Urge to say Hey

Hey,
How are you?

I just had the urge to pop in.  Something about the connection I guess.

Also I want to know if little stacks of various papers and stuff follow you around.  I don't know what it is but I seem to attract them.  I even have little flat trays to collect them in. You know what it is.  Mail, receipts, recipes, napkins, collage scraps, collage papers, photos, tags, pieces of lace, cards, and anything else that floats by.  I spent a lot of the weekend going through piece by piece and stack by stack and I can say in one room, my studio, I have cleared the stacks.  Feels good and for the most part it is something I can do while in the chair zone.

After that, I did another favorite "chair zone" thing.  I stitched a little progress on Tim's quilt.

Sketching to paint

Monday I took a sick day and yesterday a holiday and tomorrow a weekend.  What a crazy week.

But yesterday was great,  I started out with the sketch in my moleskin that I have never done anything in except try to cover up the white.  White stops me cold in journals.  Anyway, I did a practice sketch from the model that is blocked out right above the sketch.

 Then I sketched again on the canvas.  Some of you have asked about fixing the charcoal.  Well, the truth is I don't have any spray fixative on hand.  Years and years ago when I oil painted, I remember that sometimes we would fix our sketch with Aqua Net.  Our store didn't have Aqua Net so I got Suave and tried that on the charcoal sketch that I painted last weekend.  It was not totally successful but I managed.  I just wanted to sketch to hold long enough for me to lay in a wash of lights and darks. 

On the above sketch, I used a clear acrylic spray that I have and that was OK too but not really as good as a fixative would have been.  Fixative is on my shopping list because I am really enjoying charcoal sketching.  I do it in the chair zone.

 "Shadow Dancing"

8 x 24 canvas

I would like a holiday day off every week but y'all can have that sick day because that was a zinger!
Have a great weekend.
Sharon

Painting in progression

 My model

 My charcoal sketch

Finally a new painting.  It seems like quiet a while I guess because I have been painting in my journal.  This one is on canvas and I do plan to have some originals for sale in my Shop soon.  I will announce the sale as I am not quite ready.  Right now I have collage sheets for sale and I'm thrilled at their success.

*****************

I also wanted to share with you my friend Zorana has made several collage sheets that are fabulous.  And this weekend she has added this Digital Collage Kit for making ACEOs and ATC cards.

Check out her blog here and watch the video she made demonstrating the fun she had making ATCs.
I think this is the coolest idea.

Be back when I can,

Sharon

My Trees

I still have eight blank spreads in my Orvieto journal but I'm thinking I will save them for another trip.  Where to....I don't know.  Could be just a trip to the inside of me.  Where ever that is.

As you can see, this page is all about collage.  I might even say collage "Misty style".  It might surprise you that I never feel real comfortable with collage.  Oh, I do manage to please myself with it sometimes but there is just a feeling inside of me that I want to overcome. It is like a struggle that I can't really explain. I wish it were something that I started doing as a child because I really do love the look of collage and Misty does it with such ease.  She said she has been doing it since a child.  

So a commitment to play more with collage is another thing that I brought back with me from a wonderful workshop with Misty.  Thank you Misty.

♥ Sharon


PS  I named this page "My Trees" because....well they are my trees.

Orvieto journal

 While waiting for physical therapy on my foot last week, I browsed a W magazine and saw myself right then and there rip a page out.  Or maybe I didn't see myself but heard the rip. Nevertheless, the old me would not have even turned down the corner much less removed a page. And there I sat with it in my hand.  I looked around and no one was watching so I stuffed it in my big tote bag.  I won't even tell you all the things that went through my mind at that moment.  Well OK, just to mention a few; the issue was more than a year old; they shouldn't have kept me waiting so long; who is this person who subscribes to such an edgy magazine in this little rural town; have I become that person who rips recipes out of the doctor's office magazine; that was easy, maybe I could borrow a few more.

All of this while excitement was building with the bit of inspiration that I had just stolen and stuffed into my tote.  I wish I could show you that page but it's not with me here at the desk-in-town.   Anyway, it was a lineup of black headed young boys with bare chest and red socks all standing in profile.  I couldn't stand it! To me, they were a chorus lineup white hooded saints that I surely must have seen or dreamed of in Orvieto.

So that was my Saturday art in my Orvieto journal.

Show and share in Orvieto. 

Please tell me why do they sing

Another Orvieto Journal spread.



Inspiration at the convent

 One of the exercises that Misty sent us on was to go and find something that inspired us and sketch it.  I don't take time for serious sketching and so this was a new thing for me.  One of the reasons that I went on this adventure was to discover new ways to enjoy and be inspired to create my art. So, after a talk with myself, I found a place to sit in the rather dark ballroom where there were many beautiful paintings to be inspired by. 

I used my inspiration journal and a stick of willow charcoal and lost myself in the process.  But the one on the right above was not looking up and I realized the direction of gaze is something that I really liked about the original.

 So, I tried her a second time.  Next we had to return to the studio and sketch again into our journal and paint.  She became my journal cover.  And I vowed to bring home the "sketching" process and make it a habit in my future.

On the last evening, we showed and shared our journals.  I will share more another day.
♥ Sharon

Fresco restoration in progress

 We stayed at the San Lodovico convent B & B.

It was operated and managed by two nuns who only spoke Italian.

 This Fresco is located in a small room near the kitchen area.

We were privileged to witness the restoration that was in progress.

 I have no idea what had been done or what is going to be done;

however, the gray area to the right (above) and through the left panel (two photos down) was wet plaster that the artist had just applied.

I wish I could have stayed to watch; although, I overheard that getting the fresco to this stage had taken more than a year already.  

One of the interesting things that I note is the little white dots around the perimeter of the aureole of both figures remind me of the little white dots that we sometimes add to our paintings. Don't you find that interesting?

♥ Sharon

Cooking in Umbria

with Chef Lorenzo Polegri

you should have been there!

♥ Sharon

Sometimes it is the little things

 Like this tile back splash for the sink in the courtyard of the convent where we stayed.

I passed it many times.

I especially enjoyed the faces and this bird. 

and the colors.

♥