Reviewing The Basics

Do you ever feel it is sometimes important to review the basics of the work you do? I feel as though it has been important to me over the last few weeks. One of the reasons I think I have wanted to do this is because I am exploring new processes and new mediums, too. As I have said before, I am enjoying the use of FW Pearlescent Inks along with liquid and regular acrylics. No, no I have not given up on the glazing, but it seems as though I have to keep myself interested in other things while I also enjoy that very time consuming process of clear glazing. This is a little bit of one of the pieces I am currently working on. I know I should be documenting the process, however I just can't seem to take myself out of the flow of work to prepare that linear type document. There is more to do with this and you are not seeing the entire piece, I thought you might like to see how the inks are responding.

Now getting back to the idea of re-exploring the basics I have found a wonderful book called Painting Abstracts by Rolina van Vliet. While I am not one to follow a program, I am finding picking and choosing some of the exercises are quite helpful. It is helping me to think about the working methods which work well for me and reminding me to evaluate my work with the elements and principles of art in mind. While they sit back there constantly poking at my intuition, I think it is helpful to bring them to the front of my evaluation process from time to time.

If you enjoy abstract painting, I think you will find this book useful. If you are interested in exploring abstraction, I think this book is very useful in helping to understand what it is all about and what actually goes into the work of abstract painting.

Thanks to Amazon for the use of this image.

Do you find you have to make yourself step back from your work or does it come naturally? Have you ever felt as though it is important to return to basic ideas to begin to build again? How does the process work for you?

I hope all is well where you are and spring or fall is finding a way into your days!

I will be back with you soon!

Fly Away

I know you have seen this before, but I have a purpose in sharing it with you again.This was the photograph of a lily which I put through Dumpr. I became interested in the shape in the center of this circle. I am interested in some of the other aspects, too, but this image came to me a lot. Maybe if I just did a bit of sketching it would leave me alone.
I tried a few things like this in a large sketchbook with some charcoal. It was fun to do and made me want to pick up charcoal more often, but it was not enough.

You know where this is leading, don't you? So here you go:
After a lot of playing around with paint on this canvas, this is what I ended up with. It is 30" x 40" gallery wrapped, staple-less canvas in all acrylic. The splattering which appears "white" in the photo is actually pearl glaze. Yes, I know it is not centered and that seemed quite right to me for several reasons...this image knocked me off center a bit and it added to the feeling of flying away. Now, with that in mind, I have decided to title this painting, "Fly Away". I decided to photograph this before I add the clear glaze as it is a lot easier to get some kind of reasonable photograph. I hope it will leave me alone now.

Does this happen to you when an image continues to irritate until you work through it? Rarely do I have this problem, but this time it drove me crazy. Maybe one of the reasons is I could not paint as often as I wanted to paint. I do not know.

I hope to spend some time in the studio this weekend. I have a few more things I need to accomplish, but that is always the way, right? How about your weekend, are you looking forward to something fun?

Have a Great Weekend!

Doodling in Paint?

As you may know, I have been working with my non-dominant hand on a regular basis - encouraged along by Andrea and Suki. I have found it to be freeing and am wondering if it will influence work I do with my dominant (right) hand. One of the doodles I have wanted to do in the last few days has been spirals. I normally am not interested in this particular shape. As a result, this painting came out of me. It is acrylic, the off-white is really pearl. This is a 10" x 10" staple-less canvas.

I don't know if I will keep this or not. I was telling Suki how I do not really know what I am painting when I do paint. I pretty much become a part of it. Then when I stop painting, I forget to stand back and take a look at what I have done. I truly separate from what I have been doing. Does this ever happen to you? I usually have to walk back into the studio and be surprised or repelled by what I have done. Or I have to gauge your responses.

This brings me to something else I wanted to share with you today. I have a small book by Audrey Flack called "Art & Soul: Notes on Creating" and it truly is a collection of notes. I pick it up from time to time to prod me along. A few days ago, I read this:

Studio Ghosts
When you're in the studio painting, there are a lot of people in there with you. Your teachers, friends, painters from history, critics...and one by one, if you're really painting, they walk out. And if you're really painting, you walk out.
-From a talk with Philip Guston

I so get this as it perfectly expresses what happens to me when I really get into painting...everyone walks out, including me! And it happens very quickly when I do that non-dominant hand doodling.

