I am currently back hard at work on the four by eight foot mural project in acrylics of Zavikon Island. Time seems to heal all things... and "Patience"... is indeed a virtue. The shoulder and neck problems are all but gone and I decided to work on the upper areas of the mural which allowed me to paint in a more normal painting posture.
Here is a close up of one area on the upper left of the panel where I have spent a single session resolving it to a reasonable state of finish. I call this strategy "spotting"... working around the whole surface area rather than working top to bottom... or left to right. This insures better colour and value harmony uniformly across the grid as one progresses.
This image shows the current state of finish... as I close in on finishing work and a conclusion to the project.
I more carefully plan my daily work and work in shorter sessions. The heat and humidity really plays havoc with the speed of drying... and therefore the ability to blend colours successfully. I have used my usual rapid attack methods from my oil painting method and it seems to work at this point.
I am obsessive-compulsive by nature... driven by impulse and a trial-and-error approach to many of my tasks and decisions. But life has taught me to slow down and to measure my step more carefully. More often than not, reflection and rest provide more productive results than fumbling about... and guessing. These strategies bridle that impulsivity and reduce failure and cul-du-sacs.
Patience...
Now back to "Patience". Patience has a double-entendre value in the post.... introduced by the wily intervention of the unpredictable Universe.
I was contacted a week or so ago by a Marietta Gregg in a lovely... but totally unexpected email. I am normally very wary about such online contacts because they can in fact bring one much grief. However... the contents intrigued me to the point of actually leading me to conduct a Google search to better educate myself about this mystery woman and her motives for choosing to contact me.
She had introduced herself as the Marketing Director at Patience Brewster. Further to that information... she related openly to me that Patience Brewster was her artist-mother... a highly successful designer and creator of handmade and handcrafted unique gifts and ornaments.
She invited me to explore further her reasons for reaching out to me on behalf of herself and her mother's company... by visiting her mother's website www.patiencebrewster.com ... her blog. Check out the Christmas Ornaments
Upon visiting these... I felt reassured enough to contact Marietta directly to pose the question: "How can I serve you and your project? And what cache might I bring to you... that you don't already have?"
She revealed that she had actually stumbled across my blog and was drawn to its transparent nature and willingness to reach out and share with other artists. Using their Artist Appreciation Month initiative, they seek to spotlight artists who share goals and the passion for creating in their site to link ideas with other artists and their clients.
She has since sent me a series of five very pointed questions to both celebrate my work... and to learn more about what fuels my passion to create. In my next post, I hope to answer these questions and I will share them with you here. As usual... my creative process and my thinking are the productive of "Two Voices".
My artistic and life journeys have been inextricably linked since early childhood. I have never viewed them, or felt them as separate... which likely accounts for ever present references to my life experiences in this art blog. I feel that the transparency of my sharing either journey adds further insight into the processes of how I live... think and create.
My art is deeply affected by events in my daily life... people that I meet... interesting natural sightings... and the collision with outside influences such as music... radio and newspaper. My work kneads together all of these life ingredients into a "dough"... which when baked in my "oven" becomes my "daily bread."
My post this morning exemplifies how this process works and as well... points out that my process also belongs to my beloved daughter in her work. Though hers at present is an academic art journey and is heavily governed by research and teaching... it began in a high school art classroom where a special mentor encouraged the art spark into a passion which has led her to carry and to share that flame with her around the world to students and peer scholars.
This morning, I shall set out to demonstrate to you how Art weaves together lives. How Art breathes life... Joy and Hope into the most dire of life experiences. Art is all about Passion... and therefore Love. This post will present evidence in pictures and words that... "Love conquers all."
Let's back the bus back to Friday, September 11th, 2015... back to a milestone event in my daughter Allison... and her family's life journey together. The event takes place in the oncology unit at Kingston General Hospital and marks the conclusion of Allison's eight gruelling chemotherapy treatments which commenced in June.
