Rainy Day Forest

The Process: Day 5

Somewhere around the year 1995 I did an artist residency in Milledgeville Ga. This was where Flannery went after finding out she had Lupus, and lived on her mothers farm Andalusia. I lived and worked at the John C. Marlor Art Center. While I was there, a symposium of Flannery's works was held at Georgia College which drew people from all over the world. Milledgeville is also the site of the state asylum, so its fitting that Flannery would draw upon weird country people to play out her morality tales of redemption, salvation and grace. I do feel some degree of pressure to present this great author correctly and to have it be worthy of her. 

I thought I might start todays post with a shot of the studio. Its a wreck. Tomorrow I have to rearrange so that I can hang the painting on the wall. I need to look at it from a distance more now. I didn't get as much done today as I would have liked. Koby had a rough day. The dogs were restless so we played in the creek; I threw sticks for them and they chased each other until Koby ran through a yellow jacket nest. Im ashamed to say it was funny to see the moves she made; I slapped all the ones still stuck to her down. July and August are horrific here. It is buggy hot and humid.

First thing I did was dry brush the water and add the crutches. I paint them fully as if they are going to show and then as I worked on the water they became less clear. I am very happy with how they look now; not so clear but more of a suggestion.

I am not entirely happy with the water and will have to work on it yet again. Im almost embarrassed to say how much time I put into it and not be fully satisfied. Self doubt has started to creep in...typical in any piece that is a stretch. I couldve done one of my layered pieces that is bright and fun. This is a piece that is about something more than a decoration so it is harder.  But I do love being with Flannery every day!

Another awkward stage. I worked on the arms and will need to redo the peacock feather under the hands. Here you can see how the crutches look in the water. I am very happy with that. The photo doesnt show the water well - that worries me a little as I have to submit photos to get in the show. I will work on it some tomorrow. I also touched up Flannery's face a little tonight...just took down the shadow on her chin and I think it softened her face a bit.

Layered peacock feathers. I will tighten them up a bit later and make some of them bright areas of light for  contrast. I did a test near the bottom of the painting and it looks good.

This where I left it for the evening. Does it look like much happened? Not really!

Tomorrow: more water work, finish the peacock tail and wing, refine arms, and start the devils. I actually need to finish the devils. Sunday needs to be a day where I can just finesse a painting that is basically finished. Have a terrific weekend everyone. Thanks for tuning in.

building a shed

its taken the whole summer, but i have saved about half the money i will need to build a garden shed. I think i found the right fellow for the job, we looked at a book of sheds and started with what i liked and took things away as the reality of my budget was considered.

at first, i looked at those pre-fab things you see at home depot. but the materials are so cheap and the price is still high -and on top of that a tractor trailer is just going to drop it off and it still has to be constructed. my carpenter assures me i can have something better for the same money.

so next week i will look at materials. I have some ideas about what i want: id like to use as much salvage as i can. I have some old windows i hope to use for a mini greenhouse section, and an old enamel sink i want the carpenter to attach to the outside of the shed. I know i want a tin roof. i know i want a little deck off of it where i can put a few chairs and maybe a table. Id like to find a way to use unconventional materials or local materials too.


I want to put the chicken church out at the garden along with the shed and add a nice large dog pen that i will overlay with chicken wire for their run. that way, when i am out in the garden working, they can be out free ranging where i can supervise them. as it is now, i have to take them out to the garden and then take them back to their pen which is by the barn -far from the garden. The chicks will lay better with more light, and i will enjoy seeing them playing among the blooms scratching and searching for bugs. I built them a PVC and poultry net chicken tractor for their city home and it works great! its light, i can move it all around to fresh grassy areas. the neighbors really didnt appreciate my anti-hawk missile defense system (bottle rockets).

I was inspired by this New York Times story of a builder In Huntsville Texas who builds low income housing with recycled materials that are works of art. To see a slideshow of his work click here, you wont be sorry. I wouldnt mind having a tree house either. Does anybody have any great shed ideas? i am open to suggestions. Fishy? what do you think? im thinking of siting the shed at an angle with southern and western exposure.

I figure another 200 saturdays at the farmer's market ought to cover it. btw, it is STILL raining. the ground is saturated, the watermelons rotted and the creeks are swollen. and there is moss everywhere. have a great weekend everyone.