Cedar Lee January 1st, 2012

Happy New Year!

2011 was eventful for me (maybe a little too eventful even)–I gestated and birthed my second child, had a hugely successful art show and sale, and most recently packed up my entire life and moved to the opposite side of the continent with my husband, toddler, newborn and dog.

January 1st has arrived: the date I decided on to get back to work after my (self-imposed, obviously, since I’m self-employed) maternity leave, and I am uber-excited about my plans for the year. For the next few months I will be developing my “Cosmic Dance” series further. New paintings will be posted soon!

While making lists and sketching out plans for my own work, I was reminded how difficult it was (and still is) for me to focus on one thing at a time and see it through. I get emails every day from beginning artists asking for all kinds of advice, so many that I can’t respond to them all. By far the most common request is for feedback on their artwork, and when I go to look at their artwork, I always find the same thing. It’s the same thing you would have found if you looked at my artwork 10 years ago. A collection of images that could have been made by 10 different artists. Regardless of how good or interesting the artwork is, there is a complete lack of cohesion from one piece to the next. Pencil drawings of figures next to abstract oil paintings next to digital work. I always think, “Who is this artist, really? What does this person do?”

The single most important thing for any artist to do, and in my experience one of the most difficult, is to create a consistent body of work. It is how a visual artist finds his or her voice. Here is a short video sharing some thoughts on how to simplify that process:

• Art Plans , Information for Artists & Art Lovers
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Cedar Lee December 15th, 2010

It’s been forever since I’ve painted a portrait, as I made the official decision over a year ago to quit doing portraits altogether (at least for this phase of my life) in order to focus my time and efforts on expanding my other collections of art–namely the Cosmic Dance, Tree, Lotus, and Sunflower series.

So officially speaking, I no longer take commissions for portraits.  But of course there is always the exception to the rule.  I promised to do this portrait for a friend, and she really needed it done because I did one of her first child and it wouldn’t be right not to have a matching one of her second!

So, right in time for Christmas I’ve finished this portrait of the adorable young Tristan.  Having a little boy of my own has made me appreciate the innocent sweetness and boisterous energy of little boys all the more!

Here is the reference photo I worked from.

And here is the painting, Tristan, 16″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas.

I’m nearly done with another of my huge Cosmic Dance paintings (another 40″ x 50″!) and I’m going to attempt to finish it by the end of the year, but we’ll see how it goes.  If not, it’ll just be my first painting of the new year!

As I predicted a few months ago, I’ve completed 30 paintings in 2010.  I fell short of my goal of 40, but this has been my first year as a working mother, so I approached the whole thing as a big experiment, not knowing what to expect, and looking back on my fantastically busy year, I don’t think 30 is too shabby!  My goal for 2011 is to produce the same amount of artwork as 2010, or more.  We shall see.

I am so blessed to be able to work from my comfortable, well-appointed studio in my home, and to continue making money doing what I love even in this brutal economy.  I love my job!

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season, and I hope you’re all staying warm and cozy if you live in a place (like I do) where the temperatures outside lately have been soul-crushingly cold.  Brrrr…I am seriously considering figuring out if a tropical family getaway might be do-able for us this winter!  I just–NEED–some warmth and sunshine and ocean and sand.  Perhaps another visit to Costa Rica is in order.

• Art Plans , New Works: Portraiture
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Cedar Lee January 5th, 2010

Thanks to Alyson B. Stanfield for alerting me to the news that the Pantone Color Institute has unveiled turquoise as 2010′s “color of the year.”

It got me thinking about the colors I’m excited about using in my paintings this year.  I hadn’t realized it, but in the part of my brain designated for filing away visual-delights-to-put-into-future-art, I’ve been dreaming about painting in rich, warm, gold tones.  Sunny yellowy orangy colors–more along the lines of the “Hope for Tomorrow” color that’s currently in first place for color of the year in this public poll.

I’m currently working on finishing a group of Sunflower Heart paintings, which is a perfect opportunity to play with those colors.

Happy New Year!

