LONG TIME GONE

I'm back, I hope.  The hurricane flooded my studio with 7-8 feet of water and it has been a long walk down recovery road.  Immediately there was the job of salvaging the work that was stored in the studio.  It has not all been finished, just preserved so I can get to it one day.  Some works on paper are gone forever, but not everything.

A few years ago I followed the plaintiff cries of an artist in New Orleans.  He evacuated after Katrina and was never able to return.  I read his words but had no grasp of the scope of the devastation to his psyche.
I get it now.

The contractor employed to make major repairs to walls and doors disappeared after the dry walling was almost complete.  He explained that he can't finish until it is warm enough to paint.  It has been a very cold through to March and so we have no idea when the work will be complete.

Occasionally during the winter I have gone downstairs and tried to make some sense of the mess.  I came back up saddened and overwhelmed at each foray.  Today I got the courage to begin setting up an area to begin again.  My very new easel warped after the flood, I will have to see if it can be salvaged.  The beautiful roll of large canvas my son gifted me with on my birthday has dried sufficiently.  I found tubes of paint here and there and it will be a beginning.

As I stood in the space arranging supplies, a fellow artist called to inquire about the state of my affairs and invite me to create with her one day soon.  That was a call inspired by my higher power.  I needed to come out of isolation and begin again.  Before I went down to work I meditated awhile and asked for divine intervention.  I guess it really worked.

I feel better now that I have begun again.

FIRE PIT

image: Fire Wallpaper @ http://www.superbwallpapers.com/abstract/fire-2819/

It has been seasonably hot this week and the thought popped into my head that I have oily wipe rags in my studio.  I researched this a little and came across a few ideas.
                  1. GET THEM OUT of THERE!
                                    or until then
                  2. Buy a shop rag container. (a little pricey)
                  3. A bucket of water to contain them till the trash gets emptied.

So that's a little reminder for all you creative's out there.
            Better safe than sorry!

COLOR BY COMMITTEE

FLOWER VENDER VIETNAM

Where do I begin?  Now I can see more clearly why I create.  I can expect to have some control over my finished work.  I can use every and any color that exists and gives me pleasure and works in the project.
What JOY!

But choosing color by committee that is something I never want to do again.  I will say,  I learned a lot from the experience.  I gained perspective about myself and about human nature.
I learned that :

1) Artists really do see things differently.
2) People do not welcome change.
3) I really am an artist, it is internal, I can't help myself.

So what happened to get me to these conclusions?
A meeting of the condo committee about painting the building. First let me say that we are all good people and get along surprisingly well.  It was really the nature of the task that makes this a difficult thing.

  First, we all probably see color differently.  Right from the climates we hail from originally,  use of color in the region we are making this decision for and our personal physical bodies, we are all seeing something different.
Than we throw in the colors of the buildings next to us, the present color of the building and the architecture itself.
Why should we be surprised that what looked like such a fun task with exciting potential turned into a
learning experience?

Thank God that is over and the building will look freshly painted no matter what color it is.

EXISTING

Now I can go back to my own work, where I really take ultimate responsibility, after all, that has my name on it.

BID ADIEU TO CHRISTMAS SEASON

It's almost all over now.  The house is spookily quiet.  The last of our merry family group has moved on.  It was almost too much, too excessive, but much to short.  Listen carefully and there are still echoes of Christmas past
Last night before most every one left we remembered to play the disc of the school Christmas pageant.  What a fitting end to the festivities.

Today, one of the last children to depart said she would not go till she had private time painting with me.  Over the holiday a favorite Aunt introduced her to the joys of plein air painting.  They snuck off with hot chocolate and coffee, paper and watercolor pencils and went to the beach.  It was probably the best gift she could get.

So, we grabbed our paints and went to the marina in the backyard.  Ten minutes latter we carried our creations into the house and she was ready to depart, none of the usual teary goodbyes.

Creativity fulfilled can sooth our souls.  Without it, we become weary beasts.

TRY SOMETHING NEW

It's over and I'm glad. The art fair is what I'm talking about. Lots of time, energy and focus devoted to doing something I always wanted to do with little to show for it but a wealth of hard gained knowledge and lots of respect for those that make this a way of life.

The good news is that once you've made the preparations, invested in items needed etc., you can refine them for next time and it will be so much easier.

There were many high moments.  Unlike exhibits there was much time for feed back and conversations with art lovers.  I could observe other painters and people's responses to their art.  I got a feel for what was most appreciated about my work.  A direction , if you will.

I was amazed at how generous the other participants were.  They were kind and generous, my fears were put aside.  I really did not know what reaction I would get as a newbe.  There were many newbes at this fair, we connected and shared our thoughts.  It was really a day that opened my mind.

Oh, and I forgot to mention (as any one coming from the racetrack will tell you)  "I broke even".  Even had a few extra dollars in my pocket at the end of the day.

TRY, TRY AGAIN

In a conversation the other day my friend and fellow artist Pat Halsey said you can tell when the excitement and joy are missing from a creative endeavor.  When it feels like a task, it looks like a task.  I readily agreed.

I have recently purchased that state of the art software I had been dreaming of.  The stuff I was using was great, both simple and effective.  But I thought a new computer needs the latest software.  Time to play with the big girls. So I bit the bullet, shelled out the money and now have to learn a whole new way of doing the same old stuff.  Naievely I had imagined that the underlying process would be the same and there would just be more choices.  Wrong!

So I am slogging my way through the work.  I am afraid if I get out the old program I won't force myself to learn the new one.  My first project was to create a brochure for an upcoming event.  I did it, joylessly the first time but I did learn the process.  After the conversation with Pat I decided to try again and have some fun in the process.  The results were much more pleasing to me.

I posted the cover here to share the results.  You can tell I had fun with this one.  Thanks Pat!

AS SEEN IN THE NEW YORKER

Japanese School Children                 Lois Heeney Bajor

  The other day I ran across an old review of an art exhibit at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  The author  Peter Schjeldahl , was referencing a retrospective exhibit featuring the work of "Grandma Moses".  

He made a plea that the show was flawless but for the fact that the artist should be given the respect of being addressed by her proper name, Anna Mary Robertson Moses, painter.  Indeed, Anna Mary signed her work, Moses, not Grandma Moses.  He pointed out that she was the equal of Jackson Pollack in notoriety and desireability in her times.  Her age seemed to be both her attractor and detractor.

Her work was seen to be alienated and childlike . charming and naieve.  

Anna Mary, you give me courage. 

 

 

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/05/28/010528craw_artworld#ixzz1bnWGHbtq

 May 28, 2001 " childlike and alienated qualities" 

 

These days we seem to categorize everything and everybody.  In many ways it simplifies and consolidates a complicated universe.