Moving House

Moving House

I've kind of fallen down on my 100 paintings in 100 days. A few days in, I discovered that I'd have to move in two months, and as the days got nearer, the stress and time constraints kept me from painting and even more, from posting.

Now, the 100 days is not actually over yet, so who knows, maybe I will manage to put it all together. I mean, I did do these little houses and charms, and perhaps if I count some of the other things I did, not just paintings, I might not be as far behind as I thought... but my 100 days is not moving smoothly.

Speaking of moving, my move is upon me. Today is the day when we hit the road, so perhaps in a few days when the travel is over and the dust has settled and we are ensconced in our Florida home with the warmer weather, I will come back and show you the plethora of travel themed sketches, paintings, feltie and paperclay projects I have done while riding in the car and trying to keep my kids entertained. I packed a bag with all the things I might need to do so. Wish me luck.

I'm going to take this as a lesson not to take things so seriously, to lighten up and enjoy the ride, even if the ride is bumpy. Perhaps I could have kept up with my painting if I had just remembered to breathe, and to do the work I needed to in the time I had, and then to take a break and do my painting when I needed to.

Oh yeah, I'm also doing nanowrimo.org, even though the first week will be rough in the writing department. I can catch up, I know.  I have always hit my word count, every time I've done it, even if I haven't written a successful novel.

Ah ha. I will take the lessons of my 100 in 100 kerfuffle. Do what I need to do. Take some time to breathe and focus on what I WANT to do. The kids can't talk the ENTIRE trip, right? There will be some time to get some brain space to write, right?  Right?

Oh well, I'll just go with the flow. Let the road rise to meet my feet, er, pen. Ok, enough mixed metaphors. I have to pack the last of the bags in the car and take off.

See ya on the flip side.

In Transition, Traveling, or The Creative Process

 In Transition, Traveling

I have found that the process of creativity is a very fluid one. When you are creative, it feels unstoppable, as if it could go on forever and never end. This is just who you are. A creative machine.

But it is an illusion. Creativity ebbs and flows and it has its own journey that is not just about moving forward and being a genius. Creativity is a lot of silence. A lot of waiting. A lot of staring out of the window. A lot of quiet periods where things are growing, developing, and making their way into the light.

I think some people call these creative blocks, but I don't look at it like that. Calling it a block gives the blockage too much power. You focus only on what is not happening, and that is a sure bet that it won't. Instead, I look at these silent periods as fallow periods, part of the natural progression of the creative process.

To me, it is very natural, it is a kind of seasonal thing, although your fallow periods may not coincide with winter/spring/summer/fall. Mine kind of do. I think they are influenced by the mad crafting of the holiday season, the long days of summer, the get back to work time of the fall, and the... well... okay, spring is meant to be renewal and rebirth and all, but to me, so much of it is labor and letting the dark earth and cold rain do its job, while I wait for things to grow.

Hey, look. This is a picture of fields in spring. You notice that the grass is lush and green, but those fields are nowhere near harvest. They're barely even sprouting. I love when my photo/artwork sort of magically starts to fit with my ruminations of the day.

Well let me take my metaphor even farther. I don't feel very much like my fields of creativity are abundant right now. They're not, in fact. They're kind of just little germs of ideas, sprouts of inspiration. I want to be expressive and productive and bountiful in my creating, but right now, I'm just kind of picking at whatever is well formed enough to be something, even if it is not what I want.

But I am not doing nothing. I am thinking an awful lot about who I am, what I want, what I have done and learned and made in my whole life. I am tilling that soil. I am tending it. Fertilizing it with ideas that might work or things I want to try, even if they are not directly related to my long term goals. I am trying to get rid of the destructive or negative things in my life, purging things that are not useful, pulling weeds and clearing the space to allow things to grow. I am planting seeds, organizing those plans, starting work, trying different things, taking the first steps to make my creative goals come to fruition. (I just realized that you can really tell that I am the granddaughter of a farmer, even if I'm such a city girl, I learned a lot from him.)

