Where's Ina?

I haven't figured out how to upload (download?) pictures onto the new computer yet, and this is making it tough for me to blog. The girls and I are having fun with the built in camera, though.






Peace.

The Art of Clutter

My alma mater used to have an annual book show, inviting students and alumni to contribute. Though there were books by Martha Stewart and Erica Jong on display, for the most part it was visual artists who contributed, so what was considered a book was loosely defined. I think this wooden box book was my best work for the series.

[Full disclosure: they may still have an annual book show, but I have not been invited. If I've been excluded, I blame the below self portrait that I sent as my contribution to a non-book gallery show in honor of the then new college president. It turns out they didn't hang the drawing because they thought it was too scary. It seems pretty unprofessional to me that they didn't let me know when they received the drawing that they didn't want to include it. It turns out they didn't anticipate my showing up for the opening. Oops. Well, we got it up in the show. At least for the few hours I was there!]

Anyway, back to the book.

I designed the box and a friend generously made it for me. For the pages, I made five. Each page represents a member of my family. I used objects collected from nature as well as treasures from my supply of clutter. I hadn't made anything like this before, and I haven't really since. I love it, though, and would like to try something like this again. So that's my excuse for keeping all various sorts of rusty things and ribbon around.

page 1

page 1, close up

page 2

page 2, close up

page 3

page 3, close up

page 4

page 4, close up

page 5

page 5, close up

Peace.

Another in a Series of Self Portraits with Produce

Time Flies Like An Arrow, Fruit Flies Like A Banana

Me, as a tipsy hot babe
(taken 20+ years ago)

Another in a Series of Self Portraits with Produce

self portrait with watermelon

There were four this year in the garden. This is the second we've harvested so far. The bad news: the girls, having been raised on seedless watermelon, found the seeds not joyful for spitting but extremely bothersome, to the point of despising this poor defenseless fruit.

100 in 100, Day 100

(96)
self portrait, dirty brush wash
painted with left hand
oil on paper, 12x9 inches

(97)
self portrait with head scarf
painted with left hand
oil on paper, 12x9 inches

(98)
self portrait, a smaller cucumber
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

(99)
self portrait, brush cleaner for #98
oil on paper, 12x9 inches

(100)
self portrait with sun hat
oil on paper, 12x9 inches

Whoohoo! I did it! If you'd like to see them all as a gallery, here's my facebook album. Yes, there are really one hundred! I have enjoyed this project. Thank you again to Rowena for being the ringleader. It has been a long time since I've made art a daily practice. It feels good to have my artist self reawaken.

Over the course of these one hundred works, it was much easier for me to create a finished piece using pastels. Painting, especially a painting in a day, or an hour, was tough for me. My brush handling skills are rusty, so things sometimes turned to mud. There have been some drawing and painting disasters here, along with some good works. It was liberating to have committed to the challenge, and just keep moving forward. I learned a lot and had fun.

What's next?

100 in 100, Day 96?

self portrait with cucumber

Yes, I think this is Day 96. I have all kinds of excuses why there was a gap here, near the finish line. The garden harvest is demanding my attention. The girls needed to get ready to go back to school. I'm lazy.

The real reasons are more likely that switching to painting was much harder for me than drawing with pastel, and also that nearing 100 forces me to think about what the heck I'm doing and where I want to go next. So. Of course, I ran away ran away ran away! But I came back! And though I value creating everyday, my realistic goal for this project was to complete 100 works of art in 100 days.

I did number 84 on Tuesday night, and it turned out pretty clunky, so I was discouraged. So I skipped a day, and then, on Thursday, I did numbers 85 through 90. Then today, I did 91 through 95.

4 days left to complete 5 more works to make it to 100 in 100.

(84)
self portrait with clouds
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

(85)
self portrait, red tube
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

(86)
self portrait, nude in the studio
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

(87)
self portrait with pepper and paintbrush
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

(88)
self portrait, modest
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

(89)
self portrait, ultramarine
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

(90)
self portrait, goddess
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

(91)
self portrait in the studio
pastel, 17x14 inches

(92)
self portrait, blue rectangle
pastel, 17x14 inches

(93)
self portrait, standing
pastel, 17x14 inches

(94)
self portrait, holding shoulder
pastel, 17x14 inches

(95)
self portrait with scarf
pastel, 17x14 inches

100 in 100, Day 83

self portrait, pretty in pink
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

100 in 100, Day 82

self portrait as the rain started
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

100 in 100, Day 81

self portrait, humid
oil on paper, 17x14 inches

100 in 100, Days 77 through 80

Day 77

self portrait with shades drawn against the heat
pastel, 12x9 inches

Day 78

self portrait with shades drawn against the heat
pastel, 12x9 inches

Day 79

self portrait with shades drawn against the heat
pastel, 12x9 inches

Day 80

self portrait with shades drawn against the heat
pastel, 12x9 inches

Yeah, it's shockingly hot here after the cool southern California breezes of our vacation. Combine that sweaty lethargy with the travel days and it was easy to fall behind on the count. I did these four drawings today so that I'm all caught up.

Tomorrow I will return to oil pastels and the larger format I had started before vacation.

100 in 100, Days 66 through 76

Day 66


Day 67

Day 68

Day 69

Day 70

Day 71

Day 72

Day 73

Day 74

Day 75

Day 76

I just got back from California, after ten days with family and without computer. I wanted to get these posted and I'll add text after I decompress!