My ability to draw from my imagination could stand some improvement so I have been working on it by drawing objects and people from life and then drawing them from memory at different points in the day.
Practice
It takes so much practice to get to the point where the work looks effortless. I'm not there yet, but I can tell that I am on the correct path finally.
Processing Haystack
Monday morning. Back to reality after an inspiring trip to Haystack. Yet I am still happy to be home around my favorite people. Now that I am home I have a lot to do to process the artwork that I made there and the ideas that I generated. Plus laundry. So much laundry. Laundry is the worst. But for now there is coffee to drink and kids that need to get to school.
Goodbye Haystack deck.
New Starts!
Now that Open Studios is over with I can start planning for the next big event(s) in my art life. On Monday I completed sketchbook #6 and started sketchbook #7 and them almost immediately felt sketchbook paralysis. Not on the first page since I start the first page the same every time with a collection of colors, my name and number and a quote to inspire me. But after page number three or four I started to feel blocked. The perfect cure was a walk around the Arnold Arboretum here in JP collecting fallen leaves. Now I need to paint them and their gorgeous fall colors in my sketchbook before they all turn brown! Following that is a workshop on Moku Hanga Japanese printmaking workshop at the Elliot School here in JP this weekend. Back to printmaking I go but with a big change in learning a new technique that I have been interested in for years now. In a week I will be in Maine...
Tick tock. Don't waste your time.
New beginnings. I have time. Now what? Time to make some plans and set some goals.
What is wasting my time? What gives me life and energy? Lots to think about. A schedule is probably needed.
What is life giving and what is life sucking for you?
For the record I totally "wasted" my time this morning walking around the neighborhood after dropping off my daughter and stopping to draw whenever the mood struck me. It was fantastic and I totally plan on doing it again tomorrow. Except tomorrow I will bring a stool with me.
Moleskine paper doesn't behave well with watercolor washes. Great reason to dust off my dry media and focus on drawing.
Let it go.
Urban sketching on location is great in theory, hard in practice. Especially when one is a bit of an introvert and has two young children tagging along all summer. I can only draw the playgrounds that they enjoy so many times without getting bored. Then I started to feel angst and bad about my perceived failures as an artist. Then I let go and just drew. Sometimes I drew what I saw sometimes I drew from my imagination. It is all perfectly fine. Soon the girls will be back in school and I can draw on location. Right now it is hot outside and I am enjoying going on inspiring nature walks with my children, jogging by myself and taking that inspiration home to my studio where I work with it. Coming soon. Hoping to finish a number of these little paintings by the time I hang at Hatched (at there brand new location grand opening next to the big City Feed) here in JP for First Thursday and for JP Open Studios in three weeks September 20th and 21st at the UU Church.
A favorite meal.
Spent some time on Saturday wandering around Fenway by myself so of course I stopped by my favorite Thai restaurant for lunch. Being home with my two children full time over the summer is a lot of fun but it is also exhausting and it is important that I take time to be by myself whenever possible. So my husband Jon took the girls on a hike at Drumlin Farm and I headed to the Dick Blick in Fenway. While I did not end up buying much, being able to shop and then getting lunch at my own pace and not having to manage other human beings was such a welcome break. I left the weekend feeling ready for another week with my little girls.
Som Tum or Green Papaya Salad with shrimp and sticky rice. A little bit sweet, a little bit sour and a little bit spicy and very refreshing.
Relax and enjoy nature.
Friday is here and I am looking forward to getting outside this weekend. Long week here with the kids filled with a lot of fun but not a lot of art time for me. Hope the weather cooperates and I get in a couple of morning jogs that leave me feeling energized and inspired. What inspires you? What brings you down?
Inspired by nature.
The experience of nature.
The other morning I got a rare twenty minutes alone at the Arnold Arboretum with my sketchbook. Lately I have been working on drawings that focus on the experience outdoors rather than the scene. The line of the trees, some plants, the blue of the sky and the green of the leaves are all here. And like that my morning was captured on paper. Looking forward to doing it again!
Sketchbook Nature
The Curse : Sorting through inspiration
On vacation I take many hundreds of photos with my camera and my phone . Along with the typical family vacation photos I took shots of leaves, plants and various things that struck me as having potential. Now I just need to find them so I can use them. Often I take photographs of my surroundings to use as later inspiration for my sketchbook and end up forgetting and never using the photo. Finding it months later and wondering what it is doing on my camera or phone. Digital photography is both a blessing and a curse. I am happy to have it and I certainly don't want to go back to film photography. Plus for everyday pictures digital is much more affordable. But the sorting can be a nightmare. Now we are about planning to take a long weekend vacation to NYC and I will probably take a ton of pictures while I am there, so I should probably go through my Florida photos from April. When do you do the work of sorting through photographs and other tedious tasks?
The big chore : sorting through the inspiration.
On vacation I take many hundreds of photos with my camera and my phone . Along with the typical family vacation photos I took shots of leaves, plants and various things that struck me as having potential. Now I just need to find them so I can use them. Often I take photographs of my surroundings to use as later inspiration for my sketchbook and end up forgetting and never using the photo. Finding it months later and wondering what it is doing on my camera or phone. Digital photography is both a blessing and a curse. I am happy to have it and I certainly don't want to go back to film photography for everyday pictures this is much more affordable. But the sorting can be a nightmare.
