Tag: Visual Arts

True Creativity

The Voice of Creativity does not come from the outside world.

Much is being said today about the origins of creativity. There is no shortage of ways to get “in touch” with your personal creativity, make your creativity thrive, bring out your creativity, etc., etc., and on it goes. Until it is recognized that the Source of all creativity is not outside of ourselves but within, we are probably not going to bring it out or get in touch or whatever. It’s a difficult concept to grasp. It has taken me a long time to gain this understanding. Sometimes I forget it. When I do forget, that is when I have to take a step back out of the rat race, turn down all the noise and other constant static that fills up all our lives. With so much outside static battering our senses, the Voice we need to hear cannot get through.

Many people when asked can quickly conjure up the image of a “happy place” that symbolizes peace and serenity. Mine has always been Reelfoot Lake in West Tennessee. The reflections of sunlight on still water, turtles sunning themselves on a log, herons and egrets quietly watching for their evening meal to swim by are remembrances I can quickly go to to gain peace in the midst of the constant stimuli of daily life. The memories instantly cause me to take a deep breath and lean back savoring those peaceful moments. That is when I can get in touch with the Source of creativity. That’s when I can hear the still quiet voice inside. That is when I recognize that the Voice is inside. Not outside.

When I pay attention to that voice from within, I recognize that it is the voice of the Creator, the Source of all creativity. The images in my memories remind me that it is the Great Creator who created, Reelfoot Lake, the lake that gives me so much peace. When I stop to listen, I know that it is that same Creator that creates all works of art. When I listen, I can hear the whispers of how and what to create. I don’t always listen because I get caught up in the noise of daily life. The art reveals when that is happening. I get frustrated. I keep trying but not getting anywhere. I look at the paintings and I want to cry because I can’t figure out what’s wrong. Sometimes the reminder comes from someone out there reminding me to look within. Sometimes I realize it myself. It’s when the reminder says, “Stop, Listen.” Then I can hear the Voice within say, “try some purple and see what happens.” The whispered Voice of True Creativity has broken through the static and that is a beautiful thing. Now I can breath again.

Shining the Artistic Light

One of the most rewarding things about teaching art workshops is the wonder of how unique artistic talent is to each individual. I don’t teach workshops where everybody expects to paint the same thing and have them all come out looking like a row of cookie cutter canvases. The freedom for each artist to express what is inside themselves makes for constant surprises. It is truly rewarding to watch personal expression reveal itself through art. It is like a window into the soul what might otherwise stay hidden from the outside world. The cookie cutter can’t unmask the heart. The heart of all art is in the freedom of allowing each individual to bring out their own personal inner light.

Changeable artistic expression is a great way to experiment with what is inside working its way out. One day the feeling may be one of quiet, of solitude and the art that is made will reflect that. A maple leaf painted with slow, painstaking detail comes from the still quiet heart. Another day when the fall wind is crisp but the sun is breaking through the clouds bringing a light heartedness depicted with a few quick swishes of bright color on the page. Instantly, joy pops out for the world to see. (Let’s Make Art can show you how to do these!) There are as many ways to depict maple leaves as there are artists ready to depict. And as many maple leaves as there are ways to capture their essence through art.

One artist chooses the softness and gentle color changes of a sweet gum leaf with its starfish-like structure. She expresses silence and an inner choice of order and attention to structure. God’s amazing creation in fine detail. While another artist decides to go for bold bright color in a “larger than life” oak leaf hydrangea. Two different artists, two different leaves, two different approaches. We would never see this beautiful expression of uniqueness if we were all painting the same exact thing, exactly alike.

Last Saturday at Watkins College of Art at Belmont University, in Nashville, Tennessee, our workshop focused on painting fall leaves and flowers. We decided to go foraging around the campus to see what sparked our imaginations. Oprah Winfrey is quoted as saying, “You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.” Giving artists the freedom to let the sparks be lit is a wondrous thing. You never know what might be expressed. Every little bit of expressed light means that much less darkness. While I am there to give direction and impart knowledge of skills to use, my biggest job is to stand back out of the way when the light starts shining! And that is a thing of beauty!

Gotta Start Somewhere

Botanical Style painting is what I return to over and over when I’m in need of soothing and stress relief. Even painting broccoli can be soothing.

Me? I started with broccoli. Yep! That’s the first Botanical Style watercolor I did in the first week of Botanical painting at The Corcoran College of Art of George Washington University. I was really getting into those little florets, painting every little circle when the teacher stopped by my desk and asked if I wasn’t getting tired of the repetition. I wasn’t until she burst my little bubble. It was very soothing progressing slowly through each meticulous green sprig on each bigger sprig. I made a discovery that day with my friend, the stalk of broccoli. This botanical style painting thing was very soothing. I couldn’t wait to get to the next painting. At the time I was in need of some serious soothing and this type of painting was doing it for me. I did progress beyond the broccoli fairly quickly and moved on to tulip bulbs, then tulips and beyond. I shoved the broccoli painting into a file in the filing cabinet and forgot about it until this week.

