October 8, 2021 Weekly Musings
Posted on October 08 2021
Announcements:
Just Walk Away Accepted Into Watercolor Wisconsin 2021
"Just Walk Away" has been accepted into the Watercolor Wisconsin 2021 Art Exhibition at the Racine Art Museum in Racine Wisconsin. It was chosen by jurors Sarah Cox, manager of Exhibitions and Collections at the Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst Ill and Carole Hennessy who is President of the Watercolor Honor Society.
Exhibition Dates: December 15, 2021 – April 22, 2022.
Inspiration Receives Award
Christine's work, Inspiration received a Merit Award at the Pittsburgh Water Color Society Aqueous Open Exhibition. Juror: Carla O'Connor
Statement from Juror:
It was truly an honor to serve as juror for the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society Aqueous Open Exhibition 2021. Entries came from all over the United States and the world in a celebration of achievement of watermedia with a diversity of voices, rich in beauty and social modern day concerns. There were a high number with outstanding quality and creations that are traditional, realistic, impressionistic, conceptual, experimental and abstract. Each is worthy of recognition.
All the work selected for the exhibit have in common sound technical skill as well as a proficient understanding of composition, drawing, value, color, light, line, volume and shape. Regardless of the style, the paintings that made it to the top tier are the ones that strive for the unique, thoughtful, imaginative, exuberant and inspiring. These are the Risk Takers – the artists that constantly ask themselves “How does it make me feel?” “What exactly am I trying to communicate?” “What if…?”
Blog:
I Know The Rules
Featured image: Fox III
I know the rules.
I use them to change.
What I know about life and about art is mainly that it takes the individual to think, to use their knowledge, use reason, and to use their freedom to keep art alive, and to be able to create. Individuals then use this knowledge, reason, and freedom to share and to work with others. Without the independence of the individual an artist is just one of the many sheep in the herd.
Freedom is the fundamental requirement for an artist. Art and the individual should never be asked to surrender to another’s control, another’s knowledge, another’s truth or another’s opinion. If that happens, then art and the silenced individual are imprisoned and yes, destroyed.
To think every day means that you learn, not only about yourself but also about others and life. Thinking puts everything in motion and allows change to happen.
Thinking is a very complex process. When you think you identify, you integrate, you imagine. Only you can think for yourself and only you can learn for yourself. You can learn from another, but you need to think for yourself. You can discover from one another and set things in motion.
The concept of the individual and independence; like the concepts of artist and art, is disappearing. We are losing our innovators, our creators. This is why I was so excited when Jeff Bezos and the Blue Origin Crew, and Richard Branson and the Virgin Galactic crew went into space opening a new door for space exploration. It took a team on both flights and an unlimited open space to explore and discover, to make both flights happen. It was from the work and the integrity of each of the minds on both teams, the innovators, to make the flights happen. It wasn't just some rich guy looking for glory - it was an entrepreneur, a creative being given the opportunity to create movement for individuals in space travel. It is from creators and innovators like them that move us forward and not back. They would never dream of being part of the grey matter that some call the middle.
Tiny, Tiny Hummer
Featured image: All Dressed Up Hummer
A tiny, tiny, hummer was perched on the very tip of a branch on a pine tree in the middle of the yard. I would not have noticed her but she moved her wings suddenly and a silvery blur caught my eye. She was shaking off the rain drops. Caught in the moment, we were silent and still for what seemed like a long time just staring at each other. Suddenly she took off quickly, not like a dove, more like the road runner as she dive bombs my head and lands on the hummingbird feeder above my head.
She landed on the back side of the feeder. I knew she is there because there were small ripples in the hummingbird liquid. Otherwise, I would have had no clue.
Again, she dive bombed my head and landed in the same pine tree. I think she has a nest there as I have seen her there coming and going often. The tree is perfect, it provides cover as it is very full like a perfect Christmas tree.
Over to the Black-Eyed Susan’s in the garden. Chip-ies scurry about underneath the plants in the flower garden while chickadees, finches and nuthatches fly back and forth from the feeder to the perfect Christmas tree. This tree seems to house and shelter many critters from the woods. I just watched a squirrel scurry past the lawn to under the same tree and bury a double acorn beneath the trees skirt. What is it about this process? It always seems so futile since they never seem to come back for their buried treasures. Plus, it is one of the first signs of fall.
I have decided that this tree needs a name because it houses and shelters so many. She is planted along with a large white pine and blue spruce. She is the “mother tree” in a trio of beauty and life.
All this over coffee this morning.
Seagull's Golden Light
Featured image: Seagulls With Messy Hair
Alabaster seagull
Against blue sky
Golden sun light wings
Magnificent flight
Magnificent sight.
Seeds
Featured image: Big Pine and Chickadee
Eleven long skinny pinecones, not open yet to release their seeds since they were Just born this year. They cling to the crown of a spruce tree in the woods. New seed growth is sheltered inside the woody scales. I love the idea of so many new treasured seeds causing great new trees to continue the woods and forests to be alive and dense.
La De Da De
Featured image: La De Da De
To sustain life, it requires the use of one’s mind. Yesterday I stood back and got a different perspective of a huge work that I was creating. There was a section that I just did not like. So I started to fix it, and I repeated what I usually do when fixing a part of a work that I don’t like. However, repeating what I had done in the past did not do the trick. Discouraged, I simply took a large palette knife and erased the entire section I didn’t like.
I uncovered some beautiful marks underneath my patch. This process allowed me to move on and work with and explore new and different spaces and marks. For the most part, I just left them the way that they were as it worked How I was thinking about the work when I started changed completely.
Art and Sky
Featured image: Satellites in the Sky
Art is like a night time sky. Sky is not just some empty space, it's filled with unique individual stars. Art is the same way, art is not just some empty space that can be anything and everything. Art is filled with unique individual stars, ready to shine.
New Works:
