AMANDA BRODIE STENLUND
  • Home
  • Artwork
    • Available for Purchase
    • Scotland
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Commissions
  • Classes

Year of the White Metal Rat

1/5/2017

 
Picture
My goal-making (and every other kind of planning) coincides with the St. Clement school calendar.  Anticipating the change to my life when my son would start full-day, full-week school was a major impetus for me to pick up painting again in 2015. At the end of last summer, I sat down again to evaluate my progress and make plans for the coming school/Amanda year. And over the last two weeks of winter break, I made a list of long-term painting goals. Some might call them “resolutions,” but that is just a coincidence.

  1. Try new media and supports. This is an ongoing one. Last fall I finally tried pastel, and I worked on sanded papers, coated boards, and Gatorboard that I primed with a gritty gesso. I’d like to try Aquarelle crayons with other media, including gouache, which I picked up once last year.
  2. Try plein-air painting. I haven’t done this since Mr. Bartman made us do it in high school. It’s -4 degrees out as I type, so this will wait.
  3. Write more frequently. I wrote for my li’l blog about once a month last year, and I know I can at least double that.
  4. Enter a competition. I submitted a painting for a show—a display, really—at a local art store. I could try something bigger.
  5. Show work in person. Ugh. This one is most daunting because it makes me vulnerable and accountable. I’ve talked about hosting my own show in my house. Fine. I’ll do it.
  6. Create a still-life table. Setting up good still lifes is a skill in itself. But it sure allows for quick, editable subject matter and, for me, leads to the last item on this list.
  7. Paint new subjects. I am big on figure painting with oils, and with pastels I’ve done many landscapes. I haven’t done many still lifes, unless you include my sleeping pets.
 
I just read that 2017 is the Year of the Red Fire Chicken in the Chinese astrological calendar, which of course aroused my curiosity. Not just Year of the Chicken, but RED FIRE CHICKEN! I learned that planning around the school calendar is much easier than trying to plan around the Chinese calendar, which is much more complicated but certainly more interesting. I also learned that my multi-faceted Chinese birth chart names me a white metal rat. Bitchin’! (Very coincidentally, my first childhood pet was a white mouse named Penny.)


Comments are closed.

    I Heart Art

    I do! I make it, sell it, think about it, look at it, read about it, and (sometimes) I write about it. Join my mailing list, and you'll receive my brief--promise--messages about new work, shows, events, and a little inspiration. Probably a picture of my dog, too.

    Picture
    In front of a mural of a Tim Rietenbach painting in Columbus, Ohio

    Archives

    February 2023
    August 2022
    July 2022
    August 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015


© Amanda Brodie Stenlund Fine Art, LLC
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Artwork
    • Available for Purchase
    • Scotland
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Commissions
  • Classes