Most recent paintings. The first one is "Dance" Acrylic on canvas 24x30. The second one is "Waltz" Acrylic on canvas 45x15.

Here is a quote about art that I really like.
Art is not just about what's great or expensive or scandalous or famous. It's a mirror we hold up that looks different to everyone who sees it, and whose beauty lies as much in us, and our capacity to dream... (Michael Kimmelman)

New paintings, new series

I've been working on a new series of paintings the last few months and since it's still exciting and interesting to me, I can't imagine when it will end. I'm working on three or four more of them right now. There are no titles yet which is always a long process for me.

Featuring artist Lila Lewis Irving

I have found a wonderful artist I would like to share with everyone and here is the link to her web site.

There are also some very good videos on Youtube. Here is a link to Youtube. The best one is here and is about 14 minutes long. She's been painting for 50 years and earlier this year had a retrospective at The Art Gallery of Mississauga, where she talks about the impact of a class with Helen Frankenthaler.

Here is an interview where she talks about finding her tools.

August

Today the temperatures are supposed to be over 100 degrees so I did a little yard work early and plan on being in the house the rest of the day. I love the Coleus I have in my yard. I buy them every year from Tsugawa Nursery in Woodland WA. I also get the lime green sweet potato vine for a nice contrast. My lilies were just wonderful this year even though they started late and the heat now has done them in.

I went to Camano Island WA to visit my son last week. I hadn't been there before and it is a beautiful place. The photos below are of us getting ready for a motorcycle ride. It was warm but one still needs to "suit up" to ride. The motorcycle is a classic Moto Guzzi and that's about all I know about it. We had a good time and the roads were quiet and country side and water views were just the best. I had a great time on the island and enjoyed the wonderful food Trish cooked for us.

Critique workshop

Here are some examples of "failed" paintings before and after being worked on by everyone. We all agreed there were changes. If the change was for the better or not is up to the viewer!

Katherine's "failed" painting before

After

My before "failed" painting

After

Ann's before "failed" painting

After

Some photos of our critique group work shop July 30th to August 2nd.

Our spacious studio
Lunch on the patio
Ann's birthday cake from Barbara
The birthday girl
Using a handful of markers exercise
A photo from the other side of the room
Our exercise painting on plywood

Last week for four days my critique group held a self led abstract painting workshop at one member's spacious art studio. We had a great time painting together and we all learned new things from each other.

Monday Nikki had us draw a different type of composition from a bucket. We were to use a triad of primary colors plus black and white. Afterwards we all tried to guess which composition they were using. Our guessing was fairly close.

Monday afternoon Katherine set up stations in the room for each of us to try in order to get our creative juices flowing. We did Sumi sketches with Asian brushes and Sumi ink, drew with a fist full of pens, did small Notan sketches, and experimented with an analogous color wheel which is different from any traditional color wheel. Katherine brought several examples of pastel paintings using several of the analogous schemes.

Katherine (and Ann) had hand outs which sure supplemented my sketchy notes.

Other practices to get creativity flowing from Katherine: Sketch or doodle while watching TV, pick a word and sketch it, sketch to unfamiliar music, look at other artist's blogs, begin an idea book, look at books and magazines and read about artists we admire. The two main things that are very helpful are to be bold and fearless plus SHOW UP to the work.

Several of us brought books we especially liked and I see some time spent on Amazon very soon.

Tuesday morning I did a class on how to gild using composition gold leaf. Mainly use a glue that stays tacky and seal with a solvent based spray so the leaf won't tarnish.

Wednesday morning Collin brought several pieces of cut up plywood for us to work on with her technique. Wet down the board with a very wet sponge and using acrylic paint sort of tint various parts and wipe off with the sponge and keep going from very light to darker. Can finish with oil pastels. In the afternoon Bonnie requested we each bring a "failed" painting and let each of us work on them. I planned on being very organized and show the various stages and the changes on everyone's pieces. That would be six paintings changed by five artists. I've posted some photos at the top of this post but it won't be every piece and every change. We had fun working with abandon at the beginning. As time went on we became more cautious and some of us stopped sooner since we liked what had been done previously and didn't feel we could improve it too much. We had a great time and saw new possibilities in what others had done to our paintings.

Thursday morning Ann showed us her process using texture and pattern. Ann likes to concentrate on ways to do layers with color and texture. She had many examples and had made up pieces of various textures for us to experiment on using various colors. I especially liked the veiling one can do with Winsor and Newton clear gesso. It works especially well on a dark background and Ann had some samples on black board for us to use.

We all learned so much from each other! We brought our lunches and ate on the back

patio. Katherine's neighbor Barbara baked a beautiful chocolate cake for us which lasted for two lunches. She is now officially known as the Pastry Goddess.

The main thing we took away was the rare luxury of working together and spending several hours at a time together over the four days. Usually we meet once a month for three or four hours.

A quote for the day

While I'm busy with "things that must be done" rather than painting, here is a good quote.

Harold Thurman Whitman wrote:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs

Ask yourself what makes you come alive

And then go and do that

Because what the world needs

Is people who have come alive."

Inspiration

Lately I've been on the trail to find some new inspiration for my painting. It was a very circular trail I found. I've learned inspiration is out there all around us. But you can't buy, beg, borrow or gain it "out there". Inspiration is already present when you pick up the brush or show up to paint. You might pause, wait and watch for a while before actually putting on the first colors.

I've always been interested in creativity and inspiration and read many books on these topics. I've also read advice from other artists who say just show up and let the work begin. Some how that seemed too easy. But maybe it is the best way and I just need to get out of my own way and start!

Here's a quote from Jack London: "You cannot wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club". Or maybe not?

Red-Green & Blue-Yellow/Colors you can't see

Here is a very interesting article about so called "forbidden" colors from Life's Little Mysteries.

At the end of the article are some more interesting links especially tracking an artist who is on acid.