Does this resonate with you? How does it feel when you are really into your creative work?

Have a Beautiful, Creative Day!

Non-Dominant Hand Art

Yesterday Andrea and Suki both shared some non-dominant hand art. For Andrea, that meant she had to use her left hand to draw a sketch while she was on a crowded Paris Metro. For Suki, it meant she had to use her right hand as she had some damage to one of the fingers on her dominant left hand. As I read through their posts, I thought it would be fun to explore work with my non-dominant hand...which happens to be my left hand.

I decided to use large paper to give myself enough room to work with an erratic hand. Suki had talked about feeling the drawing and the shapes by doing it with your eyes closed, so I decided to try that. This was the first one I did. I found it interesting to note the line at the top was nicely retraced, although my eyes were closed. Also, the notes I made with my dominant right hand.
The second one I did, I thought to try angular shapes. That, however, was soon down the drain as it was not something which felt right to me. This was also with my eyes closed.
This was done with both hands at the same time. I wanted to see if one hand would mimic the other. It was also with my eyes closed and as with the others done in charcoal. The idea of one hand being a mimic of the other didn't really happen.

After doing these, I decided to try one of my doodles. So using a typical pen and colored pencils, I did this:

Even my little note here was done with my left hand. :) I had trouble at first getting the smoothness, this is very child-like and the control of pressure was a challenge. But I have to say...I absolutely loved working this way. Not only was it freeing, but it also was a different kind of focus which I honestly can't explain. I think the closing down of the left side of my brain was fantastic...very much a different kind of meditative process. My imagination is that this would frustrate many people, but I found a great deal of calmness in this task. I will definitely do this regularly.

So, I encourage you to try this as Suki and Andrea encouraged me. Go to their blogs to see the work they have been doing, too. It is fabulous!

Do you have special plans for the weekend? Do you think you might give non-dominant art a try? Are you ambidextrous (can switch use of hands easily)? I am eager to hear from you.

Examples

I thought I would share a few of my loose journal entries with you, since I brought up that subject.This is watercolors and ink from a technical pen. I did this so many years ago...and did not date it.
...again, watercolor and technical pen.

This one was done in a notebook, but it shows some of my doodling lines.
Do you ever do things like this? I sometimes just write in journals, however that is slowly dwindling. Even the loose pages are more prominent for me now. But what kind of pen/ink do you recommend to not become clogged with the residue of the inktense pencils or other mediums? Any thoughts there?

The Past To Understand The Future

Any of you who have been reading my blog for any length of time know I come to painting via design...interior design specifically. The image above is a basic design project I did which needed to be based on a grid. It is marker on vellum.

We all have a great story to tell as our progression to art and many of those have been revealed in the Conversations I have had with artist here on this blog (please see the list to the right to go to any of those conversations). Also, you can read about the way other artist have gotten their start in this article. I have always found hearing these stories helps me recognize my own story. Still, this is a way of better understanding where we are going by were we have been. Do you find this is true for you, as well? Can you tell I like contemplation and processes?

And I am still very interested in hearing from you about your Myers Briggs if you are willing. The post before this one is all about that and reading the comments is really great fun, too.

If you have a moment let me know how you are doing!

Enjoy Your Day!

Weekend Ponderings

I just had to share this with you. Yesterday Andrea sent me this photo of the Metro Stations I spoke about in the comment area of the Signs Post. While this is not a sign as we normally think of signs, it clearly indicates this is the way to the Metro trains. Isn't it fantastic? I have to tell you I would love it if Washington Metro Station Signs were as artistic as this.

Also yesterday, my son and I began talking about the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, and how he and I tested. We did this test years ago, but sometimes go back to it and re-evaluate. Have you ever taken the test? If not, you can go to this site and take one which is brief, but comes out the same as the longer tests (at least for those of us in this family).

I am an INFP, which means I am Introverted/Intuitive/Feeling/Perceiving. There are links to full explanations of each of these personality types online. I know really odd little details about my personality type. For instance, for all of these indicators I am more than 90% them...like I am 95% feeling...that basically means I am not someone who thinks my way out of things by any stretch of the imagination. I also know INFP's are the rarest personality type. So these two bits of information tells you I am one unusual personality as personalities go. :) But I do not mind.

