My Musings//////////////////////

Another painting in the Ruth Gaynor series by my late grandmother. I am naming this painting “Mountain View” however I wish I knew what she would have called each of these paintings. Why is it that looking back on your time with someone, that all these questions about them and what they did spring up?

The names of my paintings are in my mind just as important as the painting itself, I am working on a way to brand the name of the painting into the back of each one. I always want people to know the name and where the painting originated from.

Artist in the past have all seemed to just paint and let history fall where it may and never seemed to concern themselves with their works legacy. I think more artist in our decade understand the importance of keeping good records about each of their paintings.

I know where every painting that I have ever sold currently is, and who owns it. If your not keeping these records, then you are doing your legacy a dis-service.

So you know that I’ve got a 63′ Chevy Nova, and I love it but it has its moments. You have to be willing to spend money on it when it needs it and it looks like I’ll be doing that this week. In fact I received a beautiful gift of a late afternoon walk back to the house due to my Nova.

It sputtered out on me about two miles from the house. I’m thinking did I just run out of gas again? But I had just filled it up…So I think I have a fuel line issue somewhere. Anyway I decided to just walk back since I was really close to the Swamp Rabbit trail which runs right by our house. On the way back I saw this great picture of a gazillion vines crawling up the side of this tree. I never would have seen this had I been on a bike. It just makes me realize that even when life hands you lemons you can still make lemonade which sounds really good about now after that long walk home.

My grandmother was my inspiration as a child. I will be posting a series of paintings by her as I locate them. This one was an oil on canvas she completed in 1982. I am calling it Mallards Flying over the Swamp.

I would have been around eight years old when she painted this and probably would have seen it in her studio. I am sure that she painted this from a couple of photographs that she may have taken of the swamps in Louisiana. Usually she would not have seen the Mallards but rather painted the mallards into a photo of the swamp that she may have taken.

I seem to recall numerous paintings that involved “Mallards”. I don’t specifically recall her saying that she loved these little creatures but she sure had them in a majority of her paintings during this period

I was needing to blow off some steam tonight, so I jumped into painting on some bristol since I did not have a board readily available. I have been trying to figure out different techniques I can use when working with my lines and bringing in color and working with paint, etc. I actually really like where this one is going. I started off with just a layer of different color really thin, then laid down a bunch of ink lines, then piled some really thick layers of paint on top of that. Then quickly using the back of my pen I drew in lines as I normally do but had to work really fast before everything dried. What was interesting is the lines revealed the layers of paint underneath them creating a really neat affect when studied closely.

Over the last couple of months I have been needing more work surface area in my studio. I however don’t want to spend a lot of money on this but I want it to look good so I decided to see what I could build in Google Sketchup that would be cost effective yet provide the maximum surface area. I will list the materials below and shoot some photos as I build it and post them when I complete this project in the next couple of weeks. I feel like this look will provide me plenty of underneath storage but also gives it a little 60′s post modern look (remember the wood slats in your grandma’s house). The idea is really simple, I will be using 2 hollow interior doors that are 30″ wide by 80″ tall and placing them side by side and bolting them down to a sheet of plywood cut 24″ x 42″. Then add two more shelves the same size and surround the shelves using 2×4′s cut vertically to provide added stability.

2 Hollow Interior doors 30″ x 80″ wide: 2 @$22.00 each
1 Sheet of 3/4″ Plywood cut into three shelves: 24″ wide by 42″ long: 1 @19.00
Approx. 9 – 8′ 2″x4″‘s  cut into 2′ lengths: 9 @ $3.00 each
Cost Total: @$90
So for a 5 foot wide by 6.5 feet long table that will double as an extra table for approx. 10 guests for under a $100, I think this will work just fine. I’ll keep you posted as I get nearer to completion.

Don’t expect me to be doing these everyday. They take around 4-7 hours each, but I did two in a row because I am really enjoying this new technique using a traditional inkwell pen on bristol. I did mess this one up because I had an ink spill accidentally but I think it might add a little character so if you see more ink spills then just take it as being part of the process of doing these that it sometimes happens. Hope you enjoy.