Attempting to Perservere!

I will be out of town for longer than anticipated, but, ever the artiste, I have been working on a few small creative endeavors!  My mother has fallen and broken her shoulder, so while I have been driving her insane with my concern, I have also been doing a bit of sketching, and have almost finished a small painting.  It certainly helps to focus my mind a bit during the quiet moments, and I am learning that art can really be a sort of meditation and calming influence during those times when you are near to panic.  I had once considered art therapy as a vocation, and I can see that it would have been a really viable choice.  Because I don't have access to my photos, other than the few I brought along, I will share with you a collaboration:  my husband carved this wonderful ostrich egg, and I painted the hummingbird in metallic paints.  Look for an upcoming picture of my soon-to-be-finished latest painting of an iris, when I can  figure out how to download onto an unfamiliar system! For those who know and love my creative mother, she is hanging in there, and will soon be having surgery...she is curious to find out if magnets will stick to her once she has the metal plate put in her shoulder. She is such a trooper!

Journal Class A Hit!

Happily, the Altered Book Nature Journal Class was a hit.  It was such a positive experience for me and I hope for the students involved.  I always find that in teaching, I learn so much more from my students than they can possibly learn from me!  Everyone did such unique and different work, and they had great ideas.  One of my students brought an ancient textbook from the late 1800's, and splashed black paint on the pages, then mounted all of her black and white photos of landscapes on them.  She also glued large pressed flowers to the pages and covered them with wax paper.  In the top photo you will see that one of my students decorated the front of her book with leaves and acorn caps as well as a photo from an old calender.  Inside she mounted photos that she framed with twine and feathers, as well as wasp nests.  All in all it was a fun Saturday spent creating.  I was incredibly inspired by all of the enthusiasm, and the feeling of excitement generated by learning something new.  What a wonderful experience!



I WILL BE GONE FOR A WEEK....

I will be gone for a week, so send good thoughts for the Altered Book Nature Journal class.  With my  'Progress Report'  foremost on my mind, I am setting a few art goals while I am away.  I plan to bring a canvas with me, and paint something ...I am not sure what.  My sketchbook will come with me, of course.  Also, the area has some delightful art galleries, and I hope to get a bit of inspiration by seeing what others are inspired by. 

I have an upcoming art show in June that has the theme of Missouri Nature, and I will be doing a bit more research on some mushroom-inspired paintings that I plan on finishing.  I have a partial painting done of a Morel mushroom, and want to do 2 more companion pieces to go with it, but haven't yet chosen the subject mushrooms!  Better get busy with that.  I also want to paint two more in a series of miniature butterfly paintings.

See you in one week!

"As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are.  Otherwise you will miss most of your life."                      ---Buddha---

PROGRESS REPORT

It has been 2 months since I began this blog, and I must remind myself of why I started...to encourage the creative process and progress in my amount and quality of painting.

I am pleased with part of my progress...I see where I am being creative.  I am starting to find out WHEN I am at my most productive, so that I can start to structure my days better.  However, I can also see that I am leaning heavily on past creations, and need to step up my productivity a LOT!  I don't know how any of you out there do it!  Are you focused, and schedule your day?  Do you tune out the distractions? This is where I really fall down as an artist.  The truly obsessed artists that I know are constantly trying new things, are excited about what is coming next, and can't NOT create.  I still find myself at that tentative stage...afraid of greeting that blank canvas, and not really sure what I want to paint, or communicate.

I was told by a long-time artist and teacher that if I don't communicate with the viewer, I am wasting my time,  and my painting is a failure no matter how pretty it is.  That stopped me dead in my tracks for weeks! 

So I will focus on the positive points...I have learned so much the past 2 months of blogging, and feel that I am on the brink of a real breakthrough in my art.  I am starting to understand what I want to accomplish visually, what I want to say with my art, and where I want to go with it.  That is a 30 year bonanza in my mind!  Knowing that I can blog it out, put it down in words as well as pictures is helping everything to come together. 

I look for great things ahead...or a lot of little things.  Progress is progress!

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."

