Proust, Painters, and Creativity Art Journal Page

Throughout this book "Perspectives on the Arts" 1961, I have enjoyed immensely getting to delve into the perceptions and points of view of the art establishment during this decade. Proust was showcased for his writings, and this morning, as I landed on the page which I would alter, I read this: 

"For Marcel Proust, communication was of the very essence of art. Among the multitudinous solitudes that populate the great Thebaid of A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, art is the only means by which any man can enter the soul of another man. Only by art can we get outside ourselves, know what another sees of his universe, which is not the same as ours, and the different view of which would otherwise have remained as unknown to us as those there may be on the moon. Thanks to art, instead of seeing only one world, our own, we see it under multiple forms, and as many as there are original artists, just so may worlds have we at our disposal, differing more widely from one another than those that roll through infinite space, and years after the glowing center from which they emanated has been extinguished, be it called Rembrandt or Vermeer, they continue to send us their own rays of light." 

The worlds spilled right off the page and hit me directly in the gut as powerful and moving and so very true. I sat for the longest looking at this page spread and when I looked up, I saw one of my dolls, Found Friend, who always seem to be desperately trying to make a point. The direction for the page was found and I began sketching. 

Throughout the process I kept hearing the message of how important it is for each of us to understand our value, especially in light of being created as creative beings, and with each stroke I sent forward to the hope that everything I create and share will send forth the message which is just that....we matter, our creativity matters, and the world needs us to own that. 

When I create these pages, I alway seek to stay open to the message my heart wants me to process. I paint and write and draw with the tools in front of me, and with the addition of each one, a layer is added to that knowing and in turn gives me more creative passion to hear my own, unique voice. Young artists struggle with this I think, finding their voice, finding their style. I can only share what has worked for me: 

Stay curious. 
Look for the wonder in the world. 
Make records of it. 
Seek out that which you find fascinating. 
Study that. 
Practice every single day. 
Trust your path. 
Express your wonder through the skill set you have in the moment, the heart will follow. 

I hope, for today, those of you who are aware of how very important you and your creativity are in the world will know that in a more powerful way and begin to share that message with others. With all of the hate we find in this world, our love and creativity holds the power to change that. I do believe this with every thing I am. 

Know Your Bone Art Journal Page

I had an entire blog post written about bones and something inside me said it was just to damn wordy. Most likely, it was my bones, ;) 

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

Henry David Thoreau

This page below didn't speak to me. The images, the text, nada. The only thing I decided to keep were the white faced figures, some of the reclining nudes, and the ladies face on the right page for my journal entry. You can view the finished page below. 

As an artist, what is your bone? What is that thing you love to do over and over and over? Is it the use of a color, a mark you make, the layering of words, the expression of text? What is the one thing you LOVE to apply to your artwork? If you can identify that as one of your bones, you are one step closer to finding your own artistic voice. 

Once you learn how to find your first bone, you become more adept at finding your other bones. Through practice, you will discover more bones. Sometimes they will be obvious, but other times they will show up more subtly and appear repeatedly. 

When I art journal my 'BONES' are praying, making marks, using transparent layers, strong value and contrast, drawing weird figures, and writing. An art journal page without those bones would not connect to my heart so I use them: 

Every

Single

Time

Give your bones permission to learn what your heart wishes to say and express that on canvas. The world needs YOUR VOICE, not your copy of someone else's. 

START COLLECTING YOUR BONES BY DOING THIS:

Pray,Paint, Practice,Play, Repeat. 

Pay attention to the techniques that you use without thinking, the marks that show up over and over, and then consider adding in a few unexpected ones to see how your heart responds to them. Most importantly, look for these bones when you are not mimicking or learning a specific style. YOUR bones show up more often when you turn the computer off and paint from your inspiration and yours alone. 

Wear Your Own Crown

I am beginning to wonder if we are spit right out of the womb with the need to compare ourselves to others. Now, I know that isn't the case, but even in my young 3rd grade students they ask all the time, "Is it good Mrs. Goodwin?" "Is it as pretty as hers?" It stops me in my tracks...cold. Adults do this too, heck, we all do it to some extent, but especially new artists who are just beginning to get their brush wet. 

