Ces And Her Dishes: 05/01/2012

5/31/12

Light

It does not matter if the light fades away. What matters is that you can still see in the midst of darkness.

8"x10" archival pigment and India ink on 11"x14" Bristol Board.

5/30/12

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I just posted the updated Fiesta Series Collection on my Sunday Painter Gallery Blog. This is a blog where I post my finished collections. My original plan for the Fiesta Series was to paint twelve (yes, always a dozen, it seems) 30"x40" oil paintings depicting my impressions and incorporating my favorite Fiestaware dishes. Did you know that my blog was originally intended to showcase my love for and collection of Fiesta dishes? Yes, Ces And Her Dishes, that's what.

These painting collection was started in 2009 with Scarlet, a painting I almost threw away. With the encouragement of friends, I salvaged her and in so doing went through a most amazing journey of self discovery and re-prioritizing what is most important in my life. It is also a reminder of the the time wasted and squandered on unimportant and insignificant things and a lesson on focusing on what matters most. I did not know that what would follow would be some of the most difficult and challenging events in my adult life. If ever I had to choose a collection to define my work, this is it. Launch is a celebration of life, of anxieties, great hopes and expectations. The Sinistral Serenade was started when my sister was diagnosed with cancer and throughout her treatment, hoping, yearning and praying (My Favorite Things). The Ivory Babies is one of the most fun images I had to paint. I was filled with gratitude and love and was so thankful to the point of elation.

I am very sorry to say that sister has passed away. Maybe it is time I paint another painting if ever I can see through my tears. Yet it is not always agony. This collection depicts happiness, discovery, hope and blessings over struggles. Of learning, discovery, growing up, living together and sharing. Most of all I painted all these images with the knowledge that I am grateful for the very important people in my life who I love. I have so many reasons to celebrate life and give thanks. How to incorporate that in a painting, I am curious myself. I will be fifty four years old this weekend. I share my birthday with my sister Freah. We always celebrated by calling our parents but they too are gone. Now we call our sisters and brothers. This is our first birthday celebration without our sister Leah. I also just celebrated my 26th wedding anniversary. I think I will celebrate my birthday doing what I always love, paint in the midst of my beloved husband and children and thinking of those special few and faraway who I too do dearly love. I will be calling... You are the bright colors in my life. Thank you.

Happy Birthday to my beloved sister Fre!!!

5/27/12

Fading Sheath, Cupped Nuts And The Gall Of It All

This Memorial Day weekend, I am working. Yes, are you jealous of my fun?

I get to stay in and in between I am cataloguing my nuts.

This is the second of the this 3-year project.

I noticed something interesting...

Maybe it is my brain that is fading but I think I should be commended for not losing it while sorting through these nuts.

I call this, The FADING SHEATH:

Chestnut (Castanea sativa) left is fully cupped. The nuts are inside a hairy closed sheath.

Notholithocarpus densiflorus (tan oak) right is a link between the chestnut (genus Castanea) and the oak (genus Quercus) and has a hairy half sheath or cup. They are both members of the Beech Family (Fagacaea), so is the oak.

Quercus trojana, Right! I mean on the left, that is its real name alright, is almost fully cupped!

On the right is Quercus castaneifolia also called Chestnut-leaved Oak.

Swamp Chestnut Oak on the left is also called Quercus michauxii

while the Chestnut Oak on the right is called Quercus prinus.

Quercus infectoria , also called Quercus lusitanica has polymorphous leaves

and huge nut galls

and a half cup for the elongated nut.

(Polymorphous - assuming different shapes.)

Okay, so what was the purpose of this post?

5/19/12

Oculus Sinister - Do you See What I See?

Oculus Sinister. 8"x10" archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol board. Do you see what I see? Do you see little Heironymus who went to the grove of the sleeping gentle giant with his sister Annabella and their pet pig, Actinidia; their pet lagomorph, Snowflake and that newt he keeps close by? Oh don't forget his pet mouse Marganella. There are bees buzzing and butterflies hibernating. Far away, U.P. BLISS Bldg. 20 and 21 burn down. Oh that tall skinny guy, that's Edward. He is the anticlimax of the short and pudgy portraits of The Lesser-Known Dumptys I drew recently.

Sight

Last week I had surgery on both eyes. It was done to enable me to make more tears, as if my sorrow is not enough to induce them naturally. I was at the eye center for five hours. My husband was with me. He patiently waited with me while I entertained myself by drawing Yum Nam Poole. By the time my visit was over, I was blinded by headache and hunger. My eyes were very sensitive to light and I spent the afternoon in bed nursing a migraine headache.

I was seventeen years old when I assisted on the only enucleation surgery I ever had the chance to scrub. They don't happen very often. After all, how often do people get their eyeballs surgically removed? It was performed on the brother of an elementary school classmate of mine. It's a small world, you know, he now lives in the same city as I do. My sister's elementary and high school classmate who also lives here, is his best friend and he gave me my former patient's number last year. I did not call.

Our eyesight is one of those things we seem to take for granted or not consciously remember until it is disturbed or altered. We remember and focus on our weight more often than we do on the health of our eyes. I had photographs taken of my optic nerve. I tried to draw it above, if you can recognize it.

I used to be the life of the party. These days, for the life of me, I cannot make myself attend parties enthusiastically. I'd rather read or draw at home. Heck, I would even prefer to clean house. I do not have very many close friends. I like it that way. I have my sisters, a handful of very close friends and fewer still, intimate friends with whom I confide. We share a lot of things, mostly our philosophy and values, admiration, love and respect; however, sometimes we don't see eye to eye, and that's quite alright.

The above drawing was inspired by this 2008 drawing.

5/16/12

Twenty Six

Humpty Dumpty Unknowingly Playing His Farewell Sonata One Hour Prior To Sitting On The Wall.

8"x10" archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol board

Surprise Lobotomy For Breakfast

8"x10" archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol board

I declare I am done with this series, This was a fun drawing project. Thank you for keeping me company on this project, The Lesser Known Dumptys. I am afraid I spilled my secret about how I produce these drawings so quickly. You see my little assistants? See above drawing of a poor egg just happily sitting in a hot tub and suddenly someone performs a lobotomy on her?! See those industrious little creatures pouring ink and spreading them on the Bristol Board? What?! You don't believe me?!

Oh the title. Yes. Twenty six. Today The Viking and I celebrate our wedding anniversary. I still remember the night I met him at a Christmas party 33 years ago. I remember what I was wearing; what we said to each other the first time we met. Some things just stay with you forever. Today however, I received a card with this: "The best thing that can happen to a person is to find real love... And that's why the best thing that ever happened to me was finding you." Isn't that great? I had the biggest smile on my face. However, he added, "I could not find a funny card." Sigh, what can I do, but just love him.

Also this year, I celebrate my 34th year as a Registered Nurse. I spent twenty five of those years working for my current company. You know how companies give you anniversary gifts like jewelry, crystals and clocks? Well, I was really tempted to get a circular saw.

One more time, the Lesser Known Dumptys...

The Lesser Known Dumptys