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Lately I have been working on several commission pieces that have absorbed all my painting energy.  They have all been based on earlier works in the series, creating similar pieces in different sizes and shapes from the original image.  Maybe I would need to adjust a color, or add to the composition, but all within very familiar territory.  Other pieces that I have been preparing for gallery inventory are also along the same lines, as these landscapes continue to sell very well.  I vary them, as the landscape itself varies, but at the end of the day, a marsh is a marsh is a marsh, no matter how beautiful or inspiring. 

 

Jack White very eloquently says in his book “Making It”, artists can catch the itch to change what they do well  because creating along the same inspiration gets to be routine.  I suppose it is much like needing a creative vacation – just to do something different. 

 

One of my favorite movies from the 1980s is “Shirley Valentine”.  Shirley is a bored London housewife who goes on vacation – and doesn’t come back.  She rediscovers who she really is - and likes it! Some artists do just that.  They create pieces that are complete 180 degree turns, going off on tangents that are very different from their successful series – and stay there.  Then they are frustrated that the “new” work isn’t immediately flying off the walls.  But the new work makes them happy! So what is the remedy?  If you are going to try something completely different, just keep in mind that it took time for the successful series of pieces to arrive at a mixture of creativity, expertise, and connections that clicked with collectors.  Give new work a chance to catch on, and expect a setback or two.

 

If selling your work isn’t part of the bargain, you only have to please yourself!  Make something completely different because you want a change – a true creative vacation.  Do it for fun! Have no expectations except that of experiencing something untried. Relish the chance to succeed or fail.  You are in control – keep it or lose it!

 

What happens when you want to come back from that mental vacation?  If you want to retrieve your passion for your “signature” work, stretch your mental muscles by changing your perspective of what you see – try a piece or two looking up/down from your normal view of the subject. Experiment with light , maybe add a new color to your palette, or maybe take a color away that you lean on.  Go to your reference photos, and revisit your haunts to recapture the feeling of “being there.”

 

Working creatively is a treasure that many people do not have – aren’t we lucky that we DO?  Keep up your passion for what you do, take a chance every now and then, and remember that what you do, no one else can.  Economic high or low, we hold the keys to our own success and our happiness in that success.

 

Since childhood, I've enjoyed collecting mineral samples, even panning for gemstones in the mountains of North Carolina.  When I find a sapphire or ruby, it isn't always something that is shiny and bright, reflecting beautiful colors.  Most of the time, I can identify them by their weight...they are heavy compared to other rocks their size, and sometimes there are only hints of color to betray their identity. They may have a shape that reflects the chemistry of the ore, or have a texture that reveals what they really are.  On the outside they may be rough and dirty, but within, after careful cutting and polishing, a beautiful gemstone lurks. 

I work with  jewels in the rough when it comes to my art -- carrying the images and ideas of beauty within my mind and heart, carefully painting and perfecting each work until some shadow of my idea comes to be.  Sometimes I get it right -- and the painting shines with the light and color I imagined, though there are times when that mental gemstone is flawed and does not fulfill my expectations. 

The artist's life can be a jewel in the rough...we want to find success (however you might measure that), yet we find obstacles, real or imagined, that can keep us from becoming the polished jewel we imagine.  No stone from the ground becomes a glowing faceted jewel without work and care and patience.  We must remain true to our calling, true to our gifts, continually honing our work into the beautiful jewel our lives are meant to be.  Keep digging, keep polishing, keep creating those glowing jewels of art!

Ever sat down and written a life philosophy?  As artists, we are called by our craft to look at the world differently so that we might create the new, the different, and the unusual.  We often paint not only with our hands, paint or brushes, but with our hearts.  This list is my reminder that no matter how hectic the world becomes, how high or low the market is, or whether I make that sale or not -- there are things that make a difference in my life, and the lives of others.  See if any of these speak to you:

1) Embrace life -- not just short hugs or phony handshakes -- put your arms around your life and press it to your very soul. How precious this transient gift is!

2) Know that you have a specific reason to exist in this world and continually be aware of any circumstance or situations that reveal it. Seek it out until it shakes you by the shoulders and says, "Here I am!"

3)  See the small and beautiful -- sense the wonderful  grandness of everyday things.

4)  Encourage dreamers -- and BE one, too.

