The Lusciousness of Snow

What a Lovely Surprise

Imagine my surprise when I began to read the following, a post from friend, mental health professional and blogger, Susan Carrell (the DIY Therapist):

STRATEGIES for LIVING WELL
Copyright 2007-2012 © by Susan Carrell
All rights reserved
From Susan@CarrellCounseling.com

February 2013

Art
A human creative skill or its application

Everyone is an artist and so are you. If you haven’t named and claimed your particular art form, maybe it’s time you did.

Art enables us to make some of the mystery inside us tangible. Parts of yourself that you may not even know exist suddenly spring to life, right in front of you.

Last month two dear friends of mine had gallery shows. In my book, if you have a gallery show, there’s no doubt that you are an artist. Both of my friends are painters.

John Wehmer is a mountain neighbor. I get to watch his work in process as he creates picture after picture of the mountain range just beyond his front deck. Every picture is unique as he captures the varying times of day and season of the same landscape. Sometimes soft golds and yellows dominate his work, other times, pinks, blues and lavenders set the theme. Some depictions are sharp edged while others have soft subtle outlines. His recent show features my neighbor’s “early work”. Imagine my surprise when I saw that screaming bright colors and hard angular lines characterized the abstract/modern styled paintings. Most were on huge canvases. I think there’s more to John than I knew! You can see for yourself. Go to http://www.thomasmccormick.com and click on upcoming exhibitions.

I did not know that my friend, Penny, was an artist. I knew her as a thoughtful, deep person; an avid reader and career woman. I knew her as a wife and mother. But when her paintings were hung in the gallery, I saw another side of this remarkable person. Florals burst into bloom and delicious bigger-than-life fruit collections jumped off the wall. Her sense of color and celebration could not be contained. In an email she told me that she had such bliss in her life and “…found great joy in painting”. It is obvious! Check out her blog at: http://theunexpectedadventurer.blogspot.com/.

I never considered myself an artist of any kind, and always joked that I was born to appreciate other people’s artistic endeavors. But it’s not true. I write and I cook and I’ve discovered that both are forms of art. When I write something and look back to see what I just said, I’m often surprised at what I see on the page. Sometimes, it’s an expression of a feeling hidden even from me. More often, the surprise comes in the words I’ve chosen to illustrate a point. I also find great joy in preparing food for people I love. I can express affection or appreciation more with an attractive, delicious meal than I can in most any other way.

How do you express yourself? It may simply be in the way you dress, use accessories or style your hair. It could be in the way you decorate and arrange your home. Maybe you do handwork—crochet, knit or needlepoint. Perhaps you are drawn to woodworking. Does scrapbooking count? Absolutely. If you’ve always wanted to take a class in pottery or photography, what’s stopping you?

Anything you do that allows you to share some creative part of yourself with others is art. Art is about expression and discovery. You express yourself in your own unique way. In the process, you can discover something about yourself and the world discovers something about you.

Tea With Miss Charlotte

the much anticipated social event of the season has come and gone.  Tea with Miss Charlotte. 

We napped; after nap we washed our faces and combed our hair and put on clean dresses and stockings.  We wore our new pink sparkle shoes.  We were ready. 

Miss Charlotte set a beautiful table.  We each had a mini-chocolate cake with sprinkles and a red heart.  It was almost unbearable, our excitment.

We were on our best behavior (including Grammy and Poppy) and we had a wonderful time.

Thank you Miss Charlotte.



Harbingers

… of Spring.  In full flower for almost a week now, these early signs of Spring accompany the cardinal sounds I hear each morning, the purple heads of crocuses and small stands of miniature irises.

I’m not quite ready for Spring.  It’s still February after all.  Spring in southwest Missouri means that the hot, dry weather of Summer can’t be too far behind.

But I’m grateful for the bits of color and the sounds that permeate my world. 

Finally

A little bit of snow last night.  

Fruit Salad Recipe

I find, that like many others, I'm trying to use what I have, make it go further, get creative with what's already around.  This latest painting, "Fruit Salad", is one such attempt. 

I took strips of canvas from other completed paintings and gessoed them.  Each piece is roughly (and I mean roughly) 6 by 12 inches.  With torn edges and painting up to the very edge, each mini-painting canvas floats atop another canvas.  The blue wash comes from a squirt bottle filled with paint from another project.  I watered down the paint and brushed it loosely on the background, to set off all the orange colors in the top and bottom paintings.

I used what I had.  I created something new. 

I like it.



Imagination

"The Christian is the really free [man] -- [he] is free to have imagination.  This too is our heritage.  The Christian is the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars."

-- Francis Schaeffer, "Art and the Bible"

Catching Up

Yes, life has been busy.  Yes, life has been blessed. 

I'm so fortunate to have opened my first solo show at the Good Girl Art Gallery on Friday, January 4th.  Consequently, I spent most of December trying to be a faithful keeper of Advent, a participant in the glorious worship and excitment of Christmas and getting ready for the show. 

Just a few days ago, I picked up a paint brush for the first time in nearly six weeks and it felt terrifying and terrific.  Terrifying because I suppose that I've had a bit of creative block.  Terrific because it felt great to be doing what I love once again.

I couldn't have done the show without the help of Springfield Canvas, who stretched many of my canvases for me.  And Matt Thompson, my son-in-law, who also helped prepare the pieces for the show.

Laying them out on the floor felt great!  They were really ready to go.  And I could see patterns and how things would fit together. 

Getting them to the exhibit room at Good Girl was even better.  Can you see why?  The colors really made the canvases pop and sizzle.  Whew!

Here's just a sampling of the show.  I need to post all of the show once I've corrected the colors in PhotoShop.  The orange enhanced and played havoc with some of the colors.  The interactions of colors continues to amaze me.

Lots of friends, family, colleagues and other hangers-on showed up.  I wish that I had taken pictures of them all but I was having too much fun.  Sorry friends for the ones that didn't turn out.  No exclusion intended. 

Thanks sweetheart for all your support and love.  You're the best!

Too bad this photo didn't show my red cowboy boots that I wore that night.

Love and thanks to all.  Thanks Good Girl Art Gallery.  It was so much fun showing at your shop cum gallery.