This season in my creativity is a very frustrating one, knowing that I have to wait to get to the full fruited productivity I want. But at the same time, it feels good, itchy and antsy, but good, to know that the process has started over again, the first steps have been made, the journey has begun.

I think the most important thing about this stage of creativity, or about creativity in general, is to remember that you need to TRUST THE PROCESS. The silence is not wrong. It is a sign that something is growing underground and you need to sit back and let it. It is a sign that you need to prepare yourself for the hard work of tending and watering and harvesting. Don't resist the process, don't despair because you feel like you can't break through. Have faith that this is the way it works. Don't give up, keep working at it, keep looking for ideas, keep practicing new skills, keep organizing and planning, keep trying new things, keep being inspired by the world around you and the world inside of you. Keep showing up to the page. Trust and don't give up. This whole post is beginning to remind me of this one, from years back. But that doesn't surprise me, the lessons I need to learn keep popping up in my life.

What are some ways you've managed to break through those fallow periods and get back to creating?

Night. Street.

Night

I'm going to try to do this photo challenge, here. I've been such a bad blogger lately that I need a prod to get me going again, but I don't know if I'm up to doing any of my old painting a day things. I like to take little photographs and my camera is easy to carry around, so I thought this might help me blog better again.

This photo above is my first attempt to fit into the challenge. The theme is "Street". Is it kind of fudging the challenge if I take these moving-car-on-the-road pictures quite often? Oh, who cares. The challenge is the commitment, not each individual theme. Today is "Strangers" and that will be harder for me because I am a rather private person. I don't like to bother strangers. (Never mind the public blog, ok? I don't mean writing. Writing is not the same as being face to face with strangers.)
Rain. Green. Street.

watercolor on paper 5x8

In fitting with the theme, I did a watercolor sketch a few days ago, in my journal. More than the painting itself, I think it was important that I sat out side on my porch with my watercolor set and actually painted.

It was good to sit in the moment and focus on what the moment was about, not the future or to do lists or worries or things to do or any of that. Just the moment, the rain, the green and the gray, the paint, the paper.

Paying attention to the world you are living in. Paying attention to the moment that is happening right now. This is important.

On Creativity, Blogging, Writing and Feedback

I haven't blogged this much week, but I didn't want anyone to feel abandoned, or to think I wasn't being creative.

I wasn't painting or drawing, and haven't really taken photos since last Monday (the above photo is from then, but I really like some of the Autumn cloudy golden hour traveling photos, so I'm okay). And usually, my blog posts are inspired by the images I have. When I sit down to blog, I run through my recent photos and pick the one to inspire the blog. It's usually a photo of some craft or painting, and when I don't have one of those, a photo like this, taken just for prettiness.

But this week, I have been focusing on writing. Well, that and the kids. And the working. So there's not much evidence of the work I've done.

But I did finish doing a fourth pass of my novel, editing and fine tuning some of the language. I sent out some chapters to friends of mine, trusted readers.

I started getting text messages not too long after sending out the first 7 chapters or so.

Send more please I have finished. And must have more please. Please send the whole thing can’t wait I’m hooked. Need my fix.

I wasn't quite done with the editing then, so I sent her the next two chapters... and got this.

Can u try resending 8 and 9 again? And send me more pls I will be on the road for another 4 hours at least.

K finished 8 and 9 it was spotty internet reception. I’m ready for the rest and to be honest not very patiently. This is a very good story and I see it v...

...ery visually. Please send me the rest I can’t wait.

And then as I rushed, to finish, even more.

OK done where is the rest lady????? Sorry I’m being pushy but its ur fault for writing a page turner. U can upload all the pages on google. It isn’t save...

...d on ur puter but the google network. Hurry up please I have to find out what happens in Scranton.

Ok don’t be holding out now. LOL its really good.

In the end I sent her the unedited draft and let her chew over the last half of the book while I retreated to the basement on my day off and spent the day editing and writing my author's outline.

