Art and Fear and Yupo

I have been reading ‘Art and Fear’ and dealing with my “Artists’ Funk”. I am always amazed when I hear and read about those who have never experienced it. However, I have broken through my ‘funk’, but not without some frustrations. One of the suggestions in the book is “When things go haywire, your best opening strategy might be to return—very carefully and consciously— to the habits and practices in play the last time you felt good about the work. Return to the space you drifted away from and (sometimes at least) the work will return as well.” The last time I felt excited about my work was when I was entering local art association shows and painting on Yupo. In fact, painting consumed me to the point that I rarely posted as attested to in my June 16, 2008 post.

If you have never heard of Yupo it is a plastic surface that accepts water media paints but has a mind of its own. The paint slips and lifts at the slightest provocation. A Japanese firm created it for sign painting. When I saw the wonderful paintings done by George James, I knew I had to try it. The first time I tried Yupo I cautiously drop some watercolor on the surface and a weird little bloom appeared. I added other colors and before I knew it, I had a strange flower staring at me. With a few pencil accents and paint lifts, I decided it was finished. I signed and titled it ‘Yupo Blossom’. From there I went on to paint some award winning abstracts. After reading chapter V in the book I am cautiously on my way again. The Yupo and watercolors are set to go and my blogging will have to wait in line!

Nurturing Creativity

In my search for inspiration I discovered this 2009 video on TED.com of Elizabeth Gilbert and the subject of "Nurturing Creativity". Elizabeth is the author of one of my favorite books, Eat, Love, Pray. Her talk is about (and I quote)" the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk". The talk is almost 20 minutes long, but I believe it is worth it. I worked on a mixed media piece while I listened. I smiled, was inspired and could relate to so much of what she said. Elizabeth gave me permission to keep on creating the weird pieces that I have been creating. Not sure what is up with my muse, but I am going with the flow. Olay!

A footnote: one could spend hours watching videos on TED, and another one I enjoyed is Amy Tan's video as she explores the creative process. This videos really needs to be watched rather than just listened to as she has a clever Power Point presentation

Easing Forward

I have spent the past few days in my studio, pouring, splashing and wiping out paint along with doing some college. Nothing I consider successful, but that was not my goal. I just wanted to break my dry spell and move on. I gave myself permission to put the" shoulds" behind me. I think this little experimental wipeout watercolor on hot press illustration board, reflects my frame of mind. In fact, the more I look at it the more I like it; not as a work of art, but for the message it gives me. It is not like anything I have created before and probably not again. That is okay too. I am just easing forward.

Retirement

One of the most interesting blogs I follow is Katharine A. Cartwright’s blog. Katharine is currently reviewing a wonderful book, Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland. I bought this book a few years ago and as with most books, as much as I liked it, I did not find the time to finish it. I have always felt guilty if spent too much time reading. I usually try to read a little before I go to bed and I end up falling asleep, so it has been great reading Katharine’s book synopsis… A book club online and that feels productive to me.
What does all this have to do with retirement? One would think that being retired I would not feel guilty about reading or doing anything for just the enjoyment of it. One word, “annihilation”. The subject of a section in chapter III in the Art and Fear book and Katharine’s May 12th post. it refers to how some artists feel and react to dry spells in their work. Since I retired and no longer do shows or have an agent, etc. I have experienced this feeling of annihilation. I do not have the energy or the good health I had a few years ago so my productivity, even for my own pleasure, has diminished. The guilt and feelings of hopelessness gets heavy at times, which seems to exacerbate the “dry spell” problem. I eat too many sweets for energy (counterproductive), and when I am not going to the doctor, I am grocery shopping and doing other chores, but not painting. My excuse all winter has been the lack of heat in my studio. I tell myself, now that the hot weather is settling in, the studio will be the coolest place in the house and surely then the creative juices will flow! Now I am whining, which I really dislike, but I thought if I came clean with my fears, then I could deal with them. I hear the clock ticking and avoiding my studio will not slow it down. Maybe this will be my epiphany. Today I will go down and just throw a little paint on some paper and hopefully the muse with appear!

