Private Commission, 'Hijabi', 09/2017

"Hijabi", acrylic 4' x 4' canvas 2017

Another interesting 2017 project!  A Muslim customer was planning a large party for her daughter upon the daughter's decision to take up in the Islamic tradition of wearing the hijab.  My customer supplied for me a very large canvas -- much, MUCH bigger than I typically work (4 feet by 4 feet) -- and asked for a simplified abstracted work in particular colors, featuring a Hijabi in silhouette.  This was a fun challenge because I don't often work in abstract, and certainly not this big.

The painting as displayed at the special event....

A Very Special Commission Project...:

'Mama and Babe Portrait' by Patience, 11 x 14

 

There's quite a story behind this one....  Without going into too much detail for privacy's sake, suffice it to say the lovely mama pictured here is facing terminal illness.  Though a stranger to me, a thousand miles away and in another country, I put as much love and compassion into this one as I could.  I'm hoping it shows. And I'm so happy and thrilled to be able to say it was really well received by the recipient (the mama), and well on its way to becoming the precious family keepsake I'd hoped for as I was painting it....

 

Please hug your loved ones a little tighter today....

 

 

Day 12 of the '29 Faces' February Art Blog Challenge

As of today we find ourselves on Day 12 of the '29 Faces' Challenge.  After an especially busy weekend Chez Patience, with the last few days since little better, I found myself getting a bit behind in my Challenge Faces (not to mention my Challenge blogging.  And comment replies!).  Happily however I'm officially catching back up again today with some funny little homemade anthropomorphic heart valentines cards I whipped up this afternoon.  I do enjoy making handmade Valentines for my family, and do so every year.  So while these may not be the most exciting of specimens perhaps, nevertheless with two 'faces' per card, these officially represent my #9, #10,  #11 and #12 Faces of the '29 Faces' February 2013 Art Blog Challenge:

'Happy Hearts' Valentine's Card

More Happy Hearts :-)

A Belated 'Fall' Update....

A gorgeous Fall in the Midwest this year (the view down my street a few short months ago)

Time for an 'Art of Patience' Fall update (never mind that it's actually winter now, ahem) -- as usual I'm a little overdue for an update of any kind, but, no time like the present, as they say.  And so, because it's the most easy, if not the most fun (and probably the most interesting besides) let me do so by way of a few select random photographs.....

But first, just to get a little business out of the way....our next round of the The Nibblefest Art Contest begins in less than two days....!  The theme for December is 'Mushrooms', and I'm pleased to say I already have my entry all set and ready to go, w00t.  None of that last minute crunch time for me this go round.  Plus I'll be blogging about it too of course (and in a very calm and relaxed way, ahhh), so be sure to check back here on the 20th.  In the meantime, I put together and curated a fun little entry for the Nibblefest Blog introducing this month's 'Mushrooms' theme, featuring a number of pieces by Nibblefest Artists (including a wee something of mine), which can be read by clicking this.....

 

In any case, despite our terrible drought this past summer (or maybe because of it....?) I just found our Fall colors this year to be exceptionally gorgeous -- such a delight to step out my door to scenes like this:

Canopy of fall colors on my street

And this:

Striking red and green

So while it's all looong gone by now of course, it was lovely while it lasted (though once the fall color party was over, naturally we did have to RAKE it all)....

Halloween this year was pleasant and fun, and, since it has long been my tradition to make goofy, spooky-themed food in honor of the event, even though my kids are well into their teens by now (with one even out of the house), I can't resist sharing my 'ghostly' Shepherd's Pie (whereby the whipped potatoes were molded into little 'ghosts' (complete with carrot eyes and green pea mouths) rather than spread evenly in a layer over the top) -- tee hee....:

Happy Halloween!

It was a hit.... :-)


In other foodie news, this fall I made my first ever batch of this....:

This photo doesn't really do justice to the great quantity of Kraut here -- but trust me it's a lot! (3 large heads worth)

Homemade sauerkraut, people....!   

Heck, it turned out to be so darn easy (and yummy) to make I can't imagine whatever took so long to finally build up the courage to give it a whirl (and this despite my past successful experimental forays into making homemade Kim-Chi).  Well, needless to say it was (and is -- we are still eating on this batch) quite delicious, and, as a naturally fermented food, chock-full of super healthy pro-biotics and nutritious enzymes.  Good stuff...!