Nothing could have convinced me... or any of us a year ago that our "continuing education" paths would lead us together to this moment and place. But for me personally... the journey has indeed been an education into a vast and confusing labyrinth of faces... feelings and facts about a world that I had never visited. I remain somewhat overwhelmed and bewildered... but I am better educated... and more deeply grateful for the substance of my learning.
I do not wish to upset or overwhelm any of you with details, I wish simply to share the message and gift of Love that our family has been blessed to gain... in the hopes that it might cause you to pause in your separate lives to feel more grateful for your own health... lives and your creative pursuits. I will let these images appropriately do most of the talking for the remainder of this post.
Friends... "stick"... together!!!
"Let's get at 'er..."
Allie shares her daily care cards... one by one with each team member
My draw... how appropriate between Allie and I...
Sited... or sighted... on Allie's ankle - a love talisman woven for her by one of her students... just one of many other student creations... even a patchwork quilt worn at her first chemo treatment. Love and art inextricably entwined!
... and from the Dean of her department... yes... the "Finger"... a cast of the dean's own hand bedecked with the pink Ribbon of Hope. Pretty well says it all... in an appropriately irreverent artful gesture. The power of Art!
Fresh pictures from Wee Mac... for Auntie Allie. Bro' Andyrewster... as always the Jester and lead carrier of the Sherman Smile and Laughter Corp! Thank you Son!
Nurse-Navigator-Friend Cheryl Barber... our beloved Lady of Hope... more laughter and mayhem in the making!
A model of Courage... Humility and Pride... Most beautiful are "You" dear Allison!
The Queen of Chemo on her Throne... soon to be
... unplugged!
To the great joy of Team Allie
Left is Dawn... who brings the Light to each day at Queen's for Allie... The Queen ... and Dad
Andyrewster... Mom the Miracle Worker... and best friend ALWAYS... Elana
Allie celebrating the end of chemo ritual... "Ringing the Bell" which signifies the departure from dreaded "Chemo Lane" with new vigor and renewed Hope for better Health. As we left the chemo parlour as a celebrating family... I was deeply touched... no moved to tears to see the faces of each of the other chemo recipients smile as broadly and genuinely as if it were they themselves who were leaving. Such a bitter-sweet moment... Love conquers ALL!!!
Allie always her own alchemist... adds her own "Bell tone". Gonging up on Cancer... with her borrowed yoga gong...
The clan Simpson-Sherman... "Love shines..."
To close out this post... I dedicate this post to Nurse Cheryl Barber and all of the oncology nursing and support staff. We could not have faced this labyrinth of fear and hurt without each of you. Know that your tireless daily contributions on behalf of all cancer patients makes the ordeal bearable and more palatable.
Rich blessings and our deepest gratitude to all of you on behalf of we Shermans! Love can conquer ALL... when we stand as one in Faith... Hope and Purpose!
Musical variations have been successfully used by composers and musicians since the fourteenth century to delve further into ideas which they feel merit deeper thought and development. The term variations... is described as a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form.
The changes may involve: harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration, or... any combination of those musical facets mentioned above. Classical music icons ranging from the likes of Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn used this technique frequently.
Here is a brief, playful... and entertaining musical interlude from Mozart's musical and artistic genius to demonstrate clearly the use of variation.
Go for it Wolfie!!!
The use of this technique can be traced right across the full musical spectrum into modern music and particularly in the genre of jazz... where improvisation is a key component. Perhaps the most beloved use of variation in the modernist classical genre are "The Goldberg Variations" performed by the late Canadian classical pianist, Glenn Gould.
In my art, I continue to use extrapolation interchangeably with variation, as an exploratory device. Extrapolation might not however, infer complete repetition... but rather a mimicking through inference of certain aspects of an known and previously developed idea.
Variation and Extrapolation As Creative Tools First Phase
I offer this collection of variations on a particular landscape theme to demonstrate my process. The initial exploration came from my an imaginary view which I considered an extrapolation of Algonquin Park memories expressed uncharacteristically for me... in an almost purely abstract manner.
