Monday Blanks

Today I do not have a great deal to share with you. While some of my blog friends were nursing sniffles, going to art shows and going along to high teas (you know who you are), I was painting the walls in my foyer and stairwell. And I can tell you they are looking much better. I still have a second coat to apply, then I move on to the upstairs hallway. The walls in this house were all painted in Caucasian and Asian flesh tones or wallpapered in similar hues and that does not suit me or my furnishings very well. So I have slowly been changing these walls.

When I paint walls, I spend a lot of time considering what I would do if I knew I would be in this house for the rest of my life, what I might talk about on this blog, or what other tasks I need to accomplish. Maybe that is why I paint canvases - with those I do not think of such things. But I paint walls in the same way I paint large canvases - sometimes painting large expanses while I dance around and then getting up close and getting tiny details. Do you find there are similarities in painting no matter what you paint? Do you have particular things you think about while you are doing non-creative, rote kinds of tasks?

I did a little canvas painting (you know the big red one), but I am not near ready to share that with you at this point. In the meantime, how about a little dumpr manipulation? This was a photo of some flowers (you can make them out, I am sure) sent to me by my best friend for my last birthday. They are in a handmade, pottery vase my daughter gave me for Christmas last year.

Are you having a good day today? It is my greatest wish you are doing just that!

A Bit of Pouring

As I have mentioned things here are rather busy at the moment and time in the studio is limited. But I was able to get this pieces started. This canvas is 4" x 12" and the base is painted with Paynes Grey. The pink acrylic was blended into the glazing medium I often use clear and a bit of pearl added. The white is only pearl mixed with the glazing medium. Both of these were allowed to sit for 24 hours after mixing. Then I poured some of this onto the canvas. While the poured paint was wet, I shook the canvas hard and also hit the edge against the heel of my hand to make the paint spread in this way.

Now I am thinking this needs a bit of detail added, but so far I have achieved this much. It seems when I get into a crunch for time here, I end up doing some poured work since I can pour for a bit, then stop and come back to much later.

I hope to be able to get a bit more done this weekend, too. How about you? Do you have some beautiful plans?

Have a Great Weekend!

So Many Gifts!

Each day I come to this blog wondering what I will talk about. This week not only has mother nature given me some ideas as gifts, but also blog friends have given me gifts of ideas.

In response to my post on Slow Art, Andrea sent me this book which had been introduced to her by her brother who is also a creative person. I had never heard of The Discovery of Slowness by Sten Nadolny. It is a work of historical fiction about the life of Sir John Franklin who was a 19th century Arctic explorer. I have just started this book, but already it is proving to be a very good read. Thank you so much Andrea! I am going to very much enjoy this very thoughtful gift.

This morning I wake up to two emails which are also very worthy of mention here. The first one is from Robert Genn who writes The Painter's Keys newsletter. He is talking about clones of paintings being made. He has experienced this happening with his own works. He speaks of the importance of mastering your own technique which cannot be cloned because it is not YOU. I can't find this online anywhere, but if you will email me in the next day or so, I will forward this newsletter to you. If you are willing to wait until next week, it will be on Robert's site.

The other email I received is from our dear friend San Meredith. San sent me the link to a short video of a Finnish rock band known as The Leningrad Cowboys who are in concert with The Red Army Choir. They are performing an American Southern Rock song, Sweet Home Alabama. Now while this video is great fun to watch (you really need to see this), it also made me think how important ART is in bringing people together. It truly is a common language.

Thank you to all of these people who have given me so much not only for this blog, but also just for me. You are all an inspiration!

I hope these send you into the weekend with lots to think about.

A Simple Turn

I just looked up this morning and saw this deer in our back yard. I did not want to spook her, so I took these photos through the window (literally 2 minutes ago) and about 10' (3.5 meters or so) from her. This is the reason for some of the reflection you see here.

Here is a shot to show you how close she was to the house. This is the edge of the deck area which is just about 6' (2 meters or so) from the house.

The strength of so many animals to live in our suburban environment just a very few miles from a very urban environment never ceases to amaze me.

What amazes you today?

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...