Giving Thanks

Well, it's been a busy few weeks for me!  Freshly back from my Charles Reid workshop in Arizona, not only did I have to catch up from being gone a week but:

• I had some medical issues to take care of,
• my email went nuts and won't send any emails so I spent two days figuring all that out,
• I caught a cold and
• I am getting ready for my brother and sister in law to stay with me for 5 days at Thanksgiving.

  Thankfully, I am not having Thanksgiving dinner!  Before I take the time to regale you with my workshop experiences, I'd like to take this blog post to celebrate the holiday a little. So today, I'd like to thank each of you for reading this blog.  I'd like to thank any of you that have purchased any of my art.  I'd like to thank all of you for being supportive of my life as an artist and my art/talent.  It can be a hard road to make art your main thing!  I'd like to thank those who have taken and those who continue to regularly take my classes.  Each one of you and each way you support me means more than you know.  My hope is that in turn, what I've written, what I've created, what I've taught and how I've pursued my passion, has helped you live a more creative life.

So a big THANK YOU to all of you readers of this blog. I hope your holiday is filled with a cornacopia of reasons to be grateful.  Blessings to you and yours! 

Michelle

We Called Him Lucky

Art is often personal.  Art can be a way to communicate.  I like to-and try to-communicate the positive.  The joy in life.  It's beauty.  But sometimes my art helps me deal with difficult times.  Then art becomes a way to process feelings.  To get in touch with them or to understand something I can't verbalize.  It helps clarify thought and gives me a time to focus.  Then, quiet often, I find peace.

My first cat, Lucky left me to go to the great outdoor adventure in the sky a little over a two weeks ago.  So I felt it only fitting to honor him with a little painting and a blog post, since he brought so much joy (and grief) into my life!  The painting helped me process his death and let me grieve.  But it also gave me time to think about this little furry creature that made such a mark on my life.  Time to review his gifts to me.

In looking for a photo to paint, I could only come up with one!  I have thousands of photos, what with digital making it so easy to take and keep every little one.  I have taken many of the furry people, but I could only find the one.  (this has prompted and all out frenzy to catalogue and organize the photos I can find!) So sad am I, that this was the only reference I have of such an important piece of my life.  Note to self:  don't just take pictures!  Take the time to keep them organized and safe...

And, so.  Lucky came to us one Christmas as a present for my daughter who had indicated she would like a cat.  She does not remember it that way.  As is usual, the cat became mine...I digress.  We went to the local Vet who had a rescued litter.  These kittens were freezing in a barn and we brought home a cute one and called him Lucky, since he was lucky to be alive.  (and even luckier to find a home with us!  We kind of spoil the furry people!) 

His coat seemed a little dirty, so, never having had a cat before...I decided to bathe him...OUCH.  And for all that trouble, Lucky was always a kind of dusty looking orange tabby.  Never gave him another bath, I'll tell you that! 

Lucky was an indoor cat...until...we moved and he saw the big glass sliding doors and the expanse beyond!  Shortly thereafter, he began his escapes.  The first was a three day excursion leading his owner to wander neighborhoods and scour fields calling for her cat!  He was never gone that long again, but made dashing out the door a perilous experience for all involved!  We called him the escape artist. 

Lucky had the endearing and always comical habit of sleeping in my baskets.  I have them everywhere, and no matter the size or what is in them, Lucky would fit himself in these baskets!  Hanging over the sides of a small one or tucked way down in a big one, that's where I would look for Lucky.   We called him the basket case!  Yesterday I passed the big round basket on my dresser he use most often to sleep in.  I just had to smile and shed one small tear. 

Lucky had a habit of knocking things off counters and table or dresser tops if he wanted something.    Then he would play with it.  Jewelery, pens, coins--even larger items, glasses of water were his favorite. Usually he wanted attention.  But, say, he was out of food.  He would wait until 3 AM to alert me to his plight!  I tried everything to stop him from this annoying habit!  I squirted him with a water bottle.  (until I was in hysterics!  Lucky would just sit there and let you get him soaking wet with a confused look on his face!  All the books tell you it works--don't believe it!)  But he never stopped.  Most of the time he just wanted me to chase him around in the middle of the night.

