from my sketchbook

When I was in France, earlier this year, I took a photograph of a perfectly French gate at Giverny. I came home and gave it my own twist!  I think a gate is a door of sorts.  Do you?  Are any gates/doors opening or closing for you this summer?

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Sweet Little Door in Washington, DC

A little door found while walking through a DC neighborhood.  I couldn’t resist doing this little doodle.  I continue with some sketching through these hot summer days and consider the goodness of slow art.  I hope you are staying cool.

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image belonging to Peter Clothier

This is a series of essays Dr. Clothier wrote over a 30 year period for himself.  I, for one, am so glad he found a way to bring them all together for publication as I can’t seem to get enough of his words.  Before I found this book, I was consumed with the thoughts of what has gone wrong in our society that causes things like hideous amounts of oil to gush into our waters, the abuse of one’s profession to the point of causing economic collapses and the kind of thinking which make parents think it is a good thing to begin the higher education process with children before kindergarten.  What are we doing wrong and why do we keep doing it?  Now, I am no genius, but it seems to me we have forgotten the importance of the process of living.  In today’s world, we are so focused on the product, we forget the process.  Heck, so many even begin with the product and then consider how to get there only to keep focused on the product no matter what gets hurt in the process.

Consider this recent article in the New York Times which talks about teaching 5 year old children engineering so they will have a better chance of getting a job when they are 23!  Probably, by that time, the world is going to be so saturated with engineers they are not going to get a job anyway.  Why is it we can’t see that allowing children to become what they are meant to be will help the world balance out?  Who are we to push children in one professional direction or another?  It seems to me this is just teaching them to ignore their own instincts rather than encouraging them to be the best “person” they can be!  Now this brings me back to Peter Clothier who describes himself as a “recovering academic”.

So much of what Peter talks about in this book resonates with me, so this is only a part of what you will probably hearing about him in the future.  In his essay, “The Bandaged Place”, Peter says, “…it’s in our anger, in our pain, and in our grief – and our joy – that we find common ground.  So I aim to write the most intimate, personal words I can, in which everyone can find a piece of him- or herself.” This is what artists do.  We open up ourselves for all the world to see, we give a little part of ourselves each time we create, we often wear our heart and soul on the outside, leave a piece of it in each creation and hope something we have done will touch that place in someone else.  This is a part of the creative process.  Yes, it is slow, but we quickly learn that fast isn’t better.  Yes, it makes us utilize a lot of “inspiration” to get to the place of maybe a single sketch (reading, writing, travel, blogging, etc.), but we also learn from each and every mark because each time we give.  We come to understand keeping it for ourselves has no value.  Just like love has no value unless you give it away.  Maybe this emotion isn’t the same the creator had when they were laying bare their soul, but if it resonates in any way with the viewer or the reader, then it is successful.  Now, consider how different the world might be if educators, parents, politicians, engineers, bankers and other business types all did this?  What if they, even ever so slightly, stepped away from their industrial model (step one, step two, step three, etc. and don’t make a mis-step) and considered the importance of the process over the product?  I wonder if that spill in the Gulf of Mexico would have happened or if those in the financial sector would have been partying with the retirement savings of others or if we would be trying to make 5 year old children be 30 year old adults?  I wonder if our world would be a better, more thoughtful, more kind place?  I wonder if we would consider more and push less?  I wonder if we would be a happier society?  Well, there is little limit in what I wonder.

So now you know where my head has been lately.  I contribute this contemplation to giving myself permission to enjoy the process of living and creating, rather than pushing for the product.  Do you think this makes a difference for you – in your life and in your work?  If it makes a difference for the individual, do you think it would make a difference in the world if more individuals would be process rather than product oriented?  I am eager to hear your thoughts.

Have a Beautiful Day in your part of the world.

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I continue to sketch away at these doors, and they continue to look like Alice found them down the rabbit hole.  The thing is I am working with color a bit and I find as hard as I try, my brain will not allow me to color them as they appear in the photographs!  It seems my imagination takes over and I go along wondering what in the world this would be like when you consider the door as a metaphor for something else.  Does this happen to you?  Color seems to be the cross-over element for me.  Do you have an element of art which carries you further…where you really take artistic liberties?

