I unpacked half a dozen boxes and put the contents in
three different places: on the shelf, in the garbage or into recycling. The
walls in my studio are also being adorned with some of my early work, the
milestones such as my very first watercolour. Some of the older paintings are
still stored away in another location. Soon it will all be in one place. Today
my daughter who wanted help moving furniture distracted me. She is purging as
well… must be the season! A few more
boxes, portfolios filled with paper and some other art supplies ended up in my
studio. Sometimes I wonder if I am making headway. My show at CAVA has come and
gone. Collected the paintings on Wednesday. For those who missed it
“Invitation” will be showing again at the Glenrose in September/October next
year. A select number of my mixed media series “Connections” will be showing in
the Mezzanine Gallery at the Glenrose beginning December 15th. I
have found the varnish and I plan to put the finishing touches on at least
those pieces before they go up again. There will also be some all occasion
cards on sales as well as the possibility of purchasing the book on the series.
There will be an official opening reception for the show sometime in the New
Year. All is well and all will be well. Life is good.
My studio seems so far away… this is a view from
my kitchen window. The long vacation I have taken since my show was delivered
leaves a certain lethargy. Again my space is full of stuff having moved more
treasures in from a previous residence. Some will be stored, some will be given
away, some will be trashed. There is another load coming in sometime in the
future. It should be the last of our scattered possessions. Do I really wish to
deal with it? Do I really wish to unpack, find the varnish to finish off the
paintings to be hung in December? My focus has been on a different kind of
creation lately: relationship building. In between the various family
activities, which were an absolute blast by the way, I created shelves for the
pantry and tucked away loose ends. The bookkeeping is up to date for example.
All the appointments I postponed are this week instead of last. More disruption
and a perfect excuse for not refocusing. The thing is I have already proved I
can work amidst chaos. The excuse does not wash. It comes down to a decision.
My tendency is to wait for a block of time. In recent experience that block of
time has diminished to one or two hours instead of days. I can get a lot of
work done in two hours. I may even find the varnish! Life is good.
It is totally thrilling when a good number of
invited guests actually show up for the opening of a show. The interaction is
so much more exciting and fun. There were a lot of people I had not seen in a
very long time as well as those who had never been before. Meeting and greeting
is one of the skills I enjoy most. It was a pleasure to discuss the process and
the ambition of my work. Out of the discussions blossomed a new idea for the
resolution of a perennial problem within the completion of my watercolours. I
had not found a way to include a few verses from the bible within the image as
I do with mixed media. I now have an idea and a new problem. Problems are not
always bad things. They are challenges to my imagination. I love challenges. My
imagination is ready for another leap in faith and stretching. So good. This
all fits in very well with the ambition of my work: to bring light and goodness
into a sometimes dark world. Life is so good.
One of the details when preparing for a show is
documentation. Professional artists need a way to keep track of what they have
done. This means some visual reference, a coding system and somewhere to store
the information. Once I have completed a painting I take a photo of it. This
does not have to be terribly fancy. As you can see I pin my watercolours to a
board which I have prepared with cork backing covered in a neutral gray cloth.
The neutral gray helps the camera focus on the painting without distracting
tonal values. The lighting comes from full-spectrum bulbs I installed in my
studio for general use. I position the tripod in front of the painting so the
image fills the lens and I proceed to take a series of shots. My camera,
although small, has an automatic as well as a manual capacity. I take four
photos at four different settings in both capacities so I end up with eight
pictures from which to choose for communications and display. Digital
photography is wonderful. So adjustable. Having taken the visual references I
transfer them to my computer for cropping and colour tweeking. Occasionally
nothing has to be changed… Not often. Where do I store all this? On my
computer, in my external hard drive, on my website. I like having eggs in
several baskets! Life is good.
