Little Duck for Christmas

I realize that I haven't posted anything since the Shingles attacked me.  I hope you were not too worried from my silence.  I did indeed beat the Shingles into tiny useless fragments of what they once were.  I beat them so bad that if they ever dare show their face again all that I will have to do to banish them is whisper "scurry off you poxy pests!"  What I couldn't tell you then was that I was working on a secret project.  It was a project that was planned to be a Christmas gift, so you can understand why I couldn't reveal until after it had been gifted away.

The project was born into my mind during a visit to Altorf.  There was talk about the Summer trip to the U. P. of Michigan and the story of the Grand Island Chippewa.  It's a story and a place that inspired the last painting I did.  Of Little Duck's mother when she took her boat onto Lake Superior.
You can get it    *(HERE)* .  It's an awesome book about a unique group of people and what happened to them.  A situation was posed to me "it would be great to capture a moment when Little Duck was running."  It was something that Little Duck was famous for.  In that moment an image started to form.  I decided I was going to use the largest canvas I have ever attempted AND I was going to make it a portrait!  I was terrified.  I had only really painted on one stretched canvas before this project and I've never been good at drawing or painting people... and here I was going to paint a large portrait for a Christmas gift.  Not only was I terrified, but I was also tremendously excited.  I was thrilled at the idea that it could turn out beautiful.  I decided that I was going to try very very hard not to draw with my paint. I didn't want it to look like a colouring book picture that I had painted in.  I sketched out only the barest of detail where I wanted things to end up only as a guide.  I sketched in my portrait in vague detail so that I felt I had proportions right.
As I painted I started feeling really good.  I completed the sky, which I completely fell in love with, and got the background mostly completed as well.  I was on cloud nine and then I started in on the face.  Oh man!  I thought I was DOOMED!  I had plenty of trouble with shading things correctly.  Joel posed for some facial proportions, I took a picture of my ear, and in the end it took me holding my cell phone at arms length to take a picture of my own shoulder with the light behind me to understand why the shoulder I was having trouble with should be lighter than the rest of his skin.  Phew! Working on this portrait taught me so much about layering paint, blending acrylics, and light.  There were some dark moments.  At one particularly discouraging spot I call on my brother Eric.  I think I sent him this picture.

I told him how anxious I was feeling and how I was no nervous that I wasn't going to be able to rise to this challenge and give this as a present.  Eric was so awesome about it!  In a few short sentences he not only had me feeling calmed back down, but he left me feeling encouraged and able.  I set myself back to my task and from time to time Joel would check on me.  He suggested that the moon was not quite right, which was something that I had suspected as soon as I had placed those colours onto it.  It didn't really look like a moon in the present hues.  I think My favorite part to paint was the braided hair.  I was undecided for a while whether he would have double braids or a single large braid down his back.  I knew I didn't want to give him feathers because Little Duck is a very young man and might not have earned any yet.  As I painted on the scalp down to the nape I felt good about double braids.  I had the most fun layering in colours to look plaited.      
I finished the painting on December 23rd.  I had the whole week leading up to Christmas off and much of the painting had been done in that week.  I texted my brother in celebration and called Joel in to look at it .  I knew that it would make a good gift when Joel said he would miss it after it was gone.  I had wrestled with this painting, cursed it and finally I had fallen in love with it.  Little Duck looked calm, determined, a little sad.  That was just as I wanted him.  The sky was inspiring and the moon glowed.  The tree line led up to his heart like a machine readout of heartbeats and trailed behind him.  There is a lot of symbolism in the painting.  I wanted this painting to capture the moment Little Duck decides it the time to follow his father's order and run home to tell his tribe what has happened there.  I see it in the eyes... he's said his goodbye by whispering it to the wind to carry, and he is ready to run.

Christmas Eve arrived and I placed a bow around the painting and put it into my portfolio to transport it to Altorf.  I wanted to give this to my parents who have always been such a support to my art.  It was they who shared with me the story of the Grand Island Chippewa, and they who shared a beautiful vacation in the U.P. of Michigan.  I wanted them to have this special moment from the story as a thank you and because it was a moment that meant something to them.
So here he is:  Little Duck

This picture shows the painting in brighter light and a more straight on angle.    

This picture shows it at a slight angle but I like the colours better.

Poxed!!

So what I thought was just a knotted muscle in my shoulder turned into Shingles. The moment I heard that word I got a little sad. I knew I was in for some uncomfortable days. Even the idea that I was going to be off work a little while didn't dent the blue fog that settled over me. Today I remembered this link that I found through Facebook and seeing and entry of Anna's. Here is the awesome linkiedoodle
I thought maybe it would be therapudic for me to try something similar... so here is my story of...

WHEN SHINGLES ATTACK!

Disclaimer: Medical symptoms, diagnosis and general whining. Please send all sensitive parties out of the room.

I know that looks like small comet hit me in the back but in actuality last Friday a giant sized knot was twisting my muscles up like a wad of spaghetti on a fork big enough to choke a horse. (or any other greedy creature from popular sayings) I made Joel poke at it and tell me just how large the knot was and what it felt like. We promptly applied the appropriate amount of Icey Hot to the area, I took some Naprocen and a muscle relaxer to top it off. Ahhh..."Tomorrow all will be well!" I thought.

The next day my shoulder still hurt a lot and it was accompanied with a strange numbing sensation radiating outward from it. In my head I thought that this was probably normal, that the knot was pulling on nerves and as the knot left so would the pain and the new numbness. But this was not to be. Sunday came and the pain from the knot seemed to be lessening. It felt like more of a dull bruised ache in the area of my shoulder that it had lived in and Joel reported that the knot was greatly reduced. So why then was the numby feeling still there?!?

