Visual Art

Ever feel the need for a little creative inspiration?  For me, one of the ways I get myself plugged into the creative energy of the Universe is go to Anthropologie.  When I walk in the door, I just immerse myself in beautiful colorful things.  Their displays are amazing and full of creative brilliance.  The imagination these people have for their artful displays is inspiring to me.  OK, the stuff there is pretty awesome too.  Today I actually met one of these creative minds behind the artful displays.

She was working on her world display.  She was gluing used corks in the shape of the Earth to show sustainability in our world.  We chatted for a while...  I was interested to hear about her job.  Can you imagine being one of the people who makes displays for Anthropologie- how cool is that?!  OK, I'm jealous. 

 

On Color and Painting

OK - I'm big enough to admit it... I'm struggling with color right now.  Photography and color seems to come easy easier.  Painting and color is definately not so easy.  I've tried the "jump in" approach and see what happens (not good) and I've tried the "get out the color wheel" approach and map it out.  I've come to the conclusion that its hard.  Its hard to get the colors right.  Yes, I can come up with a color plan but when it comes to actually putting it in the painting... hard.

I've also recently come to the conclusion that I don't have to reinvent the wheel.  That there are artists out there that I can look to for inspiration for color.  This is the work of Kathe Fraga, she is a local artist here in the Seattle area.  I love her color.  Its simple.  She uses just a handful of color and all of her paintings are similar.  She's found the color palette she likes to use and she sticks with it. 

She does some other really cool stuff in her paintings too.  I love the way she devides her panel.  This is something I noticed in Bridgette Mill's work as well. 

I know that I am not the first artist to come along to the color struggle.  I just have to keep that in mind... I'm not alone with this.  That's why we "color strugglers" are greatful for people like Kathe Fraga or whoever is your favorite artist.  We can look to them for inspiration in color.

I'm starting to look a little deeper as to why some artists are "my favorites".  There always is some reason that I like a particular artist's work.  I may not know why at the time, but when I'm ready to learn - the answer is there for me.  Look to your favorite artists for inspiration and see what lessons their art can teach you.

A View From Here - Focus 52

-A View From Here-

Focus 52 this week is to show what its like where we are in the world.  Its interesting to think that really, I have many worlds in which I exist - my home, my city, where I play, where I work.  This is one of my worlds... my studio.  Its a quiet place where I listen to music and just zone out - or tune in.. depending on how you look at it.  It has great light, it looks to the east where I can watch the sun rise, its full of creative energy and inspiration... and its a bit messy.  I love it here where I sit by the window and create whatever comes to me.  This is my view.

Focus 52 - Green

The theme is GREEN over at Focus 52 this week. I decided to step out of my box and go for green with my creative outlet other than photograpy - encaustic wax painting. I started early in the week, thinking it would take me a while to get this done. However, it went really quickly. The inspiration behind this one was actually a golf green. I was watching golf the other day and they showed an ariel photo of a golf green that was kinda shaped like this. Well, as you all know how the creative process works... Really, it morphed to this shape and then a little more inspiration from a local Japanese artist and the acorn squash that is sitting in my fruit bowl... and there you have it - GREEN

I was really happy how the process worked on this one. Its really the first time I can say that I actually did go through the steps I wish I did on every painting. First the sketches, then the larger color plan - yes, consulting the color wheel and planning out the colors. I worked through them with crayon (crayola of course :)

I stuck with the plan - so to speak. I transferred my drawing and incised in the lines on the medium base coat (trying a new technique here) then blocked in the colors just how I wanted them. Fused many times to blend the color layers. Then, came the fun part which was to incise in the outlines and designs. I put in the outlines first. I mapped out the design fun stuff by using tracing paper over my painting. It gave me a chance to see what I was thinking and placement before I committed to incising. Cut the lines in, fill with wax, scrape back and there she be. I was interested on this one that I thought it looked equally fine upside down as well. In fact, in the end, I had a hard time picking which end was up. And.... this is GREEN.

Focus 52- Variety

For Focus 52 this week over at TwoScoops, the word is VARIETY. I thought about all the variety there is in life from the cereal aisle at the grocery store to the clothes in my closet. But, what really struck me for this week was variety in art - colors, mediums, subjects, styles, materials - so much.

How do we choose? How do we pick one thing and go with it, when there are so many options?

Variety can be overwhelming or it can be really inspiring. The key is to let it be inspiring and not let the world bombard you with so many options that you don't know where to start.

Pick something. Start somewhere and see where that leads. There are no rules. Let variety inspire you.

•unravelling

I have been working. I've been spending lots of time in the studio. There have been so many attempts, missteps, start-agains... it should be discouraging. But its not. Its all part of the process. I love what the wax is teaching me - to be patient, to be gentle, to accept what comes. To accept the inperfections, the deviation from the plan is new for me. I'm starting to like it - the unexpected.

The Start of Something Bigger

I found inspiration today. So, why does it take so long to realize that what you've been looking for has been here all along?
I took a photography class this past month. Find Your Eye with Kat Sloma. Not only did I learn about my camera - the biggie was that I began to find my eye, my style.
I went on a photo walk this morning to capture the sun on the newly fallen snow. So... what did I photo? The same stuff I always photo.. trees, plants, just nature in general. I have scads of photos of the same stuff.
This is where Kat's class comes in... when I look at all these photos I have taken over the past year they pretty much have the same common thread. Line, color and texture - specifically based in nature. OK, I recognize this... time to embrace it and stop searching for something else. Seems like I keep trying to paint something that isn't me. And, yes... I'm not happy with it in the end.
Today I came across Bridgette Guerzon Mills. I actually discovered her about a week or so ago. Today, I really studied her work. I visited her blog, I browsed her photo stream and I soaked it in. Bridgette... Thank You! Thank you for the inspiration that you gave me to try some new stuff today. To actually see in myself what I have been missing - or overlooking all this time. I'm super excited to try again and let this evolve. Today was fun.
My take away from Bridgette's work is she is really good at sectioning off her panels into small bite sized pieces. This is something that I had been thinking about based on some pillow cases I bought in Thailand. But, today, Bridgette brought this together for me. She creates little pictures within a picture. If you really look at each little section, they stand on their own in color and compostion. They also come together to form one big happy painting. Brilliant! I've been struggling with the compostion of a bigger piece. Breaking it down is HUGE for me. This allows me to color block in black, white and midtones. Today I overlapped these little sections. Next I'll try picture within a picture and see how that feels. First, I think I'll map out in a sketch book the color blocks and how the shapes lay out. Then I'll put together the theme idea and I'll work on some drawing stuff and some photography to incorporate.
Wow, beginning to think like an artist :)