Lost in a Blue Moon

Amazing what you find when you clean out and organize your work space… this is dollhouse size art, a little drawing done in Faber-Castell Polychromos (oil based colored pencils). Since I could not recall the original title, it was renamed “Lost in a Blue Moon” because the girl looks so sad.

Thanks for looking!

 

Advertisement

That Paint Thing

I went to “that paint thing” Friday night at the SOAP Gallery in downtown Youngstown and the vet called, texted, and messaged via Facebook a combined total of NINE times. I heard the third call, ignored the voicemail, and went outside to call him back… he just wanted to make sure that I got there okay.

Holy crap… he watched me walk down the street and board the bus, after insisting I stepped outside to feel the wind before heading out (the jacket I choose might not be warm enough) AND blow dry my hair so I wouldn’t catch pneumonia. He also knew that I would get off the bus on the corner near the gallery, just a half block walk away, while it is still daylight, on a familiar street that I’ve walked hundreds, if not a thousand times. I used to live downtown; even the homeless greet me with a friendly hello.

So, what gives?

I thought he was coming home early because he had a grandchild coming over. No, he just wanted to be here before I left… to see me get ready, to watch me leave, to hang out here while I was gone just so he can call or text repeatedly about how he misses me, to ask how much longer I will be?

YE GADS… I was only gone maybe 4 hours, including transportation. It started at 6, he was texting “are you done” at a quarter till 9… I called my taxi home at 8:51 PM.

I had started painting a pretty picture… dark brown all around the sides of a wrapped canvas coming over the edge on top first (so it could dry) with a nice cloudy sky with just a hint of blue, just painting pretty little landscape in the opening… when I caught myself thinking “put a happy tree over there” it was like what the hell… I’m not Bob Ross. Bump that, paint what you feel. My mood had shifted enough to take burnt umber over the whole damn thing, right into the wet paint, wishing like hell for heavy beat driven tunes and a tube of Mars Black.

Clock ticking, paint something… what do I feel? Interrupted. I feel red. I need my orbs. Are you done? Err. Yeah, I’m done… snapped this photo when I laid it on the table designated for wet paintings.

I look at this photo now and think, “oh, that’s not done” so I will finish it AFTER it hangs in the gallery for a month… that sounds so backwards, I have to laugh. Oh yeah, hang your work BEFORE it’s done, then finish it after it has been on display for public viewing and documented as part of a community project.

 

Ironically, the vet announced it was football day before he left ye noon on Saturday to go watch the games… where or with whom, I don’t know. He didn’t say and the only question I asked was, “Does this mean I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Sure enough, I woke up alone on Sunday morning, 5th week in a row, and he didn’t care enough to call me even once. 

Did I call him? NO… maybe I should start doing that, call or text at least once every twenty minutes asking stupid questions… Did you get there okay? Are you watching the college games? Is Youngstown playing? Did they win yet? What are you doing? Having fun? How much longer? Is it overtime? What’s the score? Who’s playing next? Is your team playing tonight? Are they done yet?

Nah… I can’t do that… I just need to find more things for ME to do, and learn how to turn off my phone.

Thanks for reading!

Artsy Opportunities

Yes! The Winsor and Newton acrylics purchased on eBay arrived. I had to check them out. The white is a bit stiff, some colors have separation, but all in all, I think they are quite usable for being an old set of their discontinued paints. Now I’m waiting on FedEx to bring my Blick order, which includes some 5×5 gessoboard to use as ground for this year’s donations.

I found the call for entry in my email box. It’s actually a request for 5×5 inch original art donations for an annual FIVE SQUARED art show and sale at the Davis Family YMCA in Boardman, Ohio.  Here is the CallForArtFiveSquaredArtDonationForm (pdf flyer), if you are also interested in donating. All skill levels are accepted, they even do kiddie art, so it’s all cool.

I know my skills are lacking, out of practice for sure as I haven’t painted in years (as if watercolor under-paintings for colored pencil drawings don’t count). Figure it can’t be worst than my last donations.

I went with a Valentine theme with kids in mind in 2015, since it is a kid friendly event. (My grandsons like monsters, why the peace sign dude.) Last year, I did not donate anything… too soon after a health crisis. I also bailed from the YWCA’s women’s art committee since I wasn’t up to attending meetings or anything. It’s time to start doing things again, get back into my art again, take care of me again.

That’s why I’m going to BLANK – A Community Participation at The SOAP Gallery in downtown Youngstown on Friday night. That should be fun… it is exactly what the name suggests: a community paint event – NOT a paint and sip – and anyone in the community can participate, regardless of skill level.  Or, I should say 50 people can participate as they have 50 blank canvases hung on the walls. There is a small fee to reserve a canvas and you can BYOB. I’ve already reserved mine and fully intend to go with a blank mind… no preconceived notion of what to paint.

There is a link to this and other fun events happening at The SOAP Gallery on their Facebook page. All 50 paintings will be on exhibit through the month of November. If you are local, go see it… if not, await the documentation. The results of 50 people, from amateurs to professional artists, painting 50 canvases in the same space at the same time, all start to finish on one night, should prove to be quite interesting.

Thanks for reading!