                                                             ---Louisa May Alcott

ARTFUL LIVING

Sometimes art is just for living and observing...who could say more than these flowers?  Maybe sometime I will try to come close to this artistry and put these beautiful colors together in a painting.  But for right now, I am loving Nature's composition and pallette!

SKETCHING WHILE TRAVELING

I love working in pen and ink!  For some reason, that medium more than any other works for me.  I was traveling for a few days this week, and you know how you miss your own TV, garden, and STUFF! so I was glad that I had brought along my sketchbook and Pilot pen to play with.  These two sketches were the best of the bunch, so I wanted to share them with you.  I loved the Grey Owl's eyes...so deep and interesting!

ARTIST CHALLENGE!

Another first for this artist!  I have entered my first online challenge ever, and I wanted to include you all in the experience.  The Challenge Topic is "Tender is the Night", and I immediately thought of my Heron painting, as it was to me the most tender of vigils.  The Great Blue Heron is standing vigil over his nest while his mate is off hunting, and he is very serious and determined to guard his unborn brood.  The painting is called "Nighttime Vigil" and I painted it after a fishing trip to Minnesota, where I watched him come and go over the lake for a week.  He showed up every morning on the docks, and watched us prepare for our early morning fishing, and every evening he winged back to his nest to stand guard.  You can visit the sight and see all of the entries at the following link:

The Artist Challenge - A Private Art Club

I am especially proud to be a part of this challenge, as I admire the website "Artists Challenge" a great deal.  I have been watching them, and they have exceptionally high ethics and a real purpose in supporting artists.

I look forward to being a part of it as well.

ALTERED ART NATURE JOURNAL

I have been working on an Altered Art Nature Journal for several months now, in preparation to teaching a class on the various techniques March 26, at the Missouri  Nature Education Center in Cape Girardeau.  I am close to getting done, and wanted to share some of my hard work.  I spent 3 days getting all of the dried oak leaves onto the front of an old animal encyclopedia volume. I soaked the tried leaves overnight to make sure they were supple, then started layering them on.  Mod Podge is a life saver!  I cut a hole through the front of the cover in order to place a hand painted stone owl in for decoration.  I also used a cotton fabric to bind the book in place of a disintegrating spine.  I have made templates for pockets, sewn pages together with twine, and glued feathers and trim into a frame for poetry.  I did a few illuminated letters to begin some of my journaling, and struggled madly with a variety of adhesives.  I learned some valuable lessons, such as 'start out with a quality paper book', and 'don't cheap out on the glue.  Get the best.'  The really fun part of the whole project was the journaling, however.  I wrote about learning how to fish and the trials of catching eels and bullfrogs.  I wrote about my encounter with my first opossum....I thought it was an incredibly huge rat!  I put pressed flowers from my own wildflower garden in the book, along with prints from my own paintings.  This was a fun project, start to finish, and I learned a lot about living artfully through doing it.  If you have done some journaling of your own, and learned what works, or better yet, what DOESN'T and would like to share, please comment.  We would all love to know more!

The Meadowlark has to be one of the most joyful birds!  It throws back its head and bursts into song, and the delightful trilling up-and-down sound just puts you in a good mood.  I spent several years living in the prairie states of the U.S.... Wyoming, Montana, South and North Dakota, and  I spent a lot of time in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.  The Meadowlark is one of the dominant birds in these areas, and you couldn't get out in nature without hearing it.  Because it has lovely design in feather and form, I chose to draw it on scratchboard, and I am quite pleased with the result. 

I also decided to do a pen and ink drawing as well.  All of the reference photos that I took of this bird showed it singing, mouth open every time.  I couldn't get a picture with it just sitting still, minding its own business.  My husband says that this is why I identify with the bird.  Hmmm!

