Update on Two Summer Contests

Good News! Bohemia Beer purchased this painting. It was a contest that Troll hooked me up with. Usually I avoid internet contests because they are won by popular vote; and well, I ain't that popular. But this one was juried by a panel of judges, so on the day of the deadline, I looked around, found a piece of plywood, stained it and painted this piece and got it uploaded to the contest with about 4 hours to spare.
I did not win, but after the contest I was contacted by Bohemia and was told that mine was among their favorites and would I sell it. Im glad they wrote when they did because I was on the verge of gessoing over the piece and painting something else. So a hearty thank you to my friend TROLL. I plan to reward you with art - Secretariat in bottle caps, perhaps? grrhahahahaha.

"The Baptism: Flannery O'Connor" was accepted into the SAAG National Show. I am very pleased because I was worried it wouldnt make it in. 143 pieces were selected out of 600 entries. If you followed the week of blogging called "The Process" you know that I hope to win a prize. We'll see. Now that it is in I can rework some areas I think are weak like her hands and the water. In general, just make what I already have be as good as I can get it before the judge sees it in person. That show opens in October.

To all my bloggy friends that read this page and leave comments: Your support is such a gift. You are wonderful creative people (or else, why blog?), all of you, the ones Ive met and call real life friends, and the ones I hope to meet someday. Thanks a million! xo, Chickory

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.

The Process: Day 3

A few set-backs today. I woke up with a "bad neck" and got started later than I wanted to. I had to medicate which fuzzed me up a bit and caused me to work slower. Then this afternoon I heard a weird sound coming from what I thought was the road. As I walked up my driveway I could tell the sound was coming from my well; it was the sound of forceful water hitting the top of the cover. I turned the pump off, returned to the well and  removed the soggy insulation that I had wrapped around the well head last winter. I discovered, by way of multiple stings, that there was a bee hive buried deep inside the insulation. A nice puffy hand will take your mind off a hurting neck every time  - and I think it may have even healed me because now that I am in for the night - I feel pretty good. Or was it the delightful bath I had buck nekkid in my cool creek that did the trick? Either way, Im ready to relax and review todays painting progress.

I mostly worked on the peacock. The painting is in a very awkward stage right now, and I have written about that before. It is in these times where doubt tends to creep in, but my minds eye has such a clear vision of how this should be that I didnt panic when I had to stop for the day with so many rough areas unresolved. The tail of the peacock is a labor intensive section. I started with black which makes it look too strong for the rest of the painting right now. I will shade that down a bit in some areas, but that background will be critical for the linear work that is the part of the feather thats airy. Somehow Ive got to figure out how I am going to morph the tail into the water...it won't be under the water like Flannery's legs, it will float on top.

Speaking of floating on top, I've decided to have the forearm crutches that Flannery used to do just that. I downloaded a good clean photo of that kind of crutch from a medical supply company for reference. I think it will be tricky to have them in the water and know what you are looking at -I mean, if a viewer is not familiar with Flannery, I still need them to know there are crutches in the water.

I use my computer all day looking up photos of things. You can see a reference image of a peacock on the screen as well as my layabout do nothing Trouter.

Here we have yet another shiftless creature. Both have been in trouble with me today for chasing away the doves from the feeder. You would not believe the grooves in my deck that are from the dogs charging off after doves and squirrels and falling leaves.

Working back to front on the tail, I will refine several times the edges of green and brown and black. The black and white striping of the peacock is a lot like my own hen Vera's feathers. I like the face but its not quite where I want it to be. The body of the peacock is mostly done, it will need finessing at the end but its about right. Once all the turquoise feather lines get painted in that tail and the water is deepened and tricked out the painting will be back in balance.

Here you can see the rough underpainting of Flannery's hands. This is very "illustratory" as human hands are about as big as the face they belong to. Go ahead, try it. Put your hand on your face with the heel on the chin and fingers extended to the hairline. Open your hand and you will see it mostly covers your face. Flannery's head is about 5 times too large for reality -but I like it that way because it emphasizes the container for her incredible brain, her thoughts and her literary gift. This is a device that you see in african art often. I am also reminded of the work of Romare Bearden who in his jazz portraits, emphasized hands because they were important, making the music.

Thinking about Flannery's writing today I arrived at what I am going to do with the background. In the areas outside of the cone of grace, there will be demons and devils. They will be barely perceptible in the end. That's one of the neat things about acrylic painting that could never have happened with gouache, which was the paint I used as an illustrator. I will be able to paint the devils - and paint them fully and well - and then add layers of QNAG (explained in the previous post) until they fade into a pattern only to be recognized upon closer examination. I love the idea of the painting having a life beyond the first look -where things materialize and the content becomes as rich and layered as the surface of the wood.

