Thoughts in the USA

Needless to say, the level of joy went high (way TOO high, if you ask me!), with Knox, whose face turned an intriguing hue of a deep rich red (Perylene Maroon comes to mind), trying to make up for his faux pas, saying "Ah.... this is even worse than 'I like the way you used to paint!' This is like, 'I like the way you used to paint when you did not even paint'".

Yup.

Later, I mentioned my pottery period, when I was failing to do one decent pot, and my pottery teacher commented with sarcasm, "You know, Nava, it's so interesting that so many experienced potters take years of pottery and struggle to reach the freedom that you seem to have right away..." (meaning - I suck!).

Knox sat up full of piety and fury, and said "I so disagree with the fact that someone else had the nerve to tell you to stop doing art!!!".

"Yup", said The JohnnyB, "you'd rather tell her yourself!".

And so, for next year, I wish that one of MY paintings will be someone's favorite.

Or, I can simply take down all the non-Nava stuff...



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Labels: Art, Faux Pas, It's All About Me, Major Achievements, Ouch, People, Sentence of The Month

# posted by Nava @ 8:20 PM 5 comments

Labels: Holidays, Joke

# posted by Nava @ 12:16 PM 2 comments

Still with the Sikh man whose photo I was fortunate to get.

Still with the same 3 colors dictated by the dice.

I am fascinated by the way a blurry photo forces me to dig into my creativity and make up the missing parts. This is much more fun than working from an ideal photo where everything is right there. A clear reference, while easier, also has the risk of "inhibiting changes and consequently curbing creativity" (in the words of Alex Powers).

I went for reductive painting - loaded the Tyvek with paint, and then started blocking in the shapes with a damp my brush. this time, I decided to document the process, taking photos of the different stages.

As you can see, the first stage was quite unnerving, and it's not always easy to remember to not give up and throw it all when things look, well, like that....

...but - that was just the beginning, so I went on to the second stage (which got gloriously worse!), and then got so much into the painting that I forgot to take more photos.

I thoroughly enjoyed wokring on this one - it was fascinating to finally see an actual face emerging from the total chaos.

Thanks to a brilliant critique comment from The JohnnyB, I managed to finally get some lost edges, something I keep striving for, but always fail to do. As the painters amongst you know, once you hold the brush in your hand, the thinking part in your brain just shut off and goes on a break. This time, I managed to actually think while painting - whoa! A novel experience, almost a scary one.

So, although the old frail man has transformed into one cranky dude in this version, I am quite happy with the way it turned out. Quite an attitude he has, eh?

[looking for a title], Watercolor on Tyvek, 12" x 9"

Can't quite title this one without leading the viewer to a biased interpretation - - - any suggestions?

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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Major Achievements

# posted by Nava @ 6:45 PM 3 comments

Except for the cheery snowmen, I haven't painted in over 2 weeks. There is no better cure for being down than taking a pen or a brush and letting it go on the paper, but the catch is that sometimes, when you are in such a mood, even that seemingly tiny amount of energy is too much.

So, I didn't paint.

I no longer fight it or force myself, as for me, art cannot come on demand. As simple as that.

On Monday, the plumber came to save the irrigation on our front lawn from its gloomy status. And he was one cool plumber! with incredible face, dreadlocks and a cap; when his wife joined him, with her own super-long dreadlocks and a hair band - I could not contain myself. The JohnnyB understood immediately, and gallantly went on a photo-documentary quest of "the work", trying to capture them, with little success. After all, how DO you take shots of people working on the pipes without looking like some freak?

"Why don't you ask them for permission?".

Aha! 'cause once you do, they start posing or being very self-aware of how they look and act, and the magic is gone. Since I am after the essence of people rather than what they look like, photos taken with permission are not quite painting material. It's gotta be sneaky.

As WackieM, the famous face hunter, says, "Well, accept there will be photos you'll never take, and be grateful for the ones you do get".

I gave up, and drove to Trader Joe's to get groceries. Stuck behind a long line of cars at a red light, I saw a man at the end of the block, waiting to cross the road. An old man, with a walking cane and a bag in his other hand, wearing a coat. He had a very long white beard that enjoyed a life of its own, dancing in the cold wind, and a white turban. He looked so out of place, that in my current mood of displacement, I couldn't help wondering how he is feeling, an undoubtedly traditional man, living in the midst of hi-tech.

