Goofing Off!

Our Monkey's piano teacher is a very talented young high school student and wants to increase her artist portfolio so she can get into BYU. I think BYU is the best university art program in the country. Aside from going to an atelier for a REAL art education, I think BYU is a fine institution. They don't have nude life drawing for one. I mean, that is completely unnecessary, and gross. I can't even look at myself naked much less a complete stranger. I think that would scar me for life. Anyway, Our piano teacher needs to add some oil paintings to her collection of colored pencils and acrylics and baby stuff. Oil painting is the big time, the real deal, the "I'm a real artist- am too, am too" art. So Saturday she came over and we painted together. She painted an alla prima painting of Mini Me and I painted Art Girl. Mini Me held real still for her. Art Girl moved A LOT! I wasn't going to paint her for that reason but she wanted to model so bad that she got real upset when I wasn't going to paint her. I'm talking weeping, wailing and knashing of teeth. Knashing? No one ever says that any more. This painting is keeping me from doing my real project affectionately called "Church art competition painting". When I think of my deadline on October 10th I want to say "AAAACCCCKKKKKK!" I'm not done. Or close to done. I am just starting my "depths of despair" phase of the painting process. I still have "light at the end of the tunnel" phase, then "joy of finishing" and then "I screwed up on that part and I have to redo that" phase, sometimes known as "What was I thinking? I need to throw this in the dumpster!" phase.

Anyway, I think I got a pretty good likeness for just goofing off and Art Girl has a new painting. Oh, by the way, that blue background is straight Paynes grey and white. Her skin is venetian red and white or raw sienna and white. Seriously. This whole thing is mostly tube colors and white. For you painters out there- put down the cadmiums and pick up the earth colors. Thank you.

Are you jealous?

This was our breakfast this morning. Mmmm... homegrown cantalope. I actually just scooped some seeds from a cantalope I had purchased earlier this summer, put them in the ground and here we are.
I had two ripen this morning so we had to eat them. You can't tell, but they were HUGE. We scooped out the one on the right before I could get my camera out. It was good, too.
Here are some more babies out in the garden. I have never had cantalope this good before. I think part of it is that we moved next to a lemon grove where there are lots of bees. Sometimes there are so many bees that the kids won't even go out on the patio. The big wusses. Now, they are happy we have bees. We also have had a good crop of cucumbers, peas, and green beans. Bees, baby. They aren't just for honey.
Here is our breakfast two days ago. They are wrapped around the tomato plants. I know, you are really jealous now aren't you?
Well, since I have to wait a day or two for my paint to dry and I'm allergic to housework, I decided to clean up the garden and get ready for the fall planting. Not all of my backyard is full of weeds. To the left are my two left handed gloves and there is some soaker hose laying around. You have to have soaker hose. So now is the time for you Arizona people to plant your carrots, peas, broccoli, lettuce, corn... you get the picture. Last year we planted only one package of lettuce and we had salad every night for three months and even had some for the neighbors. My kids are getting gourmet on me and they held me down and tied me up and demanded I plant Sugar pumpkins and Buttercrunch Lettuce. Man those rope burns are killer. I will let you see the progress as soon as I get some. GO PLANT!

Second and Third Layer

I have been very fortunate to have found an old photo of my Great-great grandmother Louisa Sheen who was 5 years old when she came to America with her family. She walked across the plains in a handcart company with her little sisters and big sister. Tragically, she lost her 1 year old sister when they were about a month out on the trail. Their company, the Ellsworth Company, was actually very lucky to have been the first handcart company to leave that year. The following groups were the tragic Martin and Willie Handcart companies. Anyway, I have a photo. But, she is not five, dangit. So I have to make stuff up. I guess it doesn't really matter to anyone but me- but I want to get it right. Plus, I think she looks A LOT like my grandma who I love, love, love. Did I mention that I love my grandma?
Here we are with the second layer. I know it is real blurry, but that is just the foundation for the detail that is to come later. The black things are supposed to suggest boots. I'm going to paint long strands of grass over the top of them so we don't don't need to see much. Plus, when I shot B I didn't have any boots for the photo. The white blurs are going to be Queen Anne's Lace. I have been in Iowa during the summer and Queen Anne's Lace is everywhere. It is so pretty. Oh, by the way the sky is Payne's Gray and white. It really looks bluer in person but I think it looks natural. For all you painters out there...PUT DOWN THE CERULEAN!!! Thank you. Third layer. I think I got the dress better but that bonnet is giving me fits. And the curls. And the doll. Oh crap! I haven't even started the grass yet! I am starting to enter the phase of painting my art teacher calls, "the depths of despair". After that phase is "the light at the end of the tunnel" phase. I'm looking forward to that stage. (I actually think skin is the easiest part.)
I put another layer on her face but I need to rework her mouth. She reminds me of the Joker from Batman. I also know I need to work on her eyes, don't send me hate mail, I just couldn't find my 20/00 spotter. For you non painters out there, that's a paint brush with 3 hairs in it. My daughter was really upset that I painted her hair red. I had to make her cookies. Mmmm... cookies.