I remembered today a little room in Barcelona Spain, where the great architect Gaudi slept as he worked on his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, the great sand castle cathedral. The little room with a single cot was located in the basement of the cathedral. It got to the point where he didnt even bother to go home at night. The work was all that mattered to him. Sometimes when I am working on a project like this and I have time pressure I feel like I am living in an alternate universe and can identify with Gaudi being so single mindedly focused.

Even though I have the well problem to deal with tomorrow, I hope to have a very productive day and be able to show you some resolution in the tail and water tomorrow night.

Thanks for joining me!

Your Dad Called

He said he wants a Beer Bull for Father's Day.

Painted on 100% scavenged beach house.

Several colors; one bad attitude.

New for the 2011 Blue Ridge Farmer's Market

Haiku Monday / Cliche

China shops tremble

Grasp the horns, order now!

Bull Art. No B.S.

Visitation

Luke: Patron Saint of Painters. gouache illustration for Bas Bleu Bookseller

a winged ox 

from Ezekiel's mystic apocalypse

to sunlit studio

resplendent in wing and wisdom

centuries of time traversed

bringer of vision 

sure hands

show it if you tell it

eternal friend

you never fail

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

I painted Koby for V's anniversary present. (It turns out we have only been married 18 years.) I had a left over piece of 24 x 24 red oak from the table V made for the studio, and used it for the substrate. I used the photo I took of Koby on the last snow day as my guide and think it is pretty close. In a way, the painting is more Koby-like than the photo, possibly because I tried to compensate for the foreshortening that makes her nose disproportionately large

Originally I had a background with some surface decoration that I painted back over muting it down to some "noise". I had planned to do some kind of raindrop pattern but then I saw a woodpecker outside and decided to paint a ring of living things around her. It ended up being too bright and too much, so I decided to sand it down. That looked cool like she was painted on some old sign or something. But the sanding took off some of the background color, so when I patched it up, it didnt match because I had changed the character of the surface with the sanding.

Note the homage to Frida Kahlo with the dead bird necklace

On Friday I went back in and painted the ring of life again and changed some of the elements, making it a bit more symmetrical than what you see above. I will need to then add some deeper golden color behind it to give it dimension, and then sand it down again, but with a lighter hand. Then I might over paint the ring with the yellow background color in sheer washes to take it down further. If that doesnt work I will accept that this idea failed (or I failed the idea is a better way to say it) and start again - but the dog herself stays as is. I hope to finish tomorrow.

Creative Internet Toys

A mosaic of bird illustration and photography by Chickory

1. Vera and the Dread Beet, 2. chickadee, 3. Woman with a Red Hen, 4. silverwynadotte, 5. bird jungle, 6. Little Dovey, 7. Bluebird Block, 8. swan, 9. spring-sparrow, 10. wren-walkin, 11. crazy-mix-of-birds, 12. french-hen-plywood-painting, 13. Gull, 14. birds, 15. old-english-game-hen, 16. Flight, 17. 2-hounds-an-a-cardinal, 18. cardinal, 19. hamburg, 20. The Hunter, 21. Cranes in a Landscape, 22. mock and girl, 23. Ladybird of Sorrows, 24. anahinga, 25. blueshamo

Isn't this fun?

I've decided that one of my goals for 2011 is to become a lean mean art making and marketing machine. When my website comes up for renewal this March, I am not going to renew. Its too expensive and too hard to update it. My website is stale because it is a huge pain to work on it. There are so many free or inexpensive tools available now that it makes no sense to have an expensive professional site anymore.
I made this bird mosaic with Flickr. My first tasks for 2011 are getting my Flickr collections together, my Big Cartel shop designed and built and possibly redirecting my domain URL to a blogger page. Have you seen the new tabs widget for Blogger? It allows for clickable links to static pages across the top. In essence, the same as what a website has with the contact, news, client list, etc pages. Only its much easier to keep a blogger page current.

I've been trolling around looking for free creative tools and I am overwhelmed by all the cool toys there are out there.

Here's an Official Badge generator gizmo:

Then there was the free download for the shape collage maker. 

