Feb 26th Thru April 6th 2010

Hello world,
I have not updated my blog lately, life has been hectic. However I did not realize that it had been so long between blogs. My last blog was on Feb 25th and now it is April 6th … Where did the time go? Sorry World I will try to do better.

Well I now have 270 days left in the year and I have completed another painting. YEA!!! #5 of 104 paintings is done (see attached for a photo)

I have been reminded every day, by my husband, every time he catches me playing Farmville on Facebook, just how far behind I am. My type A husband is enjoying rubbing my face in how far behind I am in reaching myself imposed goal that he created a program where all he has to do is type in how many days are left in the year and how many paintings I have completed by that date and the program spits out a number that tells him that in order to keep my goal I have to produce a new painting every __ days. Well at last count it I had to produce a new painting every 2.8 days. He really is having too much fun with this.

Now, realistically can I paint a painting every 2.8 days while maintaining my personal level of quality, and working a full time job and still having fun in life… No I don’t think so . The painting I just finished was 36 X 48 was from one of my own photos and it took me 1 month to paint. So no I can’t. I may have to cut the number back to 50 paintings this year.

The painting I am working on right now will be done after one more week night working on it. However, it is only 24 X 18. So size does matter and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

I have been in Carnival mood lately my last three plus the next 5 paintings will be Carnival paintings for my Carnival Series. I found a couple of wonderful photographers on Flickr who attended the Venice Carnival season and took amazing photos. They have been kind enough to let me paint them. I am drawn to the bright colors and the magic that can be seen in each photo or I would not have chosen the image.

I have also found on Flickr and from a local photographer some great clowns for my “The human side of the clown” series. One is a little girl with deep blue eyes and a cute little sad clown face photo taken by her proud Daddy, who graciously said I could paint the image. A couple of other clowns are of a local clown from Eureka Springs – I took one of the photos from a parade in 07 and I found the other on Facebook and asked if I could paint it. I will have to find out her name from one of my Facebook Eureka Springs buddies. She is so expressive and colorful.

I have also been searching on Facebook for new Clown friends across the world. I have been making new friends daily. I have found so far several photos I am interested in and I have permission from 3 so far to let me paint the images. I see lots of bright color in my future.

I also put the word out on Facebook that I am looking for images of clowns and I had a clown friend contact me with a photo of him as a clown. The photo was great as a photo of him but it was not a photo that would translate well into a painting. I am afraid I hurt his feelings when I told him I couldn’t see the twinkle in his eyes. He unfriended me… Oops, I didn’t mean to in any way say the photo wasn’t good or that he looked bad as a clown his outfit and makeup was great-sort of a cowboy clown. What I tried to say was that the outfit was great but the image doesn’t have that certain something that I was looking for. I offered to come and take some photos of him at a local event (he doesn’t live to far from me) but he was already offended by that time and it was too late.

So I guess I had better clarify what I am looking for in photos. I am not looking for just a photo of a clown. I want the personality of the clown to come thru. If you look at my work you will see each clown I have chosen causes you to feel an emotion. Some make you giggle, smile or just plain happy or sad. How can a photo or a painting do this? Simply by having a direct connection between the eyes and the mouth. When you smile it shows in your eyes, which is something my photographer Father taught me. I try to pass that smile on to the onlooker thru the image I have chosen to paint. In order to pass any emotion along to the viewer it is essential to my paintings that the image be up close and personal so that we can see the twinkle in the eyes. It has to come across as genuine to the viewer.

So when I find a photo online I like that draws me in, I ask if I can paint the image. I have been turned down a few times but that is life. I have been sent several that I will consider just by putting the word out there by several clown friends. So of them I don’t feel drawn to paint right now but will return to at a later time. The painting I just finished I hung on to the photo we took on a trip in 2003 but I didn’t feel ready to paint it until now. So this is a moody business. I will tell you that if I am not one hundred percent behind an image I will not paint it. This is what I do for fun and it’s not fun if you’re not totally involved. But if I love it, I will pounce on it and try to get permission to use it.

So if you submit a photo to me on Facebook or by email (psovart@yahoo.com) please don’t be offended if I come back to you wondering if you have more of the same image but with different views or at different angles or something. Sometimes the one you don’t really care for is the one that would really translate wonderfully to canvas. Trust me once I am done with it, you will love it as much as I will.

Well enough chatter I have 36 new paintings lined up sketched and ready to start painting…. But first I must check my crops.

Patty Sue

PS: Look for me on Facebook I have a personal page and a fan page where I update the paintings as I work on them so you can track my progress and post comments. PS-OV-ART Patty Sue O’Hair Vicknair Artist is what I can be found under. If you just search pages and type in PSOVART I will be the first one to come up.