Look forward, look backwards and know where you are. We are all taught that as a child. Here my beautiful granddaughter is experiencing that in all innocence. As artists, we need to let some of the innocence we lost as we became adults come back into our art. You decide the best way to decide what innocence you miss the most.
Growing up on a farm, the first “car” I ever drove was our John Deere tractor. I don’t know if sitting on my father’s lap, holding the steering wheel between his powerful hands is really driving, but at about five years old, it sure flet like it to me.
Looking for the different shades of yellow in this tiny 6 x 6 painting of a Bell Pepper. Sometimes practicing on something small is fun, but a little harder than one might think. This took about 20 minutes and good music to do.
Every class you take brings information to you that is new or different or seen in a different manner. A class I am taking with artist Emilya Lane is working on different value studies. Last week we had about an hour per piece to paint one in high chroma and one in low chroma. Both are posted and it would be interesting to know if you can immediately tell which one is which….
Before beginning a trip down the Yangtze River in China we stopped at the dam that changed the future and the eco-culture of area. Seeing something this big in structure, beautifully designed, and melting into the atmosphere was inspiring.
Several years ago on a “Day Trip” to Ensenada and beyond with my oldest son, Chadwyck we took his pickup truck down into a part of Mexico where no one spoke much English. Driving along cliffs, to a small resort along the coast was exhilarating, especially for someone a little afraid of heights. The port was lovely and I took this photo of fishing boats tied together. I later gave the painting to my son, but kept the photo and did this water color sketch, which one of my husband’s favorite. To me, it reminds of a wonderful and somewhat eventful day that I spent with my son. Memories are the rewards of life.
Walking up to Edmonds from the ferry is this sad building waiting to have a life. It will be the new beginning for a fun young business or maybe retirement income for someone like me.
The original photo is a little more forlorn, but has such character.
While meandering online I discovered a little book called “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon. One of my favorite quotes is by Francis Ford Coppola:
“We want you to take from us. We want you, at first, to steal from us, because you can’t steal. You will take what we give you and you will put it in your own voice and that’s how you will find your voice. And that’s how you begin. And then one day someone will steal from you.”
The book begins by asking the artist the question:
“Where do you get your ideas?”
And goes on to say that the nonest artist answers,
“I steal them.”
When I was in my PhD program at Argosy one of my professors stated there are no longer original ideas, there are only our interpretation of what has already been said or done.
My friend Damon E. Edwards at Front Street Gallery in Poulsbo took the photo that inspired this photo. Trucks are such an important part of our culture, as they carry what we need, where it needs to go. they are mostly overlooked, and not generally painted, but I loved his photo of this truck just cruising along somewhere in the country.
Sad, but interesting as a different view of a part of the world. This one is in Cambodia. It could be a boring photo, but the way the light is captured makes it intriguing. If you only post your art on a blog, I think it makes you of a singular mind. Sharing work from other sources, not only opens your eyes, but hopefully the eyes of others.
Photo by Chadwyck Wirtz