Blog
8/24/2020 12:55:00 PM
Ahhh, nothing like having a rainbow of good quality professional paints at my disposal! It was the first thing I did when I got to the UK and unpacked...went online and ordered a good set of Windsor & Newton professional watercolour tubes (everything still in Bali). I love the tubes because I can get a nice thick chunk of paint on my brush and then place it in the water on the paper to watch it carry out its own movement as I guide it along some. I also ordered larger tubes of my fave colours that didn't come in the set I bought; Prussian Blue, New Gamboge & Genuine Rose Madder. These pigments are so divine, so rich and creamy yet translucent if used lightly and allowed to dry overnight before placing another colour/layer on top.
I'm wrapping up my "Vibrating Lotus" on the 140 lb (300gsm) NOT paper I found in India this week so I can get back to using my thick heavy 300 lb (640gsm) ROUGH paper. I'm proud of myself for going ahead with my "Gung-Ho Guava" piece learning how to stretch the paper, using a staple gun and board and also the thin paper with medium professional paints BUT I am VERY glad to now be able to have my good things with me for this next London phase. I have already been looking at some art galleries and random competitions to enter, be juried in or be part of an art co-op while here for as long as this phase lasts. Until I am out on the streets after quarantining and "feeling out life here again" I do not know, but I am here and working on more ideas already!
8/10/2020 6:05:14 AM
I was going ballistic for a few days after going through so much trouble the past month creating a painting that was so much trouble there was NO WAY I was settling for the ridiculous matting issue I faced, let me begin; finding proper watercolour paper and then not finding it but taking what I did find and then having to learn how to stretch it causing me three times of purchasing new paper and a board to stretch it on, then finding a staple gun and also a staple gun stapler remover during lockdown in India, haha, take that for perseverance! Then, working with non professional watercolours and brushes that lost hairs as I painted and also moving from S. India to N. India hoping it wouldn't get crushed in my suitcase through the not very reliable plastic roll I was carrying it in. Then I have moved two times into a new place with this painting hoping to get it matted and framed nice for some kind of nice decor in my room and to admire my work, hehe. I also had added some soft chalk pastels to my work so had to make sure the framer didn't mess that up by touching the paper when he matted my painting which he did.
I went twice to the framer to find out he didn't mat it right, he actually cut the mat too large for the painting so the edges showed and weren't covered not to mention he doesn't have a mat cutter so it was just plain ol' cardboard and I had asked for white but it was a white beige which I didn't notice until I got it home and hung on my white wall. On the back of the painting he didn't put any hanging wire and he also didn't put in the side panels from which to hang it in right place which is supposed to be about 1/3 down the piece of art so when you hang it it hangs down at a slight angle so as to not catch the light due to the glass that covers the painting.
Biting the bullet for a few days staring at my beige mat that didn't let the white in the painting POP I just couldn't stand it anymore. The whole idea of the white mat especially for a watercolour painting that uses the paper as the white in the painting and also shows the professionalism of the artist in the non-use of white paint, I went on a desperate search for white paint to paint the mat! I found it in a small side shop here in town and so today I have remedied my obsession with perfection and rehung the silly brackets on the back...the name of this creation is "Gung-Ho Guava" and if I didn't have any "gung-ho" in me I would slit my wrists. NOMASKE indeed. (I am allowed to rant at times!)
8/3/2020 1:13:05 AM
I always love moving, fresh beginnings and having the chance to clean out whatever I haven't used and move on, done. I have found a sweet white clean open space up in the lower hills of the Himalayas in Rishikesh to spend the next month or two. I have 3 sheets of paper all ready for expression...rattan wicker furniture and a view of the mountains! My yoga world is around me with classes going on and a tea kettle in room for herbal elixirs. These months as I am observing the CV19 world-wide state of affairs, I feel very blessed indeed to have freedom of movement, hiking in my backyard and fresh mountain air to fill my lungs. A quiet calm is coming over me already as I write this, feeling an inner peace I've been craving for many months. My last hotel was quiet upmarket but also very busy and noisy so I will luxuriate in some quiet time here in my little piece of heaven, funnily enough, the hotel name is 7th Heaven, and, 7 is my favorite number!
With the next piece being Vibrating Lotus, I am glad to be in a space I can bring forth an energized work with stillness inside.
