Angel number four

Posted by Melissa 

She doesn't have a pouch on her dress because she forgot to change out of her choir robe into her work robe.

Poor thing had to have her wing replaced. I thought I'd have to redo her entirely, then I remembered that these are for digital reproduction and Photoshop can do many wondrous things.

 

 

Angel number three

posted by Melissa

Yes, she did pull the watering can out of her pouch. No, she did not really need it. The earth was nice and damp from melted snow and a few good rains. She just likes giving flowers a drink. When one of my children was quite small, I found her outside on a rainy day with a watering can, proudly, happily giving the flowers a drink. This little angel is cut from the same cloth. If you're wondering how she fit the can in her pouch, see yesterday's post.

I struggled a lot with this one. I took dozens of rotten pictures, pulled out my pencils and worked on her some more, took dozens more rotten pictures and finally chose the least rotten picture. I thought about featuring another angel today, but I decided instead that this would be an exercise in good enough. Recognizing and accepting the good enough is an important part of my creative learning curve. It leaves me with the energy to persevere. I believe it leads to better work overall if I don't obsess about a piece that is troubling me. And a funny thing that happens sometimes is that a piece I'm unhappy with is someone else's favorite.

 

 I do want to figure out how to take better pictures.

Angel number two

Posted by Melissa

She suggested turning off the flash, and I think she was right.   Maybe I'll take a new picture of  angel number one without a flash and add it to yesterday's post.

Her pocket is like Mary Poppins' carpet bag.  It has just about endless capacity. Right now she's carrying the clippers she used to cut the roses, a garden hose with a sprayer attached, and a small step ladder. Yes, she has wings, but when you're picking Japanese beetles off a trellised rose its just easier to stand on a ladder than to hover a foot off the ground.

An angel a day

Posted by Melissa

I've been drawing angels, lots of angels for weeks and weeks. I was working mainly on kraft paper, which is really fun to draw on with colored pencil. Light colors pop, and I love the fluffy texture and warm irregular brown. But I didn't feel at home with anything I made. The popping color was a handicap--everything I made looked cartoony to me. There's nothing wrong with cartoony, but I'm not really a cartoony kind of person, and I couldn't identify with any of my little characters. It was stressful--constantly trying to adjust and find my groove, with no success.

So I made some angels on white paper, and it felt like coming home. They have a completely different feeling than what I was doing before. I'm going to make 12 of these little gardening angels. (Forgive the pun. I didn't originate it, but I must admit it pleases me.)  I will post one a day for the next 12 days, more or less.....

 

She's a little bummed about this photo. She thinks her face has more color and detail than the camera picked up. I don't know much about taking pictures, but I think I might just need to make a bolder statement when I draw so all my hard work is reproducible.  

See you tomorrow!

----

NEW PHOTO without flash, enlarged.  

Repurposed

Posted by Melissa

Back in the day, I loved to make cakes with lots of steps: sift flour three times before measuring, cream butter and sugar till light, whip egg whites to form glossy peaks, beat egg yolks with sugar till they flow in a pale yellow ribbon. No one complained about this. No one said, “What, cake again? Don’t you care that gluten gives me a stomach ache and white sugar erodes the very foundation of my health?” No, my longsuffering family ate cake and scones and flaky biscuits and homemade bread with touching tolerance.

I think somewhat complicated baking was compensation for not enough art in my life. I need to make things that aren’t too easy to accomplish, like scratch cake with a tender, delicate crumb and stretchy, long-rising homemade bread. Now, I have loads of art in my life and am fully out of denial about the ways gluten and sugar were making us sick. I wish I could say no one is complaining about food now, but tummyaches are better, and headaches and asthma and acne and aching joints. So I’m not complaining.

But what to do with my cake pedestal . . . .

I know.  Let’s use it to keep these ceramic models wet and workable overnight.

These are porcelain models for toys, as well as studies in porcelain. If they are not made into toys they will not be models, they will just be themselves—porcelain figurines of childlike angels. When they are more finished I might take pictures of them outside of their glass house.

