Creative Influences » thinking

Finding Grace in Life

Kim — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:20:38 +0000

from my sketchbook

Grace happens, it seems to me, when lives touch. We each have the opportunity to find it each time. The exciting part is we get to choose it.

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DC Door

Kim — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:57:24 +0000

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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New Landscapes

Kim — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:00:00 +0000

12"x6" acrylic on hardboard

The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

…I will add, new landscapes never hurt, however

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What Does A Painting Mean To You?

Kim — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:22:44 +0000

As you know from my previous post, I am enjoying Peter Clothier’s book, Persist. There is so much packed in this tiny book, I wonder if I will ever stop contemplating it all. One of the subjects he brings up is how visual artist have it hard because this is one area where often the work which took hours, days, months or years to complete will be brushed away with a glance. If you look at other art forms, this is often not the case. Consider writing, by nature it takes time to read or with performance art you are often captivated by the story being told and asked to remain in your seat for a film, play or dance. When Clothier observed people in Museums, he found if they stopped they stopped to read the little bit of information by the work, then moved on. He thinks visual artist need more time given to the work they are sharing. I couldn’t agree with him more. Let’s look at some art:

First, let’s look at Shangri-La by Andrea Hupke de Palacio:

used with permission from Andrea Hupke de Palacio

Now take a long look at this painting or go to Andrea’s blog to view it larger. I mean really get into it. Think about the face…look at those eyes and stare deeply into them, consider the head covering, too. I don’t know about you, but I can get lost in there. The colors she has chosen to use are magnificent. I want to swim in the colors. Can you imagine what it took to just paint the colors in the right place? I can imagine she was lost in her own place while doing this. When I really look at this piece, I seem to be able to feel the grit of the dirt beneath my feet, the crunch of the dry grasses and a cold winter wind. It takes me back to a more simple time in my own mind. The countryside is cold and I am looking forward to a warm stew and roaring fire when I bring the goats back to the village for the night. I look forward to the taste of wine and tangy taste of goat cheese. I can feel all of these things and more. Goodness knows, I am not thinking this is what Andrea was thinking when she painted this piece, but it is where it transported me. She started me thinking with the painting and few, well chosen words. I was easily transported from there. The thing is you have to spend time to get yourself into the place of your imagination. The key, by the way, is the title of this piece – Shangri-La. Where does it take you?

Unfurling

You have seen this one from me before. I call it Unfurling. I would like for you to try again with something very different to really spend time with this piece. Allow it to consume you just like with Andrea’s painting. When I created it, I felt one thing, but now I sometimes feel something different when I see it. With paintings like this you often hear things like…”I like it” or “I could have done that” or “My five year old has done something very similar.” I have answers for all of those kinds of questions, but what I ultimately know is that the viewer is not allowing themselves the opportunity to feel this painting. I know there are a lot of feelings in there, because I put them there. Artists do that! What someone else feels is not what I probably felt as they have their own life experiences to draw on.

The point is that it seems viewers want to be told what a painting means to them, if they even take the time to stop and have a longer look. Is it fair to the artist who probably just wants to have an opportunity to bring a bit more humanity to the viewer? They probably just want to help them touch their own shangri-la, right? Clothier suggests an hour meditation sitting in front of a painting to try to get to know it and to understand what it means to you, the viewer. The artists is done with it, now it is the viewers turn to have it touch their heart, speak to them, to bring their own humanity to the surface. If you have ever had a painting move you to tears, you know just what I mean. This can happen with many paintings. Once you learn the technique, you can slip into the world of that particular painting with ease.

Please, share your experiences of really taking the time to look at paintings. I wonder if after the first time you might view them in a different way?

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Which Comes First, the Process or the Product?

