Coffee And Paint Drips Blog - Page 78 of 79

Errand day, again

I like Mondays. Everyone goes back to their usual schedule. I can enjoy the quiet of the morning with my newspaper and coffee before I get myself together. On Monday’s I help my husband in his business, doing the things he ~~doesn’t want to do~~ can’t make time for.

I don’t mind and have been helping him for 20 something years. Yes, the artist as secretary/bookkeeper, lots of fun! Since the early years, the job holders have evolved from myself, to my very competent sister, to my pro-bookkeeper mom. Everyone has had their chance to help. I do some things from home, discuss the office end of the business by phone, but Mondays I show up in person. Secretly, they call me “Big Boss.” I think that’s funny.

Today is Tuesday. Tuesday ends up being errand day! As hard as I try, I cannot make Tuesday an art day, all day. The farmer’s market is Tuesday, I need to visit the post office, bank, sales at the drugstore, pick up/drop off dry cleaning, decide on dinner, load the laundry, empty the dryer, and on and on. By mid-afternoon I’m surprised the day has flown by and I couldn’t get to the art.

My next target for an artist’s date is Wednesday, which could be a problem, so I might look at Thursday.

In The Artist’s Way I’m still in week 7 when I should have moved on by now. I haven’t done the tasks I was required to do. The “teacher” will not be happy and I’m going to be left back in this course!

I think I need a secretary.

Painting, and Knitting, and Beading, Oh My!

Some people have a hobby or two that they like to indulge in now and then. Others do one thing very well and have fun doing just that. When one enjoys their “thing”, whether a creative outlet or sports related, it’s a go-to activity that gives pleasure in the down time.

Having too many enjoyable pursuits becomes a burden. I am one of those people. As an artist I really need to paint. My favorite medium is oil paint and I paint BIG. What am I painting right now? Nothing. I’m not oil painting, not right now anyway. Right now I’m knitting! And I’m knitting five items at once. And I’m making bead/wire jewelry. And I’m pastel drawing. And I’m sketching with watercolors, which is painting, ok. Did I say I’m knitting?

It’s all a distraction, you see. No, not multi-tasking like people want to call it. I’m working on one thing until I suddenly am very interested in another thing. Then I stop doing the first activity and fluidly move on to the other. No multi-tasking involved. There’s a good excuse for this and it’s not ADD. Since I haven’t used the oil paints in a while first I need to set them up on my palette. This takes time. This takes energy. So I go to the next easy-to-get-to thing which is the pastels. Just open the box of pastels, draw, and clean up the dust, and I’m done! But I have to pull out the boxes from the shelf. As I start for the shelf I see the half done knit socks I’m working on. I head for the knitting. I’m at a juncture in the knitting where I have to count rows and I spy another pair on other needles. I pick them up and knit on them for a few rows. Behind this project is the beading bag full of jewelry goodies. I stop knitting and look through the bag for something I thought of. Do you see where this is going?

Wouldn’t it be smart to get the oil paints out and just do that? Yes, it would be a good thing unless the half knit sock is in the way.

Photos for Friday

A Thought for Thursday

When they asked Michelangelo how he made his statue of David he is reported to have said, “It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David.”

– Michelangelo

It’s Wednesday. Want to make something out of it?

Remember yesterday when I said I didn’t want any surprises? Well, as soon as I say I don’t want something, I get that which I didn’t want, an annoying surprise. The Universe doesn’t hear the word “don’t” and gives it to me anyway. Go figure.

Nothing big happened. Just a little thing I found out about a “Crazymaker” I know and it just gets my goat! Arggg!

However, in reading The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron writes that “anger is a map”. She suggests that anger points the direction, anger is a tool, anger is meant to be acted on not acted out. When acted on, anger is use-full.

Today I’m using that emotion to push ahead to do the things I’m thinking about doing. Instead of thinking I’m doing. Today is the day for action.

