A Feast for the Eyes

I’ve been working on that essay I said I would write…(and I will post it when I’m finished) and I’ve been thinking that at a very basic level, the kind of abstract art I enjoy is truly a “feast for the eyes”.  Color, texture, soft edges, clean edges, spatters, etc.  A playground for my eyes to wonder at the visual field presented.  You may not think so…that’s ok.  The title of this piece is “Rhythm and Harmony”.  Can you feel the musicality of this visual interpretation?  Here’s an excellent quote by a famous artist for you to think on:

“Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see with his eyes….Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite, it is emancipation of the mind.  It is an explosion into unknown areas.”   –Arshile Gorky

I found this quote in a book I’m reading titled “Abstract Painting: Concepts and Techniques” by Vicky Perry.  It is difficult to find books about abstract art since, as Perry notes, “the whole point is to do it differently”.  She presents her book on “how abstractionists make their paintings in order [that we, may] do it differently [than they].”

**To see more of my abstract work…come out to K’ville for the Arts D’Vine Festival next Friday evening, 5-8 pm.  I’ll also have some of my portrait work (quite realistic) and fiber work as well!

Marvelous Milton

Before I go on and on about another favorite artist of mine, take note of the updates in the Classes section of my website–especially the upcoming art & wine festival here in downtown Kernersville! On Friday, June 5th from 5-8 pm, Arts D’Vine will be happening on Main Street. Come enjoy an evening of wine tasting and art! I will be at Shakespeare & Co. Book Shop with a variety of arts & crafts. Other area artists will be there as well.

I love designing shapes! All artists are shape makers, but some of them really want you to see the shapes more prominently than others. Milton Avery is a master at this! He crafts the shapes in his paintings with a nod to being representational, but are all his own as he exaggerates, bends, squashes, and lengthens them. He then masterfully fills those shapes with exquisite color combinations that are much more subtle and sensitive than mine. Avery’s work is mostly figure and landscape…but I was inspired to try designing shapes with chairs, flowers, fruit, and even ice cream. I have quite a bit of work in this style and am recently returning to it with paintings of knitters. (I’ll share with you when they are ready:)

All of these paintings begin with drawings where I play around with shapes, both negative and positive shapes, and determine how they connect. Once the painting begins, then it’s fun to consider how the shapes will be filled, what colors, the transitions, etc. Other artists who have influenced me and whose work I admire are Bob Lysiak and Skip Lawrence. Both have websites you should visit!

Here’s one last painting for you, titled “I Scream”.

Celebrate the Mundane

Soon after my “ish” awakening, an artist friend told me of a book that was really helping her to recapture her love of drawing just for the sake of drawing.  She recommended I read The Creative License by Danny Gregory.  It opened whole new worlds of subject matter for drawings!!  One of the creative “blocks” I had been experiencing was a feeling that my everyday life was separate from my creative life…somehow the exhibiting, hanging and rehanging artwork, thinking up paintings that might be “sellable”, all seemed removed from my da

y-to-day life of laundry, household upkeep, shuttle-bussing kids, helping with homework, and the bazillion and one other things that we do on a day-to-day basis that hardly get any notice, much less make it on our “to-do” lists.  Danny Gregory taught me that ALL of life is drawable and worthy of looking at closely enough to really “see” it and thereby celebrate it!  His books are filled with drawings of the inside of his pantry, medicine cabinet, quick sketches of his child as he grows, of his wife and the day-to-day beauties that are actually there even if tragedy has entered your life.  I now own not only Creative License, but Everyday Matters AND his most recent An Illustrated Life which is a compilation of many illustrated journalers like himself, but who have vastly different approaches and drawing skill-levels.  I have ALWAYS loved my sketchbooks.  I even secretly thought that my sketches were usually better than the paintings that ensued from them.  I used to think,though, that the REAL art was what was produced FROM the sketches.  Now I know the real art is in the sketchbooks.  This is true of how I feel about other artists’ work as well.  Open any art book on ANY artist and I will pour over the sketches and drawings that are usually put in the  margins and reduced in size.  They are the real thing!  The sketches and drawings are a record of the artist’s thoughts, first-blush encounter with his/her subject matter, the “play-around-with-ideas” phase, etc.  You must, must read any or all of Danny Gregory’s books!  Visit his website that I have listed in the Blogroll section…his website has been newly redesigned and is a feast of inspiration.  Grab a cup of coffee, sit down with either book or site.  But be sure to have your sketchbook and pen ready…you’ll be drawing before you finish any of them.

