Category: Creativity

I was in the studio today working away at finishing some paintings. It was quiet and simple and sweet. I was reflecting on why I paint almost the same thing a million times, why it does not get old to me or boring or dreary. No two paintings are even a little alike to me. They each have their own mood and energy and personality. They each say something different to me. Are they a reflection of some aspect of me over and over.. No. they are not anything like me. They are new people.

When I am working I feel like I am not alone. Ever.  This new person is speaking to me.

And the greatest thing of all is they each speak something different to anyone who looks at them. Are people that you meet ever boring.. No they are full of infinity and how can that become even the  least bit dull. all the stars in the sky are similar but you never get used to the first look as they peak out at night. The waves come in and go out forever but they are each a new minute to ponder the fact that the ocean is a big place with a horizon.

That is how I see the paintings I do. That is how I want anyone who looks at them to experience them.  always new always interesting always immediate.

I find that after I get back from a trip, and a few months go by , the trip starts to leak out into my life and things that I saw awhile ago start showing up in my work.

I saw some Mama Anderson paintings that were so beautiful and haunting and intoxicating and now those colors are coming into my new work. almost all pastel colors and soft raw sienna. Just a hint of a blush .

Last week I was doing tropical colors because I was remembering Kauai and this week I am steeped in New York winter colors.

You can’t really control what you do if you are a real artist or should you. It is not about what I like or want even. The work has a mind of its own. I wouldn’t have it any other way. If was up to me I would wreck it by overthinking. Overthinking is death to any art form. You only have to have to hear the command and obey the voices you hear and the rest  is done for you. being an artist is a lot like having faith. You don;t have to understand everything before you just trust that it is being dolled out to you and all you have to do is catch it as it goes by. Like a baseball, Just catch it and be with it and let it unfold.

 

 

We have a vacation house in Soap Lake that is super quiet. There are big expanses of sky and desert to gaze on out every window. The heat is also wonderful for getting in your bones and slowing down your mind. Some friends of mine went there when it was 104 outside and the air conditioner was on the fritz. (it is fixed now) But while it was really hot it was healing to me.

You just had to sit around in the heat in the house that was like 80 degrees which is pretty warm for inside but it felt good to me. Heat slows my brain down.

sitting in the house with the curtains drawn to keep the heat out was sort of like being in an isolation tank. It felt good. I am not a fan of air-conditioning. If it is hot I just like to be hot and experience it totally and lean into it.

It makes me think more creatively when I slow down and get quiet. The quieter you can get the better.

All this plus the salty water at soap lake makes this a perfect place for a creativity retreat and that is what we are going to do.

My husband and I are taking 10 people on an adventure to soak in the warm pool of contemplation and exploration in an environment that was tailored for just this.More to come…

When I was in New York I took a couple of pictures with my phone but that is all. I was seeing so much it was hard to even process but now it is pressed in my mind like a flower in a book. I remember everything .

Most blogs have lots of pictures to illustrate the words but I like not doing that. Here is why. I like the words to do all the work and let your own mind make it better than what I might take a picture of.

In New York, a lot of it was painted white. restaurants we went to , all the galleries, the house we stayed in, all had all white walls. White walls made me see something a little differently. White is clean in more ways than one. Clean slate clean start and clean house. White is that. It makes you feel all the things clean does. It is calming and stilling and focusing all at the same time. So it is perfect for seeing something else next to it. it is a frame for everything. New York has a lot of white because of all the things it frames.

Plus there was something else white about New York that I just now thought of. Everything outside was white because of the snow. We were saturated in white so we saw everything clearer.

This is what white does. It say Sshhhhhh.. think … see… look … be still…. be here … ssshhhh.

 

There were hoards of people on the first floor of the Museum on Modern Art  waiting to go see the show at ten in the morning on a Saturday. Because we had membership passes, we could just go right in. The whole trip to New York was like it. We had tickets to Paradise for everything.

Still tons of people. When the elevator opened up and we we got our first glimpse of the show everyone was shocked. The cutouts were so big. Room after room we all moved slowly through to the sea of bodies to see the life giving work of Henri Matisse splashed on the walls with utter joy.

Creating these late in life when he will not exactly jumping around anymore, was the medium he had to spring forth this vast amount of design perfection. The rooms were electric the energy of the work.

I was thinking about the guards at the how. Did they go home and night and dream of  things unspeakably beautiful after being in the presence of such monumental work all day. Soaking up the glory???