Updates and Tidbits

Did you know that Art and Soul Retreat is having a sale on classes until July 1st? You've still got about a week to get the special "roll-back" price on a fabulous lineup of classes. I'll be teaching four classes!

You can catch my interview with Lesley Riley on Monday, June 24, at 4 PM Pacific Time. The interview will also be up on the Art and Soul Radio site after that, so you can listen any time. Thanks to Lesley, who is a creative and thoughtful interviewer as well as artist!

 

I'll be traveling to Northern New Mexico next week and promise to take some inspiring photos for you. I love my Pacific NW, but it's also important to me to make regular pilgrimages to magic Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos. The light there is strong and inspiring, and the melange of cultures that make up this area is so rich. Lots of art to be seen, the smells of pinon and sage--can't wait...

Shelley's Portrait in Progress

A while back I shared some collages my art coaching student, Shelley had made. She has now moved on to encaustic portrait paintings. I just have to share the latest one. I am so impressed by the sense of movement here, as well as the use of light and shadow.

More on Project Re-inspiration.

I really appreciate the comments on the previous post about the creative process, blocks, inspiration, etc. Right now my progress is sidelined by a head cold, but I was able to complete my assignments from Lesley Riley over the weekend. I did the three pieces she assigned and journaled about the process. Here are a few excerpts:

"I enjoyed the process of this first piece a little. I was also aware of wanting it to be finished in a hurry. Since my settings are "high" and "off", I had to go into "high" to do the assignment..."

"I notice that the second piece is less tentative and more vibrant than the last. I felt more positive when I made it...I realize I have let myself get so caught up in the business aspect of art that I forgot about the art itself. ..I keep learning that I have to be myself and any attempts not to end badly..."
 
"For the third piece I found myself wanting to work in collage. I decided to take a break for the assignment and collage this journal's cover. In the middle of the process I decided that the cover would be the third piece. It went fast and intuitively and was more fun than the two previous pieces."

"It's such a strange experience to make art for my eyes only, as Lesley assigned. I want to show it off: "Look what I did..."

After I did the assignments I tried one of my favorite prompts. I cut a stack of rough squares at random from the middle of a magazine. (Home decoration magazines work well.) Then I went through the stack, looking for images that could be a jumping off point for an art piece. I tried to look at shapes and colors and to ignore what the square might actually depict. I glued the squares on the back of my journal. I will pick one to inspire my next piece. Try this at home! You could use one of my "squares" from the picture below if you like! I'll let you know later which one I pick for my inspiration.

I'd love to see any results or read any reports from your trying this technique!

Crossroads

As an artist, counselor, and art instructor, I am fascinated by the creative process. I just finished Seth Apter's book, The Pulse of Mixed Media, and found it to be an unusual and helpful book. Seth, who is a psychologist as well as an artist, asked a hundred mixed media artists about their process and feelings about creating. I felt very connected to my tribe after reading this book. I felt connected regarding the joy of creating and also the obstacles and setbacks.

One of my specialties is helping others out of their creative impasses and I think I'm pretty good at it. But that doesn't mean I don't run into my own blocks, just the same. I've felt at a crossroads with my art lately and have had difficulty making myself go into the studio and create. ( I call it Practicing the Fine Art of Studio Avoidance.)There, I've said it. I think almost all artists get blocked sometimes, or maybe it's that we are empty. 

For me, I love teaching and consider it one of my greatest joys. But maybe I've been doing a little too much of it. Maybe I'm reluctant to deal with feelings and issues that will come out in my art. Maybe new creativity is percolating and hasn't come to the surface yet. Maybe I haven't been having enough new experiences or haven't looked at enough inspiring art and nature. This is for me to figure out and the first step is getting all the icky stuff out and containing it in my work. 

When I realized I was really in a slump regarding my art itself and my art career, I scheduled a consultation with my friend and mentor, Lesley Riley. Lesley has given me an assignment to do just for myself. My observing self watches me vacillate about getting started. I know I'm not alone in this.

