No idle hands

It has proven to be a very demanding week with no rest for the determined next week. Today is my first day off in a while so thus I bring you a detail from a study in graphite. Enjoy- GA in overdrive

ICE-watercolor study

Never a dull moment in the big city! Today I thought to utilize the common space in my building so went to the roof top deck to do a watercolor study. The frustration was not in being out of practice (I haven't done a watercolor or landscape in 4-5 months) but rather the fact that it was so cold, 38 floors above the river, that my paint was freezing in the brush as well as on the page. I had to laugh but after the first dozen times of returning indoors for 5 minutes after only painting for 3-5 minutes (depending on if the wind was blowing) the situation lost it's humor. That will teach me to paint in oil! Truth be know, If I were out another 5-10 minutes, I probably would have had to come indoors to thaw my fingertips... I can't paint small in gloves. So this is the East End River from the Manhattan side looking northeast. Enjoy- G.A... chillin' on the Upper East Side.

Arctic Artist Ninja Warrior

"From the darkness of the cold concrete jungle the artist tightly bundles against the elements of the city in hopes to avoid sketchy characters in transit towards enlightment! "
Drapery study. Graphite on Sommerset print paper. Approximately 13"x 21" ...the Gypsy Artist of course!

2010... here we go again!

Hello fellow art enthusiasts,

Welcome back to a whole new chapter in all or our lives... how cool is that? Well the gypsy went to the west coast for a couple of weeks and did a wee bit of art but mainly tried to ready myself for the new year... "finishing projects". I attempted to work on the red ribbon series but ended up "correcting the drawing" in a painting so had to take the pannel 5 steps backwards. Remembers boys and girls... ALWAYS CORRECT THE DRAWING no matter where the work is- Argh! So along the lines of what might call a resolution- I call a theme, I finally got two additions of a project I began before the NYC whirlwind began to the rightfull owners.

Let me back up a moment. I asked a group of artists I work with in Gig Harbor to join me in a unified project I named "echos a reply" in which they make an artists trading card of thier efforts and give it to me. I in turn respond/reply to thier work with my own effort and give a card back using the same card stock they requested as well as the same medium they used and somehow tie in a personal significance. For instance, I was given a pen drawing with watercolor addition on bristol board of a dog which the originator did from a previous artwork (larger) she had done earlier. My return card was also a pen and ink with watercolor of my cat I did from a previous scratchboard triad. (See pictures above- Dog done by Charli Meacham, Cats done by me)

I have had three trades in the small format specifically on the project thus far mainly because I have not solicited except the one day. When the spontaniety of life overwhelmed my destony, I picked up, moved to NY and didn't get the participants thier trades until much later. I appreciate thier efforts beyond words as I think this is a great challenge for me and love to trade art with friends. I hope to continue the project as soon as I make friends here. Until then- G.A. back to the drawing board.