Rosalind's Dream

It's felt strange not to have posted anything in six days, but I've been working on two paintings for the last week. And I'm still having major computer problems. I finally broke down Saturday and, after talking to a Dell representative on the phone for almost two hours, I broke down and ordered my first very own computer: a Dell Studio 15. I'm so excited. The computer I've been using is one I inherited from my son. We bought it for him when he was fourteen, and now he's twenty, so that tells you what kind of condition it's in. Whenever I've finished a piece of art and want to scan it and blog it, it takes me about 15 minutes just to log on. My Windows connection mysteriously disappeared, but, if I curse loudly enough, Ava will come to my rescue and connect me with the Internet, using her mysterious powers. She won't tell me how to do it myself because she wants me to owe her big time.

This past weekend was heavenly. Because I was fighting a migraine (doesn't seem to fit with my previous sentence, I know, but read on) I mostly stayed home and pampered myself. I went up to the art attic, even before my coffee was ready, and added texture with modeling paste to the dancing girl on the big canvas I've been working on. While that was drying, I got back in bed and lazed around, re-watching Kevin Bacon, the new love of my life, in "Stir of Echoes" until about noon. I also read all my favorite blogs and caught up on my comments and e-mails. Thank goodness for migraine medication, which kept the worst of the headache at bay. After a lovely omelet for brunch, I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, and went back up to my studio. I started flinging paint at my canvas and achieved a certain 80's effect, which I liked, around the edges. I got stuck because then because I'm not sure what colors I want to use on her hair. should it be a golden-brown halo of light or should it be a little funkier, perhaps antique book pages or white with ink curlicues? I have to ponder that awhile, so I picked a small canvas up that I'd started on Wednesday. So far, I had a pink and green background textured with paste, silk flowers, and old handwritten pages. I added more texture with a homemade paper maiche of tissue and gesso layered over pages from Shakespeare and a book of fairy tale. I hurried the dry time with my blow dryer and added more color with deeper pink and red inks and different shades of green acrylic, over which I layered some walnut distressing ink. Exhausted by all this flurry of rather physical creativity, I took a nap and awoke refreshed and ready for dinner and a movie with Mr. Al. We had decided to try to see as many Oscar nominees as possible before the big event, so "Revolutionary Road" was on the agenda for the evening. We ran some errands and ate dinner at Bonefish Grill. It was so crowded, though, that we had to wait nearly an hour for a table, and, after all the stupor-inducing wine and candlelight, we decided to forgo the theater and just head home and watch "Burn After Reading" on Pay Per View. I know....we're old!

Sunday was much the same: a late breakfast, painting in the attic, napping in front of the fire. Hey, I know how to enjoy a convalesence. I finished the small painting for TGIF, Step Outside Your Box Saturdays Spirituality Challenge and Saturday Suprise Photograph Challenge, and Created By Hand Love Quotes Challenge with Ava and Amarylis and Magenta making encouraging suggestions, like "Add some more of those big flowers up in that corner," and "I think you need some more butterflies, Aunt Alberta." Thank you, Doodlebugs; you were absolutely right on all counts. The gesso resist technique I used came from the newest Saturday Workout challenge and my friend Jean from Bluebirds Living in the Meadow suggested the use of tissue paper as a texturing material. When I thought I was finished, I stepped back, and the whole thing looked too light, so I fingerpainted on liberal amounts of black ink and drybrushed some burgundy acrylic in strategic areas. Then, I was finished! It's funny how you know when a piece is done, when one more thing would be one thing too many, but I always get a feeling of completion at a certain point. So, here it is, my first mixed media painting with textures. Finis.