Web Course & Stuff

Well, the last of the art fairs for the season are behind me, it's been a learning experience and I'm looking forward to doing the rounds next year.  Though I hope to be better prepared and maybe get a lead on some new ones to add to the line up.

Had to spend some time this week creating a place to display medium to small pieces in the loft. Didn't have the floor space to keep stacking them so I used the lattice work frame to hang them on. I'm not looking to create pretty, just a practical way to store and now display some canvasses.

Have a few commissioned pieces to work on so I got started on them, feels good to be able to take the kind of time I want to develop them. I'm also working on developing a website and creating a base to be able to sell my art on-line, yeah a step forward!  As a 'Christmas gift' from my hubby, I'm taking the WebInArts course on-line, that's going to keep me busy this fall I can tell you! Leslie brings a lot to the table, with her extensive marketing background and successful art career, helpful stuff.

The weekends coming and so is my sister Kel!  Can't wait, hanging out at the farm with my family and it's fall, nothing like it!

"The appearance of boredom and tiredness is a sign that you are not listening to your intuition." Michele Cassou

Triumphant

Finally finished the 36 x 48" abstract. A bite at a time!  I like how it turned out, but of course there's always something you wish you had done a little differently :-)  I called it 'Triumphant' because that's how I felt when I finished this one, it's a largest single canvas piece I've done to date and a little challenging to work on.  There's also something about the design that just feels exuberant and well, triumphant, we could all use more of that feeling these days I expect.

Finishing up a few smaller mixed media pieces and packing up for the last art fair of the season this Saturday. Buttermilk Creek Market/Art Fair will be hosted at the North Carleton Civic Centre, Florenceville, Sept 22nd for those who are in the area, sounds like a fun time aside from the market/art fair I'm participating in. Love to see you there!

"Judgments point out to you where you are closing the door to your creativity." Michele Cassou

Let's keep those doors open wide!

Heart's Music

This is a custom piece I made for a young couple who just got married, I filled it with elements that would speak to their heart, it's called, Heart's Music.  It has its own story to tell, beginning with the phrase that came to me as I thought about this young couple. 'Love is the music of the heart.' 'Love is the heart's music.'

The abstract impression of a tree, the might oak, running up the side of the canvas branching out blending with the various symbols I chose.

The Celtic Knot (framing the Cross) is symbolic of the Oak tree's root system and is meant to remind us that beneath our surface we have divine inner resources to hold us steady and give us wisdom and strength through out life.  The Celtic Trinity Symbol (top left) represents Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It also represents, Past, Present and Future.  Who we are today, the relationships we build are the sum of those elements.

The compass conveys that 'Love should always be our 'True North' I wrote the phrases, "Love is the music of the heart and Love is the heart's music" repeatedly and wove it into the band going across the canvass along with music notes, painted, crackled and flooded with copper gold ink.  I love how it turned out!

Tumbling from the branches are clocks to serve as a reminder that time is fleeting and to savour the moments and the date of this young couples wedding floating across the canvass.

Along the bottom I used the words taken from 1 Corinthians 13:7 and typed them repeatedly representing the root system of the oak tree.  "Love, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails."

Like I said, this piece has a story to tell :-)

I managed to overcome the recent speed bump that had me slowed to a crawl and got the first layer of paint down on that big canvas. Now to figure out what comes next!

Speed Bumps

Hitting speed bumps, progress is slow.  You never know when you're going to encounter them or what form they will take, but the results are the same, everything comes to a crawl.

I keep showing up and work away, but progress is painful. Not sure why, there's nothing I can put my finger on. Speed bumps.

Delivered a custom piece for a young couple that I will post about next time. The big canvas is ready for paint, I think and I have two smaller pieces collaged and textured, ready for paint.  That seems to be where the speed bumps show up, paint choices.  In an effort to move away from my favourite colour palettes, I just may be the one throwing up those darn speed bumps.  I'm thinking I need to listen to the wisdom of Michele Cassou, Point Zero

"Doing something more than once is often thought of as being uninventive and uninspired.  It attracts the Dragon of Control, which loves to struggle with it."

Darn, sounds awfully familiar, in fact I can hear the cement mixing that creates those speed bumps!

"There are two kinds of repeats, a controlled repeat and a spontaneous repeat. The spontaneous repeat happens when a deep feeling is met and needs to be explored; intuition, then, brings the images back again and again. The full expression of certain feelings can happen only through repetitions.  Repeats signal substance rather than dullness."

I guess there may be a reason I'm drawn to my earthy, rich tones over and over.  Maybe it's not boring as I fear it might be to others.

"Dragons try to discourage painters from gong further by making them think they are wasting their time."

I do believe I hear the sound of a sledge hammer breaking up some of those darn speed bumps!

"Durning repeats, the painter is actually exploring some new inner ground, some place out of the way, some secret area difficult to reach."

Here's to overcoming those speed bumps whatever their source!