ART SUPPLIES

Is it just me that gets excited when entering an office supply store?!  I LOVE art supplies, pens, sidewalk chalk, and funky paper clips!  An entire world of possibilities opens up when I see a box of crayons.  You rarely see a grumpy person in Hobby Lobby.  They are all wandering around with a dazed, starry-eyed look, pointing to the paint and making "Ooooo!" sounds.  We become children again when it comes to art supplies.  I have always used acrylics to paint with, but I came across oil paints in a store one day that had such a good price tag that I HAD to get some, and discovered the joy of painting in that medium.  I found a djaunting (and I KNOW that I spelled that wrong) tool, and was so intrigued that I learned how to do batikking just so that I could use it. I have more kinds of pens than I will ever be able to use in a lifetime, simply because they were too irresistible to pass up.  I could probably open up a supply store myself, but I couldn't bear to part with any one of them.  It is an addiction.  A curse. What is your favorite thing to look for in an art supply store?  Do you have every brush that they have ever made?  Or every shape of canvas you can find?  Do you have so many colors of beads that you will never be able to use them all?  Be truthful...I am not the only one who has to buy just one more pencil!

Bay St. Louis, MS Artist

There was a funky little art gallery in Bay St. Louis, MS before Katrina days, that featured the local artists, and I fell in love with a piece that I call a Memory Frame. The artist took basic stretcher bars, and glued all manner of jewelry all over it, and put in a mirror. I don't recall the artist, and she never signed the piece that I bought, but I fell in love with the concept and decided to make one with my own memories.  I chose an nine by eleven set of stretcher bars and painted them chocolate brown.  I then picked out my 'memories', jewelry from when I was a child, one earring left from my wedding day, a broken handle from a tea cup I had as a child, a chain from my daughters' first necklace...and I epoxied the heck out of it all!  I must have gone through 2 tubes of epoxy, making sure that none of my memories fell off!  I liked the frame so well that I never did put a picture or mirror in.  I hope you like it, too.  Every time I look at it, I smile, and think of all the good little bits in life that we can make into something special.

Today I was inspired to work with watercolor pencils and pens...MUSHROOM DAY!  I love fungi, there are just so many shapes and colors.  I decided to work in miniature, so I drew a full watercolor page of 9 mushrooms.  It is so interesting to draw with the colored pencil, and then see the color come alive when you touch water to it!  I chose some of my favorite mushrooms, some of which grow in our yard.  Then I decided to make it all into a tiny book...it is 3 inches by 3 inches.  It is so much fun to just play occasionally, and not take yourself too seriously.

An Eye to the Truth...

Eyes are the windows to the soul...I was doodling yesterday, and trying out my Pitt Brush Pens.  I wanted to see how much nuance and expression I could get drawing just one eye.  What do YOU think that she is saying?

Rainy days are meant for sipping tea and thinking about your favorite people.  I love you all!

QUOTES

My trip to the coast and an early spring brought on an attack of allergies, which in turn heralded the worst cold of the year.  What does this mean creatively?  Well, of course I was too muddle-headed to think of much, so I did my favorite quiet thing, which was to look up quotes to inspire me.  Well, someone was trying to tell me something!  I found quotes aplenty on the subject of procrastination!  I do tend to let excuses get in the way of my creativity, mainly because of fear.

"The greatest mistake you can make is to continually fear you will make one."

So, while I was sniffling, sneezing and self-medicating with chamomile tea and honey, I read quotes like:

      "To rest is to RUST!"

and     "If you are not committed to something, you are just taking up space."

Even more brow-beating:     "Man's ability is usually rated by what he finishes, and not by what he starts."

and     "Success is a result, not a goal."

My favorite? "We have two ends with a common link.

                       With one you sit, with one you think.

                        Success depends on which one you use.

                        Heads you win, tails you lose."

Well, of course this was guaranteed to put me into a self-flagellating tizzy.  I thought of all the ideas that I have had that were brilliant, and that I shot down with excuses.  All of the paintings that I meant to start, and family crises got in the way.  All of the FUN I could have been having, all of the virtuous feelings of accomplishment I could have had.  What was keeping me from accomplishing great things?!

"If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way."

"Happiness is not a destination, but a method of traveling."

"There are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who have no idea what happened."

