Distracted.....

Oh my, I have been a very bad blogger, I have. My brush has been a magic carpet taking me all over this city from downtown to U City to my haunts in Clayton, back to Kirkwood with very few stops at my nest in Creve Coeur. Excuses, I know, and I apologize to any who visits here looking for a few new photos or artworks ! My class at Clayton just rocks and we have such a wonderful group over there journaling madly , creating the most wonderous imagery in their recycled art journals. The angels conspire to bring together such a group but rarely and I am truly blessed to be their teacher. That said, any artist needs inspiration themselves and the wonderful Misty Mawn never ceases to send me off to the studio to fling some paint about. I am participating in her latest online class and this doodle drawing is one inspired by her week of drawing challenges. It started at the circle design in the center, which is actually a sketch for a carved stamp I had worked on several weeks previously. I just let my gel pen wander about the page and suddenly I saw a hat, and if I saw a hat, I needed a head..so the face was actually the last thing I drew. It was so much fun, I've done a few more since. A sketchbook and a few pens transport easily and I sat in the Art St. Louis gallery doing my gallery sitting duties and doodled my three hour stint away in what felt like minutes. This could be addictive.

Last week I doodled, sketched and collaged my heart out. Then my brush took me to my church where I painted a funny, Happy dragon on a child's rocking chair and a huge floating banner with a splashy Christian fish symbol the very next day. My brushes are beginning to think they live in the car instead of their cozy studio. Me, too. You can see the happy mess on my worktable. it is a very happy mess, let me tell you!

Oh I have finished quite a few pieces and I will try to be a better little blogger and eke them out over the next few days. The snowstorm, which is still blowingly white outside my window, has clipped my wanderings for a few days. The upside of that is some high quality cooking time...cupcakes and enchiladas, stuffed sweet potatoes and spicy stir fries have been scenting the house most deliciously. This last piece sat on my easel throughout most of the holidays wondering just what she was doing. You see, she had misplaced her wings and just could not fly...but she was hopeful...very hopeful. These were different colors for me. I am trying to step outside my beloved quin red, titan buff and Quin Gold to some limey greens, some bright turquoise and a splash of magenta. I really think I am trying to channel Springtime in the midst of all this white stuff! I am reading the autobiography of Isadora Duncan. she writes, in one passage, of being in Italy and becoming enchanted with Botticelli's Primavera, meditating for hours until she has an epiphany regarding her own creativity. Primavera is also my own favorite. I own a copy from its home museum in Florence and the colors and figures always seem to me to be promising warm, scented breezes and barefoot dancing in the grass. SIGH......So these brighter springier colors are calling and it is time to wander back to the studio. Stay warm and cozy!