untitled ... mysterious .... ambiguous ... metaphors .... contest ....

i belong to a group on flickr ... deadline painting group ..... this month's deadline (next week, i'm early! tra la la, and rah for that) .... is to do a painting on any topic that reflects one of the other artists in the group, wholly or in part ... i chose in part ..... and i chose shakespeare monkey ... 

because he's done some mysterious pieces that i find intriguing .... like this ... and this ... so ... 

i've done my own piece with mystery and ambiguity .... 

here it is .... 

mysterious, but it still looks like mine, right?

i spent the day at best pal al's house painting .... and i finished this piece (that you know well if you've been keeping up with my blog lately .....

allison and i had interesting discussions of what this  collage means .... god, gods, creation, earth, home, nest, family,  ...all sort of in the context of is it done? when do you know if it is done? do i keep going?  if you keep going, do you spell out the mystery too much? .....  and then i brought it home, put it on my hearth and the family discussed it .... time elapsed, growth, becoming, finding happiness vs. having happiness, green (yes, green, not orange ... how odd).... all sorts of mysteries hidden in all those layers of collage and paint! ..... so ... i'm having a mystery contest ....

contest: on this blog, in the comments to this post, please leave your interpretation of this painting, using all of the hints that i've given you .... (you can also dash over to this piece at flickr to see what i wrote about it there) ...

prize: i will send the one most interesting commenter (or the one that is closest to what i was thinking ... or the one that i wish *i* had thought up ) an art piece ... a six inch canvas (or a personalized print if you prefer) .... and ... if i get flakey and can't pick a best, i'll pick one at random .... (my contest, i can plan ahead to be flakey) .....

fine print: i suck at going to the post office! so i have no deadline on when i'll actually get your glorious prize to you ... but i promise i will ... i always keep my promises! ..... i'll just be slower than i should be ... but this little caveat leaves me exempt from any and all guilt .... 

rules: 

1. clever, bright, witty, fun comments on this post are the only ones entered .... 

2. leave email info so i can contact you to mail your prize to you .... 

3. you may enter more than once! ... sometimes truly clever comes later .... like in the middle of the night ....

4. um .... i reserve the right to make up more rules later .... 

5. i'll probably have more than one winner, i'm like that .... it's a dippy wishy washy try to be nice to everyone thing ..... 

so that's it ... 

leave your comment ... what does this painting mean to you?

things are looking up ....

i don't actually like the saying, things are looking up ... cause it means someone was looking down ... but what's the point of that  ... unless you are running and suddenly worried that your shoelaces are untied ..... so ... look up ...... i digress, as usual .... i say things are looking up because this morning, prior to going to pick up my canvases from an art show, i was sure that i was going to pick them all up ...or , all save the one or two that might have sold ... and they'd only be tiny ones .... not my usual modus operandi, that pessimistic twitch .... that cynical side .... i credit lack of sleep for the cynicism (or was it just worry) ..... so, in my state of less than optimistic, i called in reinforcements ... i took girl.beck.artist with me on the ride to the post-show pick up .... and tra la la .... she gave me a pep talk .... if no one bought your art, mom, it's not because of the art, it's because of the economy ..... so there you go .... 

and then she was a little bit "ha, i told you so" when we found out that i had sold seven pieces ... and they weren't all the teeny ones .... the one above sold .... and the one above above....i'm thinking i need to make another set of juicy pears now .... whaddaya think?.... 

how 'bout you? any pleasant suprises this weekend?

conraglaglashens .....

