the explorers.......

When I was in sixth grade elementary school, our teacher, whose name escapes me these many years later, created one of my favorite school projects ever! On the back wall of the classroom she tacked up the whole world. All the continents, oceans, islands - it was all there. Then each week, she would introduce a new explorer. Our job during that week was to trace the route this adventurer took across this paper universe. We used colored string and little push pins to create his route. I loved the names of these courageous individuals and I loved how the whole map looked. I found their journeys and travails all very interesting, but for me, it was how this world in the back of our classroom began to look. All the lines and dots and colors and then how the shapes appeared and the sections took form. The only way a student could work on the project was to finish the work for the day and then we would be allowed to work on the map. You can imagine I worked my ass off each day to finish so I could work on the wall. I didn't always finish in time, but the days that I did were just amazing for me. Little did I know then, that I was painting. That experience can pretty much sum up my process to this day. I love, love mapping as I work. Connecting lines, colors forming sections and shapes. Taking an imaginary journey on canvas or any surface that will allow me to do this thing I love. My last three pieces all emerged as the explorers that I so loved years ago. This series is still coming as well as the Beneath the skin series. Here is a progression of Balboa's Secret Passage.

The first shapes are emerging.

This is before I added any bees wax.

The mapping in full swing and the wax has been added.

oil, bees wax on canvas - 11"X14" - Balboa's Secret Passage

Here is the final painting. Hope you are all enjoying your week. Our heat wave is letting up a bit today. Actually had to grab the comforter off the bedroom floor early this morning and cover up. Hard to believe I was cold.

time.......

Has it been minutes, hours, days? a month? Yes, it has! That's how I measure time in the summer. As a surprise. Long days, summer heat, steamy rainstorms, time with family, time for nothing. It all appeals to me on a very high level. After my morning coffee/computer time, a work out, a bit of something domestic, then I head for my studio. I place the little 9$ fan Jim and I bought a few summers ago, in a drawer I pull out of my tool box right behind me, turn it on and then I paint. I fall into the work. Time disappears. It's hot and my Pellagrino goes warm. The half eaten apple starts to turn brown. My hands, arms, and legs are dotted with paint and it mixes with sweat. Then I'm pulled out of the work. The flow has stopped and I need to re-access. Mmmmmm. Not bad. It's forming. I have to stop. My energy for the work is used. On the days I have to do the thousand errands or other things, I'm always thinking about what waits for me in my workspace. This is what summer is for me. It's also a time for grazing on wild berries.

These are the little blackberries. Jim and I wait for these all year.

These are my favorite summer berry. This is a thimble berry. It tastes like raspberries.

oil, bees wax on canvas - 11"x14" - Magellan's Right Turn

And of course the work. I finished this painting last week. Two more are underway. This is the best of times. Have a fabulous week everyone!

down the rabbit hole.....

I stopped at a local gallery yesterday to get some information for submitting to an upcoming juried art show. It's a very big one here. Entrants from five states and British Columbia are eligible to enter. I needed information on how they wanted images sent - jpegs on a CD, printed images or could we email them to an address. I entered the gallery and a very nice lady at the front desk greeted me. There was a man sitting next to her. I didn't know if they were both sitting the gallery or he had just stopped by for a visit - didn't really matter. I said I needed some information on how to submit images for the upcoming art show. The conversation went something like this:

she said, "Oh, alright."

I said, " I would like to know how the gallery would like the images submitted. Did they want (and then I asked the above questions)......"

She kept smiling and nodding and then asked, "digital jpegs?"

just as she was responding I spied a brochure on the counter that had all the information I needed, but it was too late.....

I said, "um, yes, did they want them burned to a CD, printed, emailed?" ....mind you I was trying to read the brochure at the same time and I was able to see "projected digital image" which I then repeated to the woman at the desk...

"Oh, they would project them on that wall over there (she points to the far wall)"

the man says, "digital is a picture from a digital camera, I believe."

she says, "oh and then they would project it on that wall over there."

I'm reading as fast as I can....

she says, "so did you need a projector?"

I said, "projector?"

"yes, to put your digital images on?"

he says, " I believe that a digital image is a clear image from a digital camera."

I said, "well actually, this brochure has all the information I need. Thank you so much."

She said, "oh, you're welcome. Should I leave a note about the projector?"

I said, "oh, no thank you."

"are you sure?"

"yes, I'm quite sure. thank you."

"Oh, well tell me your name so I can look for your art at the image show."

I said, "well actually, there is some of my work right over there (I point to two of my pieces that are in the current juried show)"

She looks at the wall where images can be projected and says, "oh, I really like those." They are not my pieces, she is looking at the wrong wall.

I say, "no, those two pieces on that wall over there."

She continues to look straight ahead at the opposite wall. The man just keeps looking at me. It is time to leave. I have my brochure.

She says, "thanks for coming in. I really like your work." Sigh.

This is a piece I just finished.

