Abstract Art Blog

A Year of Making Art, Day 283: Neko Case Concert

January 27, 2008 Day 283

This morning I had trouble with a new Zig metallic calligraphy paint pen. I just wanted to try these pens to see what they did, but the ink must have been dried out. A bummer when the set is brand new. There is a little touch of pale blue where I tried to get the pen to work. Then I switched to a black calligraphy pen, and finished with yellow, plus a fine point black pen.

Drawing #289 14" x 11"

Then I worked on the background of Canvas #35:

Canvas #35 48" x 48"

Last night I went to the State Theatre in downtown Ithaca with Blixy and Rachel (aged 8) to hear Neko Case. The audience, mostly students, was pretty raucous, but it was all a lot of fun. Now I need to get one of her cds.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 214: "Morning Light" Harp and Flute

November 19, 2007  Day 214

This morning was taken up with packing, shipping and mailing business chores.  Then there were business phone calls to make (I'm not complaining because I am glad to get the business!), so I got a late start on my drawing.

Listening to Morning Light, harp and flute music by Laura Campbell and Myra Kovary, I drew swirling lines in rainbow colors to develop this drawing:

  Drawing #219  12" x 9"

Now I realize I have only two days before Thanksgiving, when we are going away for the weekend, so I'd better catch up on everything before then!

(Note:  There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art: Day 49

June 7, 2007  Day 49

Adrian left this morning without a word and without breakfast.  Then I remembered that Thursdays are Compos Mentis days, when he volunteers at the farm in the morning.  I heard from Carole Stone, the director of the program, that all the ladies there like him.  Typically during the week, the volunteers are women.

At breakfast I was reading this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine, and saw a short piece about Damien Hirst's latest artwork:  a skull encrusted in diamonds.  After watching the movie, Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio about the diamonds mined in West Africa to finance terrorism, the skull as repository for diamonds seemed apt.  Riches  have always been associated with death, but now the connection is literal as well as metaphorical.

Art, I think, is also fascinated with death.  It is a song of death or life, and the circle that connects them.  As I move closer to the degree of death on this circumference, I can almost imagine that life and death are one. 

This morning when I faced the blank drawing pad, I could not bear the silence.  Judy Carmchael's jazz rhythms helped me to begin, and I was able to find the looseness that I always seek.

  Drawing #49, 14" x 11"

(Note:  There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting because I had to give myself time to get ahead in case we travel and I'm not able to post.)

Inspiration

Everything that happens in my life is an inspiration to paint:  everything I see, everything I feel, everything I hear.  That is the general answer to the question, "What inspires you to paint?"  On any particular day, however, I might be strongly influenced by an emotion--anger, sadness, despair or joy. 

Music intensifies my feelings, and I always listen to loud music when I paint.  Yesterday I saw the new movie, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, about a Canadian poet, songwriter, singer, and philosopher whose music has had a tremendous impact on my life for over thirty years.  My eyes filled with tears as I watched and listened, and today I painted while listening to one of his old cds, Death of a Ladies Man.

Inspiration is not something I wait for.  I just start to paint when it is time to paint.  I think any working artist, writer, or musician needs to do that, to work on a regular basis whether they feel inspired or not.  On good days, inspiration occurs in the process of applying the paint.  I tap into something meaningful which gets expressed in color, line and form.

The bad days turn out to be just as important as the good days, for they prepare the way.  They make me ready to receive when it is time.  It's not easy to appreciate the bad days, especially when I set up that dichotomy of good and bad in my mind.  Maybe some day I'll learn to love the bad days, or better yet, not to notice the difference.

Denser, Deeper Colors

On the last five canvasses I painted, I started out looking for deeper, denser colors.  Rather than mixing the colors before I started, I squeezed paint from the tubes onto the canvas, and then blended them with a brush dipped in a mixture of gloss medium and water.  I had already painted my usual "backgrounds" on the canvas, which provided a contrasting space of lighter colors as a backdrop. 

While I painted these canvasses, I was listening to Vicki Genfan's cd "up close" from her new double cd Up Close and Personal.  The "personal" cd has vocals, but the "up close" is strictly instrumental, with Vicki playing the acoustic guitar.  The haunting, mesmerizing quality of Vicki's amazing guitar helped move me into these deeper colors and expressions: 

Eye of the Storm

Green Is Good

Twin Stories

Taboo

Periphery

You can find Vicki's music at cdbaby.com.