Patience & Precision

Re-worked the chalice, took out the oyster shaped reflection on the front, then re-worked the tangerine, moving the navel higher and scumbling more tangerine color.

Scumbled sienna and umber on the blade of the sword. Scumbled yellows and ivories over all the candles and added wicks.

Messed with the highlights on the maiden's hair and face, and added more ivory to the candles around her.

Spent several hours doing most of the tiny black outlines on the Lovers tarot card, plus warming the yellow.

All out of patience and precision.

Nap time.

Knight of Swords

Placed the Knight Tarot card colors, fiddled with the Guinevere face, did a second round on the Lovers Tarot card. Too wet to add the black outlines on the Tarot cards that will make the images pop. This is where self-discipline comes in handy.
I do like the juxtaposition of the crisp graphic cards and the softer natural face. I'm even okay with this version of the portrait.


Itching to do another round on the blue background cloth. Mixing blues today.

all the balls in the air

My life as a painter is blend of old tools and new technology, big projects and small experiments. I like that.
Lots of paintings and drawings in progress -
•B&K hot is nearly complete.
•I revisited the Tarot card painting and sharpened up some edges of card and reflections, plus another layer of color and texture on the rug.
•Gridded a new linen canvas gessoed with clear gesso (!) for the Periodical Blues.
•Picked up the photos of magnolias, hydrangeas and mimosas I shot this week. They look simple and fun to experiment with. I have to decide what size to make them and whether to paint them on canvas or board. I am thinking of them as little vacations from the big Metamorphosis project.
*I'm excited to be part of Cecelia Kane's Hand to Hand project. http://www.handtohandproject.com/
My task is to pick a news story about Iraq a day from any source (radio, online, newspapers) and create one glove or hand art in response for Monday July 13 through Saturday July 18. I'm to use my normal media (oil) and preferably come at the war issues from the angle of the imagery that I am already using in my art. I'm supposed to date the gloves and can be literal or abstract with the headlines. Being me, my images with be representational and in oil on board. Robert cut six (plus two for back up) glove shapes out of wood for me. Somehow I will have to find a way to make the imagery I choose personal as well as about the war.
•Tomorrow I gesso the cut outs and work on the drawing of Blues.

More Tarot

Worked on fine details of the cards.


Here's a detail. They aren't finished, but they are heading in the right direction.


Cleaning the brushes, getting ready for a relaxing, quiet evening.

Tarot

Good painting day today. Blocked in four of the tarot cards. The first layer of paint is a kind of couch to lay color onto in the next round. They are more cartoon-y than I realized - the images are mostly outlined - there will be a lot of going back and mimicking the drawing effect.
I do love have little paintings in my paintings. Don't know why, just love to do them and to see them. These Tarot cards add a pop of color and of complexity, and they are flat in a 3-D setting. The top card is the Wheel of Fortune, upside down. The Fool is in the center - it wasn't in the original photo, but I added it in. It's so appropriate for publishing - the well-dressed fellow on a precipice, unawares. The Star is on the bottom center and The World is to the left. The falling card is The Sun. I was thinking of the Baltimore Sun at the time.
Here's the end of the day pic.