Day 20 of the '29 Faces' Challenge: another entry for the Nibblefest Art Contest, '"Moonlight Sonata (Piano Recital)" ACEO

Day 20 of the '29 Faces in February' art blog Challenge!  And, I'm happy to say that with this posting I will be officially and properly caught up...!  My Face-du-jour, an ACEO, is actually another entry  painted today for the Nibblefest Art Contest (along with my other entry, 'MoonShadow'), the theme being 'Moonlight'.  

Like my other entry, I followed along again with the musical concept regarding the theme.  Thinking as I did of my mental of list of favourite songs with the words 'moon' or 'moonlight' in the titles or lyrics, one of the first things to pop into mind was, of course, Beethoven's beautifully haunting piece of piano music, "Moonlight Sonata".  The thought of piano music however, also happened to conjure up memories of my own piano days, when I took private lessons from the age of 7 to 14. While I do adore music, I freely admit I haven't much talent for playing it myself.  It didn't help matters I'm sure that I despised practising, but even worse to me  than that were the annual mandatory  piano recitals that, as a shy kid, I dreaded so very much.  I reflected a little bit on all of this as I painted my ACEO today:

"Moonlight Sonata (Piano Recital)", an original ACEO

 CLICK HERE FOR AUCTION LINK

My Auction Description:

One of my entries for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (the theme for February being 'Moonlight') is an ACEO featuring a young woman, dutifully playing Beethoven's beautiful 'Moonlight Sonata' on the piano during her music recital, as she steals a nervous glance at her assembled audience.

 I very much enjoyed this month's Nibblefest theme.  Being as that I love to listen to music as I paint, the theme of 'Moonlight' brought to mind all my many favourite songs that have the word 'moon' or 'moonlight' in their titles or lyrics.  One of the first songs to pop into my head was Beethoven's haunting melody, "Moonlight Sonata'.  Now, I have a confessions to make.  As much as I personally love music?  I was a terrible music student, having taken piano lessons for 7 years in my youth.  I hated to practice, and I especially loathed, loathed, LOATHED the annual piano recitals I was required to do.  They felt like sheer torture to a shy person like myself...!  My ACEO here reflects a little bit of those ever-lovely ancient memories...."

(For those unfamiliar with Nibblefest -- it is a friendly, monthly, themed art contest on Ebay that always begins of the first of every month, with all entries beginning with a starting bid of just .99 cents.  Fun times!)

Nibblefest Art Contest: My Entry, 'MoonShadow'....

"MoonShadow",  3.5" x 8" acrylic painting on vellum that has been permanently mounted to a section of reclaimed wooden board.

The Nibblefest Art Contest began tonight!  I was able to get two entries completed for it, including this one that I blogged about this morning, my 'MoonShadow'.....

**CLICK HERE FOR AUCTION LINK**

My auction description:

"....I very much enjoyed this month's Nibblfest theme.  Being as that I love to listen to music as I paint, the theme of "Moonlight' brought to mind all my many favourite songs that have the word 'moon' or 'moonlight' in their titles or lyrics.  One of those tunes has always been "Moon Shadow", by Cat Stevens.  I have many fond memories of my older siblings playing it at home when I was growing up.  With its simple, cheerful melody and optimistic lyrics, it's a song that stuck with me all these many years, and one that I often sang aloud to my own children...."

(For those unfamiliar with Nibblefest -- it is a friendly, monthly, themed art contest on Ebay that always begins of the first of every month, with all entries beginning with a starting bid of just .99 cents.  Fun times!)

'Day 19' of the '29 Faces' Challenge: A painting entitled, 'Moonshadow'.....

Yesterday was Day 19 of the '29 Faces in February' art blog Challenge.  I was up into the wee hours last night and didn't quite get my blog entry written before I was too tired to continue, and so I'm planning to post twice today, now with my Day 19 Face, and later on this evening with my Day 20 Face...

My studio time yesterday was spent working on my  entries for the Nibblefest Art Contest (NfAC)  , which starts today  (which I find really sort of mind-boggling because I can hardly believe an entire month  has gone by already since the last one (January's theme being 'Letters/Symbols/Numbers', which I wrote about here and here)..).

Any long-time reader will know that I love me some art Themes.   Ever the theme-enthusiast, for some reason I find working within the parameters of themes gives my creativity a little extra spark.  I can almost always manage to find inspiration in any given theme (almost!), no matter how broad or obtuse -- though I dare say the NFAC theme for this month, 'Moonlight', was probably one of the easier to work with.  I mean who doesn't love the Moon....?

