Wrong Sida Bed

Don't mess with me today.

Grouchy, grouchy, grouchy.

And droopy.

Dragging.

Clawed my way to my studio through metaphorical brambles and muck and icy wind and pelting sleet in wet heavy boots. No hat. No gloves.

---

And created a little woodland scene (instead of shaking my fists and making a scene!).

Dipped my brush into paint.

Moved pastels against the textured fibers of sketchbook paper.

Chose colors.

Changed colors.

Peeled tape gently from the edges of the page.

Witnessed outer and inner transmutation.

Softened
3x5", ink, acrylic, and pastel on sketchbook paper
nature
2015
[not for sale]

Softened, now a handmade notecard

Placing the Fulcrum

Sometimes I catch myself, when very-to-overly busy, turning all my energy towards going faster, working more efficiently. And I'm "good" at that—going faster, working more efficiently.

But it's rarely to the good in the long run. So when I catch myself, I stop, slide my shoulders away from my ears, breathe, take stock, pare back.

Recently, lots of very busy. Lots of dialing down to small manageable micro-tasks.

Here's the thing, though. Sometimes paring back creates a new stress. I lose the stimulus and pleasure of engagement without the gain of the release of letting go altogether. I don't find balance.

Went to my studio today in a just-do-a-little mindset. Paint up two color swatches; stop.

Wasn't doing it for me.

So I dialed back up. Pulled out some new paper and painted up a few loose backgrounds in my chosen monochromatic color palette for some upcoming grid collage.

FUN!

Used glazing medium for the first time.

FUN!

loose background, yellow-green

Playgroup in its Own Sweet Time

If Carrie and I were closer in age, and lived closer to each other, and had had babies at around the same time, we would definitely have hung out in a playgroup, nursed our babies, and been friends for decades by now.

But we aren't, and we don't, and we didn't so we had to wait a decade or two before we became friends another way.

Which we did.

Carrie is an artist, children's art teacher, and photographer, among other things, but that's not how or why we met. It's not even how our friendship began.

But we did become acquainted, and become friends, and, last year—eight years after first meeting!—Carrie and I did finally enjoy playgroup together, which in our case meant we had coffee dates at Starbucks while our grown and nearly grown children went about their own business elsewhere, and Carrie nursed-mentored the baby that art had given birth to—me!

Recently, though, very few chances for playgroup. Nonetheless, plenty of chances for deepening our friendship—I go to my studio on a gray winter afternoon, make some art, and put it in an envelope to send by post to Carrie.

Playgroup
3x6.5", acrylic, ink, and pastels on poster paper
abstract
2015
[not for sale]

Pinwheel of Pain and Possibility

A few weeks ago I decided I'd use a set of lessons in a downloaded workshop as my primary focus during the January 30-in-30 painting challenge.

By day two, already laughing: ya just never know what the lessons will be!

The stated lesson might be using grids in composition, with a starting task of creating several color swatches in varied tints, tones, and shades of a chosen color—in my case, yellow-green blended from chromium oxide green and cadmium yellow light hue.

The lived experience might include bristles falling out of my brush and getting stuck on my swatches. Might include still not liking the friction of the paper I purchased. Might include fighting feelings of scarcity—I'm going to post color swatches as my painting of the day?

More than once?

As part of the 30-in-30 challenge?

So. There is some pain. Some grouchiness. Some vulnerability.

But. There is some fun. Some laughing at myself with genuine pleasure. This is why I paint, for Pete's sake: to explore, to engage in learning, to bump into parts of myself that I usually keep under wraps.

In the same way that I step back from a painting to see the big picture, I step back from my pain and see possibility.

Woo hoo—wonder what I'll make with my color swatches!, wonder who I'll be at the end of January!

color swatches, 2

Walking In and Pouring Some

I discover a final scrap of the cover from a used pad of Strathmore canvas paper. Plenty enough to paint a little paper prayer of a bookmark to mail to my friend Carrie.

In the resonant words of Elizabeth Berg in her novel Range of Motion:

Here is another thing I like 

about a good friendship, 
the go-aheadness of it all. 
You don’t have to knock 
to come in the door. 
You don’t have to ask 
to look in a refrigerator. 
You want coffee? 
Pour some. 

Paper Prayer 25
2x4", acrylic, ink, and wax pastel on textured paper
abstract
2015
[not for sale]

Arbitrary Day of Transition and Hope*

Fresh paper and sponge in stay-wet palette.

Tidy studio.

New supplies.

New 30-in-30 Challenge for January.

New workshop downloaded.

New year.

Today, I select a color and paint two swatches for later use in collage. 

Easy-peasy, I think. 

Not so much, I discover. 

I apply paint to drawing paper I've never used before, the absorption and surface of which provide a new experience for me. Brushwork doesn't cover the way I anticipate. But, I rustle up two swatches in versions of my chosen color.

More to follow.

color swatches, 1

*thanks for the title idea, Bo!

Second Sky Series

My December sky series project.

Merry Christmas, Futh!

Bethel Sky

Not-a-Cloud-in-The Sky

Androscoggin Sky