And so, it is with sadness I share my small sketch of my Lucky.  He was such a...oh yeah, JOY!  He really had a personality I could relate to.  Free spirited, loving, risk taking, playful, tenacious, mischievous, energetic, lazy, sleepy, feisty and loyal.  He was one in a million and I miss that big dirty looking orange tabby cat!! 

Hanging On

Hanging On

 

What a beautiful fall it has been!  My favorite time of year, and I finally got out to plein air!  This small 5x7 plein air sketch was made a week ago at Hoover Dam.  It was just past peak for the leaves, but the shoreline across the lake was still brilliant!  Fall is the landscapes last hurrah!  And the color was awesome this year.  I took many photos, but have not gotten the chande paint any but this small piece with friends on a beautiful day in the open air!

The change of seasons always makes me a bit melancholy.  Letting go of one thing and embracing the next can be both exhilarating and scary!  I get tired of the heat with the endless garden chores and welcome the fall frosts and autumn color.  But the falling leaves always remind me to take stock.  When the leaves are gone, we see the landscape differently.  Gone is the foliage and naked is the earth.  The forest floor covered with color that once clung to the branches and danced in the breeze.  Now we see the structure of our surroundings.  The very thing on which its covering hung.  While not dead, only sleeping, our eyes rest with muted colors and bare trees. 

I ask myself what is the structure beneath my art?  What do I want to do with it and why?  Or why don't I?  Will I accept the fall with it's brilliance as well as the winter with its barren yet restorative chill?  And what am I hanging on to (or is hanging on to me) that I would be better off letting go of?  Yup, I'm at it again!  (what is she talking about, you ask??  But it can't hurt to think about these things, right??)  Fall reminds me to reassess.

On another note...I've opened an Esty storefront and this painting is for SALE!  (5 x7 oil on board, unframed)   I just opened it today and as of now only have two items listed.  I will be adding more as I catalogue unsold pieces and create more for sale.  Please visit  my Etsy Store by clicking this link:  MichelleMorrisArt

Please share my blog with your friends, join this site and sign up to receive each new post in your email inbox with the buttons next to this post on the right side!  I promise it won't be more than once a week.  Thank you for reading, and sharing this adventure in art and life!!

Have a great week

Travel and the Lowly Sketchbook

My son Chris looking out the window

Last week I went with my husband and son to visit my oldest son in Arizona.  Most of the time when I go with the family there is precious little time to paint.  We are a busy outdoorsy group so we went hiking and the guy's golfed giving me time to paint?  No, I shopped!  There are other things in life!

I used to take my paints and sketchpad on my trips and never take them out.  I was afraid of onlookers and who knows what else?  But since painting with a plein air group, I don't have those issues anymore.  Most onlookers just take a peek and move on.  Some are chatty, but I've found ways to deal with that.  My family is very supportive and are usually willing to wander while I paint a bit.

Traveling with the family means I don't really have 2 or 3 hours to set up and do a larger plein air painting.  I take my paints in case they decide to do something that will take a while.  But generally, my vacations are to be with those I love and to adventure.  So I take lots of photos to someday do studio paintings.  (another blog entirely)

Over the last five years or so, I've carried a smaller sketchbook and pocket paints in my purse.  With these I do small sketches that require little time, space or water.  I can usually find some bottled water to use on site rather than drag it around--water is heavy!  But small sketches don't need much.  These wer done on the tray table while in flight.

fellow travelers

My favorite things to sketch are people.  (or to paint, period)  On the plane this time I had some fun doing very small paintings of those seated around me.  They are usually unaware and I try to keep it that way.  Its the perfect way to practice quickly drawing faces or figures.  These sketches are usually pretty fresh and don't get overworked.  There is nothing to prove in the sketchbook.  It's a place to practice with color, shape, value and composition.  There is no right or wrong about these little paintings, which may be why they are becoming so dear to me. 

I have grown to love my sketchbooks and the paintings that are in them.  Many are so simple and straightforward I could frame them.  I don't since they are also memoirs ( I write notes beside them and about my trips) and reference.   Some go on to be larger paintings.  Many serve as inspiration when I've lost mine.  I flip through a sketchbook, see a sketch and remember a photo I took that would be the perfect painting! 

