"That Yellow Cup"

That yellow cup, I love that yellow cup. Oh, now where is that yellow cup?

A yellow cup, sort of, it has purple and blue in it.... and orange... well, to me, it's that yellow cup!

Lazy dayz of summer....

Hope yours is going well!

-jM

"Little Pink Cup"

Found this little gem today sitting on my painting table just asking to be finished. This is one I started oh, maybe a week and a half ago. I guess it needed some drying time and me some time away from it. It's another one of the cup paintings I made up (no model). I have to tell you, after the cup sketch/painting yesterday of the apple cup, and the fact that it was painted from a live model, I looked at this handle a little longer today and thought.... time to use the live models.

Please stay cool and careful today, our heat index is 110 degrees F!

-jM

"Apple Cup in a Book"

Mixed media on old book page

Does this count? It's a cup painting, but it's in this old book. I used Joanie's great idea of painting on/in an old book. This is old, like 1904 or something. The coffee cup is my friend Leigh's and it has an apple on it, so I just had to do a painting of it!

Early today, I picked this old book, that I had gotten free from an old library that was being torn down a few years ago. It doesn't look like it's worth much as it is, maybe I can help it along! I'll tell you more about the book as I learn more about it... like I think it's a book of sermons or something.....

As I promised days ago, I want to include a photo and a link to the photos from the 66 poppy painters at the Wine and Canvas event last Wednesday... it was so much fun!!

Link to the rest of the Wine and Canvas Photos

-jM

"Number Four"

8"x6" oil on canvas panel

Cup.... coffee cup number four. I haven't come up with a nice title for this one yet, so for now, it's just "Number Four".

Thanks Rene' for helping me stop and start another here. This is just the beginning, I need to keep the drive alive and not get bogged down on a little painting! Keep going JanettMarie! (Sorry a personal pep talk!)

I'm trying to see what kind of fun I can have with oil paint, so again, no model, well maybe I did remember what my morning coffee cup looked like but, no set up really. Just crazy loose!

How about a little exciting news.... something different... I don't have the photos yet, but tonight I did a Wine&Canvas event we had 66 participants! That's 66 painters! You should see the paintings, I am impressed with the artists. For a lot of them, it was their first time! Oh, I will show them to you soon... and a new coffee cup.... okay? 

Promise!

-jM

"Left Handled Cup"

6"x8" on on canvas panel

Have you ever heard of such a cup? Maybe, right, I mean correct? This is number 3 and the name comes from the fact that I just wanted to paint the handle from the other side of the cup! I'm right handed, I usually pick up my coffee cups with my right hand, this one, well, I may have to be a little more careful when I go to grab for coffee!

Last night I went to a 2 hour workshop about writing an artists statement. That made me wonder what I would write for this series, let alone the last series of apples. I may have to run a few lines by you in the coming days. Just a little warning...

-jM

"Red White Mug"

6"x8" oil on canvas panel

Here it is! Coffee cup/mug painting number 2 finished. Thought it is hard enough to make any sort of commitment, let alone 100 of them, so I thought I would free form or free spirit the first few or so.

Like this handle, I just sort of made it up and it works okay, doesn't it?

Thanks Joanie for the Tribute to Coffee Cups and their handles! Now I have an idea how to approach or tackle those handles.

Thanks to Myra for the idea about getting models for this series at a reasonable price. Yesterday, I went into a Goodwill Store looking for a personal fan to help speed the drying time of the oil paintings of cups I've been doing. I didn't find a fan but I did find four new cup models! All for a $1.57! Interestingly, I found myself studying the handles of the cups. Hmm, a sub-series of cup handles....

Have a great day, I'll be back with more! I have 3, 4, 5 and 6 started! Three may be finished, I have to look at it again to make sure, maybe talk with it over coffee.   : )

-jM

"Morning Coffee"

6"x8" graphite on paper

Thanks Joanie, I did this little sketch this morning while drinking my coffee.

Yup, gonna keep practicing these handles!

The little bird is after the little bird that Carol Marine did in one of her paintings... it's a morning bird here!

Have a great weekend.... I'm warming up!

-jM

Number Two started and Goal Date

6"x8" oil on canvas panel

 This is the beginning of coffee cup number two.... okay no model again, because... I wanted to make up my own handle! When I started this cup, I was thinking about the coffee cup that caught my eye today. I'll have to go back and get one of those cups to use as a real live model. I wonder what that cup will charge me in modeling fees... I better start saving my pennies or selling more paintings so I can afford to pay these models!

Edging myself into using a little cold wax medium too. Guess I'll have to go back and look at Joanie's pieces where she is the one that brought my attention to cold wax medium. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can put a few links onto some of these mentions....

The deadline.... for number 100 Coffee Cup Painting to be finished.... March 30th, I've put it on my calendar. This is 3 weeks before the 2012 Stutz Artists Open House, seems realistic to me and... gives me about one painting say every 2-3 days... I think, I haven't done the exact math....

Goals, ya gotta love 'em!

