Take A Walk Along the Coast by Ardith Goodwin

Paper and I have this thing. There is something visceral and palliative that I feel in my bones when I manipulate and work with paper, especially when the marks flow and dance across it. Over the past 11 years I have come to adore, love, hold sacred the use of paper in the art process. It is my one substrate that I would choose above all else. 

Because of this, I have wanted to take my process and embrace that love on a much larger scale. When using watercolors or fluid acrylics, this is a challenge because the idea of...how will I display it stays in the head. Regardless of that, my heart longed to create a body of work on paper with a few pieces up to 4 feet by 4 feet...so I did. 

Here is one of them: 

TAKE A WALK ALONG THE COAST 

I began by working with marks and then flooding in colors I loved, that reminded me of living along the coast. I let the paint flow like the salt and fresh water flows through our veins here...with reckless abandon. 

I kept adding to that, thinking about our beautiful waters, the plant life we adore, the endless summers. 

I sat back and took in all in, giving it time to percolate. 

I enjoyed my favorite soda...and its packaging.

I quickly realized I wear this palette all the time which is why I feel so connected to it. 

Working this large was a challenge. I stood up, I sat, I laid it flat and sideways and upside down. 

I listened to my love of the place I call home, found its spirit within my marks...

and saw my love come to fruition. There is no other place like the coast, especially the southern Gulf Coast. 

"Take A Walk Along the Coast" 4 feet by 4 feet water media on paper

Detail Image: Can you relate to these colors and marks? 

Detail Image: the flowers...the foliage...the love of color

This painting turned out to be one of those pieces that came straight from the heart and gave me buckets of joy. The larger scale offered me the freedom to let my marks flow in a much more loose, fluid way and I realized that was reflective of how the coast makes me feel as well...calm, relaxed, joyful, full of life. I still have yet to figure out how these works will be displayed, but that issue doesn't cause me stress, it will come. I stayed true to my calling, painted what I love on what I love, and am quite in love with the outcome. An artist can hope for no more than that. 

You can view my entire new body of work on my website HERE

After I posted this painting on Google+ a super awesome gentleman had a few questions for me about this piece. The one that I have never been asked before:   WHAT DOES IT FEEL TO PAINT LIKE THIS? Here is what I said to him after thanking him for the nudge: 

"Well, I immediately plug into a great deal freedom. There are marks on the paper that I begin with...Asemic marks which are a type of language without semantic meaning. I am basically having a conversation with the paper and my creative spirit..and that is portrayed by lines, dashes, swirls...etc. From there I get a sense of play, almost childlike, as I dance across the page with a bit of balance and a little of intent. With every layer, with every mark I paint with joy. I connect with the nature around me, I listen, I slow down, totally at peace. I also paint realism, you might have seen that on my website, but these, they grab my heart strings and say "Let's Play and Let's Express What Matters."   You are the first person to ask me how it feels, it was nice to be able to share that." 

AHHHHHH...love it when I get to engage with art lovers in the world.  

New Works From My Outdoor Studio

I am in the throes of summer and my outdoor studio is in full swing. Yes, I live in lower Alabama and YES, it is hot as Hades some days, but there are reasons that it is the best studio ever for me. 

First: I made a decision to paint BIG this summer and had no personal studio large enough to accommodate a 6' by 4' canvas. I could have said, "I just can't do it, I am not equipped." But I gave it a lot of though and figured if it was good enough for Van Gogh outdoors could be good enough for me...and I am determined to get this done. 

Second: My husband works on our property every day, creating an amazing place for us to live and retire by building a handmade house and I really wanted to spend as much time with him as I could on my summer break from teaching. 

Third: Nature is a huge force in my inspiration, and I get all I want here....including crickets, foxes, squirrels, birds, owls, dogs, horses, caterpillars, lizards, baby bird hatchlings, daddy long legs, and yes...the dreaded yellow flies. In fact, there is so much nature within inches of my work tables it is easy to get distracted just being mesmerized by it all. 

and lastly: 

I am a mess when I paint big. I sling paint, I drop things, spill things, and move through canvases quite often so this type of studio is perfect for me. As long as it isn't pouring, I am good to go! 

Here are a few snapshots of my set up! 

I have also set a few very specific goals this summer to begin laying the foundation to build a body of work for gallery representation on a national scale. It has been exhilarating and daunting, but worth every bit of sweat and work that I have given to date. When I considered what type of subject matter I wanted to focus on I really wanted to move to a softer, peaceful color palette with a thread of summer and coastal spirit intertwined. I also knew I wanted to make an impact with marks, step out of my comfort zone, and connect these pieces to my daily practice of writing and praying/meditating to begin each day. 

So far.... oh my word...what a journey! You can view these pieces and read their stories on my website: www.ardithgoodwin.com, they are located in my mixed media gallery. 