By Monday evening I had decided it was time to let the doctor in on my experience. I made the call Tuesday morning and spent over an hour letting the automated voice try to convince me that my call was indeed important to them. Eventually I got to someone, but my doctor wouldn't be available until Thursnday and I really didn't think I could wait that long. So I agreed to see the LPN ( or whatever the initials are for the nurse that can prescribe you the good stuff.) on Wednesday morning. The appointment went really oddly. I guess my doctor doesn't really put much info into their computer system so a lot of my past medical details weren't at the LPN's fingertips. So in a burst of good work ethic she decides to fill in the blanks. Inevitably we come to any surgeries... and I divulge my tonsil removal process and my laproscopy. The latter raises her eyebrows so I have to explain why this was done (and that leads her (facinated) into avenues of aquiring children.). This also confuses her... she cannot fathom how to enter this "condition" of mine into her tidy little boxes in her computer program. Finaly she comes to a solution she feels works well enough and I hear her say "Ovarian A Genisis". At first that sounded strange and then I kinda liked it. It sounds like my pet Owl gets realy great grades and is a genious! Now that this problem is out of the way we finaly get down to business and look at me from the outside. I show her the little bumps (that are now bigger, redder and have more friends) and explain the numby feeling that I am now completely annoyed at, and she tells me Shingles.
On the outside I handled it. I said "oh... well... I kinda worried it might be that. It looked like it might be that this morning..." but inside I felt like...

I mean come ON!! Really?? I really have to have shingles?? This is gunna SUCK!!! I called Joel as soon as I got back to the car. He was great. He soothed me with sympathy and sweet words and told me I was going to be O.K. I dragged myself to the pharmacy and waited my 15 minutes, then drove myself home. Called my parents and left a message that I hoped didn't sound like I was ready to cry. (I could hear myself though and I know I sounded just awful) I made up a joke about having shingles and told it to my Mom. It goes like this:
ME: "I should be on a roof; know why?" SOMEONE ELSE: "No... why?"  ME: " BECAUSE I'M A SHINGLE!"
hilarious huh?

So now I have shingles and I am really mad at them! Yesterday they gave me a fever and made me feel like the most I could do is lift my head off the arm of the couch to view sporadic moments of whichever program I had chosen. I didn't want to eat anything besides applesauce and babyfood. This morning I decided these Shingles weren't going to get me down so here I am sharing this adventure with you all. I've gotten such great words of sympathy and support! Thanks to you all! I hope this wasn't TMI ;)

OH! I almost forgot. I made a Public Safety Awarenes poster for Shingles... here it is!

It's not very informative... but what else do you need to know besides they hurt you and are demonic and red?

Another First







The first stretched canvas I've attempted...

Here is a sneek peek!



phase 1



Using Acrylics wet into wet I've smeared what turned out to be be a quite accurate interpretation of Painted Rocks. I decided not to use any of my metalic or pearlized paints on this one. I wanted to see if I could get a wet look without my usual crutch of light reflecting paints.



phase 2



I decided it needed more colour. I remembered falling in love with the copper painted areas of the Painted Rocks and so plunked it in. I used a small flat brush to create the swirled texture. At this juncture I started to wonder if I should go over all of my coloured areas with this technique. The more I looked at it the more I felt that while that might be really intense and fun... it wasn't for this project. I'll be letting you in on this painting as it progresses... I think I have some really cool ideas for it!!Check in on me from time to time and don't forget to let me know what you think!Thanks everyone!!



Daniel's Wolf

A few years ago my mother took me to the Art Institute of Chicago. It wasn't the first time I had gone, but It was the first time it changed me. My mother is not only a professor, but a lifetime learner of all things. She's always inspired me to know more and encouraged any hint of curiosity. During our trip she spoke to me quietly about each piece that we walked by. She guided me to see what I had dismissed through ignorance of technique and history. She kept telling me the entire trip how I was an artist, and how I could do these things these other artists had done. It made me blush. I couldn't be an artist... I didn't make anything as beautiful or as abstract or as mind blowing. I tried to make her stop saying it by changing the subject or looking away. She persisted. Eventually a tiny voice inside told me to be still and let the word roll around for a minute. I repeated the word inside my head. Artist. It felt so weird to put that name to myself, but I decided that it would never come true if I didn't start sometime. I painted this painting of a kind faced wolf shortly after that museum trip. I painted if for my friend Daniel. I've long described him as my artistic benefactor after all of the generosity that he has shown me over the years. He is always so quick to lend me positivity with my creativity. I wanted Dany's wolf to have kind eyes and be nearly smiling in a sleepy way.  Dany's wolf should look as if he could never be mean.

The First

Her Universe

The First time I went into an art store, with the absolute intention to try my hand at being an artist, I was with my Aunt Susan. She guided me through isles as my benefactor to an incredible world of self discovery and imagination. I still have the watercolour set that we picked out that day. A few of the colours still have a few crumbly pieces that I can use. I'd love to say that from an early age I loved to draw, and that I never put down my crayons and pencils. I'd love to say that people were amazed at what I could make. I drew as rudimentary as many children. I did love my crayons, but I coloured in lines of colouring books or doodled on edges of things. What I can say is that I imagined.

I hope to begin filling out this Blog with some of my new works. I absolutely encourage feedback. I am actually hoping to not only learn how to grow in my art, but to get a real feeling for any impact large or small it has with my viewer (you).
See ya soon!!
k i m