Sunday, December 31, 2006
ArtPact #6
OK now...
This is going to be a very humbling experience.
On the verge of humiliating.
Last week turned out to be very busy and hectic, with Christmas evening and day, and The JohnnyB on vacation (which did not contribute for my painting mood, as painting is a solitary thing, y'see), and then him getting sick, plus the frantic application for a CARICOM visa for me, and then the plague that took both our computers away, and me getting the cold from the JohnnyB in between - - - and you expect me to paint?!?
OK, OK, you're right.
I made a commitment, yeah, yeah...
OK - I said OK!.
Steady on now.
So, against all odds, I started a painting last night.
I was quite pissed and stressed, and very rushed - the worst time to paint.
Actually, it can be a very good idea to paint when you are in such a low mood - nothing beats art therapy, but only if you paint what you want and feel, and not what you should be painting.
And I, as we all recall, need to paint them damn pomegranates.
Still: I started - which is the hardest step.
Painted for a while, and crushed to bed.
But today, waking up sick and stuffy, with a splitting headache, pissed that we are going to miss the New Year's party we were invited to, I could not bring myself to continue - not to mention finish - the painting.
And yet, my pact says I post a fresh produce from the easel, no cheating.
So, here is all I got for you right now: the very beginning of the first version of pomegranate painting.
This is the initial under-drawing I made, based on the composition of the drawing I posted last week. Not too bad.
The only catch is that I drew this with watercolor crayons, which have the neat attribute of dissolving in water.
It's a trick we learned from WackieM.
The good thing is that - as opposed to a pencil drawing - they do not leave graphite marks (which sometimes interfere with the painting).
The bad thing: they dissolve in water...
I know, like, Duh?
Wait!
My point is that if you do not draw strong enough, you pretty much lose a lot of the drawing, and end up tearing your hair and screaming in dismay while throwing things around, getting an even worse headache and becoming an overall very unpleasant and non-environment-friendly person, scaring the hell out of The JohnnyB, who sometimes forgets that artists have tortured souls.
Especially when their drawing dissolves away!
It's easy to see this is a classic example of such an occasion:
Once I did the first wash, only fragments of the drawing were left here and there.
Yep, I never learn.
Anyhow, let me repeat the disclaimer:
This is an unfinished painting.
It's only the very beginning.
The initial stage of blocking-in the major shapes with underlying color washes.
There are some areas that I actually like about it (and hopefully will not screw them up, as I tend to do in my eternal self-destructive talent), and others that are truly horrendous, and would be fun to cover with the next washes.
So, now it's up to what I do with it once I get the energy to continue.
Once I manage to reproduce the lost drawing, that is...
Most important: yet again, I did not break my pact!!!
Which brings up another resolution for the coming year:
To never, ever again, reach the point that all I have to post is a shameful thing such as this.
previous ArtPact... ...next ArtPact
# posted by Nava @ 11:13 PM 
Comments:
Nava,
I particularly love the line quality in your initial sketch, and the dynamic red on the two center pomegranates. The fruit in the top left corner does lead my eye off the page right now, though. I am no kind of watercolorist, so I'm excited to see how the layers develop. Good luck.
I've been battling with composition ideas all week for my January post. I've been considering something with my miscarriages, but maybe that's still too fresh. All of my ideas are so disjointed...
You are quite the crazy woman Nana!.:o)..But such a great conversationalist...It's like you are in the room...and I thought your post was great fun to read.
I'm having a very quiet, ponderous New Year. Went to bed last night with a new book at 9.30 and didn't miss all that midnight stuff at all.
I woke up to find the world was still here, the sun was out and my dogs needed a pee. what's wrong with that?? Nothing..it's just normal and I love it. Have a great year Nana and keep writing those cheery posts. Cheers, Jay
# posted by 
: 1/01/2007 5:17 PM
Nava~
Not a shameful post at all!!!
love the radiant color.
candy for my eyes.
Thanks so much for sharing.
# posted by : 1/01/2007 6:50 PM
The colors are beautiful, and if it's not what it want it to be, then it's just not finished. Or you can sell it to someone with a pinkish red sofa. Or you can spray paint it white and put it in a museum.
;-)
Wow, I should post my flops more often, with all the encouragement I get here ;-)
Thank y'all!
Since white is taken, it would be shameful plagiarism if I do the same.
Hmm... how about if I glue the intestines of our dead laptop on top of it?
Now, that would be art!
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I particularly love the line quality in your initial sketch, and the dynamic red on the two center pomegranates. The fruit in the top left corner does lead my eye off the page right now, though. I am no kind of watercolorist, so I'm excited to see how the layers develop. Good luck.
I've been battling with composition ideas all week for my January post. I've been considering something with my miscarriages, but maybe that's still too fresh. All of my ideas are so disjointed...
I'm having a very quiet, ponderous New Year. Went to bed last night with a new book at 9.30 and didn't miss all that midnight stuff at all.
I woke up to find the world was still here, the sun was out and my dogs needed a pee. what's wrong with that?? Nothing..it's just normal and I love it. Have a great year Nana and keep writing those cheery posts. Cheers, Jay
# posted by : 1/01/2007 5:17 PM
: 1/01/2007 5:17 PM Not a shameful post at all!!!
love the radiant color.
candy for my eyes.
Thanks so much for sharing.
# posted by : 1/01/2007 6:50 PM
: 1/01/2007 6:50 PM ;-)
Thank y'all!
Since white is taken, it would be shameful plagiarism if I do the same.
Hmm... how about if I glue the intestines of our dead laptop on top of it?
Now, that would be art!
