Gláucia Mir | artist » art

getting ready

glaucia — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:19:36 +0000

School started a couple weeks ago, and I started working on my art. Full-time.
I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!! The boys are both in school full-time, and now I can be an artist full-time.
To help me kick off this wonderful new phase of my life, I signed up to get a booth to show and sell my art at the Dublin Arts Festival.
With the date of the festival so soon after school started, I’ve been consumed by the preparations.
I’ve gone thru all my work, and picked out the best pieces that show my abilities, or would be most “sell-able”.
I’ve gone thru my photography, and picked out photos that would make good prints and cards.
I’ve shopped for frames, and other supplies.
I’ve prepared, matted and framed several pieces.
I’m trying to finish one painting.
I’ve designed and ordered some self-promotional material.
I’ve asked for help, advice, supplies and suggestions.
Now there are 5 days left before the big day.
Now the fine tuning needs to happen.
I need to price things, I need to mount cards. I need to name paintings. I need to pray.
It’s a big deal to think that this is the first real time anyone has an opportunity to buy my art.
I’m both elated and sick to my stomach, thinking about it.
I hope this will lead to other opportunities and commission work.
Either way, I’m thrilled that I am living as an artist, doing what I love.
If you think of it, pray for me as I continue to prepare for the show. Pray that I will be diligent with my time. Pray that I will still meet the needs of my family. Pray that I will trust God in the process and with the outcome of the show.
Here are some pictures of the preparation:
me at the easel

old mat boards and mat knife taking over the floor

Pianos serving as temp gallery wall

moly_x_portrait entry

glaucia — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:41:24 +0000

I finally finished one of my entries…

(grahite pencil, aprox. 8″x11″ on moleskine sketchbook)

This is for a international moleskine exchange, where each of us draws a self-portrait, then sends it to the next person, and they draw themselves and the person whose book they have.

Inspired by Sara’s picture in the woods, I drew her, and myself as a lurking tree. It was fun.

I confirmed my love of working in pencils.

creative desert

glaucia — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:49:43 +0000

Have you been there? I am there right now. I know I should be creating things, but I don’t seem to be able to. I have ideas of grandeur, but even picking up a pencil seems like too much effort.

Something in me really wants to paint and draw, but I sabotage my own efforts by coming up with reasons why it can’t or won’t happen.

Here are some reasons:

I don’t have enough time to get in a zone
I will be interrupted by my kids
I don’t know what to create
I need to cook/clean/do the laundry
I don’t have a studio or a proper place to work in

If it’s not that, I end up spending too much time on the computer on facebook(which I’m currently taking a break from) or even looking at art, photography, tutorials, ideas for other projects, and I do just that– look, and don’t do or make anything.

Is anybody familiar with this behavior? What do you do when you get there, to just kick-start your creativity? How do you get out of the mire? How do you overcome accomplishing much, with little time?

I think since doing the mural for the church, I have been in this creative desert.

I have been praying alot about this next step as it concerns my art and my time and efforts. So maybe now I need to start acting…..

Would love your thoughts….

I’m done!

glaucia — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:13:57 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys…

Drum roll please….

The old Jerusalem unveiled…

13feet x 36 ft latex/acrylic on muslin

54 hours of work, more or less, from start to finish, including the time when I first drew the scene on paper, based on what Pr. Randy gave me.

This is what he first gave me..

It was alot of fun and alot of work.

I had great help from Darla, Pastor Tim, Pankey, Katlyn, Samantha, Andrew, Beverly, Nancy, Becky, and Joanne.

I used a variety of old latex paints left over from other projects. I think I went thry some 20+ different half-used gallons of paint in order to make the colors needed for this project. I did use 3 different new colors for the buildings.

I painted on the floor as well as on the wall. I spent several hours on a ladder.

I can’t wait to see it surrounded by the other things which will make up the stage scene.

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement. I felt them.

I pray it brings God glory.

really close to done

glaucia — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:38:02 +0000

I’m so close to being done, but the closer I get, the more it seems I still have to do.
I really need more mustles on my arms and legs. Tomorrow I will have to up and down the ladder, as I add details to the tall buildings.
Say a prayer for a speedy accomplishment.
Thanks for those checking in and leave me a comment, even if just to say hi.

(click it to see it large)

about an hour’s worth of work

glaucia — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:09:59 +0000

Often times, I find people have a hard time getting a sense of how much time it takes to do certain things, especially when it comes to art.

I often have a hard time keeping track of how long it takes for me to do things.

