Two days of working outdoors

Working outdoors, set up on my small chair in the shade of one of our fruit trees for the past two days has been an exercise is serenity and faith. I have not struggled to finish, and have more work yet to do, but managed to take in the warm winds, the cool sun, the soft ground, and the experience of losing my sense of time and place. Just seeing where a colour needed to be, mixing that colour and applying it, moving on to the next one, and accepting the results. It would

be nice to paint that way all the time. No stress, no concerns, just bliss.

Process

a friend working in my garden...

Lyndia and me on the deck of my studio...

Samanda with new apples...

...and behind a veil...

PROCESS

by Lyndia Terre

And you want to know my process?

how do I make "art"

how do I decide what to draw

or paint or write or sing or dance

or what breath to take first

ah, first.

first I am like an open sieve,

colander

or is it more a porous sponge

filling and filling until

I am so close to exploding

there needs to be some

slow down letting

or I will blow

crack

fall into disrepair

wounded, destroyed

from all I have taken in

then against all better knowledge

I am forced to place myself

in direct contact

with the space, the place

the ideas

the sky, the moon

the time of day

the sand under my feet

the possibility of weather

of sun setting

of no sun at all

and I set out

(first section of a nine verse poem, copyright, Lyndia Terre, 2010)

Backdrop in the Studio

A couple of months ago I purchased a second hand photographer's backdrop stand from a local photographer who owns a photo store in Campbell River. I have many times over the years just pinned or taped fabric or paper up to a convenient wall when I wanted to construct an environment to use for a painting. Having this stand is an enormous treat! I should have done this years ago! I can drape what ever I want over it, two levels even! Isn't it surprising how the simple things can make a difference? I feel much more motivation to proceed with some new figurative work now that I have this stand. It goes up to about 15 ft. and spread wide to 12ft. and doesn't fall over. I can fold it all up into a long, narrow carrying bag if I want to put it away or take it to where my subject is. I keep thinking I should take a new photographers course - they have all the tricks and methods for getting great images which artist's often lack. I did have a year of photography in art school but it was geared to b& w and lots of dark room work - some stuff on studio lighting, but things like posing models, setting up still life scenes, etc. were not really in the curriculum. We went out on the street and shot a lot of candid things and I learned a great deal from that but often I am after something very specific and I struggle to get that image I have in mind. A simple backdrop stand can't solve all those issues but it is a step in the right direction. I had a great session yesterday with this model, Samanda, and came away with over 40 shots, many of which are probably going to go into paintings. Now I have a new toy to play with and the ideas are flowing!

Divided

There is nothing quite like returning to a painting after leaving

off working on it for more than a week. It is like trying to reheat

a meal of leftovers - it might taste even better or it might be very

blah. I was tentative and hesitant and procrastinating yesterday

but managed to get started by deciding to work "just on the hair."

That led to some thoughts about the other side of Lyndia's

portrait which was still just underpainting. Some more daubs of

colour went on the palate and the next thing I knew I was mixing

skin tones and applying them to that unfinished side. I sat out

on my deck to do this - a wind was blowing - I had to get up to

collect my reference photo about three times as it got away from

me - but the sun was out, the temperature mild, and it just

beautiful. I think this painting has a good chance of being

completed fairly soon, but I will have to be diligent about my

frame of mind. I get depressed too easily and let that swing me

into lethargy. This is my lifelong battle. I just read an excellent

biography of Kafka, but maybe I should be concentrating on the

lives of more upbeat personalities - I related too much to his

sufferings. Life is good and I need to remember that.

At the Pier

Yesterday I was part of the Campbell River Art Gallery Art Walk, coordinated to be part of the Garden Tour. This is the first year the gallery has tried this so only a few of us signed up. I am not primarily a plein air painter so I found this quite challenging. My mind was on a lot of other things but I managed to focus for several hours and complete this little piece in pastel. The weather was beautiful and there were a number of good spots to sit and paint. There are literally dozens of boats so I had to judiciously pick and choose and eliminate in order not to become overwhelmed. The city street and stores are just beyond the dock area and up on the embankment are houses that overlook the Georgia Straits. I found myself concentrating on the

greenery and the water and very little on buildings. There was a maze of patterns from all the

sailboat masts but I decided not to include too many. This will be taken to the gallery tomorrow - I framed it today - and it will be sold (perhaps) in the upcoming Wearable Art Show and Art Sale or the silent auction. Sales benefit the gallery and the artists get a small

percentage.

This coming tuesday I am going east, first to Toronto and then to Rochester, NY. I will be back on the 13th. Not looking forward to the heat and humidity back there but will enjoy the company of my son and probably see some old friends and acquaintances as well as some family members. I can finish Lyndia's portrait when I get back.