101 BIRDS - Painting #11

 Thank you for the comments on the previous post. Somehow I knew I wasn't the only one that keeps old brushes  much longer than I should. You should see my pen "collection". I have a special place where I keep only the ones that don't work (like a gazillion Pitt pens that I destroyed by using over wet paint). I keep them to scratch into paint. The only thing is - I do that a lot (like you can see on the following close up) but I NEVER use my pens for it.  I have a "special" favorite tool for it. One day I'll take a picture and show it in one of my future posts.

My brushes

At some point not cleaning the studio becomes harder than cleaning it... that's where I am.

I started by taking a good look at my brushes.

A really good look... I almost wanted to count them, but stopped myself. Instead, I gave them a place in one of my journals.

After that - I organized them. Some brushes went to the place of no return... The following photo is before organizing. The "after" doesn't look much different.

 What can I say - I love my brushes, new ones, old ones, crisp, ragged, big, small... I think I need them all. How about you?

101 BIRDS - Painting #10

Some days more than others I realize how much truth there is in these words. Somehow, although it's not summer, today I have the last three lines from Mary Oliver's poem ringing in my head.

It's Friday, and I have a new painting.... I think it's time to join Paint Party Friday and see some new art.  Happy almost weekend :-)

Lady and a daffodil

I planned to write all sorts of things around her, but it was too late at night.

When I saw her again the next morning, the moment was gone. She didn't seem to want to "talk", but she didn't mind the flower... 

I find it funny that we still have a ton of crumbly fall leaves (many still on the tree) and at the same time new spring flowers everywhere.

Happy flowers

- watercolors, ink and sharpie liquid pencil in my sketchbook-

101 BIRDS - Painting #9

Still no clue...

101 BIRDS - Painting #8

I played with pretend snow today and made this little guy.

I don't know why he needed such a tall hat, but he seemed to want it.

This photo showed up in my email this morning. My hometown has more snow that I've ever seen, so while I'm here enjoying the daffodils in my garden, my Mom is enjoying the snow. There is so much of it that she was able to make a snowman on her windowsill. Isn't he cute? 

101 BIRDS - Painting #7

The way I am creating these bird paintings is completely free-form. I don't have a concept, color scheme, plan. Like here - I painted a bird in the middle of the page and had no idea what to do with him and couldn't just leave him standing in the middle of nothing. So I looked around my room, found a paper with printed words (that I usually cut and use one by one), added the whole thing, then some other paper and decided it was done. I stop painting when I'm happy with it.

Sometimes, days later  I decide that I actually don't like it, so I change it... paint around it or over it, until I'm happy again. It's only paint.

Wouldn't it be cool if everything in life was so simple?

101 BIRDS - Painting #6

Sunday journal page

Sometimes the words I choose for my journal don't reflect what happened or even what I am feeling.

 I was not standing alone today when I saw this scene and there was nothing I wanted to forget.

I love sailboats....

Have a happy week!

101 BIRDS - Painting #5

Visitor

I knew you couldn't guess it... it's such a random animal that I would have really been surprised if anyone thought of it. Thank you for trying! It was fun to read your comments.

Remember the cartoon with the black cat and a skunk in love?

Look what our camera captured in the backyard.

The black cat is our neighbors.... I thought that it was funny that she is black and seemed to know that we have a 'visitor'. The darling skunk has left our backyard and we closed the way it came in. I think that it is completely adorable and wouldn't mind holding one just like the girl in THIS movie.

It is not allowed to have skunks as pets in California (not that I would really want one, but I was intrigued by the thought), but it's very much allowed to quickly paint them in the journal. 

Happy weekend!

101 BIRDS - Painting #4

Tomorrow I will show you a different animal... Can you believe it, I painted an animal in my journal and it's not a bird!!! Do you want to try and guess which one? There will be a present (painting) for you if you guess correctly...

101 BIRDS - Painting #3

101 BIRDS - Painting #2

I didn't clean my table after finishing the first painting, so I used the same supplies for painting #2.

It turned out to be a good thing, I think.

Early spring

I skyped with my parents this morning and they showed me the scenery around there home. Deep, fluffy, white snow and only 10°F. Really cold... Then I stepped in front of our home to show them what is surrounding us. Spring came extra early this year.

I played in my small journal, quickly trying to capture the purple, orange, yellow and green tones.

101 BIRDS - Painting #1

This is the first thing I painted in 2012. I remember that the thought of a series of bird paintings just landed in my mind. I wasn't even thinking about art, but suddenly I knew that I need to decide on a format and allow myself to paint birds in whatever style I feel like. Isn't that weird? 

I also didn't think about the word for the year because I don't do that (except one year when I made up a word and it really didn't mean anything). This time a word planted itself and it's just there...

I don't even have think about it, it makes me aware of itself.

I wonder if this year will bring other surprises like that...

 Thank you very, very much for welcoming me back.
I had to laugh while reading comments and emails. because it seems like no one thought that I will really stop blogging... except me.

I guess I should learn not to be so black or white, and put more color in my life decisions. It is not the first time that I said or did something that I believed was the right thing, just to see it from a different perspective a month later and change my mind... Sometimes there isn't an "undo"...

Back to art. I have a lot of things to show, so I might become annoying with frequent blog posts for a while. I started a new series of paintings on January first, and am going to continue with it through the year. Can you guess who or what is the main character in the series?

You don't have to, I'll post the first painting tomorrow.

Happy weekend!

Hello!

Happy February!

Can we pretend that I didn't write the previous post?

The one where I said I will stop blogging?

 Can I just sneak back in? Maybe no one is listening, so I can...

 I missed my blog.

I missed you.

I'm back. I hope that some of you are here too.