All these creative tools remind me of Januarys of long ago, when I was still enthralled by the newness of the delightful toys Santa brought. I also stumbled across another great toy last night -its not a creative tool, but an amazing site that takes the Apollo moon landing and brings it back to life with interactive flash animations and the real audio recordings from the launch.  It's called "We Choose the Moon". I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

Haiku Thursday: "Virgin"

Henri Rousseau "Virgin Forest"

fireball sets over
a primordial shelter
where the wild things are

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

Haiku Thursday is a weekly multi-participant game that anyone can play. Visit the Haiku Host to find the topic for the week, then post your haiku on your blog, and let the Haiku Host know that you are up. The Badge of Great Honor will be awarded and the winner may display that badge on his/her blog.

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

Have a great weekend everyone! I am leaving early tomorrow for the sunny state. (TSA protest shirt is posted in the dog pen.) I will be back Sunday and look forward to catching up on your blogs.

The CliffsNotes to the Last 14 days

Koby ate a chair. I had an art show in Atlanta at the downtown library with 3 other artists. Show looked good. I sold one of the flower scan paintings to a librarian who works there. I had thought nothing would sell as the show was in a non-commercial venue and was less likely to draw "people with expendable cash". But i was reminded that art sells when the work resonates with the viewer on a personal level -in this case the painting was like a portrait of the librarian's Atlanta garden.

I laid in the insulation on the studio. It was harder than i thought it would be. balancing on the very top of the ladder to do the ceiling was difficult since i had to hold on to 6 foot strips of pink panther C19 and the metal sticks that hold the insulation in, all while trying to avoid getting tiny shards of glass in my eyes. Goggles didnt work; they fogged up making the top of the ladder routine stupid and dangerous. Later, in the loft area, there was an epic battle for territory with black hornets who were happy with the studio as it was. When i started to sweat i became aware of the fiberglass embedded in my skin. i should have consulted Google first. I would have learned that to avoid getting itchy i should have covered myself in oil or baby powder first. When the first two showers didnt end the itching, i took yet another - this time i coated myself in bath oil and scraped the entire surface of my body with an american express card with pretty good success; fresh sheets followed and i finally was able to sleep.

I designed a poster for the farmer's market pro bono. The farmers market board was thrilled and they bestowed upon me a free slot at the market for life. If i live to be 76 then that will be the equivalent of 2500 dollars! ($5 per 20 saturdays for the next 25 years). grrrrrrrherhahaha. I was very happy to do this project and hope that they make good money with the sales of the poster.

My seeds from the packet called "grandmothers cutting garden" are coming up nicely. There are flowers i do not recognize emerging including an airy white flower that is very weed like but i love it. Also coming up: cosmos, zinnia, phlox, all kinds of coreopsis, dianthus, daisies, and a variety of spikey salvias.

I found a ring necked snake in the hay. I harvested the last of my lettuce and pulled up a carrot to see where they were only to find a tiny cone of veggie. The effusive foliage on top fooled me. My onions looked and tasted good as did the sugar snap peas. I had a giant FAIL with the cabbage. I did not treat them with chemicals before i left for a few days and when i returned they were completely destroyed and inedible as they had been attacked by cabbage moth worms.


Lettuce was harvested at about 4" and was tender and flavorful. Not a hint of bitter and oh so pretty.


the spring onions


The field was dotted with dandelions the day before the mowers arrived and trimmed it to an even green.


Koby does an impression of Coco; Koby the perfect angel; RAWR! I chew through sticks like a chain saw.


Since Koby ate Trout's chair, we made another bed for Trout, situated so that she can do her job which is to watch the street. Trout's eyes are flaring up again as they did last year. This time i know it isnt glaucoma and went straight to the prednisone drops. I still dont know what causes it. Koby is 80 pounds now at 8 months. These two clash like stallions all day, up on their hind legs, snarling and neck biting. Now they are an even match, we shall see if Trout can maintain ALPHA status. Koby ate another chair: this time the crappy one at the cabin.

Mmmmmmmmm! Who want's cole slaw? Isn't this photograph unreal? Looks like a horror movie poster but it happened in my garden.

SO much for insecticidal soap! I had to go to atlanta for a few days and tried to protect my cabbage without harming my ladybugs or bees -so i was reluctant to use chemicals. When i returned just 5 days later i found my cabbage covered in cabbage moth caterpillars who had made lace of the leaves and ruined the tightly formed heads i had waited for for months.

Garden insects inspired my latest round of Kokeshi which i made for the arts festival but didnt sell any of them. I made a ladybug, a honey bee, and a cabbage moth caterpillar. It was interesting to make a character based on an insect i had just cursed and cut up with scissors.




I made these poultry family portraits for the arts fest too. I sold "Dovey" but not "Ski" which was regretful. They were such a perfect couple. I need to find more of these old timey cameo style frames so i can make more.

