Creative Spark

Some artists take years to paint a single painting. When I first painted, it took me nearly a year to finish my first painting. In fact, when I went to my first Painting Experience retreat I was in shock at the idea that I would finish even 1 painting much less many of them in a short few days.

When I was working as a full time artist, I began making art and jewelry in production mode. I lost the joy of creating by making many pieces at a time to be able to sell. I lost my sense of wonder at how colors mixed, at the practice of art...every piece felt like it needed to be perfect.

When I teach art classes, I have never felt that perfection was either a viable or positive goal for an artist. Perfection really doesn’t exist. Even Master artists have flaws in their work, for after all, it is made by human hands.

I don’t want to feel pressured to make art, to complete a certain number of pieces and most especially to feel that what I make has to sell.  I just want to find that shear love of creating. I want to be able to enjoy the messiness, the process, and them maybe celebrate when I finish a piece that I love.

A small piece of art, a little bit of time in a day...not an overbearing pressure. This too is the creative process. My soul desires the ability to get back to being my true creative self.  My creative spark doesn’t need to be a raging fire.

(C) 2019 Szing. All rights reserved. No part of this may be used without express written permission. Some photography by Pixabay.

It’s a New Day

Everything is cyclical. Today is the start of fall. It is a new day. It is the gentle rebirthing for me of my art studio Bohemian Art Cafe. I don’t have a “real” art studio anymore. Most of my art supplies are in storage. I have a rolling cart with art journaling supplies, a tool box of fine metal jewelry supplies, another toolbox with my watercolor painting kit, and a box with my calligraphy and illumination supplies.

Can it be enough? After having ten years of tremendous art studio space and more supplies than I probably could have used in my lifetime, I have found myself recently questioning why I have so much stuff and how much simpler life could be if I selected some new, easier to access and far more portable and small hobbies. Glass is heavy. It takes up a lot of space. It does not move easily or well, often ending in broken pieces and it is expensive. Am I an art supply and book hoarder? I fear that I may be. 

We moved again...four months ago and I’ve virtually done no art. That bone dry creative abyss has still been very much alive and well.

But just recently, this past month or so, I’ve felt the budding seed of the artful urge. That creative driving need to express myself has begun to peep out. I don’t really know how it is going to play out, but I needed the healing of my soul and spirit from what was a couple of somewhat brutal life events. Let me repeat that. I needed the time to heal my soul and my spirit. Had I had the place to do it, I probably could have used painting as my therapy, but it felt like there was nowhere to do this. I realize now that probably isn’t true. It’s just an excuse and an avoidance technique.

We cleaned out a storage unit this past weekend and we took a trailer full of stuff to a thrift store. I still could take 4 to 5 more trailers of stuff...but I’m forced by distance and time constraints to let it sit. In my head, a list is stewing, slowly formulating into another list of stuff to let go. I have a good 10 boxes of art supplies I’ll eventually be posting on my Etsy store, Ephemera Bistro.

But, in the meantime, this tickling urge has led me to sign up for two fine silver jewelry crafting classes and a torch fired enameling class. When I take them, I vow that my intent is to 1. Thoroughly enjoy the class and process, 2. Take my time to practice and really create something beautiful, and 3. That I will not bastardize my healing and process by trying to go into production mode and create a bunch of mediocre pieces. In fact, I don’t know that I EVER want to go into production mode again, unless it is to create large scale public artworks. So hello fall...it’s a time for harvest.

(c) 2019 SZing.All Rights Reserved. Photographs courtesy of Pixabay.

Creative Abyss

After ten years of trying to make a living as an artist and teacher, I experienced a little burn out. I had mass produced quite a lot of jewelry.  I had painted and created and had a stash of artwork to sell. All of my friends and family had pieces I'd made and I had some success at selling my artworks with a great deal of sweat, energy and effort. 

I hit a wall. I had no creative energy. I had no new creative ideas. Working on creative art projects felt like walking through concrete. 

I decided to focus on teaching art and working on visual art journaling. I went to craft shows and found myself worn out from the process of trying to sell some of my inventory. I didn't know how to make what I created of interest to the people who were seeing it. I knew that I couldn't keep making artwork that sold for small amounts when the process and materials took so much time.

