textures shapes and color

Any Small Thing

2012-01-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

The poets know of morning sun,

falling snow flake and the things we circle around,

like the book ends of birth and death

and the space in between.

They write what we remember

at the half edge of sleep and awake.

The poets have words

and they have the white space between

where they leave us room

to feel the words pierce or comfort,

room to breathe in and breathe out.

I have lines, and dots and I draw them.

These lines and dots form a story or maybe a poem,

perhaps of the woods and birds and the feelings

I have for the glorious world and my very temporary place in it.

Wanting to speak of these things I retreat to the alphabet I know.

Dot. Line. Crossing.

I love this artistic language of ours.

On canvas, in wood, with paper, thread,

clay, twig or found object an artist makes her marks,

sings in her own voice, dances with the elements.

Any small thing…..

A small color

Texture

Happily exploring my way into the new year

with small things created in the evenings

near the warmth of the fire,

I am inviting awareness, openness, and acceptance.

These attitudes are meant for my art,

to see what will come,

to remove myself from the front of the equation,

to drop my bucket deep into the well.

This attitude shift, shifting, shifting

feels like vital work to me, to step back, and back, and back,

to get very clear that I am not driving the bus,

but that I am invited to create.

And that I humbly accept the gift.

My art. My life.

Do you know words for this?

Dots

Dot and line together

Lines

Lines crossing

Planes

Circles

There are so many kindred spirits in the blogging world.

And I appreciate you.

I would like to introduce you to an artist and blogger you may not yet know,

but she is another kindred spirit,

living her life with quiet gusto,

being true and blogging about it.

Here, at “to live poetry” you can find Anca Gray

who today has blogged some of my thoughts and work.

I am honored Anca.

Thank you.

Anca is an artist friend of mine from tumblr

who has graciously included me in her blog post series.

Anca describes her series as

“a regular friday feature, a series of quick interviews with strong creative confident women that inspire me”.

I found Anca’s questions enlightening.

You might answer them for yourself and

see where they lead you.

One word rolls across the floor,

Lodging under the slipper

Of the man who has felt uncomfortable

All day.

Now he knows what to say.

~naomi shihab nye

From a poem titled

Listening to Poetry in a Language I do not Understand

For me,

I am following the lines and dots to the well.

It’s probably also sometimes called the rabbit hole……See you there?

Any small thing can save you.

Scraps of Time and Paper

2012-01-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

Priceless Gifts

An empty day without events.
And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.

I heard
in my heartbeat
the birth of time
and each instant of life
one after the other
came rushing in
like priceless gifts.

- Anna Swir

Gathering scraps, I pieced together many minuscule bits, arranging, adding, gluing, and tearing apart.

The tiny bits blended with one another, beginning a new whole; a thing, a composition, a space in time born of smallness and insignificant scraps of paper. A picture of my time.

Time is the music of our being.

It is to us what water is to fish.

~ Jessica Julian

In this world, there are two times.

There is mechanical time and there is body time.

The first is as rigid and metallic as a

massive pendulum of iron that swings

back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

The second squirms and wriggles like a bluefish in a bay.

The first is unyielding, predetermined.

The second makes up its mind as it goes along.

~ Alan Lightman

one moment, one chance

She had always felt

that the essence of human experience

lay not primarily in the peak experiences,

the wedding days and triumphs

which stood out in the memory like dates

circled in red on old calendars,

but, rather, in the unself-conscious

flow of little things--the weekend afternoon

with each member of the family

engaged in his or her own pursuit,

their crossings and connections casual,

dialogues imminently forgettable,

but the sum of such hours creating a synergy

which was important and eternal.

~ Dan Simmons

Happy New Year my friends.

May 2012 bring us all

ample creative bluefish times.

Just A Weird Kindergartner!

2011-12-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

I learned that you should feel when writing,

not like Lord Byron on a mountain top,

but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten

– happy, absorbed

and quietly putting one bead on after another.

~Brenda Ueland

Returning to the studio after a long absence,

I found all kinds of art in process.

Some of it was well under way and I really liked it.

Some, well not so much.

I also found I was a tad bored with black and white

and wanted to try something different.

Circling around reddish tones yet again, I began.

Colors, brush, water, paper.

Time to get in sync with my own weirdness.

Stringing beads.

Thoughts accompanied me.

So weird, I thought.

I’m so weird.

It was a happy weird.

I simply kept on with brush, water, color.

Stringing those happy beads.

In the end, Brenda said it so well.

The best of times in the studio are when

I am a happy weird kindergartner,

absorbed in stringing my beads

and letting it happen as it will.

What kind of beads are you stringing in your studio?

Painting Poetry

2011-10-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

Another Night

Leslie Avon Miller

In response to a poem by David Whyte

What to Remember When Waking

Poetry is just the evidence of life.

If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.

~Leonard Cohen

Gravity

Under the weight of air
her flesh forms valleys
and mountains.
Mushrooms sprout
on the surface of her skin.
A mouse sneezes in her left lung
and behind green eyes
John Henry wields his hammer.

The earth whirls
the ground tips, totters
her glasses lost, she fumbles.
In her pocket awaits a key
but where is the lock?

Her heart in its nest sings foolishly.

~Suki Poet

Last line is from Linda Gregg's poem Alma in the Dark.

Mayako Nakamura

Presence

In response to a poem by dawoo

Hardly Noticed Moment

Leslie Avon Miller

In response to a poem by David Whyte

What to Remember When Waking

i believe that poetry at its best is found rather than written. traditionally, and for many people even today, poems have been admired chiefly for their craftsmanship and musicality, the handsomeness of language and the abundance of similes, along with the patterning and rhymes.

i respect and enjoy all that, but i would not have worked so hard and so long at my poetry if it were primarily the production of well-made objects, just as i would not have sacrificed so much for love if love were mostly about pleasure. what matters to me even more than the shapeliness and the dance of language is what the poem discovers deeper down than gracefulness and pleasures in figures of speech. i respond most to what is found out about the heart and spirit, what we can hear through the language.

best of all, of course, is when the language and other means of poetry combine with the meaning to make us experience what we understand. we are most likely to find this union by starting with the insides of the poem rather than with its surface, with the content rather than with the packaging.

too often in workshops and classrooms there is a concentration on the poem’s garments instead of its life’s blood. it may be that the major art in poetry is the art of finding this shining—this luminosity. it is the difference between a publishable poem and one that matters.

Linda Gregg

If you cannot be a poet, be the poem.

~David Carradine

For me, making a piece of art is about the moments of life; being aware of them and being grateful for them. My collage paintings reflect some moment that otherwise might fly by while I am thinking ahead or behind.

I experience poetry in much the same way. Poetry I read and am taken in by is often a window into the life experience of another person. I can resonate with that moment. I think that’s why I like haiku so much.

