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Monday, June 18, 2012

Painty-rific

Yuuuuuuuup.
~ firstly ~
I need to say thanks be to you.  All those gorgeous comments, convos and emails about the Travelers collection?  They BOUYED my heart like a big ol' hot air balloon.  Ladies, you got style.  You really do.


~ secondly ~
The muse has been here.  For days upon glorious days (as well as nights upon nights of utter sleeplessness as I can not stop working through thoughts and shapes and images and colors and...) she has breathed a fire into my fingers and the world has been a whirlwind of chroma.  It should be noted here that I have been painting for over a decade now, first as a student, then as an amateur and now [as  I would gladly label myself] a professional.  In all that time I have never, EVER worked in acrylic paint.  Not once.  Even those very first AWFUL still-life-of-toilet-paper-on-crappy-panels-pun-intended-that-I-threw-in-the-dumpster-and-six-months-later-found-my-neighbor-had-retrieved-and-hung-in-her-bathroom (yes, this is real) were in oil.  Along the way I picked up watercolor and a whole number of stigmas and prejudices about acrylic.  Silly untruths handed down by traditionalist painters such as "you'll never achieve the same luminosity in acrylic" or "everything you do will look like plastic" or "oils and watercolors are the only mediums for intellectuals."
Well I'm finally calling bullshit.
I'm digging around and looking to rid myself of these prickly, binding beliefs that I don't believe.   So I dug in with both hands, cave woman style, finger painting, squatting on the floor, smearing ultramarine across my temple, swinging canvases, letting paint pool and run and drip.  I drove emergency style to pick up a few more canvases after the first four had been covered.  Food, sleep, showering, whatever.  Halos and pale drifting lotus petals are far more interesting.
To paint so freely feels like shaking off rust I didn't even know was there.
Can I get an amen?

~ thirdly ~
We screamed and hooted and roared for three hours straight on Saturday night at the Humboldt Roller Derby double header between the home and Sacramento teams.  Which brings me to the all important question: IF you were a derby girl, what would your name be?  I debated over a few (including such gems as "seal clubber" and "tank-a-ray" before coming up with the bell ringer:
"The Umber-Taker"
Come on, you know that's good.  BC landed on "Bustin' Chops" (not surprisingly for those that know him) and we both nearly decided to take up the skates.
* * *

Happy Monday you cheeky little chickadees!
~ Umber ~

16 comments:

artist in the arctic said...

Lady. YOU are awesome and this post is pure joy!
So high-fiving you from Alaska. xo

Beth said...

first,love this image of you- both the photo in which you are surrounded by canvases but also the image in my head of you running off to the store "emergency style"!
second, the past three years, a friend and I have been attending all the roller derby bouts here in town and I really should have picked my own name out by now. but I haven't.

UmberDove said...

A - Girl, I give you the high, low, booty bump five. POW!

Beth - YOU NEED A NAME! For certain. And whilst speeding down the highway I thought about what I would have to tell the officer if I were pulled over... "Officer, I didn't mean to speed but, well, the muse is riding the gas peddle so it's not really my fault, see?"

cbumpmax said...

A-men! I love the greens.

Cat said...

LOL
ahhh the muse gives you such a fusion of life...it is awesome!!!
and yes
you can get an AMEN!!!
and as far as roller derby names...
mmmm
thats a tough one...
Crusher Cat????
or how about Cat the Rat??
lol

love and light

Cat said...

coma by and see this latest piece of art in my world
http://loveandlight-cat.blogspot.ca/2012/06/inkeda-weekend-tease.html
; )

kerin rose said...

oh God!...Roller Derby!...went for the first time last year and shoot, if I still had my old knees, I would have been in training ASAP!...have been working on my outfit in my head...but I only have the last part of my name...

__________Cry Baby

Whaddaya think? ...as for the paint prejudice, I believe w/ all my heart its the wielder of the brush that makes the difference...( plus, I don't like you being around solvents, even of the 'greener ' type, so yahhhooo! :)

xxxxx K

kerin rose said...

how bout.."You're Gonna Cry Baby"?

or

SInister Cry Baby?

:)

dragon said...

What a birthday treat to my self to read your blog! It's the woman, not the media. Here's to you and your muse. Clink, clink.

prairiegirl said...

See? Acrylic is fun! I was told all those lies about "what you should paint with" too. And it dries fast, so much so, you buzzed out for more canvas! Your derby name should be Painting Fiend!
I prefer ice skating, but if I were in roller derby, I'd choose the name Tumultuous Tumbleweed.
PS please make more feather earrings. x

UmberDove said...

Cat the Rat - Come on, I LOVE that name!

Sinister Kry Baby - One of the refs had these amazing disco ball sparkle tights and I was in serious envy... I was so ready to sign up too, until BC reminded me that I break bones like no bodies business and I kinda need full arm power. Boo. On the topic of paint, solvents have been a huge issue for me over the last couple years, both the personal breathing issue and disposal issue. So it's been a while that the temptation to try acrylic has danced around in my head. WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

Dragon - HEY LADY! HAPPY HAPPY DAY! I think you're going to need to go with "Flaming" somewhere in your name... I'm working on it. ;)

Tumultuous Tumbleweed (which so rocks) - Ouph, it is, IT IS! Holy filbets it's fun. I've never been able to use my hands and there's something about that little connection that ignites a fire for sure. OH YES, and your wish is my delight. ;)

Zorah said...

definitely thought it said "Panty-rific"

I was gearing up for something very...different?

UmberDove said...

Zorah - I'm so cheeky ;)

Carrie said...

LOVE this post so much - I have always dreamt of a feeling like that and a need to create that was all consumming and full of life!
Gorgeous painting!
I would love to see this Roller Derby lark in real life. I've seen a film about it but I think it is only tiny here with a couple of teams in the whole island. Aww well I doubt I'll ever need to think of a name......

lynsey said...

AMEN!!

dragon said...

Flaming Fledgling?