In the middle of all of this, we moved.  I had a lovely, large space to use as an art studio and was able to get most of my supplies set up.  But I felt overwhelmed with supplies. And yet I couldn't figure out how to let go of supplies that I might need.  

I took another painting experience retreat weekend in Orlando. It was good and opened up my soul. For the weekend. Then. I came home and I couldn't create the space or the energy to continue process painting. I wanted to. My soul yearned to paint. I was in a creative abyss.

I tried to take classes from some very cool artists who I admire. I couldn't get through the first couple of days worth of a year long course. 

I am slowly pulling myself from this abyss. I have a full time job doing something that has nothing to do with art.  I still have my art studio, stuffed full of supplies--many of which I don't think I will ever use again so I'm building up my courage to let them go.  And then...and then...I'm going to try to to pull myself up just a bit more so that I can feed my creative soul in a way that I need so very much.  

In the other areas of my life, I have been doing pretty well.  I've got a good job. I have been losing weight and working out at the gym to get healthier and I have a good relationship with a man who is kind and loving. My life is good and I'm ready to let my creativity become reborn in a gentle, natural way in its own time. 

(c) 2018 SZing.All Rights Reserved. Photographs courtesy of Pixabay.

Finding Inspiration

Frederic Edwin, Niagara, 1857

There are days when I need something to help me feel inspired not just to do art but to remind me why we are alive.  One of my favorite places to go is to visit an art museum.  It doesn't have to  be a big museum. It doesn't have to be a famous museum, but it does have to have art.

I find inspiration in viewing the artwork of other artists.  It doesn't matter what level of skill they have--it can be beginner art or it can be the work of Masters.  I enjoy looking at the brushstrokes. I like trying to understand the process that was used.  Sometimes, I just like to sit back and look with appreciation.  I try to look with appreciation even when I don't "like" the artwork, the colors or the "message."

Juan Gris, Ace of Clubs and Four of Diamonds, 1912

I am inspired by the creative energy that is expended in the process of making artwork.  I am inspired by the tools and techniques. I am intrigued by different mediums than those that I use.  Since I usually use many different mediums, it is sometimes difficult for me to find mediums that I don't use. One medium I have never used is oil paint.  And art galleries are a sure ticket to finding some paintings made in oil paint.  I don't have the patience to wait for art to dry and oil paints take a long time to dry.

There is something that happens when I go to a gallery where I become very calm. I like the quiet hush of a public museum.  I like the sense of reverence for the creative works of others. I can't really explain it but if you have not ever gone to an art museum, I recommend you try to take the time to truly appreciate the artwork.  Suggested tips?

Juan Honore Fragonard, Diana and Endymion, 1753/1756

1.  Take your time.  Don't go if you don't have time to go slowly to enjoy the art.  I usually will look at a single art piece for a minimum of ten or twenty minutes. I read the information that is posted next to the art or that is listed with the gallery about the art.  I look at it and ask the same questions I ask my students when I take them to the gallery (see #2).

2.  Ask questions about the art.  There are often museum guards who know a lot about the art and are willing to answer questions so long as you don't distract them from their job.  There are also docents who do tours and have tons of information about the artist and the work on display.  But you can also ask questions and see what answers you come up with.  When I teach students at a gallery, I ask them questions like, "what is this artwork's story?"  "what mediums do you think the artist used? " "what techniques did the artist used?"  "why did the artist feel moved to make this art/what was the artist hoping to convey?"

Vincent van Gogh, Farmhouse in Provence, 1888

3. Don't worry if you don't see every piece in the gallery in a single visit.  In fact, if you don't, it gives you great reasons to go back often and reboot your focus.

I wish I could better convey the feeling I get from visiting an art gallery.  If you've never gone or you go rarely, give it a try and go with an open mind.

(c) 2017, SZing, Bohemian Art Cafe.  All Rights Reserved.  Photographs of artwork courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington DC  via Open Access.

