Alaskan Artist - Elise Tomlinson
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06/28/2004: "Finishing up / Tip for Title Cards / Sailing in Alaska"


Well, countdown to hanging the show on Thursday begins...I got a lot accomplished this weekend. I repainted the figure of the "Under the Devil's Club" painting yet *again*! It looks better. I lightened it up and put back in light light green highlights that make a kind of grid across her body.

I also repainted the Fiddlehead Fern painting. After my dad and sister's kept saying the middle fern looked like a snail, it started to look like one to me as well. So I repainted the middle fern, removing the leaves that made it look like a snail. Then I had to repaint the sky and mountains as well. Nothing is ever easy.

Next I finished up the Lupine Slumber painting. The actual lupine were bothering me...I had painted them in a hurry the first time and they had no volume, looked very flat, so I spent several hours painting in little highlights and shadows to give each petal more of a volumous look.

I also finished signing all of the pieces. Some of them I had to sign several times because the signature wouldn't be straight or didn't seem to be in the right location. Each time I had to re-do it, it meant re-painting the area where I had originally painted the signature.

I also spent several hours working on the painting that I sold at the Quick Draw. The woman who bought it gave it to me to finish. It looks much better now than it did at the event's auction.

I also have finished framing all the paintings that were completely dry. I put the black backings on the back of the frames and then used my framing point gun to drive in flex-points...the kind you can bend up to remove the artwork and then bend back down again.

Besides finishing up the frames on the four paintings that I completed last night, everything else is finished. I decided to make my own title cards this time and I've come up with a good system. I bought some black foam core and cut out little cards slightly bigger than the size of a business card. Then I printed out my title cards onto the business cards, sprayed the backs of the cards with Elmer’s spray adhesive (3 bucks a can) and then centered the business cards onto the black foam core so there is a very thin black line around the edges. They look very nice and professional. I then glue a small piece of foam core to the back of the title card so that when I put it on the wall, it will float a bit.

On a personal note, last night we had a huge thunder and lightening storm here, which is very rare and was incredible. We've lost power twice in the past two days. Plus, there is an active volcano in the St. Alias mountain range that may be erupting in the state soon and last night there was a 7.2 earthquake. Ya gotta love living on the ring of fire!

By the way, the power outage on Sat. night was timed perfectly. Sat. afternoon I got something personal in the mail that really set me off. I started writing this long and embarrassingly pitiful story about a guy I used to like and a girlfriend who stabbed me in the back (the only time in my life that I've lost a friend over a romantic interest, and it was more about her loyalty as a friend than the guy) I was going to post it to this blog!

I was just getting ready to submit it when the power died...this was around 2:30am and I'd had had a few glasses of wine and it is something I would have *really* regretted posting. (I'm sure we've all hit the "submit" button and sent an email or made a post that we've instantly regretted afterwards, lord knows this wouldn't have been the first time for me!). The next day I woke up with that vague feeling of unease you get when you think you've sent something awful out into the world...then I remembered the power outage and felt so relieved.

Also, you may remember that I was debating on whether or not to go on a ten day sailing race with some friends or to do the Quick Draw event and finish up my show...I chose the more responsible route but after checking out the photos that my friends Mike and Karen (the skipper's of the High Noon, the boat I would have gone out on) took this past week, I'm really kicking myself. They had excellent weather and it looks like they had an amazing time. If you want to see some photos of Alaskan sailing, check out Mike's site at: http://www.bonanzasnorthwest.com/admiralty/ I know a lot of these people, sailors in Alaska are really down to earth, and not at all the rich snobs I (as a Midwesterner) always assumed sailors to be. DeLynn, on the Committment, is my regular sailing partner on my boat, the Rozinante. The Committment is a great boat as well...I did the Rum Cup one year on that boat and had a total blast. Oh well, maybe I'll get to go next year.

For future reference though, no more summer openings for me!




Replies: 2 Comments

on Tuesday, June 29th, Steve B. said

I got wasted on New Years Eve and sent an email to a female friend I hadn't talked to in years basically declaring my undying love. She was married and I had a serious girlfriend. She was friends with my girlfriend and forwarded her the email. I lost the girl and the friend. Friends don't let friends drink and type.

on Tuesday, June 29th, support@elisetomlinson.com">Elise said

I was on the receiving end of a new years eve phone call from a drunk ex-whatever and I kept telling him..."Jake (names have been changed to protect the innocent) you are reeeeaaaalllly going to regret saying these things in the morning so I'm just going to hang up and pretend this never happened".

Of course, in my case neither of us were married so that's not really the same thing but ah, alcohol is the great equalizer...no?