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!

Vintage Art

Time to hang this for awhile so that I can decide if it's truly done.  It has a very aged look to it, using a limited palette, Payne's Grey, Quinacridone Azo Gold, and from Nova Color, Fluorescent Purple. Who would think that fluorescent anything could have such a vintage look! (Note: they no longer carry the F Purple but have replaced it with Quinacridone Violet)

Been reading Steven Pressfield's new book Turning Pro. (author of The War of Art)  Just to explain he uses the terms Amateur and Pro to describe life lived outside of doing what you were designed to do and living from the centre of what you were shaped to do, The Pro. Interesting reading, here's a few morsels to chew on...

"When we turn pro, everything becomes simple. Our aim centres on the ordering of our days in such a way that we overcome the fears that have paralyzed us in the past. We now structure our hours not to flee from fear, but to confront it and overcome it."

"When we were amateurs, our life was about drama, about denial, and about distraction. Our days were simultaneously full to the bursting point and achingly, heartbreakingly empty.  But we are not amateurs any more. We are different and everyone in our lives sees it."

and this made me laugh, one line, one chapter,
"The amateur tweets. The pro works."

"Turning pro changes how we spend our time and with whom we spend it...We will have to choose between the life we want for our future and the life we have left behind...The essence of epiphanies is the stripping away of self-delusion. There is great power in this moment. Epiphanies hurt."

Marketing Our Work

Another art fair under this newbies belt, one more to go in September.  It's been a great experience with positive feedback and art being sold.

Jean and I had a great time at this last one, 'The Golden Unicorn Art Festival' is in the middle of lake cottage country so it was a festive, neighbourly kind of atmosphere.  People connecting up with fellow cottagers, chatting, browsing, eating wonderful home cooked yummies, listening to live entertainment and buying from the many artisans at the fair.  My hubby and I are looking forward to returning next year!

Jean went right out after out first fair and bought a new big pop up awning complete with add on sides for extra shade and problem weather.  Can you tell he is ready to do the local fair circuit with me next year! Got to love a guy who believes in you that much and who is a real people person.

Did a quick clean up in the studio so I could get started on some new pieces. Love it when the creative juices are flowing and the art is selling!  Oh and I managed to create a new spot on line for housing my art. I wanted to set something up to make things easier to purchase my art on line and this is the first step, I'll be adding the 'Buy Now' PayPal button in the future.  But for now I've simply created a new Dynamics View blog and linked it on the sidebar of Esynergy, 'My Art Gallery-Brenda Thebeau Abstracts'  in time the page tab at the top of my blog will be removed.  For those of us new to the on line art scene deciding on how best to present and sell our work is an ongoing exploration.  I wanted a site that used my name as the URL but didn't want to loose my current blog followers by switching to a completely new web hosting system. So this was my solution.  Now to get things sorted out and add the PayPal 'Buy Now' button, Marketing for the Technically challenged, that's me!

Art Fairs Here I Come!

Just a quick update on how my sister, Kellie and I fared at the art fair.

Though we got rained out in the afternoon, I did sell several pieces and Kel too. Considering we had to close up shop before you really get the most of your foot traffic, I'm happy with how it went.  So much so that I'm doing two more this weekend!

Friday, Art on the Boardwalk, put on by The McCain Art Gallery, you guessed it on the Florenceville-Bristol Boardwalk!  It's a 2 hour event so I felt I could take on the all day fair in Fosterville, NB, the Golden Unicorn Art Festival, this Sunday.

Though there were days, well every day, that the firbromyalgia took it's toll, I just pushed through and rested where I could, if I could, knowing that these kinds of opportunities don't come around often. And now that we are set up for exhibiting, it does get easier. I will however be preparing for next year months in advance!

Truth is, I could not do it without the continual help and support of my hubby, Jean.  He has been there with me every step, I don't think I could find anyone who believes in me more.  Kel got some photos of him doing what he does best, enjoying the people.  He's a people person all the way and attends the fairs with me, hanging out even telling people all that he knows about my art.  What a day!  And before I forget, the girls, my grand-daughters each sold a painting and bookmarks, so it was a positive experience all way around.  My greatest regret is that because of the rain and this being my first show, I wasn't able to have them stay for the day with me, perhaps next year!

