Imelda's Brain

Ayako's Flamenco Painting

2011-12-13T10:45:00.003-05:00

Ayako is a young woman in JoDe's Flamenco class at the Y. She recently had to return to Japan and I made her this little painting to remember us by....

9/11 Mural at BWAC Fall Show

2011-09-05T12:14:00.002-04:00

As part of the montage for BWAC's 9/11 tribute, I have submitted 4 works on paper.

The first two are part of the series, "Fallen" and the last two are part of the series "Ashes".

This is my first time submitting digital works. The originals were pen and ink, watercolor and acrylic ink. I later created variations of the colors using Photoshop. They are all 8 1/2 X 11 inches or slightly smaller. They will be in the BWAC Fall show, Tales of Breukelen

Divine Intervention

2011-06-18T09:51:00.003-04:00

This was the other entry in the BWAC Black and White show. "Divine Intervention is a Bitch" is the caption at the top. Meaning....leave well enough alone.
Oh, by the way, neither piece got into the show. Boo Hoo.

Mystery Play

2011-06-12T15:11:00.003-04:00

This is a not very good photo of a new painting, Mystery Play. As in medieval mystery plays.
I'm submitting it to the BWAC Black and White show which will run this summer at the Pier in Red Hook.

Moment of Truth

2011-05-10T09:05:00.002-04:00

The final version of Moment of Truth. It's at the BWAC Spring 2011 Pier Show. And it's part of a fun 'group' display which includes works by my sister Andrea Fagin and my brother in law, Warren Alexander.
The Bull and the figures were inspired by my trip to Soria last year.

sketch for Bullfightingpainting

2011-03-29T12:09:00.002-04:00

For the next BWAC show: the Spring Pier show, I'm doing a bullfighting painting to go with my sister and brother in law's themes: all bullfighting. Here's the outline. A lot of the drawing was inspired by my trip to Soria last Sept.

Wide Open Show at BWAC

2011-02-22T11:13:00.008-05:00

I was selected to be in the juried show at BWAC which opens on March 12, 2011 and runs every weekend till March 27th.
It's a big honor and I'm submitting two other pieces to the show.
http://www.bwac.org/future_exhibition.html

Bull Inspired by Sorian Trip

2010-11-26T12:18:00.005-05:00

After a hiatus, this is my new painting: Sorian Bull. Maybe I'll get a better name for it. But it was inspired by my trip to Soria with a great tour called Spanish Footsteps: http://www.spanishfootsteps.com/

I saw imagery like this at the Numancia Museum in Soria. It's from a Celt-Iberian Design. I added design elements and color. The funny thing was that I spent hours at this museum, sketching the designs. I ran out of steam near the end, where these bull images were. I thought to myself: I'll find them in a book or I'll Google them. But really: there was very little to see online and no books that I could find with the images. Guess I'll just have to go back to Soria.

Portrait of Uncle Miley

2010-04-05T11:03:00.001-04:00

Finished this small portrait yesterday. It's oil, 9"X12".

Weighing Souls: work in progress

2010-04-01T13:43:00.002-04:00

Just adding the final details to Weighing souls. Heard about Uncle Miley this morning. So I added him on the lower right, hiding behind the column.

Uncle Loo's Famous New Year Dinner...For One

2010-01-02T12:09:00.013-05:00

I decided to try to make Uncle Loo's famous New Year's Dinner...but just for me. During the winter there was the holy trinity of meals: First Mama's Thanksgiving Dinner, then Mrs. Frances's Christmas File Gumbo and finally , on New Years, this wonderful two part meal: soup followed by all the meats and vegetables that made up the stock. I started with the meats. I used one chorizo, two chicken thighs (I bought the organic kind) and a slice of ham, about 10 oz. I boiled these for 1 1/2 hours in 32 oz chicken broth (4 cups) and another 6 cups of water. A little salt (the broth wasn't low sodium) and some pepper.

Here's the other ingredients. Yes, I added some carrots and a couple of parsnips I had in the fridge. No big deal. And I used canned garbanzos, including the liquid. I only cut the onion in half and quartered the cabbage. I left the carrots and parsnips whole.

I added the veggies to the pot and a tiny pinch of saffron. I bought my saffron at Despanya and I noticed it was much better quality. I really only needed a pinch. The pot needed a cup or two more of water to cover the vegetables enough.

After less then an hour all the veggies were cooked , so I put the meat and veggies in a large shallow pot with some broth to keep it moist and kept it warm in the oven (250 degrees) while I made the soup.

I just added another small pinch of saffron and some thin thin noodles and cooked for about 20 minutes till the noodles were soft.

Here's the finished soup. Ok, because I didn't use as much meat, it didn't have the extra layer of fat on the top to keep it scalding hot...but it was plenty hot enough...and DELICIOUS!!!

Here's the final plate of meat and veggies. Oh yeah, guys, I left out the potatoes...but you can add them in. I gave myself the same amount I remember getting as a kid: one slice of chorizo (I think there might have been a slice of morcilla too), a little bit of chicken, a small slice of the ham and lots of veggies.
It came out great, it was very filling and it was really easy to make. I think it's more like Dinner for three but you get the idea.

Too many Angels

2009-12-30T13:52:00.006-05:00

After almost a whole year, I finally finished Too Many Angels. Having taken so long and kind of lost my way with it, I changed the color schemes several times. I finally settled on this palette.
I would have liked to have called it Poking Angels, in honor of my new interest in Facebook (I still don't know what poking is) but I'm sticking to my first choice for title.
A sad song by the same name, sung by Jackson Browne:
Too Many Angels

Before and After Wallpaper

2009-12-27T13:18:00.005-05:00

Last week I had another Wallpaper job. I thought I'd show you what before and after look like. The two panels don't line up on the left and here's my corrections on the right. This was an easy job because the design was blobby to begin with. I call it a mamogram design. It wasn't all just black and white though. I had to mix in some raw umber to get a warm grey and in some places (not shown) add a dark thalo blue.
I love my job...WHEN it goes well.

