Tag Archives: creativity

Updates, New Work, Creative Challenges, & a Confession

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There has been a lot going on here in my little home studio!

As you may have seen in my last post, my birthday was at the beginning of the month – I turned 28. Twenty eight marks 16 years since my grandfather taught me to paint with oils. Twelve years since I marched myself down to the guidance office at school and demanded that they replace all of my math and science classes with art and music classes. Ten years since I graduated high school and decided to attend The Art Institute of Philadelphia. Seven years since  I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Graphic Design. Four years since I started painting again after having given up on the art after college. And, I decided while reflecting on my 28th birthday over a glass of wine and sushi with a friend, high time I started taking myself as seriously as I wanted others to.

It’s confession time – I have always relied on others to value me and my talents more than I value them myself, because placing real value on the things that I chose to do made me uncomfortable. It made me uncomfortable because if I grabbed on to something – like art – and threw myself into it and failed, I would be devastated; but if other people insisted I should throw myself into it and I kind of did, I couldn’t be blamed if it went terribly awry. I have grappled for years with art not being a serious enough endeavor, but more so with not believing I was good enough to make it one.  Continue reading →

Artist’s Date: A Birthday Visit to The Clover Market

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Clover Market, Ardmore, vintage, antiqueThis weekend, two fantastic things happened. It was my birthday, and The Clover Market was open in Ardmore, PA.  I know the two events are entirely unrelated, but I like to think that all of the fantastic artists, vintage sellers, and crafters came to The Clover Market for my birthday.

In reality, the market is held several times a year – in the Spring and the Fall – and features a huge number of artists, crafters, vintage shops, and the like. The market is juried – in the sense that you have to submit an application, work samples, and be approved in order to participate, which is probably some of the reason there was such a remarkable and consistent quality to everything I saw while I was there. Continue reading →

Inspiration Board: Michael Mapes’ Photographic Sculptures

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When I first saw the work of Michael Mapes, I was immediately fascinated.  A mix of photography, sculpture, and science fair project – albeit a really, really, beautiful science project, Michael Mapes dissects his already-stunning photos and then reassembles the pieces using specimen pins, plastic bags, vials, magnifying glasses, gelatin capsules, and the like.  The results are beautiful, compartmentalized sculptures that appear endlessly complex and function as portraits, collage, and intriguing forays into organization and disorganization.

You can see more of his work at Parlor Gallery.

Artist’s Date: Using Bad Circumstances for Good Art

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antique camera photography vintage filmThis week has been very artistically accomplished for me – I was able to get quite a few new pieces finished that are scheduled to hang in a great little local-food cafe in Media, PA this weekend, and I’ve felt very inspired and at peace with my “inner artist” – a nice change from the angsty, hot mess she tends to be at times. While browsing other art blogs to see what was going on in the community (doing my best to avoid being the reclusive artist that I can be!), I came across a video of Neil Gaiman’s 2012 address of the graduates of The University of the Arts in Philadelphia.  You can view the entire speech here, and I highly recommend that you do.

One of the quotes from his speech that stuck with me was, “Things will probably work out, and time will probably take the sting away, and the only thing that really matters is that you do what only you can do; make good art.”

These simple lines are really at the essence of what being an artist is – we have creation in our blood. It is a process that has been passed down to us from our earliest of ancestors. The art of making, so to speak, is inherent in all of us, and it’s no coincidence that it’s often the things that helps to get us through the dark times and the thing that we turn to when nothing else seems to be working. Through all of the circumstances in which we find ourselves – the ending of relationships, the beginning of new ones, the deaths of loved ones, and all the impossibilities we can be faced with  – make good art.

