"Creating Art from the Back Roads of the World"
It is amazing all of the things that can inspire a painting. I am not just talking visually but just daily events and pleasures. Being creative I love making things in my spare time as well. Creativity and art are not just used to make paintings, sculptures and pottery.
What are you creating these days?
Below are a list of my Favorite Creative Pleasures:
• Making Kombucha and Tea Soda
• Baking Bread
• Cooking and Preserving
• Spending time Gardening
• Travel
• Sewing
Life is full of challenges! Over the last year we have all had to move outside our comfort zones. Doing things differently and thinking in a different way are not always a bad thing.
Like me I am sure your usual schedule for the day has been run over by a truck and thrown to the wind! Instead of feeling lost and without a schedule come up with a new one. You may be surprised how much better it works for you and your family. Working from home in my studio is something that I have done for many years. I always felt it gave me the best of both worlds. I am able to take a walk, throw a load of laundry in and enjoy lunch on my own front porch if and when I choose. The one thing I don’t have is kids at home during this time. I realize this element changes things greatly especially if you were to be educator as well during this time. While taking over the enormous role of teacher many may be realizing that the teacher wasn’t the problem after all…I know it can be hard to believe as a parent. I have been there myself not that long ago.
There are challenges that arise from working at home but you are the one that gets to figure out how to fix them. Where are you going to work that you can have the desired atmosphere to most efficiently do your job? Also it isn’t a “play for free card”, it simply allows you to do things in the order you choose. As long as the work gets done you can do it in any order you choose and at any time you choose. I find myself working more than eight hours a day as I love what I do. You may find the same thing happening to you. Working more hours also happens due to the lack of interruptions that you would normally get in the office.
Much of my inspiration comes from the land and what it produces. I’ve painted everything from mushrooms and flowers to landscapes and crumbling homes from years gone by. Growing up in the Hawkeye state of Iowa, I spent many days playing in creeks, fields, barns and the great outdoors. To this day I find the outdoors to be the most inspirational and healing. We were very fortunate to have this time of quarantine begin in the Spring! I took many walks and spent much time watching flowers bloom and the countryside come to life as it turned from green to once again burnt oranges and warm yellows. The virus hasn’t stopped any of the beautiful plants, flowers or trees from delivering their comfort and reassurance that everything will be okay.
Some day soon our lives will return to a new kind of normal after this all over. Part of what I have been doing during this time is spending time in discovery taking a class and working with an amazing coach that has opened my mind to a new way of using color and a new way of painting. Abstract paintings are something that I never thought I’d do, but after taking an enticing class at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughn, Ireland my curiosity was peaked. I love the idea of my paintings leaving a bit more for the viewer to interpret themselves. With my curiosity being stirred and ripe I turned to another yet another abstract class that just happened to during this time of quarantine. What an amazing stroke of luck! It was just what I needed to give me something exciting to look forward to each week. The class that I took was with the wonderful Gwen Fox. I just had no idea how much I would enjoy and learn from her online class.
Gwen has done an amazing job of encouraging me to look outside my comfortable box. I have discovered just how many colors can be created with just five simple colors and this I found absolutely fascinating while just playing with paint! Color is something that I have ALWAYS loved.
Painting abstracts may or may not be my calling but I sure have had a time of discovery opening that box and spending time there to find out.
Tell me what new box have you opened during this time
and have you enjoyed it? Will it be sticking around for 2021?
hedge•row :a rough or mixed hedge of shrubs, trees or plants enclosing or separating fields
Hedgerows were originally planted to delineate fields and town lands in Ireland. They have grown into very important habitats for a diverse group of plants and animals. These living fences line the narrow roadways and insist that you slow to a pace that allows you to see all the life that they are supporting.
These vertical works of art contain flowers, birds, insects, trees and shrubs. Each of these elements supports the other creating its own little ecosystem. Along with being beautiful they are a wonderfully protective place for birds to build their nests and bees to make their homes in wait to do their job of pollinating the plants in the fields around them. These hedgerows provide a valuable service to agriculture through their habitats for pollinators, flora and fauna, and the prevention of soil erosion.
However, as an artist one of my favorite parts are the flowers that they host. They make their homes both in the cracks of the stones, as well as, in the dirt that the winds have deposited in between them. Montebretia, heather and gorse are some of the most widely seen plants I’ve noticed the walls hosting. With their intense colors of orange, purple and yellow the walls create their own abstract painting. The earth is singing a symphony in these roadside treasures.
The road appears to be getting a “sandwich” hug from both sides with the hedgerows. One of my favorite colors is purple because it is so deep and rich. The brilliant hedgerows are filled with these color. While walking the land I am recharged by listening to the earth sing with its beauty. As a child growing up in Iowa I remember enjoying the weeds/flowers that naturally grew in the ditches along side the roads. Even today these “volunteer gardens” bring me a great deal of joy as the hedgerows do in Ireland. What one person considers a weed another may call a flower. The bees that we so desperately need seem to have an infinity for them all and are totally indifferent as to their hierarchy.
So next time you venture out into the country or take a walk in nature remember to slow down and notice the masterpieces being created all around you.
Not every masterpiece is created in the studio…so often it has help from what is right outside.
