Changing Physical Environments Can Be Interesting
for a friend to see again
I have been very busy lately. 2009 proved to be a unique year for our family, and since I am typically a very private person I have not shared what was going on with very many people. Now, I will let you know I have been living a dual life! It is true, I have been running from the east coast to the southwestern part of the US with amazing regularity. I have had a studio in both locations and have observed how these different locations has not only caused me to produce vastly different paintings but also how the different studios have encouraged me to work very differently. It has been an exhausting and fascinating process. While I have lived and worked in a variety of locations and have done my fair share of traveling, this experience was so different because I was living in both places. Now that the experience has come to an end, I am spending more time reflecting, and once I can receive shipment of my work to one location I will be trying to decide what was good and what did not turn out so good with these works side-by-side.
Just because the physical experience has ended (and I am not sad for that, because it has been exhausting), I feel I can now relax more and see what I need to take away from it. This clearly does NOT mean my travel and or moving days are over…far from it! I will give you the heads up to watch this site for some photos of and reflections on an exciting trip I have planned for early spring.
Do you find it a challenge to work in a variety of places? Do you think your work changes when you move studios or work in different locations? I have noted before how vastly different my work is here in the US compared to the work I did when we lived in England. I can also tell you the work I did in the southwestern US and the work I did in the mid-Atlantic US was very different, although I tried to use the same mediums and supports! There is a lot of psychology I need to explore here, however I think some very good insights will arise. Now I am beginning to wonder what Asia might do for my painting! 
In the coming weeks, look for some posts on this recent experience. Do let me know if and how your physical environment affects your work. I will be eager to hear from you.
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There are 10 Comments to "Changing Physical Environments Can Be Interesting"
Kim, where in the Southwest have you been???
I’ve no doubt our natural surroundings influence our work. The bright light, the sparse landscape certainly have shaped my own painting, which as you know, is pretty non-objective.
I look forward to seeing more of your psychological explorations of this issue.
I forgot to mention how much I love this painting you’ve posted. In some ways, it’s a departure for you. “Swirly organic” is the phrase that comes to mind. That blue strikes a chord in me.
This is the most wonderful painting! It’s so nice too to receive your posts now via email, so I know when you posted. The photo of the painting is great too, cause I can enlarge it and just dive into it. The atmosphere “in there” is so very rich and reminds me the universe of some of the big Emil Nolde paintings I saw here in Paris a while ago, only yours is more dense!
Oh, my, all this travelling. I think I would have been unable to continue creating during such a “moving” time, knowing how it is for the body and for the mind to change places so often. It sure is inspiring too, but perhaps that influence only comes later, what do you think? Cause the moment we have to adapt when we change place, the mind and body just does that, adapting. Then all the impressions are processed by the brain and the body too, and when it’s all digested, then the inspiration kicks in? At least that is how I feel it often, although in comparison to you I live a sedative live (hope this is the right word:).
Is this painting a product of the shifting between universes? Anyway, I just love it so much.
Have a great weekend,
love
Andrea
I hope it is not aggrivating for you, an abstract painter, to have people like me “see” things in your painting. But to me I see a bird flying over the earth.
Kim, this is an extraordinary experience you have had of back and forth. Personally, I who “need” security and groundedness, would be a wreck. Or at least I imagine that might be so. Not to mention so torn between the two homes, all the departing processes. Emotional upheavals.
Still, you say you have worked in both place and that is wonderful. yes, I do think enviroment influences much art. Even Morandi who painted bottles for years, perhaps he was influenced by location and the light. I wonder if he would have done other work if he had moved somewhere else.?
I think this is esp true for representational artists. I go to an ocean side landscape and see lots of paintings of boats, light houses, and seagulls.
I go to Santa Fe and see lots of paintings of adobes, native americans etc.
I actually find this curious, as I wonder dont people get tired of painting lighthouses. i personally refuse to paint a lighthouse.
In any event Kim, great painting and so nice to hear what you have been doing.
Hello San!