Tall patch of bushy grass

When we moved into our new house we were too cash strapped to put in landscaping and the weeds are gross and out of control and I have spent about $100 dollars on Roundup and I still have monstrous weeds everywhere. Well, if you can't beat 'em... join 'em! Hello weedy backyard. I am sorry I ever grumbled against you.
Yes, this is really my backyard. The shorter stuff in front is Bermuda grass and the taller stuff in the back is Johnson grass. Sometimes I feel like a hillbilly, white trash, weed growin' barefoot mother of eight. Okay, I feel that way all of the time, but now I'm proud of it!
I love Johnson grass. That chair was dang hard to get outside our back door. I think I will plant Johnson grass in our next house's back yard. It sure would be convenient for photoshoots. Oooh... I could plant wheat. That would be cool and be green in the winter.
We shot these on Labor Day instead of going cliff diving like Married Girl, Married Boy, and Rex. They didn't wear sunscreen and got sunburned but we got these beautiful pics. Haha, we won. I would have posted these sooner but our power grid went out that night and blew my computer for a week and my man fixed it all by himself. Like a pro computer guy. My hero.
This one is my favorite. It was almost sundown and the baby was not cooperating and I am lucky I got any of them in focus. I think I will make this one my business card. This just goes to show you that you have to be grateful for what you have. If life gives you weeds, make pictures.

I love Photoshop

I love Photoshop. It makes bad photographers good. Every pro photographer alive uses photoshop before they show you any proofs. If they say they don't they are lying or they are not telling you the truth. Here is an example of a photo I took 2 years ago and it is the naked truth- straight out of the camera. Or SOOC. I didn't need the background to be good as I was shooting this for a painting anyway, which turned out great. She was sitting on my daughter's dresser which had a bunch of junk on it and a crooked poster of Cinderella on the wall. I got rid of that with a PS paintbrush.
Next, I jacked up the color and blurred out the edges with the layers function. That is always real fun. Jacking up color and blurring edges. I try to do that when I cook, too.
Cropping is the single most important thing to do in a photo. If you have a bad composition or someone's hand is in the way, cropping will make it all better. If you have a headache, cropping will take care of that, too. I know, I had a headache this morning and I thought, "Advil or cropping?" I chose cropping.
Here is a different crop. It is square. See how beautiful Photoshop is? I love to make things black and white. It hides a myriad of photography flaws. If you see a photographer who doesn't ever do color, that is a big sign that he stinks. Just kidding, or not, just kidding. Now go back to the first photograph and see how stinky I was until I did some Photoshop.

What's in a Name?

Okay. The name of my blog is Morgen Thruston. Because I am not very clever and that is a good enough name to have. But my family should have some anonymity. So to make it fun and cute and easier to type I am going to give you a run down of my Monkeys' names:

Monkey #1 is Junior because he is named after my man and although I never call my husband by his name, it is just not a cute name and we are trying to be cute, right. We never call him Junior but everyone else does. He is 21 and on a mission right now and so I don't see him much, okay ever, and I just don't write about him, okay? But he comes home December 18th, YAY! Then I will write about the crazy things he does. Maybe we will change his name to College Boy.

Monkey #2 is Married Girl. It was Wedding Girl but since she got married it just didn't seem right. She is only 19 and she's amazing and sweet and talented. She works at a hair salon so go get your hair done by her so she can have some money and move out of my guest house. Just kidding about the moving out thing. I love her to be there. I hardly ever see her at all. Her LAUNDRY on the other hand I see every day. I think I need to buy her a washer and dryer, and some shelves in her closet would be nice.

Monkey #2 1/2 is Married Boy. He married my daughter. He is not officially my monkey but he is accident prone and golden and his children will be my grandchildren so that makes him practically blood. He is also smart as crud and fluent in Spanish and handsome. So, I'll take him.

Monkey #3 is Rex eats Chex. It used to be I-man but he decided this year he was too big to be called I-man. He went to EFY and they gave him this name. Now even his best friend of 12 years calls him Rex. He is all by himself in this sea of girl monkeys. He is really a MONKEY. That boy can flip and pike and tuck and somersault like no other. When he was little I thought he would break his neck. Seriously. He is 15 going on 25.

Monkey #4 is Mini Me. The End. She is exactly like me only organized. Just think how dangerous I would be if I were organized. I would be like Martha Stewart. Only practical and very funny and better looking. That is MM. She wants to be a news anchor. I think she will, too. She is in all advanced classes in school and the other kids look at her papers to try and cheat. Yeah, that's my Mini Me. I remember that. Anyway, she did most of the planning for Married girl's wedding and she is 12! She put together a planning book and did maps and diagrams on the computer. Sometimes, she's a little scary.