Participate in Abandoning

For about five years, there has been a grass roots movement for artists to abandon their artworks.  I have written about it before when I first began doing it as a form of guerrilla art back in 2011.  I continued to abandon artworks when I moved from my lovely art studio in Ohio to Central Florida. In the past 4 years I had sort of let my abandonment of artworks languish for the most part.

It more formally became a movement when Michael deMeng began a FaceBook group (of which I am one of over 36,000 members of artists).  Artists post pictures of the art they have made for abandonment as well as pictures of where they abandoned it.  I even have found several pieces of abandoned art myself over the years from other artists who are anonymous.

This past summer when I was teaching art camp, one of the projects my campers did during the week was to make artist trading cards and leave them to be found by others.  The lovely thing about this was that we had permission from the Orlando Museum of Art to leave the tiny artworks around the hallways and other spaces at the museum.  Some of the students were so excited to see someone pick up their abandoned pieces of artwork.  Others were loathe to leave their artwork behind.

For me, abandoning art is a very freeing process.  It enables me to do many things 1)practice non-attachment 2)see someone enjoy receiving a piece of free artwork and 3) destash some smaller pieces of art and jewelry that are ready for a new home.  I get no monetary reward from leaving these artworks and my art is not signed so no one other than myself and anyone with me when I abandon the art would even know it was mine except for any photographs I might take of the item.

Other than the summer camp abandonment, I haven't done any art abandonment for about 4 years, but I have been missing that joyful sense of release and the fun of surprise knowing that someone is going to find and either keep or share my artwork. I love the idea of an anonymous happy surprise. There is so much "not happy" surprise going on in the world today that I think we need this little random acts of kindness to jolt us back to knowing that we are here for more than just the hum-drum, ho-hum slog through life.

In fact, I think right now I'm going to go make a couple of pieces of art and prepare them to abandon. I'll slip them into my purse and when I find a place that feels like the right place, I'll find a hidey hole to leave them for someone.

May we all share our talents, find happy surprises, and release our attachments.

(c) 2017 SZing, Bohemian Art Cafe. All Rights Reserved.  Photographs courtesy Bohemian Art Cafe, All Rights Reserved.

Creativity is Exploration

This year I decided to try out Tamara LaPorte's LifeBook 2017!  Although I know how to do many of the techniques and things that are taught, my personal choice and reasoning is because I want to do more exploration in my art.  I also thought that it might be a bit of an impetus for me to get back to doing art every day like I used to do. 2016 was not exactly what I would call the "Year of the Artist" for me although I did accomplish the creation of several beautiful pieces of artwork that went to very happy homes--which makes me happy and thrilled to know I am fulfilling my purpose by imparting beauty to others.

Anywhoo--the lessons in LifeBook are well organized and thought out (after her many years of doing this I would say that Tam has it down to a science!). The price is not outrageous for an entire year of classes and I love that the videos are downloadable so I can watch them whenever I want--like last night at 12:30 a.m. when my sweetie was asleep and I couldn't sleep.

I enjoy seeing the materials that other artists are using and I have vowed to try a couple of new ones (for me) out this year.  For those that know me, you know I have an ABUNDANCE of art supplies and in 2016 I tried very hard not to purchase any new ones since I had so many already--and for the most part, I did not buy anything new supply wise, although I replaced a few worn out items that I use regularly.

The art medium that I am exploring this next couple of weeks (and will probably use throughout the year) are liquid watercolors.  I have used them in several classes but I do not own any except for three small bottles which are mostly used up now. As I do love watercolor painting anyway and making washes--this seems like almost a "cheat" to me, but I absolutely adore how vibrant the hues are and the deep saturation of color that is possible with liquid watercolor.

I have not decided which set to get yet.  There are several to choose from including Ecoline and Dr. Ph. Martin's on the higher end, and Sargent and Color Splash which are more geared toward the student than the artist (my guess would be they are less pigment than the higher end ones although for the money you get quite a bit more product than the higher end options.)  I believe Ecoline is a British product but can be purchased on Amazon in sets--what I wish is that they said which colors come in that set--they have all these amazing color swatches but don't say on the product itself what colors are included in the grouping. I may purchase Dr. Ph. Martin's at a local art supply shop to give them a try.  So I am excited to give these new art supplies a whirl and see how they up my art.

