From the studio

Slow Paintings

2009-11-14T20:08:00.002-06:00

Phases

This week was one of the most productive studio weeks I have had in a long time. Phases, pictured left, has taken nearly 8 months, but it is finally complete. You've heard of slow food and slow homes? Well, now I must announce: slow painting. Slow more due to insufficient planning. I learnt a lot from this painting - how I have to plan very thoroughly if I am to free-paint such hard edges. Having to repaint the grey lines (they were once blue) and two of the three curve colors didn't help things along. Anyhow, 'tis done and I am really pleased with it.

Wind Chimes (work in progress)

Also on the go this week has been Wind Chimes, shown below. This piece was planned in a lot more detail and is taped which has sped things along. I can't wait to see it finished - removing the tape each time unveils a little more of what it will be. The tape helps the painting guard its secrets for longer and even I only get glimpses.

Today I spent some time tidying the office. I love Marianne's idea of a time-lapsed transformation so I shall post a photo of the beginnings in the next day or so. Right now the floor is the staging area for my daughter's party tomorrow.

Getting Organized?

2009-11-10T20:52:00.000-06:00

I signed up for Alyson Stanfield's "Get Organized" class which starts tomorrow. I took some 'Before' photos and here they are in all their horror, stitched together into panoramas courtesy of Photoshop.

The Studio

Yes, there's a sofa, 7 bikes, 2 sets of golf clubs and 3 golf bags in my studio (a.k.a. the garage). It's not an excuse but it doesn't help.

The Office

All those bags on the floor are things for the birthday party on Sunday or gifts. AAGH, who am I kidding? It's a dumping ground, the first room I go into when I get in the house.

I am really looking forward to this class - all the classes I have taken so far with Alyson have been excellent and have really given me a boost. Watch out for the organizational transformation of these spaces!

Links for 2009-10-16 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-17T00:00:00-07:00

Six Destructive Ds: FineArtViews Blog by Clint Watson

Links for 2009-10-09 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-10T00:00:00-07:00

Links for 2009-10-06 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-07T00:00:00-07:00

Related Posts with Thumbnails for Blogger ~ Blogger Widgets

Links for 2009-10-03 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-04T00:00:00-07:00

Customize Your Desktop with GeekTool | Mac|Life

Links for 2009-09-29 [del.icio.us]

2009-09-30T00:00:00-07:00

A visual person's "to do" list

2009-09-29T08:23:00.002-05:00

Moleskine planner

Finally, thanks to Nick at todoodlist, (yes, that's an affiliate link), I have figured out a planning/to do list too that works for me. It's a humble plain moleskine and a pencil: you can see it there in the photo. I took some of Nick's ideas - the doodled "to do" list and the notebook with tabs - and added some things I needed, like a section for sketching/scribbling and a section to record studio time. Unlike the planners in the stores it is totally adaptable. My calendar is on my phone so I have no use for all those diary pages!

Todoodling is a planning method for anyone who thinks mind-map fashion rather than list fashion, or who just likes doodling with pencil on paper. I tried electronic task lists but they didn't show how everything linked up the way I saw it in my head. Then I tried planning in Bento (a database program for Mac) that put my actions into iCal but it was still too linear.

Below is a photo of my studio time record, an idea from Lisa Call's blog. Oh, and while I was looking around her blog for the correct link I came across a great post on Taskboards which I'm going to investigate further. Lisa juggles a full-time job with her art-making and I am in total awe of all that she achieves.

Studio time record

Links for 2009-09-23 [del.icio.us]

2009-09-24T00:00:00-07:00

my next book: “evil plans” | Gapingvoid

2009-09-22T22:13:00.000-05:00

Leaf Shadows

Coming home this evening I noticed the street lamp was casting some fascinating leaf shadows on the concrete. Had to stop and point it out to the kids and take some photos of course. Great thing about snapping away with a camera phone is that no-one is sure that you're not texting so you don't look quite so crazy taking photos of concrete.

Blue chalk on concrete

Of course it's not the first time I've photographed concrete - I find the texture and color of this blue chalk fascinating.

Links for 2009-09-18 [del.icio.us]

2009-09-19T00:00:00-07:00

Sally Mann, photographer

2009-09-10T19:57:00.000-05:00

Untitled (#30) by Sally Mann

From the "Deep South" series

Tea-toned gelatin silver print, 38 x 48 inches

My first introduction to Sally Mann was on Tuesday evening, watching art:21, Series 1:Place. WOW! Gorgeous landscape photography that I would love to cover my walls with, all done with a very ancient camera and process. Having seen her at work on the program I am shocked to find out that she is 20 years older than I am. I need her recipe for eternal youth! I suspect it involves generous pinches of Drive and great dollops of Intensity.

I rented art:21 from Netflix because of Alyson Stanfield's Blast Off class, which has been a great kick-start for me. (Yes, Alyson, I am still reviewing my plan). There's a new class starting Sep 16 and I'm almost tempted to follow along to regain the momentum I had before the summer. And I just joined her twitter book club (#gertrude, starting Sep 14) - all part of my continuing education as an artist that she suggests in the Blast Off! class.

