Life happened, you know? In the midst of navigating all that was thrown at me, I did do some art. I’ve been posting what I’ve done on my insta but haven’t updated here. Thought I’d share some of the bigger pieces. Even sold one of them! (To my friend…but hey, another friend also wanted it. I’m blessed that I have people who like my stuff and support me. That’s the artist win right there.)
OK! On the paintings… First up is a piece I did to hang above my sofa. I wanted to branch out to do something fun and colorful and tips its hat to my Covid Lockdown Hobby of trying to learn tarot. Side note: Can’t say I really know how to read tarot now. I know some card meanings really well and others I get mixed up. Like 5 of swords? 5 of wands? 7 of swords? 7 of wands? Get it together, you four. Anyway…behold “Temperance”!
I should have used a bigger canvas to hang over my sofa but that was what I had and I’m in a “use what you got” phase of life. I could spend $$$ on art supplies and I need to curb that. Just like I need to stop buying tarot decks thinking that will be the magical one that gets me to understand those aforementioned cards. (conflict? or is it defending? or stealing? or deception? or THEY ARE ALL SAME RIGHT??)
Anyway, Temperance hangs proudly on the wall aslant so it looks like the water is pouring into the mug. It also proudly prompts everyone to ask me if it is tilted on purpose. Yes. Yes, it is.
The second painting I completed in my online absence was done in another round of online acrylic painting classes with my teacher that I had at Barnsdall Park, Yaron Dotan. He was the one that I took the Portrait Painting class with and I really responded well to his instruction. Great guy, great teacher. Since I had done a few portraits with him, I wanted to try a landscape or something. (Side note about portraits and selling paintings: I totally sold the Carrie Fisher Flipping Off painting, too! To another friend…but he immediately saw it and said “how much?” Part Two of Mandy is a lucky gal to have the people in her life.) So I clipped out some pics of cool forests from National Geographic and behold “Moss & Mist”!
Yeah, super happy how this turned out. There are at least twenty versions of the background hidden beneath the final product. Yaron helped me to see how to create the depth of the forest. I was planning on hanging this up in my apartment but as I mentioned above, two friends wanted it. It is now in a home office outside Albany, New York. I may have to revisit cool forest pics as subjects again.
Finally, “Radiating Moon”. Yeah, I’m pretty terrible at naming paintings. Alas. Anyway, after I finished “Moss & Mist” I had one more online session of my class so I started a small painting of a room in Paris with an oval window and the Eiffel Tower in the background. I wanted to do something silly with it like have giant octopi climbing the tower or something like that. Instead, I painted over it and then created this:
I like to think that this moon was shining down on Paris Terrorized By Giant Mutant Octopi.
Hope you are all doing well. Keep moving forward and creating!
