Another Possibility

   I don't remember how this image came about. She certainly has a tough job, working hard at rowing through the air in a leaky boat. Still, I like her strength, rowing against the odds. 

    I'm leaning toward this one for my new canvas. Look how many tries it took for me to realize her back needed to face the bow! Sheesh!

   I just stretched a new small canvas with linen (my first try at it!), and I'm looking for a new image for it.    

    I just found this in my sketchbook. It is an image of my dear friend Chris, who was born on the exact same day as me, almost a whole country apart.  

   The last time I saw Chris, he told me he had bought some heavy duty hiking boots and was finding peace on his walks. I imagined those boots taking him to all kinds of beautiful places.

I have one more possible image in mind. It's a bit trickier than this one. I'll post it when I settle on a good viewpoint.

 

  I think I set a couple of records here, both for how long it took to make this painting, and also how long it has been since I have posted.

    I wish I could speed up my process. My profs would have said the same thing. But, I don't seem to be able to power through problems in paintings. I have to wait for for the answer to bubble up to the surface. Also, I need to carve out more time to do it. Teaching and real life have a tendency to get priority. 

Here is a close-up of the face:

      I won't name all the struggles, but they were real. I'm hoping a coat of varnish will ease over some of them. There are some progress shots of this painting on my Instagram, if you'd like to see some of the stages it went through. My user name is lynettevought.

   My next one is going to be a lot smaller!

    

     

Math is Fun!

I enjoy using perspective in my work, but I sometimes fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to being really precise with the linear relationships. Last semester, I had two delightful engineering students who kept saying, "But what is that spatial relationship, really?" They ended up teaching me some math/geometry skills that are helping me straighten out some mistakes I have made in my paintings, as well as help my teaching skills. Here is the almost repaired version of a painting called "Tipping Point", about global warming. Below are photos of the painting before the repair began, and one of the windows with the grid double drawn in, showing how the ellipse is divided to properly recede in space. Who knew math could be so fun and useful?

Hollow Points

Well, I made this one well before our current political situation, but I guess it applies even more now.

Starting Up Again

   Well, my son is tucked away at college and I  no longer have the excuse for not posting. I've been poking along, making a few new drawings, a new painting and printing editions of older drawings. I took those prints to Wheatland Music Festival this past summer. Even though it is just a short distance from my home, I had no idea what the festival was really about. The best way I can describe it is it is kind of like a mini Woodstock, except more fiddles, pretty nice port a potties and good food. Many, many people referred to it as a family reunion. I was a "Wheatie" (first time attendee), but there were some people who are almost icons of the festival. Some of them have been going since the first event in 1974. Here is one of them:

That is Gus on the right. He is a Cherokee Native American. He is an excellent dancer and I think an actor. He helped the guys selling jewelry next door to us by posing as a store Indian. So he is also a wise guy.

I don't know who this man is, but he graciously posed for a picture after I admired his t-shirt:

Here is a picture of our booth:

That's Kathleen VandeMark in the front. She and I shared a booth.

The people and the music were amazing. I've never felt kindness and good will in a large group (over 10,000 people!) like that before. I went there to sell art and came away feeling like I'd just been adopted into a huge new family. I'm looking forward to the next Happy Wheatland.

Next:The prints I took to Wheatland

Bluebeard's Last Wife

Holy moly. Has it really been two years since I posted? This is the inside view of my Bluebeard triptych, which was the main project for my final year of study for my M.F.A. Which I finished in May, 2013. It is a year later, and I still get a kick out of that.

     This was quite an engineering project and could not have been accomplished without the amazing Jeanne Pfeiffer at Sugar Maple Innovations. She is responsible for the beautiful cabinet that holds this piece.

     The work is interactive. There are two small working doors on the side panels. The right door has a working lock and key. Viewers may choose and image from the shelf below the triptych and place them in the panels behind the tiny doors. The viewer may also choose to lock or unlock the right side door. The choices of the participants affect the interpretation of the piece.

     Below is how the triptych looks when it is closed.

   Of course, now that I see them here, I want to change them! Hmm..I wonder how easy it would be to replace those panels….