30 in 30...day 5

Why does it seem that we are so accepting of hurry. A hurry to get things done & a hurry to get to the next. A hurry to heal. A hurry to grieve. A hurry to get there. And then a hurry to leave. 

Hurry here, hurry tomorrow, hurry home, hurry up...hurry, hurry, hurry. 

A lot of hurry to bloom before you're ready. Seriously, what's all this hurry for? 

                                   

                                                                Late Bloomers (2016)

                                                                    Oil on board 6x8 

Because unless there are free donuts downstairs, there is NO need to hurry. 

-Cheree 

30 in 30...day 4

Every week I buy flowers for myself for my art work space. They have become my "Starbucks splurge". I have to be honest, while painting is very relaxing for me; with a full time job & 2 kids...there are just days I don't want to do anything except sit in front of the TV watching American Pickers or Hollywood Medium because I'm tired. Tonight was one of those nights. I'm literally brain dead right now and need some caffeine to even finish writing this. 

                                                

                                                               Jar of tulips (2016)

                                                          Oil on canvas board 6x12

Now, if only I hadn't spent my Starbucks money on flowers...

-Cheree 

30 in 30....day 3

This one....this one, gave me a lot of trouble. I love these little Brandy/scotch/whiskey glasses I inherited from my grandparents. They bring me a lot of joy. Grandma use to give us strawberry pop in these little glasses every holiday. I felt like a queen drinking out of them. I remember thinking that my grandparents must be royalty having these glasses & a piano too. I painted these around 9/10am with my kids running around, jumping off furniture, throwing pillows at each other, & screaming bloody hell. Both these glasses were filled with whisky for painting purposes of course...

Nightcap for two (2016)
Oil on board 6x6
SOLD

...and tonight they're empty.

-Cheree 

30 in 30....day 2

 Back to my little fruits again. Working on painting clear dishes this week. This teacup is part of a set that was given to me for my birthday & I've been waiting for an idea with how to paint it. I am feeling that one of the hardest parts of 30 in 30 will be overcoming the frustration when the painting isn't working & forging through. I had a bit of a struggle with this one, as my brain kept trying to take over. Damn brain. 

   

        

                                                      Teacup of raspberries (2016)

                                                           Oil on clayboard 6x6 

                                                                  SOLD

Lucky for me I deposited some of it back on Martha's Vineyard. 

-Cheree 

30 in 30.....day 1

I'm putting myself on a challenge for this month. There are 30 days in April, so I am going to paint 30 paintings, 1 a day. Hell, I may even do a push-up with each one too, ya that's a good idea, I will add push-ups each day too (kill 2 birds with one stone). 

I was going to do a theme, but I feel for this first 30 in 30 I will just try to accomplish the challenge and hold myself accountable. I will most likely only be posting to the blog everyday with a few here & there to my Facebook. Sometimes things don't always work out as planned (paintings especially) but it's still good to have the record of learning. 

Here is day 1

I found this bouquet at Sprouts & I bought it specificly to paint for my friend, Dzifa. I met Dzifa when I was travel nursing in Connecticut. She was a Canadian nurse, but originally from Ghana. When I met Dzifa, she couldn't swim or ride a bike. Our other good friend, Lacie, taught her how to ride a bike over about a week, & then the 3 of us set off for a long weekend on Martha's Vineyard to explore & bike the island. The first day we got there, we went ocean kayaking...which, as someone who can't swim, must have been terrifying, but she's a bad ass, so she went anyway. She basically paddled that boat into every rock along the shore, to assure she would not float out to sea. Her only adventure out from the shore, she almost ran into an ocean liner.....I'm surprised we didn't have to pay damages for her boat, that thing was all scratched up. That night we went to a dance club & then everything went downhill from there. Dzifa doesn't drink & Lacie is responsible, so that left me. I can't recall the night, other than I was awesome! Dancing till close, not a care in the world......oh to be 26 again. 

Needless to say, her bike lessons were a complete waste for the next day, as I literally layed on a park bench regretting my awesome, and especially that crazy cartwheel thing I performed landing in the splits.....oh to be 16 again. 

        Looks like Roses, but it's not. (2016)

      Oil on board 8x10

          Gifted to friend 

                               

 So, here's to an awesome record of living & learning.

-Cheree 

Reverse the Curse

In 2002, when I graduated from nursing school, I up & moved to Boston. I knew no one there, never visited there, I just thought I should go some where I'd never been before. I quite literally woke up one day and decided I should move to Boston. My arrival in Boston in July of 2002 brought me not only 2000 miles away from my family, but also to a much bigger city than I'd ever experienced. I was in complete culture shock & having frequent panic attacks...for many, many, months. I wanted to turn around and go home immediately. Plus, the city was cursed. It said so every where. It was written on every single over pass and bridge. Graphited all over the city and no one seemed to bother to clean off the graffiti....Evah. Honestly, I had no idea what "Reverse the Curse" meant, but the day I got up the courage to ask (after 3 months of living there) what the "reverse the curse" is, was the first time in my life I thought I might actually die from a fire breathing, eye dagger shooting human...either that or they were going to spontaneous combust. "You "shittin me?" Ahhhhh..... noooooo? Is it related to Salem? "Are you (Fbomb) shittin me!?" Ahhhhh......nooooooo? Silence. Breathing. Silence.

 

So it was my brief time there and ability to live amongst the wicked and the cursed that has helped me somewhat with my own "curses".

 

This painting is the fourth different painting on this same canvas board. Usually I will attempt to shoot daggers at a cursed canvas, unsuccessfully, or if really cursed, I will perform a special kind of curse reversal that involves a plastic bag and a garbage truck....and eventually a fire breathing incinerator.

I gave this guy one last attempt & painted a wild flower field that I've hiked many times up in Crested Butte and often thought about when I was homesick, having panic attacks out east. 

Wild Field (2016)
Oil on cursed canvas board 8x8

                                                           

I'd like to say that my residence in Boston from '02-'04 helped reverse the curse, but I don't want to have another brush with death.....

EVAH!

-Cheree

Dissecting nurses

I am a nurse. I have worked in the profession for 14 years, with 10 of those years directly at the bedside. For those who do not know any nurses; we have a gruesome and often times inappropriate sense of humor. It's not that we are insensitive, but rather the opposite. We see things, do things, and deal with things that no one should ever have to....EVER! And these things can't be "unseen",.....EVER! It is with this profession that a protection of this sick sense of humor sometimes develops, just to get you through it all. And it is because of this nurseness that every time I cut into a piece of fruit I can't help but feel that I have performed a hemicorporectomy. It's not normal, I know. It's rather creepy, but I just think it...Every. Single. Time. 

WARNING: if you decide to google this term, please know the images are graphic. For the faint of heart, I would recommend just cutting a piece of fruit and being okay with that. Here are also a few of mine to view. 

'Cado 2016
Oil on Clay Board 6x6
Click to Bid

Kiwi Together 2016
Oil on Canvas  Board 6x6
SOLD

Lemon Half 2016
Oil on canvas board 6x6
SOLD

So, if you're not a nurse, please be sure to thank them, appreciate them, and forgive their sick sense of humor, as their job is not ever easy & you don't want to do it. 

And if you are a nurse...Let's take time to enjoy that well deserved amputated fruit.

-Cheree