Paint it again, Jo

Last July and August I posted about my process of painting the little boy on the dock with a crab. "The Escapee" See posts - 7/19/13 and 8/7/13.

I had begun with a watercolor underpainting and then played with my pastels. I set it aside because I knew there was something wrong with it and felt stuck. I finally figured out what it was and finished the painting in time for an art show in August.

Well, Fall quickly slipped by and suddenly I was feeling pressure to come up with an idea for my 2014 banner.

For the past several years I've been displaying crabs - some holding various flags, some cartoon-like holding a mug of beer or hanging lanterns in the trees. A friend of mine has nick-named my crabs "Mikey" - I think that's because we display our banners in St Michaels. Every year she asks me, "What is Mikey going to be doing this year?" (If you really are interested you can look at older posts - 5/13/11, 2/27/12, 2/6/13 - but, that seems like a lot of work, doesn't it?)

Back to 2014 - all the banner artwork needs to be 18x18 square format. I was trying to get some 'crabby' ideas and then thought of 'The Escapee." I decided to repaint it in the required size.

It is challenging for me to re-paint something . . . and to change the shape from vertical to square. But, what the heck . . . it was worth a try. I finished this up at the end of December and it is ready to go to the judging the first week of February.

As it turns out - it was fun doing it again. I feel like I really know this little boy now.

Look for "Don't Let 'Im Get Away" (yes, I changed the title) hanging on a pole along Talbot Street sometime in April.

Thought for a New Year

Last September a friend asked me to think about something... she wanted to give her husband a special gift for Christmas. Her husband, Howard, was very fond of a certain reading - would I consider painting something to illustrate it? They were taking a trip for a few weeks and we could talk about it more when they returned.

I asked Susan to send me the reading before they left so I could ponder it...

"Let us see to it that we so hold our cups as that their overflowing may not run to waste, but may drop into other cups, the cups of those that have not so much as we have. 

                                                                                The Shepherd Psalm

                                                                                 

Now, here is a challenge for me. I have not done anything like this before. But, I do love the challenge and I know that is how I learn...so I began to do some sketches. I had different people hold cups and took pictures from several angles. We used different size cups - some with handles, some without. I went on line and looked at a LOT of images from coffee cups to begging bowls.

I finally figured out that I needed to use the words of the Psalm along with images - so, how would I do that? I do not have a talent for calligraphy...  Did you know that you can put watercolor paper through your printer??? Yes! That works.

I worked on spacing the phrases in different ways - I knew I did not want all the words together.

So, in October when Susan got back from their trip, she and I began emailing sketches back and forth. How many cups? How to position them? What colors? She gave me artistic license... and it was finished. I gave it to her to be framed.

Now, the funny thing about all this is that in the mean time (while we were being so sneaky secretive about all this) Howard is sharing the psalm with various groups - House Church, our cathedral congregation....and probably others that we didn't even know about. The psalm kept popping up. Susan and I worked very hard biting our tongues, giving each other knowing looks...working at not giving away the surprise.

Christmas morning Howard opened his gift ... of course, he loved it. Who couldn't treasure such a gift of love?  Thanks Susan, for letting me share in your present.

Sorry, it's not the best photo, but the sentiments of the psalm are a wonderful way to begin 2014. Happy New Year!