Month: October 2018

paint to learn a pomegranate salad

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, artistic inspirations, food in art, kitchen art, small things, still life, visual thinking

At a friends house recently we were served a spinach and pomegranate salad. It was yummy and something like this recipe here.  As I ate I realized I’d never looked properly at a pomegranate.  I also realized I didn’t know cut one open. So later, back at my studio, I found an instruction video here – then I got some pomegranates and began looking and painting.  This is what I did:

OhSeeds72

“Oh Seeds!” – by Clancy – 5 x 7 inches – gouache and acrylic on board, framed.

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“Shared Seeds” – by Clancy – 7 x 5 inches – gouache and acrylic on board, framed.

After the paintings were done (and the pomegranates added to my salad) I submitted the artwork for consideration to the gallery. They were accepted so I framed them and delivered them along with 10 other small pieces for a “Small Works Holiday Group Exhibit” at Caplan Art Designs the months of November and December.  www.caplanartdesigns.com

All in all not a bad way to learn how to make a salad!

 

I really mint it

A Creative Life, artistic inspirations, fine art, food for thought, small things, still life, story, visual story

Typically I paint food and drinks from my memory and imagination. Sort of.  I take my sketchbook along and draw from life what I’m eating or drinking. But when I get paints out in my studio to do a “real” fine art piece I’m winging it from my sketchbook-aided memories of the food flavors and presentation.  Recently I’ve done something different.

I’ve been working from “live” models in my studio. Here are my models as they came from the store:

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Clancy’s art studio “models”.

You see, I’ve been thinking of that moment during a nice dinner out, when the waiter brings you some after dinner mints, and you sit with your friends munching them and gentling into the rest of the evening.  But I can eat mints pretty quickly. (Mint is one of my favorite flavors) And in such a situation I’m usually focused on the conversation. So have I ever really looked at a mint? I mean really looked?

I bought some mint candies as art models for the serious artistic meditation thereof. And while I did look at (and eat) them I still ended up somewhat “winging it” when creating these paintings:

“Into The Andes” by Clancy – 5 x 7 inches – acrylic and gouache on board
“I Really Mint It” by Clancy – 7 x 5 inches – acrylic and gouache on board
“Pillow Talk” by Clancy – 7 x 5 inches – acrylic and gouache on board

I think as paintings they worked out okay. While I tried some different colors (the purple, the teal and the orange) I feel I conveyed the minty goodness of the candies. I also think I managed to imply a story in each of them, at least an implication of people eating the mints.

At any rate I have really looked a mint now. Really looked.

olive hue

A Creative Life, artistic inspirations, Dogs in Art, fine art, handmade books, sketchbook, small things, still life

Olives are one of the many ways adults know they are loved. Grapes too. But I’ve been thinking about olives. Olives to eat. Olives in Dirty Martini’s. And how if you say “olive hue” it sounds a lot like “I love you”.

Olives have to be picked from the olive trees carefully – then preserved and processed – lots of work is done just so we can enjoy them. In all of their salty, brine-y, yummy glory. There. I feel loved. Don’t you?

Anyway here’s artwork I did recently while these thoughts ran around my brain (brine?) jar:

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In Search Of The Holy Grail – by Clancy – 7 x 5 inches – acrylic and gouache on board

Allegedly you can grow olives here in the Pacific Northwest. There is at least one local bar that serves drinks with “Local Oregon Olives”. (Note to self: Explore this more.)

Speaking of drinks – one of my favorites is the “Dirty Martini”. With extra olives of course.  Here’s a drawing I did of my currently favored recipe:

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Sketchbook page from “Time Tavern” – you can see the full book here: https://www.sketchbookproject.com/library/20467

Happy weekend!

clueless illustrated poem

A Creative Life, artist book, artistic inspirations, Dogs in Art, illustration, poetry, words and pictures

This weekend I caught up on the news – and this poem and illustration came to me:

The Little Brat
By Sue Clancy

Clueless Jack Horner
stood in a corner
eating a stolen pie
saying “Oh what a good boy am I!”
His classmates had cried.
His teacher had sighed.
But Jack, little Jack, didn’t ask “why?”
Instead he said “What a good boy am I!”
As he ate the pie…
As he stood in the corner…
Clueless: Jack Horner.

ArtForLittleBrat72

(Illustration, by Clancy, for the poem “The Little Brat” by Clancy.)