But I am interested in knowing if you know or are willing to share your Myers-Briggs type? I think it would be interesting to know how we are the same and how we are different as artists or people who love art. Are you willing? Are you interested? Either way, I would love to hear from you.

Have a Great Weekend!

Signs...

Have you ever considered signs? No, I don't mean those which lead you down your own path in life, but the ones which lead you around the world. If you remember when I was in Vermont, I showed you some signs I thought were really fun and interesting. Where I live now, signs are not all that interesting, but in some places they are a peek into history. Vanessa Thorpe wrote a short article talking about the need to save the vanishing pub signs in the United Kingdom. These signs are so interesting, colorful and insightful. They are not only full of humor, but they are also full of history as Thorpe describes. I like taking photos of various signs from time to time and thought I would share a few with you here.This sign gave information about a trail we hiked (through a sheep pasture) in the Pen-Y-Fan area of Wales. Go ahead and click on it to read it in the Queen's English as well as in Welsh. The Welsh language is being revived (as it was close to being lost) and a most interesting language to be sure. So this simple sign gives a lot of information about the land conservation.
This is the sign over the door of the Sally Lunn home in Bath, England. Of course Sally is best known for her delicious buns. Note how this sign really catches the eye next to this simple architecture. Also note the height of the door.
In England we lived near a town called Barton-on-Sea which sits on the Channel Coast. We would go there to walk along the sea a lot, and we came across this sign used as a simple warning to keep people safe. Here is the catch...we had just come off the path and did not see a sign on the other end before we began!
This was the sign giving the name of our cottage. We did not have a house number, but a cottage name. It was lovely and quaint. I felt very special living in a home with a name.
This last sign is clearly intended to inform people to please clean up after your pet. While this was not a huge problem, apparently this home owner had some issues to contend with. My son thought this was the greatest sign, although art was clearly not a part of the plan.

So please read the short article, because signs really can be a huge part of art, I think. If you do an image search for English Pub Signs, you will find some of the most amazing photos of some fabulous art. Oh, and if you come across "The Hare and Hound" in Sway, our little cottage was just a short distance behind that pub.

So do you have artistic signs in your area? I am sure you do if you are in Europe...even the Metro Stations Signs in Paris are amazing. And if you live in New England, US...there are some wonderful signs there, as well. Let me know of sign art which has caught your eye!

Have a Beautiful Day!

Influencing Your Art

I want to share with you a book I completed reading yesterday. And if you have been reading this blog for a few months, then you have already heard about it.Catching the Light is written by Susan Pope. You know Susan, she is our very own Sukipoet. I have to tell you this book was a real page turner for me. I just had to see what this young woman was going to choose for herself. She had so many obstacles to overcome, but behind it all she was drawn to her art. And Susan shows how she used her life to influence what she so loved doing. This book is so well written and draws you into the location and into the lives of the characters. In addition, an underlying message is how we come across people who influence so many parts of our life even after they have gone from it. I highly recommend you locate a copy of Catching the Light...I know it has become a treasure for me. And thank you so much, Suki, for such a beautiful gift and such a beautiful message. You are an inspiration in so many ways.

And I have something else for you to play with this weekend. You don't have anything else to do, right? Take a look at this image:
It looks like some people at MOMA, right? Well it is not! This is a sketch of mine...a lowly sketch you have already seen on this blog before. I used an online service called Dumpr where I uploaded this sketch to be placed in this setting! This kind of thing has been making its way around the blog world, so you probably have seen it on other blogs. My apologies to the blogger who made the recommendation, I can't remember the blog I first saw it.

One of the things I thought was so interesting is how you can use something like a sketch to get an idea of how that might translate into a larger painting. For example, I think this looks better as a painting than it does than a sketch...I had no idea it would translate that way.

Dumpr has some other fun things to play with on their site, too. Some of them you have to pay for, but these I am showing are free. One of the toys I have had great fun with is the Amazing Circles feature. See what a photograph of a red tulip translated into with that feature:
So now, here are a few fun things to do this weekend. I really hope you have so much fun and enjoy reading and playing with images...believe me, when you read Suki's book, you will want to get in there and do some serious creating!

Have Fun!

You Just Never Know...

