This dragonfly painting (darner), is from a photo taken in my garden in Florida. The plant it rests on is commonly called horse tail, which is indeed a favorite perch of dragonflies. I took a much needed hiatus this summer and in that time frame made a trip to visit friends and family in Florida. One of my favorite resting places was the faded green bench on the back porch of my best friends home. It faces a view of a lovely garden. To the right of my view lies a trellis covered with twining jasmine- the perch of the dragonfly.

I sat there often watching the dragonfly dance. Off he would circle while doing rounds through the well groomed and loved garden. Back he would come and rest. For whatever reason, it was made clear that my job was to sit and watch. Any time I got up to take pictures he would disappear, maybe he didn’t recognize my face. My friends however had no trouble getting many great close ups of him. This allowed me to do start this painting. Per my own artistic tastes, and the good tastes of KC, I swapped out the trellis for horse tail.

So here I am thinking about perspective, times of work and rest, and how balance feeds the appetite for a creative life. I am calling it the Dragonfly Dance, which I will name this collection I am working on. I love all the ascribed meanings and attributes of dragonflies: dream keeper, stripper of illusion, remover of obstacles in vision and so on.

I have spent the last few months de-cluttering my workspace in every possible way. Largely to take out obstacles for what is usually my most productive time of year. I need a regular “active rest” period. A consistently used time to serve the purpose of reflecting, learning, and circling through the garden of the goals I have set.

It took an amazing amount of photos to study and source from to create the image in my mind., But here he is. I was motivated largely by the BP Oil ‘Spill’ to paint this. I love sea turtles and the beautiful sparkling Emerald Coast of Florida where I grew up.

I have seen so many creatures over the years living along and in the coastal waters. It is an amazing and diverse ecosystem that filled my childhood with so much mystery and awe. Perhaps I can round out this painting into a collection of other Gulf of Mexico animals- we’ll see.

I chose this sea turtle because it is the most endangered and the smallest sea turtle in the world. It’s only home is the Gulf of Mexico and along the United States Atlantic east coast. The only place it nests is in the western side of the Gulf of Mexico. I can only hope that enough Kemp’s Ridley’s make it to shore to nest so that the species survives this horrific man made disaster. From there I have no idea where they are going release the eggs that are successfully collected and incubated.

The sky has broken

in one breath ….. soft

softly it reaches out

and ever so softly touches,

ever gently it awakens

and stirs all stillness.

Dawn rises.    In her mist

she seals the mystery.

E’er closely to her breasts

she cages in her hand

a singing bird whose frail voice

laments the dreaming

of deep night and lost stars.

Onward her foot presses

into the resolute hours.

Her eyes pouring soft light

like a lovers prayer

enfolding  heavy silence.

Pouring light she summons

life……. urging growth

touching all …….. tremulous

with sacred warmth

… pouring light.

The sky has broken

out of the aching rumbling stirring

of the wind.      Whispering,

into the ears of Dawn,

the last violet shades of night

pass,  till the last of the stars

fade…….  into the vast keeping

of her soul  …… finally at rest.

Holding listless

the laconic melody

that remains

into the resolute hours

She presses onward.

They are a very friendly group which does a lot of very hard and thoughtful work. All in order to put on a huge and safe event that the public gets for FREE! An event that gives artist of many genres a venue to reach customers, other artists, and inspire the next generation of artists. It is amazing what they do to make this a quality and enriching event for every age.

Clearly a diverse group of people both by background and by talents. Looks like the festival this year is going to be even better than before. Volunteering is a great way to get into the arts community and build relationships. What I love is all the phenomenal live music they bring in at night. It’s free, and I can build a fire in my backyard and enjoy!

Even more exciting is the building up of an Arts Council to network artist and more. There is nothing about my choice to move down here that has backfired. Next week my daughter goes into daycare and I will really be able to focus on my studio time. I am also excited for her getting to be around so many more children her age and having an absolute blast.

One of my next goals with these ventures is to start a creativity cluster for artist to work together for growth and to jointly resource for figure models and such. Now off I go to follow up on the promises I made to get the Black Swamp Arts Festival some information on grants from the Ford Foundation for the development of art communities.

I was nominated by Tara Reed!
Totally unexpected and quite a sweet surprise. It was a busy week and I didn’t even find out about it till preparing for the “Ask Mary Englebreit” on the 17th. That was a great call on Art Licensing! I hope to write more on that in a few days.

I met Tara Reed through Twitter, just as she met the person who gave her the award. Twitter has been a great tool for me to meet other artists in every phase of their careers. I love being able to use social media to cultivate a larger worldly community of  artists and creative people of all types!

