2013 Mural Project- Day Three

No painting today, the under painting was still too wet. Very humid again today, but tomorrow color for sure. Here is the palette I am thinking about. A friend of mine gave me this paint color swatch a few years ago and it has proven to be so valuable. I can look at color families instead of just a single color.

Quiet, peaceful day at the gallery. Had several good visits. One week from now is the opening. Much work to do.

2013 Mural Project: Day Two

Mural Project  Underpainting
copyright KKMarino 2013

Day Two of the project went well. I completed the under painting of the mural. I now have a feel for the values in the piece. I planned on starting color tomorrow but it has turned very humid which is having an effect on the paint drying time. So we will see what tomorrow brings. I have another painting in mind so if you drop by you may find me working on something else if the mural is too wet to continue on.

I find it very relaxing working on this piece. I painted 7 hours today which was terrific, though I am a bit out of shape for standing that long. But the peacefulness of just me, a little music and the work is great.

2013 Mural Project: Day One

indi go gallery, champaign, illinois-upper level
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indi go gallery, champaign, illinois-lower level
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indi go gallery, champaign, illinois-lower level west
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I am settling in nicely at the gallery. I'm excited about the project now that the prep work is complete and painting is imminent! 

I am happy with the Exhibit of my Recent Work that went up last night.  

I completed the mural pencil drawing and the glue drawing prior to my arrival at the gallery. I am ready for the under painting-a step that I enjoy very much. It allows me to get acquainted with the painting as I work through and make decisions about the values, shading and overall composition. 

To visitors, it is an unexpected step and they wonder "where is the color anyway?"

But, a very relaxing step for me, a good place to be on day one.

2013 Mural Project: Once Again with Feeling

"Once Again, With Feeling" detail.
copyright 2013 KK Marino
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“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning do to do afterward.” 

― Kurt Vonnegut

I'm not sure I have ever had an art exhibit without a little bit of Drama leading up to the show. I am not by nature a "dramatic" person, though I certainly have exercised my right to pure self-indulgence in the art of drama in my younger days.

Right now I just don't have the time for it.

So I am now in the last week, the runway up to the exhibit and the mural project. 

And it begins. 

Just when I thought I had my schedule worked out, here comes life: the final frontier. A Big Roadblock, not a little stumble, a significant crack in my well made plans. So I readjust my schedule and replan my time again and move forward.

I am by nature an organized person. My lists have sublists and I have even resorted to little check box squares by my tasks to give myself a reward for having completed something. But sometimes I can't find my lists, so I am a true contradiction in organization. 

Sad right? Probably.

So I paint and plan and plan and paint and rewrite my lists.

I am looking forward to the laughing phase which is undoubtedly coming later this week, when I just throw up my hands and say "Okay,okay I got it-I need to work harder to make this happen".

And then I do.

2013 Mural Project: Clarity at Last

I decided to paint, and paint and paint and paint
copyright KKMarino, 2013
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I am very excited about this mural project as it has been on my mental radar for over two years. As an artist I find that one of my biggest challenges is patience. (possibly in life too).

My conceptual process involves "waiting" which I am very bad at. I'm not patience, whether in the grocery line, an appointment , in traffic or when I am problem solving. Especially when it comes to my work.

I want all the ideas now, totally resolved or even yesterday would be better.

This mural has been a blank canvas, just fragments of ideas, thoughts, lines and desires. Now is the time that I need the image. So I am impatience.

Since I am not new to the business of  being an artist I have learned that I need to get out of my own way on the creative process.

And so I did.

I decided to paint, and paint and paint and paint and to let the pressure of the mural image go. Give it up and just do the work, day after day after day.

And sure enough this morning 4:00 a.m. there it was. I woke up and the concept was there, the image was emerging and even the title!

Now the real fun begins!

2013 Mural Project: About Being a Painter

Work Table 9/4/2013
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I have always been a painter, but not always a practicing painter or even a happy painter.

As a kid I loved drawing, it was a way that I could create my own world. I was the "arty" one, the different one.  Kids don't see the world like we adults do. There are no limitations on creativity until someone puts it there-even a small helpful correction from an adult can turn the tide, stifle a thought or stop a direction.

I was trained in watercolor. At the time I detested oil paints. I tried oil, but it was laborious, hard and unforgiving. Watercolor was fluid, fun and lovely.(cue the music) Like a walk on a spring day, but oil was the coldest of hard winters freezing me out. Locking me down, stopping me in my tracks.

Now many years later I am in love again, but this time with oil. Its buttery consistency and wonderful blending capabilities thrill me. And it is patient, dries ever so slowly or at the rate that I determine. When I returned to painting three years ago I knew I wanted to conquer oil painting. My old nemesis.

So I set out to learn. I taught myself. Early attempts...well, not so pretty, but eventually I began to figure it out.

Seems I should  I should write something lovely here like: "Oil Painting fulfills me, it inspires me to be a better person or it allows me to express my view of the world".

Well, Okay. But, not really.

Its actually very simple.

I am an Artist. I Create. Painting is just along for the ride.