Some Wil pictures

2009-12-18T11:45:00.002-05:00

I decided to do some drawings of Wil is his last week. Here's a 'realistic' one, done using a graph from a photo.
But I think I like the rougher painting sketch that I did. Here I've given him a centerpiece as if he was a medieval statue with a relic in his chest.

Too many angels, part one

2009-12-11T10:49:00.004-05:00

I finally have gotten back to work. This is something I started earlier this year "Too Man Angels". Right now, there really aren't enough angels but I'd like to complete the idea anyway. I got off to a bad start...see ugly grey winged beasties, but I think I'm back on track with this color scheme.

Under Siege....Complete

2009-03-04T11:58:00.004-05:00

It's finished. I'll have more to say...but have to run now!
Photo is imperfect.

More Under Siege

2009-02-17T12:02:00.003-05:00

I had planned to show the various and tormented stages I go thru when painting a large piece, but I got distracted and...well, here it is, practically finished. Maybe next time.

Under Siege: Part 2

2009-02-07T11:12:00.003-05:00

I've added some figures into the building, some creatures and started the background color, a mixture of Azo deep and cadmium medium yellow. I may stay with that color, or change it later.
I chose a whole color palette, using the color aide papers. But that doesn't mean I'll stick with them. And I'm still toying with the figures, adding subtracting, refining.

Under Siege-Part one

2009-01-18T11:19:00.002-05:00

Ok, after months of procrastination, I've finally started a new painting. The working title is Under Siege. It's 36X48 inches. I KNOW the economy stinks and I should be working small but I needed something to inspire me and get me going. I've been putting off painting for quite a while. I'll have to check in with Dr. Freud on that.
I start out picking the size of my canvas, then I look at lots of pictures and start making small drawings in proportion. When I have one I like, I transfer it, in a not-very-scientific way, to the canvas. It doesn't need to be a perfect transfer cause I've found that what looks good small sometimes doesn't look as good big. Plus, maybe having something to do with my brain, no matter how many grids I draw, I can never get my left and right side to match.
So here's the beginning of inking in the basic drawing. As I transferred it, I did change it. And what makes the whole thing so labor intensive is that I feel the need to outline everything in black. Then I 'erase' parts with white paint. Later, after I add color, I'll have to reapply the black lines. But that's just how it has to be for me.
Also, the story is now unfolding for me. I'm seeing who the protagonists are in this world. So I'll be adding those also. Once I add color, the story may change yet again.
Stay tuned.

Life Roaches

2009-01-10T15:11:00.004-05:00

Had a conversation with Lia, and the phrase 'Life Roaches' was born. You are familiar with Life Coaches I'm sure. But who coaches us on all the really bad stuff that life has in store?
This doodle was done a few days ago.

Todo

2008-12-21T12:08:00.004-05:00

This is a smallish painting which I did to enter in a show. It didn't get in. But I still enjoyed doing it. It's totally decorative.

Doodling

2008-12-07T12:23:00.003-05:00

I used to draw everyday...sketching or just doodling in my art book. Now a days I only draw when I'm planning a painting. So I decided to take a break everyday and just DRAW...no purpose in mind, no goal, no judgement. Here's my first new doodle in a long time.

7 Headed Beast...incomplete

2008-10-06T14:21:00.003-04:00

Here's the new painting I'm working on for Il Melone Gallery. Meaning, I'm painting on unstretched canvas. What a bother! But forget all that. This is a compliment to the Scorpion Beast, same color background and it will have the same border colors.
When I get stuck for what color scheme to paint, I pull out my color aide papers. They used to be in order but now, as you can see, they are a mess. From the pack I'll put together a color scenario that I like. I guess you could say, I'm not subtle about color.

Scorpion Beast

2008-09-22T15:47:00.004-04:00

A new painting done on unstretched canvas. I did bitch a lot about painting this way but really it wasn't much different. EXCEPT, and this is a big except, I do hope my corners are 90 degrees. The photo was a little off but it might have been the angle I was holding the camera.
Anyway, the scorpion beast is complete and it was a lot of my usual back and forth painting it: first one color , then another. This combo is very satisfying and...energized.
You are probably thinking it doesn't look much like a scorpion. But it's based, as I've mentioned a hundred times before, on Spanish illuminations and they seemed to favor the "Horse as Scorpion" look. As for the messy hair....that's in the bible! You can look it up for yourself.

Il Melone: the Italian Connection

2008-09-10T13:38:00.004-04:00

Amazing story to tell you all: about a month ago, a guy named Gianni Cagnoni, from Rovigo, Italy, contacted me. He and his lovely wife, Donatella, run a gallery there, Il Melone
http://www.galleriailmelone.com/
He is interested in my work, not sure how it will be received. So he wants some work on commission. No problema!!! Except, due to shipping costs, he asks that I send the work, unstretched. So here, Feeding the Beast, is my first work that COULD be sent unstretched...even though I actually painted it by stretching it first. It's a smallish piece, 10 inches by 20 inches.
The key to all this is my borders. I made the border so that if he stretches on a slightly bigger stretcher, then the red will show. Otherwise, I was aiming just for the goldish colored border. What is loss...is my side borders. Oh well, Can't have everything. There will always be Rovigo!
Wait, wait, I didn't tell you about Tony, who has a blog right here on blogspot, all about Brooklyn. OK, that will have to wait to next time.

Snakebeast, complete..For Linder

2008-08-28T16:03:00.002-04:00

I finished the snake beast and I'm posting this less then perfect photo because Linder, my sister liked it and I'm a sucker for flattery of any kind. So here it is Linder, I wanted you to see the details and comment.