I the found the broccoli painting while cleaning out old files. The memories came flooding back. That particular class was held at The Corcoran’s Georgetown campus in a beautiful old restored school house building similar to the elementary school I went to in Dyersburg, TN. The building had big old pane glass windows that went to the top of the high ceilinged classroom flooding the room with light. The downtown Washington campus was in the basement of the museum with only fluorescent lighting and a few stingy windows at sidewalk level so we could see feet going by outside. I loved the Georgetown campus even though it meant longer travel time and a bus ride on top of the usual train ride to get to campus. The botanical painting class got me started in what has become a teaching passion. I love to see other people discover how soothing this style of painting is. My final painting in that class was of a tulip through the stages of growth from bulb to flower. That painting hangs over my fireplace to this day.

Most of my oil paintings are completely different from the botanical style paintings. I love those too. The oil paintings provoke more emotion and energetic feelings. The botanical style paintings are calming and comforting, invoking memories of quiet garden walks and the smell of flowers. That was the last broccoli I painted. Even though it was soothing, it did not remind me of the smell of flowers! But those little florets gave me time to stop, take a breath and do something slow and methodical. Botanical Style painting is something I return to over and over when I’m in need of stress relief. It is the perfect antidote to the crazy world out there. Now I’m more likely to paint an iris than broccoli. But Hey! Gotta start somewhere! And we can all use a little stress relief.

Flower of the Misplaced Month

One of the best things about May is the colorful outbursts of iris blooming every where you look around Tennessee. The bearded iris is the state flower so no self-respecting Tennessee garden can be found without at least one variety of iris gracing the mid to late spring garden. Though purple is most often associated with the state flower, iris blooms can be seen in a rainbow of colors gathered around mailboxes, fence rows, lining driveways and more with their distinct tall pointed leaves and large velvety petals . It would seem that iris would be the flower of the month for May, right? Apparently not.

Bearded iris are probably my favorite flower to draw and to paint. I love drawing the ruffles that adorn the falls and standards of the petals. They remind me of antebellum dresses. Or I could say I love painting the many colors they come in, but the truth is I love the purple ones the most. Yes I play favorites!! Thinking about painting another iris, I decided to look up the meaning of iris and found some interesting facts.

According to Flower Meanings.com this beautiful flower was named for the Greek goddess, Iris. The Greeks believed the flower symbolized the rainbow bridge between heaven and earth. Petal Republic.com says the iris was adopted as the symbol of France in the Fleur-de-lis when King Clovis I adopted Christianity as the official religion. The three petals of the iris falls and standards were believed to embody the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Irises frequently show up in the portraits of kings and queens leading to an association with royalty.

Silverpoint Irises

With all this noble and mystical history, who decided that the iris was the flower of the month of February? Most bearded iris bloom after the daffodils and tulips have come and gone. Neither of those make good February flowers either. Maybe daffodils in some locations but not usually. Why isn’t crocus or snowdrops the flower of February? May should have been Iris month! Whoever the big flower of the month assigners are, they goofed on iris. Why didn’t anybody tell them when Iris bloom? At least they gave iris a month. For that we can be grateful!! Now back to painting…

Art and Soul

Realizing all art came from a Creator much bigger than us little humans forced me to look at art in a way I never had before.

The title of a recent workshop I taught spurred me to do some soul searching. More and more information has come out lately about art’s benefit to the soul. All the information now has really been around for years. Arguably, it can be said it all started with Julian Cameron‘s ground breaking book, “The Artist’s Way.” I first read and worked the book over 20 years ago and to say it changed my life is putting it mildly. Realizing all art came from a Creator much bigger than us little humans forced me to look at art in a way I never had before.

You would think that once the light goes on and you realize that all art is much more spiritual than it is cerebral, you could sit back and let the Spirit takeover. “Bingo” you are creating on a higher level and don’t have to think any more. It is actually the opposite. You think more, not less. How can that be, you ask? A wrestling begins between your two warring factions, your heart and your brain. That battle must be fought meaning the ability to sit back and let Spirit takeover doesn’t happen naturally.

For many of us, the reality that art comes from the heart has been known for some time. To allow the Spirit to takeover is to allow the heart to open up. The heart is a lot more vulnerable than the brain. The heart is easily wounded and the artist’s heart even more so. Our soul is contained in the heart. For the soul of the heart to be set free, trust in the Spirit must begin. Trust begins in baby steps.

