A new painting in progress ... and Roadie’s latest project

What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment 

the shining, elusive element which is life itself – life hurrying past us 

and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.

WILLA CATHER: The Song of the Lark

The Wild Bunch iris painting • 30 x 24 • WORK-IN-PROGRESS

This week I’ve been doing some updating to my website, tweaking my eBay store and adding more ACEO Limited Editions there, getting ready to start on two challenging (but fun!) commissions, and working on this large painting of a wild-looking bunch of irises which were blooming here at the American Rose Center in the spring.

And here’s a peek at Roadie’s latest creative project; it’s an installation piece entitled The Phone Book Deconstruct, With An English Home Magazine Thrown In For Good Measure:

Have fun with all YOUR creative endeavors this weekend!

Lovin’ the light

SOLD

Nantucket Dreamin’  © 2012 Karen Mathison Schmidt

8 x 8 x 7/8 inches • acrylic on cradled GessobordTM

private collection • Salem, Massachusetts

Yesterday I was working on a large iris painting when this happened. I just had to stop what I was doing and indulge myself.

Ray snoozing on one of my favorite browsing books, a photo book of Nantucket that I got years ago on a fondly remembered trip to that charming place, the afternoon sun filtering through the leaves of the tree outside the window, that light dancing all over everything ... now tell me: how on earth could I resist?

Since Ray has a habit of waking up and stretching as soon as I go for my camera, I quickly slipped my iPhone out of my pocket and clicked a couple of shots to capture the scene. Then I realized that the background was my really messy, cluttered desk. So I did some clearing up, during which Ray removed himself to his bowl in the other room for a snack. I took more reference photos, this time with my camera, planning to use Photoshop later to put this background together with the picture of Ray for my reference. And then, lo and behold, Ray came back and settled himself in the exact same spot as before. I couldn’t believe it! So as the afternoon light became more and more dramatic, I snapped away to my heart’s content, trying different degrees of zoom, this angle and that, until I had way more than enough pictures to choose from for reference.

Didn’t get much else done on the iris painting, but ended the day smiling, knowing that today when I awoke and hit the studio I was going to have a blast of a day painting this.

And I did.

Ray did, too.

A fresh opportunity ...

SOLD

Morning Light  © 2009 by Karen Mathison Schmidt

20 x 16 inches • acrylic on archival, museum-quality GessobordTM

private collection • Puyallup, Washington

This original painting was the illustration for one of my step-by-step demos in UK author/artist Gill Barron’s Acrylic Secrets book, distributed in the US by Reader’s Digest Books. I’ve decided it’s time to send it out into the world, but don’t worry about me ... I love it so much that I’ve already made a mounted canvas print of it to keep for my very own.

Perseverance

We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. 
In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling
shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! 

ROMANS 5:3-5 (the Message)

Perseverance  © 2012 by Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

12 x 12 inches • acrylic on museum quality, archival cradled GessobordTM

SOLD

private collection • Salem, Massachusetts

Loved, loved, loved working on this one today. Since I wasn’t working from a photo for the last 75% of the process or so, I totally got lost in creating this one. In a good way.

My husband said, “Funny how working from memory made this painting look ULTRA real, somehow.” I love that guy.

More progress on irises painting ...

Painting should never look as if it were done with difficulty, 

however difficult it may actually have been.

–  ROBERT HENRI, in his book The Art Spirit

I myself do nothing. 

The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me.
 

–  WILLIAM BLAKE

  

Wild White Irises • 12 x 12 inches • WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Here’s just a part of the painting as it is so far. LOTS of layers of transparent color for the underpainting, to get that deep, rich color of the shadow at the foot of the oak tree where these white irises are growing ... I’ve been taking lots of progress photos to show, when I get this one finished. 

Thought I’d share a bit of my mental process so far:

1. At the beginning, I’m not sure where I’m going with all these colors, and how I’m going to accomplish the delicate yet hardy feel I was after for these irises. 

2. I start thinking: it’s no use. It’s never going to look the way I’m picturing in my imagination.

3. My computer crashes. Great. I won’t have access to my reference photo (which I took back in the spring) for a while. I decide to continue the painting from memory.

4. It’s not working. I start to really dislike this painting. It’s awful.

5. I take a break from this one to paint a picture of Roadie looking out the window.

6. I come back to this one with fresh eyes and a fresh attitude, letting go of what I started out thinking it should be. Just painting spontaneously. Little surprises that I really like start happening with the colors. 

7. I start really enjoying working on this painting. And I’m looking forward to finishing it tomorrow.

Just couldn’t resist ...

SOLD

 

Neighborhood Watch V: Roadie  © 2012 Karen Mathison Schmidt

7 x 5 inches • acrylic on GessobordTM

private collection • Stamford, Connecticut

I interrupted work on my iris paintings to do this little one today. (Even though I’m still without Photoshop I figured out how to adjust settings on the scanner for a suitable image. I still can’t scan and put together the larger paintings until I get my iMac back, but I can do fine on these smaller ones.) This morning after breakfast Roadie was sitting here in one of his favorite spots, looking out the living room window, and I just couldn’t resist this light. I must confess that the urn full of roses isn’t usually in this spot, but after I sneaked a couple of reference shots I ran to the hall and dragged them in for a little added interest.

And Roadie couldn’t resist the roses, of course. Before I knew it he had taken a few out of the urn. I rescued them from sure destruction, but not before I snapped this reference for another future painting ...

Computer woes

When, oh, when is Mom’s computer coming back?

Well, my old iMac finally died on Wednesday. But not all the way. Only the hard drive. Fortunately I have everything backed up externally, so I will still have all my pictures and programs and stuff, but still waiting for my actual computer to come back from the shop with its brand new hard drive so I can get back to using Photoshop. I miss my Photoshop. Terribly. 

So meanwhile, here’s a post sent to you from my husband’s computer, which is totally decked out for music production, but not so much for visual art production or photos.

Hopefully I’ll be up and running again on Monday. Hopefully.

Meanwhile I keep painting, and I’ll have a couple of finished iris paintings to show when I get back to posting art ...

Happy painting!