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.  

The Journal Speaks About Beauty

(The Journal Speaks Series is a new body of work that I am incredibly proud to be working on. My love of art journaling came full circle as I took the page elements and converted them to large scale paintings on canvases, showcasing my love of message, marks, and passion for color. This piece is #4 in that series and you can view the other pieces HERE)

I have written of beauty a great deal over the past few years as it fascinates me. The concept seems simple, yet I believe it is one of the most complex and powerful forces that we experience. Conceptually, we, as a human race, love to be pretty. We have come to believe, either through conditioning, experience, or ideology, that we must look a certain way to be accepted, to be valued, to be loved. No matter where one looks, the struggle to understand and contain beauty fuels just about everything we do. As these thoughts stewed in my soup of little grey cells over the past month I realized there would be no way to capture my entire struggle with beauty. So, I let it rest. 

This piece is the center painting as I began to layer collage elements over the surface.

What happened next was one of those moments in an artist's life that came straight from being plugged in and willing to listen...not to myself, but the canvas. Many times the page holds a message. The preliminary marks of a piece hold its truth if only the artist slows down long enough to hear it. As I let it rest, the message I was to learn became clear...that of transparency. 

More collage piece, more marked pieces and the beginnings of background color.

You can see in the background, behind dear turtle here, that the piece is becoming more complex. 

I make marks to create. Many of those marks are Asemic, meaning that they lack semantics, but are nonetheless a powerful form of how I communicate through my artwork. The collage pieces I started with were full of that type of marking, random, energetic, and a bit disconnected. As I began to add color, and line, and more marks, my heart felt the tug of needing to leave many of the marks visible. I struggled with that because I didn't want to box myself in marrying the first layers of a painting. Still, I listened and the lesson of transparency kept resonating, so I actually boxed the layers in to contain certain ones....happy compromise.  

Beauty can at first seem opaque in many circumstances but in reality, it is the reflection of our heart that creates authentic beauty. This is why a child can view a rainbow...or a flower....or an insect and fall in love with it. They are too young to understand why, but that force comes from the heart. It connects the eyes with objects that make the heart sing....which is where beauty is created, and we know this at an instinctive level. The layers of my painting where beginning to show me that they were the point. 

Complexity of spirit, of courage, of kindness, of love, of believing in all things and striving to take that inner power and share it outwardly was what my page was needing me to grasp. As soon as I got that, I knew exactly what I would paint. The female figure here is transparent. She isn't bound by layers of makeup, or creams, or false pretenses. She is quintessentially standing in her own essence. At first glance the DNA in our own brains my look and register...weird, odd, unattractive, etc. Only when we look past the opaque into the transparent and see who the figure is do we understand that inwardly she is beautiful. She is a metaphor for what we must strive for, she is an example of beauty in its most honest form.

Up Close detail  with light shining through the canvas.

Detail image showing scale, it is 3 feet by 4 feet

Final Image

"If We Peeled The Layers" 3 feet by 4 feet mixed media on canvas

Outdoor studio where I painted this piece. 

As this series evolves I am beginning to understand that the journey is one filled with lessons for my own heart. Things I need to embrace and dance with a while, and if they resonate with you, then we are on a similar path. This piece is a marker for me, to be kinder and gentler with my own constructs of what it means to be beautiful, and to share those with a world that needs more transparency....more seeing within and less looking at the package.

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. 

Outdoor Studio Painting of My New Series

Breathe in Relaxation....Breathe out Everything Else..... That would be my prayer for the next two months because I am on summer break....or at least for the next 6 weeks. What this also means is that my outdoor studio gets set up which gives me the freedom to paint big, dance like mad, talk to birds, and make yummy messes. For the first time in 11 years, this summer is one I have looked forward to more than any of those, because....I feel really good and am over the moon excited about the artistic path I am on. 

Painting outside is not for the fain of heart. I live in lower Alabama...and if you have been to lower Alabama in the summer you know that thanks to the humidity you begin to sweat at sunrise and often long after the sun lays its tired head below the horizon. Mosquitoes are as big as my head, noseeums are beyond a pain in the butt, and rain falls as unpredictably as the random brain fart whizzing between the ears. Still....I love working and painting outside, along with the challenges it brings. 

My hubs has set me up in a really sweet spot next to the house, so when I need a break, I take one. When I need a quick exit from the elements, it's about 15 feet away, and my extension cord reaches nicely for a small fan and speaker....that way the tunes and the wind are my fellow studio mates. I also have waterproof storage for my essentials that has wheels so that I can move it in and out of the heat when the temps get too ornery. 

Here is a video showcasing my studio and a peek into the Land of Ardithian as I like to call it. 

Along with the outdoor studio comes the space to work on my new body of work which brings my art journal pages to a larger format. There is tremendous freedom in an art journal, with no expectations, no rules, just a playground to express ideas, concepts, and heartwork visually and through text. I have always found myself to be most at home in an art journal so when I considered what my next series would be I knew exactly where I wanted to head....into my pages. 

"Diversity Should Not Be Feared" 3' by 5' 

"Love Shifts The Heart" 24" by 24" 

So far, I am 6 pieces in between different stages and what I am learning about the process is that it is incredibly challenging but the most rewarding body of work I have ever created. The message becomes more profound, the composition becomes pivotal to the meaning, and the execution requires an extraordinary amount of patience. At first, it seemed the antithesis of what a journal represents, but as I began to walk through motions, pray through the brush strokes, meditate through the meaning, I began to understand just how important these are to me. They quintessentially combine my love of writing, of painting, of structures and function, and of my passion for the beauty of life within each piece....exactly the platform my journals bring to me on a smaller scale. As this realization come to the surface and my spirit affirmed I am where I am supposed to be, I chose to embrace the challenge and go all in. 

"To Capture The Love of Art, Teach The Soul" 18" by 24" acrylic on canvas WIP

These are detail pics below

The words in the forehead read: 

"...because fragments of ourselves seek out the common bond, which is always love."

Over the next few months I will be constructing these pieces of artwork, some in my outdoor studio, others at the gallery, but all within the framework of art journaling. Giving myself the freedom to play, to express my emotions, to make a beautiful mess, and to refine my artistic skills will be the mantra of the day and I look forward where this journey takes me. Here are a couple of my finished pieces and another in progress. I will blog about each of them individually as well. 

No longer am I captive to painting to sell, creating for a bottom line, or serving an expected perception. Today, as I sling paint all over the place, I am finally embracing the pure freedom of creating from that place most artists long for.....from the heart.