This blog started with small daily paintings then changed to a more personal sharing of projects, events and photos. Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

"The Five Year Old Folder with Six Parts" nodp


OK, so now you know, I'm a geek at heart, if I actually want to make an accordion folder! I made this one to hold all my granddaughter's school work, book orders, letters, school pictures, art work... It was all getting out of hand way too quickly--this is still just the beginning of school!! It's heavy already! She told me what to write on the handle.

Today's revisited painting is 'Saturday', a very early collaboration--do you remember those!! Time in the blog world goes by fast!! I miss doing collaborations and will get back to them again!!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Seagulls in Flight, Watercolor

More gulls!
Watercolor 7"x 7"
$120 matted / $160 matted & framed


For international or expedited shipping, please contact me prior to purchase.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Seagull in Flight, Watercolor painting

I'll be posting some old paintings of mine, from the Daily Painters website, between the time that it takes me to paint a new one. this is new one.
Watercolor 7"x 7"
$120 matted / $160 matted & framed


For international or expedited shipping, please contact me prior to purchase.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

An Autumn Dance nodp

Happy Autumnal Equinox! Dance the summer out and fall in!
Revisited painting for today is, 'Old Piano'

Friday, September 18, 2009

Toy Singer Sewing Machine with Fireworks

My first painting since it seems, so long ago! This one is a commission and I hope it fits the bill--we'll see. What a cool little toy sewing machine!! It works too!! Feels good to paint again! This one did take me a few days with my painting hours being cut back, so I might be lucky to get one painting done a week--that's OK---I'll plug along with what I can get!
Watercolor, 7"x 7"
Just a reminder--I still have that set of cards I want to give away!
Not anymore--There is a winner!! (check previous post!)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Finished! nodp



I"ll be sending these natal wheels out as soon as the oil paint dries. Their diameter is 14" The natal wheels below are of family and friends, one of which is mine....read on...

1. with the purple edged center

2. with a lighter blue edged center.

3. with a blue and orange edged center.

4. with a cloudy center.

I feel like giving something away--(no, not one of my paintings, and definitely not a natal wheel!) This is my way of celebrating the completion of this commission--Yay!!

I made these cards using an old Spirograph set. (Hmmm... a bit of a connection here)....Be the first to guess which one of the four is my natal wheel and I'll send you this set of 5 cards which includes envelopes. (the four wheels are numbered)--(the first three pictures are the commissioned wheels--not those)

If you happen to know me and know anything about my chart, well...I'll have to give something away again later on down the road so you can join the fun at that time--don't cry!

E-mail me with your guess and I'll announce the winner when there is one! suebeau@sbcglobal.net

OK, the winner is...Kim Blair, she has a blog and paints daily, check out her beautiful flower paintings. I would guess just by the colors that she is a fire sign? Thank you Kim--your cards are on the way! I love this one!

Today's revisited painting is, 'Big Sur Beach'

Monday, September 14, 2009

Almost Finished nodp

I am so late finishing this commission that I could spit! (my grandmother's expression), but I'm glad to be nearing the end. These wheels are painted on a round of wood--sanded, gessoed, drawn in with charcoal, under painted with acrylic, final layer of oils and then some gold accents.
The circular center is what I imagine an early morning, late winter sky could look like, (that's when this person was born) The lines, red, blue and dotted orange, are the aspects or the pathways of energy between planets.
The houses, (the pie shaped pieces radiating out from the center), define twelve areas of our life.
The zodiac is around the outer edge. These charts can be pretty accurate--(more so than my magnetic wheels, see previous post)
The cusps of the houses, (the beginning of each house), fall in a certain degree of the zodiac--(this is all figured out mathematically with all the birth information---birthday, year, time and place) Computers can figure out a chart in seconds where as, not too long ago, people were calculating birth charts with the use of logarithms.

The planets also fall on a certain degree of the signs in the zodiac. I paint in their symbols and I sometimes paint next to it a little picture of what I think represents that particular planet.

I'm still trying to figure out where I fit, concerning astrology. Walking through my library many years ago, I saw a book on how to calculate and put together charts, (just the math part of putting a wheel together) I leaned that, and successfully put together a handful of charts (it takes awhile)
To read a chart is a different story; it takes intuition, memory and years of practice. I find myself flailing when I try to read or interpret a chart. I'm still drawn to it though--I'm visually drawn to it.

I probably won't be doing any more natal chart commissions because it does take me awhile to paint one--if I do I'll have to charge a bit more.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Magnetic Astrology Wheel

I made a few of these magnetic astrology wheels years ago. I was trying to make sense of how to read a birth chart. There were layers of overlapping components all with meanings that changed depending on their placement...the houses, the constellations, the planets, the aspects...

This wheel comes apart. I screwed a dowel into the center of a pizza pan and painted the pan the night sky. Next comes the natural placement of the houses--I drew a design on the houses to show what each represents. The clear acetate comes next with the band of constellations of the zodiac. This can be turned to line up your ascendant. The planets which include the sun and moon are glued onto magnets--these of course are movable so the whole thing can become any one's birth chart or natal wheel.

After making this, I was just as confused as ever. There was too much info--too many symbols. Also this couldn't be accurate as in some charts have bigger houses depending on where the person was born, so after aligning the ascendant, the other signs were often off in their house placements. I wanted to show the aspects too, (the angular relationships between the planets), but that would have been too cluttered! I like this wheel though and had fun designing it.
I'll be posting about the painted natal wheels I've been working on soon.
Today's revisited painting is, 'Hollister Peak with Venus Rising'

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Meeting President Obama and his Wife nodp

While on our trip back east, did I tell you we met the president and the first lady??
Cut it out!!
Today's revisited painting is, 'Dream Mask'

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Inch by Inch nodp

Inch by inch, step by step. My time to paint has been whittled down to about 1/5th of what I had when my granddaughter was going to preschool---ahhh, those were the days! I'm working on getting more time in place and it will happen! I'm taking it inch by inch.
Today's revisited painting is 'Little Guy'

Friday, September 4, 2009

Ponies on the Refrigerator nodp

The new My Little Ponies have a magnetic foot!! I didn't realize that until I walked around the corner to see this colorful herd climbing up my refrigerator!
My revisited painting for the day is 'Mask'

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Breakfast on the Front Step nodp



We have a little time before Kindergarten to have breakfast together and play a bit. For a few days we've been having breakfast on the front step. (After sweeping away the guano--see previous post!)
Today's revisited painting is, 'Plaster Sculpture'

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Early Morning Bats nodp

I took this video at about 6am this morning--this is the tail end of the bats going home--some day I'll try to get the real hectic, frenzy whirl of bats in the morning, which is only minutes earlier, but is that much darker for trying to shoot a video. My other video clips of bats are here.
Today's revisited painting is, 'Crochet Hooks'

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

September nodp

Here's to September! Those ceramic plates came from my niece's wedding about this time last year. She gave out little plates along with the cake. Some were decorated by her (the two closest to the bottom of the picture). She held a plate decorating day when lots of people got together to glaze--good idea and probably lots of fun--(being so far away I miss out on some great get togethers) You can check out her Web site here.

Today's revisited painting is, 'Old Clothespins'