• Art Plans
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Cedar Lee December 19th, 2009

The winter solstice is in two days and where I live we’ve gotten almost two feet of snow in the past 24 hours!  I’ve baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and I’m feeling good.  I’m eagerly preparing to spend my Christmas and New Years with family and friends.

This poor blog has been abandoned for the past 2 months as I’ve focused on the major life change of new parenthood, and I’ve missed posting here.  I’m looking forward to reinstating my regular blog-writing schedule in the new year.

My baby son will be going to work with me in the studio every day starting next month.   Historically, my cat and my two black labs have been my only studio companions.  Now this little guy will be hanging out in the studio as well:

As a result I predict my work habits will be changed–instead of long dawdling hours at the easel,  I will work in short, intense spurts of productivity.  I’m interested to see how these forced time constraints will affect my art, and I think as a matter of course my new work will be infused with spontaneity and decisive energy.  I intend to jump right in and accomplish whatever I can in whatever way that works.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the coming year, becoming inspired and motivated.  I know from experience the power I can harness just by focusing my energies, however meager those energies may be.  So I’ve got goals and I’m making them official!

My list of New Year’s Resolutions includes the completion of renovations to my new studio space, the completion of a certain number of paintings in each series, regular upkeep and improvement to my website, and other professional goals involving exhibiting my work and cultivating my relationships with art galleries.

The blank canvases are waiting to be filled–I can’t wait!

Happy Holidays to you all–see you in 2010!

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Cedar Lee October 2nd, 2009

Over the past month I’ve successfully gotten a couple dozen paintings prepared, delivered, and shipped out to their various new homes and up onto art gallery walls to be displayed and sold!  As of a few days ago, I’ve officially declared that my maternity leave has begun.

This photo of me was taken a couple of weeks ago, at about 37 weeks pregnant with my first child:

At that point I was still climbing trees.  Now, not so much!  My estimated due date is now fast approaching, and I’ve shifted my focus inward for the time being.  You can expect things to get quiet around here for awhile, but I’ll check in when I can.

I plan to get back to work in the studio in January and start releasing new works again by February.  I won’t be taking on any new commissioned work until February.

Looking ahead to 2010, my artistic efforts next year will be focused on further developing several ongoing series’:

Sunflower Series

Lotus Series

Looking Up Series

Cosmic Dance Series

For the past 9 months, the same creative energy I put into my work has also been going into the creation of a new baby.  Now that same energy will form the start of a new family.  It is a never-ending process of growth.  Please keep me in your thoughts as I embark on this adventure!

• Art Plans , Family
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Cedar Lee September 9th, 2009

The next 4 paintings I’m about to show you (I’m working on the 4th now, and will photograph them when it’s done) are still part of the Sunflower series, but they are a departure from the norm.  They’re on the same size panels, painted in oils, but instead of entire sunflower heads, they are zoomed-in close-ups of the centers of the sunflowers, where the seeds are.  I’m calling them Sunflower Hearts.  They’re very colorful and somewhat abstracted.  I really love them so far!

Pictures coming soon!

I’m about to start my maternity leave, so once these 4 are done, my priority will shift towards getting the 20 paintings I have all over my studio in various stages of drying ready to send to their destinations.  This process includes cataloging and labeling each painting for my inventory, attaching hanging wires to all of them, photographing the new ones and getting them online.

Several are going to customers who have already purchased them.  A lot are going to be delivered in person to local galleries, and a lot are going to be carefully packed and shipped to out-of-state galleries.  So, there’s a lot going on around here.  Stay tuned!

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Cedar Lee August 3rd, 2009

I’ve had a crazy weekend and work in the studio was put on hold.

I took my 10-year-old beloved cat, Quani, to the vet on Friday because she was drooling brown and had funky breath–I figured she had a dental problem.

