What a Difference a Month Can Make!

After finishing my new website it was time to get ready for the Fall Quarter at SCAD. I teach four different illustration courses:watercolors, portrait, collage and Photoshop. My brain feels stretched in every direction. It took some time to get back in the "teaching groove." The luxury of painting all summer took me so far away in my mind. When colleagues asked "my how is itgoing?" I could only respond that I felt like I had either been on Jupiter or in the Witness Protection program. Trying to paint during this time has been rough. I am "painting through it" so to speak. My mantra is "Your good paintings are the sum of your not so good paintings."

There are a few more things that have conspired against my creative flow. With the recent hurricane threat, my husband made boxes to cover the sky lights in my studio. He decided to leave them on in case the another storm comes along. I have to tell you it made me feel like I was in a coffin!!!. I felt like I could not see or breath in my own studio.Finally he took them off. What a relief!!!

Before he took them off I could not photograph my work like I usually do. The only place I could find light was by the window in the bath tub in my studio bathroom. As I was setting up the tripod my camera fell into the tub (no water) but I still managed to destroy it.(I am still fuming at myself about it.) So I have to use this older camera and I just do not like the quality of the photos.

I have put up two little quick studies I did at this old railroad roundhouse in Savannah. It is a very intriguing place with old train cars inside a roundhouse and all kinds of interesting out buildings and old train cars. It was a gray day and I felt a little lost without stronger light so I focused on shapes. Everything looked so abstract to me. I also tried to stress the chromatic grays that I saw in all the shapes.They are only 7"by 5." They look a bit overly simple as I see them now in their flatness but I see them more as studies for larger paintings. Writing this down just helped me to understand source of conflict I have about these small works sometimes - and that is that some small paintings are very complete works in themselves and other times they are more suggestive of a study.Either way at least I am painting.