Knock knock knock... Through the door I hear my mom yelling, OH NO! Outside, just beyond my porch, two dead rabbits lay in the flower bed. They are small, not fully grown but not babies. They are unharmed, no punctures, perfect, well, except for the fact that they are dead. My excitement could not be much higher. I've placed them in a ziploc bag and put them in the freezer. I can't wait to paint tomorrow!
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Here's your Easter bunny. Hope you have a nice day with whoever you share your life with.
So here's what's happening... I set up the bunny in front of the window. As always, I paint what I see, but I'm not including anything outside the bunny. It's all about what's seen within the confines of the glass - reversed and distorted views of reality. These distorted and reversed images trapped inside the bunny, they feel like the memories trapped inside my head, my heart. There's nothing on the outside, nothing around me. I am the bunny. My mom and her sister have a thing for collecting things. They've gone through many phases over the years including deviled egg plates, beanie babies, and millefiori glass. Today's bunny is from the millefiori collection. The things in my life that are making me paint aren't getting any easier so I figured it would make sense to make the bunny harder too. I think I now understand how moms feel when their children leave the house for college... Waking into the studio this morning and not seeing all the birds is horrible. At least moms get to see their kids for the holidays, mine are not coming back, ever. I'm late painting/posting today and for this I apologize. Usually, I look at these and see some connection to my state of mind or my state of heart; but not tonight. I just see a glass bunny. Maybe that's a good thing... I spent the day scanning and editing all the little birds. Time consuming, boring, but necessary work. The birds are now boxed up, ready to leave my nest and be divided by Lauren and Andrew for the Trenton CSA exchange being held next week. As a result, I didn't paint... yet... I'm not sure I'll get a painting in today but it feels good to know I have documented and packaged all the work that I have to let leave the nest.
There are stages to artmaking. For me, they are fairly concrete and flow in a logical order; start by setting up the object, select the surface size to paint on, sketch the image onto the surface in pencil, begin painting, take photos of painting, blog about painting, stare at painting... I wish there were some concrete stages for other aspects of my life. I keep going back and forth from sadness to anger to indifference to depression (very different from simple sadness) to rage (again, different from anger) to pitty to relief... This is the flow, in no particular order and with no end in sight. Glass is challenging! If I move, even a tiny bit, I see a different shadow, a different reflection, a different highlight. There is nothing clear about this glass, just like there is nothing clear in my struggles.
This is a new bunny. He's made of concrete. I find that I am reluctant to get attached to any of these bunnies in the way I was attached to the little bird. I think it will be easier to move on when it's time if none of the bunnies feel precious to me. If only it were that easy outside of the studio... After completing my first painting for today I played outside for a while and visited with some friends. When I came back to look at my earlier work (something I do several times a day - staring at the birds and bunnies with a glazed over expression on my face) I realized I wasn't at all happy with the composition. Isn't it funny how a little time and distance will change your perspective on things? My second attempt at the glass bunny proved a bit more challenging and the result feels less luminous. I think this is due in part to the use of incandescent lighting as opposed to natural light. I look forward to exploring the glass bunny further as I'm sure my perspective on the situation will continue to shift. |
Lora Marie DurrDuring my undergraduate studies, I spent a great deal of time in the painting studio working with traditional oils. Teaching middle school art for the past 12 years has taken me away from those roots. This "one a day" project is aimed at re-inspiring that creativity and technique. Archives
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Other "one a day" painting blogs to check out:
Hannah Phelps Kellie Marian Hill Carol Marine Lisa Daria Darren Maurer Carol Aust Karin Jurick The usual Subjects |