They are the window to the soul.  Mesmerizing...captivating...tricky.

I have spent the last 3 hours doing nothing but painting eyes.  Wow, you're thinking...she is studying eyes! She must have painted lots of eyes! 

Oh no. 

Just one pair. For 3 hours. Ok, maybe 2 and a half hours.

After breaking the "painting" ice this weekend by doing a trial painting on a mini-canvas, I feel ready to tackle my first "real" painting.  And portraiture is where I begin.

I have a photograph of Brooklyn that I took about a year ago and I love it. It's very zoomed in on her face and here eyes are enormous and golden brown and quite compelling. The value is not great - the flash just about sucked in her whole face, but somehow, that makes the overall picture that much more radiant. 

So I spent this afternoon making a sketch of the photograph. And then I kind of got carried away and sketched Dorien who was sleeping beside me and then a photograph of August I'd like to paint and another photograph of Brooklyn. It was downright blissful.

I took those sketches with me to art class tonight and showed Endia, my instructor. She was very keen on the idea of my painting these portraits and was especially excited about my working on Brooklyn's eyes.

She gave me some undivided attention for a few minutes, teaching me (by demonstration) how to work on eyes. Wow.

I mean, WOW! First of all, Endia is amazing. And a great teacher. 

After I used a projector to enlarge my earlier sketch of the photograph to my canvas, I began mixing paints (burnt umbers, black, oranges, etc) to get the right colors. Then blending and reworking....

And I am happy to say that by the end of class, I had two pretty good eyes staring back at me from an otherwise white canvas. And I do mean staring at me. These things are intense.

And I'm terrified of what comes next. Skin tone. 

  But most of all, I am amazed that I could spend so long just working on a pair of eyes. And have such an insanely wonderful time. (and I apologize for the dreadful pictures)  

  

 Where do you find inspiration?

  Is it a person? A photograph?

A piece of music? An album? The way the sunlight filters through trees on the edge of the road? 

 Fat baby toes in the afternoon sun? The perfect stillness of a lake at dusk? A quiet house? When the air dips to a certain chilly temperature and leaves begin to flutter to the ground?

 Is it a blog? A poem? A photograph of a recipe that makes you want to pull out your pots and pans and attempt it yourself? Design magazines? Beautiful landscaping?

And what is it that you're inspired to do? Sing? Write? Read? Run? Cook? Pull out your own camera? Knit? Sew? Quilt? Make hot tea? Learn to paint? 

Inspiration comes in many shapes and moves us in different directions. I find inspiration in every single one of the instances listed above and I know those barely scratch the surface. 

I am so overwhelmed by inspiration at times that it literally paralyzes me. What to do first? Second? Third? And more importantly...when? I have piles of projects just begging me to jump in. Photographs, baby books, knitting projects, sewing patterns....

As I mentioned before, my latest venture is painting. Thanks to David McCullough who opened my eyes to John Singer Sargent, I am seeing the world through different eyes. I have been infused with a burning desire to paint! I realize there are so many people over the course of history who've answered the call of paint to find its perfect expression on canvas and many of them have mastered it. Mastered it. And then new ones have come along and mastered different, but equally amazing techniques.  

There are the Michelangelos and Rembrandts, the Picassos and Renoirs, the Rothkos and Kandinskis, the Van Goghs and Degas and the list goes on and on and on...and all those move me. But none quite like John Singer Sargent.

He not only painted portraits, he painted watercolors and landscapes in all different ways and they never cease to stun me, captivate me, awe me. I'm not saying everyone will or should react the way I do. But I do hope there is at least SOMETHING in your life that you do react to as viscerally as I do to his work. Something that you love so much you feel it must have been invented just for your enjoyment.

Because to be so moved and so inspired is fantastic and terrifying. It does more than sit there and look pretty and make me feel good. It tosses its head and issues a challenge to me. Ashley, join me. Try this. 