Kim — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:52:23 +0000

Some days just getting into the studio doesn’t happen, however that doesn’t mean I am not working on things. I think the time I spent traveling back and forth to Houston (last year) and my trip to Paris brought my work to the point of creating layers in the work process. The idea of the doors persists in my sketches and little watercolor doodles. I am finding these help me to contemplate the meaning of a lot of things, and that is good. Learning is a never ending process and I love it so much. I am also reading and journaling a great deal which I find helpful in moving the painting and life forward in a positive direction. Recently, I have found the work of Peter Clothier very inspirational and thought provoking. His book, Persist: In Praise of the Creative Spirit in a World Gone Mad with Commerce, has particularly struck a chord with me.

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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A New Blog

Kim — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:46:10 +0000

I know many of you have seen this bit of frottage work before, but this post is not about any of my work. Today, I am introducing you to a new blog. Many of you may remember my interview with my glass artist friend, Lesley McIver. Some of you have even ordered jewelry from Lesley, and I know you have an amazing piece of art. Our friend Lesley has started her own blog. You can find her using this link or from the list of blogs at the right. I hope you will go over and give her a welcome to the blogging world. I just wanted to share this with you today.

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Open the Door, Then What?

Kim — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:18:08 +0000

This is another Paris Door I sketched out in the red sketchbook. I keep wondering what the drawings on either side mean. Maybe it is a code. What do you think they mean?

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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Seeing the Crumbs and Being Grateful

Kim — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:54:34 +0000

I have been thinking about how I often turn my paintings in a million different directions to see how they appear from different angles. I am sure I am not any different from any other artist, and also like other artists, I think about how the work I do is also a metaphor for life – at least my life.

You see, typically, I work best silently and in solitude. I often find I like to work when not another person is about or I have to create that environment with headphones and soft music. This doesn’t mean, however, that I never work with other people or enjoy conversations about my work, their work or art in general. Quite the contrary, I find those conversations invaluable. Once I learned I absolutely HAD to live a creative life, a stream of precious and delightful souls have stepped in to show me (and challenge me with) a variety of ways to find myself and my work. Once I found the true me, the creative types presented themselves in abundance – many just left a few crumbs and exited. The really strong, supportive ones who had also come into their own have stayed. Now, I am better able to leave crumbs for those who are willing to see them. Without these beautiful people appearing in my life, I could not have found myself and would be wandering around completely confused.

It takes looking at life from every direction to be able to find the simple crumbs as well as entire sweet cakes in life, just the way I look at my paintings to understand them better. The artist and writer, Cathleen Roundtree said, “The creative process gives back tenfold. It is by definition abundant and unending.” I also will add, it is very sweet.

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Changing Physical Environments Can Be Interesting

Kim — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:17:04 +0000

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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Does Your Work Make A Difference?

Kim — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:37:20 +0000

I thought you might be tired of seeing photos of record breaking snowfalls for the Mid-Atlantic region of the US, so I have not posted any here. We had 30 inches at our house on top of about 8 from earlier in the week. We are told it is very possible to expect 10 to 20 inches tomorrow, too. I love the snow!

I recently came across this quote from Maya Angelou:

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

When I thought about that, I knew I had heard a similar thought expressed about love. It went something like this: the more you give love away, the more love you have to give. It made me think about how using one’s creativity is very much an expression of love. We are putting our heart and soul in the work we do.

Recently, I was sharing with a friend about how I sometimes paint in response to disaster, but I wasn’t sure why I did it as it never helped anyone. She responded back to me that I did not know it did not help anyone even if the painting still sat in my studio. Her thought was the production of a painting was like a prayer and we never know where or how that energy makes a difference in the world. I am so grateful for having this very wise friend. She not only made me feel so much better about painting what came out of me, but she encouraged me to move forward with just that kind of work.

When I think about these ideas of generating creativity by creating, having more love the more you give it away and my paintings being like a prayer when I produce them, it absolutely let’s me know I am so on the right path here.

Do you have these kinds of things which bring to light a true knowing you are doing what you are supposed to be doing with your work? Can you share some examples of what makes it so right for you?

Have a Beautiful Week, Keep Creating those Prayers and Sharing Love!

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