Every Day In May - Six

Yes, I've skipped 5. Saturday was filled with lots of errands and random activities, including soccer and laundry.
By the time the evening came around, I tried making a quick drawing in my journal, but fell asleep while at it, so there's no day five.

Yesterday, after a long day at church, and having lunch with my Bible study group to celebrate the end of the book of Luke study we'd been doing, Fabio only had enough time to drop everyone off before leaving for his nighttime shift.

Since Phoenix had fallen asleep, I thought this a good opportunity to do a cool art project with Willik. We made a pop-up cad which we're sending to a friend, by following instructions from a book called "How To Make Super Pop-Ups" by Joan Irvine.
We borrowed this book from the library a couple weeks ago. It's a sequel t another book, which we haven't looked at yet. Mom and sone loved the book. It has great clear instructions and illustrations to show us what to expect. After we worked to build the card, Willik decorated and designed it his way. It was a fun creative thing to do, which I haven't done much of. Paper art is certainly one I need to discover more of!

Every Day In May - Four

Another image inspired by one of my photos from Indonesia, this was from a visit to a village which had been "rebuilt" after the tsunami, a little ways from the city of Aceh.
The people were pleasant and happy to talk to us.
The clothes hanging on a line were nice to see. Something you don't see very much of in New York City.

This was worked on and to be posted on Saturday, but I did not have access to my computer or scanner, so thus the late entry.

Done on a 4x6 watercolor pad, and a brush pen for emphasis.

Every Day In May - Three

In order to give myself and everyone else a break, I did a mini watercolor painting tonight.
It was inspired and derived mainly from a photo I took of a young woman carrying this baby, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
She did not notice me, and that makes the whole thing so much more authentic.
Having carried babies in those Baby Bjorn carriers, I can tell you that once they got close to 20lbs. in weight, I was ready to give those up, and quick. She, on the other hand, seems perfectly confortable.


Watercolor done on 140lbs. paper

Every Day In May - Two

Just a continuation from yesterday, a bit more paint has gone in. Not as much time to paint today, so all of what was done, was done tonight.
I do have to make a trip to the supermarket sometime, since Fresh Direct will not deliver to my house. Thanks for that reminder today, Susan!!
Anyway, here's the second installment of the same painting.
Can you tell what I worked on?

Every Day In May - One

A work in progress, this was a painting I started working on about 2 weeks ago. But with the kids being sick, and getting ready for the painting I did at church, as well as working to get the church's website finished up, I just hadn't done anything but got it ready.
Today, paint finally made it's way onto it.
It's experimental, joining collage and acrylics. I'm excited to see how it will turn out.
If you find it hard to see, that is because this is sorta at the underpainting stage.
It will be nice to see the work develop the next couple days.
Stay tuned, and let me know your thoughts...

i painted in church

Today was the 3rd sunday where the focus has been on artists, in a series called "Imagine: Christians and the Arts" at Graffiti.
Every sunday, Taylor has spoken on a different topic, and a musician, dancer, or actors have given a performance which is connected to the sermon, because artists have a way of helping us to understand life, and life's hardships better.
So today was my turn, to help interpret the topic of "Dignity". [I'll put a link to the sermon once we have one.]
The specifics were about how God giives us a face, and we are created in his image.
I started painting right before the service began. This was my second attempt at this. On a canvas larger than I'd ever worked on. On stage, and I was to paint a portrait in about 45 -50 minutes.
I did all my prep work this week. I'd bought the canvas and had a wash on it. I had made a small version of it in colored pencils to help me work out the colors since the orginal picture was in black and white. I'd pre-mixed some colors. And I'd prayed a lot. But I was still a little nervous.
This painting was 3 feet x 3 feet. My last painting at church, off stage, with no special lighting on me was 18" x22". The biggest work I would usually do back in art school was 16"x20", and that would be over a couple weeks of working on it. This was done in acrylics. I used to paint mostly in watercolors and oils.
One friend said I was very brave. I said maybe a little brave with a large dose of insanity.
The neat thing was once I was painting, the nerves were gone, and I was super enjoying it. I was still aware of the time, and I did sing along with the congregation. but I was very happy. The biggest thing was that I had to listen for Taylor's ending point so as to be able to finish at the same time as him. I did.
People liked it, and were impressed. I pray that it spoke to people in a deeper way about his love, and that God was honored with my worship and service.
Of course, had this been a longer painting time, I would have added more to it, but once I stepped away from it, I liked it, even though I could see faults with it.

Every Day In May

I just found and committed to my next project.
It will only serve to enhance and stick to my already laid out plans for my art.
The project is called "Every Day In May" and was started by a fellow artist and blogger, french toast girl, whose work I love.
She started this last year, in May, and she decided to do it again. The intent is to do something creative every day in May. I wil be painting/drawing every day. Mostly I hope to work on and finish a project I've already begun, and complete at least one more painting. I will post my progress, and other everyday drawings. As she put it, some of the paintings/drawings may not be great, and some may be amazing. It's more of an exercise to keep on plugging on. I will post my work here, as well as in the "Every Day in May" flickr group.
Would you like to join me? If so, let me know. We can then make sure we're encouraging each other.
A couple months ago, I did a project called "30 faces" in which I drew/painted a face (almost) every day of the month. It was a great discipline, and it kept me on target with my art, gave me some nice work at the end of it, and it had people visiting my blog with more frequency. Hopefully this project will do the same, and I will get your visits and comments, and I will continue to grow and expand as an artist.