Clumsy

Based on recent art news.

In progress

How did 10 days lapse since the last post?

I started this piece the other night. It's not finished, but it's close. It's a 40" x 32" acrylic -- the biggest painting I've tackled so far.

I needed a break from oils. Oils are a whole different game. I tend to work very slowly with them. When I'm working with acrylic I feel like I can have more fun. I suppose it's the quick drying time.

Anyway, this piece is an exercise in fun... cracking open the paints, slathering them on by the knife-full, throwing them, smearing them with rags, fingers, etc. I needed to let loose and not worry about composition and subject matter so much. I think when this piece is done, I'm going to try some smaller pieces with simple subjects so I can sign off on them within a couple of hours. It's too easy to lose your groove when a piece takes weeks to finish.

Gotta get my groove back.

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On a related note, I was disappointed to learn that Karin Jurick is taking an extended break from hosting the Different Strokes challenge. She's got a show in the spring and needs a few months to concentrate on her work.

Although I did discover she's got new painting videos available. Check'em out if you're so inclined.

And if you haven't already seen it, watch Newfoundland artist Helen Gregory making a piece for her latest show in this time-lapse video.

Illustration Friday

Fueled by the wild applause at the Johnston birthday party, Eugene allowed those imaginary walls to get a little too close.

NL Blogroll

I wasn't going to even mention this (my blog isn't exactly a high-traffic zone) but I'm in the running for a "People's Choice" award at the Newfoundland and Labrador Blogroll. Host Stephen Harris was kind enough to make me a blog-o-the-week earlier last year which automatically qualified me with 23 other blogs for the 1st annual competition.

Is it really a competition though? Aren't we all winners? I reinforce that point because I expect to be dead last. Hehe.

But that's okay. I've been having a great blogging experience so far. My blog's a little over a year old now and this is my 100th post. I didn't really believe I'd last that long... a lot of blogs don't. My traffic is not at all heavy but I find fascinating to see it steadily grow. And I love getting immediate feedback on my work.

I've already decided to focus more on art creation this year. My goal is to cut back on freelance design work and use that spare time for painting. I'd also like to submit more regularly to Illustration Friday and get back into painting for Different Strokes.

Anyway, the competition has definitely spiked my traffic so I thought the least I could do is say thanks to Stephen for keeping the NL Blogroll in motion this past year and hope that some of the people who check out my blog will go cast a vote. If you cast a vote via comment, it's worth two votes. Count 'em. Two. And apparently you can vote once a day (although didn't see that on Stephen's blog).

There are some great blogs in the list.

Some of my regular haunts include:

• Townie Bastard
• John Gushue
• Illustrated Life
• Rock Recipes

So go poke through the Tickle Trunk and discover some great bloggers!

Gone Wilde