The Universe Goes to Work

The year is quickly coming to a close, and I can’t let it sneak away entirely without one more post! 2014 was a very full and complicated year in my world, bringing huge challenges and life changes to some of my loved ones, and so, second hand, to me. In the midst of all the turmoil, it sometimes seemed like I should not spend time on painting, that more important matters needed my attention. Other times, after attending to those important matters, my energy was drained. Perhaps most daunting was the sadness that set in after months of seeing people I love in distress. It certainly seemed that all that internal and external strife would distract me from painting, at least for a while. Instead, it turned out that art and painting became a way to cope. In the past, I’ve abandoned art when life got in the way, but this time, instead of turning away from it, I grabbed hold. And as much as I love painting, the best thing about it, this year, was that it made the unbearable bearable. So….yay art! Here are some paintings I worked on during the six months:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another part of my artistic journey of 2014….I got a puppy! Which might not seem part of an artistic journey, but my pets are such a boost to my general attitude, I can’t believe that they don’t contribute in some way to my artistic life. We’d said goodbye to our much-loved dog last winter, and missed having a canine spirit in the house. So, in May, came June:

 

 Of course a puppy is a lot of work, but training her and attending to her gave me a sort of structure to work around.

I also spontaneously signed up for a workshop with Ted Nuttall, which took place in July in Bend, Oregon. Central Oregon is one of my very favorite places on the earth. And I’d recently seen Ted’s painting “At Ease In This Room” in the Northwest Watercolor Society Open Exhibition and found it captivating. So, when I learned that he would be in Bend, I got the last spot in the workshop, and spent a fabulous week absorbed in portrait painting. The format was an ideal mix of lecture, slides, demonstration and painting.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what I worked on that week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ted is a patient and knowledgeable teacher, and I hope I can take another workshop from him someday.  At the end of the week, I was even more inspired to explore figurative work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In August, I helped move my parents from their long time home to an assisted living residence. That was a hard month, for everyone concerned. And again, though I feared it would seem selfish, taking a few minutes to sketch, or paint, or look at art, or think about how I would tell a certain story visually, or even organize my art supplies gave me somewhere to “go”, if only mentally, and that space truly helped make a very difficult time more peaceful. Art therapy….there’s something to it!

With life turned sideways, I thought I might as well launch myself into another endeavor I’d long been meaning to try. Every quarter for the past I-don’t-know-how-many years, I pick up the Gage Academy catalog, read it cover to cover, and circle the classes I want to take. There are always A LOT, and I can’t decide, and there the process comes to a halt. This fall I was determined to actually follow through, and I even signed up for a painting class. Then I began to think, or maybe obsess, about where I want to go as an artist, what kind of art I want to make, and I knew I should be looking towards figure drawing. I’d taken a FANTASTIC figure drawing workshop about two years ago from Barbara Fugate. If only she were teaching a weekly class, I whined to myself. One more perusal of the Gage catalog, and there it was! Expressive Figure Drawing, with Barbara Fugate! And offered at the perfect time. I had to do it, and I did, and it was a revelation. Each week, I felt like I’d taken a running leap off a cliff, and fallen a little ways, then found my wings. Even on weeks when I was frustrated with what I produced, the process was incredible. And now I’m hooked. Next quarter, I’m signed up for Expressive Figure Drawing II! Here are some drawings I did this fall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now at the end of a tumultuous year, I’m eager for more challenges. I often think of Ted Nuttall’s words on the last day of his workshop, so relevant to me I wrote them in my sketchbook; “I really believe” he said “that when you immerse yourself in the process, the universe goes to work”. I’m certainly willing to give it a shot!