This is oil, bees wax on canvas titled Vasco da Gama's Route. Have a fabulous week everyone!

beneath the skin

As some of you have already figured out, I'm working on a series titled, Beneath the Skin. This is the third piece in this series and I have another one started. This is about the world we don't see, that is active and live 24/7. After some not so good medical issues a few years ago, I became very aware of things going on in our bodies that we are totally unaware of until it manifests itself in a not so good way. We are so conscious of our outward appearance and spend so much time and money keeping it up and then one day, BAM!, the inside goings on eclipse all of that. This piece started as a brush cleaning canvas (surprise!).

here I've started to construct the under paintings...

a form appears and now I have a course set

more colors and other forms start to emerge...

the bones of the piece are in place

Here is the final painting. I'm loving working on this series, but not everything I'm working on is connected to this. I have some smaller works that will be wax and oil. Hope you are enjoying your summer. We are! Have a great weekend everyone!

quick stop with some favs! UPDATE! Featured

I find alot of art I really like, love, inspires, etc., but sometimes I find art that is so unexpected and wonderful that I'm just knocked out. The piece below is by Robby Martin, aka, biscuit street preacher. I love his work! I won't bother to try and describe his work, you can look at it for yourself by going here. Totally everyday environments taken to another level! Ordinary to extraordinary.


"The File Room" acrylic on canvas 98" X 62"

Then there is Dneese at grrl+dog! "Knitta Please" - part of the soft sculpture exhibit at the National Gallery in Australia. Click here to read all about it! She blows me away.

An finally here is the piece I've been working on and posted the progression of in my last post. I finished it today. I also want to thank all of you who commented on my new website. I appreciate all your feedback. Have a great week everyone!

Traces - oil and oil pastel on canvas 18" X 24"

UPDATE: Carol Wiebe over at Silverspring studio has done a wonderful feature on me and my process.  Thanks so much Carol - such an unexpected wonderful surprise.

website

If it feels like I have been a bit AWOL lately, there is a very good reason! I have been working on my website. It finally went live yesterday. I am still working on other pages, but the basic parts are in place. This has been my goal for the last four months. My first objective was to create a fresh body of work to launch with. As you all are painfully aware, I have done that and continue to work towards that goal. The second phase was doing the research and finding out what kind of site would best serve my needs. Won't bore you with all the options I looked into, but instead, will share my final choice. I decided to go with 'artspan'. This is a hosting site for artists. I pay them a fee (I chose yearly) to host my site and I am then able to use their templates to create my pages. The reason I went this route? It's an inexpensive way to see if a website will serve my needs. I don't have to pay someone to design my site, another entity to host the site and I can manage it myself. Then there is a whole list of other advantages like being listed in an artist's directory, the ability to announce art events I'm involved in, statistic tracking and a whole list of other benefits. So if you have been thinking about creating a website, check them out. It might be a place that would work for you. You can check out my site at www.jeanemyers.com

I have still been working of course, even though my eyes are crossed by the end of the day most days. The pics below show the progress of one of the pieces I'm working on.

This is obviously the first underpainting....

The forms are starting to come.......

...and this is where I left it today......much journey left on this one....will say goodbye here and head to my website to work some more on another page.

crap............

On my day of a thousand errands this week, I noticed our local art supply store had a canvas sale going on. Of course I made an immediate right turn into their parking lot! I thought, well, I could pick up at least one, if not two, new canvases depending on price. Well, it was half off! OMG! I was in trouble. It didn't take me long to have a pile of about ten, yes count them, TEN canvases stacked up at the register. An then of course I had to grab a few new brushes to replace the ones that were just nubs created by my painterly scrubbing technique (obviously I don't use sable brushes). Finally time to check out.

owner of store checking me out:

"oh, you will love these canvases. They are quality cotton. You know, some people just buy crap?"

me: "Oh, that would be me. I buy crap!"

she smiles.....

"I'm the queen of crap!"

she is still smiling.......

"Serious! I buy used canvases at the thrift stores if I can find them!"

now she is doing a little laugh......

I hand her my card and she completes the sale and I start gathering up my new quality canvases - too many, so she comes around to help me carry out my mother load. We get to my car, I open the door and she says:

"OOOh, what is that?"

I have a piece in the back that I just picked up from a gallery that didn't make it into their juried show (I did get two other pieces in though, yea!)

"Oh, that's a piece I did on an old bagel board that a bakery threw out. They used to bake bagels on it!"

"oh," she said.

We finished loading my new quality stuff in, I said thank you and off I drove. I started a new painting on one of the new canvases yesterday. Hmmmmmm. Well, yes, it is definitely a bit upscale I guess. For me?! It's a surface. That's all I want is another surface to journey on. So for awhile I will journey on quality canvas. Will let you know if the journey is more upscale as time goes on.

These two pieces I finished this week. I have posted them in progress in the last two posts.

This one is done on one of my thrift store canvases. This is oil, oil pastel and bees wax on an old piece of crap canvas. The bees wax is only on parts of this piece.

This one is oil, oil pastel, bees wax on an old piece of crap canvas - another thrift store find. Bees wax covers this whole piece.

I want to wish all of you a wonderful & safe 4th of July!