Sad Clown

"I find I have to be the sad clown:

laughing on the outside,

crying on the inside."

-James Gandolfini

"Sad Clown

8"x8" on 1.5" deep canvas

painted edges, ready to hang

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

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Left

Left over, left out, left to my own devices,

all that is left to tell, I left you far behind.

"Left"

Please come visit me and my art during the East Austin Studio Tour!

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.
 

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Sad Clown - Part 5

I'm not a cougar, though I'm certainly old enough to be one. But don't worry, I've apparently found the perfect way to compensate for that. This morning I was driving my kid to school. I ended up behind a couple of guys on bicycles. They were weaving back and forth right in front of me. I just slowed way down and patiently cruised behind them. And in spite of the fact that my headlights were illuminating them (the sun was just beginning to rise), they seemed clueless about my presence...until one of them turned around, saw us, and fell in line behind his cycling buddy.

As we passed them we heard, "Prius stalking like a cougar."

Guess my car is pretty quiet.


I finished my sad clown painting. There is something so special and wonderful about painting my children. Precious moments in time, precious memories, precious boys. Here is my finished painting and the last couple of stages are below.

"Sad Clown"

I worked on his skin tone, his hair, and his costume.

I changed the shape of his head, added more
details to the background, and finished his
costume by adding more colors and shadows.
All that was left was to add shadows and
paint the edges of the canvas.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown - Part 4

I was reminded of a flavorful love from my childhood today. Dave and I were at Trader Joe's and I saw a bag of "GIANT Peruvian Inca Corn". Basically, big freakin' corn nuts. I loved corn nuts as a kid. Loved them! When I took treks to the convenience store located a few blocks from my childhood home, I'd get a bag of corn nuts and one of those flaky chocolate pudding pies. Mmmmmmmmm...sweet and salty! I'm not really a sweets person any more, but boy, oh, boy, did I have a good time eating that GIANT corn today. This could be a problem....


I worked on my sad clown painting a lot today. It was a two steps forward, one step backward kind of day, but that's the best kind when it comes to painting.

I worked on the skin tone and added
green bric-a-brac to the sleeves.
 

I added some shadows to the collar, defined
the legs/feet, adjusted the shape of the face,
and added some shadows to the costume.

I worked a bit more on the facial tone,
added color to the hair, made the eyes a
bit smaller, and started working on the
window sill. I also got rid of the green
bric-a-brac and lengthened the left sleeve.

I decided there was no way to fix the face
as it currently went, so off went the eyes/nose.

And back on with some skin tone. I also
adjusted the shape of the lips.

I added tone to the eyes, face, hair, and costume.
I also added some elements to the background
and started working on the window sill. What's
lovely is that the window to the left of the painting
is the same window my big guy was sitting in front
of in the photograph. The real window is open
right now because it's a lovely day in Austin, TX.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown - Part 3

My husband is a genius. It's true. For a long time now our wonderful wacky chickens have been insisting on laying their eggs in one laying box. They have nine available yet they would use just one. But Dave tried leaving the laying box door latched during the day so the area was completely enclosed (they could still get out of the coop another way) and our girls started laying their eggs in all of the laying boxes. I guess they just needed to feel more safe and secure in there.

It's good to be in the presence of genius! And lots of eggs!


And I continued working on my clown painting.

I worked on the shape of his head, added some
details to his face, and painted white on the
parts of his costume that were going to be
colors other than red.

I began adding some preliminary details to his costume.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown - Part 2

I seem to lack self control. Even though I've been told to not over-use my right arm (post surgery). I can't seem to help myself. And making it doubly hard, parts of my arm are still numb so I don't get immediate feedback if I'm causing a problem. My solution? I made a wacky bracelet out of t-shirt scraps (I had a bunch left over from the t-shirt up cycling I did right after my surgery) to remind myself to "STOP OVER-USING THIS ARM!" T-shirt scraps speak in all upper case, of course. I'm pretty sure I did better today thanks to my goofy bracelet, I hope so anyway.

I feel like I should be like Bart Simpson and write, "I WILL NOT OVER-USE MY RIGHT ARM" fifty times on the blackboard.


But, in spite of my arm having been over-used, I still had to paint just a bit. Here's how my "Sad Clown" is coming along.

I added another layer of white.