Snake beast, the other one

2008-08-26T11:15:00.005-04:00

I finished my snake/horse beast. And I like him so much that I've started on another. Here's the finished painting and the beginning of the next one.

Snake Demon in progress

2008-08-18T11:40:00.005-04:00

OK, this is a nameless and incomplete snake demon. He's (or she's) 18X36 inches. I went thru several changes with this one. Originally I painted the background red, but then realized it was way too bright, especially with the funny yellow design I had added (now all gone). I had the idea to base the painting on paisley color patterns. But I gave it up for more harmonious colors. It's not done yet, but it's now in the final phase.
Oh, and I apologize for the very very bad photo.

Hola Noelia

2008-08-02T11:40:00.005-04:00

I just received an email from a young woman from Galicia. Thank God she can write in English because my Gallego is pretty bad. No, I admit, my gallego is at the level of a 6 month old baby. And my Castilian is about the level of a 6 YEAR old child. But forgive me, I've only been studying Spanish for 20 years!
I have finished...and sold...the painting called Fishing. Here it is. It's a small painting, 6 inches by 18 inches. So my theory that painting small did pan out.
Noelia, pan out means that it was a good idea, that it worked.

Fishing..the beginning

2008-07-10T09:44:00.002-04:00

YES,YES, I know, I'm a very bad blogger. But I've actually been doing work for money and getting ready for the BWAC summer show at the same time.
This is a little piece I've started. I'm going to try smaller pieces, due to the economy being in the pits.

Freefall- retouched

2008-06-10T11:09:00.004-04:00

Thanks to a comment by Mai-Liis, I decided to redo this painting. I wanted stronger color. Perhaps it was the heat wave we are having in NYC, but I picked hot colors for this newer version of Freefall

1Against3, Finished

2008-06-05T11:30:00.004-04:00

OK, I've inked in the dark lines and now the painting comes alive. Here's the version. It's 8X10 inches.

1Against3, almost done

2008-06-04T12:02:00.003-04:00

I've been extremely lax about posting. I apologize to my thousands, perhaps millions, of readers.
I've decided to try some smaller pieces and here I've used a detail from one of my biggest pieces, 3against1, and done a tiny 8"X10" version in different colors.
Today I'll add the black line, always one of my favorite steps.
Why am I working tiny you ask? Well, someone bought by auction piece at the BWAC pier show...as in bought it out right for a hundred bucks. It inspired me with the idea of a wall of little jewel colors paintings. I hate to admit it..but money CAN be inspiring.

FreeFall-finished

2008-05-16T09:48:00.004-04:00

Wow, I cannot believe I haven't written since April. BAD BAD ME. But a lot has been going on, getting ready for the BWAC Pier show. Two sisters leaving for the Camino, Feeling sorry for myself (that takes up a lot of time).
Here is FreeFall. I hope the color is not too off; it was a spur of the moment photo.
I find that if I work TOO slowly on a piece, I lose momentum. Had to push myself to the finish line and for awhile I was really un-nerved by the colors. But now, I like them...I REALLY like them.
If you want to interpret it as related to the real estate problems going on right now, be my guest.

FreeFall-middle phase

2008-04-18T09:53:00.005-04:00

It took a lot of repainting to get FreeFall where I liked it...or at least could stand it. Part of the evolution of this piece was my going to see an exhibit of Takashi Murakami at the Brooklyn museum
OK, I gather it's not to everyone's taste...NO, they hate it. But I loved it and the whole Superflat world. It inspired me to think more about my coloring and this is the resulting current permutation of FreeFall.
Thanks Warren for providing the title.

Seven Heads

2008-04-08T09:54:00.002-04:00

This is a small piece that I made for the BWAC Pier show auction:
http://www.bwac.org/
It's the Spring Ahead show, on the Redhook Pier.

Harpy Complete

2008-04-01T09:20:00.006-04:00

Harpy is all done. Here she is.
And I gessoed over the elaborate border painting I was going to do. I wasn't enjoying it at all and didn't like the images I had added. So I started over and now I'm having fun. Working title: Subprime......something or other.

Harpy- almost done

2008-03-16T11:09:00.002-04:00

Thanks to some bleak days, I worked on Harpy this week and now it's almost finished. I tried to harmonize the colors and in order to do that, I had to change the colors of different objects several times. Now for the fun, and yes, tedious, time of making the borders.

Harpy Under Construction

2008-03-09T09:55:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was rainy...VERY rainy...so I worked a lot on my harpy painting. She's coming along nicely and I'm figuring out the color combos as I go.

Harpy-the ugly stage

2008-03-07T15:54:00.003-05:00

Here is Harpy in all it's ugliness. But of course, if I stick with it, it will eventually come around. I've been so busy with other 'stuff': setting up my new website, making new cards for the upcoming Pier Show in May. Harpy just sits there, looking nasty.
Oh, and here's the address for the new website:
http://www.imeldafagin.com

Slowly but Surely

2008-03-03T09:42:00.003-05:00

In the between time of starting that long painting and now, I actually had a paying job!!! Well, that seems to have dried up for the present, so I'm back in the saddle. I hate returning to something after the original energy has cooled, but I'm trying to fill in the little bits. It's rather complex and slow going so to give myself a break, I also started a smaller painting of a harpy. This is the first version. More later.

Back in the Saddle

2008-02-10T11:43:00.000-05:00

After being out of the saddle for weeks...maybe more, I've finally started another painting. It's 24 X 48 and more border than painting. I'm planning to put a lot of figures in the border and a scene of angels fighting a dragon in the center part.

