Fur In The Paint

I had planned to post the Start To Finish photos of Giraffe #5 today, but for some reason my computer refused to talk to my camera, or perhaps it was the other way round. So no pics today. Perhaps tomorrow they will feel more like cooperating.

So joy of joys I am working on my giraffes with a happy heart. I know this shouldn’t really be a surprise, but it kinda is.

I started this painting because I felt an inkling … a tiny nudging deep inside. I started it because it was long past due and I needed to reclaim this important part of my self. And I started it because some extra bucks wouldn’t hurt. I did not start it because my creative spirit was crying out to be made whole. Nothing nearly so artsy fartsy as that. In truth I think I could have simply walked away (possibly for much, much longer) and not done anything art-wise except my logical side said … No, now is the time.

So I forced myself to select the photos and do the drawing and composition work. The gallery at that time was quite busy so it was easy enough to put off but as each Sunday rolled around, I reserved my day for art. There was no real joy to it. It was just another form of work that I simply had to step up and do.

Ah … The Magic Returns
Somewhere around giraffe #3 I began so settle in. To “open to the universe” is generally how I think of it. Sort of losing myself to time and my surroundings. You know when you look up and say “Wow, 3 hours have just passed and it felt like 20 minutes.” That kinda thing.

On Giraffe #4 I woke up in the morning and couldn’t wait to get back to the gallery to work on it.

Upon starting giraffe #5, I was wishing I had my drafting table set up in the house so I could take the piece back and forth between work and home and work on it in the evening if I wanted to. (I have a uber-huge drafting table my husband built for me before we were married that I plan to bring down in and put in what for a normal home would be the dining room. But it needs to be taken apart, hauled downstairs and then reassembled so is a real job that is on my to-do list. But kinda waaaay down on it)

I have worked pretty much all week on the painting not really doing anything but it. No framing, no squidoo and no zazzle. I need to take breaks every hour or two to rest my hand and my mind. I had thought I would squidoo in between but can’t bring myself to even open a folder. Apparently I only have so much creative juju and so I can only do one kind of creative task at a time. A bit of a bummer and perhaps that too will expand for me. But for right now I am just content that my muse hasn’t left me completely.

I went on a cow safari yesterday which again I was kinda dragging my feet on but some dear friends lined it up for me after I casually asked them if they knew anyone who had Hereford cattle. I only took a couple of rolls of film along because my expectations were low. Partly because they were supposed to be in a hoop building so no light, partly because feedlot cattle are generally covered head to toe in … mud, yeah we’ll call it mud.

But in the end it was awesome. As I was clicking away I had all sorts of painting ideas popping around in my head.

I’ll write about my cow safari experience soon … well as soon as I can find someone to develop the film. That’s getting harder and harder to do so today I am buying a new digital camera. One that is way more intelligent than I. I’ll be able to take HD video with it and do photo editing right on the camera itself. Supposedly it recognizes faces and when people are smiling or blinking and times the photos for it.

Crazy technological world we live in. The older I get the more amazing it all seems. I’ll spare you the “When I was a kid …” stories though.

So if I can get the camera to download the giraffe painting pics I’ll post the latest WIp images tomorrow.

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