Category: Thoughts

Things I’m learning in Artworld.

A Quest

My maternal grandmother, AKA Grandma, was one of 12 children born to Martha Bob and Edward Elisha in the hills of North Carolina. Of the 7 girls, she was the only one to attend and graduate from high school, leave North Carolina, and eventually get her driver’s license! (Such a maverick, that G’ma of mine!) Last week I had the privilege and joy of spending time in the town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, where she went to high school. The natives call them mountains because it is high and cool for NC, but as a Californian who spends much time in Mineral King, I think of them as beautiful green hills covered in deciduous trees. The town was just wonderful – a Carmel/Mendocino type place whose population swells from 1500 to 20,000 in the summer. Every yard has flowers, every porch has chairs (usually rockers), and every person is as nice as can be. I loved the architecture, the lakes, the trails, the history, the learning of where G’ma grew up, and meeting my Mom’s first cousins.

The school that G’ma attended was only there from 1918 – 1927, so I had to be content with photos o the present structure.

The rock gymnasium was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Have I mentioned that I love old buildings? 😎

Blowing Rock North Carolina

Life at the Painting Factory

Didn’t want you all to think all I do is stand before an easel – I DO have a life. Sort of. Okay, maybe it is more of a Cat Disorder, but it is MY Cat Disorder and I am quite content with this state (even though I know I can’t just quit anytime I want.)

Kaweah Kitty hates it when I take a break and is always on hand to help me find my way back to the painting workshop. (try to be polite about her tail – she can’t help it)

She has a tendency to lie underfoot – obviously she feels quite safe despite the fact that I might accidentally squash her when I step back to view the easel contents.

Butch just hunkers down in the RV garage and yells when I walk past. Poor little guy is an orphan and we don’t know what happened to Cashmere and O’Reilly.

Sometimes he comes outside, but he is skittish in the extreme. We can pet him now, but only on his terms. It took from November until May – that is a record! (not a good one – no idea how we will get him “fixed”)

Check out that non-tail. It’s why we call him Butch. Looks like a Manx, talks like a Siamese, acts like a psycho.

How to be an (professional) artist in Tulare County

That is the title of the talk (“lecture”) that I gave yesterday at the Creative Center in Visalia. The three items are: 1. Love the place; 2. Be flexible and 3. Never quit. The turnout was small, (I think “intimate” is the word used for such things) and I knew all but 3 people. After we introduced, we realized we had known of each other but just hadn’t met yet. The show looks wonderful, thanks to Glen Hill who really placed the pieces artfully. It is surprising how much this matters! Three pieces sold, and the buyers graciously consented to leaving them in place until the show ends.

There was a very bright spotlight in my eyes so I couldn’t see the audience. Now that I see them in this photo, I can see that several who were present aren’t in this scene. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and were all very complimentary. The Creative Center is a great place to show art and to have presentations – thank you Theresa, Glen and Bailey!

A Random List – Learned in January

While away over the weekend, I learned many new things. Here they are as they pop into my head:

Google Maps can be used to see photos of the road and Carol showed me how!
Single plied yarn knits up visibly different from multiple plied yarn (I always thought I was doing something wrong but it was the yarn – thank you Mendocino Yarn Shop!)
Acrylic painting has many additives available to layer and mold and make relief type paintings. (How could I have never known this before? Because I am an OIL painter!)
Seaglass is much more abundant after a storm. I read this; now I know it experientially.
Finished seaglass is rounder and translucent; the differences are subtle but they matter to the collector.
Most hot tubs are set at 104 degrees but 100 is still comfortable.
My cell phone is capable of texting but it isn’t necessary nor convenient in my life.
There is a new kind of dimmer on light switches that is so tiny one can (and did) miss it!
A song I love, Gabriel’s Oboe, is from a movie called The Mission.
The center of California is delineated on Hwy. 99 (already knew this but now know how to find it!)
ALWAYS have a map with you when you are on a road trip because there might be a traffic problem that will negate your Google directions. I knew this but was ever so grateful to have followed this wisdom.
ALWAYS have simple knitting in the car with you, even when you are driving alone, because you never know when the freeway will transform itself into a parking lot.
NEVER drink too much coffee. (see #12) (I sure felt badly for the woman in the white sedan.)
There is a specific (and odd) way of walking to increase one’s speed; Carol and I got a great laugh out of experimenting with this (easier to do when in a place where no one knows you.)
Abstract art causes me to think of yarn. (Many things do this for me.)

