Today's Work

One of my artist friends posted something on Facebook yesterday that reminded me that a day in the studio is like a little dance we have with ourselves. She posted that she spent a good deal of time in the studio walking in circles then making a cup of tea. Sound familiar to anyone??

Mastering the disinclination to work. Then, getting down deep into the work.

It's the time of year that it's cold in the studio. I knew this was coming and prepared myself, both mentally and physically for it. I get cold very easily and have Raynaud's Syndrome, which is a condition when your core temperature drops and the blood moves from your extremities to warm your core. I have to stay warm. This takes more mental energy and causes me to have a bit of hesitation to go into the studio. I have to put a separate heater on in our space. It costs more, so I have this little tug, not to turn it on. Just another thing that adds to the disinclination to work!!

But today I did master the disinclination. I was feeling a little bit under the weather, very cold and not super excited about what I had on the easel. I'm working on several bodies of work for upcoming shows, some of it I'm really into and wish I could stick with a bit longer without switching gears. But... today I decided I'd better get a few things rolling in another direction.


Here's a bit of what I did. This is one of a planned series of 6 to 8 larger pastels, approx. 24 x 30. They are all figures in various interior settings. They are all pretty complex scenes and involve a lot of drawing and planning ahead. I think they will be great when they are done... I just have my mind on some other work, so when I had some good success today, I was happy that I  didn't get frustrated and anxious to do other things.

In prgoress

Detail

Closer to finish

Next one up! Watercolor under-painting

The cafe scene is not done. I still have quite a bit of work on it yet. Among other things, the sandwich board needs to be grayer and a lighter. Some areas need more drawing/detail while others need to be simplified, but overall I think it's coming together pretty well and it's interesting working with such complexity, something I haven't done in a while. I think the kitchen will be cool to work on too.