I was going to try to do a price and quality comparison but as you can see from the photographs, it really wouldn't be a possibility of comparing apples to apples as some of the bottles are larger than others and some sets have more in a set among other variables.  I guess as an artist, the rule of thumb would be "buy the best quality you have the means to purchase."  The other option is to buy one of each brand and see how you like each one after a test run or two and then purchase whichever brand you actually prefer.   I am interested in the Ecoline mainly because it has a nice wide neck for getting to the paint and the Dr. Martin's feels a little smallish in size for the money.  Dick Blick by the way, also has their own line of liquid watercolors and I am sure there are many other possible options. These were the ones that I found most easily.

With that said, I'm off to go work on my LifeBook.  I'm already two weeks behind and it's only three weeks into the program!

(c) 2017 SZing, Bohemian Art Cafe. All Rights Reserved. Photographs from Tamara LaPorte's LifeBook 2017 and from product photographs.

Not All Artists are Masters

In the Star Wars movies, Luke Skywalker trained to become a Jedi Master.  He left his training before he was "graduated" and never got to finish working with Master Yoda. He was full of himself and thought surely he knew the best way to go about his life.  In the end, he became a Jedi Master anyway, but it was not without difficulties that would have been avoided had he stayed to complete the work in the first place.

The Jedi were not a large group compared to the billions of people alive in different star systems. Most were trained from a very early age.  Many were not chosen to become Jedi.

Masters of Art is somewhat like this.  There are comparatively few Masters in the world of art than there are or have ever been artists. Of those that are Masters, few of them are actually acknowledged and recognized as a Master during their own lifetime--da Vinci, Michelangelo, Picasso perhaps, maybe Warhol, Matisse, Dali...but even this is not a certainty.

Artists should continue their training throughout their lifetimes. We never know when our artwork will catch the eye of the "right" critic, the right gallery, the right buyer. We just must continually improve our skills, hone our craft.

The general population and art critics of the time did not appreciate nor agree that many of those we consider Masters were in fact Masters. It seems that at least in modern times, you must be deceased to have value and to be considered a Master.  There are a few possible exceptions who are living, but much of their current status is a result of some very clever marketing and placement.  Time will tell if their artworks will live beyond them or garner the respect of a Master.

What does this mean for those of us who are not Masters?  It means we must continue to practice, to learn, to study, to do the art that is ours to do.  In reality, worrying about being a Master is not why most artists do art. We do art, we create because we can't not do art or create.  We are driven by some inner sense of urgency to put brush to paint, ink to paper, to sketch, draw, and express.  Most of us will not be acknowledged by the world as Masters and many of us will live and die in obscurity with our artwork never being in a show, never being in a museum, never being noticed by an art critic other than our self.  Perhaps, if we are lucky, our family and friends will value our artwork and treasure it, creating heirlooms. And who knows if some day it may not be discovered and considered a Masterwork.
 

But this does not matter.  Not all artists are masters. But all artists are artists.

(c) 2017, SZing, Bohemian Art Cafe. All Rights Reserved. Photographs courtesy of Bohemian Art Cafe and Pixabay's public domain images.

Never Give Up

As an entrepreneurial spirit, I have always had a drive to work independently and creatively.  Has everything I've tried worked out? Not by a long shot. And there have been several distinct time periods in my life where the crushing blows of failures kept me in a creatively dormant state for long periods of time.  Although there was no particularly difficult or crushing blow in 2016, my creativity was definitely one the wane.  I allowed it to be fallow and dormant.  I got distracted by other things.

Part of this perhaps stems from moving to a new home where my art studio is not insulated. Since Florida stays warm most of the year, the ambient outdoor temperature for example today on January 2 is hovering around 68 and is expected to get to the mid 70s.  This means that my studio will be in the mid 80s.  When the outdoor temperature in the summer was around 90, my studio temperature was in the 110 range. It is very difficult for me to get excited about working in a space that is that warm and knowing I'm going to sweat all over my artwork.

