08.02.10

Purple Heart. 8"x8". Watercolor.

Finally got the correct dimensions and kept it simple this time. It is just the purple heart with her name in the background and some of the same words as the last piece. I am happy with the way it turned out. I had grand ideas of using a linoleum cut block to press a buddha image over this, and layer some colors, but in the end, I just kept it simple. I also was a dumb ass yesterday and published my everyday post at 365. Ugh. I hate when I do that. If all my blogs didn't have the same name, that might help. Maybe they should be still life. stiller life, and stillest life.

I hear my husband blaring Sweet Home Alabama in his workshop, so I suppose that means he is no longer watching the children. Lynyrd Skynyrd is sign that Mama's work is never done. I feel creative today, so this might not be the last you hear from me.

08.01.10

Little Bea. 2.5"x3.5". Watercolor.

A wee artist trading card for my beekeeping friend who I love. Just wanted her to have a little something in the middle of the summer.

Meditating Banshee. 9"x12". Watercolor and ink.

I began this piece as a traveling journal sketch, playing with perspective and flow. I didn't like the movement of the figure eight, but I love the prayers and poem flowing around her. And the names of all my children which comes from her. One of the poems reads, "I prayed for each of you like whispers on the wind."

Travel Journal II. 8"x 9.5". Mixed Media.

I actually began this piece thinking it would not be mixed media at all, but as I began layering colors. i thought to layer images that were important in my grief journey--calaveras, myself painted as a calavera, jizos, ladybugs, moons and solstice images, mexican lottery cards, then bits of paper, silver paint. I also didn't intend for the flowing of energy from the arms to be an upside down heart, but when it began revealing its shape, I went with it. The writing around the edge reads, "This may not always look like love from the outside, but turn my days upside down and it is always a heart with all of you right in the center. Even when I have no intention of talking about you, my words tied together, turn upside down and become a huge love knot to you and your sister and brother. always there is love."
Of course, I drew the page limits for the travel journal, and began painting, and it is too big, so I have to do another paintings for the journal. Phooey.

Travel Journal Sketch. 8.5"x 11". Ink.

This was the original sketch.

You are my Sunshine. 24"x48". Acrylic and Mixed Media.

I bought this two foot by four foot canvas at the craft store for my huge dining room wall. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I wanted it to be bright and bold and not much else. I was going to work on something with Beezus, but ended up just taking the brush and rollers and some gold paint and going to town. The top right corner says, "You are my sunshine." It is a song we sing to each other often in our house. Here is the painting in context of our larger kitchen/dining room experience. We knocked down the wall and redid our entire kitchen a few years ago. Actually, we started the renovation the weekend after I found out I was pregnant with Lucia. I remember being afraid of the dust. We just wanted it done for her. That was 2008, I suppose. I am not sure why I am telling that story just that the art was the last thing we thought about and now it is hung.