I tried to encourage myself with quotes, but I ran into this one that stopped me dead in my tracks:   "There is no smaller package than a man who is totally wrapped up in himself."     Whoa!  Deeeeeeeeep!  Existential, even.  I was over-thinking it all, AGAIN!  Face it.  I was just being lazy and fearful of not being perfect.  As small as that, and no excuse at all.

So, what is this blog all about, after all?  Encouraging myself to get off my tail and get to painting, get to expressing my life with a visual journal and possibly impact others with my vision.

"When there is no way out, the way UP is still open."

Look for more activity on the creative front, people!  If you have words of encouragement, I will embrace them, and take them to heart.  If you have words of helpful critique, I will be grateful.  If you have similar defeatist problems, let us try to get through them together.

"The most drastic and usually the most effective remedy for fear is direct action."

                                                                     ---Wm. Burnham

GULF COAST TRIP

On the hunt for a peaceful moment, my husband and I headed south to the Gulf Coast for a few days.  What a difference a few hundred miles makes in weather!  While it was cold and tempestuous here in Tennessee, it was mild, warm and spring in Mississippi.  We chose a little bed and breakfast in Ocean Springs, and I was thrilled to see several camellia trees in the yard.  In full bloom!  We were only half a block from the ocean, and we spent our time walking the beach, picking up a few oyster shells, and enjoying the warm breezes.  I bought some watercolor pencils to play with, and brought my favorite Pilot pen to do some sketching.  I am inspired to do a painting of the Laughing Gull, a striking black and white seagull that flings it's head straight back to laugh when it calls out.  I saw the most amazing Brown Pelican that was posing on a post in the water...he actually had some green algae growing on his feathers.  I wonder if he is the Couch Potato of the bird world, or if algae grows on anything that sits down for a few moments. 

"Don't wait for your ship to come in - swim out to it!"                 ---Anon

NUTS!

                                                 NUTS!

Insanity's an illness

and I am a carrier.

It must be contagious, you see.

All of my family and

all of my friends,

All seem to catch it from me.

One is on Prozac,

another's in therapy

Someone else is as nuts as can be.

I am the sane one...

or AM I the sane one?

It must be that I am the key.

I make all the trouble.

I drive them all crazy.

I shouldn't be out roaming free.

It isn't their fault, though

They didn't choose it, no,

'Cause I know it is all about ME!

                                                                      written by Rose Altom



The Beginning of "Informalitea"

Today I am doing research for a new painting. I want to work on a still life that has been on my mind for some time.  I remember years ago, as a young military wife, the formal teas that I attended at the commander's houses.  You were required to wear dress, pumps and white gloves to the tea, (REALLY!  It wasn't THAT long ago!) and you had to mind your P's and Q's. (That's manners and attitude.  I always had a problem with the attitude part.)  I did hate the formality, and it was years before I could look at a good cup of tea  and enjoy it.

So in my mind is a tea laid out to enjoy.  "INFORMALITEA". I want to express my feelings of sheer joy at the freedom to enjoy that tea without worrying about holding the cup wrong, or saying something impolite.

Now, I will be honest, and mention that my biggest flaw is procrastination...or maybe it is blank canvas-itis.  I am petrified that my wonderful, brilliant creative ideas will NOT BE PERFECT.  I usually talk myself out of it before I even get started.  So here and now is where I will talk myself into producing art that doesn't have to be perfect.  My reason for painting this particular piece is to express joy.

Back to my research: In looking through a few historic still lifes, I came across a fascinating painting done by Juan Sanchez-Cotan.  He was a Renaissance painter in the late 1500's, early 1600's, and a lay brother in the Carthusian monastery.  His painting, entitled "Fruit Still Life" (I THINK that it can be seen in the San Diego Museum of Art, but don't quote me on that!) is an oil on canvas and features a few pieces of fruit and veggies on a window sill.  What fascinates me is that he was following a strict geometric structure, he deliberately chose to line them up, and you can feel the discipline and order in the painting.  So simple.  So FORMAL!  According to the text, Sanchez-Cotan was paying homage to neo-Platonic theories of proportion and harmony.  Now, most of this makes very little sense to me, nor do I much care about his worship of Plato, EXCEPT...he chose to hang some of his veggies from the ceiling to gain order and the proper composition.

