Back To My Roots

As I did last month, I am participating in an online auction on Facebook and this month's prompt was "Mad Queen". Of course, being that I am working on my Queen of Hearts, that seems to slide right into that nicely, but that isn't actually the case. My Queen of Hearts is for my Alice series, and it's also a large canvas (meaning it's going to take a while.) Instead, I had several ideas, and I thought to play them out in watercolor.

I had her all sketched out (after I added in some mushrooms to balance out the composition), and I decided to mask her (good decision) and then used my old bottle of masking instead of my new one (really bad decision.) I ended up with a background just the way I wanted, with a nice red glow around my queen:

Unfortunately, it stripped my paper. If you haven't done watercolor on professional paper before, there is a sort of surface that helps the paint glide along. If you "scrub" you can ruin this and get a rough surface that basically turns your paper into a sponge in all the wrong places. Well, my old masking did that to every surface it was on.

*head*desk*

The thing was, even though it had stripped that thin surface, the paper itself was still fine. It didn't rip, or even thin out the paper. No, I just ruined my surface. But I didn't want to start over, because I liked where I was going with this. That's when I decided to work it like an acrylic painting instead of a watercolor (watercolor is like painting in reverse of acrylic.) I wasn't sure what I thought when I had the features down:

I was thinking... maybe.

Then I started laying in more, and put in iridescent paint highlights as I worked (I know, you're all shocked), which are lit up in the next photo, but it doesn't look like that all the time, and I added a snake after someone suggested it:

Then the question became all about the dress, as all women know. What color? I went for black, after all this was supposed to be a bit twisted, sad, and sinister... a bit mad.

Of course, as any girl knows you need to coordinate, and it turned out that much of any color on the mushrooms gave the whole composition the wrong feel. I knew red was too cheerful, so I tried green tops, and realized it was all wrong, and finally settled on black for that too:

Finally, I was in the last push and I finished her:

"Cracked" 9x12 inches, Acrylic (and watercolor) on 140lbs hot-pressed 100% cotton paper

I debated calling her cursed, because she kind of is, and went with Cracked instead. Her crown (which is golden and lights up) is a nest with a cracked egg in it. It seems fitting that my "mad queen" would then be "Cracked". She's a bit twisted, and wrong... which is exactly how I wanted her! I ended up loving her, and to think I almost tossed her instead!

The most interesting thing about this piece is that it's a sort of hybrid of my more traditional abstract style with my fairy tale style. I almost feel like this sort of hybrid painting is the missing link between the two. This is important because I have had to split my business with the two styles so I can continue to do both, but I'm wondering if the hybrid isn't more intriguing than either on their own.

Anyway, it's an avenue for me to explore. Something that satisfied both sides is a rare thing for me, and not something I'm willing to let go of. I've been absolutely flooded with ideas. More paintings I want to do, along this line but not. I've always been obsessed with the stars and the moon, but also the ocean. So, I imagine I'm coming into another theme I must follow, all the while working to finish my Alice series and exploring more fairytales as well.

I feel like I'm on a new adventure!

Sweetheart

I've been sick since Friday night, but I still had a busy weekend. I went with my family to finally figure out our cell phone issues, and ended up staying with my iPhone (but a 5S now) and going through three hours of paperwork to switch plans, make sure everyone's phone worked, and more. When you don't feel good, you'd take a tin can with string and call it a day, but I think it worked out OK. We'll see. I'm sure the bill will come and I'll have accidentally signed up for something bizarre!

My daughter had a cheerleader competition where she actually won a medal, and then proceeded to wear it for the rest of the weekend. I can't really blame her, it was pretty cool. I was never a cheerleader. Never. I wanted to be, but the truth is that I'm uncoordinated and shy - not the best qualities for a cheerleader to possess. I even tried out and really humiliated myself. I wish I hadn't, and then I could have said "Oh, if only I had tried out, maybe I could have been a cheerleader!" Instead, I know full well what a disaster I really was! Ugh!