When I write a moment rather than paint it, I don’t worry about rules, or shoulds, or making something pretty. I try to capture a moment so I can look at it in contemplation.

Here is one of my poems. Although it has a sadness, it also reflects love and honoring the moment, at least in my eye.

last rites

standing beside my mother’s nursing home bed

i stroked her once strong hands

into my memory.

in a few days I would wash her hands

for the last time.

as i gently brushed soft sheer skin,

she looked down

and said “boney old bones”.

~Leslie Avon Miller

More poetry at The Poetry Center

to scratch, scribble, draw, write

2011-09-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

Just Emerged

~Leslie Avon Miller

10x10 mixed media collage on paper

Physical Graffiti

It has been my pleasure to work with Pam Farrell over the past months as she brought together a show opening on 9.10.11 at James Oliver Gallery. The show is focused on

collage and mixed media on paper. I am honored to have my work included.

"I became interested in collage way back in my undergrad days

(I have a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers)

while studying with Geoff Hendricks, a noted Fluxus artist, and after seeing Kurt Schwitters' work in museums.

I decided I should put a show together of the work by artists

who speak the language fluently."

~Pam Farrell

Following is a conversation Pam and I had regarding her experience of curating the show. Interspersed are images from artists participating in the show.

Putting together this show sounds similar to putting together collage – gather, consider, choose, arrange, reconsider, rearrange – there it is – the sweet spot!

~Leslie

When you first conceived of this show on paper, what was your objective? What did you hope to say about contemporary collage on paper?

Pam: At the moment, I feel that collage is especially present out there, and along with mm/paper, rarely gets the spotlight. My interest was piqued (or should I say re-piqued) when I participated in the Book About Death show at Emily Harvey Foundation a few years ago, and became familiar with the work of Cecil Touchon and Matthew Rose, as well as many others who contributed to the exhibit. I guess the idea for the show has been gestating since then.

Recently, Picasso's Guitars were up at the Met, and I heard the curator speaking recently about the shock (1914?) of his use of objects in the paintings and how collage is really truly a modern art form. In terms of mm/paper, one of my heroes is Cy Twombly...the mystery, the inter-play with occult and revelation....

(B)ramble On

48 x 60

oil on canvas 2010
Pam Farrell

What was your process of selection? Did anything about your process surprise you?

Pam: I’d been “collecting” artists in my head.... When I pitched the idea to James at James Oliver Gallery, the husband and wife team of spencer + imler were at the top of our list.

Once I started really looking around, I was a bit overwhelmed by the breadth of work on paper that I found online...the range of styles and materials. My first surprise was that this was not going to be as easy as I thought. A good challenge, to be sure. I started by making a list of artists whose work I’d seen, then started to look around online. I made a huge list—far more artists than I could possibly include—and started to contact a few at a time. When I found your blog, I felt that I’d found the motherlode!

Though this project was not meant to be historical in nature, nor to be truly representative of the media, I did want to show a range of process, techniques, and styles.

Nee Nej

Deborah Barlow

Two Figures

Jose Camacho

What role do you see the sculpture playing in this setting?

Pam: When we discussed the show, James generously gave me free reign over the whole creative process of selection of work—a wonderful show of faith on his part for my nascent curatorial skills. The only request he had was that he would like to somehow include sculpture in the show. I’d met David Meyer the summer before when we both showed work at LG Tripp in a group show and was immediately intrigued with his work. He employs a range of materials—from flour to books—and sometimes includes text. I found that much of his work has a sense of immediacy to it that I thought would relate in spirit to the works on paper. Susan Maguire, David’s wife, had some small 3-D pieces that encapsulate image and object in a way that I thought might serve as a bridge from the 2-D works on paper.

Eternal Egypt Series

Astrid Fritzgerald

wd4491
mixed media on folded paper
8.5 x 9.75"

M P Landis

How do you see the works selected for this show complementing one another and coalescing into an interesting collection?

Pam: I think this is where the intuitive process comes into play.

The idea of creating a cohesive exhibit was foremost in my mind from the start,

and I did make some selections based on size and presentation.

But until the show is hung,

I guess it all remains to be seen:

the viewer completes the experience.

Air Into Breath

David Meyer

Foolsosophy
Susan Maguire

Crazy Compass Rose

Laura Moriarty

How has your experience been different than your vision of what

your experience would be?

Pam: I’m not sure I had any real sense of what the experience would be...

but aside from the unavailability

of a couple of artists whose work

I very much wanted to include,

the process has been very smooth.

Ageless Lines

Dennis Parlante

Pam, what are your plans and hopes for the final presentation in the gallery setting?

Pam: For all the work to be hung straight and level!

That there be a flow to the exhibit, that it make “sense” to the viewer. That we’ve managed to show each artists’ work

in the best light. That there be a relationship from one work to the next

that evokes new thoughts and ideas,

inspiration, a sense of discovery for the viewer.

That the space can accommodate the amount of work that I have selected.

And these are all the things that swirl around in my head

when I’m trying to fall asleep.

even chance 7

spencer + imler

How did the show title evolve and how does that “name” this collection in your opinion?

Pam: Admittedly, I’ve taken a bit of liberty with the title.

Appearing to me in a flash—I was immersed in painting at the time,

listening to music, (and I have no idea what was playing at the time)

“Physical Graffiti“ just seemed right.
Some will recognize this as the title of the fabled fifth Led Zeppelin album,

but really there’s no direct connection to the band or its music.

The words have a bit of a “pop” and familiarity.

The idea of graffiti in its etymology (to scratch, scribble, draw, write)

suggested to me a relationship to the broad range of approaches

to mark making I was seeing in the work.

Saskatchewan

Ward Schumaker

Other artists in the show include

Janet Filomeno

Congratulations to all the artists in the show,

to Pam for putting a cohesive and

intriguing show together

and to the folks

at James Oliver Gallery

for providing this opportunity.

The Night Sea Journey

2011-08-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

Night Sea Journey

The creative act is a letting down of the net of human imagination

into the ocean of chaos on which we are suspended,

and the attempt to bring out of it ideas.

It is the night sea journey, the lone fisherman on a tropical sea with his nets,

and you let these nets down - sometimes, something tears through them

that leaves them in shreds and you just row for shore,

and put your head under your bed and pray.

At other times what slips through are the minutiae,

the minnows of this ichthyological metaphor of idea chasing.

But, sometimes, you can actually bring home something that is food,

food for the human community

that we can sustain ourselves on and go forward.

~Terrance McKenna

A night sea journey, much like creating art, is a process. I go fishing time after time, casting my net and seeing what comes up. Ideas, solutions, images, metaphor...anything might be caught in the net.

I was speaking with a friend recently about the process, my process which is the way I find meaning in art making.

I am speaking of the being part of creativity…being in an emotionally open, thinking, non-thinking, spiritual space that also encompasses the physical, as in dance. This is letting down the net for the night’s fishing.

