Finding Home; or A Sense of Color

April 27, 2017

This post has a rather odd title, mostly due to the fact that I couldn't quite land on exactly the right words....but I'd like to share some recent thoughts with you about my color palette. Actually, its about more than that, as these are larger thoughts that relate to coming to terms with who we are and finding a balance and a trust in ourselves. Maybe these insights will strike home with you, as well.

In the studio and in life, sometimes we just need to shake things up a bit! Feeling trapped, we might feel the desire to break loose and do something radical....or even slightly radical....which, for me last week in the studio, meant pulling out the watercolors to change up the daily drawing practice. I'm swimming in daily drawings around here....only a small number of them are listed in my Etsy shop and I was beginning to feel like the process was becoming a little rote. So I thought I'd make a shift in materials and scale them up a bit. For some time now, they have been done with pencil and ink on small sheets of rice paper 6"x4" and then dipped in beeswax. So...I pulled out the watercolors, found some watercolor paper and made the size 7"x5" instead. That was on April 27th and you can see the drawing I made that day. More time was spent with details and I liked the drawing pretty well, but something didn't seem quite right. That color, while lovely and bright, felt a bit strange and foreign.

May 1, 2017

A couple of days went by and I didn't make a drawing. When I did return to the daily drawing practice on the first of May, I found myself almost back where I'd been....on small sheets of 6"x4" rice paper. I still had the paint to add color, but it was much more muted....more the subtle color palette that I know expresses my sensibilities. I recognized it immediately when that deep blue green hit the paper....a sense of coming home. I suddenly felt at home again.....like when you've gone on a little journey and come back, slightly larger from the experience and more in tune with the place you call home.

May 2, 2017

I realized that I had felt the compulsion to change things up and the need to step outside of my usual routine in order to remind me to trust my own being as a maker. I love color and often bright color, but the work I make with my own hands, the things I want to express, are best said with subtle tones. The watercolor paper is made to take watercolor, but it felt cold and unyielding to me...and lacked the tactile qualities that the Japanese paper has....and so shockingly white! I was happy to be back to my tiny sheets of rice paper. And well, the beeswax, what can I say? It creates a layer of richness....deepening the tones, even of pencil marks, and adds a surface quality that I just love. 

May 3, 2017

So, all this is to say, sometimes we need to learn the same lessons over again and again. I've spent decades as an artist, learning to trust myself and find the place inside me that is true. Sometimes the voices outside of us and our perceptions of what we should do lead us in new directions, but the truth is in each one of us. We each have our own marks to make, we each have our own sense of color and our own voice. If our work is going to be honest, it has to come from a place deep inside of us.....and we must remain true to that and trust it. That alone is a lifetime of work.

Out of the Ordinary

Greetings, friends! Johntimothy and I recently returned from a trip to New Orleans for my nephew's wedding. We had a wonderful little family reunion, complete with wedding festivities and some sightseeing in the French Quarter. I love this lovingly festooned tree above, which perfectly captures the spirit of the place. 

On the other hand, I was also captivated by the richness of the colors on the buildings up and down the avenues....I found myself mostly photographing color swatches!

Those colors, especially in combination, are good enough to eat! Now we are settling back in, reacquainting ourselves with the studio and watching our world slowly turn greener by the day. A sense of renewal is in the air and I eagerly await the longer daylight hours to relax outside on the front porch.

Out of the Ordinary

I'm adding some new pieces to the Missouri Bend Studio shop, as well as working on collaborative pieces for The Art Filled Home . My daily drawing practice was a bit sporadic last month, but I have gotten back to a steady balance and am making sure to make a drawing each day. 

April 1, 2017

Making these little 4x6" drawings is so rewarding on many levels.....it's always a surprise to see what happens on the page, as I have no idea what will emerge when I begin. But also, the drawings inform me, as if lifting the lid off something somehow just underneath the surface, hidden from view. This morning, as I made the drawing, I acknowledged the desire to go back to drawing small vessels.....cups, bowls....as they are a metaphor for so many things. I'll leave you with that thought and pick up with it in a few days....see you then.

Restored By Reading: The Current Stack

"Knowledge sets us free, art sets us free. 

A great library is freedom." 

