118 Ways To Say Thank You

As an expression of appreciation to Karin Jurick for all of her time and effort she devotes to her Different Strokes blog, Jill Polsby secretly arranged for many of the artists who participated in the annual portrait challenge to paint a portrait of Karin.  118 artists participated in this artistic group thank-you.  Jill gathered and collated the collection, and the resulting parade of portraits was sent to Karin.  All of the  portraits can be viewed here.

 

 Karin

7"x5", acrylic on acrylic paper

© 2010, Lisa Walsh

As far as portraits go, I can't stand am not fond of this effort.  My focus pin-pointed down to trying to get the likeness correct, and as a result, everything else tightened up like piano wire.   Without relaxing and enjoying the process, the whole thing came out looking taut and constricted.  Then my habit of procrastinating left me no time to redo it before the deadline.  

Will I never learn?

 Anyway, a huge thank you to Jill for arranging and coordinating the entire effort, and another huge thank you to Karin for her inspiration and her insistence that we stretch ourselves artistically.

To ease my disappointment in the outcome of the portrait, I delved into the shipment of Girl Scout cookies, and have successfully Do-si-doed myself into a stupor.

My Muse is looking for the Pepto Bismol.  To gluttony, and beyond!

I Feel The Earth Move

 Just finished this girl up last night.  Had oodles of fun painting this one, too.  Lots of scumbling, layers and glazing.  My new favorite medium to play with is Gloss Medium and Varnish by Liquitex.  It's like gooey maple syrup, thicker than regular glazing medium, so there's lots of depth and refraction through the layers. Too bad it doesn't show up on a computer monitor.

Simply Irresistible

12" X 6" X 3/8"

Acrylic on board

© 2010, by Lisa Walsh

I wonder if Robert Palmer would consider a giraffe irresistible? Anyway, the giraffe paintings will be on their way to Phoenix and the silent auction soon.  I would love to get out of Chicago and deliver them personally, given the fact that we just had a foot of new snow dumped on us, followed by a blast of frigid cold, and to top it all off....AN EARTHQUAKE!  Here!  In the Midwest!  What's next, a hailstorm of frogs?!  Granted it was a measly 3.8, a level on the Richter scale that wouldn't even warrant a blurb on the back page of a California newspaper, but this literally gave a little shake to our foundations, both physical and mental.  We know we have to deal with heat, humidity, storms and tornadoes in the summertime, snow, ice and frigid wind chills in the wintertime...but there's a little piece of our Midwestern sensibility that is secretly thankful we don't have to deal with hurricanes and earthquakes.  So yes, it was just a little one, but it was a big deal to us.  Front page news, the talk at the corner coffee shop, the chatter at the water cooler, everyone chiming in with their own "Where Were You When The Earthquake Hit" story.  We'll have fun with it for awhile, then the story will fade away and most likely be replaced with the news of another disgraced, corrupt, jailbound Illinois politician.  Those we have plenty of, no matter what the season.  I'd prefer the hailstorm of frogs.

My Muse is reviewing our homeowners policy to see if it covers falling frogs.  To absurdity, and beyond!