No, I Don't Do Commissions (but can I please draw your cat?)

I finally finished 2 cat portraits I've been working on for years.  Fortunately, I was told that there wasn't a hurry since the cats were already deceased and the portraits would be memorializing them. "Good," I said at the time, "because I just started at a new school and I probably won't be able to get to it until summer."  I got stuck at one point on the first one, Cleo, because I thought she looked angry and didn't know how to fix it.  I thought I would finally have time during the pandemic to get them done, but found myself still stuck.  I actually turned it into a lesson during remote teaching, showing students the animal portraits I had done and asking for their advice on how to make the cat's expression less mean/murderous.  Their answers ranged from "give her a smiley face" to "make the eyes more rounded."  And I did make the eyes more rounded and she did look less angry.  But then one 5th grade girl gave a response I was not expecting. "I don't think she looks angry, I think she looks strong and brave.  I think she looks like a warrior queen who is going into battle." Bad. Ass. Restoring all faith in future generations. And of course she was right (the force is strong in this one).  So I changed it back.  Another breakthrough came when I tried to look at it anew and think "what would I do if I was doing this just for myself and wasn't trying to please someone else (as is the case with commissions)?" Paint the background jet black.  And as soon as I did that, easy peasy, the rest fell into place.  I announced that it was completed to the pet owner and she said, "but you're still going to do the other one also aren't you?" Fortunately, that one was done in fits and starts over 1 year and not 7. And then I had to add fabric to the outside frame to finish it off. In the end, I did really have fun making these and I love how they turned out.  But my new answer to the question of "do you do pet portrait commissions?" is this: If you want to give me some pictures of the pet and their name and some info about their personality, I'll play around with it.  And if I end up completing an art piece, I'll give you the first chance to buy it.  And if you don't want it, I can sell it to someone else.  That way, I'm making the art for myself (which brings me so much joy) and if someone else enjoys it too, fantastic. But no pressure.

 

Time is a Thief

 And then I blinked and it was 9 years later.  So many times I wanted to post an update, but felt I had to catch up and do it chronologically. And I have mostly only had job-art to post about (i.e. student projects).  Oh perfectionism. Suffice it to say that I was busy being a multi-arts teacher (dance/theater/art) then a visual art teacher, single-parenting a complex human through adolescence, moving, moving again, and again, making video tutorials for students, doing leadership work, teaching other teachers to make video tutorials for students and teach online during a pandemic (and they taught me), surviving a pandemic (oh hello chaos, I know you, we got this), learning to teach 450 kids via computer, teaching 450 kids with masks on our faces, loading thousands of kid clay projects in and out of a kiln for firing, compiling hundreds of kid stop motion projects, managing 8 art classes a day while still trying to connect with each beautiful student artist, photographing their art and hanging it in our hallways, spending time in France, meeting my Ojibwe relatives on our native land, learning to line dance and two step and waltz, rollerskating, kayaking, skiing.  And trying to figure out how to do all these things I love to do and not be so flipping busy. 

During the pandemic I discovered that I'm not as introverted as I once thought, and during lock-down, I actually took a job at an Amazon grocery delivery warehouse, stocking the shelves and doing shopping for people.  I'm kind of a border collie and I'll go crazy if I can't be helpful, but also I was craving humanity so much I was willing to do anything that allowed me to responsibly (essential worker) be around humans.  I honestly would have done it without pay.

And now, I'm discovering that I really am an introvert who can't live without solid chunks of unstimulating alone time, but also small bits of joyful socializing.

Talking with an art teacher friend about giving too much to our jobs, and deciding maybe it's enough to just be good and not always great.  Then listening to a podcast suggesting moms block off time in their calendars with these words: "My needs matter.  Do not cancel." And it occurred to me how much teaching is parenting/caregiving and that this also applies very much to us (also, I see you nurses). And so, I got a sub for a day and took off for 2 nights in Portland, Oregon, to rest and make art. 