Although it felt uncomfortable to be working outside of my usual impressionistic preferences, the sense of release and freedom provided an avenue of new thought which I hoped to explore further. The resulting small sketch in many ways I felt, accurately mimicked the wildness of the Park landscape and fully included each of its basic elements of water... granite shield rock... firs... birches and rich fall color. But it did so making use of those elements in a playful and stylized fashion.
"Autumn Fantasia" - oil on panel 10x8 inches
Second Phase
Two years later, I was asked to present a fall painting workshop for the East Central Ontario Artists Association at Geneva Park. I decided to offer a workshop entitled Supersize Me!... based upon taking a small sketch and developing it into a larger painting.
I chose the Fantasia piece and developed its 10x8 format by tripling it proportionally into a 30x24 inch painting. I maintained the general compositional elements... but as can be seen I spent more attention defining and modelling shapes and colour closer to my own impressionistic style. Note however, that a playfulness and semi-abstract is maintained in some areas of the painting.
The landscape motif itself is recognizably an Algonquin Park-Haliburton Highlands setting.
"Les Berceuses d-Automne" (Autumn Lullabies)
oil on canvas 30x24 inches
Third Phase
I was offered a second opportunity to do a painting demonstration for the ECOAA at its Winter Retreat at Bark Lake, located north of Peterborough. I decided that since many of the members had either been part of the Supersize Me workshop... or had seen the resulting canvas that I would extend challenge further for myself... and at the same time demonstrate how plein air experience permits one to create beyond what is front of one. I wished to illustrate how outdoor painting reinforces visual memory and extends a truly creative spirit and approach to one's painting process.
"Algonquin in Winter"
oil on canvas 18x14 inches
I used the Berceuse autumn painting as my reference... but produced a winterscape on a black acrylic toned canvas. I made no attempt to draw, but rather washed in blocks to very roughly set up the compositional design. My goal was to paint alla prima ... that is... directly and quickly in the same fashion that I normally use when painting outdoors in winter. "A stroke laid is a stroke stayed" rule is fully in effect in this painting... leaving the tell tale painterly signs of loaded brushwork.
I tried as well to develop a warm...muted... soft pastel colour harmony to counter the cooler bluish shadow colours. I added warm colour surprises in a few selected places to add pop and interest for the eye. This painting exemplifies my impressionistic style more closely than the preceding two landscapes... and was totally completed in two hours.The landscape continues to maintain identifiably Algonquin features. But note: a small fir appears to the right... nudging the birches closer to the centre of the painting - a new extrapolation ... and deviance from the original variation!
Fourth Phase
I returned to my Paint Box Gallery studio in Hillsdale... greatly inspired by the reception that those attending offered the Winter in Winter piece. I sprang immediately into the production of a 36x30 inch gallery wrap canvas... this time bent upon making this new variation more refined... more like my usual Self when I settle into a project that I am fully committed. The painting fairly painted itself and soon found a new home... almost freshly painted on the easel.
The fir trees assume a more energetic and playful stance in stark contrast with the erect birch branches. This is intended to add a sense of movement and a stateliness to an otherwise static winter landscape. The light is heightened to create a more spiritual aura for the painting.
"Minuet d'Hiver" (Winter Minuet)
oil on canvas 36x30 inches
Fifth Stage
The last of these variations on this theme was created a full five years after the last version. The "Idea" resurfaced during the time when I was preparing for my spring solo show in Kingston. I became aware through Deb and her contact with The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Network that our Thousand Islands region was a part of this UNESCO World Heritage Reserve... which include an area stretching back up through the Muskokas right to Algonquin Park to the north... and then southward right into the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.
What I suddenly came to fully appreciate for the first time was that the basic elements were consistently the same throughout this vast stretch of land. I decided to take another run at the theme... this time inserting elements which more closely spoke of a Saint Lawrence setting in the Thousand Islands Archipelago.
