Philodendron 3: Faster than gardening; slower than fingerpainting

December 27

December 29

Faster than gardening, slower than finger painting, making watercolors with Painstaking Exuberance shows progress: One step at a time, one shape at a time.

I find myself at the "fool my eye" stage of nano creation, where I look at the painting and begin to say "I am almost finished." Not really. I have to work out exactly how to finish the four big blocks, and then go back and outline each individual shape.

100 Buttons

I remember this stage when I worked on "100 Buttons."  When thought that I was nearly done, I counted the buttons and discovered that there were more than 100 of them, and that I wasn't even half finished. 

Still Point Gallery: Selections from 2010 Exhibitions

100 Buttons

With 100 Buttons published in the Still Point Gallery: Selections from 2010 Exhibitions, I am now "pictured" in the dictionary under "grinning from ear to ear." I am eternally grateful to Christine Cote, director, curator and creative genius behind Still Point Gallery.

Unlike many nanoscapes which are part of nano families, 100 Buttons is an orphan.  Its inspiration was a black and white line drawing in an ad for a Manolo Blahnik shoe that was loaded with thread-covered buttons.  My Manolo knowledge was limited to having seen the full run of Sex and the City. I've not worn heels since 1982, when I had a slipped disc.

The ad sat on my work table for a while until I said "I can do that." Using my collection of French and American coins, I traced lots of shapes -- more than 100, as I learned later. Working with nanoscapes' Painstaking Exuberance, I painted over the pencil with Winsor Newton Davy's Gray, painted each shape multiple times until I achieved the right color, painted line-by-line the "threads" that covered each of the buttons, painted around each shape, and finally painted around the whole piece.

Somewhere in the middle of this engrossing activity, I counted the remaining buttons, and learned to my surprise that having finished with 45, that there were a lot more to go. This painting is the purest expression of Painstaking Exuberance: line-by-line, shape-by-shape with lots of pigment and not a lot of water.

Linked Blocks #1 is related to 100 Buttons

Other than its relationship to a drawing of a Very Famous Shoe Designer's covered button shoe, the real story of 100 Buttons is the way in which it seemed to take forever to paint.  Tracing the U.S. and French coins, painting the Winsor Newton Davy's Gray outlines of the coins and of the centers of each button (two circles for each button), layering in the button colors, painting in the "threads" two or three times, painting an outline for each button and center, and then stopping to count. When I was certain that I was half finished, I found that I had painted far more than 100 buttons, and that I certainly was nowhere close to being finished.

The story of the formerly nameless traveling nano is grows more like 100 Buttons every day.  I drew the nameless shapes, painted both the shapes and the little links that connected them with Winsor Newton Davy's Gray, painted the colors into the shapes, outlined each of the shapes with Daniel Smith Deep Sap Green, and painted colors into the links between each of the shapes. For the two days that I worked on the little links, I thought that they would perform their linking function without an outline between the between each shape. Although I haven't (and won't) count each shape, it is clear to me that each of the little links needs an outline.  And yes, there are far more little links than there are "big" shapes.

This is quintessential Painstaking Exuberance.  Gotta outline. Gotta get to work.

Fractured Glass Meets Kaleidoscopes: Day 5

Because the canvas (140# Arches paper, actually) is beginning to look half-finished, I started to count the bubbles, dividing them into three categories: complete, partly-painted, and undone.

No matter how I calculated, counting and re-counting, there are just 9 finished bubbles with all of their painted lines, and I'm nowhere near even half done.

I should have known better.  When I painted "100 Buttons," I began to count and learned that there were far more than 100 buttons, and that the finish line was far, far away.

"100 Buttons" was inspired by a line drawing of a shoe  with covered buttons.

I said "Ah ha! I can do that!" and traced nickels, dimes, quarters, and an assortment of French coins, painted Davy's Gray outlines, and then painted in their solid colors.

These "buttons" were particularly engaging, and most of them have multiple layers of watercolor underneath their painted threads.

Although most of my paintings are part of families (Bright Boxes, Small Friends, Kaleidoscopes, LLLamas, Cats, Rings & Links), 100 Buttons is now and probably forever will be an orphan -- just one in the family.