Bloomin' Accident

Has anyone ever lost control of a painting? Well I did tonight. I was working on a background for a new painting. I grabbed my favorite cans of spray paint and got down to business. Then I started messing with some acrylic, using my favorite tool, my hand. As I was painting I was surprised to see a flower had started to bloom. I went with it.

Actually this is a lot like my life this past year. I am intent on doing something, I start, and then life leads me in another direction. I meet new people and from that one meeting it blooms into other friends, new ideas, and experiences. I am kinda diggin it. Just sayin....

Peace out :-)

This is how I sketch!

Yesterday in my blog I explained to Andi that paintings just fell out of my head onto the canvas. Well, I also have other weird things happen. I was chatting with her on Facebook tonight. You know that silly mindless stuff that sisters chat about? While I was typing BAM a painting slammed into my brain. Not literally, although that has happened. Hurts like hell when that happens too. I have learned not to prop finished pieces of work on the shelves above my computer! Just sayin....

Ok, lost my train of thought there. So anyway, an idea and a title of a painting popped into my head. It faded out just as quickly and left me scrambling for something to write on. You see folks, I have menopause brain. Tomorrow I would be trying to figure out what the idea was if I even remembered I had an idea!

Andi told me to sketch it out. So I did. Sue style.

Yes peeps, this is how I sketch. I realized I NEVER sketch. I always work on the actual piece. If I am not "feeling it" I toss it aside to be painted over later. I never agonize over a painting. The idea is there and I just go for it. Not all my ideas work. Usually it isn't because it isn't a good idea. Sometimes I just can't transfer what is in my brain to canvas. Sometimes it goes in a completely different direction and turns into something that makes me smile. I figure if it makes me smile there is some other slightly off kilter person that will smile too. Isn't that what art is all about?

Stay tuned for Funky Town. It may or may not look like the above sketch!

Peace out peeps :-)

Looking for my Happy Place

I was talking to my sister, Andi , the other night about my art. She said I was getting better and my art was more thought out. I explained to her that I look at a blank canvas and stuff just "falls out of my head" onto it! Example above, Looking for her Happy Place.

I am not a deep thinker. I shy away from discussions on feelings, spirituality, touchy feely mushiness. It's not that I am cold. I love deeply and have a running dialog with God. It's just that I don't like expressing myself in front of others. It's mine and I'll deal with it by myself! Ooo now how snippy did that sound?

In the last year or so I have loosened up and have had my eyes open to a lot of things. I look at a women walking down the street in an outfit that is a little too tight or maybe a little to young and I think, "Wow, I wonder what it is like to be so ok with yourself that you just put on what you like to wear and go with it?" There was a day I would have thought, "Doesn't the bitch own a mirror?" I see a scraggly guy in a store and think, "I hope he isn't hungry and only has a $1.00 in his pocket." I used to think,  "Dirty druggie, take a bath and get a job." Damn, was I judgmental, or what??!!

Actually, as I type this I am thinking, "What the hell are you doing? You are seriously going to publish this blog?" I have also learned to just go with things. I have met new people and been taught so many things by "just going with it."

So what was on my mind today (Yes, this blog IS going somewhere) was Happy Places. I have noticed through my art I tend to explore ideas and feelings. After I finished the piece above, Looking for her Happy Place just popped into me head. I realized I have been thinking a lot about what it takes to be in a Happy Place.

Over the last week or so I have discovered something. I AM in a Happy Place. I have a husband who loves me and does so many sweet things for me. 3 kids who make me so proud. I have a beautiful free spirited granddaughter. A spunky little grandson who is so cute it makes me laugh, and I just found out that I am going to have another little grandson in November.

Drewbie and I have been unemployed for for almost 9 months. We have found that we can live on a lot less than we thought. We don't go hungry, we don't sit around the house moping. I have a part time job at a Veterinarian Hospital. I am a professional poop scooper and I love it. I can't imagine ever going back to the corporate world. Drewbie is searching for a job, and we know it'll come. Eventually. We are luckier than a lot of people in our situation. We saw it coming and were able to plan.

So yea, I am in a very happy place. As long as there is money to buy art supplies I am going to be ok. I used to dream of a house on the beach, lot's of clothes, plenty of money to travel. Now I am thankful that I am surrounded by people who love me, our little brick ranch on a couple of acres, our 3 goofy dogs. Yes God, message received!!

Peace out peeps. Go find your Happy Place :-)