I also wished to inject a notion that I personally believe in. I believe that we... as artists interpret and inject elements and passages from every visual experience we experience in a cumulative way over our lifetimes. I contend as well... that we "borrow" learning and elements we admire from the works of other artists we discover on our journeys.
There is little doubt that this last variation pays homage to two very significant Canadian artists whose works and lives I admire greatly. The first is Emily Carr... a Vancouver Island artist whose iconic forest and native peoples paintings continue to inspire our current generation of artists. The second is Lawren Harris... a member of the revered Group of Seven. Both played with the landscape, turning the real into metaphysical masterpieces which were imbued with deep undercurrents and metaphors of spiritual imagery.
Again... the brushwork is smoother... polished... carefully planned... and placed. Note the broken colour inserted in the middle ground water area. It can appear to be distracting... as can the counterpoint relationship created by the two left hand firs with the leaning smaller fir on the left. All are intended to disturb... no perhaps challenge the viewer to think further. Let me know what you think...
"River Dance"
oil on gallery wrap canvas 40x30 inches
I hope that this post offers "food for thought" to any of my Friends who search for ideas to make creating art less hit-and-miss... less and that these ideas provide you with some new thoughts that you might include in your own painting processes.
In closing... I will be back to the mural project this week. Accommodations have finally been made to make the process more comfortable. I am excited to get it out of the way. For you see... I have yet another series of variations that I have worked on... which need one final large canvas to draw them all together.
Summer has hung on with a humid and sultry vengeance during the week, though Sepember's cool presence in each morning and evening served notice that retreat not to be expected. Summer sounds lingered... like the day time staccato drone of the winged cicada (an insect rather than a tree frog)... and the comforting evening cricket chorale. September is indeed a time of transition.
Deb and I spent most of the week dealing with individual aches and pains... but managed to team up on a long overdue painting project. It too... was a "BIG" brush project and the surface a large one - an unpainted deck. We had bitten the bullet last week and purchased two gallons of dark stain... and with the long range forecast predicting three days of rain beginning Saturday... we jumped into the project with a combined verve and energy together yesterday afternoon.
Mission accomplished... by The Paint Box Gang!... and none too soon. The weatherman was right on the money. It is raining... as I write. Both "We"...and the earth sigh with relief and welcome the cool and much-needed wetness. Never put off... what should have been done last year! HA HA!!
The mural project is still stalemated. My neck and shoulder balk at the thought of those many low and big strokes that are necessary to bring closure to the project. Project is not merely a virtue - it is absolutely necessary. Own the project on your own terms. Don't let the project or the "others" own you! I've learned that and keep that in mind daily.
I haven't been treading water... except when swimming with Allie. I have two new smaller pieces that are keeping my palette up. I truly am enjoying being able to shift gears at will... and to day dream. Sketching... whether with oils... or any other medium is refreshing to the spirit. It is childlike in its goals... and its outcome. It is deliberately loose... and painterly.
Let's call it a prelude to autumn... a time a few days just ahead that can be glorious and at the same time... an overwhelming time when colour overrides common sense... or one's capabilities!
I hope that you enjoy today's offerings... both completed on my upright table easel and from recent digital reference... well away from the source. One site is located at the water's edge at Ivy Lea. Recognize the white cottage and island from the sisters' class outing? The other is an interesting jumble of buildings and garden on a back street Lyndhurst village. The jumble intrigued me at the time... but Frank and I... "had other fish to fry" on that particular day.
Recent remarks on other painter's blogs question the true pedigree of a plein air painter and work. I have no problem with the source or the place business. That's all merely opinion. What matters more to me personally is the passion one has for their subject... their work and the time done in the trenches to really deserve a title. And there again... just one guy's opinion... and should it matter??? I wonder...
"Listen to your heart... it knows where it's going." Just paint on!
Summer's end never fails to summon up seemingly endless and deeply hidden nostalgic memories from within "Me." I suppose that my nature to be the capital "R" Romantic likely triggers this cycle, but I recognize as well... that it is generally "summer anthems" that we all associate with the carefree youth... energy and vitality of our own journeys.