It also can stem from the fact that I have a lot of stuff in my art space--some of it unrelated to art. I need to clean it up, organize better and make room for what I really love to do.  I need to purge the supplies I do not use, need or want anymore.

But I'm not now and never have been a quitter. I may have had to rejuvenate. I may have had to reinvent. I may have had to alter course or change the way I was doing things. I may have had to start completely over. But I never quit. I never give up.

In the past few months or so, my creativity has been tugging at me--I've been drawn to painting again, to doing glass work, to creating more jewelry designs, and to working in my visual art journal.  I was creatively fed in 2016 by teaching art classes, working sporadically in my visual art journals, and doing several custom mosaic pieces for customers. I was creatively fed by practicing medieval illuminations with the Society for Creative Anachronisms.

At one time, I was driven by an interest in getting my work into big galleries, into art magazines, and being known as an artist on a larger scale. Although I certainly would welcome all of these, they no longer are my driving force for doing artwork. Now I want to spend time intimately with each piece that I do. I don't care if it takes me three days or three months to complete a painting so long as I truly know it is finished. I don't have to make dozens of pairs of earrings but I want whatever earrings I do make to be something I would either want to wear or be thrilled to give to a friend.

I am not formally trained as an artist and am mostly self taught. I do not know the "right" art people, I do not live in an especially arty location, and I certainly am a long way from any of the major art cities of the USA or World. I cannot give up my love of creative art just because I'm not going to be a world class artist. I cannot give up my love of creating even though I have no need for more artwork in my home.

My goal for January is to 1) clean up my art studio and research some ways I might be able to insulate it better; 2) work on more medieval arts/illuminations 3)begin a new painting or finish an old one and 4)work on revitalizing my website which I have taken to bare bones over the past 6 months because I was fed up with the web hosting system I was on.  I'm never going to give up on my creativity. I need it too much as it is one of the ways that I get into the "zone."  I love that sense of timelessness. I love connecting with that lightness of being and my truly creative self. I had forgotten my artful self this past year, but I am ready to reawaken.

In what ways have you given up on your artful self that you can rejuvenate, reinvent or reawaken your creativity?

(c) 2017, SZing, Bohemian Art Cafe. All Rights Reserved. Photographs courtesy of Pixabay public domain images.

A Respite

It has been more than a year since I posted!  It seems hard to believe but between the last post and this one today life has changed in many ways.  I moved again due to my sweetheart's job. Again. Although I do have a space for art supplies and it could be a studio--it is not insulated so in the summer it got to be over 120 degrees inside and even on a day when the outside temperature is 80 the inside temp is closer to 90-95 due to the metal roof. Eighty degrees is pretty warm to be comfortable doing artwork.

My space is fairly well organized now except I have a bunch of outside stuff currently stored there because we don't/can't have a shed--or more precisely, the area we would use as a shed is actually our outside screened in porch area which is also used to hold art supplies.

Besides the logistics of the art studio, I have found that I've been reluctant to do artwork.  When I am creating, I tend to work many hours and make many items at once. For example, jewelry--I don't just make one or two pairs of earrings--I make 20.  I have a lot of them on sale, along with other art items, but I find myself just a little bit overwhelmed with all the "stuff." And having so much art hanging around (our house is full, every friend and many family members have received art as gifts) I just haven't had the heart to create any artwork for the past year.

I have done some art--I taught for 9 weeks this past summer at an art camp.  It was fun but frankly, by the time I finished, I was so exhausted it took several months to recuperate and regain any creating energy. I have done two custom mosaic glass panels--both of the same subject matter--am finishing up the second one in time for Christmas.  And I've done some art journaling.

I think with moving and many alterations in life/friends/community, I needed a respite.  I am just starting to feel the inkling of an urge to get out there and do some painting, to make some jewelry, to maybe even work on some glass or enameling if there is a day or two that is supposed to be really great weather for it.

Respites are necessary.  Just like a field needs time to recover before being replanted, I think an artist needs time away from art. My respite is just about over but I feel better for it and more clear about what I do actually want to do with my creative energy.

