sometimes art is cool even when it isn't close to finished

i had a happy art day today......(after playing early tennis with two other pals....and i think i know how to serve now!) ......
carol and allison came over to have a playdate in my art studio (glorified words for my well endowed basement!) ..... we sat and chit chatted and did our various this and thats, then finally, allison looked at me.....exasperated! and said.....are you ever going to tell me what those ARE?
well...they are feet!
carol knew why i was making feet...carol had, herself, made a foot.....
the spruill art center, where i take pottery, is having a student show .....called the foot show.....the intention was for the art works to all be small, less than a foot....so, of course, all the potters i hang out with discussed footed bowls.....and actually putting feet with toes on our bowls....and we went off on tangents...til my instructor got us to the place where we are all making feet for her...and she's going to attach them ALL to a creature....at this point i can't even imagine what it might look like....but, here is my six foot contribution.....
cute, huh?
i did the people feet, because i like letters..and wanted to put the right left on something....and then i did the tall ones cause i wanted some cave man toes (really, cave man toes popped into my head) then once you do toes, you think about toe nails...and i decided i wanted some big sharp claws......when i made them, i did not know they'd be turquoise claws......
so, allison, that's what i'm doing!!


then....i got down to the real art!! i painted this four foot canvas YELLOW LOVELINESS yesterday......because, in a crunch, a clean white canvas kind of freaks me out...so....cover it anything, just so long as it isn't white.....

now i'm goint to jump to the end of the story (i'll come back to the middle)
tonight, i was photographing this canvas.....the whole family was kind of around......julia (always interested in my art) said she loved it.....because it has a bit of all my stuff in it...stencils in the blue....dictionaries in the green.....bingo in the gold......she had a lot to say......
then andy said, is it done?.......so i asked opinions...do you THINK it is done....j was sure it was done.....no one else would commit....they might have been afraid to hurt my feelings.....NO sillies...it isn't done.....in fact.....it is sideways.....cause it is easier to photograph this way......
and i stood it up....


that's how it goes?
now it's done?
i don't get it?
no, it isn't done....it isn't even close to done ....
how do you know it isn't done?
cause i know what it is going to become....
you know? you never really know, i thought.....
ta dum.....drum roll please......i am doing a landscape....and the light bulbs turned on...and every one got it....
OH...the sky and a field and a beach...close......
a sky and some trees and a field..........and then the big discussion of what is left to do......and my little silent prayer that i can actually DO what i plan and want to do.....

you see, when allison was with me, i explained to her that i was doing a landscape for my deadline painting group...no, that's the wrong name...the DEADLINE painting group......and that i had actually been well under way with a painting....and flopped...i hated it...and i covered it up in its entirety...which is ok...cause at least the canvas isn't white! ......
so.....she talked me down off my artistic ledge, and there you have it......i'm on my way to stretching my artistic self.....doing something new or different....just know, if i never bring this up again.....it didn't work! but at least i had fun trying.....


here is my inspiration photo for my landscape.......isn't it lovely? now, to make it me......i've changed some of it already.....more sky, less field in the foreground.....narrower..pretend i lopped off the left edge of the photo......and the house....i just haven't made that yet......i'd never cut out the red house...that's what makes the photo so groovy......so......that's where i'm heading...we'll see how it goes.....

tra la la......a happy art day with pals today....and tomorrow dixie and i are going to allison's to do art.....dixie won't actually do art...she's a dog....but she's coming along for the fun........