painting blog - Smelly Rhino Studio

painting blog

Jun10

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yea yea yea, I heard it all before…

Posted in: Rebecca Salcedo, acrylic, art, artist blog, mixed media, painting blog, resolutions, smellyrhino, take action

In studio all week. Painting in Progress…

For quite some time, 2 years, actually, I have been kept away from any sense of normalcy when it comes to a workday in my studio. My desire to learn more about this internet/blogging/social networking/online selling world of ours has made, well, an addict outta me. It was innocent at first. I thought, “well, I’ll just learn this stuff real quick like so I can do my own marketing!” Did I mention that was 2 years ago?

Monday, I decided to alter this freakish course of action because the perceived outcome wasn’t lookin’ good for my art career. I have no inventory!

So, I intervened on my own behalf, and legislated a self-imposed computer ban in my studio. I had to add (to myself) that I also have to BE in my studio (or it wont work). he he

Today was day two and I have made a lot of progress. I even wrote in my journal 3 mornings in a row! I know, unbelievable.

I told Eric I needed a little push toward that manifest destiny thing. I work on it constantly by saying aloud all the weaknesses I’m dealing with so that he can regurgitate them back to me at strategic moments. It’s my own way of holding myself accountable.

I asked him for help and he gave it to me!

He said, “Ok, well, first of all, no computer during the day. You can get online at night while you’re hanging on the couch with me! Pretend your boss is there and you can’t surf!

The other thing: Stop making lists and plans. Just paint. You need to just paint without worrying about all that other stuff for a while.

You are doing what they do in the corporate world…lists and schedules and planning, it’s like Dilbert, for crying out loud! Nothing gets done this way at the office either! That’s why they wrote a cartoon about it. Just allow yourself to let loose and be creative. Let yourself see some progress that makes you feel good. This is your goal, after all. You are having anxiety about it, but once you start to see progress, this will pass.”

I was listening this time.

Well, the reward the past 2 days has been real progress on a painting and a nice feeling of satisfaction after focusing for a change on what I really want to do.
He is really smart.
Jun3

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Prayer; admission of a semi-secular girl

Posted in: colored pencil, painting blog

“Saying Grace”
“Thank you for my Mommy, and my Baby Monkeys, and my Daddy!”
ACEO: Prismacolor Pencil on Bristol

I AM NOT INTO RELIGION.

I constantly say I am not a religious person. I often mention my distaste for organized religion and the hypocrisy that makes company beside it.

That being said, if I break down my day, hour by hour, and record my thoughts and utterances, (aloud and under my breath), the truth is that I pray all the time!

Wow. I pray all the time. And I mean, all the time!

“Thank you, Lord!”
“Oh, please, God, help that person!”
“Please, Lord, help me get through this!”
“Lord, Thank you for this day!”
“Thank you, Lord, for showing my humility!”
“I am so grateful for such an understanding partner!”
“Lord, Thank you for bringing what I need exactly when I need it!”
“Oh, Thank GOD!”

I am quite proud of my good parking Karma..my ability to get parking spaces just about anywhere when I need it. I also have an incredible ability to win concert tickets. It’s almost crazy! We only paid for one of the last 6 concerts we’ve attended. Positive thinking, praying, it’s in the wording. The power may come from within myself, from the Universe, wherever…but it does come. I can’t explain it, but I believe in good luck. I believe in goodness.

I am not one to discuss religion at all, and really hate when people try to shove it down my throat, but I think you ought to know what I take from all this….

What comes around, goes around. So, catch yourself next time you are about to yell at someone, or say unkind words to them or do something wrong. Instead, find one good thing to focus on and try a smile. It may get you a lot farther. If not right this minute, in the future. Take a breath and say “Thank you!”

I am so lucky!
Mar7

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#7 Pointillism; 31 days of Rhinos

Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, Rhino art, Smellyrhinostudio, abstract, art history, drawing, humor, impressionism, painting blog, pointillism, smelly rhino
#7 Pointillism; 31 days of Rhinos
India Ink on Paper

A thousand points of light! Ok, a lot more than a thousand. I sat through the entire Academy Awards tonite putting tiny dots all over the page, beginning with the lightest tone and graduating to a hint of black.

Welcome to Pointillism!

When I think of Pointillism, I think of George Seurat, the founder of Neo-Impressionism who really changed the future of modern art. He first used Pointillism at the disdain of critics, who mocked him when they coined the term. Thank goodness no one ever listens to critics! So give him a hand. Everyone knows Seurat from his most famous painting, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. George was cool and liked Science (like me)! He believed that if you forced the viewer to combine the dots of color instead of mixing the pigments with your brush, the painting would have a certain luminosity…and that light could control emotion in the viewer by the way you used light and color in a painting. He named it Chromoluminarism. Well, he sure knew what he was talking about! Hooray for Science!