So not only is the moon one of my favourite subject matters, but I was also able to use the theme of 'Moonlight' to channel into another of my favoured artistic obsessions, that being  the personal interpretation of songs and song lyrics.  My musical tastes can only be described as eclectic, but I do love listening to music very much, especially while working.  For this month's NFAC theme, I reflected upon my vast mental list of Favourite Songs containing the word 'moon' or 'moonlight' in their titles or lyrics, and conjured up so many at first it wasn't easy to whittle them down to just three.  I even had a couple of false starts, and switched songs a time or two.   But finally I came up with this:

"Moonshadow":  Acrylics on vellum mounted onto a reclaimed 3.5" x 8" wooden board

I've always loved the song, 'Moon Shadow',  by Cat Stevens, having as I do very fond childhood memories of my older siblings playing his albums.  With its simple, cheerful melody and optimistic lyrics, it's a song that has stuck with me all these long years, and one that I often sung aloud to my own children when they were small....

I had to quit working last night before I thought I was quite finished.  My plan was to give the background a bit of color today -- but looking at it this morning with fresh, rested eyes, I'm actually rather liking the understated simplicity of it.  Kind of like the song....

Day 18 of the '29 Faces' Challenge: A Sketchbook Portrait

It's Day 19 of the '29 Faces in February' Challenge....!  I will be posting my 19th Face later on this evening,  but first this morning I'm making up for yesterday's post, Day 18, when computer issues last night were making our internet impossibly slow to use (doncha hate that?).....

My Face for Day 18 features a sketchbook pencil portrait:

A sketchbook portrait of one of my students

As mentioned previously in my blog here and there, I have a group of 10 youth for whom I teach weekly private art classes.   An ongoing fun and entertaining deal that I have with my students right now,  is that if they each bring me their sketchbooks (staggered throughout the year), plus a photograph of themselves, I will take their sketchbooks home with me and return them with a completed pencil portrait of their photos. It's a fun exercise and good practice for me (and perfect for this Challenge!), plus it always goes over really well with the kiddos. My main aim is to provide an example for my students, and to encourage them in the ongoing use of their sketchbooks -- but in doing so I'm hoping also to create a nice lasting keepsake for them.....

Day 17 of the '29 Faces' Challenge brings us another Painted Rock: "Blue Demon"

Firstly, just a note to once again thank everybody so much for all the wonderful comments and emails you have been so generous as to leave me with!   I am so enjoying hearing from everyone -- the feedback is wonderful and I really do so appreciate receiving it.  As for your emails, please know I am very nearly caught up again -- so if you haven't received a return email response from me yet, you can expect one very soon...

And now, my Face for Day 17 of the '29 Faces in February' Art Blog Challenge ....

This one was actually a project I worked on and mentioned back on Day 4 of the Challange --a painted 'rock'...that actually isn't a rock at all, but rather a chunk of concrete sidewalk I stumbled across in the gutter one day while strolling in my neighbourhood.  I don't know what propelled me to pick it up in the first place, but I'm so glad I did because the minute I laid eyes on it, I could see a funny little face staring right back at me.  

Meet a wee little 

"Blue Demon"

A little Gargoyle-like Creature from a found chunk of concrete sidewalk, painted on all sides following the natural curves, contours and crevices of the rock......

Very craggy surface.  Very textured.  But still I feel I was able to coax out his features....

A view to his left.

I love his maniacal expression -- he makes me chuckle just to look at him.

What a find.  I adore this little guy!

Tongue hanging out, lol....

Just look at that face!

And again, my usual little blurbie about my painted rocks:

...Typically, a rock... is just a rock. But sometimes, when luck smiles upon me, very special ones reveal themselves. Then I 'see' rock people, little figures hidden within the naturally formed bumps, corners and crevices of ordinary stones -- Nature's very own sculpture. With the help of a bit of paint, I enjoy 'liberating' these unique wee folk for others to enjoy as well.....  

 (To see more of my painted rocks, click on the 'Painted Rocks' label for this post -- as well as visiting my Painted Rock Gallery on EBSQ)....