Crashing Tales

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“Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.” Coco Chanel (from The Painter’s Keys)

One writer sees the culture of creative people as “crashing” leading him to lament about the state of the current art world. He believes artists are seen as “cultural elites” “idle dreamers” or “self-indulgent parasites.” Perhaps he should get out more and take a look at where the productive artists are. His descriptions may fit artists in the places that think of themselves as centers of the art world among people who decide what is and isn’t art. Most of today’s working artists are outside of that world and too busy making art to care.

Scott Timberg has written two articles, one for Salon and one for Arts Journal Blogs, and now a book on the demise of the creative class. He mourns the downfall of the “creatives” and discusses possible causes of what he sees as the current creative crisis. While Timberg may have valid points, he is, quite possibly, missing the bigger picture. In my opinion, only one area of the creative class is dropping. And that area may be one of “idle dreamers,” “cultural elites” and “self-indulgent parasites.” It seems likely, the art world Timberg writes of has created this gang of dreamers, elites and parasites and is now reaping the consequences.

If there truly is a “crashing” of the creative culture, is it not the natural order of things? When a group no longer serves a purpose, it ceases to exist. Many of today’s working artists are entrepreneurs. They don’t have time or inclination to engage in elitism or idle dreaming. And they wouldn’t survive long as parasites. Timberg’s creative culture may be crashing but the rest of the creative world has too much to do to pay attention. They are focused on making art and that’s all that matters.

Passing Fancy

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“Fads are the kiss of death. When the fad goes away, you go with it.” Conway Twitty (from Brainyquote)

Who or what will be in the spotlight of art for 2014? What does it take to make it into the spotlight, the center stage? An idea, a painting, a poem, a sentence, a photograph that goes viral. There is no question that rocketing into superstardom overnight can make an artist a bunch of money, prestige, and more. Is that a place that can be planned for and what if it doesn’t happen?

The answer would necessarily depend on the artist. I confess to not knowing the exact percentage of those who make it to the viral stage but my guess is the number is rather small, probably closer to those who win the lottery. That is one of those wonderful things that is great if it happens but not something to take to the bank. Building a success that stands the test of time rather than the flash in the pan of being a current fad is a realistic goal. Sure it would be great and few would turn away the chance to be that fad but what about tomorrow?

Tiernan Morgan of Hyperallergic writes of the fading of the Banksy craze. Banksy was all the rage of the London art scene but is now becoming a thing of the past. Banksy became a huge success story and the darling of the art world for a time. As Morgan writes, “The art world, with its unforgiving addiction to novelty, always sneers at commercial success.” Banksy’s success has become his downfall. As he fades, the so-called art world will be looking for the next “novelty” to latch onto.

Before Banksy became the trend there was Damien Hirst and his dot paintings. The travails of Hirst have been much in the news lately. One wonders if Hirst’s troubles are due to the “novelty” having worn off for his dot paintings. Modern Edition speculates that perhaps Hirst’s downfall in popularity can be attributed to “overproduction.” An overproduction of dots may have led to the art worlds taste for the “novelty,” of Banksy’s stencils on the street. Now stencils are in overproduction.

Plantiebee asks the question, “Do you feel like you, yourself, are influenced or molded by the current trends in the art world?” Are artists creating art that is in the soul or creating for what the art world might want? Predicting how the two converge is an unknown. A commercial success is a great thing for any artist however fleeting it may be. The more fulfilling goal may be to gain the success that lasts. That success takes time, planning and following the heart not the trends. The long -term plan may also make a successful career and one that stands the test of time. Plan for the long term but grab the spotlight if it comes your way! A passing fancy is still a fancy.

Plantiebee has a great discussion of the subject of trends in art and what it means to artists at the link:

http://plantiebee.com/art-styles-fads-themes-and-feelings/

Felt or Flat

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“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, but must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller (from Skinnyartist)

If a painting, a piece of music, a poem, a story, a performance, a photograph is so beautiful it touches the heart, it is considered a great work of art. That description is the ultimate validation for the creator of the piece. How does an artist get to the place of creating works capable of touching the heart of the onlooker, reader, listener? As Helen Keller says, it must be felt with the heart. The act of making art must be approached from the goal of creating purely from the feelings of the heart.

Marla Hoover at The Arkansas Artist says, “I always try to paint what is in my heart at the time and I see so many ideas that I can’t seem to get them all out fast enough.” Ideas come from the inner artist, the one who resides in the heart. Ideas from the heart are felt rather than reasoned. Hoover goes on to describe the difficulty of painting what some one else has suggested. Some one else’s suggestion is coming from that person’s heart, not the artist’s heart. Drawing that distinction can be problematic.