An epiphany is the moment when you run out of excuses for yourself, and nothing is left but the truth. ~ Kenji Crosland,

Renewal

For me spring is a time for renewal. A time to clean out the cobwebs of winter, plant seeds and get my house in order. It is also a good time to put my business affairs in order. With my taxes filed, next on my list was to finish my new website. The allotted space provided by my previous web host was limited and I had to use their templates. I tried to modify them to suit my needs for almost 6 months and finally gave up. I changed to a host with unlimited space and the option to create my own site. I am not that computer savvy so I bought a program to help me. It took me a little time to grasp the fundamentals (still not sure, I have done everything right), but I am now published online. I plan to add other images soon. www.evamacie.com The only thing still hanging is my domain transfer. It expires in 5 days so I am cutting it close. Fingers cross that I do not lose my domain name and all the work I have done...... Now I have tomato plants waiting for my attention.

Monitor Calibration

Do you need to calibrate your monitor?
I have been dragging my feet on creating a new website, but I think I am almost finished. However, when I checked the site’s appearance on my other computers, I was shocked at the difference. Two of my computers have LCD monitors and one has an old phosphorus monitor. Obviously, I needed to calibrate them, as I could not see the subtle harlequin pattern, shown above, on the LCD’s. I tried the calibration that came with my computer, but it did not work with all of them. I found this post on Flicker that really helped me. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveward/262020865/. If you have any doubt about your monitor's calibration, I highly recommend that you read Dave Ward’s entire post and the comments as it has some great sites for monitor calibration.

Appreciation

Over the many years of my career as an artist, I have received letters and notes from my clients telling me how much they have enjoyed owning my work. I have appreciated each of them. Recently I received one from Tom and Rochelle McDonald. I must say it was a beautifully written note and it really touched me. I was surprised because the artwork is a painting on a 30” hand contoured, rag paper disc, which I created in 1995. Tom, only 25 at the time, commissioned it for his sweetheart, Rochelle. Tom and Rochelle are now married; they have a son, Quinn and live in a lovely home at Berkley Lake. Tom remodeled their home a year ago and built a fantastic custom niche to display the disc. He sent me a couple of photos, one of which I have posted here. Thank you, Tom and Rochelle; I feel honored, you made my day!

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Another note of appreciation goes to Barry H. who recently purchased a large acrylic painting, “Rites of Spring”. Barry saw a canvas giclee of another one of my paintings in a health club he recently joined in North Carolina. He found my web site and a painting he liked. Long story short, the buyer and seller are happy. Thanks, Barry.

Nuts!

My absence from my blog was due to the issues with my heart since last fall. The cardiologist insisted that I have a cardiac catheterization, also called coronary angiogram. It is a test to check the blood flow in the coronary arteries, blood flow and blood pressure in the chambers of the heart, to find out how well the heart valves work, and check for defects in the way the wall of the heart moves. Fortunately, there was no blockage, but it confirmed my heart arrhythmia. It was a very painful experience and I pray I never have to go through it again. They did change my medication and all I do is sleep! Unfortunately, this could last up to six weeks with no caffeine or wine. Nuts!

Speaking of nuts, I really believe my constant snacking on raw almonds and walnuts are the reason my heart valves passed the test. I love them. They are great art subjects too. Since I have not been up to creating any art lately, I dug through my old drawings and found one I did when I was a young gal 43 years ago. Drawing was my first love. I have several that have survived the many moves I have made over the years, but I wish I had kept more.

Think I'll take another nap.......

Pat Dews Workshop

Pat Dews is one of my favorite workshop instructors. I own her DVD, ‘Designing Great Starts with Texture & Form” and I enjoyed just watching her work, She is so lively and creative that it is impossible to fall asleep watching it.

When I learned Pat was holding a workshop in Atlanta a few years ago, I quickly signed up. I was not disappointed. Pat stayed on “go” and demonstrated constantly all week long. I was exhausted, but pleased with everything she shared. She holds nothing back. I recently heard that she would be in Highlands, North Carolina, April 12- 16 at The Basocm. I understand they need a couple more students to make the class. Because of my health issues I cannot attend, but If you are near the area I highly recommend you sign up as you won’t regret it.

The painting above, “Sheltered View” is one of the pieces I created in a Pat’s workshop. The assignment was to take a very small portion of a photo and abstract it using monoprint techniques. My photo was part of an advertisement that featured a safari tent in the background.

