Homework

I’m a little late with my post for this week.  I assure you I was not lollygagging.

 Joaquin Sorolla, Self Portrait, oil

Call it professional development.  Handsome Husband and I ventured to The Meadows Museum in Dallas Texas over the weekend to take in a once in a lifetime exhibit of paintings by one of Spain’s greatest artists, Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida.  Sharing this experience with us was my sis and her very own handsome husband, both historians who hold keen insight into Spanish tradition, culture and art. Having them along to share their observations was invaluable. Plus, we like them a lot.

A selfie at The Meadows, Dallas Tx, 2014, photograph

Studying original works of art is an intensely valuable experience for an artist. While surfing the web to visit collections from the Hermitage to MOMA is helpful, there’s nothing like being there…

Ninos A La Orilla Del Mar  1903, oil

... bare canvas peeking out from under a heavy swath of paint, thin swipes of color crosshatched into apparent texture … the dash of cerulean blue laid over a warm patch of rosy orange, and then that glob of brilliant sunlit … not white but almost so … oh! 

 Perhaps the most beautiful thigh ever painted.

Step back slowly and experience the dizzying coming together of those slashes and dashes into a scene of windblown beaches, brilliant sunshine on wet bodies… cool fabric on a damp thigh…it is almost possible to hear the waves crashing on the shoreline and voices calling to each other, to know damp ocean breeze against sun-warmed skin…

Joaquin Sorolla,  White Boat, 1905, oil

There were other paintings; it seemed as if speaking at all while in their presence would be an unwelcome intrusion.  Handled in dark, somber tones with quiet strokes of liquid paint, they spoke of hopelessness, desolation, loss…

Joaquin Sorolla, Another Marguerite! 1892, oil

Another Marguerite!, (for which he received the gold medal at the National Exhibition in Madrid, as well First Prize at the Chicago International Exhibition) can only be appreciated in life.  The hopelessness, the desolation and bone weariness Sorolla paints into this scene simply cannot be translated through a computer screen.

It seems Sorolla’s hand was never idle. Besides the collection of completed paintings, there were dozens of sketches done on restaurant menus, an array of nearly abstract dashes of gauche depicting the view below his hotel window, as well as several charcoal preparatory drawings for his beach paintings. This exhibit is a master class in dedication to one’s craft.

Joaquin Sorolla, Grand Army Plaza, 1911 gauche

 I’m still evaluating the experience, as you can tell. I’ve got a million questions. It seems the best way to find the answers will be to go to my work space, squirt out some paint, and get to work.

How To

Karen, with Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center welcomes my delivery of artwork

 “You’re doing it!” said a friend I hadn't seen in awhile. 

Huh?

“You’re doing the artist thing! Lookatchyoo! Exhibits! Galleries! Sales!! What‘s your secret?”

Does anyone ever say to their banker, “Hey! Way to go on that whole money thing! How’dja do that?”

Or to their shoe salesman, “Wow! These shoes fit! What’s yer secret?”

I have just spent the last 3 hours writing clever and charming ways to let you in on my 10 fun secrets to “doing it”.  After 3 hours of pounding my keyboard and wearing out my delete button, this is what I’m left with:

Sorry to say, there are no 10, 8 or even 2 easy steps. There are no secrets.

Paintings at Crane Trust Nature and Visitors Center

And that's the hardest thing of all. No shortcuts, no quickies, no magic. 

What's left then? All toil and trouble? Don't be silly.

I get to wake up every day knowing I'm my boss, and I like working for me. I'm a good boss. I let me wear painty jeans to work.

I get to create. 

I get to talk to people about things that make them happy; color, shared experiences, memories.

I get to share what I've learned with some really great people.

 

I get to  make people happy. Really happy.

And I'm happy to tell you that The Crane Trust and Visitor Center on Interstate 80 at the Alda interchange, has invited me to share my work for the next six weeks. No secret there; they asked, I said yes. Show's up now until February 24th.

2014 Sandhills Gale 8x10 oil currently hanging at Crane Trust and Visitor Center

I'm also sharing my magic at The Burkholder Project in Lincoln, Ne. in the Corner Gallery, where I've got my very own wall to hang my paintings on forever. 

Come to think of it, that's how it's done.

Another Word For The Year

It’s nearly time to sweep the year 2013 out the door and welcome 2014 with open arms.

2013 Patricia Scarborough San Gabriel Trail Head   The last painting of 2013.

If you’ve stuck with me for the past 4 ½ years, you may recall that I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. Using the first day of the new year, when everything seems bright and shiny, seems to bring on a bad case of over-reaching. I’ll lose 20 pounds! I’ll start that orphanage! I'll find a cure for stoopid!

Resolutions feel so…resolute. There is is dogged determination, obstinacy and self-assuredness. There is fortitude, grit and pluck and motivation, all of which sound like exhortations plastered on the walls of a fitness center.  Which, by the way, is where many resolutions go to die.

I’m a believer in Christine Kane’s Word Of The Year plan. In 2006 she wrote about choosing a single word that you could hold in your heart and use as a guide throughout the year. She called it a Resolution Revolution.

In a nutshell, by choosing a single word as a guide for the next 365 days, you give yourself room to grow rather than a pass/fail box to check off.

Several years ago I chose ‘engage’ as my word of the year. Consider the difference between this word and a resolution:

Resolution - I will spend 6 hours in my studio.

Engage - I will engage in my studio space.

4 hours,27minutes...

Can you feel it? One has me watching the clock, the other is immersion in a space designed for creativity.

I didn’t achieve engagement; there was no little plastic trophy or floppy rosette to set on a shelf.

Best Engagement Achiever?

 The act of engagement came quietly and gently and settled in like a a comfy old sweater. Or like a collection of finished paintings hung beautifully in a gallery.

In the end, engagement in my studio, classes, conversations and painting brought forth nearly 50 paintings in one year. Imagine if I had simply resolved to finish 50 paintings in one year? There's a failure waiting to happen.

27 more to go...can't do it...Mommmmy...

On to 2014. This year I have chosen the word ‘allow’ to guide me. I’ve got some thoughts of how this will unfold, but since this is an organic, heart-felt exercise I’ll try not to start out with preconceived notions. I'll allow it to unfold. See how easy it is?

How about you? Are you going to check off a box? Or are you going to fill your entire year with a fresh kind of motivation?

My Holiday Card

Over the years Handsome Husband and I have received piles of Christmas cards jam packed with tales of great deeds, grand vacations, and amazing accomplishments by children and their adults.  Sometimes we even knew who these people were.

It’s the same again this year. Our table is piled with holiday cards which spew glitter as soon as they’re released from their envelopes. Tucked inside each folded card with the pre-printed personal message and pre-printed personal signature is The Letter, the missive that explains in minute detail just how exciting it was to be them this past year.

Well folks, it was pretty darned exciting as well here at Scarborough Studios. While I have not yet discovered the cure for putting my elbow in wet paint, nor have I managed to figure out how to hang a painting in the right spot the first time, I have had my share of success. For example:

I’ve worn out more than a few brushes.

I have used up 2 very large tubes of white, nearly an entire tube of Prussian Blue, and found an old tube of Indian Yellow that I’d forgotten entirely about. At least I think its Indian Yellow. The label seems to have gone somewhere.

I made some great painting buddies.

Handsome Husband and I managed to wedge over 30 paintings into my vehicle without using a shoehorn.

Handsome Husband and I managed to remove those paintings from my vehicle without a shoehorn.

Best of all (cue the glitter shower) ,I have been honored to meet people who start out as collectors and become dear friends.

Happy Holidays to you, too dear reader.