#65 - #71 Creativity Affirmations

Another group of affirmations which help me consider the possibilities...

#65 "Creativity occurs in the moment, and in the moment, we are timeless."
~Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, the best book I've ever read (5 times and counting) about creativity 

#66 "The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable."
~ Robert Henri

I wrote this a lot of times because it feels so very very true. I wonder what that compulsion is about - why exactly do I need to draw or paint the things I see which are so uttery beautiful? Why can't I just look and be content? Perhaps it's because I feel a need to capture them and bring them through my body, my brain, my soul, so they stay there forever. Is everyone like that, or is it just artists and writers and dancers and other creatives?

#67 "I just want to make beautiful things even if no one cares."
~ Felix H.

#68 "She who works with her hands is a laborer.
She who works with her hands and her head is a craftsperson.
She who works with her hand and her head and her heart is an artist."
~ St. Francis of Assisi (except for the pronouns - I changed those)

Believe it or not, there were times in my life when I got grumpy! When the kids were around at that time, they would often very kindly and gently suggest I might need to go into the studio to make me feel better. They were invariably right. Out of the mouths of babes...!

#69 "I am always doing what I cannot do yet in order to learn how to do it."
~Vincent VanGogh
and
"If anxiety, fear, desire, and restlessness have come into your life
and time, energy, and calm have left you, you are probably an artist.
Make something. 
Anything.
You will feel better."
~author unknown

"An artist feels vulnerable to begin with; and yet the only answer is to recklessly discard more armour."
~Eric Maisel

I've thought about this so often - if you think about the ancient civilizations of Greece or Rome, what do you think of? Probably the architecture or the art you know from that time. It's how we learn about the people and their beliefs and values.

Or is it? Do our artists reflect our beliefs and values? Or are they the canaries in the caves? The ones who scream with primal angst to warn the civilizations about what's happening? I think of the artists in Pre-Hitler Germany. They were beginning to address their concerns about Hitler and his policies. Artists today are creating art about global climate change. Will we listen and act accordingly? Or will future civilizations find artifacts from our artists and draw slightly false conclusions about our beliefs and values - they are warnings, not pictures of how things are - more, how they could be.

Civilizations aren't remembered by their business people, bankers, or lawyers. They're remembered by their arts."
~Eli Broad

#53 - #58 of 100 Creations in 100 Days: Creativity Affirmations

February 24, 2019

I was in a bit of a funk, not clear about what I was doing creatively. I think most artists go there at least some of the time. When I started this blog, I thought I'd be very consistent, creating a large scale painting each day and posting it, writing about my process or the image each evening.

Life doesn't turn out the way you expect.  I know that. Yet it still comes as a surprise just about every time! 

I simply haven't had enough time to get into the studio as consistently as I'd like to, so those large paintings haven't happened - yet. Instead, I've been experimenting my visual journal and accepting that the drawing I'm doing as demos in class count as well for my self-challenge.  On this particular day, I wanted to offer encouragement to a friend whom I saw as needing creative encouragement, so I put together a book of quotes on creativity and started illustrating it. Before I was even half way through, I realized it wasn't for him - it was for me! I keep picking up the book and dipping in to read the quotes at the start of the day. It never hurts to get a bit of inspiration from someone else's wisdom. 

Below I've attached several of the pages and will attach others in tomorrow's and the next day's posts to provide you with a bit of affirmation for your creative journey if you need it too!

(By the way, if you're interested in spending 3 hours a day for a week playing in your visual journal, I'll be teaching just such a class at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, June 17-21, 1:30 - 4:30 daily, Monday - Friday.  It isn't on their website yet, so if you're interested, you can contact me to ask me to tell you when it is, or take a look in May and sign up then.)

#53 "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way, things I had no words for."
~ Georgia O'Keeffe

#54 "The artist must train not only her eye, but also her soul."
~Wassily Kandinsky
(I might have changed pronouns here just a bit!)

#55 "One can speak poetry just by arranging colors well."
~Vincent VanGogh
~image by Chihuly

#56 "an artist is an explorer"
~Henri Matisse

#57 "The artist produces for the Liberation of her soul.  It is
her nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill."
~Author Unknown
(I may have changed these pronouns too!)

#58 "Color is the place where our Brains and the Universe meet."
~Paul Klee

#21-28 of 100 Creations in 100 Days: Visual Journal Explorations

#21

#23 from a fabric design by Knoll 

#21-24 are images I drew/copied from artwork I found on Pinterest.  I am drawn to patterns and lines and Zentangles and these were variations on those.  Eventually I'll incorporate more lines and patterns into my paintings - when I figure out how to do it!  But for now at least I can have the pleasure of doing them separately!

#22

#24

I had suggested to one of my students that she try copying some drawings by the Masters as a way to improve her observational and drawing skills.  I liked the suggestion so much that I decided to take it on myself!  Vincent Van Gogh used a quill pen or some other kind of ink pen when doing his drawing, but I didn't have that available so I used a couple of markers with wide and narrow points instead.  He is a true master!  I learned a lot from doing this - about his marks, his choices, his different kinds of strokes.  The trick now will be to include them in my own drawings!

#25 Apres Vincent

#26 Looking at Her

On our way to Wintergreen Ski Resort, we stopped at Tuckahoe Antiques in Nelly's Ford. I bought some antique postcards there then had the fun of playing with them in my visual journal over the course of the weekend.  #26 combines one of the postcards with a woven image I made of my husband.  It looks like he is oogling the girl, so I named the piece "Looking at Her".  I like the juxtaposition, but it does Chris an injustice as he would never, ever look at a woman like that - unless it was me!  He's the kindest, most appropriate man ever.  But the images worked together, so I'm sticking with them for now!

#27

I took my students to the museum last week and asked them to look for patterns throughout the galleries.  I have posted about that before.  At Wintergreen, I took the time to add watercolor to the images I'd drawn just because it felt good to explore what they would look like.  I enjoy having this set of images to use for documentation and for reference to include in my work.

#28

When I created the CitraSolv/watercolor tree, I first cut out a tree to use as a template. This is that tree juxtaposed against some watercolor paper I'd used long ago for templates of leaves which I used as stencils.  It was fun exploring how they'd work together.  I chose this weekend to not adhere tightly to what I would normally think was "right" or "OK" and instead pushed my boundaries and explored how things looked.  I enjoyed trying new things and doing things I wouldn't normally - like putting the pink flowered pattern together with the tree and the leaf stencils - I had to release my usual judgments about what would work together to let myself do this.  Ends up I like what happened!  Who knew that exploration and boldness could lead to cool results??!