I'm going to share the "getting it out" pieces with you. I'm striving not to criticize them for lack of artistic merit, but rather to rejoice in how I have expressed to myself what's going on inside.

 Burning Bridge   Pigment, Cold Wax, Collage on Panel

Watchers      Pigment, Cold Wax on Canvas

Where it Happened   Pigment, Cold Wax on Panel

In my next post I'll share some of my favorite methods of unblocking creativity and I'll let you know how I'm doing! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic, so please contribute your thoughts and experiences. We're all in this together.

Wisdom from Lesley Riley

I first heard of Lesley Riley through an article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. She was shown working on an art project on her bed--her only studio at the time. When I met her later at Art and Soul in Virginia in 2009, I found her to be warm and friendly, as well as a talented artist and artistic encourager. I finally made the connection as we talked, exclaiming, "Oh, you're the bed lady!" Her working in such a small area was inspiring to me, as at that time I didn't have a real studio either.

Lesley has moved on to a larger studio now, and has an amazing business called Artist Success. I took a class from Leslie called 'Navigating Your Dreams" a little over a year ago--I owe my North Light book to that class!

Here's an article Leslie wrote recently on the subject of studios and art making.

Lesley making art on her bed-studio

 

No Studio Required

Second only to lack of time, the biggest thing most artists and would-be artists say is keeping them from their art is a lack of space to create. Well I say RUBBISH. That's just an excuse.

I am fully qualified to lay down the law on this issue because every single piece of art, including artwork for my own four books, contributions to countless other books, art for too many magazine articles to count, arts for shows and exhibits, class projects, class samples, over 1000 Fragments, personal and gift art - all of it was created in my bedroom ON MY BED.

But I must confess. for way too many years (more than I will admit to) I used the same excuse. My house and life were full of kids and my husband's home office. A space of my own? Ha! I was lucky to have a moment of my own.

I clearly remember sitting on my bed back in 1994 recognizing that the longing for something more that I was harboring was my art, my creativity. I had set it all aside to grow a family and build a business with my husband. There was a huge hole in my heart. A definite feeling of emptiness. I had no space on the outside, and yet there was this huge gaping space on the inside that needed filling.

So I began.

I created where I was, in the only space I had, which turned out to be my empty-by-day bed. The urge to create was great. The need to appease the longing led me to take-over the only space I could find...my bed. (And yes, I had to clean it off each night.)

The rest is history, or at least my personal art journey history.

And now, after 18 years, I am moving on to Chapter 2. Come August I will have my very own studio space. It's a room I know I deserve. I've earned it. Will I become a better artist, a more prolific artist? There are no guarantees. A studio will not grant me magical powers. It will not affect my talent or make me a better artist. It will not give me the discipline necessary to show up every day to do the work (and yes, art is work - fun work - but work nonetheless.)

This nice, big 20' x 22' empty room that I will be able to turn into my Studio, with a capital S, will be nothing without ME. It is not the studio that makes me the artist. It is the production of art. I could throw several examples at you of great work and great artists that have been created working in next-to-nothing spaces. (Mother of seven, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Project Runway Season 4 winner, Christian Soriano, come to mind.)

Art and artists are created by creating. No space, tool, degree, technique, book, talent or wish will make you an artist. And that's the good news. It's a level playing field. All you need to do is create. Create where you are with what you have right now. And then do it again tomorrow, and the next day and each next day you come upon.

Show up and do the work. You never know what might show up as a result.

No studio required.

Lesley Riley, The Artist Success Expert, is the creative founder of Artist Success, Solutions for the Struggling Artist. To receive her bi-weekly articles on creating your own success as an artist, visit www.ArtistSuccess.com.

October 3 - 6, 2012

Art & Soul, Portland, OR

2 Classes + Limited 1/2 hour coaching & consultation sessions.

October 25 - 28, 2012

The Red Thread Retreat, Knoxville, MD

The October 2012 retreat is sold out!

November 1 - 3, 2012

International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX

Moderating 2 panels:

• Getting Out of Your Own Way - Stories from Those Who Have Taken the Leap 
• Making It My Own - How to Find Your Unique Style

Registration opens soon.