the agile mind

I just finished reading the new Leonardo book written by Walter Isaacson. Loved it! The stories and the insights, I loved it all.This reading dove-tailed (in thought) nicely into the new article in Start-up- The single most important habit nobody taught you. 
What do you think that habit is?
Be flexible. Allow your mind to be elastic and forever be changing. Question and wonder. Realize you don't really know and things change. That was Leonardo.

How do you develop an agile mind?

"The good news is flexible thinking skills can be taught.

For those wishing to tap into elastic thinking, Mlodinow suggests carving out time for daydreaming, talking to people outside your social circle, absorbing great art out of your comfort zone, listening to ideas or concepts you actively disagree with before disregarding them.

Always try to look at everything from more than one angle.

Change the context or your environment and you’ll feel your mind shift.

Take a walk. Take a coffee break.

Exercise offers another great mental boost.

The more you can challenge yourself to be spontaneous and allow for some new experiences, the easier it will be to integrate flexibility into your everyday life!

Mental flexibility is aided by novelty, and that contributes to brain growth and development throughout a lifetime.

The next time you encounter the stress of change, remember that you can adapt to thrive and become indispensable in the ever-changing world.

Remember, flexibility is a choice and with practice, you will be making moves you never thought possible."

This is an artist's mindset. Always looking and questioning. Leonardo would carry paintings with him for years and years, never giving them to the patron who commissioned them. Why? Because he could always learn more and be better. 

memory continued and making magic

Here are two versions of the same snow scene. The scene is inside me so now I just explore color options. Question to ask self......Yes, it's snow...but how can I make it a bit more magical?

first snow at the lake

oil on wood

 Snow is one of those things that refuses to be photographed well. Therefore you have two choices: paint it from life or memorize and paint from memory.  I chose a mix of life and memory for this one. I began it two years ago and Tuesday's snow helped me know how to complete it.
Snow seems to absorb light, both in shadow and full light. Pinks, greens, peach, lemon, blue and violet are all part of its color scheme.Variation of temperature within value is the key to make it work. Subtle.
The first snow of the year is a special time. Two years we have been without any real snow, so the 3 inches we received on Tuesday brought real excitement. For those in real snow country, it's laughable, I know, but here it's special. Fears of the dreaded ice mix shut down most work and many were out, wanting to be part of the exciting snow.
BTW There is an excellent "Iconic Snowscenes new York" exhibit at the Wally Finlay Gallery in NYC. While you are in town be sure to see Jeremy Lipking's 23 new paintings in a solo-show at Arcadia Contemporary. The show runs from December 12th-31st 2013. Wow! I will go next week...and report more later.

snow break

pastel 6x6

On Friday I drove to the airport to pick up my husband, Paul. It was snowing like crazy and the beltway was a parking lot. Great for observation. I had him drive on the return trip so that I could take notes and photograph with my phone. I tried to get the feel of the blurriness that happens with snow. This was the beautiful moment when the skies began to break and the snow was only in the light clouds, not falling down. I am experimenting with the colors I build use to build the toned paper. My pastel is so thick I can scratch and scrape with my nails.

A new quote for you:

Create goals for yourself: 

play, fool yourself and other, be an artist."

Paul Klee, diary 1902

With that said, I think I will return to the press (in addition to painting) to work with monotype/print. I was checking out contemporary monotypes and found Forrest Moses. He makes beautiful monotypes that give me goose bumps. Check out his site.

making mood

Mood is the reason we look at paintings again and again. Certain paintings just make us feel. Calculating the mood ahead of time can make the painting struggle and feel contrived. After the initial "feeling" you received from the subject/concept it is best to allow the painting to talk to you and make it's mood.  A direction will develop. A complex mood, something you can't easily name, will be a more interesting direction.
It seems that in a landscape the mood is created by the sky and the way it affects the land. The big question is, how much detail do you really need?  This question constantly haunts me. As I study the idea of detail and just how much is necessary for mood in a landscape I am studying the landscapes of Charles Warren Eaton. My painting above was done with his Winter Solitude (below) in mind. Last week, when I was in Connecticut, and I saw the beautiful swamp-like,  frozen waters and red tinted skies. Once the skies were soft lemon yellow and green gray. Another time the snow brought the melon slice to the horizon of gray. Those visions started my ideas moving.

Charles Warren Eaton's painting is truly inspirational.