Putting Your 'Brave' On!

This week has been about being brave, or allowing freedom to have its way in my work.  I don't consider myself one of these daring, brave souls that rise to challenges and embrace adventure, but when it comes to exploring my creative voice I've had to grab onto what courage I can muster and push ahead.  It's what took me from working only in the pages of my journals, and onto canvas and from there into the public eye.  Frankly, knowing myself, I'm still shocked that it ever happened!

Anyway, ever since I started working with some resin, I've been wanting to do limited pours on my textured, painted backgrounds.  This was the week for doing it, and of all things to begin on, I chose to explore using the triptych I had begun, 24x54" is a lot of space for things to go wrong on!  Still it was just time, and as Michele Cassou in Point Zero says,

"The amount of freedom you experience is always a function of how much permission you give yourself."

I think that's true of many things we face in our lives, not just with creativity.  Although creativity does seem to be a catalyst for many inner realizations that often bring change to our exterior worlds.

"Creativity's purpose is to stir back to life what has fallen asleep, to cleanse and clear emotional residues, and to open passageways for blocked energy."  Michele Cassou

My 'spirit' certainly found freedom as I worked with my pours of metallic and interference paint and I've found an added expression of my creative voice, now to let that freedom spill over into other areas of my life.

I've only been able to share limited detail shots of this piece, portions of my pours are still drying so can't be moved as yet.  Hope all of you are finding yourself a little braver, a little more free in your lives  too!

Books And Art

Goodness where do the days go?

Finished up a couple of larger pieces for display at Salons On York in Fredericton, I'm happy to say this one sold the same day!  I loved the piece and am so pleased that someone else was moved by it as well.

Other larger works are well, in 'the works.'  I'm enjoying my explorations in the studio.

Speaking of which, I've been enjoying a great new book by Nancy Reyner, called Acrylic Illuminations.  It's the perfect book for someone like me, who likes working with anything that gives depth and pop to my work!  Thank you Nancy for another great reference book.  Nancy gives me what I most want, the tools and techniques that I can select from and find ways to work them through my own style and voice.  And do check out her work, she is an incredible artist, creating these amazing luminous works, yum!

Developing Our Creative Voice

Inks drying on Jo Sonja's crackle

I've had a great deal of fun in the Studio this week!  It helped that the commissioned piece I just completed made my client happy, yeah!

This is not a new design, it's a new incantation of the first, "Cracked Horizon" that now hangs in my daughter's Salon @ Salon's On York, Fredericton. "Cracked Horizon II" has been a joy to work with and I'm happy with it's progress so far. (It will also be available for purchase through my website)

Added more ink colours, once dried will spray with varnish to keep from running

As this one winds up, I have another mixed media just waiting for paint standing on my easel, intended as a replacement piece for one that has already sold at Salon's On York.  Anxious now to start moving paint around and see how this one comes together.

Experimentation comes in large and small sizes.  Right now I seem to be drawn to honing specific techniques, expanding on them in subtle but impactfull ways.  Which makes sense to me as I've only been on this journey for a few brief years and am deepening my understanding of my own creative style.

Frequently I'm asked about my process, and I always chuckle because it's not one I can lay down in simple 1,2,3 steps.  Like everything in my life, how I create, how I have learned, how I have developed has been a random gathering of information and techniques that I experiment with, struggle over, adjust, adapt and continue to work it out.

Ink dried/varnished once I know I'm happy with how the crackle looks I then apply gel medium over cracks

I don't do well in live classroom/workshop settings.  Never have, never will.  I learn best by letting my brain absorb and take in a wide variety of elements through books, videos, articles that, once I start working with them I begin to discover just how they are going to work for me, or not.  We have our arsenal of tools that we bend and shape to fit our unique voice and style and the only way I know to do or find that is by interaction and experimentation.  No big secrets here, or mystery techniques, I've shared freely information that is readily available.   Shaun McNiff say's it better than I ever can,

"Trusting the process is based on a belief that something valuable will emerge when we step into the unknown.  There are elements of surrender and letting go which have more to do with flexibility and the ability to change direction, than with defeat and annihilation.  The ego is willing to relinquish its plans and expectations in order to receive an unanticipated result. Experienced creators are able to step aside and relax in order to advance."

Crackle is fragile and needs that coating of gel to secure it well. This also shows you what a wash of white ink amid the cracks might look like.

I am so thankful for Shaun's book and others like them.  I took them at their word and trusted the process, continue to trust in that process as I work and experiment, and agonize over the work, 'paying my dues' to develop whatever ability I may have. Understanding my limits, working with and around them it's all part of who I am, as a person and as a creative.

Bren