There.  All caught up.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Blue Heron Dance will be performing May 8-10. Just finished up the set painting with the help of my friend Jan. When I showed our creative director my mock-ups, she said "I wasn't expecting it to be so dark. You know it's a comedy. We wouldn't want it to be at all spooky." Of course, she was right. I had chosen a palette of three colors, the coolest in the back layers and a warmer green in the foreground, to give a sense of depth. But indeed, after 2 days of painting flats at the cavernous O Space, it was looking pretty spooky and I was feeling pretty nervous. I kept telling myself it would cheer up with the addition of those warm colors. But it can feel very sink or swim working on such a large scale (7 thirteen foot tall flats) with so little time. And then voila, it suddenly all came together. Then the dance dads put them up and Jan and I touched up the seams. And now it's showtime.

It's back to the old...kitchen table

Living back in the city and loving it, the footprint of my home is more of a thumbprint. My first artmaking in this new space is for the set of Blue Heron Dance's spring production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I had a couple of sets I was using as inspiration, which I now can't find the pics of.  So I just started working from scratch, using paint colors from past sets (the blue of Romeo and Juliet, the Purple of Firebird, the green from Giselle, the turquoise of my dining room walls which I am just in love with) to create a night woods landscape. In a week or so I will start painting these onto flats that are 4 feet wide by 13 feet tall, to be assembled by a bunch of dance dads the week before the production.

I haven't posted any blogs in a year.  Not since I was poised to move into my new art studio.  Oh who needs a big fancy island art studio with a water view, right?  Sure it can be a great place to meet your friends while wearing black turtle necks and sipping expresso. 

I started this blog to chronicle my return to artmaking after a long break filled with teaching and parenting.  A big part of that return was finding time and space devoted to art.  Four years later and now in my re-return, I am discovering that all I really need for an art space is a kitchen table and shelves for supplies. That is, until it's time for dinner.

West Seattle Elementary School Mural

Here is what it looked like before.  A great start from a summerschool/afterschool project:

It needed a little updating, especially with the addition of mosaic fish art climbing up the staircase.  Here is what it looked like during:

One year later, still no after picture.  With such a big canvas, I wanted to leave places for the next class of artists to leave their mark.  To be continued...

Firebird Set -- Blue Heron Dance -- May 2014

New Art Studio: the "before" picture

You know how in movies, or Brady Bunch episodes, they will have a nerdy character who gets a makeover, revealing (surprise) the beautiful swan hidden behind horn rimmed glasses? In other words, if you wipe the dirt off of Eliza Doolittle's face, you get Audrey Hepburn. Isn't that cheating?

My new art studio has that same raw material (though you wouldn't know it from the outside). This means there is a good chance I will actually make it look worse, once I get my paws on it. Unfortunately, unlike Olivia Newton John at the end of Grease, my studio smells old and wet. If these were scratch-and-sniff pictures, you would smell the mildew trapped in that shiny floor. How can something so pretty be so stinky? Even so, the hope is to be fixed, up and running, with walls of work for the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour, December 2014. Ready, set, create.

Boy's Room Cleans Itself

Just a little something I threw together.  Over 460 photos and 4 hours created this video.

Oh, Tchaikovsky, you little rascal.

Ready, sets, go.
Amazingly, everything I intended to do with the sets this year got done, including repainting the iconic grandfather clock. I am always so happy when it is time to just join the audience and enjoy the show.  Changing venues created new challenges, which means more opportunities to say "well, I guess it'll have to do." Its good practice for perfectionists. "The show must go on!"

Nutcracker 2013

Let's consider this the "before" picture of the Nutcracker set, 5 days before opening night (December 6th)!  The flats lined up at the back of the stage will be completely painted over into the Land of Sweets. Stay tuned for updates.
This will be the first time the Vashon Center for Dance performs at O Space.  Get your tickets today.

Do these curtains make my butt look big?

Trinke Liebchen, Trinke Schnell

Back in the set barn, at work on die fledermaus, being put on by the Vashon Opera September 20th & 22nd. The set decor will be Art Deco, a favorite for me. It is less painting-intense than the last operas, which  allows more time to enjoy the process. I am working on creating a faux stained glass window and door while other volunteers create fake wood grain. Don't I look like I'm having fun?

Priming the pump

I'm not sure why it has been so hard to start my summer art projects, but there it is. These pets were a good place to start. The photos I was drawing from were high quality, high contrast and well composed. From there it just took a little Al Green in the background, and I was happy to gaze into the eyes of these precious beasts.