However, in an attempt to leave the world of books and (re)join the real world for a while I took only a sketchbook to wait at piano lessons and came back with Ideas. Not Shiny New Ideas, but reworked ideas that I can take into the studio and work with. They may be Ideas Above My Station though. Since I am a non-objective painter my ideas are the subject and I spend a lot of time poking them with a stick to see what they will do.

And I totally agree with Sally Mann's quote in the short video What Remains - you have to make art from what you love.

Back in the Studio, or not.

2009-08-31T12:08:00.003-05:00

Bark and Vine

It's been slump week here at the studio. Not a lot of progress and lots of whining and work-avoiding. I have totally lost my mojo.

It all went wrong when I tried to force my work in a direction I feel I 'ought' to take. Bad move and a shortcut to avoiding the studio and playing computer games. Oh, and hitting Amazon.com in a big way. Not quite as expensive as a visit to the mall (I did make my own coffee) but I had promised myself I would read the books I already have first. Almost all the purchases are art-related: reading is my procrastination of choice.

Of course, some of this is because I expected too much. I haven't had studio time for 12 weeks and I waltzed in expecting to do something meaningful the first day. I did get off to a good start - the usual playlist on the ipod helped - but then I started on that new direction thing and the muse left the room in disgust.

So, after writing this I will go in the studio a humbler artist and beg my muse's forgiveness. I may even take flowers. And chocolate (although she'd better show up quick if she wants a share of that). I'm going to play and doodle today - no pressure.

A visit to the Whitworth, Manchester

2009-08-05T06:48:00.007-05:00

Triptych: Sliver Birches & Bindweed & Beneath a Rotting Tree by Michael Porter

Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK

At the weekend I went up to visit my old stomping ground, Manchester, where I went to university. Going into the Whitworth Art Gallery, I found they had an exhibition on that was fascinating to me - a real touch of serendipity. The "Deep Rooted" exhibition is all about trees, and introduced me to a contemporary artist, Michael Porter (b. 1948), who paints trees, many of which are from the same wood in Derbyshire.

He walks in the woods making notes, rather than sketches, and then returns to the studio to paint, aiming to capture the memory of a place and its change over time. The paintings grow over time too, taking around six months to complete and involving oil and water based paints. The visual and physical textures on these paintings are fascinating.

The paintings above are hung in the south gallery of the Whitworth, overlooking Whitworth park and the trees outside. They had an iPod with audio files as part of the exhibition and I listened to a couple of tracks that were Michael Porter talking about his work in painting trees. He didn't talk about his materials disappointingly, but he did mention that he takes photographs on his walks. He has been walking in that Derbyshire wood for twenty years and found that he tends to photograph the same trees over and over, recording their appearance and growth over that entire time period.

Sadly the gallery store closed before the gallery (why?) so I didn't see if they had any catalogs for the exhibition or postcards, but I saw from his website that Michael Porter has a book of his paintings.

The Changing Year

2009-08-03T03:52:00.011-05:00

Phases (work in progress)

Caroline Roberts

The seasons swing around and I realize there are only 3 weeks of school holidays left. How did that come around so fast?

This year my youngest starts school full-time and so, assuming I can get the little night owl out of bed, they will both be on the bus at 7:20, returning at 3:10. The same week that they go back I start two classes at Glassell. This term I am taking Color and I'm excited about it - this class has been passed down from Josef Albers.

I will also be taking a Composition workshop, which seems to be a combination of lectures and museum visits lasting only 6 weeks. Between Dianne Mize's excellent series of posts on her Compose blog and this class I am sure to improve and become more confident in my compositional skills.

Excitement about returning to the studio is building up, slowly and deliberately. I do not want to wander in there on the first day back and pick at things or fidget around and finally give up only to check email. I want to hit the ground running with work that will warm me up and get my painting form back quickly. So far my plans include:

Working with the Guerra acrylics. I ordered these some time ago but haven't had time to work with them since they arrived. They need more preparation than regular tube acrylics which will, I hope, result in more control over paint consistency.
Small acrylic panel 'sketches' based on the sketchbook drawings and photos from the summer.
Tidy the studio.
Small acrylic thumbnails of Herne's Oak focusing on value. I think this is the key to heightening drama in this piece. Then, once I have the value structure in place, working on texture in the background to imply a huge, ancient forest.
Finish Phases.

Two Stroke of the Brush awards!

2009-07-30T05:51:00.006-05:00

I feel honored to have received not one, but two, Stroke of the Brush awards almost simultaneously. These awards came from from Marge Bennett over at Art Alive whose paintings have echoes of Matisse for me, and from Laure Ferlita whose Painted Thoughts blog features her inspiring watercolors as well as many great ideas for artists. Thank you Marge and Laure!

The award comes with two duties: share seven things my fellow bloggers don't know about me and then pass the award to seven worthy artists. So here goes.

