I'm Back!

I've been a bad little artist!  Not to mention a bad little blogger!  I just hate it when my favorite blogs go dormant and there are no posts to entertain me.  How spoiled we are that with the push of a button and the flip of a switch we have entertainment and inspiration 24/7.  And how lucky.  I must say there is a dearth of postings on my favorite blogs during the summer months. 

But I should talk-eh?  "Where are your postings?" you ask!   Thanks to those of you who have written asking-when are you coming back?  I wrote last post that I would only write if I had something to say.  Could it be I have nothing to say?  Highly unlikely!  But do I have anything worthwhile to say?

The truth is, I've led a very boring life lately.  And I welcomed boring!  The post wedding months have been all about rest!  I have been working in other area's and have a few new inspirational ideas that may develop.  And there are important things that have required and continue to require my time and attention.  While I have less time in general, I'm seeing a shift in my thinking concerning time and how I use it. When your time is at a premium, priorities absolutely become clear!  So besides being all newsy and catching you up on what I'm doing, I want to share with you what I've learned lately. 

Lately I've learned how important my family is.  I've learned how to honor my father by letting go of me and stepping up to help him.  I've learned through the wedding how wonderful our family is and how those special celebrations cement our bonds.  I've learned that in crisis, we turn to our family.  I've learned that there is little else I truly care more about!  Next time I want to share a little bit more about time, our priorities and our art.  Being true to ourselves and our art requires time and a commitment.

But to confess, I haven't kept up my sketch book or painted a single thing!   Until just a few weeks ago...I have a painting in the works, which I will be sharing here in the coming weeks.  It's for the negative painting class I will be teaching in a few weeks.  (If you have an interest, you can sign up by hitting this link:  McConnell Arts Center)  This is a new class and a new venue for me.  Negative painting is a way to learn how to see all your spaces, not just the subject! 

I've noticed students don't usually think about the negative space in their paintings until it's too late.  Negative space is usually an after thought.  Yet much of the time a paintings negative space is larger than the subject matter!   To really have good composition you must think about all the space on the picture plane not just the subject matter.   Doesn't it make sense to plan and use the largest area on your paper to best advantage? 

So that's what I'm up to right now.  The above painting "Daisy Do" is an example of a negative painting.  Look carefully and you will see how I carved each daisy from the negative spaces.  Last fall I did a negative painting of fall leaves, which is what started this class idea.  I hope you like these and the coming paintings.  Now that I'm back, I hope you join me again and be inspired and encouraged to use your creative spirit! 

Priorities

As many of you know, my daughter gets married in a month.  I can do little else but keep the list and check off each completed task.  So blogging is not a high priority this month.  In fact, I am not going to try to write once a week anymore.  I've decided to write when I really have something to say!  (but fear not--I always have a lot to say!)   So maybe once or twice a month.  Or so.

The bigger problem is I have no time to paint.  Walls, yes.  A painting no.  Flowers bloom and call to me-"paint me!"   I watch them fade, knowing they will call again next spring.  The landscape is awakening and it, too, calls me to pain it.  I  paint them in my mind and wait for another time.  And so it goes.

Seasons of separation from my art, forced or not, are good. It reaffirms that I am an artist in the most basic sense.  By basic I  mean it is such a part of me I need to create.  And I am lost when I cannot.   I think about it even when I cannot do it.  This signals to me that it's more than what I do, it's who I am.

So right now, my art and this blog need a break.  I will devote myself to the other things that are also who I am.  My family and friends.  My home and hospitality.  And the celebration of these things that are also most basic to me.  And going forward, living with intention -as I blogged when I met the bear-I want to celebrate.  My daughter and her future husband.  My family and all my friends.  And later, when the time comes, my writing and my art.

But there is that painting I have sketched sitting on my easel...:)  I'll post it when it's done!~

Perspective 101

Perspective is a term used in art.  As defined by Merriam Webster:

1. a technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface.

2. a picture employing this technique, especially one in which it is prominent: an architect's perspective of a house.

3. a visible scene, especially one extending to a distance; vista: 

Perspective is an important concept in art.  A basic principle to learn that gives depth to a painting.  It helps us dipict three dimensions on a two dimensional surface.  I hear the word often used in what I do, but I want to talk about another kind of perspective.  You know, seeing the forest through the trees?

I begin a landscape deciding what to put in the foreground, middleground and background.  This is simple, perspective 101.  But in our lives, I think we tend live and focus on the foreground.  At least I know I do.  While it is true we only have today, "getting perspective" helps us to see the bigger picture.  And it's important to remember there is a bigger picture.  The tendency is to stay in the foreground of the everyday of the "to do" list or what's currently on our plate.  But "getting perspective" reminds us that there are other ways as well as other things to see. 


Students often spend a great deal of time on an area of the painting that is not really all that important to the overall painting.  That blade of grass they paint so carefully is not what they want the viewer to notice.  Yet they spend so much time on it, and give it so much importance.  Why?  We get caught in the foreground, because it is the easiest to see.  It is right in front of us, the here and now, so to speak.  

While the foreground is a part of the whole, let's not get stuck there. Lately, I've been getting the message that I'm not living very large.  Don't get me wrong, I have a great life.  Right here and now.  But things keep knocking me down, giving me a totally different perspective!  (sometimes I need a knock upside the head to see things straight!) I have several friends in crisis right now.  Which put's any problem I may think I have at a pretty low category.  And that's a good thing. My grandmother always used to say "there is always someone better off and someone worse off".  She was a smart woman. Her point is well taken. All I need to do is move to change my perspective.  But then the challenge is to choose what to focus on.  I have more options now.  I see more clearly, but I also risk confusion!  I need a "focal point".  (But that's another blog!)


So, I've changed my perspective recently.  Adjusting my perspective has given me a better view and expanded my vision.  I have some things a bit further down the road that are coming into focus.  Largely because I expanded my vision and took a cue from the messages being sent.  Live large, they chant.  Be bold is the chorus.  What are you risking by staying at a distance?  they ask.   I think you risk a limited vision!  I say, if your not liking the view, change your perspective!  


Have a great week!  

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Mixing It Up!

Today in the grocery store I was assaulted by Easter Lilies!  White Lilies everywhere!! It's tempting to pick up another one.  My mother loved and purchased an Easter Lillie almost every year.  She loved the "hot house flowers" that you can get during the holidays. 

Last Easter I had a "left over" Lillie and decided to "mix it up" with watercolor and Pastel.  As you can see, I have it framed and hanging in my house.  While not my favorite, I limited my palette by trying to stay with a few "spring" pastel colors.  I lost the under painting, but it was more and experiment for a class I was to teach later that spring. 

Later, for the workshop, my set up and demo was inspired by a trip to the garden center.  I bought some pansies (another favorite) and a small mouse.  I demonstrated an under painting with watercolor and applied pastel on top of a warm grey Wallis paper.  I did manage to leave some of the Wallis paper untouched, but I lost most of the watercolor under painting.  It even won an award at a local art show. 

My trip to the grocer reminded me of lilies, and the painting I see everyday.  It also reminded me I need to mix it up again!  Getting out of your comfort zone is healthy.  When you stretch yourself you find out all kinds of things are possible--just because you tried!  Go MIX IT UP!

Have a lovely Easter! 

My Blog Post on Empty Easel

Check out my article, taken from this blog (!) on Empty Easel @ http://emptyeasel.com/2012/04/04/what-i-learned-about-art-and-life-by-staring-down-a-grizzy/.  Empty Easel is an online magazine for Artists. 
Let me know what you think.