It turns out she has a huge growth on her tongue extending way into her throat, and either it’s a bacterial or viral infection, or it’s cancer.  We are force-feeding her antibiotics every 12 hours till her appointment next week (force-feeding medicine to a cat: not fun) in the hopes that it is just an infection and will clear up.  If it’s cancer, it can’t be surgically removed because it’s on her tongue, so there’s not much we can do.  I feel helpless.  It can be so hard when the animals you love are sick.

On top of that stress, the water heater in my basement has been having intermittent flooding issues for the past couple of months, and this weekend it finally decided to blow up completely.  It still heats water; it just also happens to pour a river into my basement whilst doing so.  Life had to stop momentarily while my husband and I shopped for a new water heater and arranged to have it installed.  Ouch!  At least we should be able to take hot showers again by tomorrow.

My good news for this week is that I visited Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, D.C. to see the lotus flowers in full bloom.  I took a lot of beautiful pictures.

I decided my future Lotus paintings, in addition to frogs, dragonflies and other bugs, need to include turtles, bees, and possibly butterflies.

Can you see the camouflaged frog?

I hope to still meet my painting goals for this week by putting in extra studio time later in the week–so, stay tuned!

• Art Plans , Life , Pets
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Cedar Lee July 8th, 2009

Out of all the Lotus art I’ve made, this painting, Lotus V, is the only one not yet sold.  The reason for this is that all the people who bought the Lotus paintings bought several at a time, mixing and matching them to display as sets, and in the end this one was left over.

These paintings look great when displayed together (especially, I think, in a row of 3) and nobody has ever bought just one.  So this little straggler needs some companions before it can reach its maximum potential.

But the style of my Lotus art has grown somewhat since I painted this one, so I decided to re-work it to make it match my more recent pieces.  Here’s what the old version of the painting looked like, before I re-worked it with new layers of paint.

Here is Lotus V after re-working.

I like it much better now–the colors are more vibrant and saturated, there is more contrast between darks and lights, more detail, and overall it has a more smooth, streamlined look.  There is more “pop!”

It also obviously needed a dragonfly.  I can’t believe I didn’t realize the need for a dragonfly before!

It’s going to fit in very nicely with the new Lotuses I’m working on now.  I’ve finished one, I’m almost done with a second, and I have plans drawn out for 8 more after that.  It’s just a matter of putting in the studio time–pictures of the new Lotuses are forthcoming.

Remember Towering Trunk II, which I made a couple weeks ago to replace the sold Towering Trunk?  Well, Towering Trunk II has already sold as well!

I’m debating whether to paint a Towering Trunk III, or something else.  It’s clear I need another tree painting.

I have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head and a lot of projects going on in the studio right now.

• Art Plans , New Works: Flowers
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Cedar Lee May 11th, 2009

I’m staring at a beautiful blank 40″ x 30″ canvas, the white space rife with possibility.  I know what I’m going to paint on it, but I’m still working out the logistics of the design before I begin.  For now I’ll just say it’s going to be the newest addition to my “Looking Up” tree series!

The latest batch of sunflower paintings has been successfully shipped to the gallery in NC.  The gallery owner loves them, which makes me happy.  She’s sending me a copy of this year’s Waynesville Gallery Association brochure with my sunflower art on the cover, which is to be distributed all over Western North Carolina!

If someone’s going to sell your work for you, first they have to be a fan of it themselves–it’s such an obvious fact, but I remember a time not too long ago when I was so eager to show in any gallery, under any circumstances, that I didn’t even think about that part.

Now that I’ve developed long-term relationships with several galleries, I realize how lucky I am to work with people who relate to me well on a professional as well as a personal level, and believe in me and my work.  The painting I’m about to start is probably going to one of my Maryland galleries when it’s done–more on that later!

My puppy Blake was neutered on Friday.  For months we’ve known with dread that it was coming, and we couldn’t bear to say the word “neuter” in front of him, so we started calling it “his noodles appointment” and it stuck.  We’d say, “Do you think when Blake gets his noodles he’ll stop digging under the fence?” or “Oh Blake, I’m really sorry you have to get your noodles, my sweet little guy.” or in angrier moments, “Blake, you little @*#$!^, you ate my favorite shoes!!!  Boy do I have some noodles for you.”

