MY NEW PROJECT plus the usual fixes of other paintings

It's just time to begin a new painting.  I've been fooling around with the markers-just like I did with mosaics-but there comes a time when I realize that I'm neglecting my biggest talent and that is painting.

"Julie - Kauai 10th Anniversary"  Julie Jacobsen

But let me back up.  So for the last month I've been redoing some of my paintings.  I'm just one of those perfectionists and can't stop until I have things done satisfactory to myself.  So first I started out by repairing my mouth.  This is part of a set of 2 paintings that I did of my husband and I on our 10th wedding anniversary in Kauai.  We went for a hike on Makana Mountain-made famous in that it was superimposed out in the middle of the ocean to be the mysterious Bali Hai in the movie "South Pacific" .  I love that movie.  So when we started hiking the trail I had tears in my eyes.  We took pictures and years later I did these paintings.

"Chris - Kauai 10th Anniversary"  Julie Jacobsen

Then I had to fix a hand on another painting-which I'm not going to post because I don't like it that much-but I'm satisfied for it to go back on the shelf (see what a perfectionist I am!)

"Mackintosh Apples" Julie Jacobsen

In this painting I brightened the sky through the window in the upper right corner so it will say 'sky'.  I pushed back the yellow tile into the shadows more because the bright yellow was competing with the apples for attention.  I could still push them back into the shadows more but I think it dulls the painting.  This painting is only 5" x 7".  Very small and I'm not satisfied with the frame.  It's just a temporary one but I do like this painting.  It's very homey.

Now back to the original idea of what I'm starting.  There's nothing better to get me going than to have to do a wedding present for one of my nieces and nephews.  In this case it is for Ali.  Here are the first 2 steps:

Note:  I just finished a wonderful book called "Heaven is Here" by Stephanie Nielson.  She is the creator of nieniedialogues.com.  It is a wonderful true story about the plane crash she and her husband survived and their difficult recovery.  Reading about how she finally was able to get back to blogging I realized that I've neglected my blog.  She inspired me to be more consistent in posting.  I guess I just realized in the past that I could spend all my time blogging and not painting.  But I guess that's not really true because I waste time doing other things.  So I might as well start posting more.  I hope my readers will get something out of what I post.  Please let me know if you are interested in my postings as it really is fun for me to hear what you think.

ADVENTURES WITH SHARPIES!

 "The Earth Tumblers 1"  Julie Jacobsen

This has taken me a while to complete-this little project.  I wanted to do another fanciful composition.  So I opened my old sketch books, again, and looked for a fun image.  Once I figured out what I wanted to do I started in with the Sharpies but I didn't really like how it was turning out (the second image in this post).  I didn't like the girl in front of earth because I felt she looked too dark.  Plus it looked to me like people playing with a ball-sort of.  I wanted it to be more of a galactic imagery (Chris' word: galactic).  This one is called "The Earth Tumblers 2".

These are the Earth Tumblers and I wanted them to appear as almost invisible when viewed from earth.  They cause a lot of good and sometimes not so good-depending on how they want to tumble things.  The Earth Tumblers come from their own planet, Tumbletest, and they are constantly being produced.  As soon as they mess with earth then they quickly evaporate into outer space-only to be created again and again.  So, no wonder our world is constantly in an uproar.  There are other Tumbletest planets in the other galaxies but this is the most active one.  Earth is so fun to upset.

If you look hard out into the night sky you might see the outline of a Tumbler.  They are there but hard to see.

This is the original drawing. 

A PROJECT FOR YEARS AND YEARS!

Probably about 20 years I submitted an idea for a writer for his fictional children's book.  He didn't accept it.  I thought he was really picky but, oh well, that's life.  So I threw the drawing into a drawer.  Who knows what ever happened to his book.  I just looked him up and he died this year!

Anyway, I have pulled that thing out of the drawer many many times thinking it was a fun drawing.  I've always loved Arthur Rackham's illustrations.  If you have never looked at them you should.  Just Google and enjoy to your little heart's delight. I keep getting sidetracked but I really have been influenced by those wonderful early 20th century illustrators-that's why I mentioned him.  My drawing has a kind of Arthur Rackham feel to it-although his are darker in their mood.  About  a year ago I decided I was going to actually doing something with this.  So I put colored pencils in front of me while I'm working and if I have some down time for a few minutes I put a few marks on this drawing.  It's been slow, careful, going but fun in a satisfying way.  If you look at how the 'Mona Lisa' was painted you'll learn that that was a 'picked at painting', also,-for many years.

I just thought I'd show some of the progress and then again in a while. It's going to look a lot different when I'm finished.

IF ROSES WERE POLKA DOTTED, ETC.

 "Perky Petals"  Julie Jacobsen

Well, here's another of my doodles that I did in church.  I love patterns and, I guess, that would be an Asian influence in my art.  Plus I love flowers and drawing them.  Good combination, I think.  What do you think?

More Sharpie fun!

 "Ivy's Midsummer Daydream"  Julie Jacobsen

I am just loving Sharpies!  I wanted to do a fun picture for my granddaughter and I went back to my old sketch book from quite a few years ago for inspiration.  I hope you enjoy this.  It was very fun!

It's done! THE TABLE PAINTING (well it's really marker)!

"Breathing Colors" - Julie Jacobsen

Okay.  I had sooooooo much fun with this!  I was in danger of "eating my painting".  Meaning overworking it.  I could have gone on forever.  I just loved the malleable aspects of the Sharpie pens.  If you do it on unfinished canvas cloth then you can get all sorts of dry brush effects, along with the think applications that you associate with markers.  Plus!  They're transparent and you can layer them!  What more could you want?  Well, I'm hoping for permanence.   I did a test a while back with them.  I drew a marker on a scrap of canvas and left it out in the brilliant sun for a few days and I couldn't see any difference.  So I feel like it should be great in the house.  Plus if it does fade I can paint over it with paint.  It's canvas, right?  Why not.

What I like about this is that it almost gives a stained glass quality to it.  Flipping it on the wrong side it looks pretty interesting too.  

I have to do more of these!!!!!  Hope you like it!

Now, I find that honesty is the best policy.  I found a photo of the birds on the internet.  So, if I wanted to make a million dollars on this design I would have to get permission from the photographer.  I'm not planning on doing that.  But if I did want to do that I would have to just redo this and use a photo of some birds that I took myself or get the required permission.

THE TABLE PAINTING (REALLY A MARKER PEN) CONT......

Table painting (marker) - Julie Jacobsen

Ooooooh!  Now the very fun part!  I love working with Sharpies on canvas.  By the way-this is just unprepared canvas material that I bought at the fabric shop.  There's no sense using expensive prepped stuff.  Anyway, I love doing this and I think Chris likes it too.  I was sure to include lots of his favorite color, yellow, so he'll enjoy having it on the table for a while.  Then when I'm sick of it-I can do another.  I know.  It would be easier to just go buy some material with a print on it but it wouldn't be as fun, would it?