And while I was working on the last couple of chapters, she started filling up my text inbox with this

There r more books no? I feel like it’s a trilogy or something.

I knew it lol. It’s really entertaining and addictive. The characters r real people. I see them feel for them root for them. U will have no prob selling t...

...his book.

I have a good feelin. U know I read a lot. U know I love books. I want more I’m thinking about the next book. When I get like this I make terry take me

To the store so I can buy all the books in the series. That is how I feel about this book. It is what I see in the future. BTW it is visual enough for a...

...movie. I saw that immediately. Get writing missy U got me addicted. When I read it I’m in the book drawn in. I forget u wrote it. I’m immersed in it. And...

...right now I’m kinda pissy that I have to wait for the next book. All signs that it is good.

PLEASE

After I finished I came up stairs and received a phone call, where we must have talked for an hour about my book. She helped me come up with some plot ideas for the next book, and saw elements of my family in the characters... because you see she is my cousin.

All in all, it was a good thing for my afraid-to-show-my-book self.

Thanks Mitz for the review and the book talk.

It was a good ego boost, and now I can try to whip my query, synopsis, and sample chapters into shape and send them out to agents before Nanowrimo... when I will start the next book and forget all about agents.

Autumn Travelling and Day Trip

Fall Traveling

Yesterday, we went on a road trip, which explains my lack of posting. Well. We just went to Ann Arbor, but we were out and about all day. I forgot to even take a whole bunch of photos, although I have pictures of some of my favorite fields. I remember to do that because I'm sitting in a car, with nothing to occupy my hands.

Plus, on our way back, storm clouds rolled in, but the sun broke through from the west, on it's way out of town, and lit everything up. The golden hour. And in the golden season of yellow leaves and yellow cornfields. Golden all around, set off by the gray motion of clouds.

I have the idea to have a whole suite of these photos. A traveling of the year kind of thing. Maybe blow them up a bit and have four on a wall. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. I got here in December, so I'm almost all the way. Actually, I don't know how I would limit it to only four photos. I don't know. That project is still on the horizon. Plus, I hope my camera is good enough to take pictures that can blow up well.

I'm starting to save for a DSLR, I think. Good enough for my hobbyist status, and for taking blog and shop pictures.

Also, on our day trip, we stopped for lunch at our favorite pizza place that reminds us of old New York City. Gabriel hates pizza (I know! The sacrilege!) so he has plain wings.
Ivy however is a girl after her mama's heart. She loves her some pepperoni.

And we went thrift shopping and got some stuff for Halloween and all sorts of stuff.

All in all a fun day, although not much of my work was done. Oh well. This is life and we have to get the living in with all the work.

By the way. I wanted to toss a picture in of Grandma's house, here.

Look at that tree. It really looks like that. Kind of glowy. The leaves on the inside are yellow, fading to orange, to that bright red on the outside, so the tree itself is luminescent. AWE. SOME.

I wonder if Grandma bought the car to match that tree, because they are the exact same pumpkin red shade.

I tell ya, Michigan sure does have some pretty Fall foliage. Almost too pretty to actually capture in pictures.

Traveling September: Field, Barn, Cloudy Day

Traveling September: Field, Barn, Cloudy Day

I'm a little obsessed with these landscapes. Photographs. Paintings. Pen and Ink.

Perhaps it's the journeying. The feeling of motion, passing through the colors and shapes, light and shade.

Perhaps it's because I can't bear to be sitting somewhere and doing nothing with my hands. If I'm riding in a car, I need something in my hands, I need to be creating, documenting, making, doing. The same goes while standing around waiting at work. Or while watching tv at night, with my feet up. My hands must be busy.

Time is still traveling and I need to capture the moments and turn them into something I can hold with my hands.

I used to turn this nervous energy into my journals. I would write wherever I went, filling a new journal in 3 months. This latest journal, which I am just finishing up, lasted me 9 months. I guess I'm doing other things with my hands. And putting my words into my blog, instead of my journal.

