Carroll County Art's Council PEEPShow

Below, a selection of entries from the Carroll County Arts Council's PEEPShow.  Now in its 17th year, it is a popular fundraiser.  Expect long lines, free admission (though you are encouraged to buy voting tokens so you can vote for your favorites), free stickers, and great fun.  So. Many. Marshmallows.  

Paintings Made in Baltimore

More of the art backlog from the last few years.  These paintings were created after I moved to Baltimore.  I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones I could easily extract from the stack in the art closet.  All are acrylic on gessoed heavy paper.  

Screenwriter Anita Loos

Kitchen Dancing

Water Witch

Doris

Violets

Balloons

2022 Furniture Resurrection Projects

The home I bought in 2022 was an estate sale, and came with So Much Stuff, much of which has been useful.  I have tools and nails for almost every occasion and didn't need to buy, for instance, a new lawn mower.  Some less than-beautiful-items were also left behind, many of which were tossed (the nasty white shag rug went away fast), some sold (several small tables and two southwestern chairs that were stashed in the attic), and some were restored.  Below are before, during and after shots of three such repairs.  

Potter's End Table

In the basement, I found a simple wood table, covered in dust and clay, and some knife marks, as it was likely used by a potter who at one point probably used the basement as a studio.  I still have a 1950s era kiln in the basement, and may always, since it is enormous and heavy.  Since the table (like most of the dated, but solid furniture left behind) was made of all wood, I decided to refinish it.  Twas my first refinishing attempt in quite some time. 

Before: 

During (a LOT of sanding):

After:

It came out a bit more orange than I would have like, but otherwise, I was quite pleased.  It spent a long, long time outside as polyurethane stinks for a long time, I can report.  

Coffee Table:

The coffee table had not been relegated to the basement, so it was cleaner, but had peeling layer of clearish finish, and that was about it.  I forgot to take a before photo, so in-process will have to suffice. 

During:

With the stripper on it

After sanding:

First coat of orangy stain (neighbor's cat supervising), which was followed by a darker stain to tone it down:

After: 

Porch Chairs:

The porch chairs had been left outside for a long long while, and one was split in the middle.  But some glue and several coats of exterior paint, and they've got new life and use again. 

Before:

During:

After:

Sketchbook

So on this blog, it looks like I haven't been making any art for a long, long time. 

In reality, I just haven't been posting.  

Evidence: a peek into my lumpy and sometimes awful sketchbook, largely centered on trying to draw people that look like actual people.  

Progress is uneven (some are strange, and some I clearly abandoned before they got very far) but there is progress, so I'll take it. Drawing is never going to be a strength, but I find it increasingly relaxing.  Paying attention to shape and light and detail is never a waste.  

Katherine, Women in Shakespeare series

Once again, I've been neglectful in posting, so to catch up, here is "Katherine," another in the Women in Shakespeare series.  I painted her sometime in October.  She is, ahem, not much like the movie star photo reference, but she has some personality that I enjoy.  As always, any painting is progress forward.  

Katherine
acrylic on paper

Hopper Homage

This painting started out as a quick small sketch copying Edward Hopper's Hotel Room, but when I moved on to paint a larger, simplified version, I added my own spin, inserting the window and checkered floor and shifting to a cooler toned color scheme.  It's retains Hopper's sense of isolation but has become instead more institutional, perhaps a hospital or a dorm room. Freedom exists on the other side of that window. 

The Exeter Experience
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

St. Catherine with a Toothache

This painting was an attempt to copy a section of Caravaggio's painting Saint Catherine of Alexandria.  Sadly, in my version, she looks like she has a toothache, which is not exactly the martyring for which she is renowned.  If she indeed existed (historians debate this point, and if so, who she might be based on), she was likely beheaded in the end, as were many of the people she converted.  Caravaggio, meanwhile, caused a stir by choosing a model who was a prostitute to portray the virgin saint.  

St. Catherine
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

No Longer a Self Portrait

A while back, I attempted a self-portrait sketch which ended up not particularly appealing on multiple levels.  Sometime in 2020, I ran across it again and opted to paint it and modify her into someone else.  She came out a wee bit odd looking too, but I like that the blue background that somehow makes her feel a bit old fashioned.  