Music is a defining characteristic of our Sherman family. We were raised... to resonate and respond like tuning forks... to all genres of music. We didn't merely listen passively to "our own music" as individuals. We actively shared song... raising our voices in unison and complete joy as a family choir... at home... at church... in the car while we travelled... and at our cottage with our summer neighbours.
That gift of music remains one of the enduring legacies of my dear Mom and Dad. Music strongly remains a valued and much-used "hand-me-down" in the lives of all Shermans. A number of us play instruments (whenever necessary)... and karaoke rules at the occasional Sherman gatherings 19 Kerry Point, Narrows Lane Road. We are deeply blessed blend our lives and voices in love and harmony... whenever we can get together.
I stumbled upon this vintage 60's photo ... taken at the height of the Beatle and British invasion on the world scene.... and the birth of this garage/boy band... The Counts Five. Hardly mop headed like their British idols in appearance, their faux Beatle... Dave Clark Five and Kinks musak helped them strum their way from out of Nowhere... Man... to grab the hearts of Brockville area teen and grown up audiences. At the time this photo was taken, we were..."Glad All Over"... even after more than a dozen rendition requests nightly for "A Hard Day's Night"!
They were purely magical years of intermixed play heavy duty practice, but my role in this band abruptly ceased when I headed off to Teacher's College in London in September of 1964 to pursue another life which has led me to Today. I have never regretted that decision to do so for a single moment, despite the fact that my leaving resulted in my loss of contact with all members to this day.
Change is difficult to imagine.... and to set into motion. But without it, stasis leads to disenchantment... and extinction... which was the ultimate fate of the boy band. At some unforeseen moment we all have to become... men and women... and leave "Never Land"
I'll leave you to the task of finding the boy artist! Yup... he did paint even then... though none of the rest of the band had an inkling! HA HA!!
"Love Shines"...
Let me add yet another musical snippet... this time from the song "Love Shines" featured on the multi-talented Canadian Musician and songwriter Ron Sexsmith's recent album "Long Player Late Bloomer":
How I long to hold you with all my might
Through the night our hopes combine
To ignite our eyes like fireflies
That's when our love shines."
I was treated to an impromptu "blast from the past" on a local radio air wave. It was the Herb Albert sky rocket trumpet-driven variation of "A taste of Honey"... which became the summer anthem at the top of the pop charts in 1961. The song has been presented in variation instrumentally and vocally across many different genres ranging from The Beatles... to Tony Bennett. My personal favourite comes out of the vocal version by Johnny Rivers on his "Actions/Changes" album released in 2002.
These few lines from the song in tandem with a recent Dad-Allison "river happening" form my true reason for sharing this post with you:
The winds may blow
o'er the icy sea
I'll take the warmth of thee
A taste of honey
A taste much richer than wine
When so many must leave the quiet and remaining warmth of summer in the River we love so dearly... Allie, Orca and I shared our own "taste of honey" laughing and recalling many earlier swims with my water spaniel Mom... who urged us to... "beware of "the warn currents." We rode out the endless two to three foot swells sent ashore by passing cruisers with glee... rather than the usual anger and venom afforded these money folk by people docked ashore. "No wake" ... seems not in their vocabulary or nautical courtesy. Today... it was pure fun!
Time for the picture show folks!
Allie Dad and Orca.... giggling... and girding their loins for the plunge!
"One for the $$... Two for the show... three to get ready... and four... to go!!!! Thanks Mom!
Riding out the swells... together ... in and out of the water!
Treading water... "Do you feel the warm currents Dad?" HA HA!!! Thanks again Mom!
Sharing life's blessings... the smallest... or the largest of gifts we can offer... Time and Presence!
"Staying afloat"... and creating Joy... in childish pleasures...
And with Joy... comes Bliss. Not easily achieved in the face of stormy weather. But it is all about... Attitude ... Faith and Courage. I am so very proud of "You" Sweetheart... and am with "You" Always.