I was going to post today about paying attention to details... but the truth is, my mind is traveling today. I have the day off of work, and have scheduled myself to go down into the basement and spend my work day there, instead, revising my novel.

My brain is already thinking about how I can get through this post and get everything ready to go and write.

Didn't I just post about paying attention to the moment?

But then, maybe this moment right here is not about being right here, but about preparing for the next moment. It's okay if I'm not settled into my spot, but rushing ahead to the next half hour... because that's what this moment is about. Preparing. Anticipation. The next step.

All in all, it just is what it is. And the journey is the living. And the living is the moment. This moment is good, in its presence and in its anticipation.

There is jazz in the background. A little girl doing downward dog on the couch while watching Dora, the smell of eggs cooking in the kitchen, and me thinking... novels, pages, tightening, hot coffee and how I should probably get dressed before I submerge into revision.

What is your moment about?

Black and White Traveling, or Breathe

Black and White Traveling, or Breathe

9/24/10 ink and repurposed menus, acrylic gel medium

4"x4"

I took Saturday and Sunday off of writing and blogging because I felt myself getting more and more anxious over everything undone and everything still to do.

Taking the writing break meant I could take care of some other business and it meant I could relax a little.

When I went to work, I found myself happy, instead of stressed.

I realized that my goals of revising 100 pages a week, 20 pages a day (not including weekends) was unrealistic. Especially since I was totally planning on working through the weekends which I had actually planned to use as a break. (Did you catch that? I planned a break for myself, and then I was going to ignore that wisdom, and push myself to keep going without a break.)

Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect, to be productive, to do it all, to conquer the world (whatever world it is we want to conquer)?

I'm being crazy productive, but I still see all the things I am not doing and how far I am from my long term and short term goals.

Oh.

You know what this means for me?

I have to start doing my To Do/Did Done lists again.

That's where I keep a normal To Do list, breaking things down into small tasks, and then I also keep track of everything I have taken care of, done, achieved or gotten through in any given day.

When I start paying attention to what I have actually done, whether it was on my To Do list or not, I start to realize that I am doing more than I thought I was doing.

When I had babies, my Did Done list often had things like, "showered, fed everyone breakfast, got dressed, checked email, nursed 6 times."

Now however, perhaps I might have, "got everyone dressed, made lunch for boy, walked boy to school, blogged, made xx$ at work, drew bookmark, had meeting, revised 10pp, made dinner, watched Mad Men."

It's good to put things on your list that you look forward to or that are about taking care of yourself, not just things that are weighing you down. I know that when I am busy, I quite often forget to take care of myself.

That, my friends, leads to burn out.

So take care of yourself. Take some (limited) time off of all you want to have done. Pay attention to all you do accomplish, even little things, even things that are not on your list, even things that are about having fun.

Cloud Travelling, and 100 Days of Creativity

Cloud Travelling

acrylic paint on found board, approx 3.5"x 12"

100/100 days creative challenge

I did it! 100 creative works in 100 days!

And I think I actually did it within 100 days.

I was not nearly as organized this time as I was the last few times I've done this. This time I just wanted to be creative and I counted food and plants and clothes. The first time it was just paintings that I allowed myself. I enjoyed having all those paintings, enjoyed the journey my paintings went on over the course of those previous 100 days, but this time, I needed a different journey.

You see, I've also spent this 100 days in a brand new house. While doing my 100 days, I was also setting up the house and the new routines, and then starting my son in kindergarten. Life has been very much in the living these past 100 days and I'm glad I did the creative challenge, or I might have let the creativity slide and just never taken out my paints at all or pushed myself into other media.

My challenge kept me in the creative conversation.

Yay 100 works in 100 days creative challenge.

