Inspiration Must Find You Working

This is the only big painting I've done in a long time. Art is still such a joy to me but I've gotten a little stagnant and need to mix up things up a bit. I'm so excited about this book  and this class. I think it will teach me a alot about texture and faux frescoes and sculptures and add a new dimension to my art. Plus, on-line classes really work for me right now in the middle of farm season.

I did get to take a trip to our cabin in Cloudcroft. We saw agave's blooming everywhere as we headed up the mountain. Cloudcroft is at 9,000 elevation and stays wonderfully cool day and night - a quaint little mountain town with my favorite things: fresh bakeries, artists, hummingbirds, forest land, and fresh mountain air.

We went to an artisan's craft fair while we were there and I was totally enchanted with these paper-mache sculptures and visited with the artist- Sarena Mann. Click on the photo to enlarge and see the amazing detail of every little piece.

So like Picasso says: "Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working."

Don't give up on my sparse posting. I will get rolling again soon!




Speaking of rolling... this is my son, Tucker, memorizing Psalms. He has 5 down so far but wants to memorize all of them. He inspires me too!

Emulating Good Things

I can't believe I've been gone so long. I have planted about 600 acres of corn this month, not to count the hay I've cut and raked. I haven't been to town but once or twice to get groceries or go to church. I get totally absorbed in farm work this time of year, just like I do with my painting- it's just another form of creativity for me. There is something so deeply satisfying about watching the sun come up over a green field that you've only been able to see the row in front of you until the light shines on your work.
I've done a few things in my journal like the above and then this strange family portrait of my daughter and her sons.  I'm totally in love with Dell Kathryn Barton  's paintings and Art Fix (I love following them and seeing their images everyday on my Facebook). If I can't take a class from her, I can a least sit down and really study one of her paintings. I try to dissect my feelings about her work and find out what "IT" is that calls me because I know in that mystery lies another answer to what I want to see in my own work.


That brings me to this point. I realize we are all an example to somebody whether in our art work or our lives and relationships. Sweet Farmer had such a poor example of a good husband from his own father that he said he has spent a life-time studying men who were successful in relationship with their wives. The tips he's gleaned have definitely paid off for me.

 We should spend a lot of our learning and studying time on the right subjects. What is it about that person, that blog, that art that grabs my attention and makes me want to be a better person, a better artist? Get really specific. Don't generalize. Then own it. It can become a spiritual practice. We can't be afraid to emulate that person for awhile until those good things become a part of who we are, a part of our own work. It will have a different spin because it came from me, from you-

but it will stretch us to grow wise and whole. Today or someday our lives, our work will be worth emulating.

May my mind stroll about hungry and fearless and thirsty and supple..... ee cummings