Skip to main content

Guilty Pleasures

After messing up my back last August, I had been unable to paint. I finally decided to seek help for the back, but not until after dragging myself to Burning Man. Obviously this was not my smartest move, but who can resist partaking in the delights if the Playa and seeing the man burn?

It appears that I have arthritis in the back bones (surely I am too young?!) and 3 herniated discs. I have stubbornly refused surgery and have so far had a month of physical therapy 3 times a week to straighten a twisted pelvis and strengthen my muscles. What a wreck!

Anyway, tonight I was invited to what I know is to be an epic party for "Dias De Los Muertos". I was excited to go out after a very unsociable time healing...

However, my husband is resting in the bed that is crammed behind the canvas storage and my kids are sat in front of a movie in the studio parlor. I am guiltily enjoying mixing paints and smelling the wonderful scents of the oil paint glaze I have mixed for my latest creation.

Earlier in the week I finished varnishing the carpet bag painting and applied a couple of gesso layers to a new canvas.



This evening I am indulging in a night in at the studio. I have a new commission that is taking me out of my current thread of work. It is a painting based on the Horsehead Nebula.




I have mixed a base glaze to my favorite proportions (sorry secret recipe!) and added equal parts Ultramarine and Pythalo Blue to create the under painting.

I had a little Absinthe for company and have enjoyed the smells and texture of the paint as it moved on the canvas. I also enjoyed bouncing on the exercise ball I was using to support myself while I painted!




Comments

  1. BritneyNovember 10, 2012 at 7:39 AM

    I had to give you the "hat trick" of comments as this post is every bit COOL & INTERESTING as it is FUNNY!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BritneyNovember 10, 2012 at 7:40 AM

    I had to give you the "Hat Trick" of comments as this post is every bit of Cool & Interesting as it is Funny!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 13, 2012 at 1:07 PM

    What a treat to see our work in progress! I got chill bumps! / Elizabeth Harmon:Facebook

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 15, 2012 at 4:23 PM

    I am extremely impressed along with your writing abilities as neatly as with
    the layout for your weblog. Is that this a paid topic or did you customize it yourself?
    Either way keep up the nice high quality writing, it is uncommon to
    look a nice blog like this one these days..
    Also visit my site ... backup camera

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 16, 2012 at 1:53 PM

    My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different website
    and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so
    now i'm following you. Look forward to checking out your web page repeatedly.
    My blog post - fantasy scifi

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Encaustic Monoprint Technique

Today I visited a printmaking friend's studio. Amy is experimenting with encaustic monoprints. I have never heard of this before so I was excited to have a demo. Here is the basic process: 1. Heat up the homemade heat box. 2. Rub the beeswax pigment sticks on the metal surface of the heat plate to melt them. Create a design on the plate with one or more colors. Step 3. Lay a piece of rice or rag paper face down on the painted design and cover with newsprint. Burnish. Step 4. Carefully pull the paper away from the heat plate. Steps 5-6. Clean the heat plate with paper towels. Add more color to the heat plate and repeat the process to add patterns or more color to the print. The smell of the wax is yummy and the pigments are really thick and rich to work with. I had a little play to get a feel for what the print is like (image below). Now I want to build a heat box and play!!
5 comments
Read more

A Sort of Artist's Statement

This is a sort of artist's statement, but far more boring and long-winded. My current form of blogging is to limit the text to as little as possible. I am lazy when it comes to writing and the blog tends to trickle off when I feel the pressure of having to add words to the pictures. I hung my exhibition yesterday, so today I will ramble a little about the reasoning behind it (and to help me get over the guilt for hardly writing anything in the last couple of months). Please feel free to skip the words and look at the pictures!   For a long time after moving to America, I found it difficult to process who I had become and the new meaning of home. I was English, yet found the American "English" language a challenge. This culture that in many ways was similar to my own, is in other ways completely opposite and confusing. I still often experience a shock by a sudden feeling of otherness and a perhaps a reminiscence for the past, yet I relish the possibility of ne...
4 comments
Read more

Longest day

I spent the day at the studio sorting out some piles of mess and racing outside to see if the water to the pond was flowing. The sorting was hard to focus on and the water never arrived. The anticlimax was excruciating! Hopefully the water will arrive tomorrow! This is all that is left from last years fill, the fish and I are very miffed!
2 comments
Read more