WORKS ON PAPER

"The Extinction of Fear" (sold)

"An Underlying Strength" 22" by 30" acrylic on paper

"A Walk Through Dulcinea" 22" by 30" acrylic on paper

"One Potato, Two Potato" 9" by 12" acrylic on paper

"Once Upon a Summer" 

(sold)

"The Determined Mind" 22" by 30" mixed media on paper

"Violet Loves to Swim" 12" by 16" acrylic on paper

"Cracking the Surface" 22" by 30" mixed media on paper

WORKS IN REALISM

"Bourbon Without a Twist" 8" by 10" acrylic on canvas

"Bourbon With an Ice Ball"

(sold)

WORKS ON CANVAS

"To Be Seen As Beautiful" 24" by 24" acrylic on canvas

Between the Spaces of Time and Place

24" by 24" acrylic on canvas

The Birth of Creative Energy

24" by 24" acrylic on canvas

Into the Heavens

(sold)

As I head into July there are more big changes on the horizon! Art(ology) will be adding two incredible new members and I will move into a half member position to alleviate my full time work load.  I will continue working towards building this body of work along with my "The Journal Speaks" series and I shall begin prepping my curriculum for the upcoming year. Mixed in with all of that will be slinging paint with a magical little one, reconnecting with friends and family, and the continued work on our retirement home. Being a full time artist is deeply rewarding, but at the same time, a bucket load of hard work. I am deeply grateful these days to be well enough to accomplish what I have and am looking forward to more growth on the horizon. 

The Outdoor Studio

This week I start Flora Bowley's online workshop and the nature of that experience is that the canvases need to be big. Because I have such space issues at home, I knew this would be the time to set up my outdoor studio at Dulcinea. My hubs erected the backer board for me and I have a removable 'wall board' that I can use for large canvases. He also set up a glass table so that I can pour directly on the glass and pull skins after my acrylics dry. He did this so that I wont stress my back from bending over and that I will have an adaptable reach so I don't stress my shoulder joint. My hubs values what I do so much and tends to look after my spine issues way more than I do, for that I am grateful. 

You can view her video by clicking on  the link below 
her book: 

Flora's Video

Here is the view of my table and my canvas. I am currently working on a series of mixed media collages which combine my love of the southern coastline and my fond memories of Dauphin Island, Alabama. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful coast to enjoy here, and much of my younger days was spent in Gulf Shores or Dauphin Island. 

First stages, getting my background papers and landscape glued on. 

The house structure was already part of the painted paper so I embraced that image and began to build in the pilings and definition. You can see the view from my studio underneath this board. This is my smaller backer board and I have a larger one as well for big canvases thank to that sweet many in the background. 

For this series I am showcasing the coastline in an unexpectedly colorful way, yet simplistic, which is how I view our beautiful coast. We had a beach house on pilings like this, and those days were grand. 

 

This is the finished piece, 8" by 18" gallery wrapped canvas. 

"Reflection of Bright Waters" 

Up close detail images: 

I can't wait to go big with my outdoor studio and begin slinging, and I mean....literally, slinging some paint. It is beyond peaceful at Dulcinea and painting outdoors is one of my favorite ways to create. My challenge for Flora's class will be two fold. I hope to master a few new skills in mark making and incorporate my love of collage into the acrylic, intuitive process. We shall see how it turns out. 

In the meantime, I send you lots and lots of ((((((creative energy))))) especially for those of you in a funk lately!

Painting With A Credit Card Class at Art(ology)

The night was cool, the gallery was festive, and we had a grand time in the "Painting With A Credit Card" class. During the holidays, I am choosing to teach one day workshops that will give students experience with painting and mixed media techniques but not require vast amounts of skill knowledge or supplies. Students, though skeptical at first, loved the process and were quite surprised how the finished paintings were turning out. 

Here is one of the samples I used for this class. 

Here is the other. 

Gallery is all set up!

Class in action. Nancy is standing, asking questions about the process.

I love this shot of the gallery. Being surrounded by so much art is inspiring. 

Laura laying down base layer for her flower.

Laura adding more details to her sunflowers.

Yajaira laying down base layers on her two flowers.

You can see that Yajaira is adding depth using values to her flowers.

I am explaining a swipe technique to Nancy. (I am sitting)

Nancy working on her flowers, using complimentary colors.

She added a burst of white which set off the center.

Carol loved adding texture to her piece using the scratch out technique.

Although Carol isn't quite finished, her piece is going to be gorgeous.

Phyllis painted yellow daisies which are lovely!

Before the students began to paint on canvas, they practiced stroke techniques with the credit card with acrylic on paper. These abstracts always turn out wild and great!

Carol's abstract, looks kind of like a ship!

This class was wonderful! Art(ology) was the perfect setting for slinging paint and I can't wait to teach another one!