a href=”http://rookshideout.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/vladamir-kush.jpg”>I just got an idea for a new painting based on some recent experiences with bees. Hopefully I can figure out a good composition for it. I finished a painting based on the diorama I created of the forest. I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it away so I asked the guy I gave it to to send me one. I will post the diorama and the finished painting to show how the idea became the finished picture. I went to Las Vegas with my son last week and we saw a Vladamir Kush gallery. They were great! Above is one of my favorites..

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Here’s a recent painting I did that I actually like. I’ve had a couple bad painting episodes, and as a consequence, I’m a little nervous to just go for it, but really it’s the only way, and what I must do. It’s important for me to not think too hard about a painting, but just to approach it with abandon.

Still trying to finish the one from the diorama. Too many dang leaves!

Well, I made a diorama, and I am pretty happy with it, although not totally.  I’m not completely done with it, but I did learn from the experience.  It’s like set designing.  I still want to bring some deeper dimension to it.  I definitely want to put an arch of leaves in the foreground, to act as a stage curtain or something.  The gargoyle has been sitting on my bookshelf for almost 20 years, so I’m not sure how I feel about him sitting in the forest like that.  He seems out of place to me, but other people say he looks good in there.  I have taken a break from it for now because I feel the need to paint again.  I watched a great documentary on netflix.  It’s called Beautiful Losers I think, and it made me feel better about why I do art and how I shouldn’t feel pressure to please others with it, I just do it because I need to.  I highly recommend it.  So, today I want to start a new painting.. and I think it needs to be large.  If anyone can inspire me to paint it’s Anna Oneglia. 

                                    From the Seas #5 by Anna Oneglia

This is my idea. I want to create every day.  Like most people, I have a hectic life.  I have two kids, and so does my boyfriend, and we all live together.  6 people, all different, ages 6,9,12,17,38, and 43.  So, between keeping all these people fed, clothed, happy and thriving, I must carve out a little place for me to focus on what I love to do, which is creating.  It’s a weird word, create… to cause to come into being…to evolve from one’s own thought or imagination.  If I don’t do it regularly, I get cranky and depressed.  So, this blog will keep me on track, hopefully.  I thought about doing something like “A Creation a Day”, in which I forced myself to dream up and finish a project every day, but I thought better of it.  I don’t want to do some Julie and Julia thing.  I just want to have fun, but keep myself focused.  I’ve been a chronic journal buyer all my life, but usually I just end up writing how many calories I ate, and how much I weigh.  This won’t be a calorie counter/ weight monitor.  No way!   I just hope whoever reads this gets a little inspired from it.

Lately I’ve been really into making paper dolls, and I’ve even somehow gotten some into a local shop.. Saffron and Genevieve.  I haven’t checked on them lately to see if they’ve sold, but my good friend lives right above it and I know that at least two have been bought, one by her boyfriend for her, and one by some other person.  It’s really nice to have other people like the things you make.  My new idea is to create dioramas, but I’m a little daunted.  Basically it’s a collage in 3-D.  We’ll see how it goes.  Right now I’m just busy cutting out pictures from all manner of sources.  I have a big pile of old National Geographics, and there’s so many quirky pictures in there.  Sometimes I get into the articles.  I loved reading about the forgotten corners of London, written by Harold Donaldson Eberlein in 1932.  Look up the Temple Bar Griffin and the old Roman bath at St. Clement Danes!  I really want to paint that griffin some day.  I’ll post pictures soon.  Need bf help with that.  I’m a techno/moron.  I can barely get the dvd playing.

Here’s good inspiration by Laura Plansker.