhhhhh. Either that painting on the glass is a tiny bit edgy and unique, or it's a hot mess. I really don't think there's an in between. This morning, I was definitely leaning towards "hot mess". Then again, I hate every single thing I do for a little while after I finish it. Maybe in two days I'll love it again like I did while I was working on it.

I wish I had the time to post pics on my blog before it was due, ask my readers' for critiques, and then submit it to the contest. But, as we all know, I am the reigning Queen of Procrastination Land and seriously lack in all kinds of time management skills...so that wasn't going to happen.

Instead, let's do the next best thing and be Monday morning quarterbacks - what should I have done? Leave the portrait as-is? Or do you like the glass painting thing? Either way, it's going to belong to my dad after this is over (those are his parents), and he can do with it what he likes.

Oh! I just remembered...I wanted to show you my poor neglected second entry into the contest. It's a semi-abstracted ukiyo-e woodblock print that I did years ago after a trip to France. It's a view from a path on Monte Sainte Victoire. That's the mountain that Cezanne painted over and over and over...



Now...what do I want to work on next? (o:

Done.

I did it! I finished my painting!

I started working at 8 a.m. yesterday morning and wasn't done (and in bed) until 2:30 a.m. this morning. I swear, I think I'm the slowest painter on the planet.

I might've mentioned this before, but the painting I was working on is a portrait of my grandparents on their 50th anniversary matted and framed. Along the edge of the mat are some of the lyrics to the Edith Piaf Song "Hymne a L'amour". (My fam is French Canadian). On the glass in white, I painted an outline of the portrait of them on their wedding day.

While I'm painting, I zone out in a major way. My brain is just on an entirely different plane. Yesterday was no different. I swear, I'd work a little bit, look up and the clock said two hours had passed! This happened all day.

I was really happy with the thing while I was working on it, but wasn't so thrilled with it when I finished. This always happens to me. When I'm in the middle of something, I'm rockin' and rollin' and feel like, "I'm awesome!" But by the time it's a finished product, I hate it. After all was said and done, I showed the finished painting to my husband. I was like, "Is the painting on the glass obscuring all the work I did on the portrait?" He shrugged and said, "Kind of." Great. Now I don't want to show it to anyone. Too late for that now.

This morning before work, I dropped off my two pieces with the contest people. I was also dropping off two photos for my dad. (He entered too.) The group of people who were tagging and collecting the work were cheery and laid-back. There was open ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the various pieces of artwork coming in. (Don't worry, these folks are not the judges.) From the little I saw, it seems that there may be stiffer competition this year than there was the last time I entered two years ago. Of course, they've opened the contest up quite a bit since then.

The woman helping me enter and tag all the work I brought in finally got around to tagging my painting. I had the artwork part facing me so that she could sticker the back. She asked, "Can I see?" I turned my painting around, and felt the heat creeping up to my face. I was totally embarrassed! What the heck??? One of the other ladies helping tag items said, "That's interesting. How did you come up with that?" I just shrugged and stammered out an explanation of what it was and that it was supposed to be a Father's Day gift for my dad last year but that I just finished it this month. (I didn't mention anything about being up til the wee hours of this morning!) After everything was stickered, they told me the date of the awards ceremony and wished me luck before I high-tailed it outta there!

I was so confident before, but now I'm having doubts I'll win anything this year. (Two years ago, I got second place in the Professional category.) I suppose even if I don't get anything, my work will be hanging up in City Hall for the whole summer. *Shrug*

I didn't get a chance this morning to upload pics so I'll try to do that when I get home tonight. If my studio isn't suffocatingly hot, of course. (I haven't been able to venture up there for 3 days now!!!)

There is an awards ceremony on Thursday, June 26 at 4 p.m. at City Hall in Manchester. The show will be up from that date until early August for those of you who want to stop in. I'll give more detailed info in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for some sort of phone call over the next two weeks. Last time, I got a message on my answering machine saying they were pleased to announce I won something (no mention of what, however) and inviting me to the awards ceremony. I'll be waiting! Lol.

