So, I do art and stuff - general artistic / creative chat

Here are a few pics from my yard area.
It’s a small compact area & difficult to photograph so you’ll need to imagine you are standing on flat stepping stones on a shaded grassy lawn area as you view these pics.
I’ve tried to encourage nature to envelope the ‘things of old’ & I simply keep a window trimmed so a viewer may see a naturally framed object, should they pause to look.
Not exactly art, not exactly gardening. Not sure what you call it. Each piece has a story.
Bare in mind these areas were all bare dirt once upon a time so this ‘sculpture’ has taken decades to fill in & always changes.

Near my stone stairs there sits a small Buddha, perched upon a stump, his little offering bowl nearby. I cannot recall how he came to be in my possession but never-the-less he has a place. I’m not particularly religious under any particular faith but this little guy gives me hope that goodness exists.

Nearby is a bench seat my, (late), father used to sit in while enjoying a smoke. No one else sits there anymore so I keep it trimmed like this with just enough greenery to make it look forgotten but not so much as for it to fade from sight.
I miss my old dad.
The rope goes to a bird feeder which in spring is a lively cacophony of bird song while quail clean up the sprinkled seed below.

Elsewhere there are a couple of relics from my families farming past. I periodically clean these up & coat them with rust preventative, lest my garden moisture eat them away to nothing.

One of my favourite little pieces is this ancient machinery jack. It was once sat vertically but as the tree it resides under has gradually leaned into the tree beside it, the ground has moved so much that it now lays nearly horizontal. I’ve been watching this gradually occur for a decade.
The tree itself is special to me as its roots hold the remains of beloved pets that have passed on over the past 30 years or so.

Behind my house is a terranium that once had a little forest scene with a parked (model) car. On a little roadway.
In its ‘neglect’ it has grown into a jungle so it is nearly impossible to see anything anymore.

So none of this is exactly ‘art’ but it is fun to visualise, place & create a space that nature takes over.

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For some people it is; but not for me. The only times I’ve sold some of my precious babies is when someone sees one somewhere and twists my arm to buy it. I’ve sold about… fifty maybe over a long time honing my craft. Given a few away to people I trust to care for them properly.

But now I have a handle on a good way to exhibit the work and we have a deadline for opening the online Gallery/Blog. We are working toward September 15 of this year. But at first we are only going to try selling giclee and other prints so that anyone can afford them. And if anyone feels they would really rather have the original… well we can talk, I guess. I already have a price list based on square inch, and each original has a Certificate of Authenticity and (believe it or not) a product code. :stuck_out_tongue: Though I’m still working on getting them all done. Too many paintings!

Even if I never sell one painting online, it will be a satisfying endeavor to have them available for viewing by folks. Plus I get to work on the site with my Web-Dev daughter. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

And I agree about the being good at what we do. Since I can’t stop myself from painting I generally focus on (and get lost in) simply learning from each one to try and make the next one more alive.

I do believe that the absorption and love of painting and of our chosen subject(s) comes through and gets transmitted to the viewers who resonate with it.

Painting something smoothly in a single colour is MUCH harder. lol
I’d love to see some pics of your amazing sounding “Nature Takes It Back” gardens. And you DID and I missed it at first! lol Thank you!

And as @sheralmyst says, more of your sculptures, too! (please?) :puppy dog eyes:

EDIT: [quote=“Mad-Hatter, post:362, topic:7619”]
So none of this is exactly ‘art’ but it is fun to visualise, place & create a space that nature takes over.
[/quote]

To me that is the essence of art! Thank you for sharing your beautiful gardens

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You posted at the same time as me :crazy_face:

Go back up a bit & your request is granted.

Edit:::
… & now we are sort of back in sync :rofl:

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Oh that’s what happened! I thought I must have gone completely blind. :smile: And then I started getting that “Sync”-ing feeling, :groan:

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I love it! Little things tucked away in a garden, flower bed, walking path,etc…just make it much more interesting rather than just a bunch of plants.
There is a 210 acre botanical garden near here that includes lots of interesting little objects tucked away among the plants. People pay to see it. I can’t quite put my finger on the appeal but decorating this way must touch something deep inside us.
I have quite a bit of old farming equipment as well. Right now, there is too much growing around some of it and it is too heavy for me to move. Maybe this fall I will work on cleaning them up. My favorite is an old hay baler. You have inspired me @Mad-Hatter . :grinning:

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Me too! :heart:
I am particularly enamoured of the photo with the spoked wheel in it. I would love to attempt an oil painting of that. I think it would be a challenge for me, but a fun exploration.

It is an art form all it’s own. Like rust, decay, crumbling stucco or stone, water stains on yellowing wallpaper (Did you ever read a small book called The Yellow Wallpaper? it wasn’t about art.), all that life within life, the yin and yang… And now I’ve gone off all philosophical/mystical. lol I love this thread! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

And today I get to paint. YAY!

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Be my guest.
There’s a whole story that goes with that wheel.

As a kid I used to occasionally ride past this old machine ‘thingy’ laying on its side up on a disused access track along a rocky bluff on our property. It was a basic steel cross with only a skeletal structure to it. Not sure what it was or why it was even there but it served as a milestone & a reference point…& was just kind of cool looking.
It was wedged firmly on its side (for reasons unknown) with one wheel in the air, which I could spin should I grab it as I went past.
It was this sort of key object, that to a child seemed eternal, like an obelisk or other ancient monument.