The American Antique Fair

2008-01-20T15:14:00.000-05:00

I went to the American Antique Fair yesterday. I went specifically to see these Memory jugs, which were glass jugs covered with some sort of putty with objects embedded in it. Very interesting although the effect was sort of muddy. From the 1920's.

Also there were lots of nice examples of Tramp art. Here's several frames.

Also, this strange diorama of dolls, about the size of hope chest. The sales person offered it to be at the bargain price of $18,000. What a deal!

Here and There

2008-01-13T11:47:00.000-05:00

I've finally finished this 'small' painting of 12X24. I named it 'Here and There'. Can you figure out why?

Beastly improvements

2008-01-09T13:29:00.000-05:00

I've been working on this little painting SO slowly. But here it is almost complete...at least stage one of complete. Now I'll think about what to add to make it more lively. What? You think it is lively? No, it seems to need something, or someone else.

The Gift of Vegetation

2008-01-01T09:14:00.000-05:00

Still lollagagging over finishing my painting and in the mean time, I did another pen and ink. This one, The Gift of Vegetation, is 8X10 on Stratford Bristol Board, the good kind. I'm using a Hunt's 512 nib. It's actually not for drawing but I like the thick line and that it holds a lot of ink before I need to dip again.
As with my other pen and ink, I'm not preparing any image; I just start on the paper and see what happens. I still have that Horror vacuae thing going: I like to fill up the spaces.
Oh yes, Happy New Year 2008. Remember, whatever you do today, you'll do for the rest of the year.

Out of Ugly and Christmas in NY

2007-12-22T11:17:00.000-05:00

Finally worked on the Beast in the City and got it past the ugly stage. It's a real leap of faith, or to use a different metaphor, it was like slogging thru devil molasses.
In the meanwhile, to distract myself, I went to the Metropolitan. On the way there, I saw this lion, forced to dress up by it's captors.

The ugly phase and homeless socks

2007-12-18T11:27:00.000-05:00

I do believe there comes a time in every painting when it goes thru the 'ugly phase'. Here is this painting in that phase. Of course, ugliness is in the eye of the beholder but for me, the colors are so yukky that I have to just keep going based on faith.
In the meantime, to keep my mind off of the painting, I took a walk in the city with my sister. It's sad to see anyone homeless at this time of year but this was especially poignant: a group of homeless socks, huddled together from the cold. Won't you take one home to hang over the fire? Actually, all these socks had a story to tell. Some are the mates of the better sock that was chosen to hang for Christmas. Some of them said they would rather take their chances on the street than be forced to have a nail stuck thru them and hung for the amusement of some jaded child. Some of them were toeless veterans. When I got home I kissed my socks, knowing how lucky they were to have their own pampered life.

Guardian Angel

2007-12-09T12:01:00.000-05:00

Taking a break from my painting, I made this pen and ink drawing. God it was fun to do. Can't wait to do more. I used Stonehenge Rising paper.

My "Little" Painting

2007-11-29T08:50:00.001-05:00

I'm trying to work smaller, so here we have an 18 X 36 painting. But I'm sort of stuck on the imagery of it. Maybe you can see some light pencil work I put in, but I'm not committed to anything yet, except the inked in lines. It's hard for me to think small and to draw small.
Beast in the City is the working title.

Morgan Library's Van Gogh show in NYC

2007-11-24T11:53:00.000-05:00

I went to the VanGogh show at the Morgan yesterday. It is there till January. Lots of letters, sketches and paintings. There was a booklet to read the letters in translation. Actually, you can see seven of the letters with the sketches and the translations on line at:
>http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/exhibOnlineThumbs.asp?id=OnlineVanGogh<

Reading the letters was like hearing Van Gogh speak in his own words. It was pretty exciting for me after what has seemed weeks of caregiving, to hear intelligent conversation...even if it was one-sided. He wrote, over the years, about wanting to paint the starry sky. He finally did it in the last year of his life.

"But when will I do the starry sky, then, that painting that's always on my mind? Alas, alas, it's just as our excellent pal Cyprien says, in "En ménage" by J. K. Huysmans, the most beautiful paintings are those one dreams of while smoking a pipe in one's bed but which one doesn't make. But it's a matter of attacking them nevertheless, however incompetent one may feel vis-à-vis the ineffable perfections of nature's glorious splendors."

Linda's sculpture

2007-11-16T08:20:00.001-05:00

I've been taking it easy but my sister Linda sent me these images today of some new work she's doing. WOW!

Watercolors

2007-11-06T12:34:00.000-05:00

After going to the Brooklyn Museum with Andrea to see a show about watercolors, I've been feeling inspired for the last few days to make these little sketches.

Edgy Painting

2007-11-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

Simon, from the ArtAnon group, brought up the issue of the edges of paintings. Hey, I hardly even measure my paintings, much less remember to include medium, and such. But in the case of my recent work, I have so been working on the sides of the paintings. In fact, this is both tedious and fun at the same time....not sure how that works. This canvas has a rather deep side to it, 1 1/2 inches, so I had to do quite a bit of work on it.
And by the way, the whole shebang is 30 X 40 inches.

Cruely to Animals..the end

2007-11-03T12:01:00.001-04:00

I dragged my feet, but finally I've completed Cruelty to Animals. I was disturbed by the amount of blank space in the painting and fixing that became a lot of fun, as you can see if you compare the previous post and this one. I painted in the same way that I used to draw as a child, making up a story as I went along. I love the end result. The words, if you can't quite read them, are: Beatum Beastia, Beastia Tui and, at the bottom, tit pro tat.
One day, I took a long walk with my sister. We saw these lonely piers.

The Beasty boys

2007-10-24T15:57:00.000-04:00

I worked on Cruelty to Animals a lot yesterday. I added some decorative touches and got the borders started. I think it's starting to look lively. I've got some text to add.

