Tag Archives: inspiration

Going Back…

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Going Back…

This afternoon as I was thinking about writing a post, and most definitely struggling with content.  As I reread some of my old posts,  I was stunned to realize that I had actually written them.  The content was familiar, and I could feel the words, but I couldn’t believe I wrote them.

On one post, I wrote about our trip to the Island of Kauai, and on another the day we picked up my son, Dennis from the airport after he made his first CD.

So whats your point?

I sitting here wondering if my writing is getting better, or worse?  Just like the paintings I create.  If you go back and revisit old works of art, often it is unbelievable  to think you had created them in the first place.  They aren’t all great, some of them I can actually believe it was me who painted them.  That’s painful to admit!

 Who did those, it couldn’t have been me!

But in fact it was me, in both cases.  When I write I pour my heart out just like when I paint!  It may be good at the time, or a struggle at that time, it depends.    Sometimes we don’t even realize how much of an effort it is until it unfolds.

Art is different for me because when I struggle,  I always know it!  It’s great when it flows, but that doesn’t always happen.  Sometimes I struggle painfully with something, a concept, a start, or maybe even more than that!

The Abstract Dancer has already taken two or three sharp left turns.  I have ideas, and who knows if they will work, but it’s better to try something than nothing!  Right? By posting this online, maybe it will shake me loose, and drive me to work on it!  I’m trying to avoid doing the Jackson Pollock thing to it.

At least that is my hope.  So someday when I look back on prior posts, I can look at this one and remember how I was struggling to pull it all together, and make Abstract Dancer a real painting!  Someday maybe I can read this post, and say to myself,  I did pull it together, and that Abstract Dancer is exactly what I had envisioned!

 

More Fun Stuff About Me!

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More Fun Stuff About Me!
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week or so ago I posted a little about myself.  I reminisced, I laughed, I shared, and then I’d had enough, it was over!  Today I’m going to tell you a little more…

Well…

By now, you’ve probably guessed that I like to do a little of everything – being a Mixed Media artist and all.  You would be absolutely right!  I can get sidetracked so fast it makes even my head spin! My head spins a lot, not just from Mixed Media, but all the thoughts and ideas that run through at all hours of the day and night.  There aren’t any of my art friends that sleep well, we all wake up with ideas, and all night “the process” runs through our heads, along with solutions to anything we’ve been working on.  Sometimes I get up in the morning exhausted from working things out all night long.  Sound familiar?

Here it goes…..

Simple Journal

Simple Journal

I have boxes of old jewelry, bolts, washers, cardboard, metal, and more just sitting around (boxes neatly stacked) waiting for me to get inspiration.  When I do, maybe I’ll glue things down, or maybe I’ll sew it all together – who knows?  It’s all good, and that comes under the “Mixed Media” heading.

A friend of mine once said to me,  “Karen, if you don’t call yourself a Mixed Media artist, you wouldn’t have to save all that stuff.  Then you wouldn’t have all those  boxes!”  How true that is, but don’t we have to create what our heart is happiest creating?  I know my friend is happiest painting watercolors, and many of my friends do work in that medium.  At one time in my life, I did too.  But many of us have moved to something else we can learn to express ourselves with.  It’s all good as long as it makes us happy!  In the name of Mixed Media, I’ve created some amazing things.

Everything here is Mixed Media, and for me, it’s pretty interesting.  I have many journals with decorated covers.  All because I can’t seem to leave a surface bare even if it’s on a journal.  Maybe its just a great excuse to create one more little piece of the Karen puzzle!  Maybe I’m just trying to use up the über amounts of art supplies I have bought over the years, making myself feel like it has been money well spent.  Who knows, but it makes me happy!  Isn’t that all that counts?

Has anyone told you not to create like you do, and to do something else?  Do you follow their suggestions?  Do you think constructive criticism is constructive, or just plain criticism?

Your thoughts are important, please share them.

 

Let Your Inner Child Play!

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Happy New Year!

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Time To Create Again!

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Anyone who knows me, knows I haven’t been very productive in quite a while.  I’ve tried, but somehow I just haven’t been able to find inspiration…until now!

A couple of months ago, I signed up to be part of the Sketchbook Project!

For the last few summers I have watched each year as this project unfolds, and in the back of my mind, thinking one year I would join in.  This was that year!  Of course, I needed another project, but what better time to start an art project than when you’re  busy, right?  My thinking was that it is only 32 pages, and certainly a little project like that would be a snap for me!  The other thing is, we are all busy all the time anyway, so why wait?

After getting back into our home since having bamboo floors laid in the entire house (studio included), I think I’m ready to start thinking about putting pen to paper, and leaving my mark on whatever community it will be going to.  That’s not to say that everything is perfect in our home.  After all, some of the paintings still remain stacked in the corner waiting to find their rightful place on the wall.  The livingroom looks new, and fresh.   I’ve changed things around, replaced some things, and gotten rid of others.  It feels like a new home to me, and now I’m ready to get back to sketching, and painting!

It’s interesting how something like this can give us an entire new outlook on just about everything, and I find myself energized, and inspired!

Who knows how long it will take me to complete this sketchbook.  The project needs to be mailed back by January 15, 2014, so I really do have plenty of time.  Anything goes this time, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do, anything, whatever feels right!  Poetry, sketches, collage, ink, pen, you name it.

In the next few weeks, or maybe I should say, next couple of months, I’ll be posting the pages I work on, and you can tell me what you think.  Make suggestions,  I’m always open for comments, in fact I love getting comments, it keeps me motivated!

Sketchbook Project

Sketchbook Project

This little Sketchbook will be going to the Central Part of the Mid-West!

This little Sketchbook will be going to the Central Part of the Mid-West!

So for now,…..  Start a project, and share it with me!   I’ll be back!

Finding The Time!

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As I get older, my life seems to be flashing in front of my eyes!

Certainly twenty, or thirty years ago my life was much busier, so what makes this time more hectic, or why do I seem to have less time?  One reason could be, I don’t have as much energy as I ounce had, or maybe I’m trying to do too much, and not getting anything accomplished in the end!  All that Bee Pollen makes me go in circles!

What ever it is, it’s time for a change!

I keep busy, and at the end of the day, I’m ready to slow down.  The thing is, I haven’t made time, or felt like I had the time for my creativity!  What I love to do the most, is something I haven’t done in quite a while.  Quite a while could mean a week to me!

I’ve been working on my garden…

Spending time with three of my grand-kids…

Shopping…I had to buy new dishes…

AND, A couple of times one of my girlfriends, and myself signed up for an evening of painting while drinking wine!  Oh yeah, it was fun!  I can’t say any of my paintings will ever hand in La Louvre, but after drinking wine, who cares?

I’m still working on the Hacienda painting, and if I don’t start playing with it, I’m sure it will go into the stack of canvases that are all screaming at me to finish them!

All the time, I still have a dog, and a cat, and a husband that needs to be cared for, and get attention!

So what now?

Then it suddenly occurred to me…….at 4:30 this morning

Instead of laying awake until 7:30 in the morning so I don’t disturb my husband, I need to get up, have my tea, and paint!  Or even write, anything would be an improvement!  I use to do this a long time ago, but our home is small now, and any noise seems to disturb  him.  So for Fathers Day, I’ve decided to buy him – ear plugs!  And, start getting up really early when my creative juices are flowing!

That should do it!

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