Just a few photos of what has been going on lately in my studio. I've been keeping a large piece of paper up as a sort of brainstorming piece.

Here are a couple details:

Keeping a large drawing going is something I've done a lot in the past. I use it both as inspiration for new paintings as well as a way to draw from old paintings as a form of investigation. I've been keeping with the bird theme but am trying to get further away from forming actual birds but rather capturing the fluttering of wings and different atmospheres. I'm really using the material to find where the birds are.

Here is the latest painting in progress.

I started with raw canvas with a ground of acrylic medium. I used some dry pigment and ink on the wet medium to try and find new space, mark, and color.

This weekend I've gotten a bit further on the painting. I've continued to use ink- even rubbing it over and into some of the places in the painting- as well as wax medium.

I hope to update again very soon- I've been full time at my job this summer and I absolutely love teaching art to children and being part of that kind of creativity. But wow, it's hard to carve out a time to paint- I just want to be with my son at the end of the day.

Be well!
Melanie

Well that was silly...

Hello all,

Despite the snow showers we still keep getting it is officially Spring, so I decided to concentrate on cleaning and organizing home last week.  And wow, that failed.  

A) I am a terrible organizer and so-so cleaner.  

B) My son follows me around undoing all of my straightening up,

 and C)  Going without painting for 10 days is a big mistake.  My mental health kind of depends on the painting.

So this week I'm back on track and getting into the studio and leaving the mess behind.  If we have food, clothes, and the house doesn't smell, that's enough home success for me.

I'm working on a painting that I began on raw canvas and with the most unappealing dark colors and no texture.  Just thought I'd start out really, really differently and see what happened.  Here is how it looked after the first day:

I let Phin do some marks at the bottom - he chose cerulean and it became a branch.   So, yeah I think it was really ugly.  But like I tell my students, ugly doesn't necessarily equal bad- just like pretty usually doesn't equal good.    I was trying to find another way to get from A to B.

Anyway, here is what happened next:

I decided that I needed to put a moon in for my moon-loving son (though it kind of turned into an orange).  Here are a couple of details so you can see the texture a little better:

Eh, not the best thing I've ever made, but it opens up some new ideas for me.

I'll write again soon- hopefully with new dream images.  I'm de-cluttering this week to make some more space at home- both literal and mental space- so that I can start drawing at home again.  I've got a couple dreams I need to get down on paper.  

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week wherever you are.

Be well,

Melanie

Serious Play

It has been so long since the last post- the late winter illnesses really threw me off more than I ever thought it would.   Also, the transition of the toddler to the toddler bed and the 3:30 a.m. crying fits have made me a bit less productive as well.  Happily, spring is coming, the lingering colds are getting better, and I now have a high chair that reclines in my studio!

I don't know why I didn't think of this before- he can eat, draw, play with his cars, and sleep in the high chair while I paint.  I was spending so much time in the cafe downstairs from my studio while Phin ate and now I can stretch canvas and the like while he eats in my studio.  Fantastic!

I also painted my studio floor and did some general cleaning to better accommodate the toddler in my studio rather than a baby.  The pack n' play just isn't cutting it for him anymore- he needs to roam.  

OK, so the work.  I stretched a canvas today and realized that I used stretcher bars that I had just taken a painting off of because it was warped.  My lord I am an idiot.   Phin was asleep, so I decided to work on what I had around.  I had quite a few things I had done as demos for my Intuitive Painting class, so I put them all together.  I'm going to have to get a piece of wood to adhere it all to and work on it some more.  It's 3 pieces of cardboard, a plastic ping-pong paddle, a cd case, and a shirt sleeve.  I used to be really snobby about acrylic paint, but I love it now.  It holds everything together plus I can put wax, salt, and sand in it for texture.  

I am really enjoying the collage because I really, really don't know where I am going with it and have a level of (productive and healthy) fear and confusion about it that I haven't had in a while.  We're getting ready for a parent workshop at work next weekend addressing nurturing creativity in children  (it's free for those of you in Chicago- pre-register here by calling).  I've done a lot of thinking about how easily children assimilate multiple mediums into one piece of art.  I guess I'm trying to knock down some learned barriers and just make art out of anything.  Here is the piece so far:

Be well and I promise the next post will be soon :)

-melanie

Painting to Music

We had a visitor to my Intuitive Painting class last night. His name is Adam Marks and he is the pianist for The Fifth House Ensemble here in Chicago. They reach out to other artists and programs in the area and incorporate the resulting collaboration in their concerts. Adam brought recordings of the pieces they will be performing this Saturday at the Merit School of Music and played them for my class. I was really blown away by the work that came out of my students and it will be projected during the concert. I could not resist the siren call of paint and music and made my own work along with my students:

I don't know why I don't do that more often- it taps into a different place in my brain to do quick automatic paintings to music. I'm hoping my students enjoyed it as much as I did, and I look forward to looking at all the work and having a chance to talk about it next week.  It's so important to step back from the usual painting routine and just play.  It felt really good.

