Pressed Into Service

As previously stated, on Monhegan I had only limited tools and materials at hand, most notably watercolors, with which I am almost entirely unfamiliar other than having used them occasionally as a child and most likely a few times when my kids were little. Certainly not in the past four years of painting as an adult.

What could they do?

What could I do with them?

No way to know but to press them into service and follow their lead.

I felt mostly flummoxed as I started this piece. The experience felt flat. On the surface. Mechanical, if you will. A hand moving water and color over paper with a brush.

I didn't feel the inward reverberation of expressing myself—although, really, what else could it be that I was doing?—until I picked up my Bic pencil, Neocolor water-soluble crayons, and Posca paint pen.

Then, using my watercolor base on the page as a prompt, I felt animated, intuitive, in flow, present, in direct conversation.

Scribble, scratch, dot, dab, done.

Preoccupied with Light and Shadow and the Regular Business of a Summer Morning
4.5x6"; watercolor, pencil, and water-soluble crayon on watercolor paper
abstract
2018

Off to the Races

Oh my gosh, did I ever have fun stepping out of my same-old-same-old over the weekend. No solitude in this studio! No indecision or precious grasping here!

While in Virginia, 8-year-old granddaughter Emmy asked, Gma, do you want to paint?

Next thing I knew she had a plastic cloth spread over the kitchen table; canvases set up for herself, me, and Caroline; paints and brushes out; three palettes in place; and a cup of water at hand for rinsing brushes.

Then we were off and galloping, no one holding any reins that I could see.

You want paint? Squeeze a whole bunch out of a tube.

You want a different color? Mix wildly.

Brush not doing what you want? Use your fingers.

Blueberry Trees
by Emmy
12x16"; acrylic on canvas board
abstract
2018

None of Your Beeswax
by Caroline
8x10"; acrylic on canvas
abstract
2018

work in progress
by Gma
12x12"; acrylic on canvas
abstract
2018

Painting Connections

I wrote about this piece's partner maybe ten or more days ago, in a post about staying connected to other artists, especially those who "express interest in and resonate with what you are doing" and whose work lights you up.

This post is also about connections.

First, I love when paintings connect to each other—when they're siblings, sharing considerable DNA but also having distinct personalities and experiences. Such is the situation for today's painting and her born-first sister. They now live in different states, have their own lives to live, and often go whole days with nary a thought of each other. At heart, though, they are still connected.

Second, I love the connection I have to my experience of painting this piece. It evokes instantly a day that had dawned chilly, at 42 degrees, but became a gift of bright sunshine, radiant warmth, yellow leaves that drifted occasionally to the ground, cloudless blue skies, and crisp dry air. My internal weather was more of the same. Happy. I was in my happy place—adding touches of paint, sorting through my scraps box for backdrop papers on which to mount the painting, applying matte medium, tucking the emerging card repeatedly between carefully designed improvisational weights to let one layer after another adhere as I assembled.

Partying with Norman and Sebastian
2.5x3.5"; acrylic, ink, pencil, and pastels on postcard stock,
mounted on card stock and wallpaper sample
abstract
2017
[gift]

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Check out this awesome photo shoot that We Drink and Partying agreed to before their lives took them in differing directions.

Friday, Watoga

white-tailed, elegant,

doe and fawns mow the lawn 

while I meditate

The Broad Back of the Earth Beneath My Feet
4x5"; acrylic, latex, and pastels on paper
abstract
2017

Stay Connected

Another way to thrive as an artist, in the words of Nicholas Wilton, is to

3 Stay Connected

Your success, energetically, financially and even spiritually, is directly connected to those that support and follow your artistic journey. Never lose connection with those that express interest and resonate with what you are doing. Cherish them.

Yes, yes, yes! I do stay connected, I don’t lose connection with those who express interest and resonate with what I’m doing, and I do ferociously cherish them.

To wit, I first bumped into Simone Nijboer and her art two years ago online, and connecting with her changed my unfolding experience as an artist dramatically. A new friend! Someone with whom to talk art! 

She is a key player in my art life. We’ve had an almost daily blog-to-blog conversation in progress for two years now along with periodic personal email communication. It was Simone's art that, for the first time and to my complete astonishment, drew me to abstract art. I was mesmerized by what I saw in her work, and I was compelled to explore abstract painting myself. Life changing. Literally.

Simone was the direct spark that lit my speed-painting yesterday and today. And what joyful painting it was—I flipped to the blank side of what started its life as a professionally printed marketing postcard. I received it in the mail and transformed it in just minutes, minutes inspired by Simone's enduring belief in painting even if she has only the smallest snippet of time and limits her materials and scope.

We drink / one from the other / still
2.5x3.5"; acrylic, ink, pencil, and pastels on postcard stock,
mounted on card stock
abstract
2017
[gift]