Summer Vacation has Begun!

Toxic - sketchbook

I woke up this sunny Monday morning and for the first time in way too long I had nothing I had to do! Ahhhhhh Freedom! Naturally this meant an expensive trip to Michaels and paint all over the kitchen cabinets.
The last two weeks I have been busy with dance shows. Tutu's, sparkles and angle wings were all around me and it was a blast. There is nothing more rewarding than 5 year-olds in pink performing their ballet dance with passion and pizazz and it was nice to get my own butt back on stage with my favorite people! But after the craziness of the last few months, my body hurts and I am in need of a little break.



This week I have been focusing on an old painting I have never been satisfied with and working some things out in my sketchbook. I'm taking some time to relax and letting my mind wander before re-focusing on my art goals and more serious paintings. I will be updating this blog more frequently over the next two months since I have lots of time to sit and paint!

Series of Pointe Shoes

Last week I completed a small pointe shoe painting. The past year I have slowly been painting a series of ink paintings of my pointe shoes. It's a classic ballet subject matter and I find them surprisingly interesting. Even though the shoes are all similar I have a lot of fun with the ribbons and their different arrangements. I have been using india ink for the majority of the painting and then some white ink for highlights so the satin looks shiny. When I was a kid all I wanted was to dance on my toes like a real ballerina. Getting pointe shoes is a right of passage for most young dancers. It is the reward for all those hours standing at the barre doing plies and rises, fixing posture and squeezing those turnout muscles. I have kept every pair of pointe shoes except for a few that have become sculptural art.Each pair represents my hard work and dedication to the art and if you peek inside some of those shoes there is blood to prove it!
These particular shoes are Grishkos, which are hand made in Russia. Although there are now some machine made shoes on the market I have not been impressed by the style or durability of the shoes. I have also been greatly disappointed with the latest Bloch and Capezio shoes that seem to fall apart before they ever have a chance to break down.
Some of these paintings are still available in my Etsy shop, so stop on by if you are interested!

May Sketchbook

Despite May being a crazy busy month I have still managed to get some work done in my sketchbook! Dance/teaching is currently causing me a lot of physical pain so I have been spending my free hours working in my sketchbook with a heating pad wrapped around me. My goal is to work primarily in the sketchbook till things calm down in 3 weeks and then I will be ready to start some new projects and paintings!

Painting Doors

This project has left me pondering why most doors are painted white? It seems we are missing an opportunity to decorate our lives. Painting murals on walls is reasonably common but doors, for whatever reason are not common mural locations.
We got tired of looking at an ugly door. Most of the walls are filled with art but amidst the paintings is a sad looking dilapidated door. This door was never painted properly and was missing large chunks of what used to be white paint. It was also duct tapped together since the front panel decided one day to separate from the rest of the door. It was a sad situation. So I suggested that it should be painted....with something cool! After a little discussion I bought some paint and we started. Sebastian was really excited about this project and when I returned from teaching one Saturday he had painted more doors and had drawn out his designs for them.
The first door I completed was the one on the inside of the room. The hook is real so I painted a hanger and the shirt (with our initials logo) and the weird alien guy with loooong arms. Haha
The next one is based of the newly discovered prehistoric bird: Llallawavis scagliai. Painting bones is fun so even though this took me many hours I enjoyed the process. 
The third door took me much longer to finish. I don't really know what to say about it. It's fun and interesting even though I'm not quite sure what is going on! lol

Entwined

I have finally completed this painting. I sketched this image in the first page of my new sketchbook at the beginning of the year and started the painting sometime in February, and now three months later it is finally complete!!! I worked slowly and carefully on this painting but was constantly interrupted with other projects which was the main reason it took me so many weeks to complete it. 
Dancing en pointe is not easy. It hurts ans requires a ton of hardwork and dedication. Some days you dance till your toes bleed, leaving blood in your shoes to remind you of the effort you put into each and every class. Dancing en pointe is not easy, but is should look effortless. That`s the real art of it. Duisguising the work and pain behind the motion, leaving the audience in awe of those carefully rehearsed steps, elegantly effortless in their presentation. 

Entwined is 11" by 14" painted on watercolour board mounted to a cradled wood board. I used ink for the background and feet and then watercolours for the snake.
Originally I wanted the snake to be based off a real species but the coloured ones I liked weren't pythons and therefore are not prone to wrap themselves around trees and things. In the end I made up my own mythological snake because I wanted the bright colours to contrast with the black and white feet and background.
Entwined can currently be found in my Etsy Shop!

Custom Pink Journal

This past week I had the honor of creating a custom book destined to be used as a wedding album/scrapbook. I enjoy custom work although there is always a little bit of extra stress involved in getting it completed on time.

I had to work a few late nights and early mornings but I got it completed and into the postal system within a week! It took me about three hours to paint the gold on the covers and approximately 2 hours of cutting, folding and gluing papers for the ten signatures. Sewing it together and gluing end papers took another hour. It probably took me a total of 6 hours to make....not including drying time etc. I used thicker paper because it will be used to glue photos and memorabilia and stitched it together slightly looser than usual to make room in the binding for the paper that will be added to it.
I am quite pleased with this particular journal and will be making more like it as soon as dance ends for the year!

Dealing with Pain

Spring time in the dance community is slightly chaotic with ballet exams, dance competitions, extra rehearsals and the preparation required for June shows and recitals. I have been teaching/dancing 6 days a week this month and my back pain is at an all time high. My chronic pain is caused by inflammation in my hips and back from a bunch of minor injuries that tend to twist my hips to uncomfortable places. Since I do not have time and am not really willing to take a break from dancing I am forced to figure out how to deal with this pain. Because of my achy back I have not been overly productive with my art this past week as it makes concentrating rather difficult. Ironically my chronic condition is the reason I began to pursue my art in the first place.

This week I am trying to take it easy for a few days and get myself back to a better state. I am reworking my diet to include foods that are supposed to help with inflammation and joint pain. I read an article about a study where shiitake mushrooms were shown to reduce inflammation. In the study people only ate one mushroom a day for 4 weeks, at which time the doctors could measure a reduction in the immune systems inflammatory response. My diet now consists of Shiitake mushrooms, salmon, tofu, apples, kale and a few other things including organic red wine! 
Hopefully these small changes will help me feel better and make more art!
I have been attempting to finish a whole bunch of projects this week. I'm getting close, but so far nothing is done. Which means, in theory, I will have lots to share next week!
In the meantime I did paint this sketch in my sketchbook.