Attagirl

It's been a while since I've done an "attagirl." An "attagirl" from my Dad was the best thing ever. They were few and far between, you knew you deserved it when one came. While working on this piece I was thinking about two possibilities; a little girl brave enough to climb a tree, or the encouragement needed to learn to fly.

The tree branches are full of life, washes of color from mauve to yellows. Cut into with a semi opaque sky. "Attagirl is stitched through the canvas, right next to the yellow Pine Warbler.

24" square.

Ideas

A question I hear over and over at art shows is "how do you come up with all these ideas?" It always sort of takes my by surprise, because I guess I never think I have enough. I am always building piles of new ideas, in my head, in my sketchbook, on scraps of paper beside the bed. They come in the form of photographs, scribbled notes, random sketches.

Walking the familiar route from studio to kitchen this past winter the buds on my dogwood tree caught my eye.



The contrast is what caught me, they tell you in art school that the human eye registers contrast between light and dark faster than any other aspect, even bright colors.

So I went in to grab the camera and made a few shots. All the while little birds were out fluttering in the chilly air. So here I was out shivering in the cold, while they were out doing whatever little birds do. And, well, I can't carry on with this thought much further without sounding like a complete nut. Suffice it to say I must have been heavily influenced by Disney's Dr. Doolittle as a child, I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could talk to these little creatures. In fact I do talk to them, all forms of animals, lizards, dogs, frogs, birds, even bugs on occasion, so I guess what I really wish is that they could understand, or even talk back!

So as I watched the birds, it dawned on me one was gathering bits for a nest. And I was simply cheering her on, "attagirl" as my father would say.

This is the second I've done like this, the earlier one can be seen a page or so back in this blog. The bird is a pine warbler, not the same as the little brown bird that was building it's nest, but a later visitor. And who knows, this may be a male, being such a bright yellow, but I'm still going with "attagirl." And if you need to see it, I have my artistic licence in my wallet somewhere!

Attagirl is 24" square and has sold!

Attagirl

Well here she is! I enjoyed the idea of setting myself a deadline, that's one way to quit staring at a blank canvas and actually get working on it. She was finished late yesterday afternoon, but there was no place for me to snap a picture as it was dark and pouring cats and dogs here in Georgia!

Attagirl is 20" square on a wrap around canvas, this is one of the very few times I kept the dress similar to it's original color, but the Wedgwood blue seemed to fit the composition. The "voice" for this piece came as I was walking between the studio and the house. Walking past the dogwood tree, a little chickadee started to holler at me for getting too close to the bird feeder. The whole idea of how nature pushes through, with trees setting buds in the cold of winter, and the tiniest birds surviving the storm, became the story I wanted to tell. That is tenacity, and truly deserving of an "attagirl." (I can still remember my Dad saying those words to me, it's amazing how one almost word can make you proud.)

So the tree branches in the background are from my dogwood, and although I don't think this is the same chickadee, this one was willing to pose. I love the transparent underpainting of the branches, which I cut into with almost opaque pale blue grey. And although the dress looks a similar color, it has several layers of paint on it as well, to deepen the shadows and make the high spots shine. Remember "attagirl" every time you weather a storm!

Sold

Bare Bones

This is the little number sitting on my easel right now. Just the bare bones. I've attached the dress, and figured out who I want her to be, "attagirl." Her name is stitched through the dress and canvas, so I'm ready to paint. But I'm miles away from figuring out where to go next.

People come to me at show asking about where I get all my great ideas. And there is nothing better than when a painting comes together almost intuitively. But sometimes the paintings just sit there, staring at me, and neither of us knows where to go next. This is one of those.

So what to do? The answer is always the same, get out to the studio and paint. Just paint. Often roadblocks drop away in the process, one brushstroke leads to the next, and finally her "voice" rings out. That's what I'm hoping for today. I'll post the finished piece before the weekend is over. How's that for a personal challenge? Send all the positive painting vibes you can, I think I'm going to need them!