Monday, August 18, 2008

Good Monday Morning!

Calla Lilies and Brass 16x20 sold
Hmmm...slept a little late today and fell asleep pretty early! Painting does that to me. I am anxious to get back to the piece I am working on. It is for the upcoming Midwest Gathering of Artists. I won't say much about it until after it is finished...but so far I an quite happy with it. Spent some time on a little housework yesterday..ugh! Have been following the Olympics with Max in wonderment in the evening. I myself am not all that athletic! In my younger years I did a lot of body surfing, sand volley ball and horseback riding. Now I garden when I can find the time....right now our garden looks like a very well tended weed patch!! It is still producing and there seem to be a large amount of green tomatoes.
I looked at several other painting blogs this morning...WOW....some great work out there. I received a comment from Barbara M. and read her blog about how some paintings are so easy.I replied "I understand what you mean when a painting just falls together....I call it flow...it seems to me I am transported into another place where every brushstroke, every decision happens subconsciously...and before you know it...there is a fantastic painting there before you. I believe it may have something to do with letting go of all the extemporaneous stuff in our lives the moment we pick up that brush..but am not sure if that is the only reason." Some years ago I read a book about flow.....I need to reread it....but there are a few things I have noticed do help induce flow.
1. Letting go of all the extemporaneous stuff in our lives the moment we pick up the brush.
2. Don't over think
3. Appropriate music for the mood I am in.
4. If it feels right....do it!
5. Completely uninterrupted studio day. No evening going out plans, grocery shopping, appointments. etc.
6. A visual image in my mind of the piece I am working on...brushwork, colors etc.
7. Letting the painting take on its own direction when presented.
These are a few things that work for me....and then again the magic just happens!
The painting today is a still life...of course..painted from life.
Happy Painting,
Theresa

4 comments:

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Theresa,

I hope this comment gets to you. I wrote one earlier, but it hasn't appeared here.

Thanks for all your thoughts on flow.
This is another beautiful painting.
You are so talented.

Barbara

Barbara Muir said...

I wanted to add that staying positive
is critically important for artists, but we live in a world surrounded
by real life events, both positive and negative. Unless our work documents the negative, we need to shut it out to continue. Your affirmations the other day were helpful. For positive thought you can't beat Mike Dooley at tut.com

I find the community of blog artists exciting. Thanks for all
you do.

Barbara

CAR said...

Your artwork is gorgeous. I found you on linkreferral.

Theresa Rankin said...

Thank you so much for visiting!!!