-- Ursula K. Le Guin

I just have to say, there are never enough books in my life. Our house is filled to the brim with books, in literally every room (okay, minus one guest bathroom, which is too small), many of which I've not read....and yet, I am forever making the trek to the public library or making purchases for more. I love a day with nothing on the schedule, with nowhere I have to be, so I can sit with a book, savoring the language that sparks ideas, deepens understanding and that takes me to destinations far flung and unknown.

Most of my library treks take me to the public library in Vermillion, but the other day I was on campus and made my way to the university library, which has a sizable collection of new fiction and non-fiction available for checkout. Uh oh....I couldn't resist coming home with yet another stack of "impossible to finish by the due date" books. In case you can't read the titles in the photo above, they are, from top to bottom:

Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live / Akiko Busch 

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries From A Secret  World / Peter Wohlleben

Bottomland: A Novel / Michelle Hoover

The Exiles Return: A Novel / Elisabeth De Waal

The Atomic Weight of Love: A Novel / Elizabeth J. Church

The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time / Keith Houston

The Last Days of Night: A Novel / Graham Moore

The Blind Astronomer's Daughter / John Pipkin

My husband and I have a little ritual of "story time", in which we read a book together....me reading aloud to him. It doesn't happen every day, as life gets a little crazy, but it is the goal to have a chapter read at some point during the day. The book currently on our story time docket is The Last Days of Night, a novel that takes you into the intrigue between Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla in the early days of electric lighting. In my own reading, I am nearly finished with The Exiles Return and have already dipped into The Hidden Life of Trees. I'm like a kid in the candy shop!

But there's something else I want to share. The Ursula Le Guin quote that began this post, which pays homage to art and libraries, as well as the life of the mind, is one that I found on Brain Pickings, an online newsletter that provides a cornucopia of riches. If you follow the link here, you'll be taken to an issue with an article that highlights the sacredness of the public library. In revisiting that issue today, I just realized there is another book I need to add to my already-too-full list of reading material....The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination by Ursula K. Le Guin. I urge you to check out Brain Pickings for yourself....there is much thoughtful research that goes into its creation. Of course, I must admit, I don't really have time to devote to reading it, as I have all those library books to get through. And really, I should be down in the studio right now, but tomorrow is another day!

January 23, 2013

January 24, 2013

A couple of not-so-recent dailies I just added to my Missouri Bend Studio shop. I had a stack of these 3 x 3 inch pieces and had forgotten all about these little collage items from a few years ago. Kind of fun! Enjoy your weekend....happy reading! Since you know what a book fanatic I am, feel free to share your reading joys here...always looking for wonderful finds.

Savoring Slowness: A Progress Report

In my last post, Exploring Borders, I shared the first piece in a new series of mixed media on paper works. Now that I've fully settled in to the exploration, I'm here to report that progress is slow....but like a long slow meal that allows you to savor the experience, I'm fully immersed and enjoying the moments. Engaging in this kind of tiny, repetitive mark-making is like a kind of homecoming for me. I delight in the push-pull of watching the pattern and richness slowly unfold, even as I become antsy to move faster. My sessions last only an hour before my eyes start to lose focus!

As I've mentioned in more than one post, I am truly in the flow when the creative process becomes a kind of conversation between the piece unfolding and my inner being. The quiet and slowness allows me to understand the content. The truth of that experience came upon me once again as I realized the piece above to be a contrast between the worlds of the micro and macro. The right side of the drawing speaks of the micro.....tiny seeds, or perhaps cells, filling the rectangular shapes ....a cross section of some botanical form, perhaps? At a certain moment, I knew that the opposing side will express the macro, perhaps with countless dots, made with paint and ink, that suggest galaxies...the infinite cosmos. Ultimately, I have a sense that those worlds are not so far apart. The paradox is that they are not polar opposites perhaps, as we often think, but part one infinite whole. Infinitely small and vast, simultaneously.

This piece above (details below), also in progress, is related to a kind of fascination I have with language, with the alphabet and with words. In a way, it's somewhat like the childhood game of connect-the-dots. Any number of us may experience the same set of spoken or written words, yet we will construct different meanings, based on all manner of variables....background and experience, our physical boundaries, mood, etc. Each of sees the world through a different prism and sometimes we see the same set of words through such opposite sets of lenses, it's no wonder there is so much turmoil in the world.

On the right, lines of text are represented by the tiny dots of ink on each line....words or pearls on a string.