The festival wasn't too bad. I had a good time merchandizing my booth but it was a ton of work. V sacrificed his holiday weekend doing all the hard parts like set up and take down -both in the rain. And we only went to DefCon 4 once! I made a little pocket change and rejoiced in the fact that i dont do this every weekend like some artists do. Now i am back on the studio -this time cleaning up after the sheet rocking (very very messy) and preparing to paint the walls. I should be ready to work in there by the end of June.

How i spent memorial day:










How is everyone? Ive missed you all and your blogs. I struggled to write this. Im just not feeling it. maybe i am all blogged out.
or maybe its just a bit of the blues.

Progress Report

Today is mild with a lovely breeze out of the northwest with fingers of clouds stretching into yesterdays solid blue. Im racing to get in 9 tomato plants and three peppers in time for the rain tomorrow. A woodpecker is working hard on the snag just beyond the tree line; the pecking a deep rhythm of hollow echo. Mourning doves, the waterfall, tenacious dry leaves rattling and holding fast to hardwoods and harley davidsons way off in the distance are the music for the day. The radishes (above) are up, firm and healthy and the carrots have wee little airy shoots just beginning.


Lettuce is in great shape. I took a few leaves for my salad last night and they tasted good. I have butter crunch, romaine, red sail and another red i forgot what.


I planted this mesclun mix called "valentine" a mixture of red and green lettuce. Since i am not a volume farmer, i have to be a boutique farmer. I want to have some unusual offerings for the farmers market this year. I was attracted to the spotted lettuce and can already tell which of the tiny seeds are the spotted, the solid reds and the green with red edges. I didnt get them placed well, there are clumps of leaves too tight together. Hopefully, in a week or two i can move them apart a bit. If not, i'll eat the sprouts while working.


Peggy Jean enjoys a romp in the field; every day a little greener.


The hens are out all day everyday getting spoiled. They will not tolerate confinement now, they complain bitterly and loudly when i am late to let them out. Im trying to keep them cooped until they lay; im short some eggs which means they are in the yard somewhere. I found a few in the big bag of mulch in the barn. A few years ago i thought Red had stopped laying. Then i found a clutch of over 20 eggs in the bottom of a hose caddy. But they need to be out eating greens and insects. Yesterday i turned over a rotting log to let them get at tiny termite nits.


The silver maples are just beginning to bud. From a distance, they still look bare but soon they will have that fresh spring green color to them. They call them silver maples because the underside of the mature leaves are a dusty silvery color. When the wind blows the silver shows and it is beautiful.

Trout contemplates todays mischief.


I am growing the chard mostly for my garden scans. I will be looking into ways to prepare and serve it - i dont think i want to do anything that makes it lose its spectacular color. Im a bit disappointed i dont have any of the ones with bright pink stems. But this red is pretty good.

The blueberries are waking up.

This was one of my garden scans from March....


And this is the painting i made from it.


I am working on three others for an upcoming show called "Weathervane: 4 Artists, 4 Directions" opening at the Atlanta Fulton Public Library May 6th; a part of the Downtown Atlanta Art Walk. (You're invited).
I decided to work from my garden scans because i have gotten in a rut as an artist; i work from my mind's eye too much. So in addition to painting these for the show, its like a disciplinary action i have taken. I need to train myself once again to really LOOK at things and try to record them as they are. This will be very helpful later when i return to my regular process. As you can see from this side by side comparison, i am in no danger of being literal or a realist.


The studio is finally in the dry! Next comes the wiring, the insulation, the sheet rock and the floor. And then i can at least move in it and use it. Hopefully, by May. Then i will get to the outside as soon as i can afford to.


From inside the studio i can see out every direction. In this corner, i have a great view of the deer path. I might hang my big moultrie game feeder out there and see what i get. I need a wildlife cam.

Speaking of wildlife cams...have you seen the Owl Box? Its a live streaming camera of a pair of barn owls raising their new fledglings. Yesterday i saw them bring a rat or squirrel in to feed the babies. its amazing. You can watch the owls HERE

This weekend i am looking forward to a visit from my sister, who is going to participate with me in the Plein Air Festival here in Blue Ridge! How it works is on saturday you arrive and the judges stamp your paper or canvas and you are given a map of pretty destinations around town. You have until 3 pm sunday to turn the work in for an exhibition and judging. They stamp your paper or canvas so you cant just show up and produce something you did in your studio. Im excited about it because i never paint on site. I either paint from my imagination or memory or photographs. I plan to take lots of photographs of the event and will report back here on sunday. Have a great weekend everyone.