  
....i hope you will help the poor .... can't wait to find out how you are doing .... 

lovely sentiments, eh?

these are the kind of things you post on an art blog when you have an art free day ...

my twins turned 12 today .....

time flies when you're having fun .....   

newsworthy .... i guess ....

so ... two weeks ago i was in florida for an art opening with my mom .. the art is hanging the whole month ...  the pic above is one of my faves from the show and was on the invitation ....

for review, you can scroll down a couple blog posts and read all about it .... or go over to flickr and look at the pics from the show ... 

do you recall i mentioned being interviewed? well, the article has been published ... here it is ... 

go read it .... and come back ... 

did you read it? 

i think it sounds nice ... good ... kind ... upbeat ... but there are some errors ... 

in tomorrow's news you will be able to read this in the brandon news: 

In yesterday's arts section, we reported that Elizabeth Beck's favorite colors are orange and turquoise.  Her favorite colors are actually orange and green.  We regret the error.

harumph! .... i also majored in art history, not art .... and, really, i'm not terrified of a plain white canvas..... they just don't stay white for long! .... and 1982? that's 20 years early!

and while we're at it .... i don't really look like that picture ... i'm four inches taller, 40 pounds thinner, four shades blonder ... my stomach does not stick out like that.... and my eyes aren't that squinty ..... 

i'm just saying ... 

art in the process ....

i painted today .... with my two girls .... since they didn't have school today ... it was lovely! 

all my rhetorical questions, asked aloud, to myself ... were all answered by them .... or ... answered with another question .... it was nice .... 

so ... scroll down to a few posts back ... and you'll see that  i had a large orange canvas .... that had an unsure future .... well... i'm working towards something now .... 

let's review first ... last year my new year's resolution was 100 canvases .... and i did well over that ... went for quantity --> rah! success ... so this year, the new year's resolution? quality ...i'm looking for new and different .... specifically, 20 pieces that are something different ...  thematically or technically new .... and here it is, mid february --> no movement in that directions ... eek! 

luckily for me, my deadline painting group on flickr has an interesting challenge this month .... we are supposed to choose another artist from the group and emulate them ... or take a piece of their style and use it .... so ... i have chosen shakespeare monkey .... (great name... i know his real name, but shan't tell you) .... shakespeare monkey does mysterious paintings .... full of puzzles and enigmas and raised questions .... i pick that ! ... easier said than done though ... i'm a pretty straight forward girl ... a what you see is what you get sort ... apple, pear, mona, heart .... but ... i'm up for the challenge ... i'm changing up some stuff ... and we'll see how it goes .... if you never hear about it again? it was a failed challenge! .... but ... i've begun it ... on that orange canvas ....

here is the orange canvas ... i've added two headless figures made from maps ... they shan't remain headless .... i wrote out some words ( cause i think i'm doing this piece for my very own house ) ..... and in the bottom rightish, is the sketch of my notion ....

here's a close up of the sketch ...not sure all the bits will make it into the painting .... we'll see ... 

and then ... i kind of went to town ... i painted the bodies yellow ... now they barely show up ... quite mysterious, eh? i'm sure they'll be outlined or made darker or something ..... they might be so mysterious they are invisible now .... i also glued down the sketch .... it was there ... i liked it ... i considered gluing it on the back ... and then decided there was no reason for that .... so ... the anti-mysterious move, showing the process on the front ... later, if i don't like it, i can paint over it all together ... and then last, i did a bunch of stamping and stenciling with a nice mix of orange and raw umber .... rendering those map folks even more virtually invisible ... we'll see if i can dig them out again! 
so that's my story, morning glory .... some painting joy this morning, some tennis joy this afternoon,  some not so joyful science study sessions with a sixth grader , and then a joyful dinner where my littlest said "i LOVE this soup" about 30 times ..... 

any small joys in your life today?

art prep ...

in regards to yesterday's post.....see...... an orange nest ... did it weeks ago .... and i already want to make a new one ... maybe this one will sell at the show it is going to be in next week .... 

this pear painting will also make it's public debut at a show next week .... 

i'm dropping art off tomorrow at trinity school ... for an art show next week .... so i spent my extra minutes today finishing the prep ... that, true to form, was kind of half way done ... i had to paint my edges on a couple of the canvases .... and i had to add eye hooks and wire to the backs of more than half ... that means they'd never been in a show before if they don't have hardware ..... and some of them weren't signed ... or i hadn't written on the back .... but now, i think, my ducks are in a row .... they are all ship shape and ready to go and be hung and look groovy ... and we'll just cross our fingers that someone somewhere still has disposable income for art .... right? 

