Frequently Asked Question

One of the questions most frequently asked of an artist is 'How long does it take you to paint something?' I am someone who needs a lot of 'incubation period'! I will think about a subject, play around with composition in my head long before I even attempt to sketch or paint it. Even then, all that planning and thinking doesn't really guarantee that my painting will look like what I imagined it to be - and I get a surprise myself! Fortunately or unfortunately lots of them don't even make it to paper. And then there are some paintings which just pour out of my brushes as if they have a life of their own! Sometimes I will take a piece out years later and work on it some more to make it just right (or ruin it completely!) So, in my case, how long does it take is anybody's guess.

Flying Fun - (22" x 30") was on hold for many years. I had barely started it in a workshop by Doug Walton. I was at loss as to how to complete it then using what I had learnt during that week and struggled with it for a long time. Once every few months I would pull it out look at it and try to resolve it. Along the way the watercolor painting was transformed to a mixed media piece as I used crayons, pastels, acrylic and gouche. Meanwhile I painted two other paintings School's Out and Fishing Eyes using parts of this composition.

I realized how much of a luxury of time I have been enjoying as I watched a video Paintbrush in hand and Nothing to loose in New York Times web site on artist Cordula Volkening. Doctors have given Cordula Volkening, a Brooklyn mother of two, three months to live because of brain cancer. She has decided to forgo one more round of treatment. Rather than lose her ability to paint in the last few months of her life, she has found solace in painting. She is painting furiously so she can sell as many as she can with the proceeds going to her children.

I know I will now be painting with a renewed sense of committment as I keep her in my prayers.

Drama and Splendor

We went to see an exhibit on photography by Ansel Adams yesterday at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News. He was a pioneer in photography and has captured the beauty of various places -most notably Yosemite National Park which he visited almost every year throughout his life. I read that he believed "place matters, the world around us is a marvel to behold and to respect and to honor." The 48 photographs were selected from the collection of The Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Redding, California. According to the exhibit notes, "It represents about two-thirds of a selection Adams made late in his life to serve as a succinct representation of his life’s work. He himself felt these photographs were his best. Called “The Museum Set,” it reveals the importance Adams placed on the drama and splendor of natural environments."

I post the above photograph as a homage to the master himself. It was taken a few years ago when our backyard was blanketed with a heavy snowfall. The sunrise was so beautiful across the river, over the snow covered trees and chairs on our deck - I am grateful I was there at the right time to capture the beauty.

Looking and Seeing

I did a blind contour drawing with a new twist. I followed Marvin Bartel's instructions for teaching children to draw and made myself a 'blinder buddy' -basically a sheet of paper through which a pencil has been pierced. This shielded completely my hand and the paper I was drawing on. There was no way to quickly steal glances at the drawing I was working on! I really liked sketching that way in a very mindful, deliberate manner and was pleased with the results. I hope to use it often in my practices.

I am still nursing my cold and have spent more time reading and surfing than painting. I came accross a study by scientists at British Columbia that looked into whether 'color can color performance or emotions.' According to the New York Times article 'if a new study is any guide, the color red can make people’s work more accurate, and blue can make people more creative.' And the article concluded by mentioning that the New York Times newsroom walls are all 'tomato soup red'! I also enjoyed listening to NPR's version of it. Now, I am leaning towards purple backgrounds to make me creatively accurate :)

Drawing from Memory

Yesterday, while searching for art exercise ideas, I wandered all over cyberspace for inspiration and stumbled upon a couple of wonderful sites. One of the ideas that appealed to me was drawing from memory. I learned that Leonardo Da Vinci recommended that artists review in their imagination the outlines of forms they had studied during the day.  In the same vein, Sir Joshua Reynolds told his students to draw from memory what they had previously drawn during the life class. Artist and educator Marvin Bartel has a wonderful site about teaching art and fostering creativity in children.  The exercises there are good for all artists.  

I then rummaged through my kitchen drawers and found a wine bottle opener to practice  a modified form of the exercise. I studied it for about a minute or so, hid it from my sight and then started drawing what I thought it looked like. I know I need to work on my  observational and memory skills! 

The Age Old Question

Early this morning, as on most days, I was listening to 'The Writer's Almanac' on NPR. Garrison Keillor was reciting a poem  "He Gets Around to Answering the Old Question" by Miller Williams  which ended with this stanza:

So now you have asked me the oldest question of all,

You want to know how I'm doing, I told you before,

I'm dying. Been at it for years. Still, I think 

I could hang a few more calendars on the door. 

This reminded me of a conversation my husband and his brothers had with one of their Uncles -whose portrait  'Narayan Mava' (color pencils 13 1/2" x 10 1/2") is today's post. Couple of summers ago they were visiting their uncle and one of them asked 'the age old question.'  When Uncle replied with a twinkle in his eye  "Sometimes I am not sure whether I am here or there' - one quick witted brother urged "Please Uncle, Just  be here more often than there!'  

This portrait was done using as reference a bunch of  photographs taken during that visit.  I wanted to evoke the feelings he expressed that evening. 

Celebrations

'School is out'  is a very special painting for me. Its one of my very first paintings and also my first 'sold' piece as well. Its always exciting to see it hanging in our friend's house whenever we visit them.   A few days ago when I was going through my sketches, I came across the photograph. I was delighted since I didn't remember documenting it.  

I am also very proud to share a first by my daughter - she filmed the Lion Dance Parade celebrating the Chinese New Year in New York city's Chinatown.  I think she did a great job! 

Memory

I have to post this photograph of the beautiful snow scenery from Colorado. Snow covered mountains and valleys are just a memory now. I am back at sea-level Poquoson and finally not feeling so out of breath by merely walking a few steps!  All that snow and cold weather (or the air travel with a few sniffly fellow passengers) did take a toll on me and now I am nursing a cold and flu. As I spent the day cuddled on the sofa with hot tea, surfing and catching up with e-mails and news etc I came across this NPR story explaining the biology and physics of a runny nose.  But it doesn't matter and I will happily stay out and explore the quiet and beauty of snow and take photographs again.  

Art and Nature

Yesterday we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary :).  We spent the better part of the day going up and down in the gondola taking pictures of the snow covered mountains and valleys. To add to the excitement, because of the very cold weather and extremly low temperatures, the gondola got stuck and we got to enjoy (even though it got a bit too cold inside the gondola) the beautiful scenery for extra 15-20 minutes or so! 

"Speak to me about art and I will learn more about you. Nature is also like that. When you look deeply into the natural world, you look deeply into yourself- when you describe nature you describe yourself" Adam Wolport in a Ode magazine article. 

Mile High Beauty

This is the Denver International Airport -I took the photo from the plane yesterday as we landed there. I am looking forward to a week's stay in the mountains and a family reunion.  Its been a fun two days already - and I am happy taking pictures of the snow and the mountains. Hope to get in some sketching in the next few days. 

Renditions

This is the companion piece for Low Tide - also done in color pencils.  Most of my subjects are things I encounter in my daily life and rendered in 2-D.  Sculptures and other three dimensional art fascinate me. Recently Scientific American had an article and slide show on seemingly impossible sculptures.  According to the article these "impossible sculptures can only be interpreted (or misinterpreted as the case maybe) by the visual mind. All of the accompanying slides show real objects. No photographic manipulation has been used. "  These artists remind me of  M.C. Escher.