Jan. 9th I was supposed to turn in some more cone people for a show in a nearby city. Unfortunately they had to shorten the show from 6 to 4 weeks, luckily restrictions have been lifted now.
I have 6 entries that are are divided in
Group of 2 figurines
Group of 3 figurines
A portrait painting.
The show has a theme “Grænser”, which can either mean “borders”, “limits” or “boundaries” depending on context. Submission deadline was right before open studios, so there was no way I could have created something new. I chose to go with “personal boundaries” because I had items that would A really go well together and B fit the theme with my usual quirky sense of humour applied.
The show is now open Jan. 29th to Feb 27th, for any Danes reading:
Fernisering 29. Januar kl. 13-16 i Næstved Kunstforening, Sct Peders Kirkeplads 14 , 4700. Ses vi?
Knus, Kurt og Knud (Hugs or no hugs?)
Fedtefadet (Doghouse)
Modsætninger mødes (Opposites in harmony) 90×65 cm
I’ve been having some trouble getting the photo colours accurate…
“Creative genius… is both more primitive and more cultured, more destructive and more constructive, occasionally crazier and yet adamantly saner than the average person.” -Frank Barron
Did you know that this entire blog has always been about painting? The thing I’m most driven to explore, yet is also the most difficult for me. I’ve often pondered the concept of “path of least resistance”. Some say it’s what you should always aim for, not out of laziness but to find the way around things that achieves the most in the shortest time or with least effort, that’s when you’ve hit the sweet spot, “your thing”. Where you are meant to be. Others claim Resistance is the sign you are on the right track, that you need to push against it to get to something deeper, more meaningful. Resistance as fear of success. If it wasn’t important, you wouldn’t be afraid of it.
I’d like to transform the latter into the former. Too easy and I just end up getting bored and finding a new passion so I can feel the rush of learning all over again. Too much resistance and I just procrastinate (possibly by finding a new thing to learn).
The spinning, dyeing etc. were all steps to noodle my way into painting, and they did work brilliantly for opening the door. My brain was fried for a while and had lost all sparks of creativity, but doing things with my hands instead of a computer screen, working with colour in different ways, learning something that I didn’t care if I did imperfectly, all opened up the floodgates and now ideas never stop coming. What took me longer to find was my courage. Painting is the one creative thing where I can’t just accept whatever comes out. I play and slosh, certainly, but there comes a point with any canvas where I’m stuck because I want the result to be excellent. And I don’t trust my ability to match my taste. Slubby yarn, that’s just fine. Wonky paper people? What fun! But my paintings “must” show “talent”. As soon as that thought enters, everything I make is garbage. I know it, yet I persist in this pattern. So odd.
My most stubborn case was figurative work, to the point where I initially decided I didn’t want to do it. Both because I hate repetition, and to become good at drawing you need to complete “exercises” umpteen times, and I prefer to just jump in and wing it. But also because I didn’t really believe it would work, that I could master it. Abstractify things and nobody can accuse your work of not being realistic enough! Excuses, excuses. Because honestly, I’d love for my paintings to have a story, not just be empty landscapey colour doodles.
So I’m not ready to give up on it, although I could easily fill up my time with other creativities. It might even seem like the smartest and healthiest thing to do, cull my herd of fascinations so to speak, to FOCUS. Nope, every time I do, a new shiny, irresistible thing pops up instead. Not helpful. I’s why I’ve been testing out not socializing online instead, to give my creator mindset more space.
I’m such a big advocate for normalizing imperfection, so it’s curious why I get paralyzed with thinking that bad art (and thus, wasting expensive art supplies) is a disaster. Funny thing is, I don’t even WANT to paint super-realism, just some kind of interesting, recognisable, scruffy motif blending in with the expressive style.
There’s been some progress though, and I hope it will all improve further now that I’m no longer sick 2 out of 3 weeks and actually remember what project I was working on last time I visited the studio.
Anyway, I did make some paintings in the last few years in between migraines. (which also seem to have stopped, finally, so thrilled about that!! Fertility is way overrated). So to mark a new starting point, here’s a tiny compilation of oldies for those of you not in the IG loop.
Another time I may share my forays into the world of portrait painting. Doesn’t get more figurative than that!
I promised I’d begin my “new” blog by telling you about the event I participated in this November. (photos at the end)
About 2 months before, an art community that I subscribe to suddenly decided we should all do this together, set the date for mid-November, wham. Er, um, whut? I’m not ready for that. I don’t have the space to do that. I live out in the middle of nowhere and it will be dark and cold. I don’t have enough paintings to show. They’re not good enough. I don’t want strangers in my house! I also don’t want nosy neighbours from the next village in my house. There’s not enough time! I had other plans, I just want to finish my paint project.
But in the end I enlisted anyway. Just to see what would happen, to my stress levels, my self confidence, my work speed, my sense of privacy. What happens if you don’t wait until you’re perfect and ready? If chances arrive and you don’t take them, will they come back?
Three years since my studio was finished and it’s been a wonderful space, even more so since I had water installed. It’s also very cluttered however, the more I do, the more canvasses are stacked everywhere, done or half done, various supplies getting crammed into to few shelves. What I really need is a dry and dust free storage space and/or weaving room separate from the painting! (my dream is 100m2 heated studio with straight walls including my office/library, but that is a completely different budget, especially the heating cost) Continue reading →
I’ve been asked to begin blogging again, but all the fiber stuff has been dormant (I put up some old handspun for sale and then forgot to tell anybody…) as I’ve focused on painting, which isn’t our usual focus here, so I’ve been reluctant to share. Today however I’ll tell you about another rabbit hole I fell into. Continue reading →
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Now that I have a small first collection of pigments to play with before new plants can be tested next summer (I do have some old dried things I can try too), there are multiple ways to use them. They need some kind of binder, although I suppose you could just soak them in water. Alcohol? But even watercolours have binders added to add intensity to the colour as well as make it stick to your paper.
Five years ago I did a brief test of concentrated plant dye baths to see what they were like as watercolours. I didn’t add anything to it as I recall and I’m not sure where my sample is now!
Didn’t get ready today to show you a full version of my pigment experiment as planned, as I’ve had other things to attend to. So I thought I’d show you my latest finding, a book press which I thought could help me get water out of new paper sheets, rather than stacking cinderblocks on the floor. One way of tackling multiple projects could be doing so as efficiently as possible!
Last week I mentioned the absurdity of a health challenged person embarking on time consuming physical tasks such as gathering natural malerials, making paper, prepping and studying new branches of the art tree, and it surprised me that nobody mentioned “productive procrastination” aka Resistance. (dah-dah-DAAAAA)
I’ve participated in another of her courses and keep returning for inspiration, as you have unlimited access once you buy it. The Charcoal class is on my list too! Well, right now I’m just waffling through life, but eventually I hope/expect to find a way back to myself and the studio.
Colour Cottage 