A Touch of Gold

Let's see how many times have I taken 'Joyous Struggle' down from the wall to make a few more changes to?  I've lost count, but I'm thinking this will be the last.  I've learned so much in the ongoing challenge of completing this piece to where it appeals to me both up close and from a distance.  Although I've loved the textures and depths I managed to achieve on this piece, from a distance some of those areas just faded away and became dull slabs of colour.  I couldn't let it rest until I came up with the solution of adding a touch of gold in those areas and it has people who visit our home reacting positively to it for the first time so that's a good thing.  Before often it simply went unnoticed or out of kindness uncommented on, now people rush right over and what to talk to me about the piece.  I'm hoping to find a good home for it soon :-)

Still have a couple of canvases on the go, but have not done much with them of late.  As fun as summer is, the constant fluctuation in the weather and the barometer have triggered a lot of migraines of late.  I'm afraid my head has become a weather gage!

Hope you are enjoying your summer, recharging the batteries and finding creative outlets.

Family Celebrations

Been off the grid this past week, had a double Birthday celebration to prepare for, my Mum turned 87 today along with my sister Kellie who was born on our Mum's birthday so we celebrate big time!  Besides it's a great excuse for the whole family to have a lobster feast, and boy do we feast.

I was so busy that I only got a few pictures, oh and Kel is going to love me for including the only shot I got of her, it happens to be her butt!  She's the one holding the camera while talking to our sister, Deb.  My Mum and Grace are in the photo as well.

Even the youngest of the clan, Addy is getting into the lobster fest, she wanted to hold that lobster right along with Grace :-)  You can see the guys on the deck in the background cooking the lobsters.  Any time with my family is a great time, but add some fun food to the mix and it soars!

Grace and I  also worked on a special gift for her teacher.  Well Grace painted the canvas I prepared by texturing with insolation foam and I watched, but I can't share the photo with you as it's a surprise.  Hope everyone had a great weekend as I did!

Read an interesting post over at Comfortable Shoes.  Here's a little snippet to spark your interest:

"I can’t give you permission to create or to call yourself an artist.
I can’t do that because the permission comes from within."

Pouring Paint

Today is a very large day, a term I use to describe an open sky, sunshine and strong breezes that allows me to enjoy the great outdoors without over heating or being eaten alive by black flies!  While my textured layers are drying on a new piece I've begun,  I'm outside with a good book, Painting from the Inside Out by Betsy Dillard Stroud, which by the way you can grab up second hand on amazon, and our dog Jazz to keep me company.

I've also taken the opportunity to do some experimenting with various colour mixes.  I like to do pours starting with just a couple of colours that I'm curious about and see how they mix, what variances I can get as the paints blend and meld together. (This is Mattisse Australian Red Violet & Pyrrole Orange by Golden) Usually I'll do this on large sheets of watercolour paper which find there way into signatures of new journals or I make bookmarks or use them for collage.   But today I used my journal pages to do some limited palette pours.  With my pours I'm not looking to create a great looking piece, just understand the dynamics of colour a little better so I know what to expect when I use it on canvas.

Speaking of pours, check out the pour action of artist, Bette Ridgeway, now that's working large.  I have such a hankering to work on something of that size. There is something about unrestrained boundaries that appeals to me in a big way :-)

Stratafied

"Stratafied" 24 x36" mixed media on canvas

Well it's time to just let this one alone for a time I've taken it down off the wall several times now to work on some element or other and I feel it's  time to just let it hang!

So now it's onto the teal one that's been hanging out in the background because it hasn't told me what comes next, yet.  I also have begun to collage elements to another canvas in preparation for creating or recreating one I called, Keyhole in Time.  The central image is one my talented friend Frances took and generously gave permission to use it once again.  I recently sold the original Keyhole and so loved Frances picture that I want to try my hand at creating another.  

Inspirational Messes

How is it even possible that every inch of working spaces I have are loaded?  Doesn't seem to take long or maybe it's because progress has been slow that things are in such a mess.

We all have our ways of working, and one of mine I'm discovering is that I have to let a piece hang for a time before I know I'm done.  Putting it up on a wall gives me a whole new perspective and I begin to catch the little details that need fixing, additions or some alteration.

Recently Maxine Masterfield, one of my favourite experimental artists posted some pictures of her latest work, Daisy, 2 years in the making!  I found that encouraging to know that my few weeks to a few months fall in that 2 year range :-)  Mind you Maxine was working on a whole new concept and I'm sure that accounted for the long period of time before she felt it was complete.

I have Maxine's books and DVD, the woman is a pioneer in experimental abstract art, and just recently she has posted pictures of new works on her facebook,  they have the most amazing effects, like nothing I have ever seen before.

I'm no Masterfield, but I find great inspiration from artist like her, they encourage me to be bold and experiment within my own capacity and style.    

Free Play

"Joyous Struggle"  24x38" 

"The artist's life cannot be otherwise than full of conflicts, for two forces are at war within him--on the one hand the common human longing for happiness, satisfaction and security in life, and on the other a ruthless passion for creation which may go so far as to override every personal desire...There are hardly any exceptions to the rule that a person must pay dearly for the divine gift of creative fire."  Carl Jung

Now that is a statement that will rock your creative world!  Is it any wonder so many wonderfully talented creative souls go through such torment trying to make a living in some job or another while their hearts cry out for meaning, purpose and creative expression.  This has been the topic of discussion with my sister, Kellie and I since she found herself unexpectedly unemployed and bringing to the forefront this conflict between needing work but desperately wanting creative expression.  It's a battle many are or have faced, can I make a living with my art form and if not then what kind of work would allow me the emotional, mental energy after the work day is over to create?  Sadly, this is a question that has no easy answers in this day and age.  I watch my younger sisters, under so much stress, often trying to do 2-3 peoples work load in one have nothing left over for the things that they love, that feed their souls, that make life worth living.  It's a hell of a thing.

24x36 still in progress

Rice has written about this a number of time on her own blog in her books,  and at Create Mixed Media.  So have numerous others who faced down this same challenge and make some dramatic life alterations.  Books have been written, discussions abound, but the long and short of it is, there are no easy answers for the creative heart.

"In the creative life we pass through at least three stages: innocence or discovery, experience or the fall, and integration or rejuvenation or mastery. Birth, blockage, and breakthrough.  In our original state of innocence, creativity evolved out of the child's primary creative experience of disappearing--pure absorption in free play.  But eventually we experience life's battle, the long list of evils that seem to come intrinsically woven into our existence on earth, as well as internal impedimenta of fear of judgment. Sometimes before we can reach a breakthrough to clarity we live through a dark night of the soul..." Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch

The ability and longing for creative expression is a high power gift.  It has great value to the individual and to our world.  It has to, otherwise why would unseen forces work so hard to crush and possibly obliterate it from our lives?  So fight the good fight my creative friends, nourish your spirit and find room in your life somehow to release your gift to the world.