Creating is doubt coupled with knowing, but fishing anyway.

Process is being intuitive; responding to what is happening, being alert and aware, but meditative. It is experience coupled with non-judgment and curiosity. It is non-control tempered with knowledge.

It is being an open channel. It is being a tool. It is responding. It is being the net and the fisher.

Process is about stopping to look and look and ponder, sensing what my response is, and sensing what is coming up from the deep ocean well. It is exploration along the Way.

Process is dreaming the answer days after I have lain a piece aside for a while to await the new step. Process is a flash of knowing, followed again by the questions. It is knowing and not-knowing at the same time.

It is the moment.

The connection to the process is my connection to meaning. The meaning comes from within, and is the guide. Meaning and process are nourishment. They can be caught at night while fishing, or when working in the studio.

You can click on the image to see the painting larger if you like.

An Overdose of Satisfaction

2011-07-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

There are some days when I think I'm going to die

from an overdose of satisfaction.

~Salvador Dali

There is something about creating collage on paper that I find very satisfying, more than any other substrate. Paper is friendly, tactile and receptive. It’s easy to manipulate during the process of creating a painting or collage. Paper has it’s own language.

Since I am the creator of the painting

and the first real 'viewer' –

when I feel satisfied,

I put the brushes down and hope

that someone else will feel satisfied too.

~David Lussier

Presentation of art is important to me. I feel my work is enhanced by a simple, clean surrounding that allows the viewers eye to make the journey through the piece in a leisurely manner.

Each piece is unique and takes its own time to be realized.

I am not concerned with the quantity, but only that they

communicate my understanding of life and my craft at that particular time.

~Sharon Knettell

When we started building the studio/wood working shop building, about 5 years ago, I was certain I needed a mat cutter so I could frame my works on paper. A local frame shop was going out of business, and I had been gifted a coupon from Kurt for a mat cutter once we decided which one to get. As luck would have it, the mat cutter was available when we got to the shop. We also obtained the wall mounted cutter for cutting glass and making straight cuts on anything from large paper to mat board. I use it often.

The only person you have to please,

with your art, is yourself.

~Don Getz

For a time while the building project continued the cutters were stored where they would fit; awaiting the day they could be moved to the studio and put into use. We moved the cutters to the studio awhile ago, but this weekend we began to cut mats.

You learn the essential skills,

how to manipulate the brush and how to handle paint,

and you study the works of artists you admire. After a while, though,

you have to be yourself.

That's scary, but satisfying.

~T. M. Nicholas

I thought I would cut the mats, but Kurt, wood worker that he is, could not resist trying out the new equipment. My turn will come. We thought we would start framing up a few things for ourselves as practice. We laughingly set out to challenge ourselves to find out how many ways there are to make mat cutting errors. And we have found several!

The painter goes through states of fullness and evaluation.

That is the whole secret of art.

~Pablo Picasso

I have a real sense of satisfaction seeing the works set off by nice clean mats. We have some frames on order and once they arrive, we will compete the presentation.

I love an art which allows me to

document my place in this mix...

This is my past and my future.

It has its own logic and finally,

its own sense of fulfillment.

~Burton Silverman

I hope you all found satisfaction this weekend too.

And you may tell yourself this is not my beautiful painting

2011-07-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

Take me to the river

Drop me in the water

Art is an ocean

I don’t know why I love you like I do

All the trouble you put me through

Some days things are a little rough in the studio.

We’re on a road to nowhere

Come on inside

Maybe you wonder where you are

And its alright baby, it’s alright

When things become a bit surreal, I may as well go with it.

And you may tell yourself this is not my beautiful painting

And you may ask yourself how did I get here

You may ask yourself, how do I work this

You may ask yourself, where is that beautiful painting

Seems all my work goes through phases.

I’m checking them out

I got it figured out

It’s only the river; it’s only the river

It's just part of the process, part of the flow of it all.

And in all fairness to these paintings,

none of them were involved in today's

long deep breath/sigh in the studio.

The River of Silence

2011-07-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Becoming Visible
6x6

Silence helps me see, hear and feel. Silence helps me create.

Stillness puts me in touch with what is mine; the authentic, the quirky, the gift from the deep well from which we all draw up our creative water droplets. I enjoy discovering the surprises that surface when I work in connection with stillness.

Only when you drink from the river of silence

shall you sing.

~Kahlil Gibran

Yet to Become

11x11

Never talk away the magic.

Danish Saying

Silence is not the absence of sound. The birds still sing, the fan softly whirs, the stream continues to rush to the sea.

Silence is the absence of chatter, of distracting noise and loudness.

Silence allows me to respond to what is happening on the surface as I work.

Silence is a conversation without words between the work and and me.

Remember

6x6

I sat staring, staring, staring - half lost,

learning a new language or rather the same language

in a different dialect.

So still were the big woods where I sat,

sound might not yet have been born.

~Emily Carr

Silence is the space between the coming and going of my own thoughts. Quietude is the midwife of my work.

Shut up and play your guitar.

~Frank Zappa

Stung by the Splendor of a Sudden Thought

2011-06-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook Pages

Stung by the splendor of a sudden thought.

- Robert Browning, wise man.

Thoughts crossing my mind.

Explored and visualized freely.

Germinate in sketchbook form.

Michele’s pages intrigue me.

I often find parallels with my own dream imagery here. She is filling a sketchbook in 30 days. Much more to see at her blog.

See more sketchbook pages

Imbi Davidson

Jeane Myers

Robyn Gordon

What’s in your sketchbook?

Space and Light

2011-05-22T10:05:00.001-07:00

Thirteen Moons

by Leslie Avon Miller

14 x 11.5 mixed media on paper

I want painting to be my flashlight.

~Squeak Carnwath

On my studio wall I have written the words space and light.

Space and light are my anchor, my rock, my beacon if I become lost.

Space is the breath of art.

~Frank Lloyd Wright

I like space in a painting, space to breathe, space to wander around, space to explore.

Space to be.

Space Abstracted

by Leslie Avon Miller

10x10, mixed media collage on paper

In my pictures there are tiny forms in vast empty space, empty horizons, empty plains, everything that is stripped away has always impressed me.

~Joan Miro

I like light in a painting. It adds to the feeling of spaciousness.

The reflections of the moon on one thousand rivers are from the same moon:

the mind must be full of light.

~Hung Tzu-ch’eng

Choreographer of Space
.

by Leslie Avon Miller
.

22x22, mixed media collage on paper

I have always been drawn to light over dark and dark over light, with each allowing some of the other to peek through.

There is a dance that happens when light and dark are mingling together. I like to watch that dance.

Be a full bucket, pulled up the dark way of the well,

then lifted out into the light.

~Rumi

I enjoy the hints of something from before, traces left which I can just see if I look closely that other marks were first, that there are layers and layers built one upon the other.

