Small Victories

Rushing Stream oil 36 x 18

 It is taking me longer to finish paintings these days which may sound like a bad thing, but I actually look at it as a small victory.  It means I am able to push past where I used to. I have a new set of skills. I used to be afraid of working past a certain point with my work--afraid that I would "ruin" the piece by messing with it some more.  Now, I am able to look at what I have done and I can spend another session on the work without muddying it. I can improve on it without losing the original start and the fresh feel. As I gain more experience, there are no longer big leaps, but these small victories which show growth and that is always a good thing!

Rhythms of the Ranch

Rhythms of the Ranch oil 14 x 11

I will have a new piece in the Random Works of Beauty show that opens this weekend in Estes Park.  This show is part of the 24th annual Women's Art Celebration.  My piece is painted just down the road from where I live.  There is a ranch that can be seen from the road and the Gore Range rises above it.  The ranch always has several horses grazing and this winter they have added some fuzzy cows that gather at a hay rack near the side of the road.  I have have painted it in many seasons, but haven't caught the ranch in winter yet. If you are in the area, the show can be seen at the Cultural Arts Council gallery.

Favorites



December Calligraphy Oil 9 x 12

It is interesting to me that very often the paintings I consider my favorites do not sell as fast as some of my other paintings.  Many times, I like a painting because somehow I pushed myself in making it and had a breakthrough--something that is hard to explain to a patron, unless you have the opportunity to stand beside it and express your technical ideas.  Most collectors buy a painting because something in it speaks to them.  They don't buy it because while you were making it you had an aha moment.  

I attended the traveling Blumenshein exhibit a few years ago at the Denver Art Museum.  One of the stand out pieces was the painting they choose for the cover of their catalog--a beautiful painting of two Indian men.  I read more about it later and Blumenshein himself felt the painting was an important one for him.  It toured the country with a high price tag and never sold.  He eventually let go for what he paid for the materials to the Albuquerque High School.  Was it ahead of its time?  Was he too attached to it?

Absorbedness

Autumn Passage 12 x 12

 It was hard to sit down to work this morning.  Week days and weekends tend to blend together when you work as an artist.  I don't paint when I feel like it, I paint most everyday because it is what I do.  I was fighting that a little this morning, but once I sat down, the hours disappeared and at the end of it, I had something to show for my time.

The author, Donald Hall said, "Contentment is work so engrossing that you do not know that you are working.  Contentment is absorbedness." A good day of painting embodies that for me.

Anne Truitt

                                                                 

One of my favorite books is called TURN: The Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt.  I reread it about once a year.Truitt was a sculptor (her work appears above).  She is no longer living. In the days before the internet and the current blogging trend, she wrote a couple of books that chronicled her daily life as an artist. The other book is called DAYBOOK and is also very worth the read. Since I have started to write this blog I have been thinking about her and her writing.  She was courageous and her writing and her sculptures were spare, but luminous. Secretly, I enjoy her books more than her sculptures. Second to painting, I love reading and any book that makes me look at my life as an artist in a different light is worth recommending.

Caught in the Middle




Reflection-Windsong 36 x 36

 I find that my work falls somewhere in the middle of the contemporary or abstract and a more traditional approach.  I think the paintings that I enjoy creating the most look at the world in terms of shape and color and can present a structure that is based on reality, but stray a bit from what is "real" as well. There are times I feel pressure to create more traditional work that appeals to a broader audience.  I suppose it is a remnant of wanting to fit in. There are a lot of artists out there who have perfected the traditions of landscape or still life or portraiture. They draw from the conventional and give it their own twist. Should I pursue the same?  There are also artists who walk the line between the conventional and the abstract.  I think T. Allen Lawson does it well.  Len Chmiel also comes to mind. At the moment, I continue to dabble a bit in both worlds--I have a long way to go and it is the journey after all. I'm confident that one way or another a method that is completely mine will surface.  I just need to put in the hours.



 



Alpine Sunrise 12 x 9



Cabin Fever

The Road Home 14 x 11

We have been experiencing a very cold and snowy winter.  The sun did peek out today though the temps are still in the teens.  At this time of year, I get antsy.  I want to be outside all day.  I need more photographic material to work from in the studio and I shuffle through my files looking for anything that inspires me. I have painted winter for months.  I long for green.

I was searching for something to paint today and decided to take the day and paint just for me--something that I have a hard time doing. I sat down without expectation and tried to rid myself of this cabin fever.

Handwriting

Late Day Glow 20 x 30

I've been working on the way I apply my paint lately.  My paintings tend to be hard-edged and I would like to have more variety in my brushwork and edges.  As I have been toiling away at it, trying different surfaces and paint applications, I have come to realize that my brushstrokes are bound to have a certain feel to them.  My hand innately moves a certain way. It is like handwriting--unique and individual, and something that is very hard to change. At the same time, it identifies the maker whether it is as a signature or a brushstroke.  So I am trying to bend to the inevitable--my brushwork is uniquely mine.  I am trying embrace the look of my paintings instead of fighting them.  Though wouldn't it be nice to handle paint like Sargent, or Schmidt, or Blumenschein?

Joining the Masses

Open Water oil 12 x 12

I tend to be an introvert and joining the world of blogging is a little nerve wracking to me. I'm not good at talking to strangers and I am even worse at phone conversation.  Most of my time is spent alone in my studio and I like to let my galleries do my talking for me.  Hopefully, some of my work does that too.  So why start a blog?  I guess it is a way to share what I do everyday and I think I have something to contribute to the online art community. I am enthusiastic about art. I follow other artist's blogs (see links on the right side of this page) and I find common ground there. I teach.  So here I go blindly into this new endeavor.  I think I will learn from it.  I hope you find something of worth here too.