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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24x20 inches acrylic on canvas

Warm is not the word to describe the temperatures in the US northeastern cities this week -over 100 F(37 C +) and humid!  This painting describes perfectly what it feels like outdoors here.  I hope it is cooler where you are!  I am trying to remain calm and meditative at the moment.  The air conditioning can’t keep up and I am sticking to just about everything.  Is your art influenced by the weather?  I clearly am experiencing a new form of Slow Art!  A glass of iced tea anyone?

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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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Here is the thing, if you ever have the chance to purchase this paper, don’t do as I did and make the purchase of a small bit, but a larger one and even sheets of the stuff!  It takes liquid color like magic!  I love it.

This is the very first sketch I did in this little book.  I am drawing a lot of doors as Andrea and I have the Door Queen’s Project going and it is getting very exciting as we consider the impact of doors.  It is also great fun.  Andrea has also started some door painting (not just a doodle, mind you) which looks wonderful.  We will see where this project leads each of us, but for now, we are having a great time.

I also came home with a sketchbook which I am loving made by Hahnemuhle (which I think is German).  It is not for wet media, but I am enjoying the pen and ink drawings in this one.

I used the Copic pen seen in the photo to try another, looser rendition of the first Paris doors, on Rue Royale, I shared with you.

You may see these doors again, as I am working to get the sketching loose yet clear.  You can see the shakiness of the line as I still struggle to let go of drawing with tools.  You would think I could do this, but those nasty old brain tapes keep playing in my head!  Do you have these issues?  Professors chatter continuing to come back to you?  In some ways, it is comfortable for me to use these architectural features and in other ways it is a major challenge.  I love the psychology behind the architectural elements, so I move forward with that.  I can absolutely see the challenges and the rewards of this Door Queens Project!

Now this afternoon I head into my studio, crank up the music and cut loose with some serious, free-flowing abstract work.  I have lots to show you there, too!  How about you?  Are you finding lots of projects to keep you busy with your art?  Do you consider the psychology behind the work you are doing?  What are you doing which helps you feel as though you are so much more yourself when you work on it?

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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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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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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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