Monkey #5 is ....... okay I don't have a cute nickname. Only a dumb one. Peeka. It is short for Pikachu from the Pokemon game and Pikachu is so cute, like her. So maybe you can help me out and give me a new nickname for her. She is very talented and like me. Only she is nicer and is better at making friends. She is like Mini Me but softer and 10. And more patient. I love that about her.

Monkey #6 is Art Girl. Okay, all my girls are very artistic but Art Girl will spend 3 hours wrapping a present. She will make the most unconscionable messes involving art I have ever seen. Paint doesn't come out of things. I have marker on almost every surface in my house. She has a pile 3 feet high in her closet. Yeah, I gave her that ability. But she is good. I think she will be a professional artist when she is about 15. She is 7 now.

Monkey #7 is Bee. She is only called that a few times, she has so many names we can't pick just one. But they all start with the letter B so MM and I just call her B. She is 5 and apparently too big to be homeschooled. I wanted to homeschool her this year but my man registered her for kindergarten without my knowledge and she was so happy. I couldn't un-enroll her. She loves school.

Monkey #8 is the littlest monkey and her name is Fifi. She is adorable and funny and little. Like 10th percentile little. She reminds me of my grandma who was barely 5 feet tall. And she runs every where she goes. That girl started walking and within a week she was running and she was been running ever since. She loves to climb on things, things she has no business climbing on. She also gives kisses a lot. I saw her kiss the mustard bottle a couple of times. Her new favorite word is "No". Don't you love babies?

My husband is not a monkey. He is very forgiving. And a little abrupt. When we were dating, my mom, sister and I thought we would call him "How Rude" instead of Howard and see if he noticed. He never did. So that is the only nickname he has ever had other than "Honey" or "Dad". So I will shorten to H. He wants me to make his nick name "Stud Man" but I think that would make the other men out there with only 7 or fewer kids feel bad. He thinks he is virile. "How Rude"!

Now what?

Well, I decided I had better get cracking on the "LDS International Church Art Competition" thing. I thought I would be clever and make a wood panel with Claussens linen on top. I sanded the wood and carefully glued the canvas to the wood. Everything went as it was supposed to. Until I lifted it up and saw bubbles AND lifted off pieces of oil primer. AAUUGGHH! I can't even get my head around trying to fix it and my art teacher Sarah (the best teacher ever) said to cut that part off and use it for something else. Wasn't that so wise of her? No worries, it's just art. But I am so stressed out over it. What if I am not accepted AGAIN? I will seriously have a melt down. Or eat chocolate. Mmmmm chocolate.
So, Friday, I drove 500 miles to the art store (okay, only 15 miles) and bought the same boring canvas I always buy to paint on. It is Centurion pre-stretched linen canvas. Also, it is a little too nubby for me but it was all they had.
Here is my surface. That's not my youthful hand. It's my 10 year old monkey's. She has beautiful hands. And I have been painting her painting for 2 years. Sorry, honey.

Here is the drawing. After I drew on the canvas, I made a copy with some acetate because I am so nervous I want to make sure I can go back to my drawing if I mess up. I don't know why, it's not a commision and it's not like anyone is going to say,"Oh my, Great-great grandma Louisa didn't look like that when she was 5!" I am actually making the whole thing up.
Here is my beautiful hand drawing on the acetate. It is a good thing to do if you are nervous. Computer geeks back up their hard drives all the time so I can back up my drawing. I hope I get it done in time. The deadline is October 10th. Just in case you want to see what I'm up against, here is a link to the Lds Church Museum. Some LDS artists have the courtesy of not entering in it anymore like Greg Olsen and William Whitaker. Now they are the judges. Uh, no pressure. But Leon Parson, Robert Barrett, Mike Malm, and Liz Lemon Swindle are probably going to enter so I just have to be that much better.
Here is something I have never done before. I drew over the pencil with a SHARPIE! I know, I know, you are thinking, "But Morgen, won't the sharpie show through?" Well, I hope not, but I was worried that my drawing would disappear even though I made a back up drawing on my acetate. I'm real nervous. And persnickity. It has to look just so. If I get distortion I would crawl under my bed and suck my thumb.

Here is the first layer with just the flesh tones. It looks like she has a bruise or red smudge on her forhead but that is just the photo. It doesn't look like that in real life. Wish me luck. I will post each new stage as it gets done. Then you can see how a painting progresses... or not, in my case.

And feel free to send me your comments. I am not a sensitive painter, you can critique all you want. Just don't critique my cooking, that's getting personal.

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