Catching up

2007-10-22T12:43:00.000-04:00

I haven't written in many days. I've been in a sort of suspended state of animation. LaLa land, also known as Paris. No, not the real Paris....I've just been intensely day dreaming. I'm reining myself in and trying to return to this earth. I've been working on Cruelty to animals. I made a lot of changes in it but I'm not sure about the colors. I'm going to do the border and then decide.

Besides my fantasy Paris trip, I went to the real Metropolitan Museum of art to see the new Greek and Roman rooms. It was incredible...I only got thru maybe one half of the Greek. I especially enjoyed the paintings on the plates and vases. Here's a snake challenged image.

AnotherTry at Digital Angel

2007-10-13T17:25:00.001-04:00

Ok, this time I switched to RGB or whatever, colors. OKAY! Look at the difference. Here's something even weirder that I discoverd. Click on the first digital angel, the one with the garish colors and it comes out normal What a quandry!

Digital Angel

2007-10-13T16:23:00.000-04:00

Today I felt crummy. Either the common cold or West Nile fever, one or the other. So, rather than work on the new painting, I decided to see what I could do with Photoshop. Still needing to play with the colors more. but here's my first effort.
OK, this is too too weird. This image looks NOTHING like what I did and what I see on my computer screen. The colors are not just off, they are completely different. UGH, a photoshop mess.

Tired Angel: Finito

2007-10-08T15:42:00.000-04:00

I feel very happy with Tired Angel. It took so long to complete and yet it's not a drag at all in the end. So I wasn't holding it up because of a vague dissatisfaction, like sometimes happens. I really do have to take better pictures.

Here's my sketch for a new piece, Animal Abuse. I haven't decided on the size. Usually I like to jam a lot of stuff into as small a space as I can paint, but this is kind of minimalist...for ME, and I might just go for it: do it as a 30X40. I have to add that I have a LOT of 30X40 canvases.

Tired Angel, almost finished

2007-10-07T11:53:00.000-04:00

This is such a small painting, 18x36 but for some reason it's taking me so long to finish. Maybe I'm tired.

Return of Tired Angel

2007-10-04T09:19:00.000-04:00

After a long wait, I'm back. Lots of apocalyptic but non-art related stuff going on here. Anyway, I'm working on Tired angel. I really want to add eyeballs.

Although most of you don't know her, here's Grace at her wedding. It was so much fun.

Grace'sWedding

2007-09-22T15:54:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week. Full of STUFF to do, none of it having to do with Art. But I finally finished the card for Grace's wedding. It was a bitch, trying to get the background to bleed all the way to the edge. I tried it in photoshop, I tried it thru the printer and I finally just gave up, printed the image and will cut and paste it to the card.

Armadillo wearing a hat

2007-09-17T12:47:00.000-04:00

More photos from the Museum of Natural History. Here we have a prehistoric armadillo, or relative of armadillo, wearing a little bone hat. Why did it evolve this little bone hat you ask? Maybe it lived in a place where rocks fell on it's head a lot.

And my inked in drawing for Tired Angel. I made the mistake of using a red watercolor pencil to draw the image. This red color is very intense and smears a lot so I'll have to cover over the red with white gesso or it will smear into every damn color I try to paint over it. Live and learn.

Tired angels and giant sloths

2007-09-16T11:46:00.000-04:00

Here's the beginning of my new painting, Tired Angel. Just a drawing on canvas so far but we shall see how it develops.
In the meantime, I've been reading a book called The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. This is a pretty depressing, yet compelling story of what we have done to the earth and how long it will take, if ever, to recover or simply 'Digest' the mess we have made. It's keeping me up at nights. So one day last week I went to the Museum of Natural History to see all the giant mammals that are now extinct in North America. I was sorry to discover that the museum has 'modernized', meaning it plays to the lowest common denominator (but best paying customer): Kids.
The large, dull Victorian style hall that was crammed with skeltons of extinct mammals is gone, replaced with a whole floor that leads from dinosaurs to those mammals. Lots of interactive stuff but not enough actual animals! OK, I confess, I hadn't visited that old room with all the cases in maybe 20 years. Still, when I actually Wanted to visit it, it was gone. The new approach is interesting but controlling. The museum is pushing the information it wants you to have. But what if you have other questions?
ANYway, I did find the giant sloths. Here's one. They were maybe/probably wiped out by man arriving in the new world. They must have been quite tastyl

Woman with Frogs

2007-09-11T15:50:00.000-04:00

This is a very small painting that I did for the BWAC auction. It's just 6X12 inches. The subject is based on sculptures and frescos I saw in Romanesque and early Renaissance churches. I painted the same subject in a painting called "Retribution" which a man bought to put in his office. I wondered about that: did he really look at the imagery in the painting. Besides the woman with frogs hanging off her breasts, there was Salome with the head of John the Baptist, a centaur shooting an arrow at a mermaid (another favorite of mine) and some devils hanging a man from a tree. You can see it on my website.

Special Delivery: final version

2007-09-10T15:45:00.000-04:00

Here's the final version of Special Delivery. It's my favorite painting in this style...so far.
I spent one evening taking pictures of all the apocalypse paintings but I must say I'm a bit frustrated with the results. Is it my camera or me? Sections were out of focus and my placement of the lights was definately off: there were spots in the dark and spots with glare. YUK. Another thing to learn.

Franks and other deliveries

2007-09-05T09:41:00.000-04:00

I wish I had taken a picture of the ugly phase. I guess I was painting too fast and I missed it. That manganese blue is hard to handle. It was so over powering. So I toned it down with some acra crimson to create a more purple color. I did use the managanese for the green. It's definately a blue-ish green but I'm working with it. The painting is all laid in except for the fun detailing and inking.

Here's another NY picture. The classic frankfurter vendor outside of MOMA. I wonder if the taxi's will really go on strike today. The whole thing mystifies me. Perhaps it has something to do with the Apocalypse?