Other happenings going on lately Chez Patience include the private art classes I'm teaching, which have been going really well this semester.  Really enjoying my wonderful young students, and they've been producing some truly lovely work....

Including more Still Life....:

Still-Life Paintings of Pears

A Pretty Painted Green Pear

....some fun with Jackson Pollock style 'Splatter-and-Drip' paintings...,

'Splatter and Drip' Paintings

A slightly somewhat messy, but otherwise very fun, technique....

.....as well as Self Portraits, our current ongoing student painting project:

Sketching the portraits....

....with mirrors for self-reference.

The sketching completed, they are now currently painting them.  Don't they look terrific so far....?

My art students' Self Portraits-in-Progress

In regards to my own children and their art, this update finds my son (of whom I've written about before here) continuing his studies at his ballet school, all the way across the country....:

My son in Arabesque

He's been working hard this semester and learning lots (and we're looking forward to a visit from him soon for his (all too brief) winter break)....

And because I can't very well post a picture one child without also posting a picture of the other, here's a snapshot of my daughter from a fun family kayaking excursion earlier this fall...:

Beautiful day/beautiful setting.  And as you can see we had the lake practically to ourselves!

Speaking of my daughter, she had a birthday this fall, which was celebrated by going to our favorite Mexican restaurant in town, during which she was forced to wear the requisite Birthday Sombrero, all while being serenaded by the wait staff (AS WELL AS enduring the smearing of a bit of her free birthday dessert onto her face).  Fun tradition, no...?  (can't say she was thrilled exactly, but happily she's a pretty good sport overall, lol)....

Birthday Girl

In still other kid news, we had the chance this fall to finally meet my adorable three-year-old niece, for the first time ever, when she came all the way over to the States with her folks for a visit from Hong Kong, where she and her parents live...:

Meet JunJun...!

 What a charmer!  Such a pleasure spending time with and getting to know her -- far too short a stay to be sure, but very sweet indeed (and we're still waiting for the chance to meet her one year old brother one day, who stayed behind for this trip (being such a long plane ride and all) -- hopefully next time!)....

Now, just a mention, since this IS an art blog, that my Nibblefest Art Contest entry from last month, "Mother Nature's Son" (the theme for Nov being 'Nature') received 2nd Place:

Yay!  A Big Thanks to all my bidders!

Plus, lastly, for fun I'll share here one of my latest ongoing art-related projects that I've been enjoying lately.   It's a horse head of all things, and of papier mache no less, though not actually one of my own.....:

An antique Papier Mache Horse Head -- how cool is that...?

No indeed.  Rather, I was contacted online by the owner of this gorgeous antique, which had unfortunately sustained some pretty serious damage over the years, including large cracks and even chunks of it falling off.....

Like, for instance, its ears....:

Both ears were completely off by the time it arrived to me

Plus plenty of cracks, as well as damage about its mouth and its base....

Neigh! 

 'Would I be willing to restore it?', I was asked...

But of course.....!

Here his right ear is once more completely and securely reattached (with the left ear soon to follow)

 She sent it off to me, and I got to work....:

Stabilizing the loose, damaged areas, and filling in the many cracks....

I've been working on and off on it for several weeks now -- the days on end of overcast mist and rain that we've been getting here intermittently making for slow going at times (when the papier mache I'm applying to fix his damaged bits just simply will not dry).  Besides, no reason to do a rush job of it -- best to approach it with thought and care, and I have.  In any case, as soon as I have his damaged base all addressed (which should be soon), and all his various patches repainted and touched up to match his handsome patina, I'll take  'after' pictures.....

So that's my update for now -- check back here in a few days to see and read my Nibblefest Art Contest concept for 'Mushrooms'.....!

My Nibblefest Art Contest entry, a painting entitled "Tom's Diner" -- tribute to the old Suzanne Vega song....

My entry for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest, an original entitled "Tom's Diner".....