Crafty Easter Bunny

Poor Lila is stuck with an honorary auntie who doesn't much like shopping, but does get crafty at times.  So she ends up with odd holiday treats like the mutant bunny below: 

Legless, armless bunny with
beady eyes and bow

But bunny has a tail!

Nothings says happy Easter like a
weird little basket

Assortment of 2020 Abstracts

Abstracts painted in 2020 (who knows when? 2020 was a blur):

Abstract - Map Reading
acrylic on paper
15" x 22"

Abstract - Chaotic Universe
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Abstract - Compass Bloom
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Abstract - Seasonal
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Abstract - Blue
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Abstract - Trapped Dragonfly
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Beatrice & Lavinia

I've been remiss in posting artwork (or anything else).  And so, without further ado, created sometime in 2020, two more paintings in the Women in Shakespeare occasional series: Beatrice and Lavinia. 

Beatrice
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Lavinia
acrylic on paper
17 1/2" x 23"

Miranda

It's only taken me a four years to get back to the Shakespeare series - and I'm not sure this one is done.  But it's closer anyway. Meet Miranda from The Tempest.  Composition inspired by John Waterhouse's painting.  

Miranda, acrylic on paper, 16" x 27"

New Pandemic Hobby

Too late to join the mask-making movement, I discovered an old Singer sewing machine in my aunt's garage.  A testament to the sturdiness of its construction, after dusting it off, it fired right up.  This did not solve the larger problem in that I have no idea how to use it, but I've made some minor strides by practicing making Barbie clothes.  (Yes, I spend time with a 6-year-old).  My mother (an expert sewer and maker of well-constructed, lovely Barbie clothes back in the day) would have been entertained by my efforts, I suspect.  I certainly appreciate her skills in a new way given my recent attempts.  

Fruits of my labor so far: 

The Ballgown

Made from an old pillowcase, I used a pattern I found online...and made quite a mess of it.  The top had so many seams going back and forth that it looked almost embroidered.  I was working without a model (no, I don't yet own my own Barbies), so the initial attempt needed some crucial modifications.  The 6-year-old and her mother added in straps so the top would stay up -- and also all the beads, because hey, glue guns are fun.  

The Pinwheel Skirt

This one, I didn't use a pattern, instead making it up, which worked moderately better than I would have thought.  But the waist top is still a lump of crooked tangled thread, and I likely should have hemmed the bottom all at once, rather than piece by piece before connecting them. And the seams don't lie flat because I didn't sew them twice.  And I broke a needle. There was some swearing involved. But I did figure out how to wind the bobbin and thread the machine, so progress nonetheless.  I also had a borrowed Barbie to work with so I could adjust the size appropriately.  

The Slinky Purple Faux Velvet

This was a free-for-all patternless event which worked somewhat more than I would have guessed largely because the material is an old shirt that stretches, and I was able to cut it out so that I could keep the original bottom hem (rather than my inevitably crooked lumps).  Adding in some darts meant that the dress actually stayed on.  The feather boa (fluff taken from the top of an xmas gift bag) perhaps changed the style a bit from Starlet Barbie to Hooker Barbie, but I couldn't give up the boa once I'd found it.  The 6-year-old repurposed the boa into a cat toy, which is probably for the best.  

Painting in Arizona

I visited my sister and her husband in Arizona over Thanksgiving, and had time for a sisters painting fest, which involves painting, listening to loud music, and occasionally busting into some random dance moves. Results of my work became increasingly eccentric, from a (for me) pretty decent desert-y landscape based on the view from their sun room to the weird underwater beginning of, I'm not sure...a children's book perhaps?  Ideas welcome.

Cochise, AZ
acrylic on canvas board
11 x 14

Big Fish, Little Fish
acrylic on canvas board
11 x 14

First Flamingo & New Abstract

If you live in Florida, eventually you are required to paint a flamingo.  So I did & presented it as a gift to a flamingo-loving relative.

Meanwhile, I also amused myself with some abstract fun.