It’s That Time Again…Mississippi Art Colony
It’s that time again…….twice a year I load up lots of art supplies and head to Mississippi Art colony. It’s so wonderful to be able to get away from everything…no cooking, cleaning, and interruptions. Just paint and see other artist friends.
Things have been so hectic here lately, sometimes I wonder if I can remember how to paint. You know how it is when you get that anxious feeling to paint when life is not supporting your studio time .Then you get there one day, and the muse seems to have gone missing. Well…….I may not make any masterpieces at colony but that is the only thing I have to do all day Wednesday-Saturday with Tuesday and Sunday spent loading, unloading and traveling. Even the traveling is not wasted time as I enjoy just listening to the radio and thinking on a drive by myself.
So, lots of stuff in the foyer and dining room waiting for more stuff to follow and then the loading will begin. My easel is already in the SUV. I usually take waay more than I need but who cares. If the muse comes to visit, I’ll need it all or at least the most important part, canvas, paint, and my own mind and imagination.
Went out and took this picture of a partial load of the above mentioned supplie…still got to find a place for my pillows and clothes somewhere….kinda wondering if I can fit in that diptych that’s not finished or just leave it here for later.
Good paintings or not, it will be a rewarding trip; it always is.
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Surprise Guests
I’ve been over to the farm for a couple of days. We’re continuing to work around the place. This morning we had a few “surprise visitors”.
If you could have seen the whole thing it would have been hilarious. There were 19 kinda tame cows that had gotten out of the pastures on down and across the road from us…so they must have just come up the first place they could and came into the front drive, looked around and found fencing everywhere so they just ran around the side and back of the yard until they couldn’t go any farther. We hadn’t heard a thing but were in the back living room assessing paint on the walls with the window blinds up and there they were. Suddenly Curry yelled, “those cows are in the YARD, not the pasture” and he headed out running. Anyway, he blocked them in the side yard and yelled at me to move my Explorer in beside the Blazer so they couldn’t get out.
I am not experienced in cow herding at all so Curry told me to be quiet and don’t make any sudden moves. Now that can give you pause when a bunch of cows are looking your way as your husband is in the house calling the guy who leases the pastures. He found the people (as they didn’t belong to the guy who leases our place)and they came right out and we got them in the back pens until they could be loaded on a trailer this afternoon. They are kinda tame according to their owner thank goodness and didn’t spook. I took a couple of pictures…Here’s one along with a collage of pictures my daughter in law took last week and sent me. ..and another of my son, grandson, and Curry taken at the same time. Looks like life is going to be interesting.
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Observation
“The keenest observer makes use of every kind of sensory information. In fact, the greatest insights often come to individuals who are able to appreciate the sublimity of the mundane, the deeply surprising and meaningful beauty of everyday things.”……….David Jiles, PhD.from his book, ReThinking Thinking, and the article, Observation, at Creativity-Portal.
I’ve often reminded myself (well, not often, but you know what I mean), when I see something so mundane as a barn or an apple or “whatever” painted in some new or different perspective. We all should slow down and take time to really observe. I’m consumed with this slowing down lately it seems as everything in my life seems to speed up. I’ve always loved be be in on the action….but only in drips and drabs enough to keep me energized. Without the times “out”, what would I have to promote what I love……the distillation of life in my work.
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Too much rain..and other stuff!
Not much going on other that meeting myself coming and going out to the farm over the past week. I took a couple of pictures in the front bedroom and then forgot after we got the canopy framework up to take another. As you can see there is a lot of stuff piled up where it doesn’t belong as we paint from room to room and move things out of adjacent areas.
Ooooh……..and the picture of almost 6″ in the rain gauge overnight with the storms coming through here. My daughter had a window broken in her kitchen from the hail. This was made at the house but it was terrible like this out at the farm, too……..no broken windows though there.
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Finally finished
That painting I was lamenting over not long ago is finally finished. I could think of nothing to title it other than “Excavation”………pun could be meant here since there was a lot of that going on while painting this one. It sure went through the “uglies”. But it also reminds me of excavation of other kinds as well since there is some of that going on around this area with gas and oil exploration and coal mining.
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Creativity Portal
Today, I finally got around to reading some of a “newsletter” of sorts I subscribe to. It’s called Creativity Portal and they have so many articles from various artists that are “spot on” for me. For instance, this one really spoke to me since I’ve been running around like a crazy person lately and really needing some quiet time. They ask that people link directly rather than quote so here it is……just scroll down to the article by Don Richmond……..Space and Stillness.
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Happy Dance!
I am so proud and happy about some news I received recently. Nita Leland has been writing a new book on color for the past two years. Her publishers chose one of my paintings for the cover……….. Confident Color: An Artists Guide to Harmony, Contrast and Unity. Here’s a link to Nita’s blog with a link to article that just came out about it.