Next I'll show you the paintings from my larger sketch book and share some hints on how to pack light and paint fast with focus.  Until next time! 

50 Shades of Grey

 

 

Now that I have your attention...;p Ha, Ha!  Our book club recently discussed reading all three books in the erotic trilogy beginning with the first book Shades of Grey.  We decided not to, for various reasons.  Yet discussions about this book with friends, students, co-workers or just a gal in line at the grocery store- have been a source of entertainment for me!  I have some thoughts on Shades of Grey as literature.

One of the key themes I've encountered is: this book is not written well.  It is not considered "good" literature, nor does it pretend to be. In which case we all know why it's a best seller.   Literature, like any art form is subjective.  And what criteria classifies art as "good" anyway?  I think most people consider art "good" if a lot of people like it, verses a lot of people not liking it!  If that's the case, then 50 Shades is good literature.  :)

Another theme I've heard (and thought myself) is: is this just porn dress up to look legit by calling it a novel?   I've drawn the nude for years and have had similar discussions with more conservative people many times: is the "nude" porn dressed up as art?  Again, subject to your viewpoint.  Yet considering  the art in Europe and throughout the centuries uses the nude, you might conclude it is legitimately art. Yet the lines and boundaries vary from person to person on this issue.  Can we conclude Playboy is art?  Certainly it's photography? 

Along the same lines I've had many a discussion about the work of the late Thomas Kinkade. If "good" means the masses approve, then he's good right?!  The art community viewed the man as a hack who sold himself into crass commercialism with a formulaic style he cranked out for mass production. Harsh?   Maybe. True?  Again, depends on your viewpoint. He is, in fact, the most collected artist of the twenty first century and in the world (according to CBS news) and his mass produced work hangs in one out of every twenty homes in America!   I checked out his book with the paintings he did plein air.  The man had talent.  So then popularity is bad...?  It's not good art if it sells?  Or is popular?

Let's look at the Beatles.  As a group they were a phenom.  As single artists, I say John Lennon was the true poet and the best and greatest artist in or out of the band.  My husband says it's Paul.  I say "you'd think the people would have had enough of silly love songs.  I look around me and I see it isn't so"  Oh no...And what's wrong with that, I'd like to know? 

I like to paint flowers among other things.  (and yes, the occasional nude flower:)  Flowers are pretty and my floral paintings are pretty little paintings.  I've heard the term "pretty little paintings" used to describe an artists work, and not in a good way.  I think I know good art, and I don't think my paintings will grace a museums walls.  I'm not delusional.  But people like them and they sell.  Who am I to argue with cash? 

We know that many painters we think of as greats today could not sell their work in their time.  I read some of the 47 different endings Hemingway wrote for A Farewell to Arms.  I liked a few alternates better than the one he chose!  Sure, I can editorialize an ending, but could I write the book?  50 Shades begs me to ask, would it have sold so well without the sex?  Oh come on!  I wonder if the author wrote 47 alternate endings?  And no one-no one-I've talked to says Shades is great literature. But I'm betting it will be on the best seller list for a while.  Sales have been so good that Shades of Grey bolstered Barnes and Nobles profits and may help them get out of the red and into, as it were, the grey--!  I wonder if A Farewell to Arms would sell as well as Grey has today. I'm sure not.

Excellence is rare. That is what makes it so very valuable.  I watched a most interesting video from a documentary on the BBC that is related to this issue. It's called Why Beauty Matters. (I've linked the You Tube video to the title) It is an hour long, but it is well worth the time. Narrator and art critic Roger Scruton states in the first few minutes his opinion that "We are losing beauty and here is the danger- that with it we will lose the meaning of life." Now that's a bold statement, but I found the whole piece very thought provoking and relevant in this age where someone can pee on the sidewalk and call it art.

So while there are as many opinions about what is and is not "good" art, the bottom line is this:  There are many, lets say 50, shades of gray in this area!  And since excellence is rare we ought not to be so critical when we fill our lives with silly love songs.  If you buy into pop culture is it less valuable as art?  With the saturation and proliferation of the ordinary, and the homogenization of our culture, will we lose our sensibilities for excellence?  For the individual and unique?  How do we know "good" art when we see it?   What is excellence?   Hard to say, but I still want to paint pretty little flower paintings!  (and sell them...)