Amusing

Amanda 3  8 X 10 in  oil on canvas panel

Amanda 4  8 X 10 in   oil on canvas panel

If you believe in "The Muse" who enables and inspires you to create works of art, then you operate under the assumption that this personal muse visits you at his pleasure and not always when you summon. If you believe, as I do, that the creative spirit is nurtured from within, then WHY oh WHY does it just vanish for days at a time? I am not referring to having little or no inspiration, but days in which I know not how to pick up a brush, to make a meaningful brush stroke! For instance, I had a very bad, terrible, rotten no-good afternoon two days ago. It was a verbal, conflicting, anxiety-producing kind of day, all things that block my ability to paint. I ended up wiping out two paintings which had started well but ended as pure dribble. I spat and fumed all night long, grumpy, frustrated and resentful. Yesterday I tucked my chin, hunkered-down and re-painted the two that I had wiped out, painting long into the night. And today I finished a third from that series. I wish I could blame it on my muse, but knowing better, seriously pleased that I worked my way through the blockage to produce these nice little eye portraits. Hope you enjoy them.

Caleb 3  8 X 10  oil on canvas panel

Figurative Works

Two of my recent pieces, The Dancer and Eric were chosen for Figurative Works, a juried competition at the Foundry Art Centre in Saint Charles, Missouri.  I was absoLUTELY blown away at the honor of being included in this showing.  There were over two hundred applications and only 46 artists' work was chosen. And the quality was amazing, diverse, and fantastic.  They will be hanging for 5 1/2 more weeks.

I am happy to announce that two of my pieces have been selected for a local show at the Foundry Art Centre in Saint Charles, Missouri.  The show is called Figurative Works and opens this weekend, the reception Friday night.  The two paintings are 'The Dancer' and 'Eric.'  It's such an honor to have anything selected so I am doubly pleased.  If you are in the area, please drop by for this free event from 6-8 PM on Jan. 24, have a glass of wine and some nibblies and check out this great space.

Best Buddies

After I posted this I saw something I could not live with: Chester's eye was too low on his face, making him look like a cow! I also added the halter for contrast. I hope this is better.














I'm not done with my Eye PODs but I thought I'd try something different. This is a portrait of my brother Bud's hands which are caressing the nose of his favorite horse in the whole world.  Bud raised Chester from a foal and these two are best, best buddies. You can see the sublime satisfaction in Chester's eye.  I think the next one in this series will be Bud's expression! I also had to paint this compositions because I discovered, when I cropped the photo, that Bud has my dad's hands (sigh).  Hope you enjoy it.

Only What The Body Allows

Somedays, like this one, I can only do so much. I stayed up too late two nights in a row and am too weary to finish my painting. But I DID start one:

I will have to let it firm up a little, too. I started with too wet of a ground and it was mixing with my paint instead of providing a surface. We are going on a working retreat weekend, leaving in the morning, so I am forced to set my work aside for a few days. I am sure it will be good for me. Plus, I'll have the chance to get some source photos for more eye portraits!  Have a great weekend, folks.  

Eye to Eye

I can't get over the sense that using the iPad is cheating.  Not that artists haven't always used aids to help them achieve the desired accuracy or to simplify the process, as we all know. The camera was developed as a tool for artists.  Lately I've had a much harder time painting from life.  Maybe because I can't get the result I'm seeking, now that I've begun to rely on the aid of my retinal display iPad. But I think it's a two-fold problem: my eyes are weakening and so is my brain.  It's harder to decipher visual elements than it used to be.  In an almost overwhelming task processing the immensity of visual information, my poor ole brain fights it... gets tired quicker.  I just love painting with the display up close to my work, being able to zoom in for the detail that I need.  Maybe I'll just learn to love what I'm doing and leave the purity question for someone else!

Today's POD is my own eye.  Hope you enjoy it!