Heart Awareness Month

Although this month is almost over, most of us know February is dedicated to raising awareness about heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Knowledge about prevention is so important. I have blogged about this before, but I feel the story warrants repeating. Last fall my basement flooded and left it damp and moldy. One of my storage containers was my father’s old military trunk. When I opened it and attempted to clean it, I inhaled the mold that was covering everything inside. The following weeks I spent trying to eradicate the rest of the mold in my basement and taking Claritin-D so I could breathe. Long story short, I am now being treated for high blood pressure and heart arrhythmia! I cannot stress the importance of wearing masks when dealing with toxic paints, and materials. Also, read the labels of any medication before taking it!
The image above is part of the old truck, which is now in my garage airing out. I drew a little heart on it to remind me not only that I love my father, but also I need to love myself by watching my health and what I consume.

I Had To Ask

Atlanta, like most of the country, is covered with snow. Our subdivision looks like a fairyland and the roads are still a icy. Snuggling in by my electric fireplace, I decided to finish a blog post I started last week about some Jackson Pollock movies. Previously I emailed MOMA, Museum of Modern Art asking permission to use one of the Jackson Pollock painting images. They forwarded my request to an art resource company. This company informed me that I would have to pay them $50.00 a year to use the image and I needed to get permission from the Pollock foundation! With all of the images on the net I was shocked and wished I hadn’t asked. I decided to create my own at Jackson Pollock org. This online program is a very tricky to use, but once you get the hang of it, and learn some tricks such as changing the paint color in a corner, it can be fun. I have a screen capture program so I can copy it and edit in Photoshop. Now I have my own fake Pollock painting.
This leads to my post about movies. I recently acquired a movie titled, “Who the $#%& Is Jackson Pollock?” (2006). It is about Teri Horton, a 73 year old former truck driver from California, who purchased a painting from a thrift shop for $5, only later to find out that it may be a Jackson Pollock painting. It was fascinating, watching the experts trying to prove or disprove its authenticity. I will not reveal the conclusion, as I hate spoilers. This is not an award-winning movie, but it if you enjoy watching people’s minds at work and having a closer look at the Jackson Pollock’s techniques this movie is the one to see.
I also own the movie “Pollock” staring Ed Harris.This one is an award winner! I love this film and have watched it several times. I related to so many of the creative struggles Ed Harris portrays in this movie, from being annoyed at the critics to sitting on my studio floor trying to birth a new painting for a show. Some artists ease into their work, but others, like myself, struggle to find something that is original and satisfying. Like a Rothko painting, I am sure Jackson Pollock’s painting must be viewed in the real to truly be appreciated and it is my dream to do this before I pass.

Special People

Living as a single woman since 1984 and struggling to support myself as an artist, I have had more than my share of personal crisis. Several years ago when I was going through yet another crisis, a soft-spoken artist (angel), Clara Dodd Blalock, appeared. She offered me a show at her church, the Church of the Atonement in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Being out of the show circuit for a while, my mailing list was completely out of date. I was such an emotional mess that fortunately Clara and her church cultural team took care of all the details. It was a lovely reception, but few of my former clients showed up and I managed to sell only one piece. I still feel guilty, but grateful, about all the hard work that they did for me. Clara has continued to be kind and supportive. She is truly one of the special people in this world.
Clara is also a fantastic artist. Her awards and accomplishments are numerous. I particularly love her abstract paintings. (You can see more of them on her website)I share Clara’s love of drawing and line. Clara’s calligraphic brushwork reflects this. It is fresh and exciting. Her subdued color palette contrasts with the energy of her marks, the epitome of "Speak softly, and carry a big stick." Clara is an accomplished contemporary landscape painter as well. The TV shows, “Trading Places” and "Extreme Home Makeover," featured her work and she is represented in several galleries across the United States. You can view some of her landscape paintings online at the Tucker Gallery located in Evanston, Illinois. I hope you visit the sites and enjoy more of her work.

They Come And Go

We live in such a mobile society. My artist friends are no exceptions. My friend, Beverly McLarty recently moved here to Atlanta, from Arkansas. It was such a delight to meet a new artist, especially after the departure from Atlanta of a wonderful painter and print maker, Susanne Clark. Susanne is now happily living in Toronto and from all reports (see her blog), I can understand why. I recently received a link to a Slide Show of her mixed media creation titled “Geisha”. The moment I saw it I fell in love. Having spent some years as a young girl in Japan, anything Asian grabs my attention. I asked Susanne to tell me more about it and she generously shared this information. “The painting is 48 inches square and it’s on board. I under painted in acrylic and then finished it off in oils. The board was textured with lots of tissue paper glued on in layers before I started to paint. It’s based on a traditional geisha painting but I have modernized the look of it etc.” I particularly love the little gold rectangles that are scattered over the piece. Susanne says they are gold paint put on with a stamp she made. This wonderful piece hangs over Susanne’s breakfront in the dining area of her lovely home. I hope that you will visit Susanne’s website and enjoy all of her creations.