I like empty spaces that are no longer occupied,

although you can tell that people were there once.

~Dick Cole

Before Darkness
.

by Leslie Avon Miller
.

15x10.5 mixed media on paper

Intimacy is important to me in my work. I enjoy looking at the work from a distance, but then finding rewards for coming closer, to see and experience the little things that enrich the experience of viewing the surface.

When you look into the abyss,

the abyss also looks into you.

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Everything is a Self-portrait

2011-04-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose.

It’s all giving you away. Everything you do shows your hand.

Everything is a self-portrait. Everything is a diary.

Chuck Palahniuk

As I worked in silence with shards and pieces of egg shell, gluing, painting and marking it occurred to me these were perfect self portraits – cracked open, glued together bits marked with illegible words and streaks, just like me.

Cracked. Glued back together, changed by experiences.

Marked by the interactions of life.

An act of naming should quite rightly enable me to call any-thing a self-portrait,

not only any drawing, 'portrait' or not,

but everything that happens to me, that I can affect, or that affects me.

Jacques Derrida

More and more I can embrace that I am growing increasingly mature,

marked by life experience,

releasing attempts for perfection and becoming

more gloriously human than ever before.

Deep breath.

When you start with a portrait and try to find pure form by abstracting

more and more, you must end up with an egg.

– Pablo Picasso

Everything is biographical, Lucian Freud says.

What we make, why it is made, how we draw a dog, who it is we are drawn to, why we cannot forget.

Everything is collage, even genetics.

There is the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly.

We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border we cross.

Michael Ondaatje

We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed,
bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees,
fears we have hidden in as if caves.

I wish for all this to be marked on my body when I am dead.
I believe in such cartography - to be marked by nature,
not just to label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings.
We are communal histories, communal books.
We are not owned or monogamous in our taste or experience.

Michael Ondaatje

It Takes A Long Time To Look

2011-03-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

Prajna by Leslie Avon Miller

To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing.

One does not see anything until one sees its beauty.

~Oscar Wilde

Mary Nomecos

It takes a long time to look.

~Mary Nomecos

In this video Mary talks about her art, about play, and painting.
I loved the close up views of her work.
You will see fabulous brushstrokes and mark making, which I perceive as beauty.

She says that it takes a long time to look,
and looking is an important part of her art practice.

Perceptive observation is seeing with your brain,

feeling with your eyes,

interpreting with your heart.

~Robert Wade

Nota Bene by Mary Nomecos

Prajna is the Tibetan word for clear seeing,

the innate intelligence we all possess deep inside

that allows us to look at ourselves and others with humility

and compassion, but without judgments of good or bad

attached to those observations.

~Cynthia Grahm

Wide Open by Mary Nomecos

The most satisfying and most basic art experience is looking

– pure, unmediated observation and sensation.

~Roy Thurston

Courage Kindled

2011-02-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

On To New Ground

Sometimes my voice may be as a toddler, standing up, falling back on its behind, wobbly, but always pressing on, striving to walk and giggling with joy when it does.

My voice may become rebellious and say NO! Not that. Yes! This! My voice will never give up. It comes to me from the deep well, the river, the source. It is more powerful than I can imagine.

New Rhythm

Sometimes my voice is a tree, standing tall, firmly rooted, limbs reaching for the light. Assuredly "being" without question, knowing it is Tree.

Sometimes my voice may be as a venerable old one, richly lined and weathered, with a knowing wisdom to share. I sit at her feet and listen.

Gray Promises

Sometimes, more often than I would like, my voice may seem silent, as a bear in winter hibernation. I may cast about in the snow, looking and searching, but I only have to wait for the thaw which will come as surely as the spring.

Sometimes my voice will want to run for the joy of running and feeling alive. I run with it, and see where I go.

Courage Kindled

In week five of the Seeking Your Authentic Voice group and I am feeling my energy for creating expand and become more sure. A little braver...and I'm ready to gesso the large panels that wait in the studio. What an adventure it will be!

Continents Forming

These words came to me one early morning this past week. I honored the gift by writing them down, and now I am sharing them with you. After all if my voice gives me words, I need to accept the gift!

Each of these pieces is a small collage on paper, which have come together in the past couple of weeks. Several more are in the works. Fun.

How is your creating going?

Artful Conversations

2011-02-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

Breeze At Dawn
Leslie Avon Miller

The artist fills space with an attitude. The attitude never comes from himself alone.
~William de Kooning

One of the things I enjoy about the blogging community is all the conversation that goes on in the comments sections. The topics of Authentic Voice and Language of Intuition have been especially interesting. Here is a sample of the conversation with examples of the artist's work.

Book of Reliquaries

Judy Wikenfeld

If I don't use my authentic voice then nothing happens, no art, no inspiration - blank canvas as it were. ~Judy

Strabo
Robert Kingston

I always noticed an awkward, clumsy mark or move that kept showing up in my work and I felt that if I could just get rid of that my work would be so much better. No matter what I tried though that clunky thing kept popping up again and again! It took me years until it finally dawned on me that that odd goofy thing was actually me! Everything else was just me putting on other people's clothes. Now I try to embrace who and what I am although Its still so easy to forget and to fall into emulating the flavor of the month. ~Robert

Bare Bones
Jo Reimer

One can riff off another's voice, sort of like jazz musicians do. ~Jo

I'll lean on you and you lean on me and we'll be okay.
~Dave Mathews Band

Ralph Bohnenkamp

I am always looking for the authentic voice. ~Ralph

When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy. ~Rumi

Beyond Form
Bridgette Guerzon Mills

I experienced that weeping for joy the last time I was in my studio and was working on the last painting I created for 2010. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it is a spiritual moment, I think. It's such an amazing and uplifting feeling. I wish I could carry it with me all the time...well, I try. ~Bridgette

Inner City Found Object Assemblage
Don Pezzano

Without our true voice we are just bumping into things with a paintbrush in our hand. ~Don

Seedpod of the Leopard Tree
Sophie Munns

I will never cease to be amazed at how one can view the work of another and almost feel you want to be there doing that....and yet it can be a long way from what lives in oneself to do. I've found it quite mysterious at times to feel I'm drawn to a certain fields of work quite powerfully and consistently yet that is not what I'm about at the end of the day....I have to stay true to what issues forth from myself even if it doesn't always make sense!
Being authentic no matter what is the stronger pull. ~Sophie

Mansuetude

So often voices sound homogenized, and I can't tell who is speaking and from where--and then when you find authentic sound your heart hears it, knows it! ~Mansuetude

The landscape listens and we hear it call our own name.
~Emily Dickinson

The Language of Intuition

2011-01-16T21:23:00.000-08:00

The Sound of Rain
by Leslie Avon Miller

What informs the compositional choices one makes? Whether or not you have a sense of self-discovery before or after the fact of “creation” it is helpful to be more conscious in your personal world of art making.

