Baby Rachel, 6x6 Graphite Drawing by Carmen Beecher

I did this drawing of my granddaughter years ago, and now she is studying Biomedical and Chemical Engineering at Vanderbilt. Time flies! This sweet little baby grew into a sweet, smart and accomplished grownup and we are all very proud of her.

posted by Carmen Beecher

Tangled Webs Are Woven, 12 x 16 by Cindy Michaud

"Oh what a tangled web we weave..."

Acrylic and graphite on board, colored pencil

How many of us know the rest of the quote?

In naming my newest piece in the Tree Series this sentence came to mind as

I carefully worked on the tiniest of the branches which entertwined

one with the other.

When I asked for my husband's input on title suggestions a version

of this quote came to his mind as well.

So I officially named the piece:

"Tangled Webs Are Woven"

It signals to me that (intentionally or not) our lives are

so caught up in the lives of those around us that we tend to

get woven into their concerns and needs and sometimes it is hard to know

exactly where one branch starts and another picks up.

But as I wrote the title I figured I'd better double check on the quote that inspired it.

And it was not Mr. Shakespeare!

The entire quote goes:

"Oh the tangled webs we weave

When first we practice to deceive."

and it is attributed to

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

I'm not sure these trees had any intention of practicing deception but I am going

to stick with the title as it captures the many thoughts I had while working on it.

Here's hoping that the branches of your life are all tangled up with

ones that add joy and meaning to your life.

 Framed in a black floater

Finding Myself

Look carefully: do you see me hiding in those panels to the left?  Hmmm, every artist it seems is on a search for self...what technique is truely "them." I don't even know how one discovers that...but I think I might be hiding in the two pieces here.  Why?  Because left to my own devices this is the piece I woke up to and went to bed with for the last several weeks.  I planned it just like I plan my parties: lots of good color, a specific traffic flow, little touches of surprise here and there and attention to detail.  The wild movement of color and the specific detail...opposites that make a Gemini happy as a clam...or a fern.

Fran Hardy is to be thanked for most of the layering technique.  The fact that it is all on wood panel is another suggestion of hers...but one that makes me happy as I love the feel of wood...both in my hands and under the brush, and beneath the pencil.  I'm working on other pieces and techniques and styles but, truth be told, i am jonesing to buy more panels and do something in orange with details (mushrooms maybe?) and then some figures and, and, and.......not fine, but fun and if I can find some buyers that it also speaks to then, who knows....maybe as old as I am I did find something of me....

Cindy Michaud

http://www.cindymichaud.com/

Mr & Mrs C Fly Away

I was gaining weight painting all that food so decided to take a break and finish something non-edible.  Under the creative instruction of Fran Hardy I had learned how to prepare this panel to be car-surface smooth with about 100 coats of gesso and acrylic.  It seemed the perfect place to put my cardinal friends.  Somedays the fine detail work of drawing is really very relaxing and I enjoyed working on this devoted bird pair.  After watercolor, acrylic, graphite and a touch of oil I guess it must be labeled multi-media.  Anyway I varnished it and grabbed it on the way out the door to a book signing.

Now here is the stumper: sometimes we artists work for weeks, even months on something that takes every bit of creative energy and emotion we have to give....and it hangs around and hangs around.  Other days we dash off a little something just for the pure fun of it, experimenting and playing with it...and it is sold before it dries.  Not that I am complaining...just wondering.

Anyway, such was the case with "Mr & Mrs C."  I barely put it on the easel before a lovely lady from Blowing Rock shared the story of her backyard cardinals and had to go home with the piece.  Wonderful.  And very good for the ego and back account.  But sometimes I have to think that as every pot has a lid, every painting has an owner...it's just a matter of connecting.  And maybe a matter of having a little more fun while painting and a little less angst!  Go figure.

Cindy Michaud
http://www.cindymichaudart.etsy.com/

Getting my feet wet

I love, love, love the shape of pears...you'll see a lot of them in my work. So it is appropriate that my first post of my first blog be a pear! This is 7 x 5 acrylic on board and available on www.cindymichaud.com. I can thank Fran Hardy for getting me all pumped up about combining graphite and acrylic after building (and building and building) a surface to work on and then layering (and layering and layering) on the design and color. As tedious as this sounds it is actually quite relaxing and I am trying to have one going somewhere around the studio for that reason: some relaxation when I get my knickers in a knot over another piece.

Whew! a realtively painless post; this might be habit forming...