I had never considered how a particular element or principal of art might be a catalyst for something else, but for now this seems to be true.  It is an interesting observation for me.  When I take out the color, the work becomes a exercise in line drawing.  When the color comes into play, everything changes. This should not surprise me because color has always been what I love to work with.  I always want to get to the smallest detail of color.  Like this painting…

Stay tuned, because I am adding color to some of these doors now!

I hope everyone has had a lovely Mother’s Day!

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Monet House and Gardens, Giverny, Normandy, France

Just a short train ride from the center of Paris is the home of artist, Claude Monet.  On a beautiful day, Elizabeth and I went to Giverny in Normandy France to visit these gardens which inspired Monet.  Indeed they are inspirational and every way you turn, there is an exceptional photograph to be taken.

boats surrounded by bamboo and water

You may recognize these little boats from some of Monet’s paintings.  I am sure they are not the same ones, however the idea is there.  This setting is incredibly inspirational and if I were an impressionistic painter, I would be spending my time in this spot painting all day long.

I was inspired in a different way with this trip, however.  I was looking for something when I was in Paris.  When I went, I wasn’t sure what it was, but I intended to find out.  The colors are interesting as it is a rather gray city where other colors truly “pop”, and the buildings are  not too tall (there are a lot of tunnels under Paris).  The people are wonderful and friendly and that is always nice to find when you travel.  There was something else, though.  I knew my art was turning a corner  (I learned that when I was traveling back and forth between the US southwest and the US east coast over the last year), and I intended to find out in Paris!

One day when I was walking around the city with Elizabeth, Andrea and a new friend Sabrina, it hit me!  I am looking for doors!  Yes, you heard me, I am looking for doors – as in architectural features.  Paris has some amazing doors and amazing doors open to reveal new things.  I am looking for new horizons behind doors and a new way to merge all of these delightful expressions I have hiding inside of me.  Wow!  Who would have known?  So I sat down and had myself a good long talk with Andrea about this realization.  She talked me through some things, pointed out some things she thought warranted consideration and viola, I here by dub Kim and Andrea The Door Queens!  I will be exploring the metaphors for the door and how that all plays into the work I hope to move forward with now.  This feels so right, do you know that feeling when it is so right to proceed?

One of the things I realized is that architectural features are comfortable for me, so the door makes sense (I also love windows, but hey, you can’t do everything all the time)!  With Andrea’s encouragement I have also began allowing myself some sketching time without drafting tools!  This is the hardest part for me to allow myself to quickly, freely sketch something which resembles something else and not draft it!  So here you go…

Along the Rue Royale

These doors are really a beautiful red, however this sketch is done on paper board which does not take wet media very well.  I haven’t taken the time to use colored pencil or marker on it, so here you have it as an ink sketch done with a nib pen.  You just might see these doors again, as I seem to be making other sketches of them!

Now you know doors are my current obsession.  I am still highly drawn to my abstract work, but realized how important it is for me to explore these things in every detail.  I also need art I can practice when I am not able to get into my studio.  This gives me greater opportunity to explore a lot of ideas and still do the abstract work I so adore!

Tell me about the times when something hit you over the head as you were just going along minding your own business.

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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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What is your reflection?

Sometimes when we look closely into life’s mirror,

the layers reflected back are ones we do not want to see.

Sometimes we have worked so hard with those layers

they sparkle back at us.

What does your mirror reflect?

My reflection has been dull, however all of that is changing.  I can see the sparkle returning.  The hardest part for me to remember is there is a spirit within needing as much nurturing as I am giving away.  Remembering those people who grace my life and allowing them give makes all the difference in my life which is reflected in my art.  Life or work, it is all the same.  How about you?  Is there any division between your work and your life?

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the beginning of the fall

This morning we have the beginnings of the first snow of the season.  While it will not last long, it is lovely to have so early.