and above is the painting that i nominate as most likely to sell at the show .... 

and really .... i put it up cause it's nice for valentine's ... my valentine is coming home tomorrow .... after the week away ..... rah for that! 

any sweet plans for your valentine? 

orange you glad .... it's almost valentine's day ....

i have a canvas that is 30 inches square .... 

lots of dictionary in the back .... a big old six of clubs .... some dress patterns ... some map .... and some hot, hot orange ... that i kind of toned down with some burnt umber .... but it's still looking so very orangey .... 

the dilemna then is ... now what ... i still need to do some stenciling or stamping of letters and what not on it .... probably with a paler orange or a yellow to cool the whole thing down .... not many people have a spot in their house for something as bright as this .... and then ... i'll wait til i'm struck with what goes in the foreground .... cause i don't have a notion yet ... 

here's the thought process: 

oh ... i LOVE orange ... oh ... this is hot ... oh .... orange always looks good with a nest .... you always like the raw umber on orange ... you can't make another nest on orange ... yes you can ... you're allowed to make as many nests on orange as you want .... think of something else .. um .... think of something else ... um ... think of something else ... i can't .... what do you want to paint ... an apple ... just an apple? you've done apples ... not exciting .... it doesn't have to be red ... green?  apples ARE green .. that's not exciting ... blue apple? blue apple on orange? no .... blue apple at all?  done that ... watermelon, kiwi, banana, strawberry, pear ... you always do pears ... i love pears ... i'm hungry ... no pears ... i'll have a banana ... don't paint one .. no one wants a banana painting .... not sexy .... pears are sexy ... you do too many pears .... i'm hungry ... move on ... houses, flowers, hearts .... what color flowers do you put on orange like that ? do other people even like orange ... why'd i do orange? fish ... no fish go on blue or green ... why .. you could do fish ... what about other animals instead ... lions and tigers and bears, oh my ... i don't do animals ... you've done birds ... oh i like birds .... do a bird ... if i'm going to do a bird, i should do a nest ... wait ... don't go there .... i'm hungry ... don't go there either .... ok ... bottle caps , buttons, dominos, wood, ceramics, fabric .... get off the paper .... i like paper .... dragonflies, flowers, bees, landscapes, still lifes, chairs, trees, dogs ... dogs ... my dog ... i'm going for a walk .... 

and now we'll switch away from the voice(s?) in my head ... i went for a walk .... and ate a banana ... no pears available .... i'm open to suggestions ... or ... everyone tell me what to paint and then i'll make a nest ..... har .... i'm trying hard NOT to make a nest ... why do i want to so badly .... so maybe i'll do poppies ... i haven't done poppies lately ... and i don't have any poppies on orange in my past ... do i? 

think on that .... what should e do with this large orange canvas ... just dont' say paint it another color ... oh! i could do a rooster .... i could actually do something to hang in my own kitchen .... hmmmmm .... ill keep thinking .. you think for me too .... 

and now ... for a complete change of subject .... i'm not usually one for pinup girls ... but this one seemed better than most .... artistically, aesthetically, and edible-ly ... 

and then a titch more on chocolate.... this is what little.e.beck.artist is taking to second grade on friday for the valentine exchange .... she has four big hearts of kisses for four teachers .... she has two hershey bars for best pals ... she needs to sneak them into their backpacks so as not to hurt other kid's feelings .... and then she has tootsie pops for each kid in the class .... she typed them up herself ... spell check didn't know what to do with viyollets  .... and then we cut and pasted til we had the right number of notes .... 

roses are red, 

violets are blue, 

i have a treat, 

just for you .... 

this is what my kids have given almost every year for valentine's ... in my book it beats a barbie or a transformer or a shrek card .... she did the taping and note twirling herself .... it was a happy easy chore .... 

and in the land of middle school:

girl.beck.artist is taking hershey's bars for her girlfriends .... and two boys "that are just friends, mom" ... hair flip, head tilt, nose crinkle ....