 Click for auction link

Confession time.  So naturally, like most people, I have any manner of personal interests/pursuits, and favored methods of keeping myself entertained.  But by far my most favorite of all relaxing distractions has got to be the age-old activity....of People Watching.  People Watching, how I adore thee....!

If it sounds creepy, I promise it's really not.  Surely I'm not alone in finding the act of sitting back and passively observing the comings and goings of random humanity around me an endless source of fascination....?  I swear I can 'people watch' for hours and never get bored.  But just what is it about it that's so personally intriguing?  I do take casual mental note of folks -- what they are doing perhaps, what they are wearing.  But not in any judgmental way.  Instead it's as with an impartially neutral clinician's eye.  I simply find People, strangers or otherwise, highly interesting creatures..... 

Perhaps I find it so entertaining because I tend to be a visually-oriented thinker, so that all this mental observation might somehow convey for me reams of pertinent information to process, consciously or otherwise.  Perhaps as an artist, drawn to featuring people in my paintings, I'm subconsciously staking out future subject matter.  Or who knows, maybe I was an anthropologist in a former life, lol  -- whatever the case, I confess I'm a relentlessly avid (but discrete!) observer of my fellow humankind....

Which brings me to this month's Nibblefest Art Contest....  As mentioned in my last post, I missed the original August 20th deadline, but was able to make up for it last night, with a 5-Day auction for an original entry entitled "Tom's Diner" (click for auction link).   So who here might be familiar with that old song by the folk-inspired singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega....?  The following is my auction description:

____________________________

..."Tom's Diner".....

My entry for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC), (~the theme for August being 'Coffee') is an original acrylic painting on a 8.5 x 7" found wooden plaque.  "Tom's Diner' is signed on the front, and ready to hang.....

When thinking about 'Coffee' as a theme this month, one of the first things to pop into my head was the song, "Tom's Diner", by the folk-inspired singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega.  I've always been partial to the song, written as it is in sort of a 'stream of consciousness' first person narrative, about a patron hanging out alone in a city diner, sipping coffee while making mental observations of the mundane goings-on around her.  One of these is a woman outside in the rain who spies her own reflection in the window, taking advantage of it to adjust her skirt and stockings.  My entry is my attempt to capture the moment of this little scenario:

"....There's a woman on the outside
Looking inside.
Does she see me?
No she does not really see me
'Cause she sees her own reflection....."
(from the lyrics of 'Tom's Diner', by Suzanne Vega)

_________________________

While I myself don't have time much to hang around in cafes, on those rare occasions when I do I have found them PRIME people watching locales.  I mean seriously, what a hoot!  So perhaps that's why Suzanne Vega's song, which I first heard 20 years ago or more (and can be listened to on Youtube here), has always resonated with me.....

"Tom's Diner", as inspired by the Suzanne Vega tune, "Tom's Diner".....

One more note about this particular piece.  I used for my painting support an old, wooden plaque I'd picked up recently from a second-hand store.  It has an interesting little inscription on the back of it, which will likely prove to be a bit of curiosity to whomever wins it.  The following is a photo of the back of the wood plaque, with my title and signature but also the inscription I discovered written there: 

My title/name/date on the top, with the written inscription in the middle...

An close-up shot of the written inscription (can you read it?):

Love, from Grandma and Grandpa Scharlau :-)

Isn't that sweet....?!  The plaque as I found it was painted a flat canary yellow, with what amounted to a large sticker of a cartoon dog adhered to it.  Apparently a gift to a treasured grandson in the '70's -- but still, not being original art, or heck, even a print, after some pondering I came to the conclusion it would be okay to put the plaque to alternate use.  Though I'm making certain NOT to obscure this sweet little note on the back in any way -- it will remain a part of the piece's history.....

(To see ALL the great art entries in this month's Nibblefest Art Contest, click here)....

In any case, speaking of old artwork, just to reiterate here, in my quest to re-purpose the various second-hand frames and painting supports that I stumble across from time to time, I would be loathe to ever paint over original artwork (that is, unless whatever we are talking about really is TRULY questionable) -- nothing at all like the news I heard only last night on BBC radio.  Has anyone else read about this...???  Apparently a century-old fresco in Spain that had seen extensive deterioration over the years...was the recent object of an amateur 'restoration' by a go-getting elderly parishioner, who took it upon herself to personally  'fix' the damage (click for online article).  Oyyyyyy...!