The Heart 9x12 inches Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

You may remember seeing this painting before, but I have a story to tell you about it. I was never crazy about this piece and really considered it a test. It was hanging out in my corner of shame waiting for me to do something else with it when it was spotted by a woman visiting me. She said, "I really must ask you about this painting." Now she had seen a lot of my paintings and never asked much about them. Of course I said it was mainly a test canvas and there was not a lot to really tell about it as I was trying out some techniques. She said how much she loved this painting and how it resonated with her. Of course I had to ask more. So here is the story.

She is a nurse and during some of her training she was called in the middle of the night to come to the hospital to observe a heart transplant. While many parts of that process was miraculous to her, one of the things which stood out was the lack of blood in the heart...it was white! Pure white!

Apparently this painting was a perfect example of her experience that night during the heart transplant. With her story, the painting came quickly out of the corner of shame. She now owns the painting.

You just never know what is going to be meaningful to someone. I am glad this painting was meaningful to her. Interesting isn't it?

Now, this brings me to another somewhat related topic. I read this article which talks about a study done showing art classes helps teach physicians to better diagnose illnesses. Sad, though, isn't it that we have to introduce physicians to the arts in medical school! Shouldn't this be happening all along? Oh, I forgot, you probably can't test for that very well! When in the world did we let go of a balanced education? I suppose it is when we decided intuition wasn't good enough to follow...oh, I am getting on my soapbox now!

So I am interested in your thoughts.... on do you ever know?...and do you think it is sad we have to backtrack on arts education?

Eastern US Mountains vs Western US Mountains

In Vermont, the mountains are very different from the ones on the west coast...the Rocky Mountains. These are older, smaller and more rounded mountains. Westerners (US westerners) might just call these "hills".
This is a view from the inn where I was staying...you can see it is a bit hazy there. There is a lot more moisture in the air in Vermont to be sure.

Here it is a clearer day and you can see the soft roundness of these mountains better.
And you can just have a seat and enjoy the view, if you like...and can tolerate the misquotes.
I just liked the burst of lavender among all of this green.
This is a view of the area around the cross-roads in the village of Plainfield. I like the stone wall.

So this is the end of Vermont photos. By Thursday, I hope to have some art to show you!

How was your weekend? I really hope to begin doing a better job of getting around to visiting all of you very soon.

The Power of Signs...

So I thought I would share a few glimpses of Vermont with you. It is really beautiful here...very green, pretty meandering rivers, small villages, winding roads, old houses and farms. The people here are kind, which I feel is important.

One of the things about a lot of Vermonters is they really believe in businesses being locally owned...very cool, as far as I am concerned. These businesses are found in old houses, in old buildings with apartments in the upper floors and just road stands and sheds. What strikes one about these businesses is they are often very colorful (I can just imagine how they stand out all winter in the snow)...with bright purples, blues, yellows, reds, oranges and some greens. And where the buildings themselves are not brightly painted, the signs to these businesses are...take a look:
Now how cool is this? Positive Pie is a pizza place. You go through this door (don't you love the old wooden screen door, too?), walk up to a counter and order the most delicious gourmet pizzas. Inside here there is room for 3 people to perch on a stool and have a slice. But Positive Pie has a large sit down place in nearby Montpelier where they also have live music! I also think the name of this place is so cool...

And how about this sign for the local whole foods co-op (most towns have one of these) and the community center? The thing about this place is I couldn't find where to go into the building for the co-op! But I thought the sign was great.

Now this place isn't about the colorful sign, but about what the sign says:

This is one of many used book stores. This place is only open from 2-5 (14:00-17:00) five days a week! That is it! Now go ahead and click on this to enlarge it and read the sign. If you can't, here is what it says: "Hours Tue-Sat 2-5 Sun/Mon By Chance or Appt." Then it gives a phone number. This sign is written on an old piece of cardboard.

Now here is the thing about this shop. At 2:00 we walked in, and although we saw someone outside go into the residential part of the house no one came around to see us. We wandered around for about 30 minutes, but in the end we did not purchase anything since we could never get anyone to come take our money!

So this is a quick glimpse of Vermont. I will share more next week.

Everyone have a beautiful weekend and to my American friends: Have a Fun and Safe Labor Day Holiday.

