Gone a Little Pollock In The Studio

Okay I confess to having gone off the grid on this one.  The trouble began when I went to the studio with a plan in mind.  You'd think I'd know by now that plans seldom work out for me, not in the studio.  Of course you know that artist/teacher Michele Cassou would have something to say about it...

"To create you do not need to come up with a plan, but rather take away all plans to give natural originality, style, and wisdom a chance to manifest from intuition."  Point Zero

There came a point when what I had planned and was trying to make happen on the canvas was dead in the water, a wash of it!  Out came the squeegee, brayer, brushes, inks and one mass of clogged up paint.  (That's a whole other story, a brand of paint I'm going to have to give up on, it just keeps drying up in the tip of the bottle leading to endless stabbing with a needle to clear it again and again, sheesh)

It was crazy fun! There was paint splattered all over me, glasses, cloths anything exposed including the floor.  I kept thinking what on earth would my mother think of the mess I was making.  I grinned like a maniac and kept splatting and spraying.

So I have one wild background to work from, at this point I'm not making any plans as to what comes next!  Instead I'm asking myself what this painting is expressing, something Cassou encourages artist to do, ask questions.

"With questions, you can dig into your creative potential as far as you want. The questions gently knock at the door of your inspiration, or bang on it, or blast it open, or anything in between so that your heart and soul can be engaged." Point Zero by Michele Cassou

My creative door got blasted, how about yours?

Connecting With Our Art

Opal Essence Acrylic/Inks 20x24" gallery canvas

Not ready to sign it just yet, but it's time to hang it on the wall so I can live with it long enough to know if it's done.  The first in my Essence of Opal series, I've learned some things that I hope to incorporate in the next one.

Had a great time this weekend watching my Grand-daughers perform in their Rock & Roll Cup gymnastics competition.  Lots of bling came home with them, they did great!  I posted videos to my facebook, what can I say, proud of my girls and the whole team.

"You cannot be connected by trying to be connected. You are connected only when you stop interfering with your natural intuition...Connection with your painting happens when you get out of the way and let intuition do its work."  Michele Cassou

Here's to connecting this week!

The Start of a Series

I've got a new piece on the easel, one that I hope will be the first in a series called Essence of Opal.  Thanks to my Aussie friends I've been inspired by the raw opal being mined in their beautiful country.  In fact, Kel used the title of the series to describe a previous work I did, which got me to thinking... I've never done a series before and I'm hoping that I won't fall flat on my face with this proposed one :-)  I've a lot I want to experiment with on this piece, kind of feeling my way along, but it's a good start for now.

"Doing something more than once is often thought of as being uninventive and uninspired.  Repeats signal substance rather than dullness."  Michele Cassou

Oh I do love when those fun packages show up at the post office!  I'm drooling over all the possibilities these new papers will bring to my art. I can't create fast enough to fulfill the need to try them all out!

Lobster Bash

Ignited II Acrylic/Ink on Gallery Canvas 24x24"

Busy week preparing for a family gathering and our Lobster feed with my family.  Did manage to finish a painting however, it's a hard one to photograph.

Ignited II 24x24" acrylic/inks on Canvas

Just a portion of what was cooked!

Jean brought back a car load of lobster fresh off the boat and the cooking began, followed by several shifts at the lobster table.  What a great time!  I love spending time with my whole family, and we sure did love the lobster!  

Just another round at the lobster table!

Grace and Lyvia (my grand-daughters) baked a chocolate layer cake and each decorated a side.  Unfortunately I was too busy to get  a photo when it first landed and there wasn't much left at the end of the evening.  It was a hit, although I can't tell you first hand because chocolate and I don't get along anymore, migraines!

Love that crackle!

Creative Doorways

Been working away on this 24 x 30" canvas this week.  I need to let it breathe a little to figure out what comes next.  It's very hard to get the colours to photograph well.  I enjoyed painting this, just love doing my 'pour & spritz' Seeing those colours combine and create wonderful new shades and tints is exciting.  (Golden Fluid Turquois, Quinacridone Crimson, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold & Matisse Australian Sienna)  I love the feeling of movement. As I said, still in progress but coming along.

As always I've had a book on the go, in this case it's one about artists who struggle or struggled with chronic illnesses.  "When Walls Become Doorways" by Tobi Zausner, is my go to book when life with chronic pain wears me down.  I know that when I paint, when I create my spirit rises above the negative aspects and limitations of my life.  Maybe that's why so much of my art is flowing with movement, because movement comes at great cost for me.

