Are humans the only creatures that strive to improve themselves?

Below are two small paintings I started yesterday and finished today. They seem to be about striving, improving, desire for growth, awareness.... maybe influenced by the New Years Resolutions people are making. Is this desire to improve ourselves- something that sets us apart from other living creatures?

Wind (study)
Acrylic with ink and pencil, 4x4x1.5

Flight (study)
Acrylic with ink and pencil, 4x4x1.5

I've always been drawn to birds and trees and skies... right now I have art in an exhibit at Moving Box Studios with several other artists, many of them drawn to the same natural elements. Its not surprising that creative minds often tap into the same pockets of inspiration.

We are wired with the desire to know what we are incapable of knowing

Roots
digital illustration 2009

Blue Tango

Blue Tango
Acrylic on Canvas
2009


Blue Tango has the overall feel I had imagined... but I think, again, I became too representational. I was thinking of more simplified shaped figures... like Violin Dreams... but this one landed smack in the middle of expressionism.


My solo art exhibit at the Scale House Brewery gets hung tomorrow. So this baby is done.
More of my work is uploaded at Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheridelia/

Violin Dreams

Violin Dreams
Acrylic on Canvas
16x20
2009


I love this one. I didn't let myself feel self-defensive and unsure about the painting... just went with it. She had snake arms... but in the original drawing I was trying to show the movement... and the violinist was moving too fast for me to get a hand positioning.
Its such a freedom to not worry about realism and just have fun with color and let myself get lost in the movement from one color to the next, from shadows to highlight, and manipulating depth... moving it forward and backward. Not that there wasn't lot of frustration along the way.... at one point the entire thing was way too pink... there were several transitions along the way. Not easy... but when it works... it works!

This one lifts my spirit when I look at it. I hope it will for others too.

new artwork in the works....

I've got 2 new paintings and 1 new digital illustration on the burner.

The first is Tango inspired. Tentative title "Tango Dreams".

Here's the very 1st canvas sketch. Her legs will be longer and his torso will be shorter in the final version.... lots of swirling colors...






Here's a sketch I drew while enjoying a live jazz trio in a Frederick, Maryland cafe. The actual Violinist had clothes on... and hands :)







Working off the original sketch above --- here's the canvas sketch - - - Title will probably be "Violin Dreams". It might look dreamy... I have colorful ideas and other things floating in my head for this one..... to be continued.

I just googled the violist's name and found that the name of the jazz trio is also Violin Dreams!

didnt think it bothered me

to turn 42. I was born 1 minute after midnight on August 1st. I'll be 42 in about 12 minutes.

Today has been a roller coaster ride. Work was great. Getting ready to go out after work - wasn't great. Felt angry. Pissed off at TIME and AGING. Fuck you AGING. Screw you TIME. No matter what, you win. Then walking the dog, a cute young guy smiled at me and asked for directions. The perfect tonic for someone lost in the middle of middle-age. A few hours later and a few margaritas and a sushi dinner later... having a great time with my man... dessert at Madeline's...

oh shit.... its 12:01
happy birthday to me

Derby Girl

Derby Girl

might be done.... haven't decided.

the deadline to submit is in THREE days.

I better get to work.

Derby Girl - - in process

Derby Girl
in process.....

Inspired by the Ithaca Sufferjets and hoping to enter this in the local art competition
MOVEMENT which is raising $ for our local derby girls and food pantry.

Took the image from a screen shot of video I took of a Bout they had at Cass Park last year. Can you guess which Sufferjet's image I'm working off of? Maybe when the dark hair is done..... . . . ?

Done!

Departure
Acrylic on Canvas
11X24


A few posts ago - I showed this when it was incomplete. It needed more contrast... both in lights and darks and in color. Here is the finished piece. When I added the first small orange areas... it clicked! I purposely kept the orange areas to a minimum in order to keep them special.

incomplete.....

tree spirits

in the spirit of incomplete work.... I started this about 5 years ago. And it has looked like this for that long. I kinda like it in its incomplete state.

However.... I intend to let this one evolve into whatever the final image will be. I'm thinking there will be several more faces before this is done.

to be continued....

departure

departure
acrylic painting

This painting is NOT done. ick.
I first painted this about 10 years ago... I never liked it. It was flesh tones with dark greens and blacks... just gross. Last week I intended to GESSO over it. Then decided that maybe it was worth re-visiting.

Departure has been part of the last several months.... departing souls, like this is depicting... but also departing jobs, governments, etc.

Departure creates change. New jobs, new president.... but departed souls can't be replaced. Still... maybe its not all bad.