Well, I have been in Texas, not NM! I would have loved to spent time in Santa Fe, alas it was not to be. The next time I am there, however, I will be popping in to see you!
I sure hope I am able to pull out some of these things once I get everything in one place and am able to see it side-by-side! At one point, it was really freaking me out…then I realized I was trying too hard!
Thanks so much, San!
Thanks San! This is one many people love, it shows nicely online, too. So much of my work is so detailed it is difficult to get the full effect. This is truly an organic experience for me and a response to one of our trips to Glacier National Park in western Montana. The blue is very much about the sky and the melted glacier water. I need to do a bit more exploration with how I actually did this one! Thanks for reminding me.
Hello Andrea!
I thought you would like seeing this painting! How great is that you can manipulate the painting from your email? These paintings are very dense, you are right. I love how you have picked up on the atmosphere which is a challenge to contend with, as you know too well. Thank you so much for your very kind words about this piece. It is a favorite and does show well online. Oh, and by-the-way, no this one was done in 2008 before the maddness began!
Sometimes the creativity is a challenge with a lot of moving. I find I have to do some other things to get myself in the creating frame of mind…like journaling or reading. I guess I have a bit of experience in doing it, so I can move myself around a bit. I also think that all of this in and out, here and there, etc. has been one of those things which has made it a challenge to “get deeply into” the work. I keep wondering if I am actually going to uncrate these things, look at them and then paint over them again or use them in a different way?
You are right, travel and moving is very inspirational. I love it a lot. I think the challenge this time has been not being in one place long enough to establish the work. Time is a friend or enemy of the creative person, don’t you think?
LOL, compared to me, most people live a life of sedation! Culture is a great inspiration to me, however, so in reality it is a part of my creative experience!
Thank you so much, Andrea! I always love hearing your insights into my posts as you make me think so much more about what it is I am trying to say! I appreciate that so much!
Hello Suki!
Of course you are not aggrivating me by seeing something in this painting! I think everyone’s experiences are their own and am grateful you have had an experience with this particular painting! Very grateful. I am glad you shared that with me, too. This painting was painted as a response to a trip to GNP, as I said to San, and it was the colors there which pulled me in so much. So I think the bird flying over the earth makes sense as to what my muse was trying to say…see all those amazing colors and how the light plays with them. I can just imagine how this might appear to a bird! Wow!
Suki, there were times in this past year I wasn’t sure I was going to get through them without a major collapse, but I have. I need my ground, too, but I think for me it is in my family. That is what has made this past year so difficult, some have been here and some there and we were rarely together. We all had some great time with each other, but there were very few times that happened. It has been very emotional.
You know, I think this idea of painting things over and over is interesting. I tend to stick to the same colors a lot, but that also changes depending on where I am. I wonder if some of these representational painters do the same things over and over is because they see the light in different ways or if it is the comfort levels with their subject and they sell well? I am sure there are those who paint what sells, although I am not sure that produces the best paintings. Maybe they do these in order to become more intimate with their subject…the more you paint or draw them, the better you begin to know them. I am not sure. Maybe it is a variety of reasons. I am glad you are not going to be painting lighthouses, though!
Thank you so much, Suki! You are a true inspiration to me!
Kim…..thank you for commenting on my blog. Your comments mean a lot. As for all your travels…..where in the southwest? I live in Taos New Mexico part of the year and love the light there. If you haven’t been there it is definitely a place for you to visit. The soft warm light, the creative energy….all waiting to be absorbed. I also lived in England. Seems we not only have traveled a lot of the same places but have the same mind set. Love your work.
You are welcome, Gwen! I so love reading your blog as your insights are spot on for me. I was back and forth between east Texas and here (Washington, DC). I love Taos and SF so much. I do not get there often, however I know what you mean about the light. Isn’t it amazing to experience the difference in light? Of course the creative energy there is truly special. Yes, where in England did you live? We were in Hampshire just about 3 miles from the Channel coast in the New Forest. I loved it so much there – and talk about light! That brings a smile to my face having you say we have the same mind set! I feel that, as well, because I also adore your work! Thank you so much!