Why do they sing

I may be about to go quiet here. 

The Grid Installation begins

At last! I have started!

Yesterday, I took a stack of painted cardboard and started the installation of The Grid.

There is not much to say about it. As it turns out, this is the easiest part of the process. 

In all, I installed 14 of 199 cells. I have 5 more that are ready to install. That means I have 180 more cells to cut, paint and install.

I found this installation stage to be very exciting. For one thing, my application method worked and was fairly simple. But the best part was seeing my vision come to life. The second best thing is the way seeing this in place is so inspiring. I'm really excited to get started painting more. 

Changeableness

CHANGEABLENESS: Just found that word in my Thesaurus.  Here are some of the related words.  alterability, mutability, inconstancy, fickleness, inconsistency, versatility, vacillation, irresolution, fluctuation, fluidity, alternation, restlessness, unrest, etc etc.

Yes, I'm all that. And here is how I do it. Very simple. I just give myself permission to be and to do.

Earlier during this year I knew or rather planned to be painting the attic grid during the fall and winter months. At first, I thought I would try my dead level best to finish this project by early spring. 

Changeableness set in when I actually got started, a month later than planned. Then, one day while enjoying all the painting, running with the inspiration and enjoying the whole process, I realized there was no hurry. I was in charge. I'm the boss of me. I can change my own goals and rules. So, I just gave myself permission to take breaks from The Attic Grid. I had to because when I was not working on the grid, I would feel the nagging pull. 

"Get thee off my shoulder, you little nagger you!".  That's how the five singers came to be. I took a break from the attic grid. 

I seldom sketch in this much detail but the truth is I was taking a chair zone break and stretched out my time there with detail sketching.

 The first two are signed and finished. One will probably be my Christmas card which by the way, just in case you need a reminder, is at the two week away mark. 

Then, right in the middle of Singer number 3, changeableness set in again. Permission granted to take advantage of several days of unseasonably warm pleasant weather. I dropped all my brushes, went outside, jumped on my think tank and went around and around for three hours. I really needed a good think session and the reward is a nice mowed yard and leaves mulched.  The next day, I grabbed matches and burned many of the fallen branches from the wind storms. While my little fire was going, I managed to pick up a lot of the shreadded leaves.

Unfortunately, today I'm feeling like some little creepy devil is slithering its way down my throat to rest a while in my chest. Hopefully, I have put a stop to it. "Get thee out of my chest, you creepy little devil." 

In my opinion, having the changeableness trait is necessary to being able to keep all the balls in the air. Now, instead of going back out to the gardens, I'm going to change from this chair to the chair zone chair and battle that slithering devil. 

Acapella Solo in the attic

I sat without a brush in my hand many rainy days just waiting for something.

Then one day when the rain stopped, I put on my rain boots and walked the long way around the tank dam to The Garden Palace. I needed to go and sit in the attic studio. And I needed to cut more cardboard cells for the grid. 

I was excited about a bit of inspiration that floated by while looking at Alissa's painting. It was the windows. When I saw them I knew immediately windows would be a perfect addition to the choirs in The Grid. 

Each cardboard cell has to be measured and cut for a specific spot. So, I decided where I would paint the first window. Being there made the window vision so much clearer. I measured and cut these three cells and returned to the studio in the big house.

I don't know what happened but I didn't even argue with her. I haven't mentioned her in a long time and every since this argument, I mostly just listen and paint.

Well actually, I do know what happened. I discovered two new artist of the Art Nouveau period. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. 

Painting "flat" without depth doesn't satisfy me so much. But once I got my brave girl attitude together and picked up my Chinese calligraphy brush, I started adding the black layer of lines. What fun that was once I got the hang of it. I think this soloist waiting for her acapella moment in the attic grid is a great addition to the choirs up there.

I'm still excited about the windows in the attic grid and you know what? There are many more perfect places for windows.

Another Choir

 Oh dear! There is always one unhappy singer. She, the unhappy one, is a good example for not painting figures straight forward. Face, eyes, shoulders straight on is so confrontational. And she is. But I left her there because she is a critical part of this choir. 

I'm guessing she sings with the lowest vocal range. Can you guess which one sings soprano?

ATTENTION PLEASE!!!!!

I need your "Reactions".  

Look in the gray bar below each post just like the one here.

Please record your "reactions" by checking one or more block.

"Reactions" are totally anonymous. And there are no stats reported. It is just for fun. 

