If I don’t form a new blog piece once or twice a week, I get the urge to make myself write and complete something. Writing is also becoming a kind of discipline for me, alongside my other creative-expressive works. There are actually several blog pieces in process I wish I could easily tackle, but what would be involved in finishing them–and finishing them well–eludes me tonight.
Sometimes…I find with both art and writing that I’m actually working on something in the back of my mind while I turn to other tasks. And actually last night, I awoke slightly several times during the night and had a specific title for the piece that I woke up wanting to write this morning wafting through my consciousness…
I did a little online reading of this-and-that relating to this topic/commentary I had in mind, while I drank my coffee...and then…I moved on to other things.
I had been listening to a series of podcasts last night for several hours by one certain commentator on a topic–actually someone I wish to critique, to some degree–and I kept noticing some very specific things about his speech patterns. And these things are patterns I’ve noticed in others too…and I am contemplating whether this has any significance to anything on my mind about potentially persuasive/”relevant” speech techniques, or whether it is just something that has evolved in today’s speech patterns and syntax. And if these things have naturally evolved, it makes me linguistically-curious how and why.
I don’t know. I don’t know if this observation is germane to my review of this person’s podcasts/ideologies.
I have some thoughts about it…and beyond that…plain old contemplative curiosity.
And I wouldn’t want to write a piece and make points about my observations which I couldn’t somehow point to some basis/study/research/trend that is beyond my subjective impression…and so…*sigh*…this piece will not get written too easily. If it gets written at all. Who knows…I may write it in part in some other piece…or decide after more thoughts on it to scrap the idea.
Earlier this evening, I thought perhaps I might tackle it…or…another piece. And I took to social media with my creative writing urge and some quicker thoughts about writing. I was writing about writing…and to what end…? I guess it served to get some creative juices flowing…
And then, I started transferring laundry…and then…cleaning the cat box and mopping…and then, I found myself sifting through a pile of papers that had sat in a basket for months and months (nothing urgent, just an accumulation of old stuff) and found most all of the notes/copies etc were irrelevant and done and I ran them through my paper shredder to make more paper cat litter…and then…I suddenly found the ambition to tackle a few other 5-10 minute household tasks.
It’s amazing what creative energy produces in other areas!
Different types of creative people likely have their own process and methods. I seem to find that when there is something brewing in me either artistically or writing-wise (and these go hand-in-hand somewhat) that I find myself moving between tasks in a very focused way, often with music on. And sometimes, a certain music hits some sweet spot and I put it on loop…tonight, the piece that honed in some type of distantly-related focus/backdrop for my future blog-writings in mind was Ancient Words.
But then, I wandered out to the building after these household tasks, at about 9:30 pm, intending to glaze over a painting I’d added some leftover colors to earlier. This painting was started in 2018…just because I was inspired…and I’ve found myself wiping leftover paints from other works since on this piece every few months. It sat untouched for a couple years. This past year, I’ve cleaned off my palette once or twice with some quick swashes of purples and such…
You see, this is not a commission and I can do whatever I want color-wise. I’m only pleasing me. And I find these kinds of works provide opportunity to experiment and learn. Plus, I just hate wasting acrylic paint that will dry on my (glass/plastic) palette if left unused.
So after using up some burnt sienna and Payne’s gray from some glazing I did on a portrait-in-progress several hours earlier by smearing it here and there on the broken coffee pot painting, I decided to glaze over the tiles in the painting, after having let them dry some.
While I was working on this I became very pleased with the subtle colors and effects of layering, and began thinking about my college days at the U of D as an art major. We all have these rattlings of thoughts and memories that flow through each day, often prompted by something. I was thinking to myself that if I had been as good of a painter in college as I now am, maybe I would have stayed with art back then.
And then, for a few moments I wondered how my life might be different, had I done that. And then, I was recalling a painting I did my second year in college that I hadn’t thought about in years. I had Figure Drawing and Painting with Professor Dan Teis. I really wasn’t too good at it, though I was drawn to wanting to paint human beings.
I was remembering what that was like to have to sketch/paint from nude models and to this day I remember both the woman and man (both students) that would come and pose. It was an awkward situation at first, and I never quite got fully comfortable in that situation. There were about 15-20 students in the class and the model would be on a center platform that we would surround.