Thanks for an uplifting and much-needed respite form the deep humidity we have been experiencing here at "Islesview"!!!
My work on the mural has been stalled... brought to an abrupt standstill firstly, by neck and back injury caused by the unusual stooped painting position that I endured for the five days that I worked up the painting. Secondly... because my request to have it placed in its proper vertical position... to date has been ignored. I continue to ice the effected areas.
On Tuesday afternoon, I had the privilege to share my plein air foray to my "honey hole" at Ivy Lea with two upbeat Ottawa ladies. Both were (somewhat) anxious to give outdoor painting a try. One had been to my studio for a prior studio still life session and plein air session with her sister three years ago. The other had never painted at all... let alone en plein air. Neither held thebelief... or any hope of "making a painting in one go." My task went far beyond giving them an art lesson. It remained to me to lead them to... believe... in themselves... to take courage to try.
I had chosen Ivy Lea as a site because it was quiet and peaceful. I approached a friendly and generous octogenarian resident Eric Truesdell (affectionately called the Mayor of Ivy Lea by summer folk) to seek permission to once again paint on his riverside property. That was accomplished without difficulty so we set about selecting a site that pleased the ladies. A piece of cake! Here is the site... complete with breeze... shade and the rich light of summer. Does life get any better???
Denise's choice... good foreground ... middle and backgrounds
Lead In - Meditation... to Activation
I feel it essential to shore up confidence for novices to outdoor painting. The landscape can be so intimidating in its raw state... and overwhelmingly paralytic because of the immense detail that is set before one.A few minutes of personal contemplation should be undertaken... filtering through the vista of information... transforming mere looking into "seeing"... a path way to begin. This more or less approximates my own daily morning ritual of meditation at the dock... and usually the practice prepares me to go forward with a sense of purpose and peace in my day
.
I set up my easel very quickly and had them follow. A split palette was laid down for each box. I had toned all three 11x14 inch canvases with an acrylic burnt sienna ground to reduce glare from the hot sun. I handed each a small thin stick of vine charcoal... assuring them that this small tool and a piece of shop tool gave them the power of correction of any "mistake". It would allow free play... until a path emerged to begin painting.
At this point, I invited them to sit down in one of Eric's on site Muskoka chairs to watch me demo... to gather information... and the courage to commence their own plein air painting adventure - another healthy dose of "seeing" prior to any painting.
Mapping ... to blocking in form with colour
I proposed that our focus would be identifying and laying down essential lines... such as the horizon... or any line... straight or otherwise that interested them visually. This I assured them would provide a sort of preliminary map to guide their painting journey to follow.
The demo was purposely short. I wished only to ignite their own imagination. I stressed the point that everything in the lay in was likely to change dramatically... that it served only as the foundation upon which to build surer and more permanent strokes and more correct passages of colour.
"Lucy ... the lefty" elected a view that was in the sun... and a painting perspective that ignored the sky area so completely that it caused me to seriously question her strategy. I kept that to myself and she provided ample reasoning for that choice and very compelling evidence at the conclusion of her canvas that she made a good choice based upon her inner vision. Bravo Lucy!... You are no longer a raw novitiate!
"Shady Lady Denise"... Preferred the shade of the shoreline em and young maple. She also chose an unexpected and unlikely strategy to "row the shoreline"... several hundred yards closer to her island and cottage subject. I had truly not expected such a viewpoint. But the cardinal rule in being with new plein air folk... is to honour their choices and to enabletheir vision... with support rather than judgement. Bravo... brave Denise!
Here are two very happy faces at the conclusion of the day's painting. Very different and diverging approaches... but two very successful outcomes for a three and a half hour painting adventure!
Bien fait mes deux amies!!!
Lucy conquered the immense empty space in the lower two thirds of her composition admirably... choosing to create the complete calm and mirror-like reflection... of another day. It is a convincing and richly imaginative tribute to the portal of her own inner vision. Also... it is a HUGE step forward on any level into competent painting practice.