On with The Artist’s Way

Each week I try my best to get with the program here in The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. Each week is a challenge. Somehow I get sidelined by things I can’t seem to put aside. I don’t plan the date, forget to do the tasks, and errands galore present themselves. I hope this week is different.

After a horrible, rainy, cold weekend, this week the weather seems to be leaning towards warm and pleasant. I’m going to plan to be out in it on my “date” on Thursday, the most agreeable day weatherwize. My errands are scheduled and I’ve decided to put my small travel art supplies in the car today.

I don’t want any surprises, do you hear me Universe?

Watercolor Class

The opportunity to work with watercolors never came up while I was studying art in college. However, the town I live in was offering beginner watercolor classes and a friend pushed me into attending. She wanted to try the class and needed me to be the “wing man”, side-kick, buddy. I went along thinking, “Ok, I never worked with watercolors before. Maybe I will learn something.”

We signed up and received a list of all the supplies we needed to bring to the first class. They described the class as a guide in the use and application of watercolor and “other water media.” I’m thinking this is going to be good.

The classroom was a big space with a long line-up of tables and chairs. We found a spot and set up our supplies. Other students filed in and set-up, too. Most of the students were retirement age, we were the youngest in the group. That doesn’t bother me in the least, I’m there for the lessons as well as meeting other artists.

The instructor began the demonstration. He pulled out a magazine clipping of a painting someone did of a ballerina in a pose. With his pencil he sketched out the lines of the painting on his stretched watercolor paper. At this point we didn’t receive any instruction in how to lay out the paints, how to stretch the paper and if we should or not, which brush does what, how to manipulate the paint on wet or dry paper, and he’s advocating the piracy of another artist’s art! I am floored!

Compounding my rage at this guy, the other students were all copying his painting of a painting. They were actually taking photographs of his painting of a painting so that they could duplicate it at home! My friend loved the class, socializing with the others, taking phone numbers, emails, and having a ball doing that. I’m flipping out.

I finally asked the instructor when was he going to teach us something. He didn’t answer. When I asked why he was demonstrating on someone’s painting, he had no answer. I asked if he was going to set up a still life or have a model to paint from, he still had no answer, except to say these students want a demonstration each week. Well, I thought, let me teach that class and we’d have some quality art work to show for the time we’re there!

He did not like me and chose to ignore me the rest of the 6 weeks in the class. I decided then, that I was going to paint him and the rest of the students, like it or not. He definately did not. And the students definately did not, as they glared at me while I painted them.

I taught myself how to use watercolor and loved every minute of my rebellion.

Photo Friday

Wishful thinking on a cold, wet, dreary Friday morning. Enjoy the weekend!

Daydreams

“A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men”–Willy Wonka

Where would we be without a little diversion from the monotonous, every day stuff? As creative people, we need time to decompress and recharge the batteries.

Let’s all be a little bit silly for a change.

A Blast from the Past

Going through some past artwork, I dug up the charcoal figure drawings I drew in college. As art students usually do, we had to respond to the nude figure with charcoal on these huge, 24x 36 newsprint pads. Quick, expressive studies of short poses and more intense drawings of longer poses of either male or female models are the norm when learning one’s art.

When I was in school the models we liked most were those that had an animal quality about them. Let me say right now that this was the later 1970’s, with leftover Woodstock hippies mingling with new disco people. Interesting to say the least.

Two models come to mind, a male and a female. The female model was quite interesting as she was a large girl with wiry red hair and set up interesting backdrops for her poses. In between poses, she would retreat to the next studio room for her break. There her chiropractor would set up a portable massage table and give her adjustments, which was as fasinating as her poses!

When the favorite male model would be posing we were in for a treat! He also had big, wiry hair, was really tall, lean and muscular. This wasn’t the exciting part. His poses were big and theatrical. He would bring huge tree branches or spears to pose with and made his body do strange stances in front of a blaring light to emphasize the shadows of his body and props.

Yeah, that was always a really good drawing day.