This piece itself was a momentary inspiration... after seeing a painting in a gallery, a landscape with a long horizontal orientation, I all of a sudden realized I didn't need to stay in the square or moderate rectangle format that I'd been using. And then I realized I really wanted a long format painting for my gallery wall and that would fix the proportion problems I was having. And then I realized I had a bunch of scrap wood in my garage.
And then this was the piece that I found and I realized I loved the detail of having the red painted cut end and could allow that to inspire me. And I decided I wanted the grain to show through, so I put the gesso away before I could cover the ground.
Gallery Wall in the works

And after painting it, I sanded it and then put the piece up on the wall (this is my new cat, we think her name is Fanny Moon) and decided I didn't like the way the knot showed through the paint-- it just looked like a splotch, so I added the cloud. And Ivy told me to name it "Cloudie" so I named it "Cloud Traveling."
By the way. Here's Ivy. She is sad because she took Gabriel to school this morning and is having her Monday morning blues missing her brother.

So that's my creative process on this piece. But you know, you kind of have been in on a lot of my whole creative process... since every piece we do is also informed by everything we've done before, all the things we've seen before, everything we've learned before and, you know, our entire lives.

So for the last 100 days, I've been sharing the chaotic, confused, this and that direction of my creating. Some good, some not so good, some finished, some just an amorphic blob of intention.

The most important thing about being creative, about being an artist, I believe, is to just keep going. Whatever it is, writing, painting, dancing, singing, acting, playing music, cooking, sewing, whatever medium... just keep going. Explore, learn, practice, create.

If you've ever seen Finding Nemo, Dory said it best...

"Just keep swimming."

This is the Path

I decided to be happy

acrylic and pitt artist pen on repurposed paint chip

71/100

This looks like it's folded, but it's not. It's just how the paint chip reacted when I painted it. I guess the paint strips deal with paint better than the tiny lines between the colors, where it's just paper.

I actually came up with this after encountering Illustration Friday's prompt "atmosphere" again and again this weekend. I might like to start doing IF again.

The quote is by Voltaire, and found amongst my collected quotes. I just picked one that resonated with the picture, even though it's not a direct illustration. I don't think it needs to be.
It's the Little Things, or Magnified

acrylic on repurposed paint chip

72/100

This is actually a drawing of a tiny tiny flower that my kids brought me. It was probably one inch from tip to stem. I blew it up and made it work.
Traveling where I am or This is The Path.

ink on repurposed menu

73/100

This was started while I was at work and finished yesterday.

Somehow, all these pieces I did fit together.

Maybe together they begin to make sense. Maybe they aren't little worthless pieces. Maybe the little bits of this and that add up together to make the path and by accepting the path that we're on, may we get to be happy. Maybe the happiness makes the path enjoyable, whether or not we get to the end point as soon as we want.

Maybe.

Hmmmmm.

Traveling the Creative Process

Traveling Softly/before

Watercolor Pencil on paper, 4x4"

60/100 in 100

So I decided to try the various media on this Traveling series. Here I picked up my watercolor pencils and colored it in. It sure does take a long time to do something in watercolor pencil. It ended up being a little too soft for me, without enough definition to make me happy.

That's when I remembered that they were WATERcolor pencils. So I took my brush and washed the paper.

Traveling Softly/ after

Watercolor Pencil with water wash

The paper? Not so much watercolor paper. But I still liked playing with the medium. With the wash it turned out much different than just the drawn pencil. Very different, but I still like it, and I think I like it better.

Traveling Gray

watercolor and acrylic on paper 4" square

61/100 in 100

Here I tried straight watercolor.

Truth is, I'm pretty rusty with watercolors. There was a time, years and years ago, when watercolor was my main medium. I carried my little travel paint set around with me where ever I went, and when I had time, I'd sit in a cafe window and paint the street, or find a park bench and paint the trees.

It's been a long time since then, and I felt awkward when I opened my travel set and awkward when I set brush to paper. Again, this is not watercolor pencil and was the complete wrong ground for even a light wash. But on top of that, this is just not the right way to use the medium. I added the lines in white acrylic just to try to make something of it.

