You’re the One

Rubber ducky, you’re the one! You make bath time so much fun. Rubber Ducky I’m awfully fond of you! Hey there gentle reader. How are you? I hope all is AOK. I will share more about studio life in a minute but first I will welcome new readers and describe the purpose of this post and blog.

Transitions

Welcome new readers! Each year, I select a theme for my weekly paintings. This year’s theme is Transitions. I am expanding on last year’s theme. 2021’s theme was “Small Spaces Special Places“. Since we were all spending a lot of time in or close to home last year, it made sense to me to keep paintings small and simple.

Why Transitions? So many reasons. Here are one or two. I plan to transition to larger paintings this year. In fact, the first painting I posted this year was huge (for me.) It measures 8×24″…wowza. Here’s the painting and post for that week. Second, I am focusing on transitions within my painting process, too. This includes transitions from light to dark. Something I love to think about as I compose a painting. I also love to think about the negative space around an object. An example of this is the painting I shared two weeks ago called “Blowing in the Wind.”

I’m also trying some new processes that I have never done before including glazing. I’ll share more about that process once I have some results worth sharing. In the meantime, there’s lots of painting going on here.

So there you have it! The scoop on transitions as the theme for 2022.

Anyway, if you are not subscribing to this blog yet and think you might enjoy a weekly dose of unique artwork with a dash of color and musings on life, sign up here. Let’s get to this week’s topic!

Rubber Ducky You’re the One

Here’s this week’s painting. Actually, I guess I can call this a color sketch.

It’s small! Just 3×4 inches and it’s painted on canvas paper. If that sounds a bit unusual, you’re right! It is unusual to paint on canvas paper. But I am in the midst of painting a lot of other quick sketches on the same material right now. Why? It’s easy and inexpensive to use. And, I’m trying out several, ok, lots and lots of new painting ideas right now.

Many of these ideas are for larger paintings. So I don’t think it makes sense to share those with you. To me, it seems similar to a musician asking you to listen to them practice playing musical scales. Yawn to the listener. Even though this is a necessary part of practicing and improving music playing.

So rather than share all these ideas in the works, I set up this sweet still life. I have a rubber ducky that is nested on top of one of our bathroom doors. And, my sister sent me the purple/pink-ish bar of soap in the painting. The soap came in a hilarious and colorful wrapper with Van Gogh’s selfie on it. It is called “Van Gogh Soap.” Can you see the reference to the painter’s misfortune in the soap? Hmmm?

I have to say I totally enjoyed painting this little rubber ducky and Van Gogh’s soap. The combination of the lovely smelling soap and that sunny yellow rubber ducky made me smile. That and sunshine and the first warm-ish day over 55F in Raleigh in several weeks helps too.

Upcoming News

One of the reasons I am painting lots of color sketches, is that I have a show coming up later this spring. I’m going to visit the space for the show next week. It’s about a 2 hour drive from Raleigh. But I’m going with another artist friend who also is having a show there. We both need to see the space and then make sure we have enough work to fill it. Exciting!

So while I apologize for this vague news, I will share more details when there’s more clarity around it for me and for you.

What’s New with You

That’s the latest from the studio. What about you gentle reader? Are you in the midst of a project? How do you map out what needs doing? And, when do you decide to share more details? I would love to know. So please share in the comments below and thank you so much for reading today.