Still painting...

I know I've disappeared for a bit. Apologies to those of you who actually read this thing. I'm under a bit of a crunch right now, as I have to finish that painting for the contest I entered. And you know me, I'm the Queen of Procrastination! Next Wednesday is the date I have to drop everything off for the judging. I would say I'm barely 50% finished. Eeep!
I've also decided to submit a Ukiyo-e woodblock print of Mont Sainte Victoire I created a while back. (At least that one is done. Ha!)

I won't be posting any pictures of my half-finished painting. I hate showing people my work when it's half-finished. Unless, of course, those people are other artists helping me with feedback or a critique. It's kind of like going into a dressing room. You really only need your sister or your best friend in there with you to tell you that yes, your butt looks big in those pants--don't buy them. For everyone else, though, it feels like I'm standing in front of strangers in my underwear. That's just unnessesary.

Most of the time I have a very specific concept in mind, and I find it impossible to explain it. I end up feeling like a babbling fool in front of the bare-bones of a painting. You certainly can't get the message from what's coming out of my mouth, and since the painting isn't finished - you aren't getting my message from that either. I don't want to wind up looking like one of those "crazy artists". Soooo...you'll have to wait until my painting is complete to see pictures. If I did my job successfully, you'll "get it" by looking at it and I'll save myself the embarassment of having to explain it to you. Really, this particular piece isn't that "deep", but it does have 3 distinctly different elements incorporated into it. What I can tell you is that my painting is based off of these two photos of my grandparents:


The top one is of them on their wedding day, and the bottom one was them on their 50th wedding anniversary. (The 1980s just barely finished up - hence the shoulder pads and big glasses.) Stay tuned...(o;

Procrastination Station

I've been thinking about intentionally neglecting my online shop(s) for a little while. For some time, I got super-obsessed with updating and maintaining it, and all that diligence did for me was snag one very tiny sale. It's just not worth it. Not until my HGTV show airs, anyway. Frankly, I'm starting to think the real reason I have a shop at all is for the art community...because I'm certainly not making any money. I've taken all the advice there is regarding promotions and shop updates, but I'm still not making regular sales. (Sorry, Etsy. I love you, but what have you done for me lately?) I do better with commissions.

And besides, I have a few other projects that got pushed to the side ages ago that could use some TLC. The area behind my drafting desk looks like The Isle of Lost Art. One of the "lost" is a painting I was working on as a gift for my dad...for Father's Day. Last summer. Yikes. It's a tribute to my paternal grandparents. I had this grand idea to have a base painting of their 50th anniversary photo, and then paint their wedding portrait on glass over it:

There were also some Edith Piaf lyrics involved, but that's beside the point. The point is that it was never finished. It's going to be even harder to finish it now, too. Though my grandfather passed away when I was 19, my grandmother just passed away while I was in the middle of doing the painting. Guess I gotta just get to it...maybe with a box of Kleenex on hand.

Needless to say, when left to my own devices, I NEVER finish ANYTHING. I think this is why I went into illustration. This is why I need to be an illustrator. You get a client. That client gives you a deadline that you need to meet otherwise you don't get paid. Deadlines do a lot for me. I can meet a deadline, even if doing so nearly kills me. I'm good at meeting deadlines. If I invent my own project, there's no deadline. Which means I can keep working (or not) on something until the end of time. Which usually means it gets abandoned half-finished. By the time I get back around to it, the idea is so old that I've lost inspiration.

Also, my studio is a hot MESS. I would post a picture to prove it, but it's simply so shameful that I need an "after" picture to redeem the "before". Since I haven't cleaned yet there will be no pics today, folks. It's probably just as well. I'm going to make an attempt at some sort of organization and cleaning in here this afternoon. I know the hubby wishes the fridge was my priority, but I've got to organize my studio first...for my own sanity. Sorry honey. Wish me luck!