Passing Reflection

The town of Pleasanton has grown to be the home of high-end pasta restaurants and designer clothing boutiques. There are few remaining vistas of the small town where I once bounced off the hind side of a bare back horse.

What a delight to notice the reflection of Dean's Cafe in the window of Christesen's Tack Room on a sunny spring day! I was warmed by 40 years of images filled with friends and family as I painted this familiar scene.

Passing Reflection - Watercolor - 16" X 19"

Bright shiny objects

Several years ago on Halloween eve, I was carving pumpkins with friends. My pumpkin design was very intricate: I had a vision of flicking candlelight streaming through the carved openings. I continued to cut away the pumpkin flesh, pushing the limit, until... with just one more cut... the entire pumpkin collapsed inward. A mound of pumpkin mush lay before me. Oh, Halloween horror!

I recalled the pumpkin episode as I painted the Dogwood blossoms. I started with a gentle watercolor wash in soft pastel hues. Then, one warm Saturday afternoon, while shopping for watercolor paper at Blick, rows of watercolor pencils caught my eye. Ink intense. Bright shiny objects. Must have.

I bought a handful of watercolor pencils and rushed home to try them out -- on my tender Dogwood blossoms. With the first application, an inner voice moaned, "Uh oh." Gone were the soft petals of spring, replaced by a bright commercial graphic suitable for a luau. "Oh, well."

Sometimes its good to push the limit. Try something new. "You'll never know if you don't go."

So now I know a bit more about watercolor pencils -- and I love my No. 6 round brush all the more.

Hope Springs - Watercolor

Yeah, draw

The intermediate drawing instructor strolled into class late. Without saying a word, she walked across the studio, sat on a stool and looked over the roster. She took a deep breath and, continuing to stare down at the class list, she said, "I don't have a plan for today. So why don't you all go outside and draw." It was the first class session.

Looking around outside, the campus landscape didn't offer much in the way of inspiration, with the exception of a bed of vibrant purple irises. After three hours meditating in drawing on one particular iris, I returned to the studio with the other students before the end of the session.

"Well, there's no time for a critique, so I'll see you next week." With that the instructor adjourned our first session and began walking toward the door. But before she could exit, a student asked, "Is there homework?" The instructor paused. "Yeah, draw."

Art for art's sake

Political art. Art with a message. Art on the edge.

Thinking I must push the boundaries of art to have merit in the art community, I have been paralyzed by self-imposed pressure to create the unique and perfect picture, with a profound message. I wrestled with this thought, as the pictures in my mind's eye seemed common and, in turn, of little value.

Yet as I began to draw those everyday things closest to me, I found a pure desire to create -- art for art's sake. This creative force is unique to each of us; perfect in it's expression. This is art's message.

I had a strong desire to create a drawing working from a dark graphite background, using an eraser primarily to form the image. My black and white cat seemed the perfect subject. The image emerged from the paper much like a sculpture might emerge from stone. The unexpected result was a soft texture in the mid-tones, conveying the feeling of fur.

Surely this is not the first image of a cat drawn from a graphite base, but it is my individual expression of this one cat. And so it seems, as I press my own boundaries, I remain on edge. And by keeping the "art for art's sake" discussion alive, the political dialogue continues. So perhaps, this is it. Art.

Whiskers and Fur I - Graphite

Out and about

Leonardo da Vinci wrote, "When you are out for a walk, see to it that you watch and consider other men's postures and actions as they talk, argue, laugh or scuffle; their own action and those of their supporters and on lookers; and make a note of these with a few strokes in your little notebook which you must always carry with you."

As I'm out and about this week my focus is on people and the creation of gesture drawings, filling the sketchbook page with images. I work quickly -- a matter of seconds, no more than a minute or two, for each image -- to capture fluid movement and expression. I'll photograph a sketchbook page to post. For now, I am compelled to share another photograph, an in-the-moment inspiration from my garden. The elegant lines of the Dogwood blossom, and complementary colors of sap green and rose madder, are sure to be the subject of a future water color painting!

Beginning drawing

This week I will complete a beginning drawing class... again, for the first time in more than 30 years. It was valuable to repeat basic studies in contour, negative space, perspective and shadow. I am reminded of the need to practice technique regularly in order to have the skill necessary to create the imagine in my mind's eye.

Many class activities were taken from A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. The final exercise was a portrait drawing, using a grid to map a photo image to paper. The technique aids in the creation of a successful drawing. Here, my work in progress, Mascara (16" x 20", pencil on paper).

Most of all, returning to the basics reawakened confidence and inspiration. I am filled with more images than there are days in a lifetime. I best get busy creating!

Mascara - Graphite

Sketching in nature

Nature inspires. Away from the noise of cars and phones and computers, disconnected from the electronic hum of manufactured life, I inhale the clean spring breeze. Warmed by the sun and lifted by bird song, my spirit begins to soar. Back in touch with the essence of who I am, I am driven to create. Sketching in nature is my life meditation.

A lightweight back pack is perfect for carrying a sketch journal, small box of watercolor paints, and few colored pencils. Cathy Johnson, in The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature, advises, "Keep it simple, for the sake of weight as well as speed. Carry a few carefully selected colored pencils; let the season or time of day be your guide, or the animals or birds you expect to see."

I was attracted to this festive pink Eucalyptus blossom and its graceful, elongated leaves, drawn here with colored pencils carried on a leisure sketch hike.

It takes time to see a flower

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment." Georgia O'Keeffe

I am fascinated by the delicate, graceful poppy -- how the green pods unfold like a ballerina dancing -- how the fragile petals crinkle like a fine rice paper.

When I draw a flower, it captures my attention. It is my mediation: the noise of the world fades to peace-filled quiet. In this sketch, I was intrigued by the fine "hairs" on the stem of the poppy.

I opened this entry with a quote from Georgia O'Keefe that speaks of this meditative experience. It takes time to see, really see. When someone tells me, "I can't draw," I suggest they first take time to see - line, form, relationship, texture, light, dark, color. And feel. This is where we begin.

Consider another well-known quote from Georgia O'Keefe -

"Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like having a friend takes time."

Everyday creativity

"Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary." Dewitt Jones

An uplifting and inspiring film, Everyday Creativity with Dewitt Jones, photojournalist, can be viewed at http://www.everydaycreativityfilm.com/.

Key concepts from the film:

-- See the extraordinary in the ordinary.
-- Every act can be a creative one.
-- Creativity is a matter of perspective.
-- There's always more than one right answer.
-- Reframe problems into opportunities.
-- Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
-- Break the pattern.
-- Train your technique.
-- You've got to really care.

I would add -- Take time to see and draw the one thousand things in the everyday. Keeping a sketch journal provides a place to pause and register the world seen. Here, my napping cat, Buck.

Begin it now

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This blog was inspired by Sebastian, a spiritual healer, who advised me to keep a virtual journal - now! He spoke my truth when we confronted me with simply watching clouds drift by. Indeed.

I recall days, lying on my back in the middle of a spring green wheat field, blanketed by the warmth of the sun, watching puffy white clouds drift across an open valley. And I wondered. About life. About love. About who I would be. If only I could hitch a ride on a passing cloud...

But wondering without action would find me still wondering 30 years from now. And so this is my challenge - to take action now, to bring forward my inspired best. If you find yourself joining this journey, it is my wish that you, too, will be inspired to be your best.

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Photo of Sunol Regional Park, California