But I don't consider this experiment a success.

What I do consider a success is that I am trying different things. I like this idea of using different media for the same subject. I think it's a great exercise for exploring the media, and for discovering what you like, what works, what doesn't, what pulls your attention.

So I think I'll keep trying at my various media. And someday soon, perhaps I'll show some other watercolors that are more successful than this one.

This is not about the end results, not right now. And it's hard for me sometimes to not always present a perfect piece... but I remind myself that this is after all, about the journey. This is the process of creativity.

Traveling with Shadows, or Simple

Traveling with Shadows, or Simple

ink on recycled menu, 4"x4"

59/100 in 100 days Creative Challenge, Day 16 in August everyday

Hey, you know it's kind of difficult to post to the blog every day. First I have to create something. Then I have to photograph it. Then I have to edit the photo. Then I have to post it and write something. And I have to have all that time to do all that stuff before I go to work in the morning. Or I have to have stuff saved up from the day before.

Phew. It's a lot of work. A lot of consistency. A lot of commitment. I guess that's what I meant to do when I said I would do the challenge. It wasn't about making stuff only when I felt like it, it was about showing up to the page, (or sewing box, or clay, or camera, or kids, or kitchen, or whatever) and being there for the inspiration to arise. Or perhaps for no inspiration, but for the medium of the day to hit me, or perhaps for the exercise of experimenting with a new or unfamiliar medium.

But I like doing these little pocket drawings. They aren't doodles. They aren't sketches. What are they? Studies? That could be.

They are a challenge and an exploration. I am surprised by how pleasing the simple challenge of making a landscape with just blocks of space and lines and dots can be. I mean, this little piece pleases me. I enjoy the stripes and the tiny dark shadow that makes the darker portion pop. I enjoy the stretch of white cloud. And I thought I wasn't going to like this one when I started, but I do.

It feels like play to do this kind of thing, even though my hand cramps up a little.

Sometimes, making your goals smaller and simpler (4 inches square and just one pen) can allow you a little bit of success... can allow you to open up a little in your creativity. Perhaps all you need is that one little keyhole space to open up and grow as an artist.

Summer Traveling and Adventure

Summer Traveling or On Our Way

Acrylic on Canvas 10"x10"

56/100 in 100 days, August Everyday 14

I've been working on this for quite a while. Well. Most of the week. In my world, that's a while. Actually, I wanted another painting for my gallery wall. I have something from Leah Giberson (similar to this one) and THIS one from TushTush.

It is a very small gallery wall. I know I have plenty of things I could put up there, but I've been very slow in building it. And actually my biggest problem is frames and mats. Speaking of frames, I should probably count my frames as part of my creative challenge, since I took a bunch of yardsale frames and spray painted them black. I guess I'm waiting for my gallery wall to get bigger.

But back to the painting. This is actually part of a series of my travelling paintings. They are inspired by the way the land looks while driving past in a car. I really should have used all my many photos as a reference, but for this one, I just wanted to start and get it out there. I almost didn't want to post it because I thought I should "fix" it as my vision is developing as I have painted it. But then I realized that no, this piece is rather complete in itself. What I need to do is paint ANOTHER one with the new vision in my head, one that is more straight lines. I still have a couple of these canvasses so I have a little freedom to experiment. That's kind of exciting. I love to experiment.

I See

Pen and Watercolor on recycled menu

57/100 in 100 days

I did this doodle yesterday while at work. I was getting into the doodle phase when I looked at it and said-- "Hey! This is done." Then when I got home, I took out my watercolors and painted it.

It reminds me of the back of a set of tarot cards.

I don't know where some of these doodles will go, if they will go anywhere, really, but they are fun to do and they might actually lead to something. I mean, who knows, if I do create a tarot deck someday, which I might, this might be neat for the back of the cards. Or something like.

