Why do they sing

I may be about to go quiet here. 

The Grid Installation begins

At last! I have started!

Yesterday, I took a stack of painted cardboard and started the installation of The Grid.

There is not much to say about it. As it turns out, this is the easiest part of the process. 

In all, I installed 14 of 199 cells. I have 5 more that are ready to install. That means I have 180 more cells to cut, paint and install.

I found this installation stage to be very exciting. For one thing, my application method worked and was fairly simple. But the best part was seeing my vision come to life. The second best thing is the way seeing this in place is so inspiring. I'm really excited to get started painting more. 

Acapella Solo in the attic

I sat without a brush in my hand many rainy days just waiting for something.

Then one day when the rain stopped, I put on my rain boots and walked the long way around the tank dam to The Garden Palace. I needed to go and sit in the attic studio. And I needed to cut more cardboard cells for the grid. 

I was excited about a bit of inspiration that floated by while looking at Alissa's painting. It was the windows. When I saw them I knew immediately windows would be a perfect addition to the choirs in The Grid. 

Each cardboard cell has to be measured and cut for a specific spot. So, I decided where I would paint the first window. Being there made the window vision so much clearer. I measured and cut these three cells and returned to the studio in the big house.

I don't know what happened but I didn't even argue with her. I haven't mentioned her in a long time and every since this argument, I mostly just listen and paint.

Well actually, I do know what happened. I discovered two new artist of the Art Nouveau period. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. 

Painting "flat" without depth doesn't satisfy me so much. But once I got my brave girl attitude together and picked up my Chinese calligraphy brush, I started adding the black layer of lines. What fun that was once I got the hang of it. I think this soloist waiting for her acapella moment in the attic grid is a great addition to the choirs up there.

I'm still excited about the windows in the attic grid and you know what? There are many more perfect places for windows.

The Singing Choir

 

Today I have no words about this Singing Choir except I painted it the first week of November. I'll be back. 

Here is what they are singing:

Another Choir

 Oh dear! There is always one unhappy singer. She, the unhappy one, is a good example for not painting figures straight forward. Face, eyes, shoulders straight on is so confrontational. And she is. But I left her there because she is a critical part of this choir. 

I'm guessing she sings with the lowest vocal range. Can you guess which one sings soprano?

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About The Grid

And this thing I do "in my head."

A dear friend told me one time that I just needed to get out of my head. I don't remember why she told me that. Honestly, I really did not know what she meant. 

So, I got "in my head" to try to understand what that was about. It has taken me a long time to recognize when I do that "in my head" thing and maybe even why.

Simply put, I am a problem solver. And I do it in my head. All the time. It never stops. On and on and on. Constant over thinking. The only way to stop it is to proceed by going forward in some small or big way.

I problem solve everything. I do it for me. I do it for you. I do it for my children. I do it for my dear husband. I can't stop it but I have learned to keep it to myself. They all appreciate that.

This is The Grid. On this day dear Son and I installed the floor in the attic. Here he is brainstorming with me outside my head.

The problem:

• What or how to cover the ceiling.
• The screws holding the tin on the roof were dangerously protruding.
• Every cell of the grid is a different width and height.
• Did not want to do anything that would make it dark.
• Did not want to cover the vertical wood.

There are 198 cells in The Grid. He saw it as an opportunity for art painted for each cell. WOW! That he thought of it blew me away.

The problem:

• On what
• How to attach
• The protruding screws would still need to be snipped off

And so on and on and on. Each one of those bullet points leads me down more problem paths to solve.  You get the point. On this day I was lucky enough to have someone outside of my head.

Most of the time it is just me going down every problem path until there is a fork in the path. Before every fork there is a new obstacle. Each path is a new solution. And then more obstacles. And more solutions. And so it goes.

Eventually, it has to stop! The solutions become complicated, time consuming, costly, and impossible. The solution becomes a chore that is no longer something to look forward to. I have learned to turn around and go back and simply remove all of the obstacles because after all, "they were just in my head".  I figured out what "in my head" means.

It means, I have come up with so many solutions or options that it all turns to muddled mush. It is confusing and I feel totally disorganized and defeated.

So about The Grid. I spent about five month in my head after brain storming with my dear Son. Then I ordered five bundles of 36" X 48" heavy duty cardboard that had to be delivered on an 18-wheeler that would not be able to turn off of the farm-to-market road into our drive. Yep another problem to solve.   