Most of the class at first was quickly sketching poses that would be held for about 3-5 minutes by the model. Bending, stretching, reclining, leaning forward or to the side…
Some non-artists may not fully appreciate just how much one learns about anatomy from working from nudes (skills that translate depicting the proper under-forms of clothed people in art!); much as a medical doctor learns from actual human bodies.
What helped me most was introduction to understanding the gesture of figures in various poses/movements, and admittedly, I’m not too good to this day with full bodies that are drawn from life. Pretty much all my work these days is from photographs. But I’m sure that I retained some amount of understanding of flesh tones/muscles from that class…just some…but really I’m mostly self-taught from books, observation of other art and trial-and-error. Emphasis errors…
But what amused me in my musings while I was working on the broken coffee pot painting was remembering that specific painting I did. The final project was a full painting of one of the models. And I really did not have any good experience in painting at that point. My drawing skills weren’t half bad but in my mind’s eye (I’m chuckling) I can still see this naked, reclining young man (I think there was a sofa prop in the center of the classroom) and my usage of flesh tones.
I remember the painting instructor was giving input too, from another class I had. She kept wanting me to “use blues and greens” in his flesh. That’s probably why to this day I adopt the complimentary color theory approach (opposite colors in the shadows…for peach skin, use blues, greens and purples) rather than analogous color approach (similar shades…light peaches to browns for the shadows).
It was a terribly mediocre painting but what I think is funny–and makes me still chuckle as I type–is that I finished off the guy’s FACE in great detail, including a Charlie Chaplin (or maybe Hitler!) style mustache. There he was…fully nude with his body not quite artistically excellent or even “very good” and I had spent excessive time on his face.
I just think that is funny.
I remember the painting was about 40 x 50 inches–we had to buy canvas and stretcher bars and learn how to stretch and gesso it from scratch–and this thing sat for years in some dark corner of my mother’s basement! Every once in awhile I’d see it, and my first husband and I had a laugh over it, too. And then, when my mother passed and I cleaned out the house, I gave the canvas to a teenage girl from church who was really into art and painting. I saw that she liked huge canvases, and of course, I first asked her parents if it was OK to give her that and she could paint over it!
Here’s where this quirky memory gets funnier. When I brought it to their house (several in their home were artsy people) I remember there were a lot of fun jokes about it, and especially, the stare of this guy’s face in the painting. I was expecting the teenager to cover the canvas and do something else–and I think she eventually did–but not without first adding in other funny elements into my painting.
I can’t recall for sure what she did but I think it involved flowers or Christmas branches or something…or…maybe she just painted a Santa hat on him. Whatever she did which I don’t exactly recall, was funny, too!
So after working the broken coffee pot painting with some creamy white and then some creamy green paint, I then found I had a lot of the green leftover. And of course, I don’t want to waste paint.
Once again, I tried to think what to do with it. I decided to take a blank canvas and just cover it. Some artists paint on a toned canvas. I’ve never done this, but perhaps some day months from now I’ll be looking around for something to use up some leftover paints on and decide that this green-based-canvas is just perfect for something. Even if it becomes some type of abstract and/or collage work, that paint did not go to waste.
I find that many who don’t paint often (people who might engage in a painting party, for example) seem hesitant to use paint generously. Paint is costly and that is why I try to use it up somehow, but skimping on rich, thick painting layers is a no-no when I paint. I do prefer the heavily-textured layers and glazes with a variety of strokes.
I seem to do best with watercolor and I’d say that is my first love, paint medium-wise, but I’m coming to also love acrylic, too, for different reasons. The brushwork and sequences of color application/mixing methods is what I find most challenging. With watercolor, brushwork doesn’t come into play in the same way it does with acrylics.
This creative, musing blog-piece here seems to have satisfied my need this Friday night for some written expression at the end of this holiday week. To those who made it to the end and had their interest held, I thank you! Sometimes…writing is done first for us…and Sometimes…if someone else enjoys it then that is all the better.
Happy New Year! Keep being creative in your realm!
Thank You For Reading
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