Anyway, life zipped by the way it seems to in young adulthood into middle age & I one day, (decades later) found myself up on that bluff again & was astonished to discover the ‘thingy’ was gone.
On closer inspection, I discovered it had actually corroded to the point of collapse & was now the ground level trellis for some spikey vines.
I felt strangely guilty seeing this special object (to me) almost lost & set about the rather difficult task of recovering it & ultimately bringing it home.
The retrieval mission was something akin to an archeological expedition with a certain amount of risk created by the precarious offroad location, awkward weight & razor sharp edges, but retrieve it I did & now I see it everyday & am strangely fond of it … & to be quite honest, I’m glad I got to share this little story. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you so much! --For the permission, and even more for the lovely story! That story moves me deeply inside, and just thinking about it makes me brings tears to my eyes,

And if what you did there, the love, the rescue, the creation of a space where it could be made new and tended --well if that isn’t art, I don’t know what is. And then you wrote the most poignant beautiful story to go with it, bless you!

This will be, as I said above, a large challenge for me, and now that I know the story, I’m a tiny bit intimidated, but still more excited. It will take some time, perhaps even months, especially since started a new 12"sq. piece just yesterday. But I will be able to make a start with some charcoal sketches, ink sketches, etc., and a few colour studies in watercolour to get the process rolling and keep it going while I work on the other piece,

Gosh! Thank you so much! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :blush: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

(You are a very skilled story-teller in your writings!)

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Thank for you kind response to my little tale.
I find that so many things have a lost history that I have a tendency to ramble on should I happen to know some of an object’s life story.
I’m simply sharing. If & when you ever painted it, it is your choice & I wouldnt mind if it was a bizzare mix of Picasso & Andy Warhol so far detached from the source material it was unrecognisable, so long as YOU enjoyed creating it. :wink:

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I have a friend who lost her sister to covid so I was painting a small card to send her when I got word that another woman I know, 94 had died last night. Both covid related. Anyway, here is the card I painted. Added some textural features


8.5 x 3.5 to fit in an envelope. I figure it will mail okay but I will give it a couple of days to cure. Then varnish it. Then I will write on the back…or I may just drive to her house and deliver it myself. They do not live close by though.

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Hahah! That made me laugh. Thanks for that! :heart:

Such a lovely card! I’m so sorry to hear about the people you know getting ill and even dying. :`(

We went to the Credit Union yesterday to open my business account. There were ten employees and four customers and we were the only ones wearing masks!

Also, if it were me, I would mail that card rather than give it in person. >.>

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Thanks for the advice! I think I will mail it. Maybe I will slip some card stock in with it just to kinda help it not get bent.

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Has anyone used these?

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I have never heard of them, If you try them you will have to let us know how it goes. I am fairly new to the art supply world.

I’m working my way up to a more finished piece. Kind of NMS-esque

brainstorming


draft

Trying out a Ooly refillable nib pen. I like it.

I am thinking the character needs a faithful servant like Frodo and Samwise or Don Quixote and Sancho or King Arthur and Patsy… all laden down with supplies.

:two_hearts: To all!

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OMG --so cuuute! --especially that last one. :heart:

Is the Ooly ink permanent?
I’ve been reading mixed reviews on the Ooly pens (on Amazon). Personally I’m not a fan of cartridge pens and get a bit peeved when companies market them as “refillable” (unless you can refill the cartridge itself?).

Your art, however, I am a fan of! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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No. Cute idea, but I think I will stick with wood frames. Nice heavy paper, though at a dollar a sheet, I will pass, even though some art quirk in me wants to try it out just because it is an art supply. :grin:

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Oh, how exciting! I wonder if there is a way to follow this up so we can find out when they get the cardboard off. :heart_eyes:

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The National Galleries of Scotland made the discovery. You can subscribe to Art News which covers these types of news items in the art world but, I don’t see a direct link to the subject itself…unless you know a museum curator or conservationist… :smile:

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An interesting article from my latest Newsletter from Golden Artists Colors:

(love the punny title!)
I generally mix my own greys/blacks as I go along. It doesn’t take long to do this, but then I am working relatively small most of the time. I can see the value (heh) I having some of these pre-made Munsell greys for anything 36x48" or over.

I now find myself working on three pieces simultaneously (sort of). Vine Tomato II; Garden Monument (working title. Sometimes I call it “Spoked Wheel”), from @Mad-Hatter 's photo; and, a self portrait for Mal that I would like to complete by Christmas. The latter two I have only made quick ink sketches of, but Vine Tomato II 12"x12" is in oils, in progress (slow progress while I get my physical pain under control).

I have set up a file system for creating blog posts for my upcoming website, as well as for my newsletter. My next major step is to clean up my studio, which got completely trashed before I had a chance to get everything organised (there were reasons).

My biggest hurdle is not being able to see well enough to clean up my studio. It takes forever for me to find things, and often I have to wait and ask Mal to help me find the thing I’m looking for. He his always willing to help, so I have to be careful not to impose on his time for his won creative work.

Last night I burned our best veggie steamer pot because I didn’t see that the timer had not actually started. :cry: Next time I will check it with a puck light. I often forget that I can’t see what I am looking at and carry on regardless until… uh-oh! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: So yeah.

Mal promised me that one his latest creative project (a large commission piece with glass artist Eric Hilton) I will have is help to finish the organisation on my studio. That was supposed to be in October of last year. But with all the health issues we have both been experiencing, it may not be finished until October of this year (or later). Good thing the client is very patient and empathetic.

I’m so excited about the direction my work is taking, the website, the painting, the support from my closest friends, and the inspiring fun I’ve been having on this thread. (You are all wonderful!) I’m hoping my energy levels will soon catch up to my ambitions. :wink:

How’s your art week been?

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