Seven (random) things about me:

I speak fluent French after spending a year at an engineering school in France.
I love gardening and plants. I am really proud that I have eaten eggplant and peppers from my own garden thus year.
I used to live in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, where I could never have grown eggplant outside!
A few weeks ago I became an Aunt and as I write I am waiting to meet my niece for the first time.
I have run two marathons, both very slowly.
Keeping two children occupied this summer has been easier than I thought. I feel saddened that school restarts in a little over three weeks.
In a bizarre twist Houston, the allergy capital of the world, is the first place I have lived where I do not suffer from allergies!

And now to nominate seven artists from my regular reading...

Rose Welty who draws flowers like an angel

Yellow at A Roker artist with beautiful charcoal and pastel drawings

Tony Moffit's art world where I find lots of useful advice on the art world and galleries

Annie Heckman - got to love someone who gets excited upon finding her roll of duct tape!

OddVenus whose rings I aspire to wear

Robin Maria Pedrero whose pastels of skies draw me in to drool over my computer screen.

Lisa Call who just completed her 100th quilt in the Structures series - an amazing achievement.

Ecstatic Encounters with Art no.1

2009-07-16T22:25:00.005-05:00

Apple Tree in Blossom

Piet Mondrian, Oil on canvas

My first memory of seeing Art is at the Aberdeen Art Gallery and I must have been maybe 7 or 8 years old. My next is going to Arken museum of modern art north of Copenhagen, Denmark when I was 9 or 10. I remember a gold thumb that was about as tall as I was and very detailed with skin texture and thumb print lines. Maybe a model for the thumb at La Défense in Paris? I've been back since and, as an adult, it didn't seem such a magical place, and the thumb was no longer there. I think I was as taken with the white building, blue sky and sunshine as I was with the Art inside. Perhaps a 9 or 10 year old, being more playful than an adult, is more open to cutting edge modern art. It's sad to think that, even as an artist, I haven't kept that same open-minded playfulness but Picasso was right - it is hard to stay a child once grown up.

Although I enjoyed these early encounters with art, I cannot remember many specifics, but my first ecstatic encounter with art was as a 13 year old. My mum (mom) was studying Modern Art with the Open University (a distance learning college in the UK) and was often doing her homework whilst we did ours. She showed me Mondrian's trees - one of which was definitely Apple Tree in Blossom above, and asked me what I thought the painting was of. I knew right away that it was a tree and we had a discussion about the roots of abstraction. I think her studies were the start of my love for abstract art.

Mondrian (1872-1944) was a de Stijl artist and Theosophist who believed "that his paintings could change the objective conditions of human life."
Robert Hughes, The Shock of the New

Mondrian came to abstraction from Expressionism, via Cubism applied to nature (his trees). He was very religious and saw his grid paintings as 'icons' for Theosophy.

Recently we discussed Mondrian and the grid in Abstract Essentials at Glassell - how Mondrian looked at man, trees, buildings and their verticality against the horizontal of the flat Dutch landscape - and from his tree and then ocean/pier paintings developed his grids.

"We find that in nature all relations are dominated by a single primordial relation, which is defined by the opposition of two extremes. Abstract plasticism represents this primordial relation in a precise manner by means of the two positions which form the right angle. This positional relation is the most balanced of all, since it expresses in a perfect harmony the relation between two extremes, and contains all other relations."
Piet Mondrian, "Natural Reality and Abstract Reality", 1919
quoted from Theories of Modern Art, Herschel B. Chipp

He believed that true abstraction should be verticals and horizontals with primary colors only, and argued with his friend Theo van Doesburg, the founder of the de Stijl group about this as Doesbury used diagonals in his work.

"Doesburg, in his late work, tried to destroy static expression by a diagonal arrangement of the lines of his compositions. But through such an emphasis the feeling of physical equilibrium which is necessary for the enjoyment of a work of art is lost. The relationship with architecture and its vertical and horizontal dominants is lost."
Piet Mondrian, statement, ca. 1943
quoted from Theories of Modern Art, Herschel B. Chipp

Personally I like the diagonals and the angles in these earlier tree paintings of Mondrian's - the very angles which he later rejected - but I grew up in Scotland which is all angles and slopes, would I feel differently if I came from a flat country like Holland?

Drawing glassware

2009-07-07T06:00:00.003-05:00

Conte sketch of glasses

Today's daily sketch of a selection of glasses. Like Morandi I plan to draw these over several days, trying to capture the complicated pattern of reflections and shadows and lose the outlines of the glasses. The outlines and the shadows ended up too heavy (in my opinion) in this sketch. But that's what practice is for!

Georgio Morandi: Still Life (1916)

This is one of my favorite Morandi paintings. I love the muted colors and the flat shapes of the bottles and pitchers. His paintings generally have a serenity to them that I enjoy, but this one seems to have a movement with the serenity, like a graceful dance. I think it comes from the portrait format, the long bottle shapes and the acute angles of the shadows.

