Slow Art

I am, by nature, generally a slow person. I like to savor life and the things it has to offer, and even the lessons it has to teach me. Sometimes I do not go through the latter with as much grace as I would like, but I often move through it slowly making sure I have learned as much as I needed to learn.

With this in mind, it would be no surprise I am also a fan of the Slow Movement and Slow Food. One of my favorite books is In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore. My family thought it was hilarious I would read a book which encouraged slowness in life, but I learned a lot.

So lately I have been enjoying time in my studio and really getting meditative with every little brush stroke (or card slap or finger poke - well, you get the idea) I place on the canvas. I even can't stop brushing clear glaze layers on...which really intensifies the colors, by-the-way. Since I took the time (slow, again) to recognize I was doing this, I thought I would explore the web presence and idea of Slow Art.

This is a work in progress I have been working on almost daily for several weeks. In my mind, there is still plenty to do.

I was able to find some information about Slow Art, but there isn't a great deal out there, yet. One of the most thought through sites I found was a blog called, Slow Making. The two writers of this blog, MS Maker and Ampersand Duck, actually have a manifesto which reads a lot like the ones for Slow Food and the Slow Movement, in general. They asked for links to artist which met their manifesto, but I did not meet all of the requirements. I lacked in areas of sustainability where my materials were produced locally and my use of acrylics isn't exactly the most environmentally friendly. I do re-use a lot, though and meet many of their other needs. There is not a lot produced in this area where I live....well, with the exception of political bull**** (yes, yes, of course I mean "crap").

Of course I had some ideas in my own mind, which were similar to Grayson Perry's article in the Times Online. I thought that Slow Art (in my case) was creating art which encourages people to slow down and contemplate what the work means to them. In order to create Slow Art, you probably have to have a Slow Muse. Slow Art is really about creation as opposed to assembly, in-other-words, Slow Art is not "make-it and take-it" creations. I am taking my time with each work and really getting into where the process leads me.

This is another work in progress I have been working on for a while. It is no where near complete, but I am having a good time with it.

All of this Slow Talk got me to thinking about the other things I take my time with or which you can't always successfully rush. Slow doesn't mean you always move slowly, it just means you savor the parts of your life which are important to you. I thought raising my children took time and was really great. Growing plants and creating a beautiful meal takes time. You know you have to spend some times with all of that aroma, taste, textures and blending. Painting a room an entirely different color takes lots of time and provides great rewards. Learning a new language is often a slow process...at least for me it is...but I meet wonderful people and laugh a lot in the process. And real observation is truly a slow process, but I usually find the good in the places we live and visit. All of these things are well worth the time they take for me. When I can slow down enough to savor all life has to offer, I learn so much more in the process. And that makes my life so rewarding.

Now I am having a good time talking to you here this morning about slowness, but you might not have a day where you can linger over a lot of words. I really need to end this slow talking now. I wanted you to know why it seems to take me a lot of time to get works posted on here. I always want to reach out and make a connection with you. But sometimes I am just slow, or I need more time to contemplate. But rest assured, I will probably re-visit this topic.

So how about you? Do you move through life savoring the moments or the blocks of time? Do you find yourself wanting to linger over your art? Do you like to linger over life? What have been rewarding times for you to be slow?

Have a nice, slow day...