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Monday, September 3, 2012

Nixed by Mr. Fuz Zy Pants

Mr. Fuz Zy Pants, charcoal, thirty minute study, 9 x 11.

I have no idea what the measurement points are for a cat, but I'll figure them  out.
This drawing is my first pass ever at a cat.As I was drawing him, I felt my nose clogging up.
He's a long hair on my long list of allergies, an itchy addition to my full Fall/Winter schedule.

My Fall/Winter Workload:


Steve and Zac , oil on canvas, 9 x 11
It is an afternoon away from "done and move on."



My Three Guys, oil, 18 x 30,

This painting has been patiently sitting in the studio waiting for the big finish.
I'm going to keep them rough, just the way they were started. They are my first
attempt at taking liberties with a reference photo. Michael was a seat away
from his brothers; I brought him in closer. Steve also sat a bit away from Jon.
All three were being patient with me as I took the photograph of the three
of them together like they were, but aren't anymore. 


I've Gotta Crow has  to be painted. I like the composition
of this charcoal. JD's pose could be any twelve year old boy. They
are full  life and not so full of themselves as they like to pretend.
And  We, me, wants to do this one. After the cat.

My granddaughter nixed the four-in-one portrait of herself. She thought it might look like she was too full of herself; she wanted a portrait of her cat, Mr. Fuz Zy Pants. I'm on it; she had a point. I'm not a cat person. I AM, however, a Taylor person. So I did chose a reference photo from one of her FB albums that has her in it. Now we'll both be happy.

I can tolerate cats when my GD is in the picture.
My reference photo for Mr. Fuz Zy Pants.It's loaded with half values

I'm going to do the four-in-one  of her for myself. Portrait artists need samples of their work, a resume,  a portfolio. This is my objective.How else do you find your niche  than by painting  your genre-of-choice non-stop?

My dance card for the Fall and Winter season is filled : Steve and Zac; My Guys; I've Gotta Crow (JD); and We. Very ambitious. Maybe overly so? Nevertheless, that load, and maybe a pastry or two thrown in  for fun, should keep me happily busy till Spring. 

I think I'm out of my mind. An old broad with pipe dreams. But portraiture keeps me thinking; keeps me intrigued; keeps me eager to go down to the studio--indeed, wakes me up in the morning.   I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm
really enjoying the meal.




I saw Mary Martin in Peter Pan on the stage. I was immediately flown away to Neverland with Peter.  A cherished, specially guarded part of me still lives there. It's the part of me that paints pastries.

24 comments:

  1. Life is short. Take big bites. Enjoy!
    Great work Linda!
    Michael

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    1. You're not kidding Michael. But I always did gulp my food to get out and about. Thanks. I'm feeling real good about how it's going.

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  2. I love Mr. Fuz Zy Pants!!! He's sweet and couldn't care less, like most cats; that's why I love them. And you really got the attitude on your charcoal drawing, very good!!
    To be honest, I don't even know what my next painting will be, let alone to set a full season program. But, my art makes me dream and longing for the next step with sparkled eyes; so I do relate to what you are saying.
    Wonderful work to all the portraits, Linda. Tuned, as always, to see them finished.
    Warm regards.
    Ps. George promises to find a less painful way to get you to Acropolis if you decide to visit Athens again :)

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    1. How? Are they putting up a monorail? Or one of those dangling baskets that Jame Bond prefers?

      Mr. Fuz Zy Pants does have an attitude of tolerance that is comical.

      My schedule just formed by itself. I don't like leaving unfinished pieces lined up. They make me tired thinking of all the work that has to be done. So I figured, I'd knock them off systematically--sort of like cleaning house. I'm loving my freshly washed carpets. and tomorrow I have guys coming over to fix where the carpet has buckled due to a lousy carpet layer four years ago.

      Hugs to you and George.

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  3. drawing/painting cats is a challenge and you've got a fabulous start. It had to be fun to draw your granddaughter and place her in quadrants....the painting with the cat will definitely be great..I like your organized approach to planning. You are hardly an "old broad"--and art is better than bowling......(I think)? haha!

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    1. FOR SURE! LOL! Last time I bowled, the damn gutter ball threw my hip out and I couldn't walk for months.

      Oye. A cat. Okay. What price love.

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  4. Suddenly you turn into a Lion tamer? ...well a cat tamer then. I'm really enjoying seeing you rising like a thermometer from the depths of post-vacation blues to boiling excitement...