I'm excited and been busy painting some new mixed media pieces, as the others sold. I also have another of Kel's truck pieces varnished and drying, just no photo as yet.  Then there is the new big abstract, 24 x 30"which I love and will hate to part with, well almost! (top of post) It was pure joy to just start flooding my canvas with paint, the tones are rich and deep just like I like then.

Okay, I've been cramming down my lunch while writing this, now it's time to get back at it! Looking forward to catching up with what everyone else has been doing in blogger land!

Creative Call

Feeling the crunch, last week before our first art fair.  I say our, because not only is it a first for Kellie and I, it's a first for my Grand-daughters.  At their Gramp's suggestion they wanted to put some small canvases and bookmarks in the fair too.  Needless to say, I've been busy helping them 'finish' them out. At 9 and 11 it's hard for them to comprehend just how long and hard you can work to get a piece to that finished state.  The table holds their offerings in various states of doneness, including a basket of bookmarks.

My sister, Kel's been pulling out all the stops too, can't wait to see her many framed and print offerings. Exciting times for the 'Graham' girls!  (I'm a Graham by birth, still am, often wish I could use my maiden name for my art, I feel so connected to my roots, the creative soul that I was as a kid)

"You and I when we're young--experience a calling. To art, to service, to honourable sacrifice. ...this calling is followed immediately by the apparition of RESISTANCE.  Fear.  Self-doubt.  Self-sabotage.

What makes this moment so soul-precarious is that most of us are unconscious of both our aspirations and our Resistance."  Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield

I'm working to complete a large piece, and another smaller mixed media piece.  This is just a snippet of the bigger abstract.  The creativity is flowing but boy my body is pushing back!  It's times like these that I think, darn this painting is worth a bundle for all the hours of pain and hard work to create it! Just saying ;-)

Resisting Resistance

This smaller piece was an experiment with aluminum foil.  Distressed, painted over with acrylics, then areas rubbed off to reveal the foiling again on the ridges and various areas, then covered again with translucent acrylics.  Of course I then had to do some crackling along with other detailing.  Overall it's quite a dramatic little piece, though the background blues are a little deeper in tone than what my camera shows.  Do you know I don't think I could get that same look again, it was such a forward, backwards kind of process, doubt if I could duplicate it to get the same colour results.  Art is such an interesting exploration.

I have to admit this was a hard one to complete, encountered all kinds of resistance as I struggled to do the work that would get me past the 'ugly.'  It pushes, but I push back. Again, I love what the process pulls from me. It connects me to the person I saw hints of when I was young, and I mean kid young!

"Resistance cannot be seen, heard, touched, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential.  Resistance is a repelling force. It's negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing 'the work.'  Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work."  Do The Work by Steven Pressfield

Don't Over Protect Your Work!

As many of you know getting ready for an Art Fair takes a lot of work, both in creating the art and designing your space, pricing, labelling and more.  Lot's to think about, especially as this is my first, a total newbie.  My sister Kellie is hard at work too, it's been great having her to bounce ideas off and just hold each other's hand as we prepare for our first art fair!

With that in mind, completed our first collaborative effort, Kel's truck photo and my mixed media interpretations.  My husband loves it, so I'm hoping someone at the fair will too! I've yet to get a good face on photo of it, but will try again in different lighting. (Alright snaps some pics outside in overcast sky, not bad)  Also finished the porch swing mixed-media, (first photo) I really like how this one came out.  Other things on the go and in various stages.

Bookmarks in the making, small canvases that the Grand-girlies are going to work on, for their part in the fair, it's turned into a family affair!

"Creation is motivated by truth and mystery. If you overprotect your work, there is no room for genuine inspiration.  Be intrigued. Be curious. Nothing bad can come from an honest response to your intuition.  No matter what you paint, creation is benevolent. Under every little fear, there is a revelation, an insight waiting to happen." Michele Cassou

Got to remember that when I'm passing through the 'uglies' and wondering how things will go at the art fair!