Day 16 of the '29 Faces' Challenge: 'Forgiving River', an Original 11 x 13 Painting

"Forgiving River", an Original Painting Incorporating a Vintage Wooden Frame

It's with genuine satisfaction that I am posting this particular piece for my Day 16 Face of the '29 Faces in February' art blog Challenge.   This painting, which I call 'Forgiving River', has been knocking around my studio for THE longest time (see my 'Pile of Shame' in my previous post, "Unfinished Business") Comprised of one of my DIY painting supports that I create myself using vintage wooden frames, it's painted all over, including said frame, which has been incorporated into the overall piece.  I'm sort of amazed actually that the whole thing doesn't weigh 10+ pounds by now, what with the accumulations of paint I've applied to it all these years trying to get it 'just so'.  In any case, as I've written about previously, but will repeat here -- the following explains my painting-support-building process:

I have recently begun painting almost exclusively on supports I create myself utilising the old, salvaged wooden picture frames that cross my path from time to time (usually for free). 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 these 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 adds dimension and depth to my paintings, complete with a built-in frame (onto which I often extend my painted images, incorporating the frames into the overall piece) into one cohesive, ready-to-hang whole....

So after working on this today, I'm just so glad I can finally declare it finished, after all these long years of it pestering me, ahhh.....

Plus interestingly, now that I think on it, my "Forgiving River' would actually fit the theme of this month's upcoming Nibblefest Art Contest (the theme for Feb being 'Moonlight') really well -- hmmm, kind of a coincidence there. (But no, I'm thinking it will be Etsy for her....).

Day 15 of the '29 Faces' Challenge -- 'Gibson Girl' on a Painted Rock....

It's Day 15 of the '29 Faces' in February Challenge!  Which means once I hit the 'publish' button for this post, we will officially be over the challenge half-way hump, with progressively fewer 'Faces' ahead of me than behind.  Wooh!  But it does still mean another fourteen consecutive daily Face projects yet to come however, determined as I am to stick with it all and see it through to the end.... 

Up to this point it feels as though I've been mostly playing things by ear with my Faces, kind of working on random projects willy-nilly as I've felt like it -- but it certainly wouldn't hurt to actually properly plan things either.  Looking ahead, I realise there are several art deadlines fast approaching that probably ought to be receiving my attention.  One is the upcoming Nibblefest Art Contest (Nibblefest F.B. Fan Page here,  Nibblefest Blog here) with longtime readers knowing it's an event I like to regularly participate in.  For anyone unfamiliar, the Nibblefest Art Contest is a themed event hosted via ebay (Nibblefest ebay group here), which begins the 20th of every month.  The themes are broad and the entries (up to three per contestant) can be of any medium -- the primary ironclad rule of the contest is that all auctions must begin with a starting bid of .99 cents. Admittedly that can feel a little risky at times -- as such it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but for me, the contest is a hoot because I always so enjoy working with the Themes.  This month should be no exception, because the theme, "Moonlight", has to be one of my favourites.  As much as I love anthropomorphic 'Hearts', I probably  adore anthropomorphic 'Moons' all the more (if my 'Bloo Moon' Painted Rock, my 'Myrtle Moon' WIP Doll, plus this as examples are any indication) -- therefore I can totally see once again combining 'Moons' with 'Faces' for the contest AND challenge, and 'killing two birds with one stone' again while I'm at it (something to mull over anyway -- I have until this coming Monday, the 20th, to figure it out)....

Now, speaking of 'stones', this brings me to today's featured Face, happy as I am to announce another finished project, and yet another painted rock figurine at that.   As with the others, she was begun aeons ago (literally, if you consider Mother Nature's role in the matter!), so I'm terribly happy to finally declare her 'Finis!'.... 

 Meet "The Gibson Girl"....

'The Gibson Girl', with her upswept hairdo and poofy sleeves, her pet dove perched on her hands and cuddled under her chin

Photographed with a penny for size reference

This rock had lots of rough texture to work with, still, her features have always been very apparent to me

Her dove's wings are outstretched and framing her lovely face.

 

Good Buddies.

 Charles Dana Gibson was a victorian-era illustrator who, through his extensive body of work, influenced an entire generation as to his idealised image of feminine beauty that became popularly known as  'The Gibson Girl".  My own little lady here, with her upswept hairdo, serene expression and big, poofy sleeves, recalls to my mind these once-ubiquitous, vintage 'Gibson Girls' of yore, hence her title....

My usual little blurbie about my painted rocks:

...Typically, a rock... is just a rock. But sometimes, when luck smiles upon me, very special ones reveal themselves. Then I 'see' rock people, little figures hidden within the naturally formed bumps, corners and crevices of ordinary stones -- Nature's very own sculpture. With the help of a bit of paint, I enjoy 'liberating' these unique wee folk for others to enjoy as well.....  

 (To see more of my painted rocks, click on the 'Painted Rocks' label for this post -- as well as visiting my Painted Rock Gallery on EBSQ)....