Ben Nicholson: 1945 (still life)

I haven't read enough on either artist to know for sure, but I do think that Morandi's work influenced Ben Nicholson's still life paintings. I like the way that Nicholson added his own twist to cubism. He separates outline from form and somehow achieves unmistakable depth using flat shapes. I think it's those cunning slivers of shadows.

With these two masters as my guides I shall be tackling those glasses again...

Drawing Every Day

2009-06-25T08:52:00.001-05:00

Frangipani sketch, charcoal and graphite on paper

One of my big goals this summer is to make a habit of drawing something every day. I know that the practice will improve that skill and give me so much more range as a painter. Three days ago I got going and drew a cup and saucer from life, and yesterday I drew this Frangipani flower from a photograph. Sometimes I found it easier to keep turning the picture 90 degrees - I find it easier to judge a curve against the vertical than the horizontal for some reason. I'm pretty pleased with this and (if approved) it will be on the cover of my sister's wedding invitation.

castle reward chart

A quick detour - the above scan is my 'reward' chart that I made to encourage myself in forming my new drawing habit. I'm trying to emphasize visually to myself how every action I take to improve a skill or make connections will help build my 'castle'. Hey, it works for the kids! I made one for my daughter but she started filling hers in from the turrets. Guess I should have started with turrets in the air and built down to the ground too!

Herne's Oak: A work in progress

2009-06-10T22:50:00.000-05:00

Herne's Oak, this morning
48"x48", acrylic on canvas
©2008 Caroline Roberts

Herne's Oak is a painting I 'finished' a year ago. Except that I wasn't finished, I was just stuck. The painting didn't have the drama and mystery I wanted but I was afraid to mess up what I did like about it.

After a year of looking at it on my wall I'm no longer afraid to change things around - that intense initial attachment to the painting has faded. Plus I have more experience and my abstract studies have given me a lot of insights. I'm building up the contrast to heighten the drama and I'm trying to clarify the fantastic branch shapes that I love. In the process a whole tree disappeared, branches moved around and Herne's owl eyes and antlers got pushed back to glare eerily at you through the ghostly trees.

Herne's Oak, work-in-progress
48"x48", acrylic on canvas
©2008 Caroline Roberts

Herne the Hunter was a huntsman at Windsor Forest for King Richard II. Legend has it that he was caught poaching in the forest and was hung from an oak tree, now known as Herne's Oak.

I first came across Herne whilst reading Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series as a child. In the second book Herne comes in as a Wild Huntsman who flies across the winter sky with the face of an owl and the antlers of a deer. Since then I've found other references to a similar huntsman in Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy that has him as Arawn, the King of the Otherworld. So this painting should be dramatic and downright eery to do the legend justice.

I plan on bringing out the front ghost horse a little more. I also want to push the central tree back by lightening it and blending it into the background somewhat. I think it is too central to be so dramatic. I checked the circularity of the moon (good old Photoshop!) and, as I guessed, my moon is off a tad at the left. The red sky will be gradated - enough that it makes the moon glow but not so much that I lose the branches (I hope).

Perhaps I need to use highlights to make the branches glow in the moonlight, then I can have a darker sky at the edge?. By adding layers of paint I have lost some of the ghostly, other-worldliness that I wanted, tomorrow I shall try and regain that.

Blasting off with a Dream

2009-06-08T22:18:00.000-05:00

Vision Board

Did I mention that I'm taking the Blast Off! class with Alyson Stanfield yet? Wow, what an experience it has been and we're only at day 4. I'm afraid to ask what comes next.

Day 2's assignment was to create a Vision Board (see above) which I finally finished today. I'm really pleased with it and surprised by some of the images that made the cut. What is a patchwork quilt doing there? Or a stack of teacups?! I don't know yet why they are on the board, but they evoke memories of making things with my grandmother: sewing projects and such.

Which brings me to something else. Just as I thought I had the direction of my work all figured out, this exercise brought my loves of lettering and fabric back into the light. What is that all about? I thought I'd managed to focus on one skill area at last.

They say you can tell the power of a dream by the resistance it creates in you. If that's right then this dream points true north. My Inner Editor (that hateful beast) keeps screaming "You can't do this with children! This kind of yoga, outdoor, artist life is for singles in their twenties. Grow up!". Nasty, isn't she.

Defying gravity is hard work.

Summer Schedules

2009-06-02T14:21:00.000-05:00

Pencils and sketchpads at the ready!

Ah, June. It's officially Summer now: swim team is under way and school is out on Thursday. I haven't been in the studio for about 4 weeks, with my youngest begin out of school already, and it has really been getting to me. I have new bodies of work to get going on here! It's very ironic since I just wrote about finding time to create, in fact I wrote that as a reminder to myself that this would be happening and I would need to adapt.

Having been reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit, it finally got through to my slow brain that I need to reframe my thoughts. I was thinking "How can I get studio time?" which was totally defeating. I reframed this to "I have lost my studio and the ability to paint, how can I still create?". I looked at what I can still do - I don't bring my acrylics into the house for safety reasons, but sketchbooks and pencils do not spark my daughter (age 4) to demand that I 'share' my art materials with her. She has her own.