Other people would just go on wondering and move on. Not me - I snatched LumiB (blessing the long red light), zoomed in with the 12.5X power and took a shot. Too far, damn it! He started crossing the road, getting nearer, but the light turned green, the cars started to move - - - consumed by the frustration over the plumber's face, I was determined to get this one! and so, driving with my left hand, I snapped another shot. Not having time to zoom in, his face ended up occupying only about 1% of the photo, needless to say no details of his features, hardly any notion of light and shadow on his face, except his beard and his turban, that from that distance, seem to have melted into one shape.

Not an easy call, as I am not yet a wiz in making up the details.

I let it sit for 2 days, and yesterday decided to go for it, using WackieM 3-color-lottery challenge again. This time, the dice had an interesting combination for me: Perylene Maroon (a gorgeous rich dark red color that I love), Ultramarine Violet (OK...) and Phthalo Yellow Green (an almost acidic color, that soooooooooooo doesn't go...).

I decided to use the Tyvek paper that I got from WackieM 2 weeks ago. Yes - Tyvek, as in what is used for mail envelopes, water intrusion barriers on houses and coveralls for workers. Yes, you can paint on it! Hated it to bits in the first 5 minutes, as it behaves very differently than traditional watercolor paper, but as I got used to it, I was in love! Not only does this paper has an incredible feathery texture that adds interest, it is also very forgiving, as you can lift paint and go back to almost white (or a ghost hue of the lifted color).

OK then... what do we have here: an indecipherable face, a non-trivial color combination, and a new kind of paper. Is it wise to tackle all these at the same time? Of course not, but - as The JohnnyB would be more than happy to assure you: logic was never part of the deal.

FoodieP emailed me, "Be it sooner or later I’ll be eager to see your post of the bearded man". Ok then, here are my first 2 attempts. Both done with the same set of colors mentioned above, plus black to achieve darks, on Tyvek paper. Click to enlarge.

Studies for "Displaced", Watercolor on Tyvek, 9" x 6"

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Labels: Art, ArtPact, People

# posted by Nava @ 10:57 AM 5 comments

WebbieM sent this to me, in the spirit of the season.

I can sooooooo relate it's scary! (Oh, and we do have a Christmas, uhm, Holiday, oopps, Annual Party coming up...).

Enjoy, rejoice and - happy Political Correctness y'all!

The Company Christmas Party

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All Employees

DATE: December 11, 2007

RE: Christmas Party

I'm happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23, starting at noon in the private function room at the Grill House. There will be a cash bar and plenty of drinks! We'll have a small band playing traditional carols... feel free to sing along. And don't be surprised if our CEO shows up dressed as Santa Claus! A Christmas tree will be lit at 1:00pm. Exchange of gifts among employees can be done at that time; however, no gift should be over $10.00 to make the giving of gifts easy for everyone's pockets. This gathering is only for employees! Our CEO will make a special announcement at that time! Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Patty

- - -

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All Employees

DATE: December 12, 2007

RE: Holiday Party

In no way was yesterday's memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees. We recognize that Chanukah is an important holiday, which often coincides with Christmas, though unfortunately not this year. However, from now on we're calling it our "Holiday Party." The same policy applies to any other employees who are not Christians or those still celebrating Reconciliation Day. There will be no Christmas tree present. No Christmas carols sung. We will have other types of music for your enjoyment.

Happy now?

Happy Holidays to you and your family.

Patty

- - -

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All Employees

DATE: December 13, 2007

RE: Holiday Party

Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics Anonymous requesting a non-drinking table ... you didn't sign your name. I'm happy to accommodate this request, but if I put a sign on a table that reads, "AA Only"; you wouldn't be anonymous anymore. How am I supposed to handle this?Somebody? Forget about the gifts exchange, no gifts exchange are allowed since the union members feel that $10.00 is too much money and executives believe $10.00 is a little chintzy.

NO GIFTS EXCHANGE WILL BE ALLOWED.