5)  Know what it is to love with all your heart, without conditions or specifics. Love for the sake of experiencing love.

6)  Pray.  Speak to God, or Spirit, or whatever you call your Supreme Being. Have confidence that no matter who does not listen to you, that this omnipresence WILL.

7) Perform at least one act of unselfish kindness every day.  Give a smile when it is needed most, a kind word when a soul is most thirsty for it, friendship to someone who is downcast and unfortunate, acceptance for one who is of  a different color, nationality, or social class.

8) Forgive.  No one suffers from an unforgiving spirit more than the body that houses it. It is an act that you have complete and utter control over, and it will free you of the bondage of resentment and hurt.

9) Feel the sun on your face and the rain on your skin, and be thankful. Have a special room in your spirit full of thankfulness.  Even in the depths of despair and loss, there is always something to be thankful for -- a memory, a sensation, the honor of doing the right thing in a time of hard choice. Poverty, pain, and injustice cannot strip us of a thankful heart if the spirit is willing.

10) Live in joy.  It is free, it is all encompassing, and it will change your life.

Now, back to the easel, reminded and refreshed.... !

 

Some may know that I paint with words as well as acrylic/oil paint.  This poem came to mind as I worked in the studio on the latest commission... maybe it will brighten your day, or take you on a little mental vacation!

 

Lowcountry Morning

 

Long-billed heron stretches his neck

Searching for frogs, flickers of fishes

Looks to the sky as the morning unfolds

As Darkness gives way.

 

Drowsy owl twists its talon-tipped fists

Around the branch, collects his wise thoughts,

Wings folded and neat, closes one eye then another

Dreaming of mice in the open, rabbit unaware.

 

Peeps and whistles, short chips and chirps,

Call from the palmetto and scrub trees

Along the hula skirted tidal creek,

Long dry grass holding sleepy bird secrets.

 

Brackish water seeps and trickles

On its way from the sea to the marsh,

Embracing the sand and the grass,

The exposed oyster blind in its bed.

 

Alligator slips through thick mud and muck,

Catching the first sizzling rays of day,

As the fire disk blazes through long needle pine

And the Darkness gives way.

 

Used with permission

copyright 2011 Karen Burnette Garner

Published in 2011 Reach of Song - Anthology of the Georgia Poetry Society (available at Amazon.com)

I'm back in the studio after a week spent with my children and grandchildren.  My daughter lives with her own family several states away...too far for a casual visit, and she and her husband are parents of two beautiful daughters and a toddling gregarious son.  When they're in town, all my normal routines come to a stop to focus on family.  It is a time of full force activity, as I become a 24/7 grandmama, morning and night! Precious memories are made moment by moment, and experiences are treasured. My son and his wife were close at hand as well, so it was a great time of family excitement.

Even as I spent this time with family, my mind was on what is next on the easel, the next commission that needs my attention, the glorious colors I saw that morning in a landscape that I want to get on canvas.  I mentally paint and re-paint new works, even dreaming of them!  Being separated from the studio work builds anticipation to return.  The mental tension builds. I can't WAIT to get into the studio and get going.

Have you ever had something you were looking forward to, something you wanted but HAD to wait for it?  Anticipation has its place in the creative way. There are times when I allow myself to absorb artistic energy, to build a charge as I mentally prepare myself to work in the studio.  I let that power recharge my batteries.  And then the time comes to release that pent up energy and get to work.

I have preached "no excuses"...this is not an excuse.  It is a mental preparation, active, and intense.  It is part of a process.  When the canvas unfolds before me, the green flag waves, and the race of creation begins.  I find the paint flows with purpose when I prepare in this way.  I don't waste time on indecision -- I've already worked out the problems mentally.  I'm prepared.  I'm focused. It happens. 

Do I work this way all the time? No, I have times when I can go to the studio and create at a more flexible pace, explore and experiment as the painting evolves, as the paints interact unexpectedly.  Commissions typically present an image already explored, with tangible changes that present precision choices.  They can be anticipated and prepared for.  It is creating on a different level and a different process.  Am I creating? Yes.  Is it still meaningful and original? Yes.  It's just direction of energy. 

So I go back to the studio after a few days away, with my heart full of grandmotherly thoughts and feelings, my artistic mind excited to be creating again. Three commissions await, each a variation on an existing work, but each with challenges of their own. Wave the green flag!