intuition

I am certain that my best paintings come from intuition and not from anything in front of me.  This painting was begun a year ago.... then one day I saw it on the floor of my studio, picked it up, and changed it all without any thought at all. Simply responded.
I worry that our commitments can strangle us into creating for a goal rather than allowing our intuitions to rule and respond. So here are some quotes I found to soothe my soul during times of questioning.

*If you persist in ignoring your intuition, you may find yourself stuck in a permanent holding pattern instead of taking the risks that lead to creative growth - Nina Leland
*Intellect confuses intuition. - Piet Mondrian
*The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. - Albert Einstein
*I believe I rely heavily on intuition and depend on an intuitive response from my audience. I am a great believer in intuition, for men and women alike. -Jane Freilicher

Important tools when working

3x8 on copper

Teaching is something I really enjoy. There are a couple tools that my students find most helpful.
First is the "instant check list." That is a list of the 6 major contrasts to consider in a painting.

1 Light and Dark
2. Cool and Warm
3. Shape- large and small
4. line and mass
5. Saturated and muted
6. Edges -sharp and soft

Place this list near your painting and think about how you check them off. When you run into problems it's usually one of the six offenders.

Nothing beats making a small black and white sketch in your sketchbook before making a painting stroke. Light and dark and shape will be addressed right there. While doing that take the time to write some notes about color and feeling.

4x6 on gold leaf

Painting to me is all about exploration and wonder. I wonder what will happen if I do.....  These two paintings are on metal. one on copper and one on gold leaf. Why you ask? Why not?
Enjoy your own personal journey.

10 year anniversary

11x11 pastel, from Bath County Plein Air

So here it is my ten year blogger anniversary...yay!

Time to think about my relationship with my blog. It began as a a tool. I was finally beginning the journey as a full time artist. I was super excited and scared. I didn't want to fritter away my precious time. So many artists had warned me that you need to prioritize. Now that I am not reporting for a "job" it can be difficult for family members to realize that it is a job and no I'm not free to use my time freely. ( I still do do some part time teaching.)
To help me I did two things, first I set a work schedule. Next, I decided that I would no long rely on photos, instead my work would be done on location or from my memory.

Thus the blog was born. For many years I blogged very single day, without fail. I painted everyday, including Christmas, rain and snow. Finally, after 6th year (I think) I decided I needed more time to work conceptually on the works and not worry about blogging each day.

That is when my work took an new leap.

Now I still love painting and blogging my small works outdoor and from memory. I still have a schedule that I adhere to. But it is through dedication and the ability to have my work on the brain all the time that I think it has grown the most.  It's like wearing a hat on my head all the time. Sometimes it feels just right. Sometimes it's too hot. The hat never comes off.
Things that help that I had no idea would help.:

1. reading poetry
2. meditation practice
3. walks to SEE
4. plein air competitions (now that's a love/hate relationship but it's always a benefit in the end.)
5. friends, especially my art friend Christine Troyer
6. remembering the creating is about constant play and not knowing.
7. creating from my heart and not worrying about how different and out of place my work can seem at a plein air competition.
8. my husband's undying support

Thank you to all of my loyal supporter and blog followers. A special thank you to Marking a Mark super blogger - Katherine Tyrrell. She noticed and displayed my work to a wider audience through her book and blog. Thanks Katherine!

we can't be creative if we refuse to be confused

pastel, 19x19

Embrace confusion.
We can't be creative if we refuse to be confused. Change always begins with confusion; cherished interpretations must dissolve to make way for the new. Of course it's scary to give up what you know, but the abyss is where newness lives.  great ideas and inventions miraculously appear in the space of not knowing. We must move thru that space that is bathed in fear. On the other side is the reward...beauty reinvented.

I was reading an article by Margaret J Wheatley titled, Turning to One:Simple Conversations to Restore Hope for the Future. This is basically what she said, but interpreted to art/painting. It has stayed with me for the past year. Think about it and tell me what you think.

life's imperfections

I don't remember where I read this, but it has stuck in my mind for a long time now.

I will paraphrase,
"Scratches on the old record, this is what life is made of. It's life's imperfections that make it beautiful."