I have some more stuff that I was working on yesterday. I sewed my skirt and fixed it! It's now an aline skirt. However, I think it's not done yet. Or perhaps I just didn't like my photo of it. It's certainly not professional looking. But I wore it last night and it was very comfortable. The hem is a little wonky. Oh well, either I'll add some details to the hem or I'll just post it the way it is. I haven't decided yet. And I worked on the wings for that goddess doll but they'll take a while to dry so that I can add them. I also worked on a log for all these projects. I can't keep track of them all. I should have known I needed to write them down. I ALWAYS need to write these things down.

I'm having lots of adventures in art lately. Creativity.

Giving myself the challenge of creating everyday is getting me to expand my vocabulary and try new things, and also to recognize when I am being creative when I might have just discounted it before.

This should be a lesson. It is the commitment to DOING that develops an artist. Probably any person. In any field, you need to commit to get better, to become an expert, to grow.

I think that's why I like the 100 days challenge. You can start out at zero, with no habit, and you stumble in the beginning, trying to find out where you are going, and as the days keep going, you start being in a dialog with your work. Some of it doesn't work, and some of it does, but it all informs the rest of the work, the journey. And you become more confident of your work as you go on, whether that is experimentation on a broad level, or with a very narrow focus.

One of my favorite 100 in 100 days challenges was Ina's and her wonderful self portraits. Watching her growth as an artist over the course of 100 days is just amazing. And she came up with some great pieces, even if not every one was amazing.

It's the journey. The adventure. The commitment.

Traveling Through The Winter

Traveling Through the Winter
Golden Fluid Acrylic on watercolor paper
8x10" image on 9x12" paper

Yesterday, I was browsing on line and saw a photograph in the background of some picture of a house. Shame on me, but I lost the image. All of a sudden, I was inspired to paint another traveling scene, and I scrabbled around in my room for my paints and papers, filled a jar with water and picked the biggest brush in my small brush collection (I've been painting small, so I have mostly detail brushes) and then I wooshed on a bright red wash for the underpainting and started adding layers.

The inspiration was the photo in the picture, a distant stand of bare trees, a white overcast sky. The original was green, though. A bright grass green, that as I painted never gelled. The white sky and the gray leafless trees made me think cold. And the painting that I was doing, as opposed to the reference photo, wanted to be white.

What can I say? This is how I paint often. Start with my idea, which often doesn't work and then listen to what the painting says it wants. That's why I don't do straight realism. Because the medium has it's own requests of me. The thing I am painting has its own life, outside of the thing I am representing.

That's how I paint. I pay attention to the paint. I listen to the painting. And if it says something different than the referenced subject, the painting gets what it wants.

This was kind of a fun painting.

Even if I had kids climbing all over me. Actually, I had kids collaborating. Telling me I needed more white, or I needed to add pink *right there*. Yes. The pink light streak, that was Ivy's idea. And she told me where. And she wasn't satisfied until it was done. I'd been planning maybe an orange or a yellowy white, more like my other traveling paintings, but in the end, I think my two year old was right. It needed pink. I don't only listen to my paint or my intuition, I listen to the kid, too.

As for the meaning of the painting... oh, Winter... that time of withdrawal, of silence, of sleep, of dark.

Winter reminds me that this too does indeed pass.

and if the clouds cover the moon i will continue on my travels

and if the clouds cover the moon i will continue on my travels
85/100 in 100 creative challenge, 8/24
Golden Fluid Acrylic

The world is broken open.

It's made of music. And dancing and colors and laughter and cinnamon muffins.

It's not all the way broken open. We haven't broken through our shell yet. We haven't gotten through this hard season. No, it's not done, but the colors are showing.

The music is leaking out.

Can you hear it?

The nature of the world is for the darkness to let go of it's hold and to allow the sun to rise.

The lost are found, or they find themselves where they are, and grow there.

Irony here. I start this post and on my soothing pandora station, up pops Cat Stevens' Moon Shadow.

Just another incidence of synchronicity.

I don't think I have anything else to add to this post.