~ Margot Voorhies Thompson

10 years ago I stepped into a classroom on the wild Oregon coast and spent a week with fellow artists and Margot.

She didn’t instruct so much as she helped us discover what was ours. She asked us questions, stimulated our thought process as artists, and helped us to see.

Margot Voorhies Thompson

I invite you to visit Margot's website

What feelings do your brush marks, scrapings, scratchings, drawing, calligraphy, type and other marks lend to your idea?

~ Margot Voorhies Thompson

Winter

by Leslie Avon Miller

I’ve just spent time looking at some of my work from that workshop, and found my entire art language was present in my work even in its infancy. Soft, subdued palette of cream, sienna, white and black – and a touch of orange. Ink, graphite, collage and paint. Calligraphic marks, drips, finger painting, open space, grids, rectangles, abstracted figures.

What invitation are you extending to the viewer through your work?

~ Margot Voorhies Thompson

My work from that time has always been just within my awareness, but until today when I got it out again, I hadn’t realized how complete my language was even then.

Why am I revisiting that time? For one, I know I had an outstanding learning experience. For another, that was my first art workshop. At this time I am in an archeological mode, looking for the essential, the authentic, the elemental components of my work.

I’m clearing my personal airwaves so I can hear myself. I am clearing, so I can create authentically.

Visuals = the language of intuition.

~ Eileen M. Clegg

The works I have posted here are recent works. My works from the workshop are not imaged.

So, what do you know about your personal visual language of intuition?

Seeking My Authentic Voice

2011-01-05T11:13:00.001-08:00

I have a new appreciation for winter, after the holidays and the rush have subsided.

It’s a personal time. It’s easy to slip home after work and live simply. I find time for reflection, time for solitude, and studio time.

I think of my thought process as mental composting in a way. I don’t have to actively reflect, just see what comes up. I have no intention of any thing like a resolution. I am experiencing more “being” now, and eschewing goal setting and time frames. I am experiencing myself a la natural. It’s exciting really. What will come of it?

From this richness of space and time (and plenty of luxurious sleep), I have been working a lot in the studio. I’m going in new directions. Ideas tumble in my mind, one after the other, waiting to be acted upon. I’m having fun!

I’m not ready to share the “new” work yet, but I can tell you I have been playing with inks, bees wax, charcoal and egg shells. Even those ingredients sound a bit like a compost pile!

I have also developed a new coaching group – Seeking Your Creative Voice. This topic is so very dear to my heart.

On January 14th you can participate in a non cost teleclass exploring the topic if you like. You can find out more here. You will also find particulars about the group there.

As this idea was developing I started down a few mental dead ends; all a part of the process I suppose. Not unlike making art, for me anyway. Then this popped up from my compost pile:

When I tap into my authentic voice that’s when the doors open, the work flows and my heart knows, just knows “this is right.” Time melts. It feels good. The struggle is replaced with a sense of work; right work, good work, the work, my work.

Voice isn’t style, voice isn’t principals and elements of design, voice isn’t content, but the language we use to express our authentic voice includes all of these. Authentic voice is something more elementary than this, it’s something closer to primal, closer to the earth, and it is uniquely yours.

The authentic voice isn’t found so much as it is invited, finally recognized and accepted for what it is and celebrated.

We don’t choose it, it claims us. What we choose is to listen and dance to the sound. You may even find yourself weeping for the joy of connection with your own creative voice.

Happy January! What is coming up from your mental compost pile?

Art Is My Teacher

2010-12-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

My work is loving the world.

~Mary Oliver

Paying some attention to what my art has been teaching me, I have noted a few thoughts. Like all lists, and all awareness, it is in flux, incomplete and evolving. I'll share my observations with you here.

Go with what is happening. Art will teach me what it needs.

It is good to ask "I wonder what will happen if I..."

Swooning is allowed when seeing another artist's work, but feel my feet firmly planted on my own art path.

No matter how much has been mastered, remain a student of everything and of something - photography, on-line presence, or new technology. The world will always evolve and I must also.

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

~Lao Tzu

When in a growth phase, protect incubating ideas. They may be shy. Retreat from scrutiny, like a snake that is shedding its skin. Emerge fresh and ready to shine.

Attend to nature, the original muse.

I learn, yet again, to see, really see.

Share with other artists. They get it. Encourage others as I am encouraged.

Experience gratitude.

The answer is almost always "keep working."

Happy New Year!

What is your art teaching you?

The first image: Untitled, 12 inches by 12 inches, watermedia on birch panel. By Leslie Avon Miller

The second image: Untitled, 30 inches by 22 inches, watermedia and collage on watercolor paper. By Leslie Avon Miller

Readers are adding:

patience
resilience
curiosity
exploration
discovery
renewal
the value of looking within
to be more brave
go to work!
follow any leads
always allow time to experiment
the beginning
letting go
dare
now it's good
look carefully
be brave
have an open mind
look closely
be excited
be open
share

And more words from you:

- nourish the spirit
- be kind to myself
- Play and explore
- Celebrate life
- Be present
- Push
- Feel
- See the light within and in the world
- Keep pushing the envelope
- You can’t win if you don’t play
- Allow
- Accept
- Sustain
- Stillness/action/aloneness
- Share
- Acceptance
- Reflection
- Perseverance
- Connection

What a rich and fabulous list. I'll keep adding to the list as you share your thoughts. Thank you all!

I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around...

2010-11-12T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today.

I want to make art. I have time.

Walk and take photographs.

Paint.

Flat efforts.

Tidy working space.

Look at my art.

Tidy living space.

Look at other people’s art.

Read about other people’s art.

That’s what that’s about?

Look up the word oeuvre.

That’s a big word.

Not in size. In meaning.

Read poetry.

Artists Books and Some Things To Like About Art

2010-10-20T10:48:00.001-07:00

My intrigue with artist’s books goes back to the second grade, when I fell in love with my teacher’s grade book. It was a truly magical book with multiple interior pages of different widths.

All our names were entered down the left hand column. Each interior page flipped to show our grades for a variety of subjects, the column of names on the left remaining constant. The beautiful Miss Monroe entered marks in blue, red or black ink, creating a random pattern of visual interest. The weight of her entries made an impression that created depth to each page. I was truly enthralled.

No other book I experienced had any handmade marks –books were stored on shelves, pristine and sterile. It was sacrilege to make a mark in a book, except for the teacher’s grade book. When ever my BF and I would play “school” I would always start by making an elaborate grade book, with pages of differing widths, filled with columns and rows. Heaven!

I seldom make a model book – I may as well just make another book. But I knew a model would help to test the weights of different papers and how they interact with one another. I used tape to secure the papers since this was only a model. But now I like the model book, so I may add content and hope the photo quality permanent tape will hold for sometime.

