Happy and Sad

I am both happy and sad today. I am visiting my daughter Victoria in Minneapolis this weekend which makes me very happy for the one on one time we are sharing. We talked about so many things yesterday and watched a movie and reviewed wedding plans and shared an excellent Chinese meal. Today there will be more fun things to do. She and Andres live in a sweet little apartment overlooking a quiet snow covered street. The view is very calm and peaceful on this sunny winter morning.
And now for the sad part. I will miss being at the Midwest Collage Society exhibit reception tonight for which we have been preparing for so long. There are 90 pieces hung. I have 4 on exhibit in this show. The title of the exhibit is: Memory and it is hanging in a beautiful mansion called Peabody Mansion in the Mayslake Estate in Oakbrook, Il.
Sometimes our lives get so busy and so many difficult choices to make. This is one I had to struggle with. I wish all of my fellow artists in the show a great time at the reception.

Old Becomes New

I have tons of old artwork that never stood on their own. The watercolors I produced fill two bins. On occasion I look through and try to find some inspiration in them. This particular one was a large experimental piece using the wax resist method I was in love with at one time. The watercolors were bold, and I think I even experimented with gouache with this one. At any rate, it was fun but not an award winner by a long shot. It spoke to me as a dessert-like hot environment. The horses seemed to fit in. Only 4X6 I was pleased with the result.

Simplify and Expand

It is the first day of a new year and I am taking time to reflect the past year and to make some determinations of intentions for the coming year. Last night as the clock turned from one year to the next I stood outdoors for a moment to contemplate the beautiful full moon, the blue moon. It held so much promise and magic. I was surrounded by my immediate family and my good friends, Marsha and Austin. We remembered the challenges we overcame last year and shared fortune cookies to bring good fortune into the new year. This morning I committed to simplify some aspects of my life and so I went to the studio and looked onto my collection of over 1,000 books to see what could be donated or gifted to friends. The first book I touched was Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro. The marker was set to page 138 where I read the following prayer:

Peace and love, O Lord, I pray
Shower on this friend today.
Heal his(her) troubles, bless his(her) heart
From the source of strength and love
May she(he) never have to part.

As for Expand, I aim to expand my creative endeavors by learning new techniques and making my work larger.
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Color is Personal

I have been working on creating some holiday cards to have available for my patrons at work this week. I remember distinctly that one patron who looked through my cards last year saying " I don't buy Christmas cards that are blue. I like them to be red, green, gold, etc. but not blue. I don't relay to blue as a Christmas color." It was a comment that challenged me away from making too many blue cards which is what I seem to relate to. I feel that angels should be in a blue background. The sky looks bluer in the winter after a snowfall. The night with stars is blue. The shadows on the snow appear blue. So my personal preference seems to be to use blue. I cannot explain why that is. But to my surprise this same patron chose my cards with blue this year. She could not explain it to me. Is she evolving a new taste in color???

My holiday message

I believe everyone chooses their own message, symbols, etc. for the Christmas season. I have spent the last week or so looking at commercial cards. There are lots of messages out in the world. So when I focused in on my personal choices for symbols and messages, it always comes to basically one word, P E A C E. So many of my cards voice this message. I wish everyone to find peace in their midst, wherever they may be.

An Inspiration Visit

Yesterday I was fortunate to drop by the Art Institute of Chicago for a few hours of artistic inspiration. The new Modern Wing is always exciting to walk through and I paid special attention to some of the artists work that inspires me: Joseph Cornell, Juan Gris, Paul Klee. I was paying extra attention to Juan Gris's work and discovered some details in this artist's work earlier this year when I was in Madrid. I always enjoyed the cubists but I never delved into the work Juan Gris as much as this trip. Yesterday I found myself looking closely at a few pieces at the Art Institute. I was especially focusing on the diagnals in his work.

Towards the end of my visit I found the work of another artist that inspired me as a collage artist. There is currently an exhibit of the work of James Castle. He is an artist from rural Idaho who, despite undergoing no formal or conventional training, is especially admired for his homemade quality. He was born to be considered deaf and never gained a language. More recently it is believed that he might have been autistic. He never learned to write but instead copied from commercially produced objects. He created small books using whatever cardboard, twine, string he could find. I was so shocked to see what could be create with just a little soot and spit. Many of his works are very small and use whatever paper he found from packaging, newsprint etc. It's really worth seeing. And now I feel like I should run to the studio and make some art.

Merry Christmas

Sometimes special orders bring new challenges

I had a special order for some equine cards. One for a birthday and the other for Christmas. I had a real challenge there. Can't draw a horse but I love the silhouettes so transfers saved the day. I was quite pleased with the results. I hope my patron likes them as well.