boy.beck.artist has LOTS of tootsie pops ... he would not divulge who they were for ... i'm not certain he isn't just planning on eating them himself .... 

do you have a valentine to make? to buy? to give? to get? a plan? a dinner? 

did you figure out yet what i'm supposed to put on that big orange? 

nary a spare minute ...

 i've been blogging for about two years now .... four hundred and something posts ..... lots of paintings .... lots of questions ... lots of explanations .... some of you have been with me since the beginning .... lots of you have been with me for hundreds of posts ... so ... just want to know, have we established yet that i'm not much of a shopper ? we have, right? i don't really even like shopping for art supplies ... i order them online for the most part ... so ... how come i never realized that this whole renovate a house thing is all about the shopping ? 

last week, nobs gave me hives .... why is nob not spelled knob ... i think it should be .... and why are there 9,764, 382kabilliontrillion kinds of knobs? isnt' that just a titch excessive? 

this morning, i was in a tile store ... heavens! there are more tiles choices than knob choices .... i had a VERY definitive notion (knotion?) in my head ... definitive ... tight .... unwavering ... and then i go all weak kneed (week need, weak knead) over this beautiful turquoisegreenblue wash of tiny glass tiles ..... ahhhhhhh..... i want to do a swimming pool in it .... but at that (gasp!) price, i'm not even willing to do the new kids' bathroom in it ..... so i went with my original knotion .. simple, clean, classic .... perfect to show off bright colors and big art ..... 

....and then .... more shopping ... off to roam the endless warehouse of counter tops .... the choices are knot as plentiful as the knob choices but they sure take up a load of space .... miles later i picked a counter top with flecks of orange yellow and red in with all this marbley otherness .... 

so ... remember that tracking of the art calendar that was my new year's resolution? 

i might kneed to color in the boxes on shopping days instead of art days ... cause i've had nary an art day in february .... well ...not nary ... i've had one ...one day in february that i put paint to canvas ... oh my! i'll have to work on that, huh? ... as soon as i'm done shopping ... my next shopping expedition is for a dress ... don't ask! 

ok ... challenge of the day (might be challenge of the week, month or year if i don't remember to challenge you again): say nary as many time as you can in the next 24 hours ... nary a complaint from you ... just say it... say nary lots ... and tell me when you did .....

oh! p.s... late night edit ...knob is right ... or write ... or korrect .... har ...

the fine art of procrastination ...

our show was thursday night ... it was grand ... 

why have i not posted about it? 

....a...i was tired 

....b... i wanted to take advantage of friday, my last day on florida vacation

....c....driving home saturday ...

....d.... reading a good book ... host ... by stephanie meyers .... 

....e..... editing book reports .... helping three kids with school stuff .... 

... f... catching up with a life that i seem kind of behind on .... 

but ... i'm back ... and ready ... 

here's my favorite photo from thursday night's opening party .....

that's art mom, me, and little.e.beck.artist ..... we are standing in front of one of the walls of interpretations .... her collages are the top row, mine the bottom .... this picture was taken JUST before my interview ... with a newspaper reporter ... an interview that took SO long .... 30 minutes or so ... i can't imagine why! certainly there won't be an article with all that chatter in it .... the first thing she said to me was, your mom is a perfectionist ... are you? .... and i laughed at her ... no, not at all .... really, not at all .... then she asked if my mom and i got along ... well of course we do ..... we certainly wouldn't have spent all this time figuring out this art show together if we didn't get along ....i'm not sure she believed me! ....  and then it went on to discussions of my family, my studio, where i get ideas and on and on .... it will be interesting to see if there is an article in the brandon newspaper .... 

at the show, i saw lots of old friends .. more than i thought would come ... mostly they don't live in brandon, so it was a surprise that so many made the long drive ..... i also met a ton of my mom's artist pals .... that was nice .... i need more artists in my life, like she has in hers .... 