I know I need to spend more time drawing from life and I am trying to view this as an extended sketching trip, collecting material to use in studio paintings later. I have never worked quite this way before. I like my studio and without the location prompting me to work I find it hard to settle into creating. I get distracted easily, and not just by the kids. The computer is the worst, but even the housework can get me on a bad day. Working in other locations is a skill I need to develop however.

All the necessary supplies have been moved into the house so I am ready to go as soon as I've set the kids up with their own projects. I am going to try out colored pencils and little sketching trips. I may even grow to like the watercolor pencils I got so long ago!

How often do you look back through your sketchbooks? In my case, not very often, so I will also look back through older sketchbooks and pull out notes relevant to my new work.

Finishing creative projects in the house is something else that can be done. I think that clearing these things up allows some space to clear in your mind so that new ideas can come in. I have some photo collages to finish and reference photos and clippings to sort out - how about you?

Tomorrow I start Alyson Stanfield's Blast Off class, which is very exciting. I have had art school projects to drive me to the easel for the last 3 years but now I know that I am ready to work alone. Since I can't get in the studio to paint anyhow I will enjoy working on goal-setting.

If the school holidays affect your work, how do you cope? If you cannot create as you normally would right now, how can you reframe your thoughts and find new ways to create and move forward?

On Finding a Body of Work

2009-05-28T20:57:00.000-05:00

Phases (work in progress)

"For many artists, the act of creating a work of art is analogous to following a train of thought, developing and reworking ideas that may or may not come together to form a successful piece."
Daniel Grant in How to Grow as an Artist

Rightly or wrongly, it has bothered me for a long time that I have no consistent style of work. Some might say that that is a good thing, that one should never get in a rut. However, I feel that I need to settle into a coherent body of work. It does not have to be for ever but I need to find and focus on my 'question'. I feel that it will give me an overarching goal or structure to my day-to-day work.

At our final Abstract Essentials class we discussed this need to settle on one vein of work at a time. We each had several paintings up and Arielle told us to "pick a card" from our selection that we would carry further after class. When it was my turn in the critique I had two paintings up, in very different styles, and I commented that my mind was yelling "Just pick a card already!" but that I couldn't choose: these paintings represent two different sides of me, ordered and flat vs. organic and layered.

To my immense surprise Arielle said I could have both cards - but no more than two. By working in two directions there was a possibility that one day something would click and a whole new series of work would emerge from the combination. They would meld somehow into a third, better thing. Doors flung wide open in my mind - no more struggling to decide, no more feeling that the hard-edges are not enough.

'Not enough' for what? I keep thinking that it is too easy for me, as if easy were bad. I'm falling into the 'work on your weaknesses' falsehood again. Where did I get that mindset?

Hard-edged abstraction looks simple but it is deceptive - these paintings take hours and hours to complete. The colors have to be just right in relation to each other; the curved edges are painted by hand; transferring those geometric shapes onto the canvas and taping edges takes a day. Simple is hard, but also meditative to work on.

Branches (work in progress)

I am also drawn to trees: their mythology, their role in the ecosystem, their varied and beautiful shapes and colors. I like to abstract them to attempt to pull all these sides together, but I am still figuring out my own way to do that.

Working on my artist statement using Alyson Stanfield's ebook is clarifying the ideas and themes in my newly accepted bodies of work. It is making me look deeply at my work and unearth new or forgotten ideas. I'm really excited to get working on my two 'cards' now with a fresh sense of purpose.

How about you? Do you feel you have an overarching narrative or theme to your work?

Ideas and other temptations

2009-05-20T10:12:00.001-05:00

My desk. This was taken right before Hurricane Ike - the hurricane tracker is on the screen!

"Good ideas are only given to you for a limited amount of time. If you don't act on them, they belong to someone else."
Steven Spielberg

I have a confession to make: I cannot finish a thing. Shiny new ideas are my addiction. But when my son's teacher told us "he starts a lot of projects but doesn't finish any" I realized I have to search out some solutions. If I can learn how to finish more of my work perhaps I can help him.

My current perspective is that I don't finish stuff because I don't have enough time. I read countless productivity tips and try organizing, reorganizing, scheduling, planning, making lists... In other words, following the cookie crumb trail of New Ideas. In my mind, each new tip is The One, the one that will change my world from upstream struggle to success. I'm slowly realizing that this perspective is false. I do have enough time - I just have too many ideas. By trying to act on all of them I am failing to truly act on any of them. I have to let some go and keep the ideas that are a great fit for my personality, interests and abilities.

Part of the problem is finding that fit. There are lots of things I like to do, and even more things that I could do. But that range of abilities and interests is a poisoned chalice - I always have too many projects on the go: so much choice has paralyzed me mentally. I need to learn to select ideas and projects to drop (and eventually not start!) - to use the To Stop list more effectively.

Join me on my quest to figure out how an 'idea junkie' can learn to channel Completer-Finisher behaviour, at least occasionally. Wish me, and my son, luck!