To add interest I used some of the paper I do warm ups on when I am starting a studio session. My warm up papers are like a sketch book of ideas. I hang a large piece of light weight paper on the studio wall so I can work on ideas in larger format. I also practice making gestures and marks.

I like a lot of things about making art. I like to work with my hands. It’s something that occurs right here, right now somewhat within my control. I can’t have much of an effect on world peace, but I can make art.

Do you know what I mean? I work out thoughts and responses to being human, especially the parts for which I can’t find deep enough words.

I like to see what happens when I create. I’m just so curious about the whole process. I’m always finding new ways of doing things. One day I may make marks with a stick dipped in paint, and the next day I may use a razor blade to scratch out lines and marks. Curiosity is real fuel for studio time.

When it comes to art, I get to do it my way, and create my vision. No one else is making the decisions, or setting the course. It’s all mine. As said in Art and Fear – art is about “a rolling tangle of choices.” We have to make our choices. And then roll with it.

What are some things you enjoy about making your art?

Speaking of rolling tangles of choices, my new life coaching for artists web site is up and running. So I’m offering a new session of the popular course for artists called Re-Fresh Your Creative Practice. The dates are Tuesday, November 2^nd to Tuesday, December 7^th. If you like you can participate in a complementary call to find out more about it on Tuesday, October 6^th. Head over here and also sign up for my newsletter to find out more about it. The next time I offer this course will be June, 2011, or thereabouts.

If you have signed up for the newsletter and haven’t gotten your complementary gift, check your spam folder. Once you confirm your subscription, an email will be sent to you with your gift. The spam folder is no place for your present to be!

Old Papers, Insects with Wings, and Stencils.

2010-10-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Collectors are happy people ~ Johann Goethe

Old papers, insects with wings, and stencils.

What is a collector? It’s an innate trait. We start as children, collecting leaves, or stamps or stones and, as we get older, teens collect friends, CDs and, as an adult it can be anything. ~Edgar Paulik

Vintage photography paraphernalia.

Post office stamps, beyond their original usefulness.

Collecting seems to bring out that primitive instinct for the hunt in some of its devotees, who stalk their prey with skill. ~Alicia Faxon

Did I mention leaves with spots and dots?

Bulldog clips and every kind of vintage office item.

I have yet to meet a collector who feels bad about his collection. Collection is also about the story – the story behind how someone found it and purchased it. ~Edgar Paulik

Of course, keys.

More, I have so much more…to be continued from time to time.

What do you collect?

I have a new coaching web site here. The small collage above is by Leslie Avon Miller. Thanks for stopping by!

Black and White: The Yin Yang of Colors

2010-08-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

Neither Completely Black Nor White 1
Leslie Avon Miller
mixed media collage
5 x 8 inches

My art is created intuitively as I seek to visualize and share this very moment on the continuum of time, just as it slips into the past.

Yin and yang energy are in constant motion and cause everything to happen.

The Nature of Things 1
Alan Bates
45 x 45 cm

From the Dockside series. Alan explains the resources that informed his work in this series; the jangle of boats, slipways, boat sheds, wharves, and old rusted hardware lying in shipwrights yards provided the colours and textures which held my interest.

Yin and yang are the foundation of the universe.

There Are Many Different Sounds
Mirjam Pet Jacobs
mixed media

The art I make is slow art. It is a response to the fast moving, technical, impersonal age. I make unique objects, created with dedication, passion and love.

Yin and Yang are two parts of the whole.

Burnished Double Walled Bowl
Jane Perryman
Saggar fired
23 x 19 x 19 cm

For many years my work has investigated the vessel through traditional techniques of hand building, burnishing and smoke firing. Recently I have developed ideas which allude to the timeless vessel form as well as referencing contemporary urban structures such as buildings, walls, and bridges.

Yin is not completely black.

Tiny Treasure
Noela Mills
ink and mixed media

My art is now almost entirely consumed by the concept of "wabi sabi" - the Zen Buddhist philosophy of finding beauty in things old, worn, incomplete, imperfect and common place.

Yang is not completely white.

Virtues Undiscovered
Bridgette Guerzon Mills
encaustic
6 x 6 inches

I am drawn to the inherent beauty and spirit of the natural world, and my artwork is a personal dialogue that reaches into the stillness of that spirit. Through both imagery and medium, I create organic pieces that speak to the cycles of life, growth and decay, memory and the passage of time.

Yin and yang cannot exist without each other.

Completion
Donna Watson
hand painted rice papers and small scroll
12 x 12 inches

I view my work as an ongoing process of search, and self examination. I am interested in the passage of time, and what remains.

Together yin and yang form the harmony of the opposites.

Brown Paper Bags and Rust

2010-07-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

Archive, Leslie Avon Miller
11x14x1.25 on panel

Today is a wonderful day. I'm moving into my new studio! I am more than excited!

And today at the Virtual TART site, I have the pleasure of exhibiting Brown Paper Bags and Rust. My thanks to Dale Copeland who is a tireless advocate for collage and assemblage artists. Not only does she coordinate the International Collage Exchange each year, (a monumental task) she also provides on line exhibition opportunities for collage and assemblage artists.

Following is my statement for this series of work. You will be able to see all of the pieces at the Virtual TART site. This series features papers I have altered in many ways including rusting and painting, as well as mixed media and found objects.

Life is full of common and everyday objects and processes. In my work as an artist, I have been selecting and gathering commonplace artifacts of my generation and the generations that preceded me. This series of Brown Paper Bags and Rust honors the simple objects and processes of living that might go mainly unnoticed, but for me have beauty of texture, graceful form and patina of history.

As a mixed media artist I explore the process of creating and altering materials much as an archeologist or scientist explores remnants of the past or chemical reactions. Beginning with admiration for familiar objects, I slowly built up a collection of papers including brown paper, found vintage autograph book pages, washi papers and vintage packaging. Each paper has been altered, painted, stained, rusted and marked to make it my own. This process takes time, repeated applications and the curiosity of an explorer. There is no map.

The small objects placed in these works include family items such as old piano roll ends, collected items such as common office supplies, and worn out rubber stamps from my town's post office. Egg shells, rusty hinges, bamboo and waxed linen all appeal to me for their simple and familiar utility. Yet, when altered, combined and seen from a new perspective they create patterns and textures that please the eye and document the journey. The metaphor of this process with the process of living does not escape me. Explore, select, collect, alter, be altered, evolve, honor, combine, be beautiful, decay and become herstory.

My attempt has been to honor the pedestrian and the everyday, and to mark their place in the stream of life. I have also honored my own process of exploration, of creating and of marking my place in the same stream.

Dieties and Divas by Janet Jones

2010-07-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

College study by Leslie Avon Miller

There must be as many ways to depict the human figure as there are humans. I am always drawn to abstracted figurative work. I find edgy work most intriguing. Janet Jones has done a figurative series of very unique Deities and Divas. Janet explains her series below.

