The madness has got to stop!

On my table today.

The bottom one needs more contrast, perhaps, and something definitely has to happen with the big house.


These were done on wood from the hardware store. I've not finished them yet. They've been hanging around in the studio, in their acrylic paint stage, for ever. Yesterday I clear gesso'd them and now they are slathered with oil pastels. 
I have a lot of trouble finishing paintings. It's an emotional roller coaster for me: 'I like it. I hate it. It's o.k. It's bad. It's really bad. Throw it. Keep it. What was I thinking? O.M.G! Why can other people do it? Never touch a paint brush again. Paint more. Practice makes perfect. People will laugh. But, it makes me happy (that was a whiny one). Don't show it to anyone. Show it to someone. What does it matter? Get over it! etc. etc., ... i'ts a nightmare.


The madness has got to stop!


Today I am going to try to finish them. This will be a first for me, if it actually happens. I don't think I've got more than one or two of them finished out of the loads and loads and loads of them stacked up in the storage room.


So, if it becomes too much for me (or, more likely, if I get too excited about this next one), I might start on this.

I usually just wing it straight onto the board or canvas but last night I was still itching to draw after we'd had dinner and were sitting around watching t.v. so I got my Wacom out. (I know you want to, but don't go there. You'll only regret it later.)
You can find out about Wacoms, and where to find them, here.
I love my Wacom. I sometimes use it to load a photograph of one of my paintings on it so I can fiddle with the composition or colours. This way, if I can't see what I want to do next with something, or I know it just doesn't look right, I can mess with it without changing it on the original. Last night, however, I just started from scratch on the Wacom and now have a beginning that i'm ready to go out and put on a canvas or board. 


P.S. I'm enjoying the sheep but N wants some goats. There's always someone you can't please ...




saturday notes:
my book's taking too long to read. when i finally get to it i'm just too tired to keep my eyes open long enough to read a page or too, tops. it's kind of bumming me out as, although it seems i've been reading it for ages, i'm really enjoying it. i'm going to make an effort to read a lot of it today. 
i've been thinking of downloading some more books on my ipod so that i can listen to them when i'm working out in the studio. the last one i listened to was mystic river. i enjoyed it, but i couldn't find the last couple of chapters anywhere on the @%*!^ thing to save my life. it was really annoying and eventually i had to rent the video just to see what happened in the end. it seems to me that books, especially, hide themselves in that tiny little one inch gadget ... but where could they possibly go!


it obviously can't be me, 
just one of life's mysteries ...