- - -

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director

To: All Employees

DATE: December 14, 2007

RE: Holiday Party

What a diverse group we are! I had no idea that December 20 begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating and drinking during daylight hours. There goes the party! Seriously, we can appreciate how a luncheon at this time of year does not accommodate our Muslim employees' beliefs. Perhaps the Grill House can hold off on serving your meal until the end of the party - or else package everything for you to take it home in little foil doggy baggy. Will that work? Meanwhile, I've arranged for members of Weight Watchers to sit farthest from the dessert buffet and pregnant women will get the table closest to the restrooms. Gays are allowed to sit with each other. Lesbians do not have to sit with Gay men, each will have their own table. Yes, there will be flower arrangement for the Gay men's table. To the person asking permission to cross dress, no cross-dressing allowed though. We will have booster seats for short people. Low-fat food will be available for those on a diet. We cannot control the salt used in the food we suggest for those people with high blood pressure to taste first. There will be fresh fruits as dessert for Diabetics, the restaurant cannot supply "No Sugar" desserts. Sorry!

Did I miss anything?!?!?

Patty

- - -

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All F*ing Employees

DATE: December 15, 2007

RE: The F*ing Holiday Party

Vegetarian pr*cks I've had it with you people!!! We're going to keep this party at the Grill House whether you like it or not, so you can sit quietly at the table furthest from the "grill of death," as you so quaintly put it, and you'll get your f*ing salad bar, including organic tomatoes. But you know, tomatoes have feelings, too. They scream when you slice them. I've heard them scream. I'm hearing them scream right NOW! I hope you all have a rotten holiday!

Drive drunk and die,

The Bi*tch from HELL!!!!!!!!

- - -

FROM: Joan Bishop, Acting Human Resources Director

DATE: December 16, 2007

RE: Patty Lewis and Holiday Party

I'm sure I speak for all of us in wishing Patty Lewis a speedy recovery and I'll continue to forward your cards to her. In the meantime, management has decided to cancel our Holiday Party and give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd off with full pay.

Happy Holidays!

Labels: Desecration, Holidays, Joke, Meta Bloggin', People

# posted by Nava @ 11:44 AM 7 comments

Been down lately. The past week has been really bad.

I plead guilty of letting people get to me, enabling stupid things nibble (with giant bites) at my sleep, and allowing small stuff pile into a huge heap that sits heavily on my chest, making everything seem bleak.

Not quite sure why exactly. Nothing really major happened, just a bunch of unnerving incidents, that individually are insignificant, but when they come in threes or fours (or dozens...), they just become too many. To add to the joy, I suspect all of that is combined with one of those acculturation cycles, that pop for a visit from time to time (apparently even after 5.5 years!), and make me wonder what-the-hell-am-I-doing-here. Might be disillusionment from too many things at once. Might be accented with the upcoming anniversary of the biggest loss in my life, on January 10th - hard to tell.

Happens.

It sucks.

And yet, by now I know that it will go away, and that I need to hit the bottom in order to rise and shine again.

"It all happens for a reason", says my sister over the phone. "These are all lessons, and you will come out of it strengthened and wiser".

I know, I know - but sometimes, I'm a bit tired of paying the tuition fee.

At times like that, it's hard to look up and see the good things. All of a sudden, it feels as if nobody likes you, everything seems to be against you. Hey, even the original version of this post has disappeared as the damned laptop suddenly crashed for no reason other than taking part in the festivities of "let's screw up Nava's week".

And yet, in the midst of it all, yesterday afternoon, a knock on the door. I thought it was the plumber, who was working all day in the freezing air to dig out and replace our main water pipe that was turning part of our front lawn into a luscious swamp.

But - lo and behold, there stood Val, like a Santa Claus who could not find the chimney, bearing a plate with English mince pie (my well-earned tip for bringing her some paper from WackieM).

"So, how is your Christmas season going so far?", she asked The JohnnyB and me, after she got out of my bone-crushing hug. (I was soooooooooo happy to see her!)

"Well, y'know I have a waiver from it all", I replied, trying to fake a faint smile.

"Ahhh - in that case, I have to send you the words of a wonderful song I heard yesterday!", she cheered.

She did (and - THANK YOU, VAL!!!).

Apparently, it was originally performed on South Park, but I found a much more creative video version of it on YouTube:

So, listening to it makes me think: can it be that this is part of the reason for my lopsided (more like upside-down) smile recently?

'cause I admit: I do feel like an outsider these days.

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Labels: Holidays, Little Lunch for Thought, Meta Bloggin', Venting

# posted by Nava @ 9:43 AM 11 comments

This is not quite a fine art piece, nor is it original.

And yet, it is somewhat special to me, and I did take part in painting it.

