A light shines in the darkness, Angel #11

it all starts here. this is the first painting in my new art studio! it is SO much nicer to be in this space, it really is like a different world.

very quickly i saw a bird form in the wings of this angel. i decided to play with this image and keep its shape. here is a good example of how my painting begins. there is a fair amount of under painting and direction.

Before & After in the studio

Previous to Dec 28th this is how my art space looked! I had my drawing table set up in the corner, with a small space heater nearby. What you cant get a scale of in this picture was some clutter encroaching on my creative space. Just behind my chair is also where my easel is. No doubt that an unfinished basement in Wisconsin, in December is a cold place. But I made do, I was just happy to even have a corner, but what if a basement corner could become an art room! The idea & help came from a friend, John. This was the best thing to happen for the old year& new year. I am so lucky. This was a neat project for me. It took us 2 days and $ 200, which mostly went to carpeting. For my art room, i had an idea to use tapestriess to make the walls. I was thinking of a hut, in the desert made of beautiful fabrics. I called around to local stores and totally scored when i called URBAN OUTFITTERS on State St. They had large tapestries AND they were on clearance. $9.00!! Marked down from 30! OMG! I was thrilled, i love a good idea and a deal, it was just what i needed. The other really cool thing that happened during the constructing of this art space was this thought: Urban Outfitters was THE destination for me as a teenager. My friend Wendie had heard of or been to Madison and we came up here (from Sycamore, IL) together when I was 15. I was instantly enamoured with Madison, going to State St., and Urban Outfitters! My mom recollects when i got home I told her "when I grow up I want to live in Madison". uh huh. So that would have been 1992. So fast forward to 2008, I live in Madison,(after living in California for 8 years) and I am in Urban Outfitters buying up tapestries ( 15) for my art space, from which I will create my angel art and pursue my business of selling it. Is this what is called a full circle moment?My drawing table in my new art room. Amazing what a difference it makes! Much more conductive for creativity and angel making! Thank you to the "angels" who helped make this happen!!

The Sacrifice.
Here is the drawing in progress on my art table. i like to have a candle burning, and an "aura-spray" from "Aunt Vi's Garden" handy. The green bloom is for creativity, and was given to me by a dear friend Ashley. It smells wonderful and helps cheer up my space. I will post the finished picture as soon i have one.

Mercy

Oh Mercy!
There is something mystical about this angel, something in the face. I was pondering mercy while i drew. I love it when i have the radio on (102.5) and i hear a song that has lyrics that my drawing illustrates. For example: i heard a song with lyrics that said "your mercy rains". Perfect!! I was on a little roll with these small colored pencil drawings on illustration board.
2 Samuel 24:14
David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men."

I drew this angel on election night! November 3rd, 2008. It took me just a day to finish. I was so inspired by President (Elect)Obama, and felt like there was a "hope" (drawing 6) for "peace" (drawing 7). I was seeing a peaceful heart.
Leviticus 26:6
" 'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.

Angel 6 "Hope"

I love love love this little Hope Angel drawing. I was just sitting in my art studio when I grabbed a pencil and sketched out this angel. It was just after Halloween, and I needed some hope. It was a quick drawing, i'd say something like "it just flowed out of me" which is trite but true! I colored her in there she was, this was shortly after i added the hot pink in my hair. i liked doing this little drawing so much I decided to do another one. This was right around election time, so the air was electric. There was hope in the air of our country and it reflected in me emotionally.

Angel #5 "Breakthrough"

It took me a little while to start painting #5. It is now October, I was having a dry spell. I wasn't motivated to paint, i was distracted by challenges i was facing in my life; i like to call it emotionally congested. On one brazen night in October i just started painting with out any conception of what i wanted to do. I just painted so freely, and broke through the blocks I was having. It isn't very well defined, but "all theses things come from my heart". In the painting the angels' heart is bursting open and everything comes out from there. So in theory I painted out my emotional congestion. My art tends to be like that, reflective, relevant, and necessary. I think I did this painting in a week. Which is rather quick for me. Guess when i am being free and not seeking perfection i am a quicker painter. AAH, the learning curve. Aah, the breakthrough!!

Angel 4 " Dawn's Hope"

Angel 4 came in an interesting way. I began this one in September. It was spawned after a reconnection with a child hood friend via facebook. I had 2 friends growing up named Dawn, so that alone means something to me. Also the dawn as in a new day, which brings hope. I hadn't done a green painting yet so i knew the colors i wanted. anyway, the history with dawn and i is such: we were friends in jr high school, and like most school girls we were emotionally immature. the way i remember it was i stole her boyfriend, and therefor we became enemies. i think this is true, and i wish i had been more mature than to do something like that, but i wasn't. i have always felt badly that this incident happened, for more reasons than this blog will entail. i cannot remember how Dawn and i got over this and how it was pivotal. dawn and i worked together for several years and even walked together in graduation. Life goes on and since the world of facebook we have reconnected. I couldn't think of her with out remembering the past, so for her i decided to do a painting. it was titled it "dawn's gift" a two fold meaning. 1) the gift of forgiveness and acceptance of a friend & 2) the new hope the dawn brings.
I did my best to capture dawns features, but the hair turn e d out much darker than hers, but the spirit is there, and that is how she came to be!
UPDATE:: I was re reading another blog I had and found this post. Here is a snap shot of what I was thinking then. I think i will change the names back t o Dawn's Hope. My first idea is usually the better.

from: 10/04/08
This painting has been a long one to finish!
i went about 4 weeks with out getting any work done, i had "painters block"
i guess all creatives are vulnerable to this. remind you i have 2 days a week allotted to paint.
i didn't like where my painting was at one point and not being able to get it past there tripped me up. i have some feelings and there are unseen things at work here too, i can feel them pressing in on me. i got through it and have been painting again, i am getting closer to being done with this painting.
this is angel #4 in my series. i'm thinking of calling her "dawns hope" .

Angel 3...the stumbling block

Okay so here i am on my quest to finish an angel a month. I had an idea for the third one, it was early summer... i was feeling drawn to incorporate the image of an ankh into my painting. I drew out the angel, the ankh, thought of colors and began. When i begin a painting there is a large amount of under painting, I block in colors, create the shape of the wings, and then get the layers going. I was experimenting with a different brand of paint, basically it was cheap paint, which was giving me a difficult time. Because it was summer, the air was humid. This seemed to be making the paint tacky, hard to blend and just plain yuck. I must have wiped the paint off the canvas 3 different times trying to get the right color, and effect. So i had false starts, the work I'd done erased. I was getting frustrated, but at the same time liked the pink and blue colors of the cheap paint i was using. I was tempted to just stop the angel, to keep her static, simple in her stance. This was not to be her destiny. I was going to keep painting, and try to make something happen here that i had not done before. That was symmetry, a forward facing angel with two wings. Yikes, this was turning into several weeks of work, and work it out I did. I had a period of time during this one, i called a block. I had never done a face like this, I had never pushed through so many moments when i just wanted to stop painting and do something else. Persevere i did, this painting took about 7 weeks, and when i look at her now i am glad i did. My most favorite part of this painting is her mouth, just in itself is so sweet. I just look at her lips and i am happy. I ended up naming this angel "carry the cross". In Egyptian times the ankh was used as a symbol of life. It was depicted in hieroglyphs as a cross with a handle, believed to be carried into the after life. I had these things tumbling in my thoughts when i was in my art studio I heard a song called "carry the cross" on the radio. I haven't heard the song since, but it stuck with me, and the title came together. I think of my own life and how i feel at times i am holding onto life.