Found in Imagination

 Carey and I finished a series.

The concept is one "found object" placed in an imaginary background.

I got to pull out my iridescent and interference paints.

All the paintings are 5x7 oil on oil-primed linen panels.

Quail Egg

Autumn

2020 Self Portrait

Puffer World

Ode to PG50

Ritz

Palette Piles in Perspective

The Lookout

Painters Tape

Earth Stone

Here are my objects, with Pebbles.

Not pictured: The Ritz bc I ate it.

The palette paper is more of a composite, so that's also not pictured.
And the quail egg is a different egg.

Mad! Chess

This week's theme is chess.

I had a bunch of ideas but managed to pull off half of one idea before I ran out of steam.

The King is in Trouble

Pastel on Colourfix

ACEO (2.5 x 3.5)

Mad: Animals

Sadly, Drusilla lost her wonderful Aloysious this past Saturday.

Since she is always doing really special portraits for everyone, and because Aloysious was such a wonderful and special rat, I wanted to give her a portrait of him.

It was a very short-notice portrait and it didn't go as fast as I thought it would.

Because of the time factor and lack of natural light to look at the finished painting in, I didn't realize until I gave it to Dru that the background needs about three more layers. You can't see the rainbow.

Because of the time I had to use acrylic and my color layers over the black are too transparent...and acrylic has an annoying tendency to darken when it dries.

so my rainbow bridge painting is a black hole instead of a rainbow.

I'll fix the painting but I left it with Dru.

She says she likes it.

Aloysious

5x7 acrylic

Mad: Anything

I am so late on our theme.

This week has been stupid and annoying and overwhelming but everything is ok.

I had credit card points so I got this set of Senns for $24.

Which is an amazing price.  Free shipping too.

Carey did something genuinely wonderful this week and you should go see it.

Unlike me, she doesn't suck.

Mad!! Fluffy

It's not done.

But it is rather fluffy.

9x12 pastel on Uart

Mad: LATE!

I have been wanting to paint this portrait for the last year. So it's late!

Original reference photo copyright Melissa Van Roosbroeck.  Used with permission.
The name Melissa means "bee" so I did a bee theme.

My most absolute favorite thing about this portrait is that I put Urban Decay Lounge eyeshadow on Melissa's eyelid!

I have a bunch of progress pics but I'll post them later.

Melissa
9x12 pastel (and Urban Decay eyeshadow!)
on Sennelier pastel carte

Carey has something late too.

Mad: Value!

In the book of Steven there is no prophecy

'Cause there was no need for God 

in the way things came to be

Some live by faith, some live by proof

They don't meet up on a friendly road 

or live under the same roof

Yep. Carey and I are resuming our wonderful mutual madness!

Ever since I did that Tree Portal out of my head, I have been wanting to work more with that stark blinding light.  Which is all about managing values.  Value = how light or dark something is.

This is inspired by an Indigo Girls song with my own twist. It is about humanity being so caught up and stuck in our ideals and belief systems that we ignore the warning signs all around us. We forget as a whole that we are all human and the human inability to be kind and tolerant to others outside the walls of individual belief systems will destroy the world.

Blackbirds
8x10 pastel on Richeson sanded paper (Anthracite)

And the birds fall hard like black rain

Jerking the earth with a portent stain

Beat like drums, they beat like wings

Are we looking? 
Are we listening?
                                                                                -Indigo Girls

Mad !! Tornado (PRT)

I am so late on Mad! Tornado. But now it is done!!

The Ominous Slinky-Tornado

Pastel on Colourfix

ACEO 2.5x3.5

Mad! Super Color

I came home yesterday AND THE HEAT WAS ON.
THE HEAT.
WAS ON.
IN 92 DEGREE WEATHER.

The building's sensor was zapped or something and it is controlled by a computer in the landlord's office. Which mistakenly switched the heat ON in heat-advisory 92 degree weather.

It was worst pun ever NOT COOL.

********
Carey said our theme is Super Color because she is very astute and she knew somewhere in her maze-mind that I have Diane Townsend fluorescent pastels. They are obnoxiously bright.

That's how cool Carey is.  She knows Things.

If this is not super color then I do not know what is.

Melting Tree
ACEO pastel on colourfix primed watercolor paper

These things are so fantastically bright 

they almost hurt your eyes.

Mad: Mist

I'm late on the theme again because I have a terrible case of summer lethargy.
Summer is the most dreadful season and I will be so glad when it is over.

Here is some misty snow.

8x10 pastel on Richeson sanded paper

Mad!! Ice Caves!!

My ice cave is late even though I started it last week.

pastel on colourfix primed paper, 5x7

Carey and I just happened to do almost the exact same composition!!