Taking the time to listen and to feel the heart before creating art, can open the door to the flood of ideas. It doesn’t necessarily mean another person’s suggestion can’t be felt, it simply means it’s best for the artist to be sure his/her own heart is engaged in the process, as well. Art without the engagement of the heart is likely to lack the energy of feeling, leaving the artwork on the flat side. There’s not much that is beautiful in flat feeling-less art.

Monet’s gardens at Giverny were where his heart and his art were deeply felt.  For more on Monet’s gardens and his life at Giverny follow the link here.

Word Games

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“Criticism is easy, art is difficult.” Destouches (from The Painter’s Keys)

Why do artists need guidance and assistance to write about their art? It’s a fact for many artists. Creating a painting is one thing, describing the process of how that happened is another. An artist knows, usually, why a subject or theme moves him or her to paint it. There is a spark that must be expressed. It is a drive that comes from inside. But to put that drive into words can stump many artists. Some even panic at the thought of putting it down on paper for others to read. How can an artist write an emotion, a thought, an inspiration? Sometimes there simply are no words.

Once, in an art forum, I put forth the possibility that artists are sensitive people by the very nature of being an artist. Very quickly, I was verbally slapped down for making an assumption. However, I hold to the original suggestion that, perhaps, artists are sensitive and thus are open to seeing beauty, insight, emotion and other things that may have been missed by the average non-artist person. That sensitivity may be a part of the difficulty of writing about a very personal process that comes from a deep inner place.

Silvia Kolbowski writes in her blog that the majority of the art publications of the 1980’s and 90’s published mostly art criticism. Every artist knows putting their art out there for others to criticize can be painful. Adding words that could potentially make that criticism stronger can add to the pain. Sensitive or not, who wants to put themselves out there to be the subject of some witty critic using you as the focus for his or her latest quotable zingers. It’s a tough call. However, having the right words to describe the artistic process can go a long way in solving the problem and increasing confidence in writing the artist’s statement.

Author Vicki Krohn Ambrose has a new blog post on ways artists can come up with words describing their work or process. Following the suggestions Ambrose put forth hit the spot. Once the process is set in motion, the words begin to flow. It actually starts to be a game of sorts. After a bit of practice, the fun begins and words are spotted everywhere and incorporated into the artist’s new rewritten statement. This new statement can become a work of art in itself.

When words are hard to come by in describing the process, try the suggestions Ambrose outlines in her blog post and also her book. Make a game of it or see it as a new challenge to be conquered. And you can always follow what Georgia O’Keeffe said, “I never read what the critics write.” Armed with new, exciting words of description and ears closed to the sound of the critics, writing an artist’s statement becomes a fun word game. And who doesn’t love to play games??

Vicki Krohn Ambrose’s book, Art-Write: The Writing Guide for Visual Artists can be found at Amazon (here).

Weekend Inspiration–Looking to Each Other

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“You can look anywhere and find inspiration.”  Frank Gehry  (from The Painter’s Keys)

Dry spells, days without inspiration, lack of incentive can happen at anytime to any artist.  You show up at the studio, sit in front of an empty canvas or paper and nothing happens.  Nothing is working.  You looked to all your usual sources of inspiration and still nothing.  So what now?  You can give up and walk away or you can look to your fellow artists.

Stories are everywhere of artists who worked in groups.  The Impressionists were noted for it.  Monet and Renoir occasionally painted the same subjects.  Picasso and Braque explored cubism together.  The tales of artists gathering together in Paris cafes and bars are well known.  The Abstract Expressionists frequently met in New York at various locations.  Artists are gathering today.  Are you one of them?

Gathering with fellow artists today does not necessarily mean physically meeting in a restaurant or studio.  Artopia Magazine suggests, “Following artists on social media is a great source for finding inspiration on many levels.”  Taking the time to “like” other artists on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, read artist’s blogs and check out artists websites are all ways to gather with other artists in today’s internet world.  Artists are doing amazing things all over the world.  All it takes is a couple of clicks to enter a world of inspiration from fellow artists.

Indiemade.com suggests joining a local art group and if you don’t have one, start one.  Find a group of other artists and make plans to meet together.  You can choose to take a meal together regularly just to discuss art in general.  You could meet together for some Plein Air painting.  Another possibility is potluck once a month rotating at each other’s studios. Find your fellow local artists and make a plan.

When you are blanking out on inspiration, look around at other artists and see what they are up to.  If you find your fellow artist also in a blank place maybe you can inspire each other.  And if not, you can always commiserate with one another until new sources of inspiration can be found.  Nobody stays dry forever.  Companionship during the dry times may help move the dryness on down the road.

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