helvi smith
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Frida Freed me

5/29/2012

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Frida Freed me to just step out and try some new techniques.
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Frida Kahlo and more Frida Kahlo

5/24/2012

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I have had a blast making Frida Kahlo inspired art.
Can ya tell?
:)
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Frida Kahlo and more and more

5/21/2012

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Over on Facebook - Gritty Jane threw down a Frida Kahlo Challenge.  
OK.
I was up for that. 
But then, it just went and took a new and unexpected direction and isn't that just the funnest thing??
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I carved out a piece of non-recycleable styrofoam and started printing.
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Here is the painted styrofoam.

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I have smooshed it down on the canvas and start peeling it off.....

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There she is.

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Four of them!

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Four more.

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You get the idea...

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Repeat as often as needed.

5/20/2012

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I have these end pieces of canvas from my canvas roll and they are not quite big enough for some paintings - but they seen to be a great size for my printing project.
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I like the ambiguous nature of these.

Then I decided to get a BIG piece of canvas and start printing with my recycled styrofoam that I carved.
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This was eye candy to me.
Then, I overlaid print-on-print and then and then and then!
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I have to go do more of this today.
Have to.
Must go now.....
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A joyful day- over and over and over.

5/14/2012

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A pal told me about simple way to make prints using the styrofoam from takeaway  food containers.  

 I used some of those and then some of the foam that is used in packaging meat.


  I washed them all carefully and cut out the flat parts to use.

What fun I had today!  
 
I printed on paper towels - I printed on canvas - I printed on toilet paper.   

These are variations on Frida Kahlo.

Then I got tired of Frida and moved on to robot-spaceman-petroglyph guy.
Then some abstract randomness....
I was busy today.  
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A day off.

5/9/2012

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I sold a painting yesterday to a nice  young woman.
   She got one with an abstract-ish background and birch trees in the foreground.  
 She was a smart woman. 
 She wanted one that she would not get tired of over the years.  
  She thought about what she wanted.
  I was happy to know this
 painting will have a good home.  

So...
I celebrated and took a day off from my other 2 jobs and just painted today.
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Yesterday I was painting some Frida Kahlo faces and I got too much paint on one and used a paper towel to blot the excess paint. 

  When I peeled the paper towel off - I LOVED the image on the paper towel.

I know that you may not know me - but I will tell you - that once I get my mind on something - I just GO!  

So I "printed" about 10 paper towels yesterday.

Then I realized that it would get expensive to keep using paper towels like that.  

So this morning I decided to try printing on something WAY more affordable....
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Yes. 
 I "printed" these on sheets of 
toilet paper.
I know.  I know....
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Then I framed one of the paper towel (Frida Towel-o) prints from yesterday.

This was just my first attempt - I glued it to cardboard and used a pop-top for the hanger.  
 I will perfect this later this week.

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Then I clear coated a
 painting from last week.
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Then I finished a painting that is the first of a series I am starting.
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Then I had to paint over this painting as it looked much duller in 
person than in this photo. 
  Bye bye painting...
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Still not sure about this one. 
  It has some good parts:
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Might chop it up into little pieces and use the best parts. 

The filet mignon of the painting.  
 
Or for vegans -
 the heart of the artichoke.
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Then I worked on the second
 in the series.
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Then I did an experiment....
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Then I did another experiment...
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Then I worked on this one....
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Here is a photo of the painting that sold.
To finish my day - I took the kid to the orthodontist. 
 
Money in -  money out....

It was a lovely day off.

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How do you get there from here?

5/6/2012

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I have found my passion in life 
and it is painting.

Many people do not find a deep obsessive overwhelming passion in their lifetime, so I feel very very fortunate. 


 Because, ya know what? 


 It feels good. 


 Really really really good.  
 
"So, now helvismith, whatcha gonna do with that passion?"

Well, I have to make a sort of soup for my future using that passion as the stock or base for that soup/future.
What other ingredients are needed?
  • hard work
  • more hard work
  • those 10,000 hours that Malcom Gladwell writes about in his book, "The Outliers"
  • marketing
  • networking
  • and the most elusive ingredient of all - luck.
Yum.   I can taste it now.

 
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