My daughter, on the other hand, is a social butterfly. She's perfect for it, and she LOVES it. Right up until the boys go on and on about cheer not being a real sport. You would think they'd be smarter, considering she's also a soccer goalie (and a good one), and can probably kick their butts, but so far the boy's intelligence level for high school has rung in at about five years old. In all the years of my children playing sports, we've never had as many injuries as what's come out of cheerleading, too. So, I think it is a sport, but one that maybe needs to be evaluated more closely. Kids are getting hurt, a lot. More than if my daughter were playing football. Sorry, mom tangent.

Before I really came down with whatever it is that I have, I did manage to finish another little Valentine mini:

"All Mine" 3x3 inch mini painting

And I sketched out my "Mad Queen" for this month's auction on the Rabbit Hole Artist Collective:

I'm going to add mushrooms on the sides, to balance it all out.

I have two little Valentine mini paintings with bunnies left to do, and this mad queen, and of course my queen of hearts... but I also have a house that desperately needs to be cleaned too. Although, I don't think I have the energy for the cleaning, so maybe bunny paintings will hit the spot today!

Stretch!

I have had a lot of trouble focusing with my mother staying with me and my kids having days off here and there between weather issues and otherwise. So, I decided to work on four little Valentine's Day mini-paintings thinking I'd surely be able to whip those out in a day.

Then it was two.

I finished one last night on the second day:

"Sweetheart" 3x5 inch acrylic on canvas panel

I hid all sorts of hearts in the painting, since it was for Valentine's Day. It was hard to paint this though, because my daughter had the movie The Place Beyond the Pines on, and I swear it was the movie that would never END!

I have to have something on while I'm working. I really like a good tale, an adventure, a romance, something... but not that. Actually, I'm most productive with a horror movie on, and I don't even like horror movies. This is probably because I'm grateful to not be looking at the screen and scared out of my whits, so I paint rather quickly with one of those playing. It's my version of watching a scary movie through my fingers, but it involves my paintbrushes instead.

So, I finished this one small painting, but that's it! I still have the other three, and I'm not confident I'll have those finished by the end of the week now. I'm hopeful though, so maybe...

In other news, I ordered a new pair of running shoes from a different brand because my model was discontinued. Since I'm a lumbering and rather sad runner, I need motion control shoes. This means my shoes are always ugly. But not this time!!! Check these babies out:

PURPLE! Purple, people! And pink! And lime! All neon! I have pretty running shoes for the first time, ever! I'm hoping they'll work well, because I want to keep them. Because... purple. Purple makes everything better!

Hoping For Snow

A big snow storm is supposed to flirt with us tomorrow, and I'm excited! Even though they keep adjusting the snowfall amounts down, I keep hoping it'll shift its track just enough to dump on us. I'm supposed to live in a super snowy place, and for the past three years the south has gotten more snow than I have here in Vermont.

Today, I'm taking a little break from business-business in my studio. I've been working on my Queen of Hearts, but I haven't been able to get back into it since Friday. Still, I finished her hair and crowned her:

She has strong iridescent highlights on her hair and eyes, so when the light is directly on her she becomes very scary looking.

Over the weekend I went running outside and got some fabulous shots of the ice and a short video of the water running behind it at the dam:

Those are frozen water streams from the dam. Isn't that wild?

Icicle steps, how cool is that?

Shot of the icicle steps farther out, the video is of this area where the water was pounding through behind the ice.

Post by Kyra Wilson.

But then yesterday I spent all day on the computer side of things and I feel like I lost my mojo. So, today I'm taking it off from the "have to" and working on just Valentine's Day stuff. I have one mouse and hart candies sketched out, but some folks have suggested I do other animals too. So, I'm working with a bunny or two, and I'm contemplating a giraffe. I have no idea why, as giraffes aren't exactly your standard Valentine's fare, but we'll see what happens. I'm taking a workation kind of painting day!

So, here's hoping for snow and cute paintings!