Re-Focus, Re-Group

I have been really needing a day to just play, and relax, and have some fun in my (messy) studio. But it is just too messy. Same goes for the entire house. I did all that great purging and organizing in January, and then February went and undid it all!

So this week, my goal is to clean up and clear out! Get rid of all the junk that has been accumulating since I got sick. Empty the recycle bins. Take all my donatables to Goodwill/Value Village. Take all of Lucas' old toys to mom's house.

I have a really hard time buying bins I can use to organize stuff. First of all, I don't like buying new things. Second of all, I hate plastic bins. Thirdly, if I do buy bins, I never buy enough, or I buy the wrong size, or whatever. My efforts to organize are usually doomed from the get-go!

This year I want things to be different. I like the idea of re-evaluating my goals and my aspirations for the year every month or so. And I want organizing and staying organized to have a place my 2011 Phrase (Make It, Mend It, Earn It, Sustain It). Maybe then, I will feel more obliged to keep on top of things! March is the month!
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I did make it into the studio the other night and produced a glorious painting. I was reading my latest issue of Somerset Studio, which I had been (inadvertently) saving for a cold night, and I just felt the need to get up and go into the coldest room in the house, pull out an old canvas, and get to work.

I should have taken a "before" picture...this canvas started out as an homage to Alice years and years ago, and I hated it. So I covered almost the entire surface in black crackle paint! In some areas it was really thick. And it is so rock hard now!

I started by painting over the piece with gesso and antique white, wiping it off in some areas where I wanted some of the original green to show through. Then I added a little blue, with splatters, and a darker shade of aqua to the edges and corners.

Lately, I've been thinking about my next tattoo...and I've been thinking of chickadees, silhouettes, yellow roses, wheat fields, too many things really! So I searched for chickadee images online, and this is the one I printed off...four copies of! I freehanded the branch with paint and a white gel pen. The frame is a Teresa Collins transparency that I glued on with some gel medium (with reinforcing glossy accents on the back, 'cause it really didn't want to stay down!).

I added more texture with some magic mesh (as a mask) and paint. The big letters are freehanded with watered down gesso, with white gel pen accents (that you can't really see).

I think I love it just as it is...the texture alone makes me so happy! It looks like reptile skin or something.

Once summer comes, I might have to pick up some more crackle paint.

later skater alligator