Open Studio

My sweetie back from Thailand and China…I love the tiny Buddah he brought back.

Finishing a sweater for my son…finally.  I haven’t been knitting much, so this has only taken me…uh….8 or 9 months.  Incredibly patient, that’s what Ian is.

Banana bread….

And my new encaustic panels.  I just made two new ones- 28″x28″- out of a hollow core door.  They seem expansive after all of my little 8 inch squares I’ve been doing.  It has been quite a project, just preparing these.  I am trying to work out how to attach a hanging wire to the back .  Since they are made from hollow doors, they are incredibly light and smooth.  I can’t wait to get going on these.

It’s that time of year again!

I’m afraid that painting in the studio will have to take a back seat to this…….

and this….

and this…..

Set painting for the Young Actors play here on the coast.  My son is in the group- it’s an improvisational acting group for kids, and every year they all brainstorm a wacky play and all the parents pitch in to help make it happen.  They are led by an amazing and inspiring teacher, Auri Naggar, and they somehow pull together these plays that are so silly and magical that only children, in all of their uninhibited enthusiasm, could make them possible. When people ask me about it, I always describe it as like one of those plays that your kids and their friends think up on a rainy afternoon of raiding the dress-up box and reading too many books, and want to perform in the living room for the grown ups…and they end up embellishing as they go along….only this time, they are given months to work on it, a big stage to perform it on, with lights and a sound system, and live music!  What a dream.  And there is cake afterwards.  What is there not to love??

It’s a privilege to be a part of it, really.  If you are in the area, the play is the weekend of May 16 - 18, at the high school here in Half Moon Bay. 

One of the things I’ve been trying to do is look at creativity in a more global way….to try to be more aware of  the creativity that is woven into my life and of the way that feeds into more creativity.  As my awareness grows, so does my tendency to plant little seeds of creative potential as I go, and then watch as they build upon one another- sometimes in unexpected ways. The most obvious way is this:

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The first is a stack of cut plywood, waiting for sanding, and the second is same plywood, covered with paper, and waiting for the first coat of beeswax.  A lot of the time I don’t feel like doing the prep work, like this. It’s tedious, or boring. Not nearly as exciting as painting.  But if I don’t take breaks from painting to do work like this, I run out of painting supports, and it breaks my painting momentum.But it isn’t always so obvious.

Here is a table in our family room…..in all of it’s glorious, messy, chaos. Talk about creative potential! A lot goes on at this table- worlds are created, characters come into being, objects are built…..and having the space set aside for this creates the potential for that. It’s an important part of our home life.  And my creative life.  It’s viral, creativity. It’s essential. And, honestly, does it get any better than this? 

Let’s hear it for shelving!

I’ve had piles of stuff on every available surface. It’s nice to free up some space for working. And, speaking of working, that is a new piece on the left. 

A detail.  It was an early bird painting that just wasn’t up to standard.  So I painted over it and started over.  I like the way the painted embroidery looks mixed with the new embroidery.  Sometimes, when I can let go of a painting that isn’t working, great things happen.  It’s the letting go that is hard. Sometimes I try to paint around my favorite part, to try to save something, and that’s almost always an undisputed disaster. It’s better to just see the failed painting as a source of potential. Creative potential. A base for something new.

 I’ve got a lot of new work started- paintings on canvas mostly, but also preparing some panels for some new encaustics.  Back in September, I asked myself what I wanted my creative life to look like, and the answer that came was that I wanted momentum. The most important measure of success for me is not about how many paintings I’ve sold, or how many shows I’ve been in, but whether I’m living an integrated, full creative life. And whether that creativity rolls from one day to the next, carrying itself along, and me along with it.  This doesn’t just happen.  It must be cultivated. Sung to. Nurtured. So this is the deal I made with myself:  I need to get my butt into my studio every day that I can.  Sometimes I’m not home, or I’m sick, but almost every day I go into my studio.  I don’t have to paint, draw, or really be physically productive in any way- I just have to show up. Even if it’s only for a few minutes.  I can sit in my chair and stare around blankly if I want (which I have done!). I can empty the trash or just spend a few minutes looking at the work in progress.  One day I took my book out there and read.  But lots of times I go out there with no creative agenda, just to visit, and I end up staying, fiddling, rearranging something. And next thing I know, I’m squeezing some paint out, or starting something new. Just being in the space, and integrating it into my daily life gets (and keeps) things going. It keeps everything greased and flowing. And yesterday I was in there hanging shelves and looking around at all of the new work, and it occurred to me:  this looks a lot like…..momentum!

I’m off now to do my first creative act of the day- pancakes for my (not so) little one…