finding a balance

After year and a half of practically neglecting practice of art for the sake of learning practice of law, I hope to come back

Painting-A-Day: October 24, 2006 - Tatiana's ballet slippers - SOLD

This is not a new painting and it actually is not for sale, but I finally got whatever my children had for the past two weeks, so I am not sure I am willing to approach daily paintings under the influence of NyQuil. I have done some "long-term" painting, which I have been putting off. This daily discipline is incredible in terms of work ethic and the true joy of the experience itself - as they say in Russian "appetite comes during the meal". I can't understand how I could have NOT painted every day!

Painting A Day: October 29, 2006 Utrecht Red

Ahhh... cleaned my studio today. Well, "studio" is a big word for a small room, but it is a luxury as it is - a place to work and think. It is separated from the rest of the house by a door, yet it is separated from client files, grocery lists, diapers, office clothes, parenting strategies, morning oatmeal and laundry baskets by ions. Up until an hour ago it was cluttered with everything imaginable - it gets that way during the times of particularly heavy social involvement: in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving - let's hide the remains of the last remodeling project in the studio! Friends are dropping by - the unfolded laundry pile joins the box of tiles and odd pieces of pipe. By the time all of your kids' playdates have visited, you only have a narrow zig-zag path from the door to the easel. You get the idea. Well, it is back to a state of relative organization (trully a herculean undertaking), but no new painting for the day - this one is from October 29. It is new to this blog and to e-Bay though, so may the gods of daily painting be lenient to me.

Click here to bid on e-Bay.

Painting A Day: December 14, 2006 Glass and Rhinestone Christmas Ornament

Painting a Day - completed on December 14, 2006. Oil on canvas board. 5"x7".

I really can't come up with a more exciting title for this one. This is not one of my treasured ornaments I've been painting this week, nor it is one of my favourites. But it happens to present a challenge of transparency, reflection and geometry, so I decided to give it a try. Honestly, I unwrapped this ornament last week and kept avoiding it because of finding other beautiful and sentimentally meaningful ornaments I wanted to paint (and, secretly, because I knew painting it would be a challenge). Then yesterday I had a particularly horrid day at the office, the kids were sick (three out of four!), I was operating on 3 hours of sleep and my general mood was that I would much rather scrub toilets than paint. And then I glanced at the table clutter and there it was - cheap glittery ball sitting there, mocking my inability to face the challenge. That's it, I had to show it who's boss. Sounds silly (idiotic really), but unfortunatelly, it is true - no angels' voices, no divine inspiration, no beauty of the creative moment... Hey, at least I have a painting.

Click here to bid on e-Bay.

Painting A Day: December 13, 2006 Vintage Glass Pinecone Christmas Ornament

And ... another ornament - another painting! This one is 5X7, oil on canvas, just like the others. I don't think I'll run out of the ornament subject matter any time soon. As I continue to unwrap these splendid treasures, I am endlessly fascinated by their beauty. This is another of vintage "soviet" glass ornament from late 40s. The glaze has aged to an absolutely gorgeous irridescent finish which I tried to capture and, in my humble opinion, came pretty close. But, of course, it is up to you to judge that. As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments and critique. Please take time to write a few words as to what you thought of the painting, what, in your opinion needs improvement or anything else you may think of.

Click here to bid on e-Bay.

Painting A Day: December 10, 2006 "Three sisters" red Christmas ornaments

Yet another ornament for the week. These are not particularly special in any way (as a matter of fact they came from Wal-Mart, I think). However, I was exploring textural variations with these Christmas balls - glitter, full shine and frosted glass and their relationship. The thought came after looking at Susan Martin Spar's December 8 painting. I also thought of my daughters while painting - they are the same in form and substance (figuratively speaking, of course) by the virtue of coming from the same family, yet totally different.

Unfortunatelly, the true color of the painting still escapes me after an hour of Photoshop adjustments - it is deeper and a lot less vulgar, but alas, I am a painter, not a photographer. Click here to bid on e-Bay.

I have also just been accepted into a fine company of phenomenal "daily" artists by which I am very much honored and humbled (their talent and skill are far beyond my own)!

Painting-A-Day: December 8, 2006

Yet another ornament for the week - a childhood favourite. We had several of these on the tree, some were from the time when my Mom was little. I think this one is from the early 1950s. I almost recreated that same feeling of excitement about decorating the tree I had, well... 25 years ago, while painting this thing.

Special thanks to M Collier for beautiful artwork that inspires (especially treatment of reflective objects) and for generous advise to push values and pay attention to the composition - I am trying to follow it. I would appreciate any feedback anyone can give me - this is what I miss and need the most: mentorship, critique and guidance from fellow artists and/or art enthusiasts.

Click here to bid on e-Bay.