Also, I think the whole point of Ice Caves was for me to use my iridescent Senns.  Obviously.

Mad: Notebook FINISHED

A week late but done!!

Book Genie
9x12 pastel on Uart 400

Mad: Notebook

Part1, more tomorrow!!

Mad: Ajax Tree

i have been so insanely busy and I really ought to have painted our theme, since I came up with it and I was REALLY excited.....

The Ajax Tree!

Carey has an amazing dog named Ajax and he has....had a special tree.
It was the coolest looking tree ever, and unfortunately it died.

So it is an ex-Ajax Tree.

I really do need to paint it.

Here is Ajax under the Ajax Tree.  I either don't have a better pic or I cant find it....

.....and it is now very past my bedtime.

Mad: Sparta

I have no idea why Sparta is our theme.
Carey thought it up.

I went classical with it, though I suppose there are many modern "Sparta" things that can be done.
5x7 pastel on stonehenge (unprimed! it is different working on non-gritty paper)

Mad: Cute

I have a painting on my easel that isn't done and I was going to finish it for this week's theme.

That did not happen.

In fact, I couldn't even remember what our theme was until this afternoon and I had to look at my texts to Carey to remember it.

I'm in small painting mode.... so instead of the larger easel painting here are some supercute baby trees in clouds.

Cloud Saplings

5x7

pastel on colourfix primed Stonehenge

Mad: Patterns

I have a completely mad behavior pattern.
When I go to Hudson I must to go Sketch and get pastels.

I added to my Diane Townsend collection.
No duplicates. I did not get all of these this past weekend.
Just 15 of them.

***********

I am out of wet cat food so Monday morning around 5am-ish I did a free-same-day-delivery order from Amazon for wet cat food and a couple of interesting-looking art books. I thought this was extremely clever of me.

I was home late afternoon.

My buzzer rang right around 6pm.

I buzzed the front door open, because I knew it was the mail.

No one rang my apartment door.  I didn't think too much of it because sometimes delivery people just leave the box at my door; they know I am home because I buzzed them in.

A few minutes later I opened the door.  No box.

So I tracked it online- status was "DELIVERED. LEFT AT MAIL".

The driver apparently left my box in an unattended lobby by the mail boxes. 

NO ONE does that.

Of course my box is gone.

It probably doesn't help that someone was moving in and the lobby door was wide open.

But the driver KNEW I was home so why couldn't they just bring it up?

So I don't have my box and the carrier is doing an investigation and I have to wait 24 hours.

SIGH.

Mad: Whatever

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm
I'm working on a painting and it isn't done and I just NOW remembered tomorrow is mutual madness day.

So, er, whatever.
I have nothing to show.
Because I was uncoordinated and I do not want to show my painting unfinished.

This is not how I planned Mad: Whatever to go.

**********
We were at the tech rehearsal for recital until 9:30pm.
We were there for 5 1/2 hours.
It's fun though; I really enjoy it.
Because I volunteer, i can go backstage and wherever I want.
I like that very much.

My blog posted a draft post with a link I saved...sorry about that.  :p  posting every day means I'm bound to screw up once in a while. Whatever.

I got a huge stack of dance pictures and they were very expensive.

Recital was very expensive, by the way.

Daya also got her  palate-expander-retainer which was even more expensive.

Whatever.

Mad: Fabric

This week was about fabric. Sort-of.
Carey is probably sewing, and she probably made something really cool.

For the fabric theme, I offer my Oily Rag.
It contains oil, pastel, acrylic, and possibly oil pastel too.

My oily rag is like my studio blankie. I don't really use paper towels like many people, because I prefer my oily rag.  It does a good job.
I have a bunch of them, and I change them out now and then.

Here is my current oily rag.

Mad: NIRNROOT

This week's theme is NIRNROOT!
I have been so excited for nirnroot!

Nirnroot is a plant which is found in Skyrim. It glows and emits a cool sound.
There is regular nirnroot and crimson nirnroot.

There is a book called The Spirit of Nirn.
I did a cover for it.
Daya loves the nirnroot so I hung it by her computer.

The Spirit of Nirn
9x12 pastel on pastelmat

I used all kinds of pastels- Derwent pastel pencils, semi-hard pastels, panpastels, and soft metallic pastels (senns).

....I think I have an addiction to pastelmat, it is such amazing paper.......the surface is textured with vegetable fiber and the way it holds the pastel is just so wonderful.  It is not a sanded paper and it doesn't eat up the pastels, but it holds them and can take many layers. It feels soooooo nice.

It is expensive. I bought a pack a while ago and have been using it sparingly...but I was in Jerry's a couple of weeks ago and IT WAS ON SALE at $25 for a 9x12 pack of 12 sheets!!!!

Carey also loves nirnroot.