New Tattoo

Here's the new tat. Thanks to a friend's husband... it was affordable even in my laid-off employment state. I've started a new job this week. Still work for the same college within Cornell University as before... but now I'm with the Communications team as a Web Assistant. Working Tuesdays through Fridays.

Life is good.

ink me up baby!

Its that time of year again!

Summer = sunshine = skin = ink!!!

Here is a tattoo I designed last summer. Want it to look like I'm walking through wild flowers. If I can afford 2 colors... it will be blue and violet. Yes... I know. Its gonna hurt like a bitch. Just waiting on a price quote from a freelance tat artist.

I'm already planning my next 2 tats... . . . .

death

Last week my Uncle died. His health took a turn for the worse recently, so I drove up north of Syracuse to see him. I sort of knew what to expect... but not fully. He had gotten very small. Not his regular 6 foot healthy frame. There were too many others around the house to have time to say anything to him. I held his hand. Tight. He hadn't been able to talk for a few days. But he held my hand tight. I stayed that way for about a full minute... and then I bent down and looked at him.... this would end up being the last time we made eye contact and touched. I said to him.... "I'll be back tomorrow with dad... ok? Love you.". He was moving his mouth and trying to say something. I don't know what he was trying to say. Maybe "ok... see you tomorrow". This was Monday. He died Wednesday.

Goodbye Uncle O. I love you.
Siete nel mio cuore per sempre

just keep laughing.... or is it drinking...?

well.. today... I lost my job. Got laid off. Our whole department got laid off. Chop CHop CHop. Cut-backs... you know. They just had to. But the new building that costs a bazillion dollars is only 'tabled' for now. I am glad they gave us 2 months notice.

I will land on my feet. Maybe, if I can muster up the courage... I can try and enjoy spiraling through the air and the magic that comes with uncertainty.

Or maybe I'll just drink more.

uncertain future

Here is my latest completed piece. "collecting bits of Now"
Thanks for the inspiration Skip, Palma, Dan, Shannon, Frank, James, Ursula, Laura, Matt.... oh there's gotta be more of you 'photogs' out there.... but I gotta keep these posts short (excuse for bad memory...)

I'm feeling a lot of anxiety... like most of you... about the world today. About keeping my job and affording my bills, and my car, and my dog, and my health, and my family and friends, and their jobs and their health..... January 2009 has not pulled any punches.


January 2009.
jobs lost, no prospects..... everyone wondering if they're next
car trouble, house trouble... everything cost double... or more than you'd expect
pipes freezing... gas prices rising.... just trying to stay warm
health problems....everywhere... when will it end?
bodies drowning in an ocean of debt.... keep your head above the surface or sink
With Obama theres hope..... ?.....
I hope... its not too late.

lost in the archives....

Here's a piece I began about 3 years ago and found it in my digital archives this month. I added about an hour's worth of finishing touches and finally decided to call it completed.

Knowing when to stop.

Almost as difficult and getting started.


Title:
disconnect
digital illustration
2009

New Art in process......

Now that I've hopped on the blogging band wagon.... I'd like to share my most recent work in progress. The first image is a sketch from an art gathering this past December. The idea was inspired by all my photographer friends who literally 'collect little bits of now' where ever they go. The second image is incomplete. Its where I've taken it 'digitally' so far.



"collecting bits of Now"
Pencil & ink drawing
2008











"collecting bits of Now"
Digital illustration - in process...
2009







About 50% incomplete... I'm really psyched about whats happening with the multiple layering and different transparencies.

whole
digital illustration
2005

nothing is killing me

I'm starting off my blog with poetry... even though I'm not a poet.
Wrote this last year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

nothing is killing me

stuck on the edge
of anxiety and nausea
suffocating
in my own skin

lost in a cycle
of creation and destruction
knowing
something is broken

desire and resistance
crash together
sadly
only one will win

wanting only movement
fearing what I want
cursed
these wheels only spin

standing in my own nothing
to lose or to save
buried
in my own grave

last day lemons and honey

The date on this poem is correct. I wrote this last year, on December 31st, a day before moving my final items to the room I was renting on the west side of Cayuga Lake. I have a small car... so the final move included my computer, my dog and my overnight bag.

Happy New Year one year later!


December 31st, 2007


the mileage on my car
turned 100,000 today

at the light by the fish fry
on Bridge Street

missed it by .4 of a mile
searching for chapstick

the sun appeared through the clouds
brought tears to my eyes

lemons were on sale at wegmans
bought six to mix with hot water and honey

honey from a good friends hive
kept in their Liverpool backyard

today I scraped the last of it
from the glass jar

I licked the spoon
and smiled.