Onward and Upward

2009-05-12T06:57:00.002-05:00

"My challenge for you today is to replace your “wants” with what you NEED to get there. When you catch yourself dreaming, write down a list of everything you need to do that would make that dream a reality—and then start doing them, one at a time."
Dan on Empty Easel: What we Want Versus What we Need: The Artist’s Dilemma

Since the end of my class at Glassell and with summer looming over me I have been planning a little, then this morning I saw the above quote on Empty Easel and it really kicked me into planning mode.

My want is to feel that my painting is of a high quality and that I have a language of marks and shapes and colors that is my own.

I'm part-way there.

Now I need to make a plan of what I need to do to get my 'want'. Inspired by Kim Bennett's Back to the Drawing Board plan I have been thinking of little actions I can take over the summer:

Work in my sketchbook every day, focussing on shapes and composition - I like Kim's idea to do this over breakfast. I also plan to do this by the pool during swim team practice. I'm sure sunscreen marks on the page will spark some inspiration!
Revisit PIne Tree (above) and develop it into a small series.
Explore the new Guerra paints I ordered from their wonderful paint store in New York. These arrived within a week of that blog entry but are still sitting on my desk unopened.

I also realized what is on the other side of the Dip: a feeling that however hard it gets I will never give up painting and struggling to express myself in visual forms. As Georgia O'Keeffe put it:

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.”
link: Georgia O'Keeffe quotes

How can I find time to create?!

2009-04-29T19:48:00.005-05:00

My Ideas Board as of this morning

Friends and neighbors often ask me "How do you find time to paint? I don't know how you do all this". Mostly it just takes determination, but here a few tips I picked up along the way:

Finding Time

The most common advice I see for fitting in a new activity is to schedule it as an appointment, and then keep that appointment as you would any other. I agree with this - it works and over time will make creative time an essential habit. It sounds so simple but there is a first step that is almost never mentioned: before you start making appointments (only to break them or let them slide by because something else gets in the way), you must make a commitment. You have to be committed to keeping those appointments or rescheduling only if you have to.

Vague ideas to be 'more creative' will not happen. Make the time. Perhaps schedule a creative playdate with a friend, preferably one who is not too chatty!

If you think you have NO time at all in your week try this: keep an hour-by-hour note of your activities throughout the day - from waking to sleeping. If you have a job to go to you can simply blank that section of time out of course! Note down your energy levels too - are you buzzing in the mornings or are you a night owl? You need to know your best time of day to work. From these notes you should be able to identify a window or two when you could create - perhaps instead of watching TV or surfing the web.

Location, Location, Location

Do you have a place where you do your creative work? It doesn't have to be a dedicated studio, it can be the kitchen table, but does it have good light? Do you enjoy working there? There may be some simple changes you can make, like rotating a desk so you get more light from the window.

Where are your supplies stored? They should be close by your work area and all together. Being able to quickly pull out a box and get going makes a huge difference.

This all brings me to one thing: distractions. What are yours? Mine are the computer, annoying levels of mess and New Projects. I can wander off on a New Project tangent for days. Try and have your work area isolated from your main distractions!

Flexibility, a.k.a. Yoga for Schedules

As my friend Anne says, "Stuff happens". Actually she isn't as polite about it as that, but she's right - stuff does happen. Sometimes the stuff is out of our control and all we can do is cope. Sometimes the stuff is actually bad planning - taking on way too much all at the same time.

For these reasons, our schedules need to be able to adapt and then have the creative windows reappear. Some things you can try:

Have an essentials list - these are the things you absolutely MUST do each day or week in order to feel balanced and sane. This list might include taking a bath, swimming, drinking enough water, writing in a journal for 15 minutes or spending 15 minutes a day with your sketchbook. These are the things that you will keep up even when the world goes crazy around you so that you will be able to cope.
If time crunches become too regular then make a "to stop" list - a list of activities you will give up so that you can find more time to be creative.
Write out your commitments for the next 3-12 months and keep a rolling calendar of these - don't let your 'current projects' list get too long: 3 is more than enough and yes, major family activities are a project. Are there any clashes? Do too many projects fall due the same week or month?

Small Steps

But what if your schedule goes up in the air like this - how do you get back into the studio? When all is chaos, do NOT stop doing creative things, just scale them down. One secret in getting back to work is to never truly stop. Try to spend moments with a sketchbook, or flick through your idea books. Stressed? Tidy and clean your workspace so that you are ready to go when you are better able to focus and be creative.

Getting Back into your Stride

If you didn't manage to keep working it can be hard to get going again. Perhaps you lack an idea or can't remember where you left off. Believe me when I say that the hardest part is starting - even if you rearrange your pens or paints for 30 minutes you will have started. For some reason a tidy work surface is a magnet for new creative work. If that doesn't do it for you, pull out a book and try a new technique or play with color exercises. Spend your entire, scheduled creative time doing something, however hard it feels. It will get easier.

I find it helps to have some kind of goals and long-term structure to my creative time. For a while I got this from external courses, but now I have a self-imposed goal to direct my work: I'm working on a series of paintings on the theme of trees. Even without access to classes a structure can be found: Krista Meister has set herself a self-directed curriculum of art studies. Very inspiring!