10 years ago when I started to teach myself to paint I wasn't as involved online as I am now. I didn't have all the images of beautiful artwork rushing through my stream each day. I can honestly say, I didn't have the urge to think if it was better than so and so's or not, I just wanted it to look good. But wanting it to look good was a desire connected to my internal voice of needing to be valued, needing to be significant, needing to know that my effort was worth it. 

I can't say when or how, but at some point I figured out that for me, it wasn't as much about getting it to look right as it was about the process of making the art. I wish I could share this ability with new artists, and children, so that they could reconnect with just having fun, just making marks, just enjoying the gift of creativity. As a teacher, it gives me a ton to mediate on....to pray about, and to send forward. 

This morning, as I started my journal page, the section in this book that I chose to work on was Figurative Painting. "Perspectives on the Arts" was written in 1961 and the very first sentence of the chapter written by Stephen Tillman reads as follows, "Young artists today live with a very strong sense of who is in and who is out." 53 years ago, in regards to painting and being a professional artist the same stigma applied and it makes me wonder if the cave men felt jealous over who was making the better, bigger, or prettier marks. Comparison steals our joy. It turns those negative voices in our heads on full blast and turns off the ones guiding us on our best path. 

Crowns seemed to fit these pages, the figures appeared to be powerful, and the juxtaposition of the two figures picking flowers beside the male figures of prominence gave me a twinge. As the marks flowed I felt inclined to consider how we wear crowns, how we strive to wear other people's crowns, and what can I do, as a teacher, to help those caught in the vicious cycle of comparison. The concept is complicated, it isn't easy to solve, but I believe in my heart it must be dealt with. Our true gifts and hearts are worth fighting for. 

Whispers In The Wind

As I have aged I have learned to quiet my spirit and listen to the wind. Whispers are found there, of deep longings from my spirit, of answers to questions I refuse to ask, and of gentle nudges directing me in ways that I am blind to when my noise meter is on full blast. In the moments that I choose to slow down and listen, my maker sends the language of love and compassion my way, for that I am truly grateful. Lately, I have been spending more time listening and less time talking, and I can tell a huge difference in my serenity. 

Artwork is like that some times. When I rush through ideas or pieces because I can, the heart is more silent. It doesn't mean that what I think or create is wrong, it just means that it isn't connected to my heart as much, and the further away from my heart I go, the more I know I am spinning my wheels and pissing my bones off. I am convinced that my bones have a direct line to my heart, like they are on Twitter together or something because it never fails.... when I am doubting myself, being careless, or acting on disconnected information my bones get royally fed up and let me know that. When I am creating for any other reason than being altruistic, I feel it in my bones. 

One way I practice staying connected is completing what I call Quick Paints. I take 15-30 min, use paper that would ordinarily be discarded, and I create a painting from my heart, not my head. This practice does two things: It keeps me creating from a sense of flow and it keeps me loose in my style so that I don't over think a piece and create from redundancy. Over thinking is the black widow of the painting process and can be lethal to a pure creative event every time. Here are two pieces I created in this way and both characters have been with me under the shadows, waiting to see the light of day, and longing for me to slow down and give birth to them. They came from my heart, not my head...and I trust that. 

"Mr. Boudelaire's Hair Is On Fire" (sold)

"He Plays Jazz On King Street" 5" by 11" acrylic on paper, matted 

($75)

Because professional artists create to sell the majority of the time, we often get caught up in painting for purpose rather than painting from passion, or at least I do. Bills must be paid, supplies purchased, and marketing explored, but for me, that can't be an excuse to bail on why I paint. My soul speaks through the wind, it says, "Paint through me, not in spite of me." Painting from this inspiration, not matter how different or weird, will always ground me in being true to my gift, self, and God. I sit here with the deepest understanding that it is His voice whispering in the wind.... He speaks through others, and he speaks with strength. I am grateful today for those who spoke to me with encouragement, with support, and with nudges of staying brave and bold in my long term art goals. 

The artists of HeArtspace on FB are my whisperers as well, they speak the truth from a place of love. :) The incredible Jeanne Bessette curates this group! It is not a group for artists to share pics, although occasionally we do. Rather, it is a group for artists to share the journey of being and becoming an artist. If you are interested in joining, in actively sharing your experiences, good and bad, of living a life as an artist, then friend her and request to be added to her secret group. Best decision I have made lately....best!