Here are a few other photos from Montana

Everywhere you looked there were views like this... The opportunities for lovely photos were everywhere.
The wildflowers were prolific! Not only humans were enjoying them, either. I watched these butterflies a very long time. It was great just to take the time to watch butterflies.
This wildflower is the like the sun meets the earth!
There were field and fields of wildflowers!
The beargrass was just starting to bloom. The bears really love this as a food source.
And speaking of bears. We saw this grizzly mama and her two cubs enjoying the early morning by the river. They were having so much fun.
And this blurry photo of the big horn sheep was because the she was moving and so was I! LOL I took this from the car. But we did not want to stop and create havoc in that particular place. Over the 18 years of visiting this park, we had never seen the sheep this close up!

Now I promise I will not bombard you with any more vacation photos! The next post will be a bit less personal. At the moment I am in Vermont, but I hope to be able to get a few posts up while I am here.

I wish for you all a beautiful and creative day!

I've Been Chasing Waterfalls

I know the song says, "Don't go chasing waterfalls" but I just couldn't help it!
Over my blogging break I went to Glacier National Park in Montana. Please excuse this photo, but I really like the look of it.
Our family loves this place so very much, and we have been going there for 18 years now. It was good to get away from the phone, the computer, the television and all of the trappings of everyday life for a while. There were a lot of people, though.
But this has to be the most lush year we have ever experienced, so I was able to chase these waterfalls everywhere!
This is known as the Weeping Wall and it has been dry for our last several visits...not this one!
I am still in transition here...literally as I leave again this week for Vermont. I will be back, though, the end of the month. I am told I will have wi-fi service, so look for some more posts later in the week. I have some more things to show you which I was chasing.

Anyway, who does sing that song about 'chasing waterfalls'?

I hope you have had a pleasant two weeks. I have been thinking about you all and wishing I could share some of these beautiful vistas with you!

Come back and catch me later...

Bab's Plant

As some of you know, Babs, who writes Off The Wall Arts, sent me these very cool seeds earlier this year. I planted them in this pot and protected the young plants from the deer who like to visit me. Right now, this is what these lovely plants look like. Babs posted some photos on her blog and mine is not looking as good as hers, but maybe it is the difference in our climates. Most likely it is the difference in the gardeners, though.
As you can see, this one is sending out shoots, so I am hopeful for those lovely purple flowers and purple seed pods. Don't you like the way this spirals?
Do you think this is a flower bud? Maybe it is more leaves. I don't know.
But I love these leaves...look at the great color combination. I am not a gardener, but I can say these seeds have pleasantly surprised with at least the foliage of these really cool seeds. Thanks so much Babs!

How does your garden grow? Your outside garden or your art garden.

You might remember in April I posted about Babs sending me a painting she and her grandson had made as well as some seeds for my garden. then in May I posted where I had planted those little seeds and they had sprouted. Well, today I am showing you how they are looking this day in June.

Don't these look wonderful? I have moved them to be near a railing on our deck, since Babs says they like to climb. As you can guess, I will be showing you how these grow throughout the summer.

Now this morning is lovely here...it is much cooler and the light is dappled in my yard. The birds are singing and there is a baby faun living in our back yard - it is so small...complete with spots on it's back.

My son was going to walk into our village to his job this morning, so I decided to go along as we needed a couple of things from the grocery store. As we got to the rails-to-trail path, I hopped on my bike and went along leaving him to read as he walked. As I was stopped waiting to cross one of the streets a man on a racing bike was on the other side. He said he liked my basket and added, "you look so French!" I really laughed, but thought of Andrea in Paris. I don't look French, at all...just my bike, maybe. My features come from further north in Europe and a bit of Native American blood. I thought I probably looked more like someone in Denmark, Norway or Sweden on my bike. What do you think?
But as I was returning on my bike with my fennel sticking out of the top, I did get lots of attention with my basket (one I had to special order as they are not common here) and cruiser bike. Most of the people here do not ride their bikes with a great purpose (some use them to go to work, but that is a new thing), but use racing bikes more for exercise-not as a means of transportation.

It is just a beautiful day here, and I wanted to share it with you. This post is not so much about art as it is about life...but I will be posting again later today as I am not going to be near my computer tomorrow morning.

I hope you are also having a lovely day where you are!