8 X 10" oil on panel
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/christy-sawyer/eye-to-eye/153350

Beauty is in the Eye

Today's work is Sarina, the sister of my subject yesterday.  Their eyes are very similar.  This is the first time in this series I've painted an eye with make-up.  I found it challenging.  I'm not entirely pleased with some of the color but not unhappy over all.  I do miss painting wrinkles, though, and I will paint some next.  I don't want to over paint but young skin has to be so much smoother and transparent so I tend to blend more. With wrinkles I can hatch and splotch and dab to my heart's content. I guess I need that to stay fresh and original in this series.  I hope you enjoy it.

Into the Light

Today's painting is of my model/friend, Kendra. The source photo was taken by her daughter, Zinnia.  I tried to keep the lightest lights pure and bright. I worked from a light mauve-tinted panel and I think that helped me keep my vision adjusted to the high values.  I hope you enjoy it!

About Face

I suddenly realized I have only painted left eyes in this series!  So, today I remedy that situation.  This is my son, Ben's, right eye. This eye reflects the world around it, just as his work does. Ben is an amazing illustrator and comic artist.  His 'eye' is fantastic.  He sees what I have never seen.  And he encourages me to pursue this dream of painting.   Ironically, Ben's name means, "son of my right hand." Thanks, Ben, son of my right eye.

What Matters Most

I am so taken by these eyes that I wonder if I'll ever get tired of them.  Of course I will, but think what they have to offer: lots of color, reflections, subtleties, and drama.  Today I started from a darkly stained panel.  I thought I might have really set myself up for failure.  I usually start with a mid-toned canvas or panel so this was intimidating.  What this did was set the tone for the finished painting.  Although this really wasn't a terribly dark photo source, the outcome is very Rembrandt-like, dark and moody.  I hope you enjoy it.

Looking Askance

Something about these extreme close-up paintings make me a little uncomfortable, awkward, shy, almost.  I wonder if it is that the eye, as they say, is the window to the soul.  We all know that it's "impolite to stare."  So we have been taught by our society to avoid the direct gaze, yet, here I have invited the viewer to stare into the almost naked eye.  The skin tones, too, seem vulnerable, as if the viewer has gotten too close, almost behind a facade, to the barest of skin.

So, for today's POD, I've turned the subject (dear old Timmer) aside so that we don't have to look so directly into his soul.  Yet, for all that, it still seems intimate and almost invasive.  Hope you enjoy it.

Going Going.....

My brain is getting lazy but I think part of it is that the eyes are going soft!  I am having such a wonderful time using the iPad to zoom in on my subject and placing it close to my easel.  I have to fight off the desire to say this is 'cheating.' I've been trying to improve my skill in painting from life but this opportunity to work from the  high resolution display of the iPad is just drawing me in! I used my Nikon D40 to take the source photo.  I shot it in RAW format and converted it to TIFF.  It is just a stunning photo on it's own merits.

Here is my POD, once again, of Tim's eye. I hope you enjoy it.

The Eyes Have It!

Tim's Eye  8 X 10" oil on panel

I never knew how absolutely gorgeous the skin around the eyes is.  It has every color of the rainbow.  The thin, delicate tissue underneath the eye is almost translucent, the blood vessels glowing through.  The heavier brow and lid reflects the skin around it or what is in the environment.  The facets of the skin are like diamonds, each wrinkle a jewel by itself.  The eyes have endless variety of colors, too.  I think I am going to like painting them.  This POD is also of Tim's eye.  Hope you enjoy it.

Stop Yelling (I Can Hear You)

Eight years ago this past February I quit my job to become a full time artist.  But opportunities arose and I ended up becoming a potter, teacher, shop keeper, and finally a caregiver for my parents.  I did, however, paint through out, and did some acceptable work, in spite of all the wonderful distractions.

Eight years ago.  As I see it now, in perfect hindsight, I gave into the fear and doubt, ONCE AGAIN, and allowed these things to take precedence.  But now I have slowly, one by one, unburdened myself of each of these delightful distractions, and dedicated myself to my art, once and for all, for ever and ever.  Amen.