Blake is now in recovery from his noodles and is doing well.  He has to wear the ridiculous Elizabethan collar, aka lampshade, to keep him from messing with his incision while it heals.  For the first day his eyes were so sad and he walked around with his head down, clumsily bumping his lampshade into things, and it compounded my already terrible guilt at what we’ve done to him.  But now he’s gotten used to wearing it and is acting like his normal self, so it’s not too bad.

I hope everyone had a great Mothers’ Day weekend!  This was the first Mothers’ Day when I could vaguely claim credit for being a mother.  I wasn’t sure if mothers-to-be count or not, but then I remembered the 3 months of nausea, vomiting and fatigue, my carefully orchestrated new diet, and the hours of baby-related research I now do every day, and decided that it totally counts.

• Art Gallery Representation , Art Plans , Family
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Cedar Lee February 11th, 2008

I have 2 changes of plans.

First change of plans:

I had told everyone that I was going to be working on a new body of work but that I wouldn’t reveal any of the paintings until the body of work is complete. I thought that it would be a good exercise in self-reflection–to see the direction my art might take when I am the only one who sees it, and there is no influence from the outside world.

It was a good idea in theory, and I know a lot of artists work that way, but I’m starting to realize that it isn’t going to work for me. For one thing, it’s fun to share my new developments with you. It’s encouraging to soak up your “oohs” and “aaahs” and it’s helpful to my growth to hear your criticisms and suggestions. I need that–I work out of my small studio in my home and rarely make real contact with the outside world, especially during winter when I have a tendency to hibernate. The exception is the realm of my social life, which gives my gregarious spirit a much-needed boost, but is more or less separate from my work life.

Also, the process of photographing a new work of art, cropping the photo, uploading it to my website and my blog, and writing about it, while tedious at times, is a tangible marker for me–a ritual of closing one project and moving on to the next, that helps me. It creates a record of all my work, which I can look back on with a glance to see where I’ve been and where I’m going.

So I’m going back to my old way of doing things–I’ll post all of my new work here as I create it.

With that lengthy explanation, I give you 2 recent works:

Heaven and Earth
Oil on Canvas
24″ x 36″ (Made up of 2 separate panels of 12″ x 36″, hung on the wall with about an inch between them)

Morning Sunbeams
Oil on Canvas
(Same dimensions as Heaven and Earth)

Morning Sunbeams in a sunny bedroom:

Second change of plans:

The daily paintings of cats–I had told you that I would be doing a series of daily paintings, cat portraits. I keep trying to get a start on this project, but my other work is continually beckoning.

I want to make more progress on these multiple-panel landscapes and see if the idea goes anywhere or if it ends up being a temporary experiment…I have to make new work to send to my galleries this spring…I’m planning trips out of town to talk to new art dealers…I’m in charge of organizing my family’s first family reunion in 13 years, which will happen in July…I’m trying really hard to eat well and get enough exercise…I have a household to run and pets to take care of and….blah blah blah. You get it.

I am simply going in too many different directions at once to be a daily painter on top of it all. I think I was too ambitious…most daily painters do one painting a day and post it online for sale. They don’t try to do one painting a day while simultaneously working on 5 ideas for other paintings, supplying galleries with new work, etc. They just do one painting a day. Not that that’s any small feat, which is my point. If I’m going to be a daily painter I can’t do so many other things at the same time.

So here’s the new plan: I will create 20 portraits of cats. I will work as quickly as I can, and I won’t stop until I’ve got 20, but it’ll take as long as it takes. I won’t pressure myself to finish one per day. If I need to focus on a landscape, or on the business side of my work for a few days, I will.

So, enough lengthy explanation.

Here are the first two cats in my series:

Tommy
Acrylic on Canvas
8 x 10″

Skitterbug
Acrylic on Canvas
10 x 8″

And more cat portraits are in progress!

• Art Plans , New Works: Nature & Misc. , New Works: Portraiture
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