Well, I realized that I completely burned out doing the long string of large cow paintings in April, so I'm taking a break from animal painting for a while and seriously studying landscape painting, something I've wanted to do for a long time. Also, I have decided --- yes, once again! --- to work on my ceramic animal masks and whatever else comes up while I'm in the clay studio. This time, my daughter and I are working together, she on her porcelain projects and I on my earthenware animal masks. So we're together in the studio but working in different areas. However, I must admit that her porcelain and stoneware clays are mighty tempting sometimes. Maybe I'll sneak a few handfuls from time to time to play with those, too!
It's good to be back to doing something that I feel safe with and that isn't so stressful as doing the dog portraits and other animal paintings. Yes, I will be back to them eventually and will even continue to paint animals of my own choice for a while, too, but I do need a break. I've been painting animals nonstop since sometime in 2007.
I'm actually having fun doing the clay work now that I have someone to share the studio with me. Clay work can be very isolating (just as painting can, but paint is so all-consuming that I hardly notice that I'm alone. Not so with clay work.)
I'm hoping that within the next few months also I'll have a good body of landscape work that I can show off. For now, it's lots and lots and lots of small paintings just to get the feel of working in an entirely new genre. Oh, and I forgot to mention: I've also switched from acrylic paints to oil paints and so far, except for the awful messes I keep making, I'm loving them. With acrylics, I was always able to keep myself quite clean, except for the occasional smear of paint across my face or hair when I accidentally swiped my brush into my face or hair. But with oils, which dry very, very slowly, I keep getting paint all over my hands, forgetting that the paint doesn't dry within a very few minutes after having been applied, and then I get these really embarrassing smears of paint all over my face, my hair, my clothing, my belongings! It's quite a learning experience, and I'm either going to have to learn to wear throw-away clothing when I paint or I'll have to get an entirely new wardrobe -- hmmmm, that's not a bad idea!
So, please, if you are at all interested, check out my ceramic pieces as I list them on Etsy and let me know if there's something special you would like for me to make with my clay.