Thinking like an artist

You know how you just cruise along, living your life, not giving any thought to how you measure up to anyone else? (Maybe you think about other people’s opinions, but I don’t very often.) So you’re just cruising along, doing what you do, doing what comes naturally, and BOOM! Someone tells you that you are weird! Weird? Nope, I’m just unique.

Here is an example: I just finished knitting a pair of socks for a friend. She chose and bought the yarn; I turned it into socks. While the socks were in process, I noticed that the colors on the Mineral King Road were the same as the yarn. That’s not weird, is it? (not that I care if you all think I’m weird – I’m just sort of wondering)

Time Out

In The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, she insists that field trips are very important to cultivating creativity. Yesterday, I took her advice (or was I using it as an excuse to mess around instead of work?) Have you ever heard of the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno? I’ve been wanting to visit since 1978 but just haven’t. The gardens get closed from time to time for renovation, and when they are open, I am usually in Mineral King. Yesterday, I finally got to see this incredible place! http://www.undergroundgardens.info/ I can’t wait to go back (wish they rented it out for overnight stays!)

Fresno Underground Gardens

Too Much Beauty?

One of my favorite authors is John Eldredge. In Journey of Desire, he writes this about beauty:“We need not fear indulging here. The experience of beauty is unique to all the other pleasures in this: there is no possessive quality to it. Just because you love the landscape doesn’t mean you have to acquire the real estate. Simply to behold the flower is enough; there is nothing in me that wants to consume it. Beauty is the closest thing we have to fullness without possessing on this side of eternity. “Try to grasp these two huge ideas:1. You simply cannot have too much beauty. It is one thing where you do not have to worry about overindulging. It isn’t illegal, immoral or fattening, although it might be addicting! If so, it is definitely a healthy addiction. 2. You don’t have to own, accumulate or acquire anything to appreciate beauty. It can be found almost anywhere, and no credit card is required! ONE FINAL CLOSING THOUGHT: This too comes from a John Eldredge book. Of course we long for beauty! Our original home was the Garden of Eden!

Sunny Sequoias IX – oil on wrapped canvas – 16 x 20 – SOLD

oil paintings

Breakthrough!

First published in January 2009

This little gem is a sneak peak at the Giant Project, known hereon as GP. Why am I teasing you with this? Because I have had a victory and want to share it! I have been fighting my paint and brushes, trying like crazy to get them to do what I want. I struggle along, wondering if I will ever learn to paint properly, wondering why I can’t get anything to do what I request, wondering why no matter how many hours spent it still looks like a dog’s breakfast.

On Sunday a.m. a bottle of linseed oil appeared on my front porch with a note from my 6th grade teacher. (He signed it “Tom S.” and I thought it was from someone I know here in town because I always think of my 6th grade teacher’s first name as “Mr.”, not “Tom”, for goodness sake!)

Like the good girl that I try to be, I wrote him a thank you note and wondered if I would ever have a use for linseed oil in painting because my earlier attempts at using it have been crap less than satisfactory. It left random shiny spots on the painting which I tried to ignore, and then a well meaning friend said, “I like this painting but it has shiny spots on it”.

Then I learned about some special recipe from the teacher at the junior college where I soldiered through half a semester of a painting class 2 years ago. (I sort of knew he and I weren’t a good teacher-student match when he said to me “The trouble is, you don’t know how to draw!” Okay, thanks for that helpful tidbit Mister, but I am about to have an opening of a solo show of my drawings so your opinion of my abilities is crap less than satisfactory.) Anyway, this special recipe also made random shiny spots and was weird to use, sort of sticky and it made the color too weak, and I could see no point to using it. Maybe if I had stayed the entire semester I would have learned how to solve this problem, but it seemed that staying home to paint was a better use of my time than driving 80 minutes round trip for each class that was mostly just easel time with bad light and bad rap “music”.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I bravely went out to the easel, determined to master this problem of misbehaving paint and WHAM! into my brain came the idea of linseed oil from Mr. S. (the good teacher who taught me how to draw but denies it saying I already knew. . . go figure! I knew how to draw in 6th grade but somehow forgot through my career of drawing?)