Enjoy your day!
Melanie

Stomach Bug Go Away

Wow. The past 10 days have been an experience. I thought painting with a one year old in your studio was difficult, but I had never had the delight of a stomach flu hitting both parents and child at once. I had the special treat of having it twice! Sickness does make for vivid dreaming. Most of mine involved some sort of escape, either from a place or from my body with a lot of floating, spinning, and flipping through space.

Happily, I'm back on the ground now and hoping to get back into the studio this weekend to stretch another couple canvasses and get to work. I do think I'm finished now with my first acrylic piece on canvas. Phin had helped me with part of it (which was planned) and put a few purple crayon marks on part of it (unplanned). But I'm leaving the crayon marks in because: #1. Phin was there and is a huge part of my life, and #2. The marks integrate just fine with that portion of the painting, so why would I change it?

Here are the "Phin marks":



And here is the finished piece:




I also was able to get a small painting on panel completed the day before the illness came to stay. I think having to work quickly because Phin is there with me actually helps me in the studio. I do a lot more active thinking with a brush and knife in my hand rather than agonizing over each step while sipping coffee.



I'm still working with bird imagery, but am starting to think about what may come next or start mixing with the birds. I may begin to take some of Phin's obsessions as fodder. He cannot get enough of the moon and planets. I am updating this blog at 4:30 saturday morning so I don't have to keep telling him, "No moon, mommy is working" when he wants to look at images of the moon on the screen. "The Moon" is a pretty huge subject and one of the most common poetry inducing items. But I'm thinking of it more as a quality of light and a way to play with the space of the painting. A week and a half ago there was a full moon and Mike called to have me take Phin outside to see it (now every time we put on coats to go outside Phin both signs and says "moon" in anticipation) It was impressive. Here is a page from my journal:



City living. You just don't get an unobstructed view of the low, full moon.


As it is Saturday at 4:45 a.m., I'm going to slip back into bed now and hopefully dream. I will leave you with this sketch from my journal of my sleeping Phineas.



Take care,
Melanie

Morning Journal

I've been trying to find more bits of time to get some drawing in, and I've come to realize that I almost always wake up around 4 and don't sleep for about an hour. Aha! What a perfect time to slip out of bed and draw some dreams. It worked yesterday (for about 30 minutes until Phin woke up because I wasn't there- we still co-sleep.) Here is the dream from Jan. 27th:



Today, Phin was up many times in the night with what I'm guessing was teething pain. Needless to say, at 4:00a.m. I was comforting him and giving him a bottle instead of drawing. I did manage to do a quick sketch of him during breakfast, though. So that's something.



Now it's time to change a diaper and get ready for an art-viewing adventure with a friend from college. Phin hasn't yet been to a large art museum- we'll see how he likes it.

Take care, all!
Melanie

Painting with a One Year Old in your Studio

Now that Phin is walking and doesn't happily hang out in my wrap anymore, it's become a bit more interesting in the studio. I still have the pack 'n play and he does play in there sometimes, but he really wants to be on the move exploring. I'm amazed at how flexible I have become and how much I can accomplish in 10 minute bursts. He sits on my lap, he draws on a piece of paper I put on the wall next to my painting, and I've recently decided to let his presence in the studio be seen in the work.

On Monday we did our first collaboration, as you can see by this detail shot.



I have begun a 32"x34" painting on canvas with acrylic. In my pursuit of exploring the paint, I did not prime the canvas first with gesso. Instead, I painted some marks directly on the raw canvas and used medium to coat some of the other parts of the canvas. That way I could really play with the surface I was working on- the paint goes on so differently to raw canvas versus one with a paint or medium ground. The collaboration came when there was a spot in the lower part of the painting I needed to "mess up". Enter baby. I gave him a mechanical pencil and let him work in that spot making both pencil marks and moving the wet paint around. He enjoyed it and I love watching him discover different materials and all the ways he can use them. I'm not sure how "present" his mark will be in my future work, but I do want to continue to paint and I do want to continue to have him with me as much as possible. So we'll just see how it goes.


Here is the full painting in progress and a studio shot of my guy:

Have a wonderful week and be well!
Melanie