In many ways, it’s easier to visualize putting this sentiment into action with the big things.  In the past, I’ve always tuned to art when I couldn’t handle the things going on around me, but this week, not too long after hearing Mr. Gaiman’s speech, I had the chance to apply his words to a much less serious event, and perhaps learned that it’s just as important to use all the things around me to ‘make good art’ when the circumstances are just kind of annoying and not totally devastating. Continue reading →

Artist’s Date: Wandering in the Woods

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Having lived in the city for most of my adult life, I’m still pretty fascinated by my relatively new, wooded surroundings.  The house I share with my fiance, his two kids (his in the sense that I did not biologically create them – but I love them like they’re my own!), and our two hilarious cats is in the middle of a 6 acre wooded property, which is in the middle of what seems to be a larger wooded property with some farms and roads thrown in periodically. In the city, the closest I found myself to nature was often a brief interaction with my houseplants – here, it’s inescapable. Nature is everywhere – and aside from the countless trees and plants, we have a very large flock of wild turkeys, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, birds, possum, skunks, and at least two large and particularly bold groundhogs, among other things living on our property.  Needless to say, it is both endlessly entertaining and endlessly beautiful here.

For my Artist’s Date this past week, I took a few hours and wandered around our property (yes, it’s large enough that you can wander for hours).  It was early in the morning and one of the sunnier, warmer days we’ve had in the past couple of weeks. The air was fresh, everything was wet and very much alive, and as I snapped photos for later reference in potential art pieces, I couldn’t help but feel very calm, connected, and refreshed. Everything an Artist’s Date is supposed to be.

Here are a few of the pictures I took. Continue reading →

Creating Creativity

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Creativity Right Brain Left BrainI have always heard people say, either to myself or any other ‘obviously’ artistic person in the room at the time, “OMG, you are sooo creative. I could never do that!” or, “I wish I could be as creative as you are!” or, even better, “How do you come up with that stuff? It’s amazing how it just comes from no where…”

I’ve learned to recognize these as comments in passing, for the most part. I don’t take the time to explain to them that I believe that we are all creative beings, and that our creativity comes from our spirit – that which makes us human, the “infinite intelligence” that Deepak Chopra writes about.  The only variations, I believe, are the level to which each of us has allowed creativity to be cultivated within us, and the form of expression we choose to use.  Even those of us who have taken on the title “artist”, “musician”, or the like, have moments that the creativity stream seems to run dry – the ideas seem to disappear, and with them go the motivation and any clue of what to do next.

We’re living in the era of creativity. No longer is it only artists, musicians, and writers who are expected to be creative – everyone is.  Businesses and corporations want increasingly creative solutions. Creative ‘giants’ like Google, Behance, and Apple are at the top of the economic ladder.  More and more people are employed in a creative capacity, and more and more people have taken their employment into their own hands. So, if creativity is in all of us – even those who make no claims at being an “artist” – and we all need it, how do we get to it? Continue reading →

Inspritation Board: Maurice Sendak

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Author and illustrator of over 50 children’s books during his lifetime, Maurice Sendak died Tuesday due to complications following a recent stroke. Most well known for his book Where the Wild Things Are (1963), he was both an award-winning author and artist.  Nothing short of a character himself, Mr. Sendak graced us all with his unique perspective, timeless children’s literature, and expressive illustrations. We have lost one of the greats.

While Where the Wild Things Are is certainly one of his most well-known publications, Sendak’s other groundbreaking works include In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There,  Higglety Pigglety Pop! and The Nutshell Library. Bumble-Ardy, his first book in 30 years, was published by HarperCollins last year. A posthumous picture book, My Brother’s Book, is slated for 2012.

Sendak has said of his own writing, “I don’t write for children. I write, and then someone says, ‘That’s for children.’” He held similar sentiments for his art, and once said that he wanted to be acknowledged as more that a “kiddie-book artist”.  By the time the accolades came in 1997 in the form of the National Medal of Arts, Sendak, already late in his life, had moved beyond the need for recognition. “I was accepted at the grown-up party,” he said in a 2002 interview. “The medal said, ‘American Artist,’ [but] by then, I didn’t need it.”

“The distinctions of fine art bore me to death,” Sendak added. Continue reading →

Inspiration Board: Jason Thielke

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“Jason Thielkeʼs figurative drawings explore the constellation of human experience. Yet this exhibition marks a departure for the artist, away from technical perfection. Previous works involved laser etching and many hours digitally recreating his original, hand-drawn sketches. For Zero-zero, the artist is hand-drawing directly on wooden panel. “

Since stumbling across one of his drawings on Pinterest, I must admit that I’ve been a tad obsessed with the artwork of Jason Thielke. A mixture of female and animal figures, his latest series of drawings are complex; the subject matter are broken up into linear patterns and planes – almost like architectural drawings, while still remaining soft and fluid. They remind me of maps of stars and constellations, and the movement in these two dimensional pieces is undeniable. The color is subtle and takes a backseat to line and form. I think these are strikingly unique and beautiful, and I have the feeling that my obsession isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I also appreciate that, even as an established artist, he is actively exploring new forms of art and expression, still taking “departures”, as it were, and challenging himself to continue to make new and beautiful things.