 "The key to your personal transformation is the thorn in your side." Rudolph Ballentine

You may not be living with illness but there are many things that challenge us in life, and any of these moments of crisis can become transformational, 

"an experience that forces us to look deeply within ourselves and decide what we really want to do can be a turning point in life." When Walls Become Doorways

Here's to each of our "creative doorways!"

Stirring The Paint

#29 "Interference"  Acrylics on canvas

It's been a good week so far, sold two new paintings helping to keep me in paint supplies!  This is the newest completed piece.  Just a nice size 24 x 24" on Gallery Wrap Canvas.

A few more thoughts from another David DuChemin ebook, Vision Is Better
"So what do you do when the thing that sustains you begins to tire you? What do you do when the shelves are bare? Restock the shelves...I think the way we do that is a little counter-intuitive: we shoot more, write more (paint more) we go back to the well and fill it with the same bucket we use for drawing water in the first place.  We get intentional about the process and stop worrying about the product.  We stir the paint. We take more risks. We work more not less...you take the time to do more personal projects and create something for you and not your clients.  It is not just as important that you feed your own creative soul before you feed your market, it is more important...What do you do to stir the paint? Where do you go to fill your well?"

Without realizing it these last several pieces have been all about well filling for me.  Doing things that stimulate and entice me to risk new things.  It's been great.  Hope all of you are finding your own ways to 'stir the paint' this week!

Just Begin-Then Finish!

'Affinity' 20x24" Mixed-Media on Gallery Wrap Canvas-SOLD

My sister Kellie shared some things David DuChemin said in his e-book, "Vision Is Better 2"  They are hard hitting truths worth sharing.

"How great your idea is means almost nothing without the will to carry it out."

"The trap lies in thinking that coming up with the ideas is where the value is.  It isn't.  The value lies in your ability to execute."

"We sometimes get paralyzed by too many options.  A million ideas and we're stuck because we can't pick one.  Stop it.  Pick one.  Move forward.

Because picking the "wrong one" and getting it done puts you in motion and is better than doing nothing at all  Just begin."

"Don't let your piles of notes and your great sounding ideas lull you into thinking you're making progress.  You make progress when you begin."

"Most of us don't need more inspiration.  We need to begin acting on the inspiration we've already been given."

Added a few more rings to the centre of this piece along with some collage elements before calling it done.  I think it improved the overall look of the design. Hope so because I now have it listed in my Art Gallery page and facebook! (NOTE: Affinity sold shortly after I posted it on FB. Yeah!)

NOTE: Now that I figured out that changing the format for my comments box allows me to reply to individuals comments I am doing just that.  If you've left me comments in the last couple of posts know that I am appreciative and have responded to your willingness to share :-)

Persistence

Well I've been trying to get over the butt kicking I received by a painting last week, not sure how successful I've been but I am persistent :-)  This is a smallish piece that I played with just to get back into the swing of things. Got to let it breath before I know what else I need or want to do with it.  Played with a very high gloss varnish, which gave it the look of a resin finish, figured if I don't care for a high glass finish I probably won't like resin as a finish on my own work, though I love it on things I've seen other artist do.

Have a canvas that has some great design and shapes to it, but as yet not decided on how I want to paint.  I guess I'm in an experimental mode so I'm taking my time as I let some thoughts percolate.

"Painting is a personal affair, an intimate place where you can allow anything to be expressed." Point Zero by M. Cassou 

Creative Bent

Had my butt kicked by a painting last week, reworked it so many times I lost count.  In the end I decided that where I wanted to go with it and where it was willing to go were two different things.  So the canvas is in the process of drying as it begins a new metamorphous into something other than what I originally intended.  We will see how the painting of it actually goes.  It's acquired some heft due to all the layers of paint and gesso :-)

It's a lesson in the willfulness of creativity, well at least 'my' creative bent.  Obviously my creative self won't be bullied around if it's not feeling it, I might as well stop and listen to that inner voice instead of endlessly trying to get it to line up with what I think should be happening on that canvas!

Artist/Author Michele Cassou would advice me thus,
"When I started to paint intuitively, I was determined to explore my freedom to its limits... I discovered the physical reality of my creativity. I observed and studied it; the creative force was definitively tangible...The mind--the Dragon of Product--incessantly demands instruction, parameters, anything with a direction so it won't have to surrender to intuition...Let your images and colors unfold at their own rhythm. It is not your job to choose what is next, but to respond from your heart."

That's a lot to think about, and seems to be lining up with my experience in the studio last week.  So here's to painting form the heart!  Seems to be something that Flora Bowley lives by as well.  Just got her new book in the mail and am looking forward to reading and learning with Flora