A New Creative Year

On January 2nd I received an email from an artist, Beverly McLarty, who just moved here from Arkansas and wanted to meet me. Beverly included a link to her site. I was very impressed with her work. The sheer volume of the pieces she has created amazed me. Her energy and productivity are unbelievable. In the short time Beverly has been in Atlanta, she has located and joined an art association, acquired a student and is now building a new studio!
Beverly’s paintings are very complex, with rich surface texture and color. Her figurative pieces are just as lush. The figures weave throughout the surface like brocade. Sometimes feeling like the works of some of the Symbolists such as Odilon Redon and Paul Gauguin’s painting “Where Do We Come From. What Are We, Where Are We Going?”
We are fortunate to have this talented, ambitious woman living in the Atlanta area. I’m looking forward to a rich friendship with Beverly and a very creative New Year.

Another New Year

Every year, filled with hope, I make my list of resolutions; tuck the list away, only to forget about it. It is as if just making the list would fulfill it. A wise person said, “The road to failure is paved with good intentions”. Although I do not consider myself a failure, I am often disappointed when I look at my list at the end of the year. I rationalize that maybe I set the bar too high, or that some other situation over shadowed everything, ie, the economy, family issues and health. Truth be known, I was just was not motivated enough to do the work. I find my retirement has given me license to avoid it. This year I decided to break with tradition and not make a list. I know what I would like to accomplish and if fate and my motivation stays with me, I will get it done. If not, at least I will not have another list to remind me that I dropped the ball again.

Recycled Again

One of my favorite and respected follows, Egmont van Dyck, left a helpful critique (see comments) of my recycled mixed media piece “Recycled”. I agree with what he had to say, but I am not sure I have accomplished what he suggested. The red crosshairs are merely guidelines to show that I have moved the focal point by cropping the piece. I eliminated the large black area by adding more of the dark gray collage paper and added accents of the other colors. I left the large blue gray area untouched to maintain some area of rest and the sliver of black for balance. I think I can live with this for now and will put it away until the mood to revisit hits me again.

RECYCLING

As another year comes closer to the end, prompted by an online mixed media class, I started reevaluating some of the pieces I had set aside to revisit. It is interesting to see these pieces with new eyes. Not worrying about the consumer market has freed up my thinking. The piece I am showing, titled "Recycling", was cropped from a larger piece and a small piece of additional collage was added to break up a shape.

Persimmon Season

I spent four years in Japan as a military dependent and one of the many treats I enjoyed in November, were persimmons. Having never tasted them before I was pleasantly surprised by their sweet juicy flavor. It did not take me long to learn that one of the varieties of this fruit, Hachiya, if not ripe, will pucker your mouth with its bitter astringent taste. However, the Izu persimmons, which is of the Fuyu variety, can be eaten in its firm state like an apple and is my favorite.
Recently a new Asian market opened here and I was happy to see piles of these wonderful Izu persimmons in the fruit bins. I brought home my delicious find and decided to do a watercolor of them. I recorded a video of my efforts and posted it on YouTube. My camcorder is new and I have not learned to angle it properly or how to edit the clips. I have always taken photos and made slide shows, but I have to start somewhere. It is better to view it in HD. Here is the link. Watercolor Persimmon Demo

More Autumn Memories

It is a beautiful autumn day here and like all good things, I would be happy if it would never end. Many years ago, I lived in Vermont and the autumns were spectacular. People came from all over the country to enjoy them. As the leaves would fall, we would rake them into large piles and, much to my husband’s dismay, our children would run and tumble into the piles, scattering them everywhere. Laughter and squeals of joy filled the air turning it all into a wonderful game. It was legal to burn leaves then so when the games and the raking ended we would make mini bonfires of our leaf piles. I loved the smell of the smoldering leaves. Later we spread the ashes of our happy day across the garden to feed the soil. Tired and happy, the boys, piled into our gelding pony cart, would ride to McKay’s roadside stand to buy crispy McIntosh apples, cider and apple turnovers. The day would end with a treat of warm, spiced cider and pie. Those days are gone forever, but the memoires are still vivid enough to inspire this digital painting below.