New Liquitex Paint Markers

Who says kids have all the fun at Christmas time? I was gifted some Liquitex Paint Markers and along with my Montana ones, I was set to have some fun! For those who aren't aware, these markers are acrylic based so they go swell with any type of acrylic or mixed media type of artwork. Most can be refilled as well and Montana carries the empty ones so we can mix our own colors as well, which is even more golden. 

I first chose to test out my markers in my mixed media art journal and worked o a page using Golden heavy body acrylics with my Liquitex markers. I LOVED the way they gave me control over the details, had great opaque coverage, and flowed smoothly. They didn't blend as well as I had hoped but they did offer the ability to cover in layers which turned out to be a nice way to use them. Because I have chisel tips, writing was easy and I could see they would lend themselves to lots of journaling, which is something we all love. To view all of the entries in this journal click HERE

Once I knew they would work well in my journal I wanted to see how they performed on watercolor paper. I opted for 300lb. rough, and right from the get go they were a bit sluggish. My graphite and crayons went down first, but the flow that I found on the slick paper just wasn't there on the rough surface and the paper seemed to soak the paint up too quickly at first. Once I had an initial layer of acrylic on the paper though, they performed quite well and were a joy to work with in adding details out the gazooba! 

This was the first test using the 300lb. watercolor paper. I just sketched, made marks, and played with color. You can see the texture pretty well, and the paint seemed to just not move well in this. I opted to turn the painting upside down and take it in a different direction this morning. 

First layers using Golden Heavy Body Acrylics

Next layers, adding details with the markers. 

"Practice Time" 9" by12" acrylic on paper

Final version, added some warm glazes and balanced out the details. Overall, the control the markers gave me are something my style works well with, that makes my day! 

There are applications I plan to tinker with using the markers, but for now, I am pleased as punch with how they work. I hope your Christmas and holiday was blessed friends. Looking forward to some huge changes in the new year as well! 

Altering A Book Alters The Soul

There are days and then there are days. For the record I live a tremendously blessed life with gobs of gratitude and a heart for others. With that said, today was one of those days where I just wanted to throw eggs at the "ignorant establishment" (fill in the phrase as you wish, :) 

Without boring you with the details of the idiocy of the mail that was opened, the phone call that was placed, the arguing that ensued, and the total lack of comprehension by someone, let's just say I am frustrated....beyond frustrated, ready to throw rotten eggs....at many targets. Instead, since I am not prone to actual egg throwing, I grabbed my new art journal, a 1962 book called, "Perspectives On The Arts" and took out my frustration on two pages. Then it hit me. 

(I added the collage elements of the eyeball and the skeletal arm)

No matter what happens in my station in life, be it losing every monetary thing I have to an organization or government that wishes to tax or bill the crap out of me, they cannot take my creativity from me. They cannot take the God given ability I posses to look at a blade of grass and see a universe, a raindrop and see within myself, or at a whisper and hear a symphony. That realization was profound today, it helped lift my spirits, it helped change my point of view, and I am sure it helped lower my blood pressure. 

There are so many things each of us must deal with in life, many unpleasant, but the more I connect with the creative placed within my spirit, the more I realize the world will not end and pigs won't fly. Art journaling, the act of altering a book be it blank or printed, with words, marks, images, and paint, alters the soul. It makes me wish it was mandatory for every student in every grade through college to keep an art journal of some sort. The world might be a much more palatable place on days like today if so. 

This page was made with acrylic fluids, heavy body, inks, oil pastels, markers, and graphite. The words on the left, which I simply wrote as a train of consciousness, reads as follows: 

I am torn today by the need, the MUST, to create from my very core. The world bombards us with what must be paid, be surrendered, be handed back without the notion of what impact this has on those doing the giving. Takers, they can suck the life out of the ordinary, but Creatives....they fight back with the power of the pen, the brush, the dance, the random thought that turns a whisper into a symphony within the creative being which cannot, which WILL not be contained. The act of creating is fundamental to sanity, for they cannot take that from us, for a whisper, a thought, a prayer, an idea transforms the soul.