I downloaded a camera app the other day and never expected to find such inspiration for the future of some new paintings...
Still working...but I am enjoying this process.
Next up: Duck!
(Progress!-more work needed...)
(Then: Poppy and Vespa! Stay Tuned!)
Don't forget-to see more work you can visit my website to see samples of my art:
(I am in the process of adding more and building it so more will be added weekly...)
http://www.janeannwynn.com/paintings/
http://www.janeannwynn.com/drawing/
http://www.janeannwynn.com/assemblage/
So this is the image that came to my mind when I read this letter that Pamela Huntington gave me for this project.
Well, I guess it might seem slightly maudlin & perhaps a little dark & more dramatic than what you would have expected? I can't wrap my brain around the fluffy romance in life at times. I believe in contrast. Good and Bad. Duality. Maybe it was one too many nights staying up with my Mom as a very little girl, deep into the wee hours of the night watching scary movies? Or when she was readying Daphne Du Maurier's "The Birds" before going into labor with me...or so she told me. Anyway...I guess I get it honest.
The most frustating thing about this piece was that I spent a lot of time painting the image and in the end could not use it. I took the time to paint it just as the photoshopped images above, vintage image of a girl shooting a gun and a bird in a bird cage...but when I took the finished painting, scanned it, shrunk it down to 4 x 5 and printed it onto nice art paper, the image was lost. Too small. The details were lost. All that work to end up using a computer? Oh well...the secondary solution worked as well as I had envisioned it I guess. And I am not upset for spending time painting as I learned a LOT having painted that image. Lots of things I want out of my painting and what I know I do not want... So in the end, I have a lovely finished piece and I have some very valuable lessons learned!
In conclusion...my image? What does it mean? Other than the obvious? Well it means that when everything in life seems out of control, you have to be brave and take control over a terrible situation no matter how drastic a decision it may be. The answer for Adelaide was to shoot her bird instead of risking it not being loved and cared for by her senile Grand Mother. She was stricken with visions of her bird freezing, not being fed or worse, ignored or forgotten...she could not bare this and knew she could not take Jasmin with her. Clearly this was her only choice...as difficult as it may be.
Art of Communication-10th Annual 100 Artist Show
Show Date: February 1 – March 3, 2012
Opening reception: First Wednesday February 1, 5-7pm.
Location: Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, 335 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301
Salem – Remember when we looked forward to art class at least a few times a week in school? How about all that time spent learning how to print and write cursively? All of those assignments written on notebook paper? With budget crunches and ever-evolving technology in schools we have to wonder what will happen to all those words and art produced by hand. And, as technology marches on, what will be the memories that today’s children leave their family and friends? What if John and Abigail Adams had tweeted across the ocean instead of posting letters? How about Julia Child and her friend Avis emailing instead of writing? All of that amazing correspondence gone in the flash of a DELETE button?
During the month of February, the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery will be presenting The Art of Communication, the 10th annual 100 Artists show.
Over 100 artists were sent blank letters which arrived with instructions and included a stamped envelope with the address of a partnered artist. These letters made their way to 100 different artists across the country and beyond! Participating artists received a blank letter through the mail and were asked to write a thought, a story, or whatever they so chose and then send to their “partnered” artist. The artists had over three months to transform the writings into their work of art.
During this show, the artists will present their own ideas of what it is to “communicate”, while creating striking and inspiring art pieces. The act of letter writing is beginning to be a lost art, and receiving letters through the mail an almost forgotten pleasure for most of us. The idea of “mail art” and keeping letter writing as a form of communication is our theme for the 10th annual 100 Artist show.
The artwork will be on display and the letters will be available for viewing. The sale of the art will last the entire month with a silent bidding process ending at different times throughout the month. Anyone interested can call the gallery for a bidding number, see the artworks online on the gallery website or stop in and do the bidding in person.
This year the proceeds from the 100 Artists Show THE ART OF COMMUNICATION will be used to fund a special after school art and writing project for kids. We want to replicate the DNA of this 100 artists show pairing children with each other as art pen pals and perhaps even with some of our 100 artists. While this project will be launched in the Salem area community as a pilot, an important component will be to record what takes place so that the curriculum can be shared free of charge with other communities across the country who are interested in this hands-on experience.
The Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, located at 335 State Street in downtown Salem, Oregon, is the premiere place for purchasing contemporary arts and crafts. Open hours are 12 pm to 5:30 pm Tuesday through Friday, and 12 pm to 5 pm on Saturday. The gallery is closed on Sunday and Monday. To preview the upcoming show and see work by many other Northwest artists, visit www.zeekgallery.com
Need to post these on ETSY...
I have more that what is shown in the box at my feet.
I better get busy...these things aren't going to sell sitting in a box.
xox
I started this piece a few years ago and hated it so I stopped & put it away.
I got it back out, sanded it down and started back to work on it. I think I am ready to attack this now...
There is a time for everything.
xox
Its hard to post an image of something I am really not happy with.
I am seriously not happy with this version-so I am going to work on this before I frame it & ship it. Sometimes things just need work. Re-work. And then more altering! I suspect after I print this out onto beautiful paper I will go back into this with pencil and sketch over it a bit. Perhaps some light paint washes and something else. As a painting it was only mediocre. As a finished piece it will be much better...and I will feel good. I hope.
More tomorrow
Monday, January 9th 2012 Painting in oils is hard. Well for me at least.I love painting and I love oil paints but it makes me amazingly stressed out. I want to paint what I see in my head and what I think I know. But I don't know if I know much-especially when it comes to pushing this stuff around on panel. At one point I get a face I like and then-somehow? Poof! It is gone! I touched it or something and it gets messed up. I also think when I work small I forget to take a moment to step back and take a look to see if I am on the right track. Like when feet are too small. Ugh! OR when a body is out of proportion. Double-Ugh! And of course...there are HANDS! OMGOODNESS I hate hands. So much so I am thinking of making it a "thing" about me and my paintings. It was mentioned I should paint Mittens on hands instead of painting awful hands, and you know what? I LOVE THAT IDEA. It is funny and it's a giant F-U to hands. I mean, it is not that I won't work hard on painting hands and get really good at them in time...but for now I am tempted to just put mittens on people, when it comes to painting people that is...I think I want to paint animals & things that were imaginary from now on!
Anyway-everything I wrote about above, about messing up faces, and feet, etc... That was my day. However-even a difficult day of painting is still a brilliant day of work for me. AND I didn't have to get dressed for public. I am very lucky for that...and so are you. If you saw me like this today you might have thrown a quarter at me out of pity!
Tomorrow is another day of work...(At least I have already showered! We are safer for that at least.)
Thursday, January 5th 2012 I had to stop working on my pig painting and switch to working on a piece for an upcoming show at Mary Lou Zeek Gallery. I will go into more detail about this show in my next post-but I am in need of washing up, a shower and something to eat. I will share with you a tiny portion (FAR from finished) of what I am creating however...enjoy!
xox
NEW YEAR! January 1st 2012: 
I started work on my new painting-although I am always apprehensive when it comes to starting a painting. I just feel like I am in such uncharted territory. 
I toned the board with umber and then painted the pig with a thin layer of white.
More tomorrow
December 30th 2011: Happy Birthday to me!
December 29th 2011: Started work on my next painting!
It is another "unwritten" story like the little girl hugging a bee.
This unwritten story is about a prized pig, a champion lobster, and the winning cupcake in the county fair. 
Next up-having the courage to start the actual painting! HA! Stay Tuned! xox
December 28th 2011: 
Working on making this a workable blog...
