WIP Sweetgum and Susan

So, I did not intend to recreate the Giving Tree but when I showed the beginnings of my newest painting to some 11 year old, who shall remain nameless, he said "looks like the Giving Tree. If the kid was a girl". Damn!  But kid!  It's in my head and I can only get it out if I make it. 
Really, I was reminded of the Giving Tree myself.  Maybe that's where the inspiration came from, well partly.  I love that book and anything Shel Silverstein did is wonderful to me.
But I am fascinated by trees and I have been wanting to sculpt one into a painting. 
My neighbor has a sweet gum tree that has this wonderful bend in the trunk, like it is leaning over to talk to someone on the ground, so here is where my story begins.....

Sweetgum and Susan  are greeting each other.  they are old friends.  Well Sweetgum is old, Susan's 9.  The well meaning guardian of the woods is counciling Susan, warning her about children going off into the woods on their own. 
He insists on calling her child even though she has told him her name several times. Susan used to be exasperated by this but now she thinks of it as Sweetgum's nickname just for her.  He doesn't call any other kids Child. He doesn't call them anything.  In fact, no one besides Susan even knows about Sweetgum. When anyone else walks this path they don't see, or can't see.  But Susan is different.
And that is why when her old friend tells her "Child, you should not enter these woods on your own" she just smiles at him, gives one of his low hanging branches an affectionate squeeze and continues on, unaunafraid.

WIP

I' ve been making a lot of flowers lately and have been itching to do something with these 3 small canvases I have on my work table for awhile.  So I broke out the paper clay.
After gessoing the canvases-they were a very boring triptic of polka dots and circles- I applied the paper clay.  I love the way Creative paper clay feels and how easily it can be feathered into the canvas.  I've got all 3 done with a floral design, 2 of the 3 are dry and ready to paint and now the second scary part. (The first was the blank canvases staring at me as if I was looking at a wall that dared me to pass, not a blank page that could be filled with whatever I wanted.)  Now I have a white page staring at me.  I have an idea of what to do but where to begin and what if the vague idea in my head looks like mud on the canvas?!  Crap!  I will just dive in and hope for the best.  So what if it looks craptacular.  So what if I really suck.  That's why I got that huge tub of gesso,right?  I could just white it out and start all over again. Besides this is Hardly the Sistine Chapel and I am very far from DaVinci and if I don't just dive in I won't get to that magic moment when I look at the canvas and can't help but smile, that what was in my head has come out, maybe not entirely as I planned, maybe different, maybe better.  Besides,  discovering the picture is what makes this so much fun....here goes......

A Resolution!

I know, not exactly an original title for a post this time of year.  But I really mean it.  No, really!  I even looked up the word to make sure I know what I am getting myself into. 

From dictionary.com-  "firmness of purpose, the mental state or quality of being resolved"

This was the 4th definition and it was my favorite.  I like that idea- firmness of purpose.  It sounds so confident.  I figured posting about my resolution here would help me to firm up my firmness of purpose.  Once something is written down, especially out here, it seems more real.  If I say what I am going to do it's one thing.  If I put in writing I have to back it up.  Firmness of purpose, out in the open, for all to see.  And by "all" of course I mean me and the poor,bored soul who has made it this far into my post.  So maybe it is more like a diary entry that anyone could potentially happen across by accident.
I just realized after all this blabbering I haven't even mentioned my resolution.  Oh well,  this may be a letdown but I am really excited about it. 

I am going to make something new every week and chronicle my progress, discoveries,  ideas and mishaps (which I am told are wonderful learning experiences, though many do not feel so wonderful while they are mishappening) Not an original idea but one I am excited about. 
So, here goes....wish me luck (she says to herself and that poor soul mentioned earlier). Good luck-says herself