Knowing things on the easel couldn’t possibly get any worse, I tried the linseed oil mixed with the paint and it was MAGICAL! It was fabulous! All I can say is THANK YOU GOD for sending Mr. S by with that linseed oil, even before I knew it was needed so desperately!

Murals

Reflection of societal values

First published in January 2009

The post “Art and the Economy” made me think about my art and if it serves the functions that were written about in Art Calendar magazine. Take the cheerful little cheap inexpensive painting of Three Peppers IV, which I am showing you again in order to lift your spirits with the state of the economy. 1. Is this a “non liquid asset par excellence”? It is certainly non liquid, and I think it is excellent. (I might change my mind in a few months as my abilities increase.)

2. How does this “reflect societal values”? Food is good. We like to eat. Variety it good. Color sells. Peppers are affordable. Peppers are good for you. Okay, this painting qualifies in this category.

3. Have I “offered new insight”? Lots of people paint peppers in the 3 colors, sometimes even four (peppers come in orange too). But how many people paint them in a blue colander, hunh?? Okay, got that one nailed! (This is exhausting my feeble mind, but for the sake of intellectual discussion I will soldier on bravely)

4. Does this painting “offer a new perspective of reality”? How many of you look at your groceries as art? Are you inspired to view your food from the perspective of beauty in addition to nutrition? Were you aware of the dual purposes of edibles? Aha! There’s a “new perspective of reality” for you!!

Excuse me. I think I need to go lie down for awhile from all this heavy mental lifting. Better yet, perhaps I will knit a few rows on the hat I am making FOR THE FOURTH TIME (but I am not upset about it – I am economizing on yarn with the state of the economy in these economic hard times et cetera)

Art and the economy

First published January 2009

Have you noticed how often the phrase “with the state of the economy” is getting used these days? Tiresome to hear the repetition of whatever phrase the media and culture latches onto. . . sigh. Anyway, here are a few thoughts about art in “these current economic times” (another worn out phrase – sorry!)

In the current issue of Art Calendar magazine (note the correct usage of the word “issue” here), there are several articles about selling art in an economic slowdown. One speaks of art as the “non liquid asset par excellence”. It also discusses art as a “reflection of societal values”, and as a chance to “offer new insight and perspectives of reality”. Is that what I do???

If so, it just happens, because my thought pattern is rather predictable when it comes to making art. First thought: “How beautiful!” Second thought: “Can I capture that first on film and then on canvas or paper?” Third thought: “I wonder if that will sell. . . ” I have never considered my art to be a non liquid asset, only a way to bring joy and beauty and memories and peaceful happy thoughts to my customers’ lives! (what kind of a simpleton am I anyway???)

My “guru”, Jack White writes about all the people whom are not affected by the economic slowdown. These are nurses, ambulance drivers, teachers, fire fighters, law enforcers, just to name a few. He says that these folks are our customers. In my opinion, these have always been my customers. Who else lives around here? I know one or two people who do esoteric stock market type jobs, and they aren’t any bigger customers than my blue-collar buyers.

Perhaps the way to survive “the current state of the economy” (sheeesh! how else can this be phrased??) is to live in a continually semi-depressed rural economy so that “these current economic times” are hardly noticed as any different (other than the excess of those hackneyed phrases).

For example, I know a guy who has been waiting months and months for 4 different contractors to bid on building a new house for him. Last night in Costco, it was crowded and shelves were empty (Hey! can I get some mozzarella cheese over here??) My husband and I have had our new roof lying in our yard for 2-3 years waiting for our favorite carpenter to install it and even with the state of the economy (sorry) he is still too busy.

Here, let your spirits be lifted with this bright, cheerful, colorful and cheap inexpensive painting! Three Peppers IV, 6″x6″, oil on wrapped canvas, SOLD (I certainly hope so, since 2009!)

art business