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Friday, September 21, 2012

Ruth Gray Images: Ten Humourous Housecleaning Tips For Creatives

Ruth Gray Images: Ten Humourous Housecleaning Tips For Creatives: Well its Friday and the house is in chaos washing to be done and dust is settling on dust. this morning my husband mentioned in passing that...

Thursday, September 20, 2012

A Different View: Firsts and lasts

A Different View: Firsts and lasts: This week has been the first time I have really, properly enjoyed being a mum. Which is a pretty good 'first' to begin with.  I was just lyi...

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Don't get sucked in!

Watch out, if you don't step back and take a break, you might get "consumed" by your painting.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Hurry up and slow down!

  I have a confession to make. Normally I'm extremely prolific, if I'm not working on painting, I'm thinking about one. Well, its summer, and there are distractions galore. I HAVE been thinking about my next painting, but the garden calls to me, weekends in the woods and on the lake with family and friends temp me. I THINK about my next painting, and think, and think.....
 I look around and get ideas, find inspiration, and make mental notes planning out how I will use these ideas. I may intend to get myself into the studio, only to notice the tomatoes need tying up, or that I need something important at the store that needs my immediate attention. After all, how can I possibly paint if we are out of coffee?
   I am dabbling a bit, when I teach, and when I go up North I work on some little doodles and paint in my sketch journal. Its teasing me, to dabble, and think.....
I'm ready for things to return to some semblance of a routine, and to immerse myself in my work. The more I have to do, the busier I get, the more I long for the days when I can be shut up in my studio, and pour my ideas onto a canvas. For the time being, I think I'll enjoy the rest of the summer, after all, the shorter days and cold nights are just around the corner. I'm going to keep getting distracted, sit in my gazebo with a cup of tea, or a glass of wine and watch fireflies.....the rest will be there.....and its so much fun thinking, and thinking, and once in a while, NOT thinking!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

More on "No Vacancy"...

I wanted to elaborate on my blog post about my last painting, so here it goes; "No Vacancy" is the official title of this one. Recently I shared this painting with some students of mine and asked what they saw when they looked at it. The responses were different, some saw poverty, some sadness, others saw an abandoned dwelling, homelessness, lack of hope.
  I prefer to think of it on multiple levels, as a symbol perhaps, or just as it was, a lonely space. As I looked past the panes streaked with years of dirt and neglect, weathered and off kilter, I could see there had once been life here. At one time this had been new, clean, solid, cared for. Could this not be a metaphor for our lives? Like friendships left alone too long, or illness, neglect anything of importance in your life, and it will eventually decay, like the window.
  Notice that it has been left open, leaving a dark void like a portal to a different place or time,   inviting us in, or providing an exit for the ghosts that might dwell there........
 Look carefully at it and draw your own conclusions, decide what it evokes in you, and if you feel so inclined, share your thoughts here.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Vacancy-No Vacancy

The Lonely Window...........finished today, title not yet sure, got a few I'm batting around. Saw this when I was wandering and painting in county Mayo in Ireland about five years ago. It has haunted me ever since. I was curious and fascinated by these abandoned houses dotting the countryside. Some of them were famine houses, some old farmhouses, outbuildings. Their owners are long gone, dead, or simply moved on to another home, another life.
 It's late, so I'm not going to write much now, but soon, I'll write a bit about what this painting meant to me, what I am saying here.