The thing is, I can edit the "reactions" to suit me. Which is what I did.

If you would like to see a different "reaction" block to check, just leave me a comment.

I call her Day Dreamer

This is about this little Sculpey doll, Day Dreamer

First, Jenny and I painted funky faces on a little wood panel.

We had intentions from the beginning to paint a face and then use Sculpey to form her likeness. 

Jenny brought the Sculpey with her for us to play with because I didn't have any and haven't played with Sculpey in so many years. So many years that I forgot the one thing I did not like about Sculpey.

First, I guess you need to know that I have a compulsive need to put a final finish on any and all of my art. And that is where Sculpey and I do not get along.

The problem is it gets sticky and I don't remember ever getting past that and so I stopped playing with it years ago.

I painted the face while Jenny was here and when I realized it was STICKY, I put it down.

After Jenny was gone for a week, I decided that I had to finish her and conquer this STICKY situation. 

So, I gessoed the unpainted body and then painted it with my Golden acrylics. 

I started experimenting.

Gesso = not sticky

Golden matte medium = not sticky

Other Golden mediums = sticky

Lascaux acrylic Fixative = sticky

Finally, I thought to try Golden Polymer Varnish (gloss) = NOT STICKY!

I gessoed over the face that I already painted for a second time while Jenny was here and repainted it. Then I used the Golden Varnish and it is amazing how lovely she feels. 

One other thing that I remember, I love Sculpey or any kind of clay.  I get totally lost and in the zone with the soft malleable earthy stuff in my hands.

Thank you Jenny for coming and bringing your Sculpey and convincing the security guy at the airport that it was harmless!

♥

Who are These People

These People on cardboard by Sharon Tomlinson

Who are these people?

That Sunday back in October when I initiated the Attic Studio and documented the event on Instagram with the above photo was a beginning.

It was a beginning of a huge attic studio project; the details of which I will save for another post.

Not until I posted it on Instagram did I see the haunting white face right there near the middle.

Do you see him? 

I got pretty excited but this is when we were having big rain and wind storms and I didn't go back over for a few days. 

All the time, I would pull up the photo and wonder about who he was and how I would paint him.

I really did get myself worked up about the process.

At last we had a clear day and I rushed over to look at the face in-real-life to see how in the world I had overlooked him.

At first glance, Oh No!

He's gone!

In shock, I remembered the quick documentary photo shot was just a moment in time. 

I had totally forgotten that in the zone and flow of the day in the attic studio, I kept pushing cheap pastel craft paint around with a cheap foam brush on this big piece of cardboard.

And he was gone!  

I was back to no inspiration with this piece which was my starting place when I first sat down at the easel in the attic back in October. 

I left it be.

As stupid as it sounds, I grieved about the loss of this phantom (a physical manifestation of the soul or spirit of a deceased person) face.

Time passed and I finally was ready to face the project again. 

Due to the cold, I decided to fetch the cardboard and paint here in my warm home studio. 

 I propped it up in front of me while in the cozy chair zone just thinking about what I would do next. 

He was sure enough gone. 

So I flipped it over with the up side down

and

lo and behold!

There are people on it!

I would probably never have looked for them were it not for him. 

 Here they are after I lightly penciled around the shapes that clearly were people. 

 Sometimes it's not about pretty faces. 

My technique is to capture what I see with minimum paint.

 This is not the first time A Group Of Strangers has shown up while I'm painting. 

I don't know who These People are but I'm pretty sure these people know my people.

I'm also pretty sure they have lots of stories to tell.

On that Sunday back in October when I started this project, I prepped and pushed paint around on several more cardboards. 

Yep, more people.

♥

Sing Like Yourself

Sing Like Yourself

One Hundred Faces by Sharon Tomlinson
36" x 12" on wood

 It was very hard to photograph the whole piece.

To get all 100 in one photo (above), I spliced together sections (below).

Don't look too close, the splicing is not so perfect. 

found poem "100"  by Sharon Tomlinson

 100

For a moment she wondered about something to entertain

before blinking she picked faces.

She picked

beautiful dreamy eyes

spicy lips

unruly hair

sweet cheeks

teeth

a

shy and inquiring

smile

and

a hand

The

moment

was

to see

her

voice

echoed

forward

saying

"sing like yourself"

♥

ps: I still have more to say about One Hundred Faces but will leave that for another post. 

Dont' forget, sing like yourself!