Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Encore the Contemplative Artist (March 4)


"Art is your emotions flowing in a river of imagination." 
~Devin, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999



Enjoying a quiet day in my favorite big city:  Lyon.  Yesterday GORGEOUS so I wandered.  Today overcast so I'm relaxing a bit.  Laundry, shower, catching up on photos and my blog.  This weekend is to be beautiful and I'm sure we will be busy.  I am also getting a bit anxious to get some artwork done .. but all my supplies are back in Périgueux (thanks to RyanAir limitations Valencia to Bologna).  Still I can feel my creative spirit filling to overflowing!  Exciting!
ART THOUGHTS 
(My thoughts after a message from a friend who commented on another artist’s paintings)

He (an artist) does have a few proportion situations but his feeling, the emotions in his paintings are great. I've been working on my thoughts and approaches to being creative (I cannot do any painting right now.  All my supplies are in Périgueux, thanks to the RyanAir luggage limitations from Valencia to Bologna).   I've been working “virtually” – imagining what I’ll do soon - trying to allow myself to be more creative, more free, showing more of my basic feelings toward my artwork process. Letting go of decades of "what will others think" is a tough one. But it's NOW OR NOT .. I want to experience my art, and especially the process of creativity, for ME.  Looser, more light and texture, more color and “brush” strokes. It takes focus to let go of old habits of thinking. But I’m learning that we can train our thinking as well as our body. It is a whole new process of thinking for me in the last five years or so.

I belong to a few art groups online, Maine Artists, Pastel Artists, and others, and it is surprising how many people are not very good and everyone ooohs and aahs.  I know someone who is basically making a living as an artist but the perspective and proportions are so often “off” in the work.  But who am I to judge?  I myself am not a master.  I encourage them to enjoy the process of creation. Artists need encouragement, not more critiquing.  I'm not about to make corrective suggestions unless someone is my student or request it.

I believe more and more that it is more about the PROCESS of CREATION, not the final product. I've actually been revisiting how I exhibit and sell my paintings. For me it's become much more the process. So my joy happens there .. the product is residue.  Traveling, being “away”, gives me time to examine things virtually and emotionally.  A fresh perspective.  A good chance to transform.

"There is in every artist's studio a scrap heap of discarded works 
in which the artist's discipline prevailed against his imagination."
 ~Robert Brault  

OK!  I couldn’t stand it any more.  My creative spirit demanded its fix.  So.  Found an art supply store a few blocks away and purchased a couple of basics.  Tomorrow I have the opportunity to work in pastel!



Color me happy!


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