Happy Dance, Happy Dance.
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International Mini-Art Exchange
The title is BABEL….
My collage for the International Mini Art Exchange is finished and about ready for shipping to Brazil. I’ve been rushing around so much lately that at first I couldn’t get anything going I would want to send and several starts were discarded. If you know me, you know it’s hard for me to discard anything……I just keep working and working and working trying to get something I’m satisfied with. That doesn’t work as well with collage (in my estimation) as it does in layering of acrylic paint.
These little works that come in from all over the world have to measure 20 x 20 centimeters to be installed in special boxes at the venues.
I’ve been taking part in this exchange since its inception. A tireless worker and organizer for the exchange is Brazilian artist, Clara Pechansky. This was her brain-child, with the very first exhibit in Porto Alegre, Brazil. This 6th exchange/exhibit will return to the venue of Xico Stockinger Gallery in the House of Culture Mario Quintana, Porto Alegre. The exhibit will be promoted by the Museum of Contemporary Art and sponsored by the Secretary of Culture of the State of the Rio Grande do Sul from May 8 to June 29, 2008.
MiniArt is the URL to see the information about previous and current mini art exchanges.
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Big
All I can say is “BIG”……….this is a big bed. Of course I knew it was queen size since that’s what I wanted and have slept on for fourty years. BUT, when you get a poster bed, it can really look big with the posts that go up 7 ft. 3 inches without the poster top.
I forgot a picture but I’m reconsidering the black and white with the golden walls with all the brown of the wood on this bed.
Oh well…it will be some time before I get things fixed enough to move in there anyway.
Husband said “the queen of england doesn’t have a bed this big”.
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Do Ya!
Do ya!
Yeah… I’m listening to a tune from KT Oslin……….Do ya. I shore do is what she says. I hope my DH does ’cause I just ordered a queen bed for the front bedroom at the farm. My daughter found it in Dallas for $300 and it retailed for $1300………so what could I say but “buy it”. Now the thing is to convince him it’ s a good deal since we have two or three extra beds there at the farm. although not queen size. Any one want to buy a full size bed….give me a call!
AND, I’m working on a couple of 20 x 20 cm collages for the International Mini-Art Exchange. Wow, how could I have waited so long to get my work in for this?? This work goes to Brazil for an exchange with my friend Clara Pechansky and all the people involved with this exchange internationally. Stay tuned for my work to be sent.
And, ever more important in some instances is that I sold a big commission to an Austin, TX company. I just delivered it to Austin yesterday. Twelve hours driving back and forth is NOT good, let me tell you, but I came home with a check in my pocket and a good possibility for another one in the near future.
And, the other down side………I have to go pick this bed up in Dallas in the next couple of days and put it together………….
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Golden Yellow
Well……..I did it, went for some real color in the front bedroom at the farm. I call it squash and Curry keeps calling it pumpkin. It is NOT orange but it is a warm yellow, perhaps a tad brighter than I thought but what the heck. I’m using pale to medium neutrals everywhere else so far.
The door in this picture leads out to an eastern exposure porch with a swing and a ceiling fan…..Another reason to need a warm color is that northeastern exposure. Now I’m thinking to add gray or a black and white pattern with lots of creamy white for the fabrics. It may take some time as I’ll proabably have to haul out the old sewing machine with the dust balls gathering on it to do this.
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Painting
I have been painting…but it’s been walls at the farm and not at the easelthis week. I remembered to take a couple of snapshots as I left today. As you can see there is work to be done, starting with a new roof. The garage apartment is where I hope to have my studio….IF I don’t have it there, I won’t be a happy camper. Of course, maybe I should build one..but why with 1000 square feet up there. My husband is trying to get me to consider the well house right there next to the garage but it’s not large enough and I think it needs to be repaired A LOT. Besides the fact the laundry and well, etc are in there.
The front three rooms of the house date to 1832 I found out on the county tax records site….that was before there was the current county so it’s interesting. The top floor was taken out by a tornado around 1930 so they just built out the back and the other buildings are from the same time. Not a fancy house but one with fond memories for our kids and grandkids now, too.
I don’t know what possessed me but I chose a golden squash yellow paint for the front bedroom…hope I can live there or should I say sleep with those colored walls. I thought it was a little more ochre than it turned out when on all the walls. Now I think I better be thinking of the gray and cream for fabrics to help tone it down some. I’d been thinking of a nice neutral violet ash but decided that might be too cold for a northeastern exposure. However, khaki and white reign supreme for the office and living area. I’ll think of other rooms as the time comes.
Oh yeah….I did get to New Orleans/Covington to make a delivery to my gallery there. We also set up for a show for next May so I’m excited about that and that I got to visit a friend who moved from here a few years ago.
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