But yesterday, my time was limited, so it was easy for me to see how much time was spent on something…

I spent about an hour and a half at the church, while Phoenix was at school.

This is what I did…

It doesn’t seem like much, since all I was doing was adding in all the brown shading and details, but you have to remember that this section is approximately 36″ x 24″.

Unfortunately the morning has gone, and I’m still at home.

I will have to spend the rest of the day there. My arm will tire, and I hope it will be mostly done by this evening.

Check back for updates.

Thanks for keeping up with my progress.

back on the wall

glaucia — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:40:47 +0000

Yesterday I helped Pastor Tim get my mural back on the wall first thing in the morning. Between that and the other people that came by, I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped. Either way, some progress was made, and I am happy to be able to walk back from it and get a real perspective for how things look.

Here is a chance for you all to see it too. Let me know what you like, and if there’s any last things I can improve on.

You can also see the scale of this thing with me standing there.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.

onto the details

glaucia — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:33:11 +0000

I’m still working on the mural.

Now, I think I have had all the help from other volunteers I can, and I have to do the rest on my own.

The buildings need to be one unit, and I need to do all the details myself. I won’t be able to get anyone to do it like I do it, or to do what I want, cause it’s just too hard to explain.

Also, I think tomorrow afternoon, the mural will be going back up on the wall, which will make it a bit more challenging to paint, but it will be okay.

Here are 2 more pictures of the progress:

more mural painting

glaucia — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:37:36 +0000

The last few days are a bit of a blur.

I’ve been working on the mural for the whole weekend.

Thursday I mixed a couple colors. Friday I painted all day, with 5 volunteers, down to 2, down to 1, by the night time. I was at the church from 9:15am to 10:40pm with an hour respite.

On Saturday, I was there from 9:15 am to 4:40pm. At first 2 volunteers, then one, then me, all by my lonesome.

I was working up a headache all weekend, and I still have it. Saturday night it was particularly brutal. I went to bed with a headache, and awoke on Sunday morning with it.

The mural is coming along nicely. All of it is covered, but now all details have been going in.

That is a picture of what it looked like as of Saturday night.

I managed to get a couple more hours of painting in yesterday afternoon, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to go there again with this snow.

I will only have the occasional volunteer from here on out, because very few people feel comfortable putting in the details.

The daunting mural

glaucia — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:32:48 +0000

About 6 weeks ago, I was asked if I’ve done murals before, by a leader from our new church. Without hesitating, I said, yes. It’s true, I have done a couple.

Little did I know what I was getting myself into. I had said yes to painting, and leading other volunteers, to paint the backdrop for the Easter Musical which the choir and drama team will put on. I had no idea it would be over 11′ x34′. That is 11 feet by 34 feet, people. Say it with me, “that is gi-hugic!!”

Anyway, not only that, but the choir director didn’t have much else to say other than to tell me they wanted it done on some sort of material so that they could reuse it–oh, the pressure! And that the pastor would give me a picture of what he wanted.

He soon handed me a picture of old Jerusalem which he’d found, and said that was what he wanted. He wanted it to be dismal, and of course, that is when I learned the size of the thing. I would have to adapt this scene to fit this long landscape horizontal shape.

I worked on the drawing, and showed the pastor, to which he seemed pleased. It took me a while to find a place to buy the material from. After doing a couple days worth of research, I settled on using a muslin. I would paint it on the floor, and it would get hung up afterwards.

The muslin’s arrival was delayed by several days, and when it did arrive, it was apparent they sent us much more than what we paid for. That was okay, but this is when my work began. I set out with a helper, to cut the fabric after having to use a big tape measure twice for the length.

After cutting, Pastor Tim hung it up on the gym wall.

Then we got the projector set up and pointed to see what size my drawing needed to be once on the fabric.

Armed with a big fat permanent marker, I set out to trace what I had prepared. After a few adjustments, I got going in stride.

Within an hour and a half, I had the whole thing sketched out, to the surprise of many.

I’m sore from climbing on the ladder, and squatting alot as I sketched. The pastor liked it, which is really the one I’m aiming to please on earth, besides myself. I pray God is pleased with my efforts and my service. The outcome is less of an issue for God, I think.

I also searched throughout the many nooks and crannies of the church for leftover paint. I have many cans which I will attempt to use and make interesting colors from, tomorrow.

Friday the painting starts. I will have volunteers willing to help. I’ll have more pictures friday or saturday.

Keep praying for our efforts.

blue jays on tree tops

glaucia — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:16:11 +0000

Another one of the bird series.

