Resolutions Revisited for 2013

I really hate New Year`s Resolutions  but as I get older I realize that there is only so much time for me to turn into the smartest, best looking, rich and famous person that I hoped to be. So I will settle for working at being the best painter I can possibly be.
Here is my brave resolution for 2012:
 `I will paint more watercolour on Yupo paper, continue exploring abstract painting, particularly abstract landscapes, investigate the creative possibilities that collage offers, continue my series of "old men", try new acrylic techniques and look into all the options for watercolours without glass and frames.
PS. Visit more art galleries.`

I did manage to one more "old man" to the series and intend to get back to more, as these seem to have an emotional resonance for me. I did paint about four new paintings on Yupo, so enough for awhile. I continue to be excited by abstract painting and one of my most favorite this year was an abstract.(more later) I would like to do more in abstractions of landscapes, but I think this will be a learning curve. I have not done collage, and don't feel a pressing need to try it until a subject speaks "collage". I am still not sold on watercolour without glass and frame, but I think it may have to do with my choice of subject and so this is an ongoing goal.
This has been a busy year, with group exhibitions, including the Toronto Watercolour Society's juried exhibition. " Tea Buds" has also provided the opportunity for a one-man show. The Yonge -Lawrence Art Walk is always a success. In the new year, the first challenge is to prepare again for my own Studio Tour in May.

Somewhere on the Web, I came across someone showing their most favorite painting of the year, for whatever reason - not necessarily because it was the best. In that spirit I am including my favorite.

Why did I choose this? It is called "Reed Flute Cave #1" and reminds me of a recent and fascinating trip to China. It is a very abstracted  view of these fabulous caves near Guilin. I also love the brilliant yellow which brightens up whatever room it is in. It actually is one of three done one after the other and with increasing divergence from the cave concept:

Happy New Year to my blog pals!

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Artist's Block

I am in the painting doldrums lately - a total lack of creative ideas and inspiration. Sometimes it's good to become a blob for awhile and not try  to force the return of the "muse". Other suggestions I have heard include:


* Pull out all your old resources and review them with a fresh eye.
* Take out some old paintings, that with some judicious cropping and editing may get  you started again.
* Look in the dictionary for inspiration
* Think of what makes you angry, happy, or sad and just start to paint.
* Put on some music, and let it inspire you.
* Think of a favorite poem, novel or film and try to indicate it's appeal for you in paint.
* For fun and mabye a kickstart go online to the abstract art title generator at  http://noemata.net/pa/titlegen/
* Visit a gallery and just soak it in which I recently did at the special exhibition of Abstract Expressionism   from New York at the Art Gallery of Ontario



  See Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others from May 5 to August 7, 2011


*Of course the best advice is just to pick up a brush and put paint to paper - something usually happens - see below - (no Pollock, me!)



Unblocked


Now that I'm unblocked, I hope to see you at the summer show of the Willowdale Group of artits:




MAGICAL WORLD OF COLOUR



The Paper Mill Gallery – Todmorden Mills


June 29th – July 10th


See WWW. WGA.ca for details


 



Joy

I am posting the only kind of seasonal painting I have ever done - gone to a good home.

The Red Umbrella

  This painting was done for a friend and told a very important personal story for her. I thought the red umbrella (that was really in the actual scene) made the painting.
Yesterday, I met the "old dandy" that inspired " The Pursuit of Happiness" painting in a previous post. I recognized him by the "bent knee strut" because of his arthritis. He was totally charming. We are now friends and he talks of us as neighbours, although we live a few blocks apart. Little does he know how close he and I were as I laboured over his somewhat modified image in my painting. What a thrill!

I am continuing my foray into colour and abstraction, that is if I don't become too "abstracted" to finish.  In my next post, I also hope to share my New Year's creative resolutions so stay tuned! I have not forgotten to take up in the near future, the thread of "What is Art"?

Time for more art.

I am still on an interstellar trip! One more effort on that theme and another abstract.  This is a series I feel that I can continue with at some point, until I am "spaced out" - a good starting title for the next one.

Galaxy

I am back for now to acrylic. I paint in watercolour or acrylic depending on the subject, the mood of the painting, or my mood at the moment.  (There is no clue to my mood in the medium, just so you know)
I just got back from Haliburton and am reminded again about the beauty of cottage country and the inspiration it provides. I photographed an old cottage which I have painted before for a friend, and now see other beautiful possibilities as it settles even more into the surrounding landscape like a grand dame. I have done about five landscapes from that area, and realize one could go on forever, as many artists do.
It is difficult to focus on one area of interest, when there are so  many fascinating subjects. Speaking of fascinating subjects, I am starting on my "nuns." Yes - sisters of the cloth. I did say I had trouble focusing, but so little time, and so many great potential ideas for paintings. My sisterly ideas came seeing some wonderfully human moments involving nuns from Rome and Quebec City.

Thought for the day: "Abstract art is a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered."   Al Capp

Please comment - I have very thick skin!