More of everything

2007-09-03T09:46:00.000-04:00

Here's a close up of some of the Serra wall that I saw last week at MOMA. Need I say that the texture and color are beautiful?

Here I've added the dark, or one of the darks. I'm using Manganese blue for the first time. I've mixed it with Napthol Red light to get this color. It will be interesting to see how it looks when I lighten it up in it's pure form

Start of Special Delivery

2007-09-01T12:19:00.000-04:00

Here's the start of my new painting, Special Delivery. I may or may not leave the plane. Time will tell.

And here's where I've been in all this time. My sister Carmen visited and we went all over NYC. This is the Richard Serra sculpture at MOMA. It looks so much better here than it did when it was in front of a building many years ago. Then, in our pre-terrorist days, it was obstructive and just ugly metal. Now, it's beautiful, lyrical and almost delicate. An urban labyrinth. Contex is everything, as they say.

Detail

2007-08-22T11:26:00.002-04:00

Here's a corner detail of my recent painting. The lighting, as usual, is wrong on the right side but you'll get the idea.
I've gone thru hell with this painting...but not about the actual painting. It has to do with a show I'm going to be in where they asked for a 'narrative' about the piece. Somehow, this has become a huge imposition in my head and I've been agonizing, not sleeping, babbling to myself over it.
Then, last night, while not sleeping, I realized this blog is a sort of narrative and I could use parts of it. Went right to sleep and had a dream: the end of the world, of course.

Gelling

2007-08-14T12:06:00.000-04:00

I changed the background to a darker yellow with a little orange in it and the whole thing has brightened up considerably. I don't hate it anymore. Also, I finished the basic colors of the building. There are still detail colors and I still might add some animals to the right side. By the way, the blue river is really much darker.

Ok, on another note, here's a giant locust, dead thank god, that I saw in prospect park recently. The Apocalypse may really be coming!

More color

2007-08-13T14:34:00.000-04:00

This photo is too light on the right and too dark on the left, but you get the idea, don't you? MORE color. I'm still playing with the idea of changing the background.
I'm sort of depressed today. Do you have days like that? Why am I painting at all? days.

Coming Along

2007-08-11T09:49:00.000-04:00

In the middle of the night, I came up with the perfect title for this painting. Damn, I sure wish I could remember what it was. Work Ethic is my working title and I may have to go with it if my thousands of fans don't write in and give me alternatives. Oh, wait, it was something like: To have and have not.
I'm thinking of adding some more details to the river side. Maybe animals.
Mai-Liis says they are amusing but I'm still finding the world of the Romanesque sort of mysterious and impenetrable. The blank staring faces saying so much more than what they represent. In several manuscripts, I've seen that someone scratched out the faces of evil: the devil or that bad guy in the painting. Scratched them out. Why? In anger? For protection? And who? Did the ordinary person have access to these manuscripts? Did a monk do it? What was he or she (OK, more likely He) thinking?
Well, I have a title for a painting with a scratched face: Take away evil.
But right now, let's focus on Work Ethic. Help!

Pill Box Hats finished

2007-08-09T12:18:00.000-04:00

I've finished this painting, even done the sides. I don't think the color here is 100% perfect. I have trouble photographing the blue, which is really sort of a dull blue but kept coming out as a strong cobalt blue.
In reality I had put several layers of color before I found the one I like. This blue is over a darker purpley blue which is over that spinach green.
If I wasn't so lazy I would get out my photography set up: the tripod, the lights, the white card, blah blah blah. I will do it when I send the art to Amber, who does my website, but I think you'll get the idea here.
Don't have a name. Any ideas?

Old Stuff/New Stuff

2007-08-06T11:37:00.000-04:00

I've started the blacking in of the Locusts picture. And, as you can see, I've changed the spinach green to a brighter blue. Now for a name...Locusts Two?
In the meanwhile, I've been postponing beginning this large painting. It's 48X36, with a lot of detail and color. Originally an ode to the saints who guarded the 12 portals, I've let two of them off to go fishing. Also, I've got to work out the center image of the city. In the original it's an angel herding the lamb of god. No more Lambs! Even though they are cute, I'm trying to get away from the religious stuff.

Spinach

2007-08-03T12:01:00.000-04:00

The new locust painting is coming along, nearly finished. But now that all the main colors are laid in, I'm not sure I like that dark green. It sort of reminds me of cooked spinach. I'd like to change it to my original idea, which was a grey blue. Stay tuned.

More Locusts

2007-08-01T12:10:00.000-04:00

Don't get all jittery about the red, Cadmium Red medium, to be exact. It's just a temporary layer.
Lots of strong, in your face colors. YUMMY!
In the meanwhile, I'm starting another painting, to keep 2 going all the time. This one is biggish too: 36X48. Sure wish I could work smaller...but this IS small for me.

Lollygagging

2007-07-31T14:45:00.000-04:00

I have been procrastinating.
I reached a sort of milestone with the start of the BWAC Big show (bwac.org). My New work is up and I can take a break and agonize about it...which I didn't have time to do before.
I've also started this new locust painting. It's a slightly different style and I'm very insecure about it. The other colors, I think. will bring the painting together.
In the meantime, as part of the lollygagging (or is it lollAgagging?) I took a long walk in the city with my sister. We passed this colorful bus.

I need a new name!

2007-07-25T11:41:00.000-04:00

NO, I don't need a new name, but this painting does. It sort of developed on it's own, spawned, you might say, by the crazy talk of Linder and Mai-Liis.(See comments for July 15th). Linder also sent me this photo below of....of....well, you decide. She is definately being plagued by giant black bugs.
So yesterday, I added keys to the tiny green paws of the green things in the painting and then, what are keys without a keyhole, I made a tiny doorway in that blank spot at the bottom. I have that 'horror vacua' syndrome.
One thing I haven't mentioned are the borders of the paintings. I really enjoy doing these. They are my versions of the intricate, patterning and colors that are in the manuscripts.