8″x10″ pen and colored pencils on bristol paper

a great lunch date

glaucia — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:27:40 +0000

update: here’s the drawing…

Our car’s in the shop again. Actually, Fab’s car. The one he drives to and from work. The one we already spent a ton of money on.
The point is, he was home today. So after dropping Phoenix off, we went on a lunch date.
We went to jules in doylestown. It was a place I’d been wanting to visit, cause it has pizza–thin crust pizza, with lots of exotic ingredients. If I’m gonna have pizza, it has to be this kinda pizza. Fabio, on the other hand, likes any good decent average pizza.
Anyway, I picked it out cause I knew he’d been wanting pizza, and I thought we could check it out.
I was not disappointed. It was more than good, it was great! And it had so many varieties to choose from, and the pizza was a cool elongated shape, and the place is all organic and they use biodegradable plastic-ware. How cool is that! It might be the best place we’ve gone to so far, in Doylestown.
Anyway, the pizza was great, the place was great, and the service was great, but that’s not what made it great.
The company was great. Before and after eating, Fabio and I both had our moleskines. He wrote, and I drew a sketch of this beautiful old house-turned-law-offices. It was wonderful to just be able to share these moments together, each occupied with the things we love.
Yeah for love! Yeah for a 10-year mate who meets my needs and surpasses my deepest desires!
Fabio, I love you!!

a bird series

glaucia — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:55:38 +0000

I’m starting on a new series.
Birds.
If you’ve talked to me in the last couple months, you know how excited I am about birds. It’s my newest hobby. Watching and photographing birds. Reading about backyard birding, feeding birds, and identifying birds.
So I figured, why not draw birds as well. I certainly have accumulated enough pictures to use as reference…
So, this is my first attempt. I hope to do several more. This is in keeping with my goals for the year, of making more art, and having some themes or related bodies of work.

“Titmouse on Ice”
approx. 8″x10″ pen and colored pencil on bristol paper

i finally finished

glaucia — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:07:45 +0000

yeah, unbelievable as it is, i finally finished another city drawing.
This one had been in the works since just before we left the city, in July.

pen and colored pencil on bristol paper, approx. 8″ x 6.5″

I finally took the time to put on the finishing touches, and it’s done. Now I have 3 city scenes. I hope to draw a few more, and therefore, have a set to show together. Hopefully it helps with “sell-ability”.

Let me know what you think…..

church and art

glaucia — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:11:55 +0000

Lately, church and my art, seem to be linked.
I mean, somehow, while there, while listening to the pastor, or Sunday school, I find the “moment” to sketch.
Maybe because I am sitting still and not amidst a million tasks. Maybe because I am not in front of the computer. Maybe because I make it a point to bring along my sketchbook– and my Bible, of course.
So, here are a couple of sketches I did last Sunday.

And speaking of church and art, I’ve been asked to lead the project of working on a mural which will be the background part of the set for the Easter musical/Cantata. I’m thrilled and a little afraid, as it’s a huge undertaking at 37′ long by 11′ high. I will be the lead artist, sketching the drawing, and leading willing painters to get it done.
Please pray for me as I’m in preparation mode. Pray that I will have wisdom about what supplies are needed, what timing is needed, and that the outcome will be a part of the whole presentation, which will bring glory to God. Also, any insight from anyone on painting huge murals would be welcomed. I’ve done a couple before, but this one is huge.

love this art video

glaucia — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:04:36 +0000

I aspire to do draw on video like this one day.
For now, lets just say, it’s inspiring me, and I hope it inspires you. Not only because it’s art on video, but because of it’s message

First seen on superhero designs’ blog. She makes incredible jewelry, and I hope to buy something someday.
What’s inspiring you?

sketching in public…

glaucia — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:01:41 +0000

always attracts attention.

Last weekend we were in Fairfax. While we were visiting Fab, Sr., we also got a chance to see some dear old friends. Ginger and Spinner lived with me in California, while I served with Steve Hughes and Yosemite Christian Ministries. As a matter of fact, they were a welcome respite to the loneliness I was suffering while living by myself in a double-wide trailer.
Anyway, I hadn’t seen G & S in over 10 years, and so we took a little longer drive on Sunday Morning, to meet them at their church.
While there, and sitting in the very last row, I sketched a few people in front of me.
Apparently, the couple sitting next to me took an interest, because after the service, the woman tried to invite us out for lunch and talked of my beautiful artwork. We turned her down, as we were going out with my friends, instead.
Here’s the drawing that commanded an invitation to lunch…

Now I just need someone willing to pay for these, and I’ll be in business!!

