Splatter

We’re having a staring contest, me and this big blank canvas. And I’m sorry to say the canvas is winning. Its whiteness is mocking me, mocking my inability to do anything besides sit here and lose a staring contest. With an inanimate object. 

I twirl the brush between my fingers. I run the back of my hand along the paint jar. I question the need to add just a speck more yellow cadmium, light. 

My palette is set. My brushes are in neat rows, organized by size. The palette knife is closest to me, because I never know when I’ll need it. 

I have pre-mixed almost a dozen colors. Shades ranging from deep, forbidding red to a light, airy blue. I worked for hours to get them the perfect shade, the perfect consistency. My movements were careful and thought out; there was never a stray movement or exuberant gesture.

This is how I paint. This is how I create. My canvases are covered by neat lines and rows, everything in its place. 

I have mastered the art of free handing a line. Not a shake or squiggle to be seen. That was the plan for this project as well. Just another in a long series of geometric designs, all intended for a show, at some point down the road.

For now, they just sit, leaning against the studio wall, inactive. They are waiting for me to take the first steps.

Transfixed by the blank stretch of canvas before me, I pick up my brush. Without thinking, without pausing to consider, I dip the wide, inch and a half brush into the open jar of violently bright green, and throw it against the canvas.

The whole brush leaves my hand, propelled by an intensity I didn’t know I possessed. The tip, full of paint, hits first, and splatters green all over me. The brush then goes flying off in a diagonal direction, heading straight for my pristine rug. 

Somehow, I don’t care.

I don’t care that the rug is ruined, that my face and hair are splattered, and that my canvas is no longer pristine. 

I just don’t care.

The splotch has broken the staring contest, putting me firmly in control. 

Inspired, I pick up my largest palette knife, scoop up the beautiful sky blue, and smack it onto the surface. Next to the loud green, it makes quite the contrast. More subtle and relaxed, it calms the splotch down. 

Intrigued, I drag the knife from the middle of the blue into the green, creating a wonderful mix of color. I stop myself before I get carried away, and lose the sharp contrast between the two colors. As my teacher always used to say, “Half of being an artist is knowing when to stop”. 

I pause, considering the mess I’ve made. With a grin on my face large enough to peel the splattered paint away from my cheeks, I reach for a clean brush. 

Next up: orange.

***

This is what came out when I was trying to write creative non-fiction .

Prickly Porcupine Face

It's been a tough week. Headache, tired, achy, all that jazz.

Last night Smokey decided it was play time as I was trying to get in bed. And then that it would be appropriate to meow loudly when I ignored her.

This morning my mom said I was being prickly. I was wearing my porcupine face. I didn't know I had a porcupine face. I'm working very hard to put that face away and bring out my-well, a nicer, less prickly face.

I'll let you know how that goes.

Trick-or-Treaters

Last night we had two trick-or-treaters. One young girl (very polite-she wouldn't take more than two pieces of candy) dressed up as a frog of some sort. A teenage boy "dressed up" as a Packer. His costume was a Packers hoodie. His friend, who had come a "Blackhawk", refused candy.

We have a lot of candy left.

I "dressed up" as a witch to hand out candy; I wore a pointy black hat.

On a completely unrelated note, I finished a painting about a week ago:

I am so ready to be done hearing election ads, but I am not ready for the projected results.

Oh, and watch this:

Creative Juices Still Running

I finished this painting several weeks ago:

The quote says "Your are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here."

The one I am very close to finishing has a "key" theme. I really like it. We'll see what I think when I get it home and on my wall. The walls never lie.

And my teacher and I started talking about my next piece today. It will have another quote-yet to be decided-and be some sort of collage, newspaper component. I'm excited. It's good for me to be creative. All the numbers make my brain hurt.

Books and Happy Dances

On Tuesday my summer officially started. I finished my technology class a while ago, and I just finished all my chemistry labs. There was a fair amount of dancing and jumping up and down. So, to celebrate, I am totally breaking my routine and going out and partying like crazy. (See, this is why there needs to be a sarcastic font, because people who don't know me might actually think I'm serious.)

In celebration of my one-week summer, I bought myself a new CD. Which I have been listening to (the embedding feature wasn't cooperating) obsessively.

A old friend stayed with us this week. It was great to see him, and so cool to continue introducing him to Harry Potter. We read part of the fourth book out loud and also watched the third movie. I think we've done a pretty good job of confusing him. The first time he stayed with us we were reading the seventh (and last) book out loud. Unfortunately, he lives on the other side of the country, so I can't stop by and bug him about finishing all the books. I need someone new to talk Harry Potter with.

I've been finding all these amazing new blogs. I don't know how to keep up with them all! But I did immediately dump one when I found out the author likes Twilight more than Harry Potter. I can handle Twilight-I've even spent my (parents') money to go see the movies. But liking Twilight more than Harry Potter? Completely unacceptable.

I've been really enjoying reading throughout the day and not having any homework assignments hanging over my head. I can truly relax and allow myself to be completely absorbed in the book. I'm reading like crazy, trying to read all the good books (and okay books) before school starts.

I finished a painting a while ago:

Artwork

I've been pretty silent this week. Which is probably good, because all you would have heard about would have been my week. Which was a pretty bad one. So we'll just leave it at that-bad week, big egg on my head (Didn't you just picture a chicken egg on the side of my head? I did. Just to clarify, I bumped my head on a cabinet, and so there is a large bump on the side of my head.).

Instead of talking, I thought I would post a couple pictures of recent art projects.

This first one is a charcoal drawing I did in my tree drawing class. The fuzziness is mostly the actual picture, but some of it is my inability to hold the camera still. You get the general idea, at any rate.

This is the last one I finished in the art class with my neighbor. It's hanging on the wall in the hallway. I think it's my favorite one to date.

I hope you had a better week than I did. Enjoy the weekend.