Eat Your Greens

2007-07-20T09:35:00.000-04:00

Eat Your Greens may or may not be the title, but here's how the painting is coming along. I had to put many layers of color on the horse like animal but he is finally the way I want him. And I still have to work on the border.
The final step is to add the black lines again, which this painting is particular really needs to bring out the shapes. That's because some of them are in the same value as the red. Yes, I did that on purpose.

Frittering my time away

2007-07-17T13:35:00.000-04:00

Today is my brother's birthday so I frittered away a few hours making a card for him. I wanted to give the impression of tiles since he's working on tile tables right now, but I think it looks more like the cracked earth of the desert.

The Right Red

2007-07-16T10:04:00.000-04:00

I put 3 layers of red before I liked the result. Quin Magenta, which is a beautiful red, Napthol Red light to warm it up and then a mixture of the Naphtol red and cad yellow light, glazed on to brighten it up. I wish I could have saved more of the quin magenta spots but I could not 'recreate' them by mixing white into the quin magenta. That produced a sort of light purple.
Question of the day that I have been mulling over. How true to stay to the original images? I'd like to remove the Very Very Christian iconography in some of the images. I feel it limits the audience and also does not represent who I am. Thoughts?
Mai-Liis says the paintings are funny to her. Are they funny to you?

New work and little guy abandoned

2007-07-15T09:55:00.000-04:00

Sadly, I have put Little Guy aside, once I realized, didn't you? that he looked like a Simpson character. I'll have to rethink that whole image.
But I have started a new piece with LOTS of Red in it. To get the red I want, I have first laid down a layer of Quin magenta. Then I'll glaze or scumble over it with a more orangey red: Napthol light with a touch of Cad yellow medium.
The image is 3 creatures eating what look like locusts frogs. Any ideas for a title?
The whole thing is reminding me of something that happened to my sister Linda last week. It seems she is having her own personal Apocalypse out in the desert. Huge insects, the size of pigeons, have been invading her home. She had them exterminated and a huge black BEAST emerged from her fountain and flew off. Now it is loosed upon the earth!

The Gospel according to Little Guy

2007-07-10T09:30:00.001-04:00

This one is definately in the ugly stage. My colors are all over the place. This is the first piece I'm doing from my head so watch the colors change as I work. It's 12X24.
As for Locusts Pocus, it's almost finished. I just want to add some wording. You'll see it in the next few days.

Locusts pocus, 2

2007-07-08T09:53:00.001-04:00

This painting definately went thru an ugly stage. The colors looked too discordant and silly to me. But I stuck with the program and it's coming together. The "program" is to use 3 colors and black and mix my colors from the 3 to make orange and green. In this case I wanted an unusual blue. I had to use prussian blue and bright blue together. The colors definately don't match the original. Anyway, I really don't know what the original looks like, since I'm working from books and interent stuff.
OH, by the way, this is a BROOKLYN blog. I mention it because there was a story in today's paper about how many blogs are from Brooklyn. On the Brooklyn theme, I delievered my paintings to Red Hook yesterday for the BWAC Big Show. 3Against1, and the Losing Team are on the wall, and my auction piece is Blow. You can see them all here on the blog.

locusts pocus

2007-07-05T11:36:00.000-04:00

It took a LOOOOONg time to think of a name for this one. Locusts that turn into horse like animals and have tails like tarantulas...that's a little long, don't you think?
This is from the one of the Beatus commentary's on the Apocalypse. I'm in the process of reading up on Beatus. It seems the Bishop of Toledo called him the Antichrist so Beatus said, "NO, YOU'RE the Antichrist". And it went back and forth like that, in those wild and crazy 700's. Meanwhile, Beatus wrote his Commentary's, which I have yet to read a word of.
By the way, Beatus won.

Locusts and Little Guy

2007-07-02T11:42:00.000-04:00

The Locust painting is drawn in. Here's the canvas with the black lines. I usually end up painting over the lines and I redo most of them.
I like to have a second painting in the works too. This is one of my Little Guy paintings. It's the first one done in this style that is totally from my own little brain. Little guy sits on top of the world and speaks. Faithful dog listens. Serpent attacks. The Angel and devil are obvious symbols. I'm in two places: the little figure that the angel holds and the figure at the lower right. Of course I'm planning to make changes as I go along.

Weird locusts

2007-06-30T09:46:00.000-04:00

A small sketch of my new painting project which is about these locusts that look like horses. What more is there to say?

Two works finished

2007-06-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

Woops, got so carried away with painting that I didn't keep up with all the step by steps. It was the NYC heatwave. I couldn't go out so I just sat in front of my easel. Sometimes, for variety, I stood in front of my easel.
Here's the two pieces: The Losing Team and Blow. I'm loving doing this work but today I must go out and buy more paint. I'm using a lot more paint with this technique than I used to. And brushes: I'm messing up my little brushes, which I never even used before.
I'm curious if anyone will figure out they are apocalypse paintings and/or assign hidden meanings to them.

Losing Team

2007-06-24T09:41:00.001-04:00

Here's what I'm up to with the Losing Team. It says: "You find yourself on the losing team", on the upper curve of the yellow part. I traced the curve, then I scanned it into Illustrator and picked out a suitable typeface. I used the pen tool to create a curved path that matched the scanned curve and wrote the words. Had to do it 3 times: the first time the words were too big, the second one, I lost, and finally got it right. Lesson: next time, do a bunch of different sized types. I also decided to paint the halo around the lamb in gold.
And also, here's the finished drawing for Blow. I have to decide on the color scheme.
My next project will be the locust that look like horses and eat you. I bet you can't wait to see that one.