Before I started painting the above last November titled, "Who are These People", I resolved that I would only use pastle colors. I would not use collage. I would not paint faces.

And then, the first piece I painted had faces. And then, when I picked the piece up again in March, I reasoned that napkins would not add weight so I collaged. And then I worked on four other cells before putting it down again and more phantom faces showed up. I will share those when Installed.

And then, I went back "in my head" until this past Sunday. I spent a lot of time thinking about what to paint. I was unsure if each cell should relate to the one next to it. I thought I wanted to paint in a more abstract fashion. I thought each cell would have a floral theme. I even reasoned that each cell could be a journal page.

But. I did not want to paint a mural. I considered several ways each cell could relate without becoming a mural. I know nothing about abstract and there was a little voice that kept saying, "now is not the time with a project of this magnatude."  After painting the flowers on the floor cloth, I became unsure about that idea. And you know and I know that I simply suck at journaling. Yep, time to turn around again.

So basically, I came to terms with painting faces on the ceiling by first accepting the phantom people that showed up in the first cells and deciding to accept their presence up in the peak of the ceiling. I was fully expecting more to show up and would welcome them.

I was still in my head Saturday when I thought to revisit my big book on Gustav Klimt and his work titled, The Beethoven Frieze.

I absolutely love the sections with the horizonally floating figures who appear to move their hands in front of them as if swimming. They blend into the gray fresco wall. Not that I was going to create anything like that, I was very excited with inspiration and to get my brushes in my hand.

Sunday morning, I walked into the dark living room with my big piece of cardboard that I had painted a dove gray and white background on. I had a tiny piece of charcoal in my hand and I pulled out the piano bench and sat down across the room from the very large painting I did a couple of years ago. It is the one with the five girls with flower head pieces. I sat in the darkness with purpose so I could not see much detail. I just wanted to quickly sketch the shapes and placement of the girls. But the mood of the dark room transported me back to a sketch exercise assignment that Misty gave during my first trip to Orvieto. She had us scatter throughout the convent and I chose the enormous dark ballroom where the only light was from huge windows that cast warm rays across the floor.

In my own dark living room, I felt the peace of the room and the confidence to paint. It excited me and I sat down and just did it. There were no obstacles and I restrained myself from perfection and details because, for one thing, when installed in the peak of the ceiling, it can never be viewed any closer that about six feet or so. Another thing, with 198 cells in the grid, my mission is to be quick about it. And, I'm not going to get into my head about what quick means. 

Who are These People

These People on cardboard by Sharon Tomlinson

Who are these people?

That Sunday back in October when I initiated the Attic Studio and documented the event on Instagram with the above photo was a beginning.

It was a beginning of a huge attic studio project; the details of which I will save for another post.

Not until I posted it on Instagram did I see the haunting white face right there near the middle.

Do you see him? 

I got pretty excited but this is when we were having big rain and wind storms and I didn't go back over for a few days. 

All the time, I would pull up the photo and wonder about who he was and how I would paint him.

I really did get myself worked up about the process.

At last we had a clear day and I rushed over to look at the face in-real-life to see how in the world I had overlooked him.

At first glance, Oh No!

He's gone!

In shock, I remembered the quick documentary photo shot was just a moment in time. 

I had totally forgotten that in the zone and flow of the day in the attic studio, I kept pushing cheap pastel craft paint around with a cheap foam brush on this big piece of cardboard.

And he was gone!  

I was back to no inspiration with this piece which was my starting place when I first sat down at the easel in the attic back in October. 

I left it be.

As stupid as it sounds, I grieved about the loss of this phantom (a physical manifestation of the soul or spirit of a deceased person) face.

Time passed and I finally was ready to face the project again. 

Due to the cold, I decided to fetch the cardboard and paint here in my warm home studio. 

 I propped it up in front of me while in the cozy chair zone just thinking about what I would do next. 

He was sure enough gone. 

So I flipped it over with the up side down

and

lo and behold!

There are people on it!

I would probably never have looked for them were it not for him. 

 Here they are after I lightly penciled around the shapes that clearly were people. 

 Sometimes it's not about pretty faces. 

My technique is to capture what I see with minimum paint.

 This is not the first time A Group Of Strangers has shown up while I'm painting. 

I don't know who These People are but I'm pretty sure these people know my people.

I'm also pretty sure they have lots of stories to tell.

On that Sunday back in October when I started this project, I prepped and pushed paint around on several more cardboards. 

Yep, more people.

♥