Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Last two weeks before Portland Open Studios

I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad, but Portland Open Studios weekends will finally be upon me in less than 2 weeks. I have spent so much time volunteering on the board (I've logged 570 hours so far this year) that I feel my own work has suffered. I've completed a bunch of the 7x7 panels and a couple of larger pieces, but that's it. I've not completed my senior's book, which I started on last year, yikes!

I know one thing, I'll be happy when my 3 year term is up. I will feel like I've made my contribution, and I can feel good about that. This is also my last year of participating in the event. Of course, never say never, and I might return in the future, but I'm definitely ready for a break.

So I got a commission from a friend, who wanted a painting of a hummingbird. Not having done humming birds before, and having those 7x7 panels that I can experiment with, I figure I'll play with some ideas here. I actually started 4 panels just as shapes and forms, without thinking that I'll put hummingbirds on there. But then, there they are, so I might as well.

I started 4 panels with similar ideas, and you see that on the panel on the right. All 4 had those seed-pod like shapes. I was thinking horse chestnut pods. But they also read like circular cages.

Over the seed pod shapes, I layered a landscape (inspired by my trip to the Steens...come to think of it, I got the horse chestnuts on one of our previous trips to the Steens too), and hummingbirds. This you can see in the left 2 panels. Then the panel on the left has been 'scrubbed'—I take a wet, stiff angle brush and I push the paint around. Before I do this, the left panel is much more like the middle panel:



Then I start to work on bringing out or pushing back the different forms & shapes that I want to work with. They're not finished, I hope to have them done this weekend though.

6 comments:

margaret said...

Beautiful! I love seeing, and reading about, your progress.

Michael5000 said...

Love the hummingbirds!

If this is going to be your last year in POS, you'll want to be sure to have especially good snacks!

fingerstothebone said...

Good snacks coming up...unless there's another flu scare, then it'd be the flu special again.

gl. said...

i'll bet it will feel great to get time to yourself again. lovely hummingbirds!

Gloria Freshley Art and Design said...

Your hummingbird pieces are very lovely! Thanks very much for sharing your process. And thanks for all the time and effort you've given to Open Studios! It's such a wonderful event. Have enjoyed coming to your studio in the past. Best...Gloria

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