WELL!  I care very much about composition, because I really want my paintings to make some impact.  I have studied the Golden Mean, and algebraic theories, but my mind refuses to get it.  Usually I follow a pyramid design, or the Rule of Threes.  The fact that Cotan used a rather unique way of getting his composition right really makes me think...can I use the same 'trick' of suspending items to paint a whimsical, informal piece?  In my mind, it is the perfect solution to emphasize the fun aspect of my 'tea party'.  I am off to do some sketches, and see what happens!

"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion.  You must set yourself on fire."                        ---Reggie Leach

This painting is called "Grandmother's Bean Pot" and it is one of my earlier still lifes done in oils.

I bought a new sketchbook the other day.  When I opened it up to draw on that very first page, I just couldn't do it!  That blank page was so daunting...I just knew that if the drawing wasn't perfect, the whole book would be ruined.

It DIDN'T occur to me at that time that I could just tear the page out if I disliked it.  I never thought that it didn't have to be perfect.  I just knew I couldn't put a pen down on that first page.

Eventually, I flipped to the middle of the sketchbook and proceeded to draw.  It occurred to me, however, that I must be a 'half-empty' kind of gal to expect that first drawing to go wrong.  That is  NOT what I want to be!  I still can't bring myself to make a mark on that first page, but at least I know what I need to work on - my attitude!  I think that first sketch will be a 'half-full' glass...

"Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed."     --Anon.

PINEAPPLE SKETCH

I was inspired to sketch pineapple today.  I envisioned the tropics...the WARM tropics...with swaying palms and slanting sunbeams.  And for a little while, I almost felt the end of winter.  Drawing gives me possibilities.  When I pick up that pen, I can build a chance at something different.  I have often thought that I would like to be a children's book illustrator that could bring to life another world.  One of my favorite books as a child was 'The Borrowers' by Mary Norton.  The illustrators were Beth and Joe Krush and they used a rather Victorian style of drawing that brought to life a whole new world to me.  Because of those illustrations, I began looking at my own world differently.  I started drawing tiny little details that might have been from that 'Borrower' world, and expanded those into illustrating my own world.  My favorite thing today is to draw a tiny detail from nature and blow it up big to show the importance of even the smallest of creatures, and the smallest of plants in our world.  I LOVE to draw!

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."                                                           ---Woody Allen

Artist's Heart

ARTIST'S HEART

I need the gentler moments,

No crisis every day

To grow and be creative

And find my artists' way.

Van Gogh could use his anguish

To fuel his passions' fire.

But me, I need tranquility

To find my heart's desire.

Da Vinci found his calling.

Picasso,  Rembrandt, too.

But I struggle daily to find my place,

Scared to know, afraid to do.

Art's a mirror of yourself,

The soul a door, the heart a key.

Exposure means taking a risk

What if it's NOT for me?!

I need the peaceful moments

To calm my fears and start.

It's all inside, each stroke, each line,

I'm an artist in my heart.

--written by Rose Altom



SPARROW

I love painting birds, and drawing them.  This little sparrow caught my eye one day in late fall.  He was fluffed out to keep warm, and hopping from branch to branch in a joyful way.  On the days when I let stress get to me, I find that watching the birds makes me peaceful and gives me perspective.  They seem to have that minute-to-minute love of life that I want to adopt.  One of my favorite art exercises is to sit outside with my sketchbook and do 20 second speed sketches of the birds, trying to get a feel for their movement and capture the attitude.  You really get to know the shape of a variety of backyard birds that way, and spending time with nature is always healing and calming.  I do tend to take my love of birds a bit over the top, however.  I collect porcelain birds, and they are everywhere I can find to put them.  I have a duck planter that holds pencils by the phone, and an odd looking turkey that guards my toothbrushes.  At least 70% of the paintings and prints in the house are birds.  I have an Audobon bird clock in my studio that does bird calls at the top of the hour.  It drives my cats and husband NUTS!  Especially that owl hooting at midnight....really LOUD.  I just remind them that it would be a lot more difficult around here if I collected elephants.  Can you imagine what the clock would sound like then?!

