Jennifer Dreag
I’m not sure how many times I’ve used that title for this blog, but I’m sure it’s been often.
And it has been a while. I don’t have much to say except I’ve been working on new drawings/paintings and want to share the newest. Prints are available in my Etsy shop.
Enjoy.
Oh, the horror. I know. I look at it and several choice lines from “Carrie” pop in my head.
So, here’s the thing: I hated the first version. I did. Her left arm was too short, one leg was inexcusably thicker than the other, and her vagina (well, her groin I mean, not her actual birth canal) looked weird. Can’t have that. Now she’s covered in what looks like blood, but at least her extremities are getting sorted.
I used my hate as an excuse to paint the next version of her using slow-dri medium. I’ve never used it before so, of course, instead of doing it the right way I mixed 1 part water with 1 part slow-dri, tossed it in a spray bottle and hoped for the best. The best didn’t come, but I don’t have proof in photos. More on the slow-dri debacle later. For now enjoy Carrie.
I didn’t stop forever, just for a while. I finished the Alice painting, which I will post once its owner gets her sexy mitts on it. In the meantime, here’s some weird shit I’m working on. I’m frustrated with it because, well, look at it. It’s a frustrating thing. I suppose that’s why it’s an in-progress picture and not a voila-done picture.
I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s been a weird few days. I’m out.
Added shadows and highlights. And polka dots!
I’ve been active with social media, but have failed miserably with updating here! I post update photos on Instagram and connect that to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc…but not WordPress. My lack of updating is due to it being inconvenient. Another way to say it: I’m lazy, yo!
So, an update: I’ve been working on a 50 gallon rain barrel for a nonprofit called Wags4Tags here in Raleigh. They provide artists with rain barrels, the rain barrels are painted, then given back, and auctioned off at a fundraiser. Their mission is to rescue dogs from kill shelters (sadly North Carolina is chock full of them — we have the highest number in the States), train them to become service animals which are given to Veterans with emotional injuries, such as PTSD. For more info, go here: http://www.wags4tags.org/#!about-us/cjg9
For my barrel, I’m painting my typical landscape deal, nighttime on one side, daytime on the other. I’m hoping to make it fancy enough to be useful as inside decor, but I’m cool if it lives outside, too. As long as it raises the cash-money for charity!
Every year (or multiple times per year) I decide it’s a great idea to revamp my life. By that I mean my work and all that’s related. Perhaps it’s not the wisest decision, but refreshers are good, especially for a mind becoming stagnant.
Four pieces were completed at the beginning of January for a play. As soon as they were done and shipped out, I paused to look around my studio and realized that it had become horribly chaotic. Paint tubes scattered, tiny shreds of paper, dirty brushes, not one surface was bare, including the floor. I did what I could, which was to walk away from it for a bit over a week. It was not a relaxing time because all I could think about was getting that area in order so I could get back to work. I had been so focused on those four pieces that when they were done, I felt lost.
I finally forced myself to clean (pics to come). I’ve found that even with this clear space, my brain isn’t working the way it needs to. The empty space is in my head, not in my studio. I’m uninspired!
While I continue to draw and paint, I figured I would update this blog and post a pic of one of the paintings. If you have thoughts, inspiration, motivation, anything, tell me. Share your brains.
I’m not sure how I feel about the finished product. I do know that I’ve fallen in love with Golden soft gel medium, though. So…hooray for love!
I think the bristol was a good idea, along with the canvas. I needed more coats of paint on the bristol, but it seems like it made more sense for the ravens than the canvas did, due to its smooth texture allowing more light to reflect (as with feathers).
I will be doing more work like this. Scissors are hell on my hands, but I like the idea of what could be. If you have thoughts or ideas, share them!
I’m cutting out my birds. All but one are made out of canvas. Bristol is my go-to for most things, so I decided to try that and see how it matches up with the canvas birds. I’m not sure about it. Initially, after painting it and putting it against the background, I didn’t like it, but 2 coats of paint later, it might be okay. It doesn’t have the texture of canvas, of course, but I kind of like it. Perhaps mixing materials wouldn’t be such a bad thing? The Bristol bird is the largest one in the last pic.
My lady underwent some changes. I lost my knife in the move, so used all purpose shears to cut her out. I’m not thrilled, but this is leaning more toward an experiment than anything, so it’s cool.
The background canvas was one of five that I had mass painted prior to moving. I haven’t fulfilled my intentions with them, so I grabbed one to use for this. Eventually I’ll go back to those, but I’ll save that explanation for another post.
So, here they are. If you have thoughts, share ’em. Thanks for looking!
I did not realize how much time had passed since my last post! I knew it was getting up there… I’ve been working on that large pink thing painting and haven’t decided if I’m actually making progress or just slapping on coats of paint. My opinion waffles, so today I only worked on it for a bit and decided to prime a different canvas. Just getting it off my easel for a little while offers a break.
Here are 3 photos, each at different stages. The last photo being the current stage, of course.
It Does Art 