(c) 2016 SZing, Bohemian Art Cafe. All Rights Reserved.  Photographs (c) SZing Bohemian Art Cafe.

Hookers and Strikers Oh My

Museum goers cannot get into the Musee d'Orsay to see the exhibit on the oldest profession in the world.  Not because people there are opposed to the subject matter or find it offensive as there might be a strike in America with our outwardly prudish morals (though there certainly are plenty of people looking at porn online and in magazines and movies, not to mention keeping prostitutes in business still...how can that be if we are so moral?...but I digress...)no, the art isn't being opposed...its the hours that the workers have to work that is in opposition and which has caused the museum not to be open due to strikers.

I hate it when everyday labor difficulties interfere with artwork exhibitions.

"Splendor and Misery: Images of Prostitution 1850-1910," includes historical artifacts, police records, paintings and photos, was to open September 22. 

Let the poor guys have a break for goodness sake.  

Let them have free passes to see the artwork too.

Funktional Vibrations mosaics now completed at New York Subway

Giant Mosaics now decorate the New York Subway.  Created by Xenobia Bailey. She was commissioned to create three mosaic designs, one being a 2,788 square-foot mosaic mural called Funktional Vibrations—one of the largest mosaic works in the subway system, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

See more about this artist here.

Jochen Lempert artworks

Field Guide: Photographs by Jochen Lempert showcases beauty, mystery of nature Cincinnati Art Museum, October 17, 2015–March 6, 2016 CINCINNATI – September 18, 2015 – The first major U.S. museum exhibition featuring German artist Jochen Lempert’s photographs will be on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum from Oct. 17, 2015–March 6, 2016. The show will include more than 100 hand-printed black-and-white photographs spanning 15 years.

Originally trained as a biologist, Lempert began making artistic photographs of animals, plants, and natural phenomena during the early 1990s in Hamburg, Germany. “Lempert’s unique background allows him to depict the world with both scientific rigor and a poetic sensibility,” said Brian Sholis, Cincinnati Art Museum Curator of Photography. The artist uses both conventional and experimental processes, and the results are anything but traditional nature photos. Out in the field, Lempert uses his 35-mm camera to chart human-animal interactions, the patterns made by birds and insects, or the play of sunlight and shadow. But he also brings the outside world into the studio, making camera-less photograms of leaves and algae or letting bioluminescent species like fireflies expose photographic paper. The exhibition will also include his ongoing 25-year project to document all 80 known taxidermy specimens of the Great Auk, a flightless North Atlantic bird that went extinct in 1844.

Lempert often arranges his images in sequences or grids to highlight similarities, underscore how classification defines what we see, and encourage close looking. The photographs, in a wide variety of sizes, will be placed on the walls unmounted and unframed in an installation devised on-site by the artist and curator. This survey of Lempert’s photographs includes new work made on the East Coast and in Cincinnati during May 2015. His behind-the-scenes visits to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the Museum of Natural History & Science at Cincinnati Museum Center, and the Lloyd Library and Museum allowed him to cast new light on these familiar local landmarks.

Several artworks made in Cincinnati will be included in the show. Field Guide: Photographs by Jochen Lempert is sponsored by PNC Bank and Darlene and Jeffrey R. Anderson. It will be on view in Galleries 103, 104 and 105. The exhibition will travel to the Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver, where it will be on view April 15–June 12, 2016. 

Doing the Right Thing

The John Paul Getty museum is giving some restitution to the Armenian people after a long drawn out legal battle over 8 illuminated manuscript pages

from the Armenian Bible.  The Getty will continue to show the work but the Armenian church is now named as the owner after they contend that the pages were originally stolen during World War 1 and many Armenians suffered genocide during the war.

See Art for Free Saturday September 26

Various art galleries and museums in the Volusia county area of Florida will be opening their doors free of charge on Saturday, September 26th in conjunction with the Smithsonian's annual Museum Day.  Don't miss out on a chance to see a whirlwind tour of art.  A shuttle is available for going from one location to the next.

Available at the Deland Museum of art:

at the Hand Art Center at the Stetson University campus

and at the Gillespie Museum in Deland
Sand Hill Symphony opens