About this art history, If you have already started to notice that some periods seem to overlap, I think that is a testament to the flow of creativity, and how influential these great artists were on each other. Their art was a reflection of what was happening around them. All these great artists in one place sitting in coffee houses and discuss the world, no wonder they influenced each other! Art imitates artists…he he. (ok, we copy each other)

What’s neat about pointillism is that it is easy to explain in our highly technological times by comparing it to a computer screen or tv, with pixels. Pointillism is created with dots of color instead of interconnecting strokes. The dots of color exist independently from one another, and depend on your eyes to put the colors together. The more dots there, the clearer the picture becomes. In a pointillist panting, it’s best appreciated to walk up closely to the painting to view the intricate system of pixels, then, step backward and view at greater distances until you see the full picture clearly; that is where your eyes connect the dots!! It’s very cool.

If you have the opportunity to go the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, I believe you will still see another great Modern artist and pointillist, Chuck Close, whose photo realism on enormous, no, gigantic canvases is best appreciated from the next room over!!!!

Paint and ink are best for pointillism, but I challenge you again, to imagine what other media works for you! I know of other artists who come near the genre by utilizing cut paper to achieve photo realistic collages, but that may have to be another rhino!

Artists who were best known for pointillism:
- Georges-Pierre Seurat
- Paul Signac
- Henri-Edmond Cross
- John Roy
- Maximilien Luce
- Vincent van Gogh
- Camille Pissarro
- Théo van Rysselberghe
- Chuck Close
- Georges Lemmen
Do yourself a favor and read a little more about Neo-impressionism in your spare time, as I think it is the most important push toward a provocative change in art in the last century! It’s kinda like the internet. It changed art! Stay home, free eaters!

[Wikipedia excerpt, Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists and is now used without its earlier mocking connotation.[1]

Still sick here, and I’ve been couch bound all day, drinking liquids with alternating Law and Order episodes and steamed honey lemon water.

I know my brother, Tim, will enjoy this Rhino, so it is for him.

(Picture credits: Baby Rhino pic comes from the Weblogs of the Baltimore Sun.)
Jan10

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DIY Spray Booth Part -Deux – Repeat with Instructions!

Posted in: DIY Spray booth, Projects, Rebecca Salcedo, Smellyrhinostudio, funky junk, humor, painting blog, pvc projects, smelly rhino

Part deux in the saga of finding an easy, deconstruct-able portable booth, that, for most purposes, I just wanted to leave up and in the same spot!

OK, I admit the other spray booth was quick and had it’s issues, like I couldn’t close the garage door without having to take it down. But hey, what do you want for $20! I kept the clothes pins though, for use in the new version.

This new version involves PVC pipe and joints, and the cheapest shower curtains and rings you can find. There are some cuts you will have to make to the pipe of course, but perhaps if you don’t have a chop saw, you can convince some really nice guy at Home Depot to do them, but there are quite a few.

The reason my booth is this size reminds me of the story about the woman who was always cutting off the ends of the roast before she cooked it.

Her husband upon observing that she was wasting meat asked, “Why do you cut off the ends of the roast, honey?”

She replied, “Because that is how my Mother did it!!”

The next time the man’s Mother-in-law came to the house, he asked her, “Why do you cut off the ends of the roast?”

She replied, “Because that is how my Mother did it!!”

So, the next time the man saw his Wife’s Grandmother, he asked her, “Both your daughter and your grand-daughter cut off the ends of the roast before they cook it. They say they learned from you?”

She chuckled replied, “Well, back then, we didn’t have much, and the only roast pan I had was very small, so I had to cut the ends off the roast to fit it into the pan!”

So, my paint booth is relatively small. It is this size because that is how much room I have in the garage that doesn’t get in the way of Eric’s wood shop. You may want to make it bigger if you paint larger items, but I’m finding for me, this seems to work pretty well. The good thing is, though, I didn’t glue the joints, so that I could take apart, which leaves me the option of making the booth deeper if I need to! Despite it’s petite size, I still had room to paint a bookcase in there!

My booth is about 5 feet wide and deep by about 7 feet tall.

Basic How-to:
Your booth will be constructed of two sides (identical rectangles of any size) secured with corner elbow joints. Then you will join them together with struts on the top and sides. That’s it!

Lay out the rectangles where you have space, like the driveway!
Decide where you want the struts to be and cut your pipes into two sections, but be sure to make the identical cut on the other rectangle (opposite side of the booth), so you can add your strut! Join the two pieces using a T joint. Now you add the strut!

For extra support, you can add struts anywhere! Again, follow the same rule as above: Put T joints anywhere in your booth by cutting any length of pipe, on top and bottom of the booth, or side to side. Then join the two lengths with the T joint and throw in a strut! Easy peasy!

Put everything together. Glue is optional. I don’t use it because I want to take it apart! Once you have everything together, add shower curtain rings to three sides and follow with the curtains! Secure the corner seams with clothespins. Place a drop cloth on the floor of your booth before spraying! Have fun!

materials
1.5″ PVC pipe, about 10-12 (you can use thicker or thinner PVC depending on the size of your booth
1 pack of T joints, 6-10
8 PVC elbows
3 sets of shower curtain rings
3 shower curtain liners
1 drop cloth
Total cost under $40

Visit the Saturday night special on Funky Junk’s Blog to see a groovy giveaway!!