Ishful Art

Continuing in the line of favorite artists who have inspired me…Peter Reynolds, an artist and writer of several “children’s” books and whose blog is called The Stellar Cafe.  (If I was really tech-savvy I would make this a link for you, but alas, all I know how to do is place it in the blogroll for you.)  Anyway, I was given his first book, The Dot, several years ago by a friend, and loved the book immensely.  About two and a half years ago I hit what I now call, a “creative crisis”.  It’s difficult even now to put words to what all happened, but I just couldn’t draw or paint.  So many things, both small and large, converged on top of me and choked out the desire to put image to paper.  Last May, I was at the Downtown Children’s Museum in Winston-Salem waiting for a kid’s birthday party to be over that my littlest was attending.  I sat down on a bench and there beside me was a book titled “Ish” .  I recognized the simple drawings and fresh splashes of watercolor and began reading.  By the end of the book tears were streaming down my cheeks.  It worked like Drano, beginning to move out the crud and gunk that had been blocking my creative drain.  I gathered my youngest, drove straight to Border’s to buy my own copy, and read it over and over the next several days, to my kids, to myself, to anyone who would listen.  I also went home and dug out sketchbooks and began to make “ish” drawings.  Like, Ramon, I “felt light and energized.  Drawing ish-ly alowed my ideas to flow freely.  I began to draw what I felt–loose lines.  quckly springing out.  Without worry. I once again drew and drew the world around me.  Making ish drawings felt wonderful!” (quote from the book except written in first person:)

I continue to keep “ishful” sketch journals of my life.  Lately, I have realized that I’ve been overworking them–getting snared again by the thought that I must make fine “Drawings” in my sketch books.  When that happens, I begin to lose the freedom, the joy, the looseness, and worry creeps in along with all that other baggage that clogs the creative pipes.  This is  also helpful in life–it is so much better to parent ishfully, to love my husband and friends ishfully,  to approach everything I put my hand to, not trying to get it right, but simply BE who I was made to be…simply BE.

A Closet Abstract Artist

I have long been in love with particular kinds of abstract paintings.  It is an affinity that has not, in the past, set too comfortably with me.  Why do I love this type of work so much?  I’m not completely able to articulate it, but I’m getting there…new pages are being revealed to me as I dabble with painting abstractions and as I muse about the “why” part of the question.  I’m in the process of writing about this, as I’ve recently had some new thoughts that strike me as revelatory.  Well, for me at least.  Though I enjoy many different kinds of abstract art, the style that is particularly engaging to me is “gestural abstraction” or “action painting”.  Jackson Pollack is one of the most noted of this genre along with my very favorite-Joan Mitchell.  My mom actually introduced me to her work through a book she had (and which I then just HAD to have a copy of myself).  Gaze, gaze, drool, drool, catch your breath, and gaze some more…yum.  And this is my reaction to printed versions of her artwork in a small book!  I can’t imagine the experience if I were ever to be so fortunate as to see them in person!  I was at Border’s last week and came upon quite by accident a book about Cy Twombly…another gestural abstract painter, and I found myself having the same reaction (ooh, aah, breathe Jennifer!) even though his work is not the coloristic feast of Mitchell’s.  I also love Bill Scott’s work, an artist who actually studied with Joan Mitchell, and who works on paper as well as canvas.  I came home from Border’s just itching to try my hand at this again, as I did a few years ago and enjoy the results hanging all around my home.   Here are a few of the small things I tried…in my sketchbook I used watercolor opaquely over top of transparent washes, and then in acrylic on canvas. I would not say that these are anywhere near as successful as the aforementioned artist’s work, but these are very satisfying.  Joan’s book opens with a chapter called, “A Rage to Paint”.  And though I do not see any anger projecting from her work, I do resonate with the desire that wells up in you to be totally engrossed in putting paint on canvas or paper…to get out in paint and mark making, a passion for color, an emotion of fullness, a “sense” of nature…un-graspable thoughts and feelings that only paint and non-representational imagery can convey.  Ooh…I’ve got to write that essay.  Too many thoughts flowing in I want to share with you.  When I write it, I’ll post it here for you to read.  Needless to say, I feel that sometimes my best work is in this realm of abstraction.  I do not “show” it often.  There are still layers of needing to “be good at” my art that must come off before I can really throw myself into paintings that are presently only painted in my head and heart.  It’s a journey..this discovering one’s voice in artistic expression.  This one I call “dans le foret”.

Those who inspire…

I’m going to begin writing about various artists who have inspired me over the years, and who continue to inspire me.  They are a varied lot.  I seem to jump around in styles, methods, and mediums–perhaps the only thing consistent with the kind of art I want to make is its inconsistency.  It is said that variety is the spice of life…I personally know this to be true when it comes to art.  So today’s artist is Alex Powers.  I mention him first, not because he is #1 on my list, but because I thought of his work today and have been playing around with some sketches that nod to his style. Mr. Powers has an excellent book, Painting People in Watercolor, in which he harps on the abstract qualities of a painting even when you are rendering something realistically.  And you must visit his website, http://www.alexpowersart.com.  I love his use of charcoal, watercolor and gouache. And of course, his riveting rendering of faces! 

Au Revoir

Kernersville’s beloved Salem Kitchen will be no more…a fire next door about a month ago has wreaked havoc with all the businesses in that building and as a result, Salem Kitchen will not be opening again:(  The manager of this fine establishment has been a friend and fellow artist for years.  She offered her place for a few of us sketchy sorts to come and draw.  She also allowed local artists to show their work on her walls and many of us had sales from that venue.  Though my friend still has employment with the Winston Salem Kitchen, she will be greatly missed as the smile and workhorse behind such a great establishment in our little town.  I will miss the yummy food, the French Provincial atmosphere, and the lovely outdoor cafe area that was so perfect on pretty days!  I will also miss sketching there.  We will probably take a break while we find an alternative spot and get going again perhaps this summer.  Or we may just name a new spot each week to be outdoors to draw.  I will continue to hope that sometime in the future, Salem Kitchen can once again come to Kernersville.