On the left, a scattering of dots....maybe those very words on the right, fill the space and are connected to form a constructed shape. But those dots could be connected in any number of different ways to make different shapes....to create different ideas, meanings and experiences. 

It's all a metaphor for the complexities we encounter through life....making art is how I make sense of the world.

The two little drawings above are about to be listed in my Etsy shop, MissouriBendStudio. These are a couple of the daily drawings (3" x 3") that I made in early 2013. You know, when you make a daily drawing....as in, a small drawing every day....before you know it, you are swimming in little works of art. If you do that over a period of years, well....there seems no end to them! Rather than sitting in little piles in my studio, they are slowly making their way out into the world. If anyone is interested in gathering a set of these, let me know and I am happy to work with you to create a delightful grouping!

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are!

Fleeting Moments

Missouri River  view October 20, 2016

There is a morning glow of magical light on the river that happens just after the sun appears over the trees in the east. It's a regular occurrence, but so easy to miss, as it is fleeting....as so many magical moments are. Yesterday morning, I turned around in the midst of the mundane morning activity of clearing the table or maybe I was refilling my tea....but I looked up and there it was, that magical light, the golden glow along the water and distant shores. I reached for my phone and was out the door into the chilly morning before I knew it. 

I captured it, but of course, not really. All moments are fleeting and perhaps it's good to keep that in mind, so we can fully be there when they happen. We try desperately to hold on to time, to memory, and we take photos to capture the special ones, but no matter....it all slips through our hands. And yet, we are compelled to record, to capture and these photos serve as reminders, place cards and souvenirs of the journey. Those magical fleeting moments of glow on the river that I glimpse on many a morning remind me of what a special place I have here on the Missouri.

And in my further attempts to capture and to hold, to record the passage of time, here are a couple of drawings from my recent dailies. Hope you have a lovely weekend, full of inspiration and insight!

October 15, 2016

October 14, 2016

Yellow

Homing Instinct

I'm drawn to yellow of late, that is, the color yellow. Perhaps it has to do with how my world turns to yellow in the autumn. In many locales, with the change of seasons, there is a predominance of red in the colors of the land, but where I live in South Dakota....it feels mostly yellow. And so many yellows....soft yellows, like the grasses, to the deep rich saffron yellows that cover the soybean fields for a brief period in the early fall.

The cottonwoods and other trees across the river are on their way to a luscious yellow. When I bought flowers at the store the other day, I chose yellow to boost my spirits. These little stems below were left behind on the counter so they got their own tiny vase!

When I sit down to make the daily drawings lately, I find that I reach for that rich yellow ochre ink so it can play a role. I do love the way yellow mingles so beautifully with grays and all the various "shades" of white!

October 14, 2016

October 15, 2016

These recent daily drawings haven't been listed in my shop yet....they need to live in their little pile on my desk for awhile before I am ready to send them out into the world. For now, I delight in the warmth of their yellows!

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead....cheers!

Notes From the Field: Creative Play

snapshot of the jumble from the bulletin board in my studio...

the photo is of of my mother at the age of 10....

I looked just like her when I was 10

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.

— Heraclitus 500 BCE, philosopher

I'm going to return to a theme that I revisit on these virtual pages rather regularly....the importance of play in the studio...to feed our humanity and the creative spirit, which lives in each and every one of us. I take my play rather seriously, actually, as I explore it through the daily drawing practice. But even I need to be reminded now and then of the purpose and the importance.

March 3, 2016

May 17, 2016

May  14, 2016

May13, 2016

As I sit down with my tiny torn 6x4" sheet of Japanese paper, I put pen or pencil to paper and let my hand move as it will. The time spent making the drawing is not about making "art", nor is it about outcome, but is experiential in a process that is perhaps akin to "call and response". Through the process I let go of any idea of what will happen or should happen and respond moment by moment, in tune with where my hand wants to move. Do I switch from making these marks to making tiny circles?....go.....Do I now want that white pen to make contrasting lines, white against the rich gray of graphite?....go.

When we are truly engaged in play, we are not concerned about the future moments and how it will all end....we are in the moment, enjoying the experience and the flow of being. There is no competition....with the self, with another, only the act of moving and thinking through the body in a process of discovery. 