On Monday evening last week, we met for a little holiday party of the second art organization to which I belong. The main activity was painting holiday scenes on posters, for a convalescent hospital in town. It was combined with a potluck, and each of the participating artists brought a small gift for a resident of the hospital, to help make their holiday merrier. A nice little way to give to the community.

Most of us copied holiday cards, and since this is my very first year of doing it, I joined LimaB and we shared a poster.

I have never painted with someone else on the same sheet of paper. On a normal day, it's almost unthinkable, as art is such a personal and individual thing, with each painter having their own way of laying paint with their brush strokes. Add to that the fact that I am right-handed and LimaB is left-handed, with me sitting on her left - that was quite an interesting experience.

It was very much like painting by numbers - which was such a fun thing to do, as this whole event kinda gave us permission to do it! LimaB has prepared the drawing beforehand, and at the beginning I was very cautious, as it was her drawing (even if she copied it from the holiday card). But we soon got into the fun mode, with the guy next to us adding to the joy by mumbling sarcastic comments about our work, which was very purplish in nature (we both kinda like purple, as you can tell). He, as opposed to us, was painting a "real" painting, a Yosemite scene in watercolor, while we were thoroughly enjoying our cheery snowmen. We took extreme artistic license with the colors and re-designed their scarves and hats. We did agree on the color scheme and stopped frequently to have lengthy discussions on how to paint what, and we did a good job coordinating our very different styles and techniques. Painting like that with someone else shows you two really get along! Still, at the end of the day, I took a tooth brush loaded with white gesso, and sprayed snow all over the whole painting, to unify it and conceal the very different brush strokes. Oh, and we used acrylic, which I haven't used in at least 3 years!

It really was a great evening. Not just the activity itself, but also the complete selflessness of it: painting for the sheer purpose of making someone happy.

LimaB went to the hospital today, to deliver all the paintings and gifts.

Holiday season can sometimes intensify loneliness and being away from your loved ones, which gets worse when you are unwell. I do hope our little effort will help brighten the walls of the hospital, and the hearts of its residents.

Labels: Art, Holidays, Making a Difference, People

# posted by Nava @ 8:50 PM 5 comments

Oh.

- - - My.

- - - - - - God.

The JohnnyB, seeing my expression, snickered "Happy now?", and went to gloat in the living room.

Well, I did say I want a wacky combo, right? so now it was time to pick up the gauntlet and the hideous combination of paints. Again, I couldn't resist the urge, and started a painting at 10:30pm, totally at loss as for what do I do with such colors!

And then I realized that when you get kicked out of your comfort zone, you just have to activate your brain, get creative, go beyond, push the envelope and other clichés.

I did.

"Cactus Flower", Watercolor W/N CP Paper, 11" x 10"

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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Desecration, Major Achievements

# posted by Nava @ 1:30 PM 10 comments

...and I continue skipping between Sam and MistyN.

WackieM has come up with a new challenge for this month: paint any subject, using only 3 colors. Interesting - but wait! you don't get to choose the colors, but actually let fate make the decision. As she put it, "Any subject, any style but you are limited to 3 colors plus black and white. The way you select the three colors is the fun part. On separate slips of paper, write down each of your watercolor tubes of paint and put them in a jar. Shake it all up and then pull out 3 slips of paper. Those are your colors to work with."

Now... I shamefully admit that I have over 100 watercolor tubes (and that is without the 50 crappy ones I got when I just started painting and a smart store owner managed to sell them to me, promising "They are second to none". Yeah, right...). So, with the suggested method, I would never get to the actual painting!

The JohnnyB heard my outcry, and suggested to use dice. Apparently, the man has a 12-sided dice and an 8-sided one, which makes it easier. Since my paints are kinda sorted by hue (the blues live together in one drawer, the reds reside in a another - and so on), I went through some complicated mathematical calculations, throwing one dice to choose the drawer, and then another toss to select the color. Took some left-brain thinking - and these muscles are now sore.

This challenge came just in time, as I was trying to figure out which colors to use for painting MistyN.

Voila - no need to think anymore. The dice has spoken: Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Violet and Organic Vermilion (which is an orangey red, highly toxic; I shall not lick my brush this time).

I went for the first attempt, using these three colors, plus black to create some darks. Both Cobalt Blue and Ultramarine Violet are wimpy when it comes to getting dark values, and the black helped create some very cool darks for the background and shadows.