I find myself thinking about that when I create. This particular pastel made the idea tangible.

be brave like vincent van Gogh, Picasso and David Bowie

pastel 30x40 on wood unfinished

"If one wants to be active, one mustn’t be afraid to do something wrong sometimes, not afraid to lapse into some mistakes. To be good — many people think that they’ll achieve it by doing no harm — and that’s a lie… That leads to stagnation, to mediocrity. Just slap something on it when you see a blank canvas staring at you with a sort of imbecility." Vincent Van Gogh
I have been away from my blog for 21 days. Thinking, experimenting, and wondering about possibilities. If you know how to do it, it's already done. Art and creating beauty is about wonder and never being satisfied. What if I do this....?
This large pastel has so much experimentation on it already. After many other smaller trial pieces I was ready to try large. It's 30x40 on wood.
On another note..... I was sad when David Bowie died, he was amazing, like Picasso. He always remaking himself. Both men were unafraid to keep rethinking and adapting. Courage. No method or technique as so wonderful that it needed to be repeated without rethinking.

detail of pastel above

paintings need time to be nurtured

36x36 oil on linen

This week I have holed up in the studio. Having fall allergies and a wicked sinus infect drove me there, but I must say I have been really enjoying my time. I am nearing the end on this painting which I began in April.
As you probably know my paintings are concepts rather than places. I actually find that starting a painting, putting it away for a while, then simply returning to my response of the painting is my best way to operate. Since paintings are relationships they need time and nurturing to grow.  This is "a recurrent dream of light."

the essentials

12x12 pastel on watercolor

A quick cat-sitting trip to my niece's home in West Virginia brought new inspiration.
On this particular evening I was back at the Potomac River, albeit farther north and west. Since I had to work fast I chose Pastel Mat. I was thinking I would only do the watercolor onsite but with help from my car's heater, it dried quickly and I was able to add pastel.
There is something good about being pressured for time. You know that you can only get the essentials, not time to be picky.

memory painting on new surface

I tried a new surface... new for me that is. This a is memory painting done on multi-purpose board- a surface that is hard, white, slightly sanded and takes watercolor beautifully. Here's the link to buy it from Dakota.
Dakota Art is an amazing place. If you haven't been there and you paint in pastels, it's a destination to add to your list. I love my annual trip to stock up on pastels and work with Richard.
PS It feels good to get back to watercolor underpainting.

new dusk paintings from Washignton State

8:00pm

I have been away for the past two weeks in Washington State. It's the place of beautiful quiet landscape and wonderful fields. Here's a few dusk paintings from one evening. I will post many more paintings when they arrive. I shipped the paintings and all the extra pastels I bought at Dakota Pastels. More later.
PS Sorry for the bad photos. I held the small paintings on the window of the car. All paintings are 6"x6."

8:20pm

8:40pm

9:00pm

dusk-a-thon continues

I can only say I am learning a tremendous amount. Each small study makes me work super quickly, with snap color judgements. Meanwhile I listen to the songs of the cicadas and geese. Nice.

dusk-a-thon continues with 4 in a row

8:40

Monday night I did four quick studies in a row. I like doing it this way, recording the changes in a stop action clips. The top one is the last one. Each study is only 6"x6." This size makes it easier to just move along and not perseverate.

7:40

8:05

8:20

dusk-a-thon continues

6x6"pastel

My dusk-a thon continues. I am considering this to be simply a learning process, not expecting anything from each small painting. At most I may spent 20 minutes on a single one, usually going on to do another (since the light changes so quickly at dusk.) This was done at 9:00pm at the train station.

6x6"pastel

This one was done at 8:30pm. Amazing how quickly and deliberately the light changes!

poison ivy island: study to large

The top image is a large oil (30x40) and the bottom image is the pastel that started the idea. The making of this painting has inspired my dusk-a thon. I need to understand more about dusk therefore I am going to the field every evening at dusk to paint a 6x6" study. Three done so far, maybe a summer's worth to go! More about that later.

poison ivy island

I am now working on a long overdue commission. The problem - I could never wrap my mind around a good concept. I think I simply needed to be far removed from the place and only live with the idea. Commissions are difficult. Most people have their own vision and feelings of the much loved spot they want in the commission. They see it already.
Trouble is, my work is normally not place specific. Instead it's more about the feeling and the vibration of colors makes the feeling. So here I have my first satisfactory study of "poison ivy island." It's a pastel, about 9"x12". Wish me luck!

voice

Finding your voice is always a challenge. Recently a friend visited my studio and remarked, "those paintings look so different, they aren't soft like the others." So does that mean my paintings need to always look soft, because that's my style? Or can that vision morph? Someone else commented, "your new ones are so dark." Well meaning words, but it almost makes me want to go and hole up in a cave and paint without input. I bet you know what I mean. As we artists constantly think, learn, morph and explore our new understanding of our work we have to try to be impervious to being swayed.
As we move forward in life our art reflects that journey. It can't stay still.

wolf kahn and his color monoprints

6x6 pastel

I see my new "on the road" series dipping into printmaking. Here is a wonderful video of Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason at their monotype/monoprint show. In it, WK gives a class on his way of making a print. Enjoy!