On becoming a better person through art.
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I’ve always been curious how much of the work we create is a product of our environment. There are long dissertations on the Nature/Nurture impact on each person’s development, but how much of the visual/sensory experience is consumed and metabolized and then makes its way into the artist’s work? This is an ongoing obsession of mine as an artist and traveler…
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I know I'm always harping on about art and travel, because it’s how I prefer to make my way in the world. Alas, there are very real challenges to making art WHILE traveling.
Just last week in London I went to the Tate Britain, the Tate Modern, V and A Museum, The Serpentine Gallery, the Somerset House Design Biennale, The Dennis Severs House near Spitalfields. I saw plays at the National Gallery, The Globe Theater for Shakespeare and The Victoria Palace Theater to see Hamilton! And those are…
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Arrived in London early, went walking to stay awake. And found beneath my feet the art world unnoticed and unsung. I've walked these stones countless times, yet never saw them like this. York paving stones - weathered, chiseled and trampled. Day 1 - I got what I came for without even trying!
How easily we pass by inspiration! Clues to what we love. I've enhanced these photos with contrast because this is what I saw. But I hesitated at first to take out my phone for photos - my phone! It's ridiculously easy to capture moments with our ever-present phones, yet I was in motion, not wanting to slow down or stop…
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I don’t remember how I first heard about the Toronto area based painter Janice Mason Steeves, but I felt an immediate kinship when I saw her earthy, minimalist, abstract paintings. It seemed that we also shared a love of northern, vast, bleak landscapes, and we have both visited Iceland as an artist in residence - albeit at different residencies. The paintings that have come from her residencies and workshops there reflect the cool earth tones and the silence and spaciousness of that far northern wonderland.
She also leads classes in oil and cold wax, and chooses often to hold workshops in such far afield places as Ireland, the wild west coast of Canada, and soon to be locations in Scotland and Mongolia…
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Sometimes I set myself a painting challenge, to create boundaries in the candy store that is art-making. As summer heats up, my gaze turns to the cooling effect of Aqua. Doesn't matter in what way it shows up, but in land-locked Colorado, it gives me a a sense of water, flow, diving in to something that isn't rock.
These paintings are fast and loose, pint sized and purposely affordable. I love working small - there is less…
Many days I cycle down to Boulder Creek to sit on my certain rock, now partially submerged from the high country run-off. This morning as I watched the frothy flow of water rushing by, I felt the urgency of the river seeking the ocean. And I thought of the human condition, always seeking connection with Source. It's the PULL of the Source, and when we allow our innate guidance to raft on the stream, there's no effort, it's easy to flow, and thrilling too.
This is true in the painting practice - it is a form of meditation in that way. Deep listening to the guidance, the flow, the…
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Some people are steady at the helm of their creative activity, and are regular like roughage. That's not me. Try as I might there can be long gaps between painting sessions. Such as it is now, after the solid month of painting at my residency at Brush Creek Ranch. Sometimes I return from a residency - spent. Other times, energized, but am pulled away by life's other needs.
The longing to get back at it is a blessing and a curse at times…
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All about ARTIST RESIDENCIES - how to find the right one for you,create a compelling application and become an artist in residence. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW!
For those who are creative and love to travel, artist residencies are the Holy Grail. From Antarctica to the Arctic Circle and everywhere between, artist residencies are dedicated places for creatives to focus on their work, travel to cool places and
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"Warning - extreme blowover danger!" The flashing signs crossing Wyoming on HWY 80 meant business. The 65mph + winds rattled and rocked my little Mini Cooper Clubman. But she held steady, helped I presume by the weight of 10 heavy panels for painting and a few hundred pounds of art supplies and other stuff. Art saves lives!
I was met by my host at the gates to this 15,000 acre luxury working cattle ranch in the
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