But the best part is....the moments of discovery end up feeding the "art making" process, in which there is an end, a product, a culmination. And too, these little artifacts of the process, as shown here and in my Etsy shop are a reminder, a kind of document of some moments in time. They bring joy to me and I'm happy to see that they bring joy to others. I sell them in my shop on occasion and am happy to know that they touch people in simple ways. 

Hope you take some opportunities to play during your day, whether through drawing or any of a million other ways to engage in the present moment. Cheers!

Studio Update: Dailies

May 6, 2016

As many of the readers of this blog know, I am fond of a daily practice that keeps me grounded and balanced and that is making a small daily drawing. These are not extravagant and come completely from intuition as I don't think about making art, but just let my hand make the first mark and follow the path from there. I confess I stray away for periods of time, dropping the practice of making a daily drawing, sometimes for days, weeks or even months. There comes a time, though, when I realize something is amiss and I reestablish the daily drawing practice, then find very quickly that I am on the way to something resembling restoration.

May 5, 2016

An assortment of these dailies have made it into my Etsy shop, most of which are the like the drawings shown here, 6"x4" on Japanese paper dipped in beeswax. I am pleased and humbled to find that they are pretty popular and at $10, sell fairly regularly. What makes me most happy though is that other people find a bit of magic in them and the drawings make them happy. What more could you ask for?!

May 4, 2016

I decided that I'd like to encourage the purchase of a grouping of the drawings, so the deal is that if you purchase 5 drawings (the $10 ones like those featured here), then I'll include a sixth one for free....could be another in the shop or could be a mystery drawing from my backlog....your choice!

May 3, 2016

These pieces shown here are making their way into the shop in the next couple of days if you'd like to have a look. The beeswax makes them look and feel luscious....and they smell delightful as well!

May 2, 2016

May 1, 2016

April 30, 2016

April 29, 2016

Hope you have a great week ahead...one sprinkled with joy and inspiration! 

Exhibition Highlights

Hello again! Reporting in after the reception for my exhibition at Briar Cliff University last evening. Nan Wilson and I installed the show in a day and a half earlier in the week, with the help of a couple of students and a trusty glue gun! None of the work was framed, but was attached to the wall with the hot glue...who knew!?! I managed to make it through the gallery talk, which is not an easy thing for me to do. But the group that gathered was supportive and engaged with the work, so that made it much easier and enjoyable. Below are a few shots of the walls and then some individual pieces, so you can get a better feel of the work.

The longest wall to the left of the entrance was hung with daily drawings from the last 5 months, September through January. Although it took a bit more thought, I wanted them hung according to the calendar and days of the week, rather than as a straightforward grid. So, the set above, for instance, is from January, which began on a Friday. 

Moving clockwise around the room, the next wall contained 27 mixed media pieces that were made as individual works, but hung in 3 sets of 9 pieces each. Because my work is small in scale and intimate, I thought the pieces would be lost if hung in a straightforward line, so I envisioned them as hanging together in a grid. The color palette of each grid is related so they hold together. Collectively, this group, for me, formed the heart of the exhibition. I called the show The Art of Wonder and these pieces comprise The Art of Wonder, Suites 1, 2 & 3. Below are a couple of individual pieces from each suite.

To the right of the entrance was a series of freestanding paper shrines-like objects that contained found text poems. One of them is featured below....sorry, I can't transcribe the poem, because I didn't write them down!! There were made with pages from discarded books on handmade paper dipped in beeswax. Nearly everything in that gallery is dipped in beeswax....except the last wall.

The last wall was a series of randomly hung drawings, made with tiny marks that resemble stitches. I loved making these....so meditative. The paper size varied, as did the pen color, but when finished they each resembled small textiles in a way.

Often after such an intense period of engagement, there is a bit of letdown when it's all over. But my intense month of creating all that work (except the dailies, which are an ongoing project), has left me energized and ready to keep going with new work. 

The Energizer battery hasn't worn down yet! I'm now refocusing energy on my Etsy shop and creating new works to share with my friends here on the blog and across the world. I haven't made any teabag scrolls in quite some time, so that's the next group. I just finished the first one this morning and listed it in my shop, The Scroll for Tiny Drawings. There are a couple of additional detail views in the shop. Oh, what fun to make!

Thank you all so much for following my efforts, for your comments and support. I am amazed how bonds across the world can be made through the blog network....what a wonderful thing. And now, I must get back to it....there is work to be done!

See you soon and hope you enjoy your weekend!