Phoenix’s king congo

glaucia — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:54:00 +0000

Phoenix is constantly amazing me with his drawing skills. He drew this a couple weeks ago. It was inspired by Ed Emberley’s drawing book of Weirdos, which I got for him from the 5 below as a treat. I think he’s gonna need his own art blog very soon!

what is it?

glaucia — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:22:59 +0000

A little contest…

Whoever gets this right will get a print of one of my photos… as a prize.

Leave your guess in the comments, and be sure you’re signed in so I can contact you if you win.

What is it? (and Fabio, you can’t guess.) Be specific.

progress on “modern st. augustine”

glaucia — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:07:28 +0000

Phoenix had a whole morning playdate a couple days ago. That means, that I dropped Phoenix off at 10 am to Kevin’s mom. They played, she fed them lunch and took them to school and all I had to do was pick him up at 3:15, when school was over.

So for the first time in a loooooooooong time, I had a big chunk of uninterrupted time. And I decided to work on my painting.

It felt really good to have that time. I felt like I was able to start to get into a zone. I’m looking forward to more days like that.

Here’s a close-up picture of some of my progress..

There’s still much work to be done to get it finished, but this day felt like a nice chunk got done!

And thank you Mrs. Hitch for taking Phoenix!

edm challenge #5: draw your bed

glaucia — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:49:38 +0000

It would be nice if my bed looked like this…

But my bed looks like this…

more often than not.

Oh well. It makes for a more interesting drawing.

church membership

glaucia — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:34:02 +0000

Deciding to move from New York was a no-brainer.
As a matter of fact, it had been around 3 years of prayer, hoping for a chance to get out of New York.
You might think that is crazy, since most people are trying to get to NYC, instead of getting out.
Well, the thing is, when you have small kids and the playground is over a mile’s walk away and has scarey people hanging out, or when your car gets stolen from a residential neighborhood, or when rent is high, and you don’t get to change the color of the room, or use the backyard, or have room to store the summer’s clothes, or when taking the kids to school takes over 1.5 hours, you start to think there’s got to be a better way.
Having my own house started to sound really nice, and then it started sounding like a necessity, and then it became so far out of reach that I didn’t even want to think about it anymore.
That’s when Fabio found some job openings that really looked like a possibility.
Then the dream of the move became real again.
The process was over 6 months long, and I had a lot of excitement.
The one thing I couldn’t bring myself to think about was leaving our church. Graffiti.
I didn’t want to spend any time thinking about not having Graffiti. Even on the last day at Graffiti, I couldn’t bring myself to shed a tear. That would mean we were really leaving it behind.Even if we made frequent trips, we would eventually have to find a new church.
I knew that would be hard. I knew we would never find another Graffiti. But I also knew that God would go before us, and we would find a church that is right for us.
I expected the search to be harder, but we only visited some 5 churches before being recommended First Baptist Church of Perkasie by a friend, and once we visited, we’ve been going ever since.
Some days, I’ve shed a tear on my way to FBC, because it wasn’t Graffiti. Now it was time to cry. Somedays, I’ve cried just because I miss all our church family.
After about 5 months or so of attending FBC, we finally had a chance to attend FBC 101. It’s the class where the pastor teaches a bit about church doctrine, and overall church precepts that they follow here. It was pretty much what we expected, and now we know we are ready to join. We have to give our names to the pastors, and then we will be asked to give a brief testimony of how we came to know the Lord to the congregation. That will seal our deal, and we will then be members. It’s difficult to officially move membership away from Graffiti, but we know that this is the right step in being active in this local church. This is where we can now pour our resources, our gifts and our service. May God be glorified, and please keep us in your prayers as we look for opportunities to serve in ways that best use our gifts in this church.
Below is a pen sketch I did while attending FBC 101.

A taste of imagination

glaucia — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:29:28 +0000

A couple posts ago, when I asked what people would like to see me draw more of, my husband mentioned wanting to see things from my imagination.
This, however, happens to be my weakness as it were. I can be imaginative when starting with some realism, or photo, but it’s hard to just make up stuff, or work without reference or real things in front of me.
Anyway, as it turns out, 2 drawings which I made in the last couple days were mostly imagination, but both were inspired by scripture.
One was a sketch I did while listening to the pastor preach. It was inspired by Hebrews 11, where the author talks about a “great cloud of witnesses.” This scripture has been a something which I’ve wanted to paint for a very long time. This is a quick sketch to get me going in the right direction.