Titania by Janet Jones

Several years ago an American friend living in Japan sent me a Japanese paper doll in the style known as ningyo, and this may have been in the back of my mind when I began this series. I'm sure I was also influenced by local museum collections of Oceanic and African sculpture, ethnic textiles and historic costumes, as well as natural history museum exhibits.

Cassandra by Janet Jones

I sculpted faces and hands in white clay, and folded papers I'd mono-printed or collected, then added small objects, bones and insect specimens. I've presented them in black shadow boxes that look like specimen cases.

Leda by Janet Jones

While Janet and I were discussing her series, she filled me in with more interesting facts about the birth of the Deities and Divas.

Nemesis by Janet Jones

Here is the back story on the Deities and Divas; I'd wanted, as I say on my website, to make some little costumed figures mounted in shadow boxes, after a Japanese tradition, but when I had done a few they looked like paper dolls, and I decided the ladies needed a little edge. I'd heard of a shop in Berkley, across the bay, called the Bone Room. After a fascinating visit I returned home with little baggies of tiny bones, one labeled by the staff "most of a rat." On the way home I stopped for coffee, and the young woman in the shop asked "How's your day going?" I said fine, and her next question was "What have you done so far today?"

I ask you, how often does this happen in real life?

Oracle by Janet Jones

Janet has just started blogging. Her blog is called Foot Notes Odds and Adenda to the web site of Janet Jones. While Janet is not taking comments at her blog, you can easily contact her via her website. Janet's website is a showcase of innovative art which is unique and captivating. Thanks Janet, for taking part in this series on figurative art. And welcome to the blogging community!

Portia by Janet Jones

In my last post on figurative art many of us commented that we would like to turn the pages of Noela Mills' Fabric Book of Life Drawings. Kindly, Noela has taken images of each page and posted a link on her blog, Wabisabiart.

Turandot by Janet Jones

The first image on this post is a study I did for my series called Brown Paper Bags and Rust. You will be able to see the series at Dale Copeland's site beginning August 1st.

The studio update is very exciting- the projected move in date is this Saturday! The floors are painted, and the floor trim is ready to go in. I understand strong men will be here this weekend to move the heavy items like my framing tables and desk into the space. The lightening is full spectrum florescent which still needs to be hung. While the window trim won't be installed yet, I don't think that will take long and I am feeling great anticipation. I am staying calm until it actually happens, but i. c.a.n.t. w.a.i.t!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoy Janet and Noela's work as much as I do.

Creating in Our Own Authentic Voice - Buried Treasure

2010-07-15T08:42:00.001-07:00

One day not so long ago I was walking back to the house from the studio, a walk of about only 80 feet. It had been a pretty good day in the studio. I had been making collage, painting papers, tearing edges, arranging shapes, and gluing pieces down.

What was appearing on the paper was something I had never seen before, and it looked good, really good. And it was unique. And I knew that through my work I was speaking about breathing room, and calmness, and the state of being. The work I did that day was fresh, clean and strong. I was feeling very satisfied.

As I walked back to the house I was carrying my bucket of dirty brushes in one hand and my tea mug in the other, as the studio is unfinished and has no running water yet. I suddenly stopped and had an epiphany. I was truly speaking in my own authentic creative voice! Gosh, I thought, this feels so good, why would anyone try and speak in someone else’s voice?

That was when I decide to really zero in on the process of becoming an artist and creative person with a unique and very authentic expression.

My curiosity about the whole process of becoming someone who can and does express herself uniquely, and from her own truth was piqued. Hence my current focus is on authenticity in the creative process.

How do we get there? What is the process, and how can we enhance that uniqueness, that authenticity in our expression? What is the value of authentic expression?

What ever it is we are currently doing it is a step on the path. What ever it is you and I are creating today, it is the way we deepen own unique creative voice. Michelangelo said David was already in the marble, the artist just chipped away the excess to reveal the statue.

As well our voices and our authenticity are with us right now, we just have to tune in more clearly, and allow the flow.

This post was originally posted on my coaching blog, Create Your Best Life Coaching. It is my contribution to Buried Treasure, "an online, collaborative project that invites art bloggers to go into the depths of their blogs and dig for buried treasure. Each participant was asked to repost one (or more) or their favorite posts from their own blog. There are so many brilliant artists out there but so little time to explore all their work fully. This gives us all an opportunity to see highlights from posts we may have missed from so many of our favorite bloggers!" Buried Treasures is hosted by Seth Apter, the creative voice of The Altered Page.

If you read my blog from time to time, you might wonder about the reference to working in my studio. In 2009 when I wrote this post I was working in the studio on a temporary basis. I had a piece of plywood set across two saw horses which actually worked out very well.

Today's update on the studio construction is that the walls are all done! They look sharp in the new coat of fresh white paint. Next, Kurt will hang the ceiling fan.

This weekend we plan to paint the floor and then I will possibly be able to move back in. The trim and a few other details will still need to be done, but I can work in there while that is completed. I'm containing my excitement in the event something else needs to be done that will delay the process, but I also have my fingers crossed!

This collage is one I recently made. Thanks for visiting!

Seized with Creative Vigor

2010-07-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

Being seized with creative vigor can result in fabulous art discoveries. And a few other things can be discovered too.

Here is a discovery. If you are concurrently doing the laundry while creating interesting collage papers, and you leave the lid of the clothes washer open it will not drain out all that fresh soapy water.

Then sometime later when you meander by, feeling all pleased about your new papers and notice the machine, you can add the clothes and no one will ever know you were a distracted laundry lady. You may wonder how I know these things…I’m not telling!

Are you interested in some tips for collage paper preparations? I know some people have all the technique they need, and some folks are open to trying more. If you have created papers that you find too dull or too bright, or too intense, or too ugly, might I suggest you assume an explorers mindset. Get those papers out of the drawer and on your work surface. Contemplate and consider what you have at hand. Then begin!

I usually work atop a piece of plastic such as a new white or clear garbage bag that has been softened to remove the sharp pleats and fold marks. I put the plastic bag in my clothes dryer with a wet load of laundry. I turn on the dryer for about 60 to 90 seconds and then retrieve the plastic bag. It will be nicely free of fold marks. If you want, you can then turn the dryer back on to finish drying the clothes.

If you don’t have a dryer, you do have an option. Crumple up the plastic bag and place it next to your warm skin. If you are female you have two pretty good spots under your shirt for two bags, one on each side. If you are male you’ll have to think of your own spot. It’s a bit itchy, but after a while the bag will be soft and the fold creases gone. A tip of the hat to Eydi Lampasona who taught me that technique.

Put the side of your paper you like the most face down on the plastic. This technique is for more porous papers like washi and tissues, not watercolor papers. I often find it’s the “B” side, the underneath side I like the best. If you enjoy mark making this is a good time to try some on your paper.

