Last night as I was unwinding from the day I visited my Aussie friend Zom and discovered she was on a live interview with Rice Freeman-Zachery. Zom's blog is Pinch me if you think you are dreaming and lives in the rainforest of one of my favorite places on Mother Earth. You could hear the wonderful birds singing and I longed to hear the kookaburra melodic songs. Zom is an oil painter and shares her education and processes. For the last couple of years she has developed exercises and workshops for art journals and has now moved into altering clothing for just pure fun. Rica and Zom shared their desire to share process and even the pages and paintings that do NOT work out like we might have liked. Just hearing her voice...so confident in saying we are all unsure when we start a new blank canvas or a new background in our journals or writing down our thoughts that we have never shared before. It was a late night but I plan to return this weekend to listen to the words and her wonderful voice once again. This Internet experience is a miracle sometimes.
With a new found confidence I photographed some dull pages...not so successful expressions...unfinished art marks I can return to when I am refreshed. Making Art every Day is critical in the journey...and not all of it will be a work of ART! I had some wonderful visitors today in the studio and a couple of sales to keep me going. I have made plans to have a dear friend arrive on Family night in a real Easter Bunny Costume for our upcoming Easter egg hunt in the courtyard....I think the kids will just love this!!! I worked late in the peace and quiet and had three wonderful women researching their family trees....oh no...some how I have lost the end of the post for today. I am not sure what happened ...cosmic mysteries.
I am including some of the images of my journal pages that were not successful but with the interview from last evening ...I am more able to release the process pages without guilt. We as artists can return...reprocess...alter...or even abandon the steps we might not want to continue.
I am still not sure what has just happened so I will attempt to add some images of the wonderful people who graced my studio today. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart
I always find I learn more from the not so successful things I make that linger in the studio~~they usually end up reincarnated in some other work....or an idea comes from them....or I find them to be a jumping off place for another project.
ReplyDeleteI think so much emphasis is placed on everything being perfect that people don't realize the value of the other work....
XXOO~~
Anne
Hi Mary Helen, One expression my mentor Chris Zydel has taught us about our intuitive painting is ruin it early ruin it often. Which is my head when something comes out not the way I planned it, which by the way, is often...another layer, some gesso and fresh paint and starting over, that's my motto. Although I rather like your muted pages myself. xox Corrine
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Mary Helen. I'm with Anne, it's those little objects that don't seem to fit anywhere until you have one of those "A-ha" moments. I had 4 little painted skelly heads made from paper mache eggs I had painted back in '07...they remained in the plastic "what??" box that long till just last month I looked up and there they were, just giving me a little "come hither" look or rather, "do something with us, we've earned it!" LOL
ReplyDeleteI made them into "Can-Do" dolls and one is now residing in Claremont, CA and the other 3 in Phoenix in a gallery!!
Have a great day and will have to go visit that site of your friends...I love Rice's interviews...she picks the most interesting people. BTW, love the idea of the Easter Bunny coming to visit the local kiddos...what fun!!!
xxoo,
Georgina
Thank you all for your encouragement as I muddle through the journey into the art journal...I am enjoying carving my own stamps from Safety Cut materials...they are much easier to carve into than linoleum or wood blocks. Stay Posted and enjoy your weekend! Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart
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