I added flesh tones, some basic facial features with
watered down black paint, the basic color of his
clown outfit, and his hair.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown - Part 1

When I was digging through a bin of old photos while I was off work for my surgery, I came across a bunch of pictures of my big guy when he was a very little guy. One just jumped out at me and insisted that I paint it. My big guy was maybe four years old and it must have been around Halloween because he's wearing a clown outfit. So about sixteen years ago my big guy got all clown outfitted up and something must have happened. Maybe something big, maybe something little, but whatever it was left him feeling sad. And that moment in time was captured on film.

I started working on painting that sweet, sad little clown today.

I started by painting the basic colors of the background.

I used watered down black paint to rough in
his basic shape. He's sitting on the window sill.

I went over it in white so I could begin painting color.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Live Long and Prosper

Phyllis was a fan....

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

 

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The Look of Compassion

So the little guy is a slob. His floor is covered with all kinds of everything. Dishes linger in his room for days on end. And it never, ever occurs to him to empty his overflowing trash can.


Me: "You oughta clean your room, kiddo."

Little guy: "What? It's fine."

Me: "Well at least bring your dishes to the kitchen."


He stood up right away to do it because he is an awesome kid, took one step, and landed SPLAT on the ground...because he tripped over one of the gazillion things on his floor.

Me, being the kind supportive mom that I am, looked at him with sweet tender love and compassion.


Little guy: "I know you're laughing on the inside, mom. Let it out or you'll explode."


So I did. Such a great kid to take care of his mom like that.


P.S. No, it's not a self portrait. I wouldn't dare attempt such a thing.

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Funny? Hmmmmmmm...

I'm constantly forgetting what I said.  Such is the case from last night.  I cracked what I was convinced was a really funny joke.  But my audience did not share my enthusiasm.  Decidedly did not.


Little guy:  "That's worse than a bad joke...that's a dad joke."


Wow.  That is bad. 

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

 

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

And then I Made a Grown Man Cry

Poor Dave.

Not only has every mosquito come to the conclusion that he is the tastiest source of blood in town, but he swells up in welts each time they get him...which is a lot.  Poor guy has even sworn off wearing shorts during the summer, which is a big commitment in Central Texas.

Anyway, today we were in the bedroom and I saw a mosquito flying around.

Dave:  "Get it!  Get it!!!"

And I'll be darned if that silly mosquito didn't land on the edge of a laundry basket that was directly in front of me.

"WHAM!!!!!"

And then Dave commenced crying with immense gratitude and appreciation.  OK, he may have been faking it, but only a little bit.

Click here to purchase this piece.

 

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

I Done Got Hip Checked

I got hip checked today.


Little guy:  "Hey mom, have you heard this song before?"

Me:  "No.  I like it."

Little guy:  "Here, I'll play you some more of their songs."

Me:  "You're the reason I'm so hip.  You keep me current."

Little guy:  "You're not hip. And don't say 'hip'."


..and I suppose his honesty would hurt if it were the slightest bit true.  Good thing it's so totally not!

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Booting the Ball

Sometimes things come right back and get ya.

That's what happened to me this morning.  About a week or so ago Dave and I had to keep telling, and telling, and telling our little guy to "STOP BOUNCING THAT BOUNCY BALL IN THE HOUSE!!!" about a thousand times.  The kid is solidly unable to stop once he starts.  And this has put bouncy balls in the "Most Annoying Toy Ever" category at our house.

Anyway, Dave and the kid were wrestling on our bed over who would keep the ball.  Dave got it, subtly passed it to me, and lacking anywhere else to put it, I casually dropped it into one of the cowgirl boots that reside by my bed.  And then I forgot all about it.

Until this morning...when I grabbed those boots, took them to the living room, reached in each of them to make sure my supports were in the right spot (Hey, I have old lady feet and those feet want their creature comforts!), and my finger hit something entirely unexpected.  I yanked my hand outa there lickety split, clearly avoiding retouching the biggest cockroach that ever lived, and tipped my boot, thus sending the ball bouncing once again.

And then I hid it in a better spot.


P.S. The picture below is not a reflection of how I felt...it's how the ball felt!  I'm just playing with some different emotions in my art.  Me?  I'm happy, happy.  That ball is hidden great!

Click here to purchase this painting.