 

Here are studies of heads and a couple of tiny angels in various clays. One I painted with acrylics. Those files in the background are for carving tiny models out of jeweler's wax. I haven't done that for a while.

 

What I'm up to

Posted by Melissa

 I had hoped this blog would help structure and focus my creative energy as well as support an online store, but soon after I started blogging, I began a venture that shook up my plans. A business-minded artist friend for whom I’ve done design work was inspired to get behind some cute characters I drew and develop their money-making potential.  At this point he’s risking time and money. I’m risking time, although it doesn’t feel risky. If  business hopes don’t pan out, I’ll at least have a body of work to do something with. Perhaps more importantly, I feel like I’m getting an education both in illustration and in my particular creative process. I’m homeschooling myself in art. To give me time, my husband has taken over household work I’ve usually done. It’s wonderful.

A small disappointment, however, is the way I approach this blog. I make art every day, but its not connected to the blog and I don’t feel great about posting it. I don’t actually expect someone in my vast readership to steal it and get rich instead of me, but putting it online doesn’t feel right.  I read somewhere that introverted children don’t show the leading edge of their development. What you see  is not as developed as what is hidden, though not by choice --it’s just the way they are. Maybe I’m just an introverted artist, and what  is developing needs to stay enclosed for now.  I can’t imagine putting work in progress pictures online like some art bloggers.  How do they remember to take pictures, even?

I think it’s like giving birth. I don’t want a lot of people around when I’m doing that, though some moms like friends with them during labor. After the umbilical cord is cut, however, I’m glad to show off my darling baby.

 I’m not sure what I'll do. I might show some  work in spite of discomfort,  or I may do more pictureless posts, with thoughts about creativity. I actually love reading what people think and feel as they create.  We'll see what happens. 

A search for signs of spring

Posted by Lucy

As the days lengthened and the sun grew warmer, Mr. Cardinal knew it was time to begin reporting and searching out the signs that the next and most exciting season of all, spring, was speedily overtaking the cold weather. March had been very cold this year, but as that interesting month prepared to depart, it grew suddenly warmer. And so today, the third of April, Mr. Cardinal, Jack, Phronsie,  Pippet and Bobbin (who was armed with a notebook), set out to search for signs of spring.

 

“Feel how warm the sun is!” said Pippet, dancing along. “And look at all the new grass pushing its way up from the ground!” added Phronsie, joyfully examining the new green blades.” Write those down Bobbin,” said Mr. Cardinal,” those are two sure signs that spring is here. Keep your eyes open for more as we walk along,” he added as Bobbin wrote “warm sunshine “ and “new green grass” first on her list.

“I see one!” she said, running up to a tree. “See, leaf buds.” They climbed all sorts of trees to examine the buds.

 

 

“Look, pussy willows!” cried Phronsie.  ”Ooh, they’re soft.” said Pippet, when she had climbed high enough to touch the fluffy catkins. ”Put those on your list too,” said Mr. Cardinal, and Bobbin did.

“Look, at those!” said Phronsie, pointing overhead. “Those don’t look like leaf buds, those look like flower blossoms.” said Bobbin. ”They are,” said Mr. Cardinal, “those are witch hazel blossoms.” He flew up to grab some, while Bobbin recorded them on her list.

“And look here,” said Mr. Cardinal, breaking a twig off a large tree. ” This is a type of maple blossom.” The list showed forth yet another name.

“Oh, look what I found,” said Pippet. “Sprouts!” “These will be scilla flowers,” said Mr. Cardinal.

“Hey, look, a bud!” exclaimed Bobbin and “scilla bud” replaced “scilla sprouts” in her notebook.

"But man, this is the best yet!” shouted  Jack, as he came upon an actual flower. "Scilla blossom” then replaced “scilla bud.” 

 They gathered round the flower, while Jack guarded it as if it were his own.

Later they admired all the things they had found. It was a pleasing collection. And that night they used pussy willow catkins for pillows.