A damaged fresco (left), damaged yet even further by a well-meaning parishioner! (right)

I mean in a way one has to admire her chutzpah and 'take charge' attitude..., but Ay Carumba!  So yeah, none of that -- I know my limits!

Nibblefest Started Last Night Without Me, Drat....

.....so thank goodness there is the 5-Day auction option, which I fully intend to utilize....!

(in the meantime to see all the great entries so far this month,
click here)....

I get so annoyed with myself when Nibblefest sneaks up on me -- never mind that it happens pretty much each and every month....!  Oh sure, in the back of my mind I knew the August 20th deadline was fast approaching.  And I did spend a lot of time over the weeks pondering in my head the theme that is 'Coffee'.  Still, with all the hub-bub around here (daughter's first day of public school this morning, and my son home again for his late-summer break) I ended up getting an atrociously late start on my entry this time around.  Like even more than usual.  And despite painting like a madwoman last night, and getting soooo close, in the end I didn't quite finish in time.   So yeah, I blew it -- but oh well, I'll get it completed and uploaded in time for a 5-Day auction tomorrow.  Yay for second chances...!  

In the meantime, for fun, I will upload a summer full of... PIES.   For whatever reason, I suppose mostly due to my usually absent sweet-toothed son hanging around here on break, not to mention all the wonderful abundant fresh fruit at the ready this time of year, these past couple of months I've just had the irresistible urge to bake.  This in spite of our frequently horrible summer heat (though I did arrange my baking around the weather, taking advantage of cooler days here and there).  And  despite most of all the fact that I'm really ordinarily quite a bit the health nut (but I guess we all need to let our hair down once in awhile?).  So who knows what got into me exactly, I've simply found it a really pleasant distraction lately to bake for my appreciative family (while being sure to make up for it with a very healthy low-fat, veggie-laden menu otherwise).....

Here are some of the results of this summer's baking obsession 

(unlikely to win win Blue Ribbons for looks, but trust me, that's some FLAKY crust) :

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Pie (left) and fresh Blueberry-Peach (right)

A Strawberry Glace Pie (Left), and Banana Cream With Leftover Strawberry Topping (left), plus a pile (top) of Cinnamon Twists (cinnamon rolls with a different 'shape')....

Red Raspberry Lattice-Top

Not pie, but still quite yummy: Olive-Rosemary Sourdough Bread....

A straight-up Blueberry.....

A straight-up Rhubarb....

Old-fashioned Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Crust (my son's idea to try this).....

Blackberry....!

Now I promise you, I need to be eating pie just about as much as I need a hole in the head.  So it's probably a good thing I prefer the act of baking them more than the act of actually eating them (one small sliver with a  few bites just to taste, and I'm good.  And hold the ice cream..!).  It's just nice to appreciate my family's appreciation -- and all in good fun....

My July Nibblefest Art Contest Entry, Entitled 'Winged Strings'....

"Winged Strings":  A 9.5 x 11.5 mixed media painting, as photographed outside on my porch....

As usual, with a busy summer on my end I have all kinds of bloggery to catch up on in here.  And so I'll get down to it, starting with this, a post regarding my entry into July's Nibblefest Art Contest....

The theme this month is 'Fairy'.  Well, surely, I've enjoyed my share of Fantasy over my many long years -- who doesn't love settling in to a juicy fairy tale?  The Brothers Grimm?  Shakespeare?  The art of Brian Froud?  Hans Christian Anderson?  The 'Lord of the Rings' films? (Okay, so there aren't actually any fairies in LOTR, but you know what I mean.)  And yet, I guess I still wasn't that interested in exploring the 'literal' fairy route (been there/done that) for this round -- looking instead to enter something a little ...different.  And a little more 'me'.....

