Archive for July, 2006

If you’re just now reading this for the first time, let me get you up to date. I am a stay at home mom with a degree in fine art. My concentration in school was ceramics and painting. I have a fondness for ceramics, but it’s expensive to produce and requires special equipment to throw, fire and glaze. I have a potter’s wheel and a used kiln that I just bought a few months ago (but I still need to test it once my garage is fire safe.) I’ll have more time and energy to do that once my daughter is back in school this August.

In the mean time, I’ve been painting mini works on paper in a standard ACEO (Art Cards Editions and Originals) size which is 2.5 x 3.5 inches. Scroll down to see some of my mini-paintings. I sell these and am averaging better than 75% sold, many over asking price. Lest anyone think that painting and ceramics are far removed, they’re really not. Painting is allowing me to play around with color combinations that I hope I can apply to my ceramic work.

In the past, I would happily throw forms until I ran out of clay. Then my un-glazed pieces would sit on the shelf as I agonized over which color I should glaze them. You see, I enjoy the process more so than the outcome much of the time. I’m getting better.

Anyway, that is a condensed background. I have cut up another 40 little mini-canvases and will most likely keep painting them. Maybe not show and tell depending on your answers. It’s a small stream of income that will hopefull allow me to outfit my ceramic studio with glaze ingredients, more clay etc. without breaking into the family’s bank. It also keeps me active working in the art field.

On another note, I went in to visit my primary care physician after she saw the lab results diagnosing me with anemia and I was just a little depressed for a day or 2. Apparently un-explained anemia is a symptom and indicator of other diseases that we are testing for, the most heinous of which is colorectal cancer. I was convinced the other day that this is what I have and did not feel like doing anything. So far, the at home tests I’m doing are pointing to something else, possibly other digestive issues or maybe a re-occurance of endometriosis for which I was treated in ‘95. I’ve decided to think positively and won’t worry about it until the tests are completed.

Orange Sunflowers #29
Originally uploaded by cmg art.

I have obviously changed the rules on my 30 day aceo painting challenge ever so subtly. I had a few breaks in the 30 days, and instead have made it 30 paintings in about 34 days! I’ve enjoyed it and wonder, is it time for another poll? I think it is! I’ll run it tomorrow as soon as I figure out how I should format the poll.

The local market closest to my house has these wonderful orange sunflowers for sale. I almost always buy some whenever I see them for sale, and at $5.99 a bouquet, who can resist? The flowers are a bright orange with red and yellow splashed in places for extra impact. The centers are a brownish purple. The vase in the painting is actually one that I made years ago.

For those of you reading this who are artists, I wonder do you ever have a painting or other creative endeavor that just flows and feels effortless? This was one of those for me. I don’t know if it is because I’m rested after my weekend or what. It was very pleasurable to paint.

This is ACEO sized…3.5 x 2.5 inches, acrylic on paper. This Orange Sunflower painting is #29 in my series.

BTW, a big thank you to those of you who suggested that I have my iron levels checked after reading about my ice crunching addiction. I just got the lab results back and it turns out I’m anemic. It’s easy to treat with a daily iron supplement…should help out with the addiction and the fatigue that I have been experiencing!

At the top of Pike’s Peak
Originally uploaded by cmg art.

My friends are leaving this morning and now I can recover from an action packed long weekend of activities…zoo, 6 Flags, Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs, Anazazi cliff dwellings all capped off with a Colorado Rockies Baseball game last night!

It was a lot of fun and we did some things that I had never done before despite having lived in the state for some 12 odd years. We drove to the top of Pikes Peak outside of Colorado Springs. It is one of the most accessible “fourteeners” in Colorado. Unlike other mountains that reach above 14,000 feet above sea level, Pikes Peak is maintained by the forest service and has a road all the way to the top, albeit a hairy one.

The temperature at the base was approximately 93 degrees fahrenheit and by the time we reached the summit it was 56 degrees. I felt like I could reach up and touch the clouds! Another interesting tidbit were the health warnings. At 14,000 feet above sea level, there is only 1/2 as much oxygen available to your body as at sea level. So people with health issues were strongly advised against traveling to the summit. It takes about 1 hour to ascend the mountain…but much longer if you stop to take in the surrounding vistas…lakes, big horn sheep, marmots, birds and the sweeping vistas from the top of the summit.

The night was capped off by a shut out by the Rockies against the Cardinals. I’m not much of a sports fan, but even I thought it was pretty exciting! Anyway, a photo of my husband, daughter and myself at the top of the summit and I think I can squeeze a few paintings out today!