And what do I, personally do?

I try not to schedule too much into a single week or over-commit on other activities. I do volunteer at the school but mainly in the classroom and never more than I am happy to do.

It helps that my studio space is in the garage, away from the house, the phone and the computer. And only 10 seconds commute time. I go out there with my coffee as soon as the youngest is in school (9a.m.) and stay there until it's time to pick her up (12 or 2:30). If I run out of ideas or things to work on I tidy up a bit, make some fresh coffee and then push some ideas around in a sketchbook.

Writing this post has been a great reminder for me - 'stuff' has really happened and I'm reminded that I need to re-focus on the most important things and put the rest on hold.

Some blogs that have helped me treat my creative time as working time and learn to be a freelancer:
Productive Flourishing
Zen Habits

To my blog and its readers

2009-04-22T19:37:00.004-05:00

With a commitment to building a more vibrant blog, I signed up for the 4-week Blog Triage class with Cynthia Morris and Alyson Stanfield. Today’s assignment is to describe the people I want to visit and read my blog.

I once read an excellent Wanted Ad for a house, which I really enjoyed reading and felt was a very creative way of describing, and making real, a desire or need. I thought I would write my assignment in a similar fashion.

Wanted: Fabulous blog readers for discussions late into the night

I'm looking for a community of blog readers for discussions about art and the creative life. You would be interested in art, whether artists, crafters, collectors, curators - people who love art and want to talk about it.

You are curious people who want to discuss all kinds of art-related topics. We may not always agree but when we disagree, however strongly, it is with respect.

You come from across the globe and are all ages. Many of you will be people I would never normally have met because we come from such different places or cultures. You are at all levels of the creative life and come here to learn and to help.

We discuss materials, art-making, art-viewing, exhibitions, books, life-art balance, learning, all kinds of things via comments and on each others' blogs. However, many of you do not have a blog but enjoy being part of an online community and resource and you create profiles so you can do just that. One day I hope that some of you will write guest posts.

I hear that back in the 60s and 70s everyone knew everyone else in the New York art world and there were a lot of discussions in bars late at night. That sense of community and cooperation seems to have been lost for many reasons. Maybe, just maybe, we can capture a little of that here, online. Maybe we can discuss art late a night because well, it's always late-at-night somewhere online isn't it?! It will be bring-your-own-timezone-appropriate-drink though. Right now mine is coffee -cheers and welcome!

After the show

2009-04-18T10:01:00.005-05:00

What a fun and busy evening! I had some fantastic discussions with my guests and was surprised (very pleasantly) by their views of my paintings. I was especially surprised by reactions to one painting in particular (the one above) - reactions ranged from "I love it!" to "I can't bear to look". I also noticed that there were stronger and more positive reactions to paintings that had come from a greater emotion even when that emotion wasn't the actual subject of the painting. I do wish I'd thought to have someone take a few photos during the evening - my husband and I were way too busy talking to our guests.

Talking about my work and answering questions is always great for sparking ideas and thoughts about what I do, but it does also make me feel a little fragile for a day or so. Like I bared my soul to someone and I'm not sure if they'll ever speak to me again. Don't know why I'm worried - I'm excited that a few people mentioned they would like to visit the studio so I am planning an Open Studio event for June. In fact, a lady from my neighborhood stopped me in the carpool line today and specifically asked that I let her know next time I do anything.

Wonderfully I did not get hit by the post-show struggle to get back to work as recently described on Tracy Helgeson's blog. Perhaps because I hung the paintings a week or so before the reception and perhaps because I still have plenty of work in progress. I got back from the show determined to tackle a new body of work that's been buzzing around in my head for a while- more on that later in the week!

On a totally different subject, I have signed up for a blog triage with Alyson Stanfield. It starts tomorrow and I'm really excited. I have ideas and intentions but I need something like this to hold me to a timeline and hopefully get past the perfectionism that wants to have every i dotted and t crossed before I post.

Exhibition hanging

2009-04-02T11:30:00.003-05:00

Harvest coffee exhibition

It's been a busy, busy week since we got back from NYC, and on Saturday afternoon I hung a wall-full of paintings at Harvest coffee in Houston. The exhibition is simply titled "New Work" and is all work done in the last 12 months. Harvest have two walls that they use to exhibit works by local artists - sometimes photography, sometimes paintings, sometimes mosaics. They also have live jazz two nights a week, on Mondays and Thursday; and they make a wonderful soy latte. With that, free wi-fi and more sofas than the national coffee chain, what's not to love?

I will be sending out invitations to an artist's reception in the next few days - to get a copy sign up for my mailing list.

Remember the acrylic paint store, Guerra paints, I mentioned last time? I have ordered my first set of paints from them and I'm very excited! I ordered a very basic palette of pigment dispersions - 2 blues, 2 yellows, 1 red (I have a ton of red tubes left) and 2 whites. I did say basic - right back to my first color mixing lessons basic. Also the acrylic base and the thickener. As soon as they arrive I will start experimenting and I'll put the results here. I'm hoping to get a huge range of paint consistencies without foaming or binding issues. I will also try mixing the paints I make with the paints and mediums I already have.

