Mindfulness: a journal by Catherine Price

The Mindfulness journal is a wonderful method of paying deliberate attention to your life and the living in the present moment without judgment.  It is a helpful method to slow the mind and really pay deliberate attention to life being lived.  The journal gives prompts that can help you start the writing process.  You can go through the book in a linear fashion or skip around if desired.  This slowing down of the mind opens up new avenues of thought that I find helpful in artistic practice.  How does this relate to a practicing artist?

Creating art is a combination of many aspects of a person's mind, body and soul.  There are the technical skills developed through practice and time.  There is the careful observation of other artist's works.  There is the inspiration that comes from creative ideas and insights and the incorporation of them into artwork currently being worked on or those of future projects.  The Mindfulness journal has been helpful in allowing ideas that are floating in mindspace to be captured in print and then reflected on later.  For me, personally, it has been as valuable as a sketchbook in guiding ideas and thoughts related to artistic practice.

Blue Dog

Stella 6x6 Acrylic on Masonite

   I had the good fortune of having my sister find clients for me for painting. Today she told me she has a third person that wishes to have a painting of their pet.  Now she is asking for commission.  Sisters!
    It is interesting how some paintings go easily and others are more of a struggle.  This painting went relatively smoothly, everything falling into place and I knew when I needed to stop.  I like the diagonal, rather restless nature of this painting.  This is an active dog and I think the diagonal line reflects that.

Samson Smiles

 Recently I visited my sister in St. Paul.  I was helping her with a day of Gelli Printing with her third grade classroom as the artist-in-residence.  When I arrived, she was entertaining a few quests on her front porch from an event that she was hosting and it was winding down.  I got to talking with one individual about my painting of pets and she commissioned me to do her daughters dog, Samson.  So here is the results of my efforts.  It is a 6"x6" painting and I think shows his personality fairly well.  I believe her daughter lives in Oregon so the painting will travel a good distance away.

The Butterflies Disappear as Autumn Progresses ....Tiger Swallowtail

Tiger Swallowtail acrylic on masonite, 6'x6'

The butterflies are gone.  I am doing a series of them.  This tiger swallowtail happens to be resting on a background of yellow leaves and I had a difficult time making a strong contrast with the yellow of the butterfly from the background.   They are certainly delicate creatures and much appreciated after gazing at them for a period of time.  Then.....one day they are simply gone as the nights chill and the leaves turn they migrate and all that flower activity ends and the garden becomes very quiet.  The late ones I understand will overwinter in chrysalis state and emerge in the spring.  DD

An Essential Handbook for the Classical Painter

Lessons in Classical Painting by Juliette Aristides is a beautifully designed book targeted for an audience interested in upping their color use and application in mainly the oil medium.  The content definitely is applicable to other mediums but here the topics strictly focuses on oil paint.  

I feel the strongpoint of the book is the beautiful overall design of the book.  Holding the book and reading through it are wonderful quotes by artists and exceptional full page reproductions of artworks to illustrate concepts Aristides demonstrates in the book. As for content, there are four main chapters broken into value pattern, form painting, temperature, and color.  She builds on the idea of understanding value first and then adding dimension through form.  Her chapter on temperature was complete and thought provoking.  I will have to go back through that chapter again and study and practice her lessons she lays out to advance your knowledge of the topic.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the art of classical painting to view this book for an insightful and well articulated look at color and its application and for the beautifully designed book which is a delight to have in my art library.

Change in the Weather

  

I am spending the week traveling north to Bemidji,MN where I am going to meet up with my two sisters. Today I am at Cross Lake, MN enjoying a beautiful cool day. The weather got to the low 40s last night and I had to break out a sweater and socks. Did a little watercolor of some foliage from a photo I took at Gull Lake yesterday. There are so many lakes in this area of the world.  I included a photo of my portable watercolor/drawing kit I take along to support my creative habit. 

Traveling Shoes

Chinese Cat from San Diego Museum of Art Asian Art collection

I have been traveling here and there the last few weeks and have not produced much in the way of completed artwork.  However, I have been busy on the creative front.  I would file it under incubation and maybe research and development.  I had the opportunity to go to San Diego for a week and experience beach life along the Pacific Ocean.  Everyday is a perfect day.  I got to visit Balboa Park and the San Diego Museum of Art, which is the region's oldest and largest art museum, hense, cat sculpture.

Next week I will be traveling to Minnesota in the lush of pine trees and lakes, starting in St. Paul and ending up in Bemidji where I will be quilting for the weekend.  Where everyday is the same perfect weather in San Diego, every day will be a mystery of atmosphere and color as I head north.  Autumn is the magic time.  

I signed up for an online sketchbook class from Dionne Swift.  She is a UK fiber artist/teacher.  I have included an interview with textileartist.org, a great website for fiber artists and creative inspiration in general.   http://www.textileartist.org/dionne-swift/  I am looking forward to starting this sketchbook class on the 19th of September and will include some of my processes as I work the problems out in visual form.