Inspiration Fridays! Can your familiar be new?

Can your familiar be new?

30 years ago I was schooled in technique. And the still life was at the epicenter of that learning. Drawing followed by paint, exacting proportions and meticulous color. Since then, the focus has shifted toward expression. I’ve gone full circle, and my return to still life feels like looking at an old friend with fresh eyes.

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T.S. Eliot

Art school still lives were intended as exercises. Devoid of anything personal, without narrative, they taught me to observe shapes and colors impartially. I love that about them. It’s an ability that has helped me immensely.

This round of still lifes illuminated something new. An invisible history. A quietness and a radiance that comes from living with time.

It’s funny how the act of revisiting something so familiar can feel unsteady. The subject hasn’t changed, but I have. What started as a test of accuracy has evolved into a reflection of my love for the aesthetic and my infatuation with the beauty of life itself. The shadows, the color, the light—they reveal a story I wasn’t capable of seeing before.

8paint Inspiration Friday - Can your familiar be new?

Come enjoy the Southern Oregon Open Studios After Party with me on the19th! 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM!

 

Building this new show around the still life reminded me that every idea is still fair game. Inspiration circles back, allowing us to rediscover what was always there, and to see it again. It won’t look the same.

Join me this Saturday (tomorrow)! For the Southern Oregon Open Studios After Party hosted by Enclave Studios. 

Artists! Bring your sketchbooks!
I’ll be doing some live painting and drawing from a model and you are welcome to draw too! Instead of staring at a screen, you can enjoy looking at real art on the walls!  We will even have live music by Jeff Pevar and Inger Nova and delicious refreshments provided by Grandeur wines!

Enclave Studios
1661 Siskiyou Blvd, suite 3, Ashland OR 97520

 

Describe something familiar in a new way.

How has your work changed?

What has stayed the same?

Can your familiar be new?

/by

Inspiration Fridays! How do you play under pressure?

 How do you play under pressure?

With my open studio looming, economy of motion takes center court. Years ago, I landed a membership at a tennis club and jumped in with both feet. Tennis is immediate, and that decisiveness resonated with what I already understood about painting. It’s a game that demands your presence. Each step, each swing of the racket, plants you firmly in the now.

“Pressure is a privilege – it only comes to those who earn it.” – Billie Jean King

An infinite month ago in a parallel universe, I had all the time in the world, but today it feels like I’m moonballing every brushstroke. Deadlines force the play. We adjust our tension to stay sharp and focused. This is when I’m at my best. Alone on the court with one opponent. The painting responds to every mark, and every choice of color. It sends me stumbling back with a lob or leaning in for a chip shot.

In art, the pressure of the show demands our best. To show up for the final strokes, the match point.

Tension levels goes up, but this isn’t a negative kind of stress. It’s a privilege. It drives us to step up our game, push past the self-doubt, and play with everything we’ve got. There’s no waiting for the perfect moment, no time to indulge ourselves in endless rallies. You just have to take the shot.

8paint Inspiration Friday - How do you play under pressure?

Come enjoy the after party with me on the19th! 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM!

 

And?? Is it worth it?

Some of your most transformative breakthroughs will come when your lost deep in the match, racing against the clock. The work is raw, instinctive, and often stronger because you have to get out of your own way. No time to overthink it. The deadline, rather than limiting you, gives you the focus you need to finish strong.

Next Saturday, October 19th, Enclave Studios and Haines and Friends will be hosting the Southern Oregon Open Studios After Party from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM and beyond.

There will be incredible live music by Jeff Pevar and refreshments by Grandeur Wines. I hope that if you find yourself in the area, you will attend. See you next week!

Enclave Studios
1661 Siskiyou Blvd, suite 3, Ashland OR 97520

 

What are your creative “match points”?

Have you used deadlines to improve your work?

How do you play under pressure?

/by

Inspiration Fridays! The Slow Unfolding of a Big Idea

The Slow Unfolding of a Big Idea

The studio is trashed. There are paintings everywhere and the word “paintings“ is loosely defined. Studies and missteps, paint slapped on boards, drawings on the floor, a cacophony of visual noise. An artist adrift? It would certainly appear that way.

“We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Anaïs Nin

It begins with fragments. Experiments that don’t know who they are or what they want to become. Whether you’re working toward something bigger, like a gallery or museum show, or even an open studio, it’s hard to see how these unrelated dobbs will ever feel cohesive. But they will.

Organically. One small sketch, an idea here, a dead end there, and then something new begins to emerge. It feels right, and you have to trust it.  The work itself takes the lead. All of the chaos that brought you to this point takes a backseat. You’re staring at a body of work, cohesive in vision and (If you have let go and trusted the process) powerful in its singularity.

8paint Inspiration Friday The Slow Unfolding of a Big Idea

Pablo stops in for a studio tour.

 

There is no perfect way to start. It doesn’t even have to make sense at first. It’s okay if your work feels all over the place. Trust that the thread will emerge as you keep moving forward. That’s the beauty of working toward something larger than an individual painting. The act of doing will surprise you. It will teach you who you are.

So, how do we keep moving toward that big idea? By trusting the process, and knowing that the muse will show herself eventually. Let the coffee-stained figure studies, failed abstracts, and one-offs guide us toward something bigger. One moment, we’re feeling lost and unmoored, and the next, we’re standing in front of something substantial. A cohesive collection of work, ready to be shared.

 

Does the momentum from abandoned ideas fuel your larger vision?

Has your process surprised you with answers?

What have you learned from the fragments that didn’t fit?

/by