So I've taken a great leap into the unknown to nod my head to the greatness that has gone before me and to learn to understand it. Attempt to find my own voice with paints. Will I be successful? Who knows. That's part of the terror, really. Because for some reason, it's not enough for me to just love Sargent's work. I want to understand the way he painted. The mediums he used. The thought that went into his compositions.

And I, two classes in, am so overwhelmed by a whole world of painting that I never knew existed.  The wide array of brushes to choose from. Different types of surfaces on which to paint. Preparation of those surfaces. Acrylic or oil? Or water-soluble oil? Which medium to use? Water, liquid gel, soft gel, GAC, paste?  How to glaze, dry brush, figuring out your natural brush style, sfumato, impasto, stippling...what to paint...how to put my own interpretation via my eyes, brain, arm, fingers, brush to canvas...and have it make a connection to someone else.

I have spent "my" moments, the moments when no other demands are placed on me and I'm just sitting nursing Dorien or reading while everyone else is asleep, pouring through books on the different techniques of painting in oil and acrylic, studying and thinking through the different texts. Reading books on John Singer Sargent and also, doing my own beginner exercises! 

I have no idea where, if anywhere, this will take me. I just know that there is something magical about the brush, slick with paint, making contact with a quietly waiting canvas...

I don't care how busy you are or what you do with your time. You need to be inspired. We all do. Find that something and let it move you to something bigger, something that scares you. Sometimes walking into a room of strangers with nothing in common except a desire to wield a brush can be the best thing you can do for yourself.

It's 65 degrees outside and drizzling. I have Gosford Park playing, the kids are napping (minus Dorien), it's grey and overcast and occasionally a bird squawks outside. It's utterly peaceful. I now have wireless internet and I have the luxury of sitting at my coffee table to write this post instead of staying tethered to my desk chair. 

I can't tell you how nice that is. 

Dorien is now sitting up, rolling from back to tummy and back again. And as of Tuesday, weighs 21 lbs, 13 ounces and is 28 inches long. 95th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. Go boy.

It's the end of another busy week on Goshen. Homeschool is moving right along, we started a Bible study on Wednesdays, I started an oil/acrylic painting class on Tuesday nights, Dorien had a six month check up where he got 4 shots and the next day, popped through two new teeth. Brooklyn read her first words from an Abeka reading handbook that I used when I was her age! Oh, and August is wearing big boy underwear (Lightning McQueen) and I'm racing him to the potty every hour. 

Observing how water travels up through celery and turns the ends blue! 

Although there are days when I look at dust bunnies wafting across the floor and cringe, wondering if I'm truly neurotic about dirt (the answer is yes) and when can I find the time to vacuum yet again, I've managed to get comfortable with our life right now. I love the waning of summer into fall...we've actually worn long sleeves a few days this week!!

 Dorien entertaining himself while we do school.

Uh, ok, they're not looking, so.... 

 It's gnaw-time!!!!

And at church... 

Are we teething or are we teething? 

More on my art classes later...I am going supply shopping this weekend. That alone should give me some interesting blog material! 

Not my work - just an example of a little color/medium exploration I'm going to be tackling next week. 

 More color studies. This is gonna be interesting!

More later...

 A little spot of color towards the end of what feels like a very long week. Reminding me that a very long weekend lies ahead and to just hang in there!!!

The lovely little teacups and saucers were birthday presents from my mom who made me so happy with these gorgeous finds!

 And I realize it feels too early to celebrate Fall, but it is technically September.

And September 23 marks our Autumnal Equinox, don't ya know, so it just FEELS right to make my favorite fall food:

Pumpkin Chocolate (and white chocolate) Chip Muffins.

Notice August isn't complaining. Empty muffin wrapper, plenty of evidence left behind on the top lip and a smile for me. Worth every second of mixing and baking.

So, Happy September, Happy Almost Labor Day...

I feel like I've been doing some laboring lately, and I intend to fully leave that behind over the weekend. You do the same. See you next week.