TODAY'S CREATIVE ENDEAVORS!

Tucked in between vacuuming, dusting, rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic (that would be my new workspace!) in preparation for a visit from some out of town friends who keep a spotless house, I managed to start the portrait of Paul as a 5 year old, do a quick sketch of my favorite well-loved object and work a few hours on my up-coming Variations workshop. I still have a silver tea set to polish, brass railings to shine, wash the kitchen, breakfast room and office floors (they all run together) start the soup for lunch and sweep the driveway. I guess I will be getting up very early tomorrow morning! The upstairs is sealed off and not available for guest's inspection. Oh Lord, I hate house cleaning! So much effort for results that last so briefly.
At least I can work on art guilt free for a while.

Here is a photograph of the Anniversary Pillow. Also a photograph of my favorite well-loved thing along with my EDM Sketch #6. This is a portrait doll of my sculpture teacher at the College of San Mateo. His name was Ray Loranzato and this was my final project. Ray originally sat in a soft sculpture fur lined teacup. When Ray talked about the Dada movement in art, you could tell how much he loved the concept. The fur lined teacup was one of the famous pieces of art from this period. Ray, the doll, has survived 3 sons and 2 grandsons who used to throw him around like a bean bag until I put a stop to it. Ray, the sculptor, is no longer living, but I think of him every time I look at his doll. I keep him hanging for dear life on top of my other most well loved treasure, my first studio easel. It was a gift from my parents for Chanukah when I was 19. I still use it sometimes when I need a big easel and it sits in a place of honor in my living room, always with a painting on it.

JUST ONE LITTLE SKETCH!

I only had time today to do one little sketch, but I am still managing to post everyday for the month of November. This is #5 for Everyday Matters challenges...my bed. I think I am getting a little better at this sketching thing but have a ways to go! Over my bed is a silk wall hanging I made from microwave sequentially dyed strips in muted blues and dusty pinks. In earthquake country you don't want anything heavy over your head in case it comes crashing down! The bed frame is almost 100 years old! Burl Walnut and old fashioned wooden slats holding up the frame. We bought it second hand from a woman who had it for 50 years. We are married 45 and purchased it in our 2nd year of marriage. The pillow on the bed was one I made for my parents for their 40th wedding anniversary. It has two soft sculpture dolls representing them on their wedding day, tucked into a heart opening. I guess this scene represents a lot of history of long happy marriages.

I will be doing something other than sketching in the next day or two. I need to paint my husband's oldest brother when he was about 5 or 6. It is a gift for his 85th birthday. Paul has to be the youngest 85 year old I have ever met. We should all be so lucky to have his vibrant, engaged, active and healthy life. He is an inspiration.

I SIGNED UP FOR "ART EVERY DAY MONTH"

For the sixth year in a row, Leah Piken Kolidas is sponsoring "Art Every Day Month". November is the month and lots of artists are signing up to commit to posting their creative efforts for 30 consecutive days. Click on the title to go to her blog. I just completed the little drawing seen above. I actually spent a few hours painting pieces of Japanese papers with watercolor in preparation for a collage painting. They look very anemic but I will persevere. Actually, the paper towels I put them on to dry are the most interesting! I think I will see if they are "collagable". I am used to using tissue paper for collage, so this is going to be interesting. I may find acrylic is a better paint to color the papers. Perhaps I will have more time tomorrow to work on that painting. I also bought a trial set of open acrylics with my gift certificate from Accent Arts, so I want to make a Frenchman painting with those as well. This always happens to me. Too many ideas bumping around in my head at the same time. I need to focus on one idea at a time.