I wouldn't trade a single one of those gifts, the pottery at Boonesfield, the store on Main Street, the big studio at the Foundry Art Centre, or our lovely teaching studio at Crossroads, or the precious time with my parents, for anything else.  Those were amazing and wonderful times.  The thing I regret, though, is not putting my painting first. I wonder where I would be now, almost a decade later, if I had pursued it with a passion.  I can't look back.  Life is all about choices and we tend to make decisions based on a lot of circumstances, including doubt and fear.

I won't be afraid any more.  This is who I am.  This is what I do. Life will present me with other challenges and distractions and, honestly, duties that I must attend.  But the work is first and foremost.  Ya hear? (I am yelling at myself.)

Here's another POD.  This time it is Tim's eye.  Hope you enjoy it.

Waiting for the Muse to Visit

My very talented artist son, Ben, cried, "I need a muse!" And I replied, "I bet what you really need is some financial success!  A sponsor, a contract, a patron!"  How much of our artistic lives are spent trying to find out what to make that will sell? How much energy is expended on marketing and promotion?  How many times have I looked at a blank canvas and said, "what's the point?"

Nothing is more stimulating than success.  But if I wait for it, it may never happen.  We artists have to stay motivated, fresh, original, energetic, spontaneous.... good grief!  Who can maintain that type of kinetic energy? That's a huge list for any one to attempt, let alone a melancholic artist!  Ah, well. 

Nothing succeeds like success someone once quipped.  Yea, right.

I'm really frustrated trying to paint really large things on a tiny little canvas.  Today I decided I'm going to enlarge small things instead.  Here's my POD (Painting of the Day.) I painted it over the scrapings from the last two days.  Hmmm, I should give it a meaningful name like, "Lost and Found," or something equally banal.  Instead, I give you, My Eye.  Hope you enjoy it.

My Eye 8 X 10" oil on panel

Between Two Worlds

I live in many spheres... I am torn between them all!  When I am gardening, I'm feeling guilty for not being in the studio.  When I'm fixing up River Road Studios where I have my figure drawing group, I feel like I should be at my home studio.  I guess the healthy artist is the one who balances her tasks and plays with the tension between them all.  I am so grateful, profoundly grateful, to have this time of my life to focus upon my art.  So much has transpired to make it possible, but here I am with NOTHING but good things to distract me.  It is up to me to decide which path I'll take each day.

One thing I know, though, and that is there is not enough life left for me to do all the things I need to do to become the painter I want to be!  It's okay to be wooed away on occasion but I MUST be about the business of painting.  Here's the completion of the teeny little figure painting.  Hope you enjoy it!

Some is Better than None

I worked on lighting in the River Road Studio today.  Rearranged and erected my lighting boom.  After lunch I took a little reboot and then came down to the home studio to do something, anything, hopefully beneficial on my little painting from yesterday.  I'm sorta kinda maybe a little bit pleased (almost afraid to say it?)  This is tiny tiny tiny, folks.  I'm not used to painting figures with 2's and 4's.  Well, just a smidge of progress but here it is.  Hope you enjoy it.

Speak to ME!

Tim said, "Funny how the things you expect to turn out great, don't.  And the things you really dread turn out okay."  This was one of those times. We had a call from the hospital to pick up a former neighbor who was being discharged from the psych ward and drive him home.  Our biggest fear, that he had slipped back into his sad and reclusive ways, did not materialize. It turned into as a blessing to see how he is living and that, honestly, he's doing alright.

 A couple of times during the drawing of this pretty young woman I thought I saw her move!  I felt like Michelangelo who spoke to his marble and demanded that it speak to him!  Unfortunately, I did what I usually do: pushed the drawing too far, too specific for the painterly effect I wanted (but not nearly refined enough to be a finished piece of drawing) and lost the tenderness and immediacy that I was going for. But at least I finished something.  Have a nice day!