I am absoloutely humbled to be on her list of nominees. She has been immensely inspiring to me. Not simply because she is so successful in both Art Licensing and teaching others about it; but also her journey and dedication to her career as a single mother and her open and generous nature. To me she embodies the quote below, that kind of generous sincerity is the trait I admire most in others.

” Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”- Buddha

Kreative Blogger Award Comes with the following Requirements:

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

Seven things about me that may be of interest:

1. I can’t do art with out the presence of chocolate and coffee.
2. I spent a few years of my childhood on Guam- a wee little chunk of island in the Pacific Ocean.
3. I like bugs and my children often bring me numerous specimens in the summer. Unfortunately, they aren’t always dead- yet.
4. I believe every day has something about it that is worth celebrating.
5. I love to get muddy – in a garden.
6. I find the rain stimulating and comforting- more than sunshine, or at least the same.
7. My fantasy it to retire from “regular life” making money by  painting from an old farm house in Ireland.

My Seven Blogger Nominees are:

Joanne Giesbrecht: www.joannegiesbrecht.com
KathyOstman-Magnusen:http://kathyostman-magnusen.com/Kathy_Ostman-Magnusen_Art/Blog/Blog.html
Liza Myers:  http://www.elizabethmyers.vox.com/
Sherry Dole: Happy Tails
Catherine Somerlot: http://catherinesomerlot.com/blog/
Tara Larsen Chang: Silver Apples of the Moon
MelodyLeaLamb: http://melodylamb.blogspot.com/

]]> http://artandillumination.com/?feed=rss2&p=273 0 http://artandillumination.com/?p=253 http://artandillumination.com/?p=253#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:10:14 +0000 Brenda http://artandillumination.com/?p=253

See concept sketch and development phases

Literary Sketch

She knows the seal peoples coming and going. She watches the battles that brew between a race of the sea and a race of the land. Polution is bearing a heavy toll on the creatures of the sea, as the creatures suffer the magic is turning darker. The gentle selkie are not pleased.

Down in the deeps of the kelp forest she makes her home. She does not tolerate strangers well, so beware of bewitched kelp. To avoid the sting and strangle of the kelp you will want to spen dmuch time eating the plants of the sea so your scent and energy are more aligned to them.

She is also extra wicked in her desiring for shining and light filled objects. To win her welcome and get her to share her knowledge you need to use a large fresh water pearl. The properties of the pearl will also calm her temper and bring out her more noble side.

She has been completed for a while now. In some way I have had a hard time feeling done with this. The painting is done, but it has this half made story in my head that wants a more developed world.  I have seen the other creatures in the murky kelp- funky yellow eyed  brown molting and decrepit skin things with sharp teeth and eel like bodies. I need to sketch them out.

I will have to explore that all out more later in both the sketching and in the literary sense. Would like to develop  some amalgamation of a tentacled creature too- because so many limbs would be fun to play with.

I like to test my creations against the imagination and perception of my boys. They say it how it is, but that is great when they find weak areas. They also describe the character to me, and it helps me figure out if I am using the right illustrative language so to speak.

Can’t wait to share the springtime cute paintings I am working on soon. Cuddly bright fuzzy things that are not my usual subjects. Fun! I imagine that will lead to the things popping up in my garden soon as well.

Hope you are all bathed in much inspiration as the spring unfolds and the year continues to bloom!

I forget how challenging depicting white can be with watercolor and to shade with out loosing vibrance. This was one of my favorite fish. I sat by my pond working on sketching him out from life. Sketching from life produces a very different form than from a photo.

Sketching wildlife can be challenging as you can not hold them captive. I often elicit the use of photos to capture things missed during the initial sketch. Luckily in this instance my lil’ fish was bound by the pond and I could count on him swimming in his usual favorite path over and over again.

Artist Tips:

• Grays can be chromatic or achromatic (so don’t assume the limits of achromatic shading)
• When sketching from life do not look for the outline or color book lines to copy- you are replicating an understanding of the form not the actual form.
• Don’t feel a need to hide sketch lines in a painting they can add character; but do avoid using softer pencils whose  loose graphite can muddle the pigment and it’s transparency.
• Think about the positive and negative ground concept to the use paper.

“Endless source, endless river.
River of no shape, river of no water.
Drifting invisibly from place to place . . . it never ends,and it never fails.”

-Tao Te Ching

As an artist I have a natural tendency to follow the whims of inspiration. At times, I even have a tendency to avoid work, even creative work, if I don’t feel the inspiration. While I have gotten much better at just pushing through the absence of inspiration and working, I still occasionally deviate from my plan and muddle up valuable time.

