sketchbook

“Making art is like giving a gift: evidence of your spirit and that you are here.”

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This seems to be representative of the weather we are experiencing along the eastern seaboard today.  It is the result of a tropical storm.  I am just calling it wind and rain. This is acrylic ink on a lovely watercolor paper I discovered when I was in Paris.

Here is the thing, I really did not want to talk about the weather today.  No!  I have been getting back into the studio every day this week and am having a blast. I am actually sitting here typing with ink covered hands, my new mobile phone has dry pigment bits stuck to it and I am in my old grotty painting clothes!  This girl is happy!  I have even set up a new, white canvas and started a fresh painting!  I have not done that since last year (that isn’t a joke).  At the moment things are drying up there and considering the weather we are having I should probably work on some of the other projects I can do outside of the studio because the drying time is going to be long today!

In a later post, I will talk about the things I have learned and the slow process I have used to come out of this one.  It truly has been an adventure and I am so grateful to you all for bearing with me through it.

Oh yeah!  I am feeling good!  How about you?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

So I tried to call my muse back to me by staying with my sketchbook.  She began to talk back with the words.  Muse kept prodding.  I think she really wanted to return, but she also wanted to make sure I was not going to abandon her again, so she kept testing me.  I found myself getting mired in the black and white, so she pulled back again a little bit, but she only wanted me to know this was the real thing and she wasn’t to be played with.  I had to do some harder work to get her back.  So I began to read (more about this in another post) and try to understand the hard work was to show up each day, as Elizabeth Gilbert says, and stay focused.  I had to not be so hard on myself and be open to the subtle messages wonderful people around me provided.  There are messengers in the least suspecting places.  In other words, I began to pay attention more and Muse started to come back again, giving me ideas and inspiration.  The color started to come back, too.  See…

I was overjoyed to see the colors again.  I did not want to loose them.  Muse reminded me all of this happens for a purpose and I had to evaluate what I learn along the way.  I had to really live what I knew.  I had to slow down, I had to show up, I had to meet my own needs, too.  Well, this is all fine and good, but how do I do this effectively?  Muse says there is a way which is just right for me, and I just had to figure it out.  I read more, began meditating more, did more yoga and one day an explosion happened.  I needed to do something which returned me to a child’s mind, so I began a left-handed sketchbook/journal (my non-dominant hand).  I really had to focus on each and every mark.  It has made a huge difference.  See, here are the first pages:

Yes, these are rough and they are weird (they are not abstract!), but the focus and concentration is like meditation and it connected me deeper with my right brain which is very important and very relaxing.  After I do these, I slip right into other art work.  It is right for me, for now.  Muse really likes it.  You know, it is just like when I begin to work with my left hand it is a signal to Muse that it is time to work and she comes around for a visit.  Here is one more page further on:

Now this one looks a bit abstract, but it was not at all the intention.  No, I am not going to begin to show you these silly drawings, but I did want to say how important it is to show up to work – just like anyone else.  Just because Muse takes a vacation, it doesn’t mean she will stay away.  Not like others, however, we have to be slow and methodical with our work and with our lives.  That is a great challenge in our world.  Muse doesn’t like speed, she will walk away from it every time.  Slow Living and Slow Art can be a truly Full Life.  Sometimes you have to bring Muse back gently and other times you have to send her away (if she starts playing with your head), but the key is knowing the right time to do each.  The Muse can be elusive, but if you treat her right, she is one of your best friends.  You have to treat her right, though.  She is human in that way!

Related posts:

1. Different Colors, Shapes and Way Different Canvas This is a work-in-progress.  The round canvas was a gift...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As I was looking through some of my paintings and sketches the other day I noticed something.  I have had a thing for finding my way through the forest or at least I seem to be making that analogy from time to time.  First I noticed this one which reminds me of a bamboo forest and someone (a woman) is trying to find her way with that darn flashlight (torch).

Then I found this in my sketchbook which is also about finding my way through the forest…

It is interesting to go back and look at some of these things from time to time.  I often just draw or just paint without thinking about it, but sometimes there are links.  I suppose I am just trying to find my way at the moment.  With all of this forest talk and door talk, I seem to be looking looking for something, waiting for something or just down right procrastinating.  If truth be told so far this year it has felt as though there has been change in the air.  I still have not been able to put my finger on it, but I feel as though maybe I haven’t been listening closely enough.  So I am working on that, too.  It is a slow process, but slow art is a good thing…slow living is a good thing.

It is all really quite exciting, really.  I am eager to get going with some serious work and looking forward to the snap in the air autumn brings.  I began a new project yesterday which I will be sharing with you as I get it settled in.  I also will be bringing out some more color around here.  It is about time…but I am not abandoning my sketchbook, either!

With that said, I leave you with this small gift of appreciation for bearing with me.  It has been a challenge and I appreciate your loyalty.

Please feel free to print this and use it as a bookmark or whatever you wish.  I hope you find simplicity and gratitude in your life each day.

Related posts:

1. Reminders and Gratitudes You have seen this small triptych before and possibly know...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It seems all I am getting done these days are quick sketches.  I have to say it doesn’t feel all that good as I am still inundated with left-brained activities.  My current focus is for this all to stop as we (in the northern hemisphere) head into the autumn months.  I am so ready to get back into the studio to play.  In the meantime, I continue with the sketchbook work and hope that will bring some wonderful inspiration.  I can say it gives a bit of relief to the uncomfortable linear tasks I have been dealing with – maybe it is the reason for the curves .  I hope all is well where you are and creativity time is easy to come by.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This is beargrass and grows up high in alpine regions.  Do you know now?  Okay, so these are the ones who really like the beargrass, and I saw several of them on this trip.  Actually, this is a small one – a cub.

One more hint.  I will give you a longer view from the Continental Divide…

Isn’t this beautiful?  Maybe it is in the eyes of the beholder, but to this family Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton National Park in Canada (collectively known as Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park) is a place we find amazing beauty.  This is the oldest international park in the world.  We love it there and I just spent two weeks contemplating the beauty this earth shares with us!  Inspiration is at every turn and I have returned with so much I can hardly get anything else accomplished.

So now you know where I have been.  Do you know this park?  Do you have a favorite natural place to visit?  Does it fill you with inspiration?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I recently had another beautiful email from my glass artist friend, Lesley McIver, in Golden Bay, New Zealand. We were talking about our work and how grateful we were each day we step into our studios when she wondered if I was still doing my intuitive art.  The truth is, I can’t stop doing intuitive work.  It is a part of me and a part of my wholeness.  Lesley was just confirming I was still on my personal path.  We have been following the work of the other for many, many years now.  She knows I need this work for me, but she also knows I need growth in my work for me, too.  Good friends are like that aren’t they?  No matter what, we encourage each other to take a hard look at the place from where we have come as well as the place we are headed while keeping the focus on the present.  They allow you to fall only to be there to pick you up again.  They are true gifts.

So with Lesley (and other good friends, too) in mind, I am sharing one of the pieces I have worked on recently in the studio.  This is small for me, 18″ x 12″ on hardboard done with acrylics (mainly inks).  It is funny with some of this intuitive work.  I sometimes find it difficult to share here on the blog.  It is as though I am opening myself up to the world – showing you the part of myself I hold so private.  From an intellectual standpoint I know you don’t see the same things I see or feel, but emotionally I want to protect that part of me.  Maybe this is also why it is a challenge to title this work, but eventually I am able to get to that aspect.  Do you feel this way about any parts of your work?

I would love to hear from you on this or any other art subject.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Related posts:

1. Reminders and Gratitudes You have seen this small triptych before and possibly know...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.