YES!!! OIL PAINTS!!!

I've been painting this weekend and I read a lot yesterday (please note, the new "currently reading" section on your right). I started painting for a friend of mine whose birthday is tomorrow... due to my despistada state (only true Guanacos know that despistada means I'm broke) I cannot buy her something really nice, plus she's been asking me for a painting since... well, ever since I gave ATS a painting. I don't like when people request paintings, mostly because my mind goes blank and then I think my brains out trying to come up with something that person would like... so it makes the whole creative process a little less enjoyable. SO when I get a request I just say "NOOOOO!!!" and run away... oh, wait! no, that's in my dreams... what I actually do is smile and come up with something funny intended for that person to forget about the painting. Well... that didn't work with CM... and I tried it so many times!!!

So I thought "hey, it's her bday!" I called her to ask what she wanted for her bday... I knew what she'd say and she said it "I want a painting!" I could actually hear her smile after she said that. Yes, you can hear when people are smiling on the phone.

Anyway, I hope she likes the painting.

And well, the kitchen/dining room/my art studio is full of my stuff right now. Paint, brushes, paper, canvas, etc... I went to wal-mart one of these days and found an easel, it was nice and it was like $10. It wouldn't last forever but it would help me... and I couldn't buy it, again, due to my despistada state. With school starting in a couple of weeks I can't spend any money on anything or I'll regret it BIG time later.

Hey, once again I went off on a tangent. I wanted to write about last night, when I was taking a little break from painting. I was a little tired and I sat down on the sofa and I looked at one of the paintings I did for class this Spring... it's the only one I don't like because the still life set up had this little glue bottle that just drove me nuts. So I was staring at the painting and thought about how I would love to be able to paint with oils at home so I could somehow fix that painting or just paint over the thing. And then it happened... I thought "Hmmm..." (yes, I thought that) and then I just got up when to get my paints (OILS!!!) and my palette knives, I put some paper on the table and then started painting over that ugly still life. What came up was an abstract piece that I like better than the still life. In less than 10 minutes I had a new painting... in oils!!! I quickly got rid of all the paper I put on the table and cleaned any marks that I had left. Then I made a sign that says "No tocar - Fresh" (Don't touch - Fresca) and left the painting on the kitchen floor. I know it'll take FOREVER to dry, so I hope nobody bumps into it... I would not be pleased. I must say, I am very glad I finally got rid of that still life. My mom got mad, she said no to ever do that, not to ever paint over anything ever again. But the thing is, that painting would be a pain on my artsy butt had I not painted over it.
Here are the before and after:

Please note the little glue bottle on the right (the first painting). THAT little thing was the one that I didn't want as part of my record. The new painting looks better than it does in the picture... just remember that the digital camera I'm using is a joke. It was like $40 at wal-mart a couple of years ago. I think it was 2002, actually.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. I didn't mean to write this much.