While I might be able to give myself several valid reasons for deviating from my plan, that does not mean it is what is best overall. Sometimes deviating from the plan allows a bit of play and a shake up in the pattern which can catalyze all kinds of juicy good things. Things like, a creative breakthrough, renewed creative spirit, and even a fresh and beneficial new perspective when resuming the work and original plan.

However, it can also mean things like self sabotage, giving into fears, becoming as Julia Cameron puts it “someone else’s battery”. We can do these things because we don’t feel worthy of success, because we feel guilty or selfish in our pursuit of vision, and even because we are willing to feed the loosing of faith in our innate power.

So what does one do to figure out if the the decision to go against plans is deviation or creative flow?

1)  Is there something I am avoiding by changing plans?

This is the most important question, but it is challenging because it requires a heap of self awareness and truth. Often we don’t want to push through. If you can pinpoint what you are really avoiding, or what the deeper emotion is you have found a golden egg. Exploring this in depth can allow you to thoroughly supplant it and remove the underlying issue as an obstacle once and for all. If there is nothing there then proceed with the other questions.

2) What do I know for certain I will gain from this and how might it serve my original plan?

If it is too difficult to find something, if it takes a lot of consideration then it is best you choose not too. If you do find a few reasons that show it can server your larger picture  then flip the question around. Ask yourself “what might engaging in this activity costs my larger goal?”. If you can think of things weigh the pros and cons carefully.

3) Did it bump into me or did I have to go looking for it?

Were you happily plugging away when something just fell into your lap and caught your interest, or were you stagnating and stuck and decided to abandon post in search of the first thing you ran into?

I have a studio at home and the benefits are wonderful. Yet I have caught myself sneaking off to do meaningless things during my work time. Meaningless like laundry, which we all know is always waiting to be done over and over and over. Meaningless like signing up for a fundraiser that has more than enough volunteers to handle it.

I do strongly encourage taking a friend up on the unexpected offer to go listen to a local band, a trip to a new exhibit, and other such things. Just remember to hold the reigns and not let such things become frequent or plans to be made with out a clear end point.

4) Does this activity have a clear end point?

If the activity has no clear end point, then it is likely deviation. If you really think there is much potential in your new prospective activity then take time to get very clear before committing. Recently I took on a project to help a non profit organization. I assumed a lot of things in this commitment. I assumed that the organization was a legal entity, that they would have some decent amount of organization, that they would follow up in a professional manner.

In the end none of those things were true. While I bare no judgement to their intent or the process of their development from grassroots to mainstream, I can not proceed as intended. I have spent enough time away from my own work, and will continue to help them as they provide appropriate information to me.

Creativity and inspiration are often abstract, immeasurable, and spontaneous. That doesn’t mean that they can’t be planned. Planning doesn’t mean a rigid inflexible schedule either; however we must be vigilant to stay true to course. Unplanned exploration can yield many treasures, but it can lead us away from the full manifestation of our vision.  If you can be honest with yourself and be still enough to consider the whole picture; figuring out if you are deviating or tapping into that rich creative flow will be no obstacle.

]]> http://artandillumination.com/?feed=rss2&p=223 0 http://artandillumination.com/?p=180 http://artandillumination.com/?p=180#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:04:20 +0000 Brenda http://artandillumination.com/?p=180

I am very happy with the beast. Though, I am still slightly uncertain about the wing; but I could change it later. This is one side of a winged lion whose paws are holding a banner. This original knotwork lion is for the top of a manuscript.

Knotwork is a form of meditation for me. I love creating new patterns and filling a huge assortment of shapes and forms with unique knots. It is fun to merge animal forms into knotwork as well, but I think I enjoy this method more.

I feel a tad quartered lately. So many hats I am wearing, when I would really like just to lock myself in my studio and just play with pigments. Things are narrowing down and ultimately I feel like I am building spaces to work in, and would just like to have it all over and done.

The coding on the layout for this site is almost done. Then I have to redesign for the former site and get it ready for some of the writing and instructional work I have been requested to do. That area of my work and writing is so neglected.

I also volunteered for a non profit- but that has been messy. No articles of organization, virtually no organization of information, it is not what I volunteered for- all this chasing information down. Mostly I wish they could validate the non profit organization status so I could finish requirements to allow them to accept donations internationally. None of which mind you I volunteered- so many side tracks- time to reign in my boundaries and let them do their work if they want my help.

The past month has been playing in ink and line. From knotwork to 15th and 16th century woodcuts and illumination styles. I am fond of Holbein- but then that is probably because my macabre side loves and adores skeletons. More on all that later.