Thing is - there was nothing really exciting about the colors, as these are colors I may have normally used for a portrait anyway! WackieM kept getting wacky colors for her challenges, as did LimaB, which forced them to push the envelope - and all I had was this usual combo.

Which made the painting a bit too ordinary. Yes, nice light pattern, almost a candle-lit mood, but - I wasn't thrilled about it.

I almost decided to give up on the subject. Painting young beautiful women is always a challenge - their faces are too precious to mess up with. Plus, I usually go for lines or texture in my paintings - and young faces do not have either. I was about to sadly depart from the gorgeous photo I took at the Thankgiving dinner and move on to another subject.

But then, The JohnnyB came to the rescue, and got a lot of credit points!

"What do you expect?", he asked, "This is your first attempt at painting her! Of course you are being cautious and just trying to copy what you see".

With this alibi in mind, and with WackieM's encouragement to explore this further and maybe try different surfaces to work on, I suddenly remembered the gold gesso I bought a couple of years ago, and used it only once, with disastrous results.

I decided to give it another go. I smeared the gesso over watercolor paper, created some texture with the brush and with some stamping, and let it dry.

"I'll paint on it tomorrow", I promised myself.

"Maybe", sneered my procrastinating self.

Then I went to look for Hanukka candles, as we only have 4 left from last years. Couldn't find any, anywhere!!

Later that evening, The JohnnyB lit the candles (improvised ones, that actually look quite cool!!) in his charming desecrating manner. I went into my studio, looked at the gessoed paper - - -

- - - and 4 hours later, I was gazing at an almost finished painting. I just could not resist the urge.

Ahhh, what fun! Not only did the gesso create a very forgiving surface that enabled lifting and correcting, it also lent itself to creating wonderful textures.

I tried to stick with the challenge colors, but then figured that by using gold gesso, I am already introducing a fourth color, and thus am not sticking to the rules anyway. So I changed the red to a different one, and later used more intense blue and violet to add some darks.

And so, with no further ado, here is my second attempt:

"Thankgiving", Watercolor and Gold Gesso on W/N HP Paper, 14" x 10"

It's looking very good next to the Hanukka candles - almost as if they are the source of light!

.

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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Holidays

# posted by Nava @ 4:37 PM 6 comments

The doorbell rang.

Looking through the window, I saw two teenaged girls at the door, assuming that tiresome we-want-your-money position.

I was in a bad mood. I didn't even open the door.

"Yes?", I said impatiently.

"Ah...", squeaked the one who was playing with her hair, "...we were wondering: did someone already knock on your door today and, with an annoying voice, already ask you to - - - "

I cut her in mid-sentence. I wasn't in the mood for pretense cutesiness; as a matter fact, I was in no mood for anything, so I pointed at the very strict "No Soliciting" sign that adorns our kitchen window.

Her eyes filled with question marks.

"We have a 'No Soliciting' sign - right here, see?", I combined pointing with close captioning.

"Huh?", she pondered, chewing on her hair.

"W-e . h-a-v-e . a . 'N-o . S-o-l-i-c-i-t-i-n-g' . s-i-g-n", I repeated, slower, giving her the benefit of the accent (mine).

"I thought that means 'No Smoking'?!", she shared her profound thoughts with me, still chewing.

So much for benefit... Plus, by now, I figured the two of them were finalists in the blank expression contest.

"No", I volunteered to educate the uninitiated, "it pretty much means do-not-knock-on-our-door-offering-us-something".

"Huh?", she started chewing on a new lock of hair, moving to a philosophical debate, "are you sure it does not mean 'No Smoking' in Spanish?".

(OK, a disclaimer here: I realize it could have been a wonderful opportunity for a highly amusing conversation. And yet - did I mention I was not in the mood?)

"I have no idea what it means in Spanish", I said, "but in English it means DO NOT KNOCK ON OUR DOOR OFFERING US ANYTHING!". Oh yeah, I can be a bitch.

Three interesting facts:

1. Not for a second did the talkative teenager stop chewing her hair. (alas, her friend had too short a hair to join her in the feast)

2. Only when I turned my back to them, I realized they were not only finalists, but very probably the winners of that expression contest. Why? 'cause they did not just go for a blank, empty expression. Oh no. They went way beyond it.

3. This charming conversation did not cheer me up as much as I thought it should.

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Labels: Languages, People, Profoundness, Sentence of The Month, Stating The Obvious, WTF?

# posted by Nava @ 3:47 PM 12 comments