"The truth is that life is delicious, horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter, and that is everything."                  ---Anatole France

APPLE HEADS

I just love the specialty magazines that have come out in the past few years.  It is so inspiring to see what other artists are doing, and it is encouraging to see them prosper.  One magazine that I bought a few years ago was ART DOLL, and I was delighted by the artist who made plastic gourd dolls with porcelain clay faces.  This year I decided to try my own version of these dolls, and made 'APPLE HEAD EXPRESSIONS'.  I wonder how many facial expressions I could do in fake fruit?  Hmm... They really do freak out my guests to see them lined up in the kitchen staring and smirking at them! 

                     Happy Valentine's Day! 

FOCUS

An artist should always try to surround themselves with like-minded people, to stay inspired and encouraged.  I am especially lucky in that I am married to an artist, though he might not think he's so lucky!  Put two artists that close in proximity, and you get a rather volatile mix.  Sometimes we are both REALLY moody.  Sometimes we are both really feeling creative.  Most of the time we are out of balance, but any way we are, it seems to work.  Today, I am devoting my blog to him...Michael.  In particular, I will talk about his creative process, and how jealous I am of his focus!  I keep hoping that it will rub off on me.  So far, no luck...

He spent 28 years as a military officer,  a real live Alpha male.  They are not usually easy to get along with, but I met him  when I was only 17, he was only 18,  and he has always been especially gentle with me.  He learned a lot of really good habits in the military.  He learned to focus on the job and get it done, and then move on to the next job.  Nothing was too big or small to learn if it got the job done.  When he retired a few years ago, he applied the same focus on learning how to carve.  He needed something to do, and he had always wanted to carve, so he JUST DID!  Amazing! 

In the past few years, he has carved wood, alabaster, marble and granite.  He started carving wooly mammoth ivory jewelry for me, and it turned into a jewelry business.  He carved turquoise.  He carved Ostrich eggs. He continues to move forward, looking every day for a way to grow.  This month, he even published a book on Southern humor.  He sells his e-book "Breakfast at the Dixie Cafe" through Barnes and Noble at this site if you are interested:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

and search for "Michael Altom"

He has started a second book, and is taking notes for a leadership book as well.  Talk about hard to live up to! But he has FOCUS!  He gets up in the morning with a plan, and he doesn't deviate from it.  He closes his studio doors, requires exclusion during his creative process, and he works on that one thing until it is done, learning from each mistake.  I make a mistake and run away for a few days from the project.  He simply takes a break, thinks about it, and works through it.  Or he scraps it and moves on.  I try to learn from him that determination, that focus, and that self-confidence will get it done.  I try NOT to be frustrated that I don't have the same Alpha personality that makes it possible.  

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."    ---Anon.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ARTIST...

Out of bed at the crack of noon.

Trip over cat.

Pose in front of bathroom mirror. Think: "Rubens would LOVE to have THIS as a model!"

In the kitchen, pick up apple from fruit bowl.  Put it back. Think: "This will look really good in a still life." Eat cookie instead.

Trip over cat.

Doodle on envelope while renewing Artist Magazine.  Doodle on telephone book while calling local Art Guild about workshops.  Doodle on notepad while thinking about writing a book on doodling.

Wander up to studio.  Stare at blank canvas and think of polar bear in snow.

Pick out 28 cool colors of oil paint, 20 brushes, charcoal pencils, then find out am out of turp.

Trip over cat.

Watch Food Channel. Consider starting line of abstract pizzas.

Talk to wealthy high school friend on phone.  Check internet to see if phone will melt like a Dali watch in the microwave.  No?  Maybe phone will look better as cubism...

Check Oprah for art inspiration...switch to cartoon channel.

Trip over cat.

Head for bed.  Wake at 2 a.m., inspired by a dream to paint a cat. 

Trip over cat. Think: Edvard Munch must have had a cat when he painted "The Scream".

Go back to bed.