100 Days - 100 Dreams: 5

I sort of dream of Dancing Bears

Not while I'm sleeping
But when I lie in bed
Or in the hammock

I am NOT a dancer
But often the folks who buy the dancing bears 
Are

They know how to Waltz
And Tango
And Quickstep

And so the bears
Must learn THEIR steps

And I must learn them
Too
Damn and Yay

One Two Three
One Two Three

Under the Moon

Sigh,
Sue

www.suerowe.com
Facebook Page: Sue-Rowe-Studios

Dancing In Edges

Listening to National League Hockey play-offs and matting and framing pastels. Have I ever mentions how much I do not enjoy framing? Not that it matters. An artist's gotta do what an artist's gotta do.

Anyway, the latest piece to be captured behind glass is a work I titled "Dancing In Edges." Here it is is progress:

I was playing with color and trying to use up little chunks of pastel (an on-going process). After lightly drawing a basic bear I mostly just grabbed colors I felt worked well together and made shapes. Large, small, irregular. It didn't really matter. I did want an un-balanced balance, but didn't think HARD about where the colors and shapes ended up. Whole bunches of sort of "happy accidents."

The darkest areas at bottom probably started off black, but later I covered these spots with very dark blue. I use black when I fell like using it, but this time.... I changed my mind. It's O.K. to change your mind. It CAN be for the better. I did try to not layer colors - hoping their gem-like glows would shimmer against each-other. 

 I really liked the color of the dark-grey paper showing through areas not covered by pastel. This became the most serious issue when trying to finish the painting. I asked friends. i asked family members. I even took this piece to a meeting of the lake Country pastel Society. Opinions were mixed: Keep the grey areas. Work in more colors. 

Going with the "add a bit more color" folks, I had to decide which colors and where to put them. I did enjoy blending some edges while keeping some edges clean. I didn't worry too much about color theory - only whether the result of color against color was pleasing to my eye.

After a few more sessions of pressing bits of pastels into the paper I decided to quit and feel the painting was finished. There are still a few areas free of pastel - yay! And the colors glow - yay! And the piece is matted and framed - so I guess it IS finished - YAY!!

No, you cannot tell that any pastels are missing from the supplies. But I think the paper was well-used, and I hope that this colorful painting catches the eye of a potential customer at an art fair this coming Sunday!

Now it's time to feel sad for the serious Chicago Blackhawks hockey fans. Yup, their team led for a few seconds, but lost in the end.

Between basketball, hockey, tennis, and horse-racing this weekend I am almost sports out. Almost....

Bears, and hockey, and blogging, oh my!

Time for a tea break. It's been a long afternoon and evening of matting and framing art-work. 

But a good spending of time. Two new pieces ready for this Sunday's Art Fair in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It will be our first time exhibiting at this show, so am happy to increase the bruins' range.

Time to quit dancing. Time for a nap!

Fare-thee-well,

Sue

www.suerowe.com

Facebook Page: Sue-Rowe-Studios

This and That

The days are again hinting at Spring. Compared to the past two years our April and May have been almost balmy and snow-free, but lately lots of windy grey damp and dreary days are laying the spirit low.

Baby basils and tomatoes are doing their best to raise up my low soul. Weeding and raking in the vegetable garden help, too. And today I type while looking out at BLUE skies. blue skies are not to be taken for granted, nor are the mild, wild-weather-free weeks our part of the Upper Midwest is experiencing. Thoughts and prayers go out world-wide to the folks dealing with weather conditions way beyond their control. Mother Nature is often cruel and humbling. "No wire hangers!" "No thinking you're free from earthquakes (blizzards, flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc, etc.)!"

Maybe this why the latest "goofing off" pastel is called "Dancing in Edges." Our days can seem to be as smooth as glass, when, CRACK, all underfoot is splinters and shards.

Decision time. I, of course, step baby step by baby steps through the sharp edges, wishing I had steel-toed boots on. Others say ,"Woo hoo! Time to dare cavorting in the beauty of the cracks, refelctions, and refractions!"

     

  "Dancing in Edges" (work in progress - but almost finished)

I often ask my bears to do what I dare not. Dancing bits of chalk across some Canson paper is so much easier than trusting that my own arms and legs might  find some sense in musical space.

It IS odd that a person can be BRAVE in many instances,  yet totally insecure in others. I chalk it up (haha) to Human Nature, and though I have tried for years to understand the Brave versus Fear I have yet to crack this code. If any body has a clue, feel free to type!

I will go bravely and wimpily on - and, No, not doing the Best that I can do. A major flaw in personality. But fumbling forward and groping and stumbling. Not giving up, but not feeling much forward progress. Dreaming Tiny Dreams, or no dreams at all.

Weird. Yup. But aware of the weirdness.

Thanks for letting me ramble. It's time to get back to filling greeting card orders,  and, perhaps, dotting a few more spots on the above piece.

If I knew who I was perhaps I'd know what to do. Lalalalalalala.

On to the second half of May, 2015.

Good Luck with yours! If you see somebody muddling through the month, that muddler might be me!

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

www.suerowe.com
Facebook Page: Sue-Rowe-Studios

Yet Another Start

ABeen away, now we're back. No excuses. On to the the day.

A recent bear from my 30 Bear Challenge on Facebook. Scraps of soft pastel on scrap of velour matboard. Finished image would mat to 7" x 5."