Denise's "rowing" strategy as well admirably achieved her onset goal to draw her shoreline location right up close to her main island and cottage subjects. She anchored the foreground with the red dock and created and adhered to the conventional foreground-to middle ground-to background formula. She competently managed to include her interest in the clouds as another success.
Post Script
There is no greater joy than to see someone... who previously could not envision themselves as a capable creative individual succeed. The picture shown directly above captures and records such an "Aha" moment for these two beautiful (and now younger) women.
True Happiness lies in sharing one's own Passion and Light with those willing to dream... and then to courageously follow those dreams. Dare to dream. But as well... Dare to Share!
"Any dream can come true... it can happen to you... If you're young at (he)Art"
Good Fall Painting!!... to ALL!!!
Rough demo... completed in about twenty minutes. Basics are there... needs fine tuning
"Reflecting Upon Summer, Ivy Lea" - oil on canvas 11x14 inches
Finished back in the studio the next day... some quite deliberation and corrections. A nice bonus added to the joy felt in these ladies company. Note that my view incorporates aspects that I admired from each ot the two ladies' works... Denise's "row boat" strategy combine with the calming influence of Lucy's languid and inviting summer calm. Students do offer mentorship... if one pays attention!
These last few silent summer mornings... as I sit in the darkness, I hear sounds that summon up deep and treasured memories from yesteryear. They are lost in the background of the noise we humans create and live in... or in the deepness of stolen extra sleep.
But in this sleeping village this morning... far from the roar of traffic and even intruding light, I am alone with coffee in hand to listen to the gentle pulse of cricket choirs and the slight drone of a nameless and lurching river freighter... somewhere beyond sight out on the river. Reawakened solitary loons... emailing their eerie morning hellos up and down the length of the islands.
In the deep humidity of this late summer morn... sound is my only friend and guide... and I am greatly blessed!
Sound is such a powerfully creative agent that can serve purposes beyond what we usually employ it for. Those of us who choose to paint mostly in the field are acutely aware of its use. I would offer in my own case, that sound is an active agent that plays an integral part in my painting process. It inspires and transports me beyond the visual. I believe that along with touch and other integrated senses... it elevates the quality of my work... and if nothing else it lifts my spirit.
The second "Listening" suggested in the title of today's post is indeed somewhat related to the other, yet it responds to an inner stimulus - one's body... or psyche. This "voice" sound is less tangible and has no visible outward form, but it does offer necessary information to command attention. In this specific case, related to my current mural project... the "voice" is loud and clear... and should be heeded.
The position of the actual panel is on a downward and low slope which requires that I paint in an unnatural forward-leaning and downward manner. Too many hours of working in this stooped position has created deep and very painful shoulder and upper neck pain. For the past week, I have been only able to continue by deep icing nightly before retiring. Even that did not alleviate this condition.
I approached the friend for whom the mural is being completed. I explained the problem and requested that the mural be installed vertically as I first requested. I have provided the hanging clips with which the mural can be hung securely... and then safely and easily removed at the season's end to be stored inside out of the elements.
The rest is up to that other party to address my request. No further work will be undertaken ... until it hangs vertically two feet above the ground where I can work at completing the bottom section and detail work to bring the project to completion. Meanwhile... on to my own projects... much needed garden work... and last minute plein air teaching assignment.
Sometimes... a change is as good as a rest!
Here is a tune up I completed... heading out by myself to Lansdowne for a little r&r... and practice while searching for just the right location to take my two lady enthusiasts.
Depicted here is my location set up... early morning tucked tight against a tall spruce hedge for shade... no interruption... just a lovely village pastoral setting... and "Me"! What else could a guy ask for????
"Neighbours, Miller Street, Lansdowne" - oil on canvas 14x11 inches
The 14x11 inch canvas canvas at completion... not a single stroke extra necessary! Ready for the ladies!
Final thought:
This plaque... hanging at our front Garden entrance... a gift from my lovely daughter Lisa says everything in this post... in two sentences... Shut up Dad! HA HA!!