If your paper is too bright apply something to calm it down. Apply your problem solution – what ever it is – ink, paint, what ever you can think of and wait for the magic to happen. I leave each sheet of paper on its own plastic until it is completely dry. I don’t try to move the paper without the plastic support.

If your paper is too dull, how about a nice time flinging paint, or dripping ink, or transferring paint from one surface to another? Let dry, and repeat. That is literally how I create my best collage papers.

My next experiment involves cherry tree bark. I am taking my inspiration from India Flint, who uses eco dyes on cloth. Her work is stunning. I am waiting for the library to let me know her book Eco Colour is available for me to read. But since I am in the mood for exploration, I am just going to plunge ahead and try some things and find out what happens. Its only paper…

I attended a great non art work shop recently on human brains and learning. I love that kind of stuff. The fellow who taught it is John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist, researcher and really funny guy. He knows a lot about how humans, especially babies, learn. Did you know the ideal student to teacher ratio is 1 teacher to 5 students? That is how many students the teacher, or more accurately, the teacher’s brain, is actually able to attend to.

The new studio space is tantalizing now. It’s all bright and white. The ceilings sore above the open beam and light streams in through the skylights. The scaffolding is moved out. The space is open and inviting. I could give in to temptation and move in before a floor covering and trim work are completed. I will try to resist, at least until there is a floor. Kurt says he will go investigate flooring options tomorrow. He must sense my patience beginning to melt now that moving into the studio is so close. It’s been five years in process.

I can envision the new studio space having ample room for 5 students and one teacher to work, even with the framing equipment in place. I can envision a 4 day class about collage and creating papers. A little exploration, a little collage paper making and creativity coaching…I love visions.

Expressive Figurative Art

2010-06-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

Empty-handed I entered the world. Barefoot I leave it. My coming, my going -- Two simple happenings that got entangled.
~ Kozan Ichikyo

And between coming and going? Make art!

Continuing with the blog post series featuring figurative art I present here life drawings by Australian artist Noela Mills. Noela’s blog is called wabisabiart. Her blog features creative experimentation and a whole spectrum of her own art from jewelry to collage and from paintings to textile art.

Noela’s life drawings are oh so exquisite, using sensitive line, powerful shape and a splendid color palette. These drawings were part of the International Collage Exchange this year, but unfortunately I didn’t get one of them! Noela has also used life drawings to construct a most intriguing artist book. Oh, how I would love to hold that book and turn the pages! Noela is an innovative artist, who loves textures, color and shapes, so of course I feel we are kindred spirits. Noela tells us about her long time love affair with textures here.

When I was about eight years old, I went on a school camp. I borrowed my mother's bellows camera and took photos of rocks, bark, patterns in the sand, reflections, and only one or two of people. My love affair with texture had begun. Over the next fifty years, I explored all avenues of life and the visual arts, becoming an art teacher, a traveller, a ski instructor, a mother and eventually a professional artist. My art is now almost entirely consumed by the concept of 'wabi sabi' - the Zen Buddhist philosophy of finding beauty in things old, worn, incomplete, imperfect and common place. I work with rust paint on canvas, barbed wire in jewellery, antique kimono silks in scarves and teabags in almost everything. My personal mantra is HONEST, SIMPLE and NOBLE. I still take photos of rocks, bark and reflections.

I am a devoted fan of artist Robyn Gordon. You probably know her blog, Art Propelled. Robyn curates delicious on line art exhibits of all kinds including collage, paintings, textiles and anything else that strikes her keen artistic eye. Opening a new blog post at Art Propelled is like opening a birthday present in beautiful kuba cloth wrapping tied with native grasses and decorated with seed pods. But Robyn is best known for her own wood carvings. Robyn takes figurative art and totems to a whole new level. I am fortunate enough to have one of Robyn’s small goddess carvings. It has a place of honor on my windowsill alter of inspirational Very Cool and Arty Things.

Robyn’s carvings make statements about her love for her native Africa and art and her deep sense of compassion. Robyn’s reply to the question “What story are you telling with your art?” follows.

I suppose I am telling the story of my life in South Africa. The niche carvings hold objects that are of the land (pebbles, bones, cowries, driftwood etc.), symbols of Africa (beadwork, arrowheads, tiny stone carvings), symbols of my British ancestry (silver teaspoons, Minton china shards). The totems "speak" of the legends that have been passed down from one generation to the next. The patterns, objects, symbols are all of this land. No matter what tribe we belong to we who were born in this country belong here and make South Africa what it is.

I am so thankful for the art blogging world. From my little town in the Pacific Northwest of the US I can experience the art, the creative explorations, musings and processes of artists from around the world. Thank you Noela and Robyn.

What's Your Art Fantasy?

2010-06-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

So what's your art fantasy? I'll tell you mine. It's to have a fabulous art gallery. My gallery-in-my-mind is full of great innovative art of all kinds including paintings, mixed media, textiles, sculpture, contemporary basketry and more.

I can see it now - a spacious and well lit space with lofty ceilings. The cohesiveness comes from the quality of the work and the vision. And like all good fantasies, my gallery is about the joy - no problems!

Androgyny by Denise Marts

Ultimately, there is only one meaningful question
concerning the nature of the self and human consciousness
and that question is, "Who am I?"

Sincere self-inquiry is the philosophical pursuit
and an artist that pursues his or her art deeply enough
becomes a philosopher by default."

~ Denise Marts

Venus Sketch by Denise Marts

I'm beginning today with an intermittent series of posts featuring figurative art. A virtual gallery of sorts. I think these artists are phenomenal.

Their work pulls me in to consider their unique visions. And they can be in my fantasy gallery any day.

Blue Nude 2.1 by Denise Marts

What immediately grabs your eye when you walk into an art venue?

Angelica with two old Tanzanian African sculptures by Denise Marts

I love nonobjective, funky or elegant abstract art. It speaks to me and calls my name. My eyes soak it all in - colors, shapes, textures and line. Oh the thrill, the satisfaction of seeing great art!

Three Dancers, from the Stone Sculpture series by Denise Marts

Here for today's opening are two talented and visionary artists, Denise Marts and Linda (who's last name I don't know.)

Please be my guest and help yourself to a glass of wine, have a chocolate and while you listen to the live music playing in the background, mingle with fellow art lovers and feast your eyes.

Family Portraits by Linda. Linda's blog is called entre les mots et l'image or between words and image.

There's something new to see around each corner. Enjoy!

by Linda

I love playing with glue and paper - touch - feel -
discover textures with the tips of my fingers -
I like to have paint stains on my hands and my clothes -
I like the mess on my desk -
I also play with pixels - scan my collages - mix them together
- overlay - observe - the fragment -
I see emergence of other forms - other colors -
I like the mixture of me and chance.

~Linda

Please be sure and sign the guest book, and share your art fantasy. I'm glad you're here. Would you care for another chocolate?