    I've seen these portraits 'growing-up' I like them all, but JD has something I really find special (I have three sons, maybe its that). Taylor with the cat, I can see as a challenge you won't be able to ignore. The three lads will be like a 'breeze'to you!

    Whenever I see Peter Pan, I cringe with embarrassment. I used to have a boss who I reckoned would never grow up. Then came the Freudian-slip ... his wife asked me, "Why do you keep calling me Wendy?"

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    1. LOL. But don't turn your nose up just yet. There's a lot of Wendys out there Peter. And many of them don't want to grow up entirely either. The Peter Pans are the artists.

      I'm not a cat lover. I paint what I love. CONFLICT! There's going to be some exasperating times with this one.It's definitely in oil or pastel--something that smears a lot and fudges what you don't know.

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  5. Great great plans; cat is going to be fun.

    I love your line about the meal. Enjoy.

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    1. For you maybe. I don't know about me. I really did get stuffed up drawing the thing. I had to rinse my sinuses after washing the charcoal off my hands.

      Thanks. A painting is a meal to eat, to absorb.

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  6. Interesting agenda and one to tax the technique. You have a wonderful seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy. CAn't wait to see how they progress.

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    1. Too many unfinished works hanging around the studio, is like having a cluttered desk; it boggles the mind.

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  7. You are as allways busy. I could tell by the cat sketch what kind it was, so that is a good thing. Haven't done any cats myself, so I am no expert in that field. You seem to be on the right track with everything you do. I have to gather some energy and find time to paint right now. I regret it now, but I agreed to work full time at another work place. I will not stay after this 3 month trial period, but for now I guess I just have to find time to paint.

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    1. As are you. What kind of cat is it? I have no idea--just that it has long hair and lots of cat dander to annoy my sinus/allergies. No, I'm not on the right track. I'm trying to leap before I'm walking steady. Making money always gets in the way of making art; its the way of it. But I have found that sometimes the most wonderful things have come out in twenty or thirty minutes squeezed in before dinner or while waiting for a friend to pick me up--particularly if you're moving towards painting smaller--providing you've got all your acrylics in liquid form and ready to go. If not the Mastersen palette box with its sponge and palette papers is wonderful for longevity.

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  8. I am glad you  you can keep the portraits,Linda!
    Sometimes I offer to my daughter something she did not understand.
    I think working  earnest  is beautiful.
    I sometimes I slip into a project that I think about at night.
    I'm cultivating a project: to paint my dreams.
    My dreams are sometimes three or four different jobs that come together into one.
    real images  but made  from my imagination as you did with the heads of three boys.
    Now I have a Tuscan sky, the old house where he was born my  husband,a horse running,
    with the mane in the wind and a large oval canvas that I bought 14 years ago!
    Happy painting !!!

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    1. Me too. It is not going to be an easy project. I might have been overly enthusiastic? But that's me--and that's how we learn--the hard way. I do enjoy the adventure though.

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  9. That is quite a dance card. I am not a cat person, but I do like cats, and that one seems like a sweetie.

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    1. I like them too at other people's houses. Mr. FP does have a sweet face--but still a condescending air. Cats are uppity.

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  10. Glorious, glorious work, all of it, but I especially the love charcoal. Bitten off more than you can chew....no way...go girl!

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    1. I've already gone into my guys with my new eyes, and it isn't pretty. In revamping yesterday, I've done some ugly things. But they are my guys, I'm their mom, both the client and the artist, who gets to try things out in an effort to make something uncommon out of common. How am I going to achieve dynamic, if I don't jump in dynamically?

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  11. Linda
    You have been busy. The portraits of the guys look great. And those of your grandaughter - fantastic.

    Ev

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    1. That's how the guys looked early yesterday. Maybe I should have let them be? They no longer look that way. I had to try what I picked up this summer to see if I couldn't get closer to originality and something different than three heads lined up looking like three heads lined up. I'm glad I'm their mother and have artistic license.

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  12. I'd say you are going to be very busy for a while. Well I like the 4-in-one. Taylor may change her mind - keep it - it's great!

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    1. Too late for changing her mind. I have to do it before I can keep it,LOL. The only two portraits in progress on MY Guys, which I proceeded to screw up a bit yesterday applying all mt new found knowledge and hope to rectify today, and Zac and Steve. Taylor X Four (We) and JD are thoughts that have been poked with charcoal. I also have two unfinished landscapes and the third panel of the pastry triptych.

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