Studio Shorts
Courting the muse as a painter is an exhilarating sway of emotions, colors, and creativity. It feels like a delicate balance between anticipation and surrender. There is a palpable, even spiritual energy in the air, a connection to something beyond the physical realm.
For me, this is a lifestyle full of both frustration and elation, as inspiration ebbs and flows. With each encounter, the muse reveals new facets of my own desires, kindling a fire that eventually must have its way in the studio…
…or at the keyboard. Because I also paint with words. All of it, words and art, prose and paint, feels just like how I imagine a flamenco dance would feel - full of passion and vulnerability.
All I knew before beginning this piece was I had not done it quite this way before.
It needed to come out wild and free.
It wanted to be impetuous and beautiful.
She materialized exactly as I imagined she would. A gestural drawing, with strong lines and small imperfections that actually make her perfect. She flew out of my arms, hands and fingertips, onto the paper in moments, boldly and with courage, no erasing the history of any mark.
The intention was to distill a lifetime of noticing with more than a decade of art practice, into one manifestation of ease and grace and something of my own impetuousness.
It had to feel for sure like it might not work.
But then it did.
Her marks have been safeguarded. Next, she will be beautifully and simply framed. She will be available for someone to bring her home and be inspired every day by the ease and grace with which she simply IS.
Message me, if that someone is you.
She took less than twenty minutes from start to finish. She took great courage. She took my whole lifetime to execute. Someone will want everything she represents, and will be most willing to make that beautiful equal exchange of energy. I for sure won’t be discounting this piece.
The greater the ease with which an artist works, the better the energy in the finished piece. If you love art…really love it…you are looking for that fresh urgency. You love the immediacy of certain types of marks and paint strokes.
This is that. Oh, for sure.
An In-Depth - Somewhat - Tour of My Studio {...which means a partial tour of my home...}
My friend Jeanne Oliver recently invited me to participate in her once-a-month “Artist’s Studios Tour”. I quickly jotted down the date, and made a mental note.
There was my first mistake. ha. Mental notes don’t do me much good these days, because apparently “menopause brain” is a thing. But I did manage to move the big, ugly portable studio lights out of my main studio space, and straighten up a little bit.
So consider this your invitation to join Jeanne and I both, over on her blog, where you will find an over ten minute long, hopefully quite encouraging, tour of my creative spaces. These areas are where all my good juju happens. You’ll hear all the many ways my Preacher has come alongside me, as I chase beauty…(because the deep, dark secret is he is a beauty-chaser himself. Give him an afternoon with a beautiful landscape and his Nikon, and he is a happy, happy man. Preachers are just artists masquerading as ministers. It takes the soul of an artist and the heart of a writer to see the wonder in the Gospel, to remain untouched by cynics, and to pen messages every single week.)
some of the various pochades, easels, etc that I take with me when I paint out-and-about
And while you are over on Jeanne’s website, do join her “Creative Network” (it’s free!) where you will find dozens (and dozens) of gorgeous art classes (three of them are by yours truly - just do a quick search on the site for my name)…
…and the BEST selection - a curated selection - of FREE instructional videos that you will find, anywhere.
I’ve been part of this network since it began. Jeanne just keeps getting better. She keeps on showing me what is possible. I love that, in a friend. I love that in an art instructor.
Enjoy! Here is the link, once more.
And, if you can, please join me over on my instagram where I’m most active, in terms of social media, and leave me any thoughts, questions, observations, or comments you may have about my spaces. I’ve figured out many low cost/no cost solutions to the problems we artists bump up against on a regular basis. I’m happy to share my tricks and tips with you.
excited to show you this piece of vintage furniture that The Preacher turned into my packing/shipping station…