Resurrecting Mrs. Swift

   Every year, there is a show in Chicago about motherhood that I'd like to enter, but some of the pieces I have with that theme aren't in a presentable shape, or I don't have possession of them. The Scaffold painting I've been working on is one of them, and this is another. I just ordered a big mat board from Dick Blick, so that I can adhere these small panels onto a larger substrate. Then, my plan is to adjust the values so that it has higher contrast. The two panels that are missing have an error in size (I could explain why, but chalk it up to grad school and having to make-do on a schedule) and have to be re-drawn. Part of today's work involved cutting the new paper for those drawings. 

    This image started out as a very small drawing and then bloomed into an image for one of the paper quilts I made for my thesis show, titled, Mrs. Swift Learns to Speak Boy. The problem with the quilt and it's sister, Dreamer in Training, is that they are too fragile to enter in any competition where they would have to endure any amount of handling. I recently found the drawings that I used to make the prints for the quilts, and thought I should try to get them into a more presentable form. I hope I can do it.

Overture

   I never thought I'd write these words, but lately, I've been reading Proust for fun. I've known about the petit madeleines scene for a while, but when I read it this time, I was struck by how excited the narrator was about everything that had sprung from his teacup. I made this little sketch, just to remind myself of the impression the passage made on my eyes.

 

Checkpoint

One of the things I do to check my form and composition is to view the piece upside down. Mistakes seem to jump out that way. As far as I can tell, so far so good on this one.

 

New Look

 Well, I took the plunge and adopted a new template. The only thing I don't like is the position of the blog title over the background image. I haven't been able to figure that out just yet. But mostly, I think it looks okay.

A long time to get there

  When my son was little, the days were long and nighttime was a challenge. When everything was done and we were finally snuggled in our rocking chair, we would say, "Phew! It took a long time to get here!". I miss those days.

    That's the way painting goes for me, too. A professor once told me that my work looked terrible, until it didn't, all of a sudden. I suppose she would say that about this one.  It'll get there, though. One stroke leads to the next. I don't know any other way to do it.

   Just like putting a baby to bed, this kind of painting takes time, if you do it right. 
 

Can you tell which ones I like the best?

 

Baby steps

   I got started on the baby today and changed the direction of the mom's thumb. I was laughing at myself, because one of my favorite things to do is to adjust form with line, working with positive and negative space. I teach my students that concept, but after they get it, I try to steer them away from being too dependent on line and use value to define forms instead. That goes right out the window where my own work is concerned.

    I still haven't solved my background color issue. I think Blogger would really like it if I abandoned this old design and adopt one of their templates. I'll probably wind up doing that, but I have a feeling some things won't be easy to customize. 

A Bit of a Struggle

 Well, instead of sticking with a good book tonight, I tweaked my blog design, and darn if I didn't mess it up. I seem to be stuck with a white background. I don't like how it looks, but I can't figure out how to change it back. 😝

So many hands

 

Close-up

I started out the day telling myself to stay away from her face, because she was already quickening, and I don't like one part to get too far ahead of another. Did I listen? No! 

   The thing I didn't like about the original version of this painting was the mother's face. I'm aiming for a Garth Williams feel. Today, I got a little closer, but I'm not there, yet. Still, the joy is in the journey, and it is good to be painting again.

  

 

Late Session

I need to work on her gaze.
 

Carried away

I probably went a little too far, too soon on this face today, but it is close to what I'm looking for. I think. Her hair is a little big, though.

 

3D Progress

  This amazing printer, the FlashForge Creator Max 2, comes with a flexible build plate that is awesome because then, after printing, you can just remove the magnetic plate, bend it, and the newly printed part pops off. Without it, you have to use a paint scraper to get the part off the printing bed, which sounds easier than it is. But, to make the flexible plate work, you have to print a spacer and place it inside the printer. The white part you see in the top picture is that part. I'll confess that I'm not exactly sure why this helps, because during printing today, I never saw that part get anywhere close to the extruders or the print bed. But, I think it is so the extruders are the proper distance from the bed. If I can be more clear about it in the future, I'll let you know.

    The bottom picture is of today's test print, which is also the final test. It's a nice, solid print. It has a couple of irregularities, and I will try to solve them the old fashioned way (filing), but this is a huge improvement over my first try for this part. The funky thing on the left is a shell that is printed around the real part. I think its purpose is to make sure that the stream of plastic coming from the extruder has a clean start. The shell (I think) is  a wiping system so that every layer on the part starts cleanly.

   Next up, I will print new spools for the filaments, so that I can use any brand of filaments instead of just FlashForge's brand. And then, it is on to Foxy Roxy's fingers :)

   

 

Big strokes and little lines

I've been trying to paint at least a little every day. Right now, I'm getting some major shapes brushed in and following it up with defining lines. I keep thinking that drawing and refining is the most fun part, and so, since I'm copying myself on this painting, I'm feeling really grateful to my former self for taking such pains with the perspective part of this image. Having those issues already solved is allowing me to enjoy the journey a little more on this one. Now that I see it here, I think the mom's face might be a little too wide. It might be that her hair isn't settled yet, though. Figuring it out will be tomorrow's first job.