Blow

2007-06-18T09:58:00.000-04:00

Here's the smaller piece I started. It's about 12X16. From the Escorial Beatus, if you are interested. It's one of the trumpets blown but I forget which one...the second? Anyway, I liked the tones of brown. Sorry, the photo is a little skewed.

3 Against 1

2007-06-17T11:40:00.000-04:00

OK, I cheated a little. 3Against1 is already finished. It took....maybe 2 weeks to do. It's not that hard ...sort of coloring in the lines. Maybe I shouldn't admit to how easy it is? I drew this one 'sort of' free hand. Meaning I did graph it out but changed the figures as I went along. Artistic vision or lousy math? I don't know but I can never fit the image in the grids I make.
But I'm having so much fun doing these paintings that I've started 2 more...REALLY and truly just started them yesterday. Here's one of the beginnings. I think I'm calling it: the losing team.

Final Version and something new

2007-06-16T12:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, here's the final, I think, version of The woman and the Dragon. I had to do some final touch-ups on the outer frame. I tried making it look old and antique but it just looked like a dirty canvas. So I redid the whole thing in white and painted the edges in Paynes grey. I also studied some other versions of the same image and realized that my instincts had been right. That wasn't St. Michael on the upper left: that's the woman. So I had to redo my little narrative that I had written in the spaces where the original had Latin 'stuff', to include the woman's part of the story. And I added a little guy in the lower right corner, for my own amusement. So I think it's done.
And here's the next piece I'm working on for BWAC's Big show. To me, it's not so big: 60X36,

Silos Apocalypse, Part 2

2007-05-29T12:11:00.000-04:00

I've continued to work on the Silos painting, and here's the lastest update.
Last week, I went to the Morgan Library with my 2 sisters to see a show about these apocalyptic paintings from Spain so I got to view in closeup how they look and also, how they were done. It's appears to be tempera or gouache and they covered mistakes with white paint, which has held up quite well over the years. They had almost an identical image, with the seven headed beast. Also, they were not as small as I had thought they would be...maybe 24 inches long.
So, here's the update. The painting is not quite as bright as the photo. I'm still learning as I go. Yesterday I had to cover a lot of the detail of the faces that I had done because I needed to white out the too thick lines and other mistakes. But it's all good, as the medieval monks used to say.

Pier Show 2007

2007-05-28T12:20:00.001-04:00

Here's my two paintings for this year's BWAC Pier Show, in Red Hook Brooklyn. Yes, I am a little discouraged that they haven't sold. The large one is really beautifully colored....oh, am I supposed to say they are both beautiful? Well, you always have a favorite child. I do like the other, it's the mermaid image that I saw in France. I did a lot of glazing on it to get the shadowy stone column.
Are artists supposed to be ego maniacs who never say they are discouraged? Certainly I HAVE met a lot of artists like that but I'm not discouraged because I think the paintings are not worthy. It's something about the energy of the show. It seemed very low key at the opening. Que pasa?

Silos Apocalypse

2007-05-07T09:31:00.000-04:00

I started work on this idea of mine that I've been mulling over for some time: to paint large versions of those wild and crazy medieval Spanish illuminated paintings of the apocalypse. I chose St Michael Fighting the Dragon from the Silos apocalypse.
This is the preliminary drawing, done directly on the canvas, which is 28X42. I mention the size cause it is much bigger, of course, then the illuminated painting. I just went for it and drew directly onto the canvas with no preliminary drawings. When people say this in books and articles their work always seems suspiciously neat. Whereas I've already run into trouble trying to cover my 'happy mistakes' so as to have that pen and ink look of the original. Not that I'm trying to recreate the original. For one thing the proportions are off, so things are a bit stretched and squashed. But I am having fun!
I decided to just go for it after reading a quote from an artist yesterday who said she chooses what to work on based on the idea: If this is the last piece I do, what do I want it to be?

Dream City

2007-04-09T11:33:00.000-04:00

Haven't posted in a LONG LONG time but here's a watercolor from way back when. Painting in watercolor was extreme painting:taking me months to complete and driving me crazy with uncertainty. You know: the blah stage, the ugly stage, the too-beautiful-to-touch stage. Plus spending all that time on my inner life was quite intense.
I did love the results. This was one of my last: an abstract city, loosely based on my true dream city, Gerona.

Birds on Ice

2007-02-22T12:12:00.000-05:00

Even though I always say I hate birds, I seem to photograph them and draw them a lot. Here are some on the lake across the street from where I live. I used the 'sport' setting on my camera to catch the seagulls flying overhead.
P.S. I say I hate birds because I have two bird watching sisters. Do you know how boring it is to go on a walk with a bird watcher? They can spend, and I am not exagerrating, HOURS studying a dead, decomposing bird. Yet everytime I ask them about a bird, they never know what it is!
So, yes, this is a photo of seagulls and ducks. Isn't it enough to know that? NO, what kinds of seagulls? What kinds of ducks? Just don't ask my two sisters.

Fixing Your Feet

2007-02-18T15:57:00.000-05:00

Fixing your feet is the name of a new link I've added. It's a site run by John Vonhof and it's all about bad feet. Specifically, feet that are injured or could be injured in extreme events, such as marathons or long hikes.
OK, OK, I know this is not riveting information for most people but I've been reading his book, a very big book, from cover to cover for the last few weeks. I read it every night before I go to sleep.
This morning I got up to make pancakes for my husband and there, miraculoulsy you might say, this foot shaped pancake appeared. I photographed it with my favorite Raggedy Anne doll, surrounded by the type of products you would want to use if your foot ever looked this bad.
Don't even think about bidding for it on Ebay, I ate it right after I took the picture. This is my body.