 "Winged Strings"  
(Click for auction link)

That said, I was still glad for the opportunity with this theme to indulge in yet another of my personal fetishes.  Confession: I have this funny little thing for...(whispers)....moths.  Not those nasty wee pests that ruin your wool sweaters (though certainly those are technically moths too of course).  No, I'm talking about those ethereal winged critters that look like your average butterfly's more sedate and buttoned-up sisters. The mysterious markings and nocturnal habits of moths have always intrigued me, so I'm drawn (heh, 'drawn') to featuring them in my art from time to time (most recently here and here).  And I'm perpetually on the lookout for such showy lepidoptera (including but not limited to Cecropia, Luna Moths,  Polyphemus (with their imitation 'owl eyes' --  I mean how clever is that, the little fakers!), Sphynx, etc etc) out in the wild.  But, being as they are among those elusive Creatures of the Night, any sightings of them by me have unfortunately been about as common as seeing actual fairies themselves.

There was however one very specific close encounter of the moth kind, in my childhood.  Once when I was a young girl walking from school, I happened to spy an oddly-shaped, gray papery Thing, attached to a twig.  Schlepping it home with me, twig and all (which I would have gently discouraged my own children to do -- admire and learn for sure, but try to leave Nature be already!), my parents identified it as a cocoon.  Then it somehow ended up in a fishbowl, which was nonchalantly shoved behind a chair in the corner of our family room.  And promptly forgotten about (again, this wouldn't have happened with my own kids!).   Time went by.  I can't  say for sure how much exactly, but it seems like quite a long time (as in months?  Like over the winter maybe?  Is that even possible...?).  Fast forward to the day I was vegging out in the family room, transfixed by the TV most likely, when something caught my  attention, out of the corner of my eye.  That 'something' turned out to be a gloriously ENORMOUS moth, hanging from the electrical cord of the table lamp, casually flapping it's broad, earth-colored wings like it owned the place.  I was so shocked (we had totally forgotten about that thing!) -- as well as fascinated..... 

Memory serves that we identified it as a Cecropia, one of the largest and most lovely of all North America's moths.  And it certainly was large.  And truly beautiful.  But this was in the dark ages waaaaay before the internet, so who knows what reference material we were using.  In any case I remember taking it to school with me the following day for show-and-tell, then bringing it back home, where I released it into a small trees-y thicket that stood in the back of my yard.  That was the first and last time I ever had such an up-close and personal encounter with one of these beauties.  And it clearly made an impression on me, since I've often reflected upon the memory over the years (mostly just hoping the thing went on to thrive without too many ill-effects from our (miss)treatment...!).....

The following is my auction description:

"Winged Strings":

My entry for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC) (~the theme for July being 'Fairies') is an original acrylic/mixed media piece created from a second-hand frame.

This original 9.5 x 11.5 painting, of a woman compelled to confront her own creative muse, as fragile and elusive as a mothly fairy, is one of the largest pieces I have entered into Nibblefest.  Re-purposing an old, second-hand frame, the painting has been built up using multiple layers of paper and paint.  The brown-painted, rounded sides of the wooden frame are complemented by the addition of a border created by using small, torn bits of vintage sheet music, to continue the musical theme.  The overall effect is really quite lovely, with much depth, richness and dimension.

(And, my usual little blurbie about working with old frames:)

I have recently begun painting almost exclusively on supports I create myself utilizing the old, salvaged picture frames and pieces of scrap wood that cross my path from time to time. I feel good about giving these unwanted homeless items a second life, not only because trees were cut down at some point to produce them, but also because by the time I get my hands on them they are usually destined for the landfill. The process of recycling vintage frames into painting supports/canvases is a lengthy one, typically involving stabilizing the frames (which can be quite rickety), cutting thick paperboard to fit, securing it all and pasting and building up a painting surface with layers of overlapping scraps of paper. The end effect is a highly textured surface that contributes dimension and depth to my paintings, complete with a built-in frame, into one cohesive, ready-to-hang whole....

(And lastly, for fun here is a picture of the old vine-covered chair sitting on my porch that I've been using as a photographic prop (like in the photo above).  I'm just allowing the vines to roam wild and free this year to completely entangle it -- don't you just love the effects...?):

My old porch chair, wrapped in vines.....

Nibblefest Art Contest: An Edgar Allan Poe Inspired Painting, "The Raven"

My entry for June's Nibblefest, a painting inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven"


A tribute to Poe, painted on vellum and permanently mounted onto an old/weathered 3.5" x 9" x 1.5" found and reclaimed piece of wood....