my most interesting bit of the night wasn't exactly an art thing .... i did about ten write ups ... and put them next to paintings ... so that people could read what i was thinking .... what my art meant to me .... why i choose some of the oddball stuff i do .... and at least a dozen people spoke to me about those words .... and nearly all of them told me i should be a writer .... that's a little odd ... here, look at my art ... and they say, great art, you should be a writer... 

here's one exchange .... with my elementary school principal .. a deep voiced, large in stature, larger of legend kind of man ... 

he: elizabeth, your art is intriguing, but it is your words that really struck me ...

me: thank you

he: you have a way with words that really is interesting and quite funny .... 

me: thank you, you're very sweet

he: I"M NOT SWEET (he hollered) .... elizabeth, you know i'm not sweet and never have been!

me: well, it's nice of you to say that you appreciate my writing

he: NO, it's not NICE .... it's the truth ... you are a writer and you should write a book

me: i've always wanted to be a writer .... but i don't really have a notion what i'd write about to fill up a whole book ...

he: well, right here you have page one .... and you have at least ten pages on the walls here

me: oh...no, that's not for a book

he:WRITE A BOOK .... 

so whaddaya do when your principal hollers to write a book? 

i better get writing, huh?

.... although ... i imagine i can procrastinate writing a book for years ..... 

(pretty cool that my principal was there ... as was my fourth grade teacher ..... )

so what have you been doing while i've been away ... catch me up on your fun doings .... 

almost time ... and we're ready ....

we're ready ... mom and i hung our show today ... her helper was one of her best pal's sue ... sue has hung loads of shows in this same space ... is an artist herself .... and really gets it ... my helper? .... is 8 .... little.e.beck.artist is on this trip with me ... and she handed me the 40 nails and hooks that i banged into the wall ... and took out ... and rebanged ... and took out ... and now maybe it'll be sorta straight ... and rebanged .... the opening is tomorrow night ... thursday ... 5.30 .....brandon's center place .... for some more preview pics, go to my flickr site here to the show set .... some of the pics have notes so that if you scroll your mouse over the photo you'll see my comments ... 

so here's your chore, task, test, should you choose to accept it ... go over to flickr .. see what each art pair is an interpretation of ... and tell me you favorite pair .... or at least find my favorite pair .... 

ps...i'm in florida ... and it is alaska cold! what's up with that?

what's that song about rainy days and mondays?

rainy days and mondays what? what kind of mood do they put you in?

what about the mondays that are rainy days? like here today?

at my house? rainy days are some of my favorites ... we celebrate the joy of raincoats, rainboots, and umbrellas.... and sometimes, even dixie the wonder dog decides it is just too, too damp for her to go out without her raincoat too .... here she is with little.e.beck.artist ....

lest you think that this is some wretched, pampered pooch that eats edamame and gets carried around in a purse, the raincoat is from the dollar store .... actually ...most of her wardrobe is from the dollar store ... it's best not to invest more than that since she tends to eat her clothes ... 

what did you do to amuse yourself today?

ps ... no blog post tomorrow ... i'm road tripping to florida ... for an art show ... i'll post pics on wednesday ..... 

i did 11 paintings in january 2009 ... just in case anyone is keeping track ....

this is my last new painting for a bit .... it is called heartstring waiting .... and is another in my heartstring series ..... i love the metaphor of this .... and could paint the image again and again ... just making different backgrounds for them .... this background in particular is a little different than usual ... kelly noticed it on a recent pear painting, that i've changed up some of my backgrounds ...not sure if it'll stick ... but for now, it makes me happy ..... my new year's resolution to do 20 new paintings in a singular NEW theme, hasn't happened yet ... and maybe hasn't started yet .... but ... i still have 11 months yet ....

and, though this is my last painting for more than a week, fear not! i will be blogging this week from florida .... i set my show on wednesday and certainly should have loads of photos to show you .... 

how 'bout that bruce springsteen ? i'm thinking 12 minutes of super bowl halftime wasn't enough for me! 

hope you have a grand week.... do you have any big plans?