Harvest coffee exhibition, part 2

On a different subject I have been loving Luann Udell's 25 Random Things: Action Steps for your Artist's Statement. I finally realized last night that my statement is not about all the work I will ever do (including in the future) but only about what I do right now. I don't know why that wasn't obvious to me before. Such a perfectionist!

Guerra acrylics - a fantastic paint store I discovered

2009-03-21T20:35:00.001-05:00

Guerra acrylics paint chart
Originally uploaded by Caro R

Today I found the most fantastic paint store in East village, Manhattan, and they ship! It's called "Guerra paint and pigment" and this is the beautiful color chart painted on the wall of their store. The owner showed me how to mix the pure pigment (ready dispersed in a carrier) into acrylic binder, which makes an acrylic a little more viscous than Golden fluid acrylics, but which can be diluted up to 600% with water. Then he added a couple of squirts of thickener as I stirred and we made tube consistency paint. It was easy to do and has me very interested in all the potential for getting exactly the paint I want!
They also have flat, or matte, acrylic bases and urethane bases which dry ultra clear and glass-like if you use transparent pigments. Glass beads or other solids can be mixed into the acrylics, as can metallics to make any color you could wish for, although again, transparents like pthalo green work best.
I don't have all the pricing details, but I suspect it could run cheaper for me than all the various gels and mediums, fluid and tube colors I purchase now. Once I get back to Houston I plan on ordering a few basics and trying them out. Results will, of course, be posted here.
Their website is http://www.guerrapaint.com and their address is 510 E 13th street, New York. I'm posting via flickr on my phone so I apologize for the lack of live links.

Reading "the dip"

2009-03-15T22:03:00.001-05:00

Mosaic ceiling in Central Park
Originally uploaded by Caro R

It's great to be on spring break, we all needed the rest. I snapped this pic on our long walk through the park today, following the things Jack and Annie see in "Blizzard of the Blue Moon", one of the Magic Tree House books. We found Baldo, the angel fountain and Belvedere Castle, and on Tuesday we'll go to the Cloisters to see the unicorn tapestries.

This evening I read "the dip" by Seth Godin. His description of the dip reminded me of the 10,000 hours of practice it takes to become really great at something. Not that getting through the dip takes that long, but that most people will give up in the middle of the dip when they get to be just OK at something and are not prepared to pay the price to become great. Seth also talks about the need to quit sometimes: to quit the things that aren't working or the things that we are not passionate about. This is something that I have tried to do more of recently, although I have thought of it as 'focusing'. I feel encouraged to continue my efforts - I am so curious that I find it hard to be as single-minded as I need to be.

The book is very short and approachable and I read it in about an hour, but I'll be thinking about its implications for much, much longer.

Art Expo - what a crazy day!

2009-03-12T19:52:00.005-05:00

Pine Tree

2007, Caroline Roberts, 36"x36"

Today I was at the Art Exposition at my son's school. My head is reeling. Four hours sitting at a table talking to elementary age kids about my art. I had an hour to set up and then barely a break all day. Chatting to those kids was so much fun - there were several groups that I had really interesting conversations with. Several of the third and fourth graders really seemed to 'get' the idea of abstract art and I had a long chat with one guy who looked like his mind exploded when we discussed how the simpler paintings were harder to do! Seeing a lightbulb go on inside someone's head is just amazing, maybe I should do some teaching?

I wrote and printed up 100 copies of a newsletter and handed out every single one. While I was at the expo I noted down a few things that I learnt for next time:
- I need more handouts, maybe even postcards, the kids love to get "stuff".
- Have some small paintings on the table: everyone looked at the table before they looked at the backboard where the paintings were hanging.
- The Moms that lead the kids round have a definite bias to the jewelry tables. Not sure how I can compete there!
- Tables where there were demos going on were popular. Maybe I can do some actual painting next time.

Things I did that worked well:
- I had sketchbooks and larger color studies on the table and I found that kids and adults alike were interested to hear how I worked on ideas. So many people think we just walk up to a blank canvas and paint.
- Kids love to be asked about their favorite things to draw and their favorite colors.
- I let them touch some color studies and one painting and they loved this. Next time I shall bring small color studies with loads of textures - the showy stuff is fascinating to them.
- the business cards with different paintings on them. Was so glad I didn't use any of my old vistaprint ones when I saw several of the other exhibitors with standard vistaprint cards.

I'm proud of myself for just getting there and having a newsletter and business cards - there's been so much sickness in our house the last month. My son and I have coughs that have led to infections and asthma, so I also have continual jitters from the albuterol. I am so glad that spring break starts tomorrow for us and I have a week off. New York here I come! Really. I am so excited... I am going to try posting by email but who knows if I'll manage to get photos as well as text? This will be one big, fun experiment!