Ah, Nibblefest.  The fun and friendly monthly art competition rolls around yet again!   To tell the truth, I'm a little shell shocked at just how quickly the past four weeks have WHIZZED by (a little too fast for my taste --please, if the rest of the summer flies past like the past four weeks have, it will be over before I even realize it!).  Nevertheless the passage of time marches on, and with yesterday being the 20th I did manage to come up with an entry for the June theme, 'Feathered Friends'.....

Oh, Poe.  But of course I would be tempted to take any opportunity to create a wee tribute piece to this classic American author.  I mean with a  theme like 'Birds', who could resist...? Indeed I've always admired Edgar Allan Poe's lifesworks, having read and shared many of them to my own children and students over the years (my FAVORITE-favorite of ALL his tales being, 'The Cask of Amontillado". Which I will happily read aloud to ANYONE who asks).   The following is my auction/entry description:

"...When thinking about 'Birds' as a theme this month, one of the first things to pop into my head was Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, "The Raven" (probably because my daughter is reading a lot of Poe this summer).  It's one of his most well-known pieces, still to this day, having been published innumerable times over the long years, and this in spite of  the fact the poem did not actually prove all that lucrative in his own lifetime.  Nevertheless, there is still something very compelling about that old raven, sitting (always sitting), quietly above the chamber door -- that is, except to every so often utter the word, 'Nevermore'.  

Pretty smart crow I'd say.....!

Very bad side view pic displaying the extra thick (1.5") painted edges.

A picture showing the back of the old, weathered piece of found wood that I used for the painting.  So thick that none of the holes went through to the front, but the rugged state really adding to the overall character of the piece (note I sealed up the entire back with several thick coats of varnish)

Nibblefest Art Contest: Great art starting at just .99 cents...!

UPDATE:  
Happy to announce that my Poe tribute painting/entry, "The Raven", won First Place in June's
Nibblfest Art Contest -- a big and sincere Thank You to all my lovely bidders....!

Hiking at Turkey Run State Park....

 A Happy Father's Day today to all my fathered friends....!  

We will be spending the day with extended family (including my dad) -- dining out together, then gathering at my parents' house for dessert (I'm multitasking and making a Banana Cream Pie as I type!).  So it's promising to be an enjoyably busy day today -- always fun.  In fact, get-togethers with my extended family, lively bunch that they are, are ALWAYS guaranteed fun.  Case in point, here are some pictures from what we were all doing exactly a week ago today (to the minute!), when my kids and I spent the day hiking with family and friends at a beautiful state park just a little over an hour's drive from us.....

We were a group of eight....

It was a gorgeous sunny day, and perfect for hiking in a beautiful wooded setting.....

My own little corner of the U.S.A. isn't known for being particularly scenic.  No hills, no lakes, no rivers -- in fact it's fair to say it's downright geologically challenged....!  That's why we're lucky to have such lovely terrain accessible and not too terribly far from where we live (about an hour and quarter's drive).....

My daughter trying to NOT get her feet wet....

I love all the rocky ravines....

It was a warm and humid day, but relatively cool and pleasant in the canyon's shade.....

My son was easy to spot in his red shirt....

My nieces scrambling over cliffs (note they are dedicated workout queens and half marathoners who are in MUCH better shape for this sort of activity!)....

Lots of uphill hiking (huff puff)....

In all, a wonderful way to spend a sunny summer Sunday.....

Hiking up the creek bed made for slippery going at times -- happily no mishaps though!

A pretty little gurgling stream....

We opted for the designated 'rugged' trails, which included in some cases going up and down ladders.

Kind of freaky really -- just don't look down as you climb....!

There were also stairs on the trail.  Lots and lots and lots of stairs.....

More stairs, of stone.....

Navigating around big rocks....

As well as fallen logs (with my son hanging out on one)...

Hiking along the rock walls....

We haven't had our usual amount of rain this spring, so the river that runs through the park was quite low....

After hours of hiking, the sun is getting low in the sky....

We wrapped things up before leaving for home with a stop at an old, historical house that is park of the park complex  -- in any case, what a great way to spend the day....!