Then this morning, while reading through the first few chapters of Genesis, I was inspired by Genesis 3:7, where it talks about Adam & Eve eating of the fruit, and becoming aware of things they never knew before. I imagined this picture, and I hope to make a small painting of it someday.

How’s that for imagination?

my favorite subject

glaucia — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:30:24 +0000

When in doubt, I love to sketch my husband.
I don’t tire of looking at him, and his goatee and hair changes always make for interesting drawings.
This sketch is the only decent thing I managed to draw on saturday, the first sketchcrawl date of 2009.

edm challenge #4

glaucia — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:51:20 +0000

Draw a mug or cup
Here’s my drawing.
It’s nice to do a small journal next to the drawing. It adds interest to the page and makes it a more memorable event.

ballpoint on large moleskine

EDM Challenge #3

glaucia — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:53:07 +0000

Draw a bag, wallet or purse

This is a bag which Erin made for me. If you’re in the market for a unique bag, she’s the one to talk to.

I need a new one, in fact, because this one’s life, unfortunately has run it’s course, after being designed and made just for me. I’ve had it for 2.5 years, I think, and have used it all over. Erin, what should we do next?

Another good reason to order a bag from Erin is because she’s taking a mission trip to Swaziland, Africa, and this will help her fund the trip.

This drawing will help me remember this great bag long after it’s usefulness!

The first painting of 2009

glaucia — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:03:09 +0000

So, the garage studio which we’d hoped for, will not be happening anytime soon.

The barn/garage has lots of little problems, and it would take several thousand dollars to make it work. We’re not sure it’s worth fixing. In the meantime, we had to spend money on a car instead, so no studio for me there.

But as many of you know, I was given a gorgeous, huge easel. But what to do with it, when I don’t have a studio.

Well, as it stands, the only place it fits right now is in the dining room. And the dining room, is the only room with no furniture, because we did not yet purchase a dining room set. And I think for a while, we will not purchase one, and I will continue to use it as a studio…

So, this is how my free time was spent today. Painting. Fun times. This is what I should do everyday. Then, who knows what the end of the year archive will look like….

This painting is referenced from a photo taken in Venice, almost 10 years ago. I started this painting last year, before the move. then I worked on it for a few hours last week. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of the week.

But it makes me thing of St. Francis. In paintings like these:

More updates on the painting as I get more done. Any comments or early constructive criticisms welcomed and encouraged!

last drawing of 2008

glaucia — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:59:23 +0000

This is the last sketchbook drawing I did in 2008. I feel good about my progress during this past year, but I’m really excited about this new year!

What do you think I should draw more of?

EDM challenge #2

glaucia — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:35:36 +0000

I drew the second challenge a few days ago, before I got sick.

2. Draw a table lamp, desk lamp, or other lamp.

I squeezed this drawing in while we were at Liza and Ryan’s the day after New Year’s Day.

They were putting my godson, Luke, to bed, and I drew one of their lamps.

I think I have to draw a lamp again, being as this one didn’t turn out too great.

everyday matters in 2009

glaucia — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:38:58 +0000

I think I’ve discovered that I’m my own worst enemy. I’m far too scatter-brained and unfocused in my artistic efforts, to accomplish those things which I’d like to accomplish with my art the most.
I have come to realize that I need some very specific and attainable tasks/goals and schedules, in order to keep me motivated and moving forward. And I simply need to produce more art, if I am ever going to make art I love, sell anything and get over the voices in my head that tell me otherwise.
When talking recently with Rubens, who’s in a master of arts program at Rhode Island School of Design, he encouraged me to just make art; not worry about outcome, style or any other thing that might hinder the creativity. I appreciated the pep talk!
This morning I was thinking about what I want to do most. I want to do art. I want to draw and paint. I want to focus on that! and only that! There are lots of other things that fight for my attention, i.e. my photography, the occasional design work, my recent love of birds, knitting and other craft projects and all the things that come with the mom and wife and territory. Not to mention my time on the computer.
So, much like November, which was a very productive month, I will be making art everyday. Mostly attempting the everyday challenge list and/or painting. I will try to post my work as often as possible, but posting won’t be my priority. I will continue to covet your comments. I know they help me to keep going.

I also hope to go thru the Artist’s Way book, because I finally got my own copy as a Christmas present from Fabio.
All this will be part of getting closer to God.

Here’s my first EDM Challenge #1 – Draw a Shoe

More tomorrow….