Another day, another face...

Guess who I added to my collage painting this past Tuesday?

I took this pic at the bus stop on the way home from class. I was pretty excited with how it turned out. At the rate I'm going though, I'll be done with the painting in around two years or so.

Collage Painting continued...

Added some faces in over the weekend and today-- a Picasso lady, a Fauvist portrait by Alexey von Jaylensky, and an African mask (still needs some work). By the time I got rolling and was feeling relaxed, it was dinnertime already. Oy. Also, my kitty Speedo tormented me when I first started painting, which was stressful. Scratching on the carpet instead of his scratching post and doing other things to try to get my attention. He was not being respectful to the Genius At Work!

Work in Progress 1

We have an assignment in class to do a painting using at least three photo sources-- they can be pictures of others' artwork if we want.

I'm doing a self-portrait surrounded by weird faces and masks, some taken from paintings of artists I admire. This is the start, using two images from this Belgian artist, James Ensor, whose work I remembered from when I was an art student looking at a lot of 19th- century art. He was a contemporary of Edward Munch and Egon Schiele-- I love those guys! I wonder what drugs they were all on...

Collage Painting: in Progress; oil on canvas

Thanks, God/dess, for the chance to express my creativity!

Wishing everyone who is taking this journey with me on my new blog a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!

And the same to my old online pals, from AOL-J days...

Oct. 2o Oil Study

Journal Doodle

Posting on a regular basis in here seems important.

Scribbling, doodling, pushing paint around on a canvas daily seems important.

I've been looking at the luscious paint of the Abstract Expressionists in museums. I recently went to see this big exhibit of this German artist, Anselm Kiefer, at SFMoMA... his materials are so THICK that they are a conservator's nightmare: chips of paint/dirt/ash are known to fall off his paintings onto gallery floors. There is an audaciousness to his work that I admire.

Monday Journal Doodle; Ink on journal paper.

"Difficult" Art

Some of the artwork that is coming out of me right now is not "pretty." I'm trying to let myself do it anyway. Who knows where it'll lead? Here's a piece I painted on Sunday.

I'm going to start putting prices on this stuff, postage will be extra...

TVHead
8"x10", acrylic, glitter, collage on canvas-paper
$25

Pricing Artwork

Wil, in his comment in the previous entry, brings up a simple and complex issue: pricing my artwork so that I actually could perhaps sell it. Mr. Anxiety, as you can see here, is not reacting too well to this challenge! But I had thought about it myself already. Anyway, thanks Wil, the point is well-taken.

I have to think more about this. I know that there are fears: about putting a price on things and not getting any offers, on how to deal with logistics (online) if I do get an offer, etc.

And then, a deeper fear of having to say goodbye to my babies............................

"Keep Doodling" --Alex S.

Still a bit unsure about this experiment, but proceeding anyway.

My therapist believes in my art, especially my more abstract stuff, more than I currently do.

I made a birthday card for a friend, flowers in a little vase, using acrylic paint--which is a medium I'm not that used to. She really liked it and is going to frame it and hang it. The card took maybe an hour and a half to paint. I know I have talent-- I just wish I had more confidence and motivation.

Above: Scribble-Boy, pencil on paper, 7/20/91

This is an experiment.

This is something I've been thinking of trying for a long time: a separate blog aimed at WRITING ABOUT selling my artwork and attempting to ACTUALLY SELL my artwork.

I'm putting it out into the Universe: I want to sell my artwork! I'm beginning to believe that part of why I am on this planet is to create art, and selling art is the only way that I believe I can truly live up to that potential. The only images on this blog are going to be examples of my artwork; old and new.

Not sure what'll happen from here...

Above: Mr. Anxiety, chalk pastel on paper, 1986