Progressions: 1)

No thoughts except "bear" and "highlights," and "fit image to mat." This is a scary time. But one must keep going.

2) Keep going. Keep going.

I have large hands. Fingers don't like working with bits, chips, and small pieces of pastel. "Tough," I tell them, "It's our mission to use these tiny colors to possibly create some new beauty." "We NEED more BEAUTY," I tell fingers. (This is a lie. I simply want to use up more bits of pastel.) Time to break out of the blue and see what happens. Come on, little pastels, you can do it!

3) A bruin is appearing. I want it to be Joyful. Lift those arms skyward! Pick up those feet! Fingers, grab that lovely intense light blue! And more yellow! Make tentative marks within the bold ones! (Sadly, I'm quite good at making tentative marks. Be brave enough to go for Bold!)

"Why is that line of bright green dots there?," you ask. For Fun! And perhaps - a bit a Stability.  And a wish for Spring in this white white Upper Midwest. And because I love that color.

4) Keep making marks, keep making decisions. Blend some parts. Keep other spots untouched. This is the time of Tiny Miracles. Don't go too fast. (I almost always go too fast.) Let the image form. More decisions. More marks. Good thing that pastel on velour mat-board is quite forgiving and one can re-work areas deemed in need of such. (Recalling pen-and-ink horrors... I shall not elaborate...)

At this point I have no "good" reasons for placing colors, other then feel for composition and an unbalanced balance. Six colors used so far. Is that enough? For this piece, probably. But one must keep options open. It's fun to work with abstract shapes after most often drawing blue "lakes" and green "trees." It's scary to dare to play. But fun to have fun. This bear is making me happy. This piece might be a 'successful" piece. I try not to care. I'm one who likes succeeding, darn it. But the end seems to be near - that's a whole other problem....

5) I keep fitting the matting over the image. Choosing the final cropping. At this size an eighth of an inch can make a big difference. And I know that the finished piece will be used in cards and a variety of reproductions. An 10 x 8 reproduction crop differently than a 6 x 4 image for a greeting card. Now we're starting to leave the Fun and return to Business. Sigh. Keep adding high-lights! Stay with the Joy!  You can do it. You can do it! A few more marks, a couple more blends. One more look overall. And, ta da!, let's consider this bruin done. 

Now it's time to relax and enjoy the results. This piece came quite easily - whatever THAT means. One is not often so lucky. And there are so many small bits of pastel left...

But we'll leave them for another day.

Hoping this piece inspires YOU to pick up something and make your own marks. 

Time to get back to transplanting zinnias and tomatoes and starting to plant the beloved Sweet Basil.

Fare-thee-well,

Sue

Casual Art

We had an awesome Blueberry Festival up in Ely, Minnesota this past weekend - thank you to old friends and new customers! Our goodies have been restocked at Mostly Moose and More downtown. And once again I'm trying to exercise off an art-fair eating frenzy...

This afternoon I cut up a large piece of sanded pastel paper - large goodie picked up for free at a Lake Country Pastel Society meeting two years ago. Because it was free it was easier to chop up than some papers. Also, it was slightly damaged. It felt good to toss away that last little piece - although the hoarder in me still felt bad about wasting possibly useful stuff.

Now one large piece is five smaller pieces - so on to the adventure! I did a small bear from the back - using only Nupastels. No text yet - don't know if it needs any. And started a red-toned dancing couple. The couple traded places during the dance - female is now on left - original thought had her on the right. But with no pressure to stick to plan - bam - just switch sides and continue on. Whew.

Also toned a sheet of Wallis paper orange-red. Will probably get two small works out of the sheet. Might attempt some "cute" stuff on purpose. After all the years of doing "not cute" stuff on purpose.

Tara and I went to the Bikery this morning to drink coffee and design. She has a magic sketchbook right now - one of those that refuses to accept any bad drawings. So lovely fashion designs are filling the pages. I just keep chopping white cardstock in half and seeing who comes out of the Sharpie markers. Three or four possible card designs today. I had a long list of possible things to work on - of course none of the new bears helped cross anything off the list. Sigh.

Time for chocolate mint ice cream with a small handful of almonds tossed in for good measure.

Fare-thee-well,
sue

100 Dancing Bears

On to the Next Grand Adventure! On to one-hundred dancing bears - in whatever form they may appear.

The Modern Jazz Quartet is vibraphoning in the background and I must find a new excitement and discipline. What better than to hang around and be introduced to a huge crew of bears who dance? Or don't. (I don't think Larry's a dancer.)

So we will see who shows up and what gets documented. I will have to learn new basic computer skills.

The first 100 dancing bears were done in Sharpie Marker on papers 8 1/2" high by 3 1/2" wide. They were done long enough ago that I don't know when they were started or finished. They were something to do. The rules were: the image had to be done in a space of 5 1/2" by 3 1/2," one bear per space, and the background was filled in by what I call line crochet. It's amazing to see how many shapes, motions, emotions, and scales came about. Some are dull, some are personable. Some ya don't care about, some you'd want to chat with....

Now the skills have increased. There can be pastel bears, acrylic bears, sculpted bruins, collaged cubs. Maybe I'm getting excited. I'm almost afraid to peek into the studio. Yoo hoo - Bob, is that you?

Waltzin' in my mind-
Sue