-jM

"Basic Cup"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

Are you ready for this? Am I ready for this? Here it is... Number One of the new series of.... Coffee Cups!
Heck I did a one hundred painting series before, why not do it again! I struggled with the idea of doing 100 of anything again, but life is short, life is fun, why not... carry on!

This is a basic cup no handle... I have trouble with handles, I'm sure it's a mental problem, but this will help me get over it if I continue with this Coffee Cup Series!

This basic cup is black, white and grey has no handle and came right out of my head! No model. I didn't want to block myself anymore than I already have with just getting this project started. I guess the next decision to make will be when I will have this series finished.

Yes, I learned from doing the Apple Series that if I don't give myself a deadline, the project may never get finished. Hmmm.... how long should this take? Let's be realistic. Okay, I'm going to sleep on it and I will get back to you tomorrow!

See a good deadline already, have a deadline by tomorrow! Oooo, did I just put that in writing? Oooo, yes I did!

-jM, stepping out, once again!

"Frog on the Beach!"

14"x11" acrylic on canvas

A painting for Cookies&Canvas, the kids version of Wine&Canvas!

This is a very unique frog that he is sitting on a beach! I wonder if he's from Texas and he's looking for Myra. Someone told him she was painting at the beach, lying down! He wants to see this in person!

Knee is getting better, I've been standing and painting a lot today!

-jM

"Margaritaville"

Wine & Canvas painting, 16"x20", acrylic on canvas

Hi, I just had to post something!

This is a painting for the Wine & Canvas venue for the month of July.

Exactly four weeks ago I messed up my knee playing racquetball and I've been a little slow. I usually stand to paint so that created a problem for me (not too good with change I guess).

Anyway, enough excusing for now. Talk to you tomorrow!

-jM

A "Teeny Weeny Party"

3"x2" Mixed Media on Canvas

This is what this weekend has been about.... Party in Indianapolis! Memorial Day weekend and the Indy 500 Race, oh my! This city was one continuous party everywhere!


A week ago today I help some kids party with a private birthday event with Cookies and Canvas. We painted the "Horned Owl". Fun was had by all!

Cookies and Canvas... "Horned Owl"

Ana's Owl

And here is Ana with her painting. She did a great job. You can't see it, but she put a mouse in her painting. I suppose when I talked about the owl's big eyes so he could hunt for mice, Ana picked up on that! Too cool! These kids are smart!

-jM

Tres Sunflowers

"Growing Up

"Happy Day"

 Oh wow! Here are three itty bitty sunflower paintings I painted for the Open House in April and I forgot to show them to you! Guess I was a little busy, just a little....

I'll have to report back to see if they are still in my studio. One or two may have found a new home, as did many of my paintings that weekend.

Did I tell you the "Big Buzz", the big coffee cup found a new home? Oh, and it does look good in it's new location. It's a perfect fit! Thanks Joe!

"Lookin' Out"

Painting has taken a back seat for me here lately, I've had a few loose ends to tie up after the big event (open house) in April. We had 4000 people come through on Friday night and 2000 come through on Saturday afternoon. Wow, exhausting, that's a lot of people to talk to.

One of the best things that happened to me that weekend was... I had a personal visit from Myra Anderson! I couldn't believe it! She called me on the phone Friday morning, I was so busy (did I tell you I'm the treasurer for our association) I missed the call. She left me a message that I finally got around to listen to about a half hour after she called and I'll tell you I was walking on sunshine the rest of the weekend. I received a personal call from a celebrity! I hope I can do the same for her one day : )

Oh, Myra! Thank you! I'm still walking on sunshine just remembering!

-jM

"Crazy Monster"

Cookies and Canvas, one of my favorite activities to do.  I love helping young artists learn what they can do with a paint brush on canvas. We did this "Crazy Monster" on Saturday, May 14th at the Wine and Canvas studio in Indianapolis.

Dom and his Mother Sarah.

 Above is Dom and his mother Sarah, with Dom's painting of the "Crazy Monster". Dom wasn't sure he liked his painting, but everyone I've shown it to loves it! I hope he likes it by now and will paint again and again. Little artists just like big artists, we are our own worst critic.  Did I mention that Dom is 5 years old?

"Crazy Monster" by the young artists at Cookies & Canvas.

Here is the whole group from the day. All the monsters are pretty scary! Or does this monster just think he's scary!

I'm not sure who has more fun.... the kids or me!

-jM

Final Phase... Big Apple

Finished! Kaput!

What next? Well, I have been thinking about that a lot lately. After the Open House I've been so busy and tired I have not painting anything... so sad.

Yesterday, while visiting my sister Suzie, I mention what to do next and she looked at me and said, finish the pears right? I'm thinking... hmmm, she's right. Remember when the number of pear paintings were catching up to the number of apple paintings? Well, it makes sense to finish the pear series that's not really a series! The next question though is, how many? Would 25 or fifty be enough? I'd really like to try a series of drink paintings or coffee cups or tea cups or more blue moons..... or... so many paintings... so little time!

-jM