“Iʼm thinking about the messiness of life and how we are trying to figure things out,” Thielke said. Perhaps itʼs maturity, a level of understanding that comes with being in his mid-thirties, a growing into the full complexities of understanding that life is inherently messy, that is pushing this growth.

Artist’s Date #10: O, Canada

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Canadian flag at the U.S. Canadian BorderI’m a little late in posting this, but I drafted it on my iphone (not an easy task) on a little road trip to Canada.

We left Wednesday night and made it as far as Watertown, NY – a solid 6 hour drive.  Thankfully, Chris had already made reservations at a hotel there, because my sing along with the radio had long since turned into whining about how I could not possibly sit in the car any longer. After six or seven hours of sleep, allowing me an extra hour in the hotel to make sure I had time to wake up and shower without feeling too rushed, and grabbing breakfast (because that would have turned into a whine-fest all by itself), we headed off to the U.S-Canadian border.

I’ve had the opportunity to do plenty of international traveling in the past, but I had never been to Canada, and I had never crossed an international border by car. I had no idea what to expect, and Chris thoroughly freaked me out with countless tales of getting stopped, questioned, and searched when trying to cross the border in the past. This time, it turns out, the questions were few and the crossing was uneventful (he usually drives a suspicious looking van and used to have a ponytail – the combination was made for questioning, I think!)St. Lawrence home Canada

Once in Canada, at the recommendation of our host, we took a very scenic drive along the St. Lawrence on Canadian high way 2 – rather than staying on the major road. It was incredibly beautiful, and well worth the little bit of extra time. The drive took us along the water, through quaint, very European-looking towns, past unbelievable mansions nestled on their own little islands, through parks and wooded areas. I know I’m repeating myself, but it was incredibly beautiful.

The man we were visiting lives in Ingleside, Canada, and it took us another few hours of driving that morning to make it to his house.

We arrived at his modest, but adorable home in the early afternoon, and were immediately ushered into a large garage/former studio. I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with premiere airbrush artist Guy Frechette. He had been airbrushing impressive, custom works of art onto vehicles – particularly vans – for over thirty years, and painting on canvas for even longer.  My fiance, Chris, had hired him years ago to paint a custom wrap-around on a late 1970′s van that he had bought, but because of on-going health issues as a result of the airbrushing process, Guy had been forced into retirement, and at the strict advice of his doctor could no longer airbrush vehicles in the same manner he had been doing for so many years. While they were making arrangements for Chris to pick up the van (initially, the unfinished artwork was to be painted over in the van’s original black), they somehow both hatched a plan that involved me finishing the artwork on the van. This trip was to be my first lesson in airbrushing vehicles. Continue reading →

Monday Inspiration Board: Silvia Pelissero

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About a New Place - Silvia PelisseroMy latest typography paintings, though labeled mixed media because I tend to use whatever is within reaching distance in my studio, have consisted largely of watercolor (yes, the very same watercolors that I purchased on my Artist’s Date in Lake Placid, NY). Since, in all of my artistic dabbling, I had never used watercolors before, I spent a good amount of time researching other artists who were using the medium well, watercolor techniques, and watercolor paintings I liked so that I could get an idea of how I would try and make my own watercolors work. It helped – and I am always an advocate of taking in inspiration and learning from what other great artists are doing. In my search for content to aid in my watercolor learning curve, I came across Italian artist Silvia Pelissero.

Her waterc0lor portraits are simply stunning. She uses the medium in a way that is bold and unexpected, with as much emphasis on the intense splashes of color as the white space and water lines. The images are striking and complex – I almost feel like I need to keep looking at them to figure out all of each painting’s nuances and not miss any of the important little details that make up each image.

You can view more of her work here.