I tried to upload this video however it was not going to happen.  Use this link to watch.  I highly recommend it!

Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity on TED

Earlier this year, Elizabeth Gilbert author of Eat, Pray, Love, gave a talk on Ted.com which touched me in a profound way.  I have mentioned this talk before.  I revisit her talk with some regularity however, because it serves as a reminder of the importance of living up to my own expectations rather than the expectations of others.  When I first shared this video, it touched so many people and the email conversations went on about it for weeks and months. People found Elizabeth’s talk inspiring and a good reminder of what it means truly to live a creative life. I hope it spurs the same kind of conversation here.

As you may know, Miranda’s comment in the last post reminded me of this talk and I thought it was a good follow up to what we were talking about as far as maintaining our creativity.  Elizabeth talks about how much strength it takes just to show up for creative work and how society really puts pressure on creative people to constantly perform at peak performance.  It hasn’t been like this forever and she contemplates if this kind of pressure is what gives creative people the reputations of being a little off in the head with those who choose not to live a creative life. You have to be fearless to be an artist.  The stories she shares sound so familiar to me.  I wonder if you find some idea of resonance in them?

If you have not seen this talk before, I think you are in for a real treat.  If you have seen it, I encourage you to watch it again (I hear new thoughts and ideas each time I watch it).  Do her thoughts help you see your work in a different way?  Are you turning your art around in your head and viewing it from different perspectives? Did you hear some ideas here which may help you manage all that happens in your creative life?  I am eager to hear what you have to share.

Have a Beautiful Weekend!

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Unfolding (working title) 36 x 24 inches acrylic on canvas

This is the final product of the WIP in the previous post.  While it is not the main series I am working on at the present, it clearly informs that work and allows me the opportunity to keep questioning as I move the main series forward.  Do you work on multiple challenges in parallel?

I wanted to share this article with you from the Wall Street Journal. Terry Teachout talks about how many artists go through periods when their creativity wanes.  Of course, we are all familiar with the term “writer’s block”, and I dare say many of us have experienced it.  I am not talking about not having the time to be creative but about not having the inclination to be creative.  In this article, however, Mr. Teachout does say visual artist do not experience this as much as other creative types.  He attributes it to being encouraged to work in series until a particular subject is exhausted (which might be years or a lifetime).

The thing is, I also found this quote from Maya Angelou: “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”  As you probably know, Ms. Angelou is a writer, so there is a conflict of opinion between her and Mr. Teachout on this subject.

This all has me thinking here.  If working in a series works well for the person who is visually creative why would it not work for someone who is creative in another way?  I know the more I journal, the more I am able to write blog posts.  Are visual artists the only ones who create in a variety of ways in order to influence their ongoing work shown to the public?  I doubt that!

For me, the challenge is not finding the creativity but finding the time to create along side all of the other influences in my life!  I suppose I could be wrong – it has happened before, you know – however it seems as though I will never run out of inspiration to create.  I do know, though, if I don’t use all of the opportunities which present themselves to me as I move through each day then my creativity will not be as informed as it should be.

It seems to me we all have so much to learn from each other and one of the things we might learn here is life is what informs our art.  If we do not utilize other methods of creativity, then we are not going to inform our art and truly the creativity might dry up.  If we only work on a single series and only paint, then I think the creativity block will probably happen from sheer burnout.  If the writer doesn’t do other things to inform the words, then those words very well may dry up.

What do you think?  Have you ever experienced a creativity block? What do you do to avoid them?  You can find some of my techniques for avoiding creativity loss in the Pages Section of this blog.

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WIP Testing Ideas

I want to thank you all for hanging in there with me over the last month or so (really, over the last year).  While I am not ready to delve into all that has been happening around here – and it has been good – let me say I have been kept busy with family, holidays, the flu and good old life balancing.  I have been journaling a lot through all of this and continued to paint as often as I can.  The main thing, for now however, is I am trying to get back to the blogging, because I have missed everyone!  Check back later for a post with some substance.

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