R&R
This a great time for R&R - rest and relaxation, as well as recap & resolutions.
In recap: it has been a very good year - I am grateful to the powers that be, for my family, and to have the opportunity to paint whenever I want. I am grateful to the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society - for making me feel welcome, for the new friends I have made with whom I can talk in watercolor language, and for the community it constantly gives me, in actuality, and in thought.
This is one of the sketches I did in Puerto Vallarta - figures by the pool, mostly. I loved the scene of the white umbrellas, overlapped and touching, against the backdrop of the darker tropical forest. I also made friends as I sketched/painted, and people stopped by to look, take pictures, and chat.
I am also grateful for my progress as an artist - I got into two juried shows this year (FL and AK)
AND after being rejected a year ago from my application to display in the Performing Arts Center in Mountain View, this year I was accepted. Best of all, I found out I get a stipend to display my work there [solo] for 6 weeks - yay! [more watercolor supplies and books].
I love it when I do something or paint something with no agenda other than the love of painting, and to get consistently better via each piece. Those non-agenda pieces are typically my best work. The act of doing is far more important than the gains which may inadvertently come, or not. That was not the point of the doing.
This quote is excellent:
As for resolutions:
- I want to do more figures, quick, gestural, to have more confidence in putting them into my paintings and making each painting, and the moment that the painting represents, more of a narrative with a clear subject, a doer. Right now, my paintings are lacking the narrative, the subject. They are still and static representations of what I see with artistic license - shadows on buildings, etc. A person in front of, or hidden by, those shadows instantly tells a story.
- I want to understand color better - neutrals, especially, and how they interact with more vibrant colors.
- I want to do repeats of a scene - I know each iteration will be better, and I want to develop the patience it takes to keep trying the same thing
- I want to work on my IMpatience - it affects my relationships, the irritation I feel, and it definitely affects my watercolors - I am not patient enough to wait for the first layer to dry, and I am not patient enough to do meticulous negative painting
- I perhaps will try a series of paintings of a subject
- I want to be more kind - to everyone - loved ones, friends, strangers, and especially drivers on the road that irritate me.
- I want to be triggered less by events and people - for that, I will try to practice the PAUSE - before a reaction.
- I also want to not be the one to start an argument - again, the PAUSE.
- Finally, I want to forgive myself for the inevitable slip-ups as I try to practice all these resolutions, and continue to keep trying with more awareness.
Next year, I will continue to paint daily, but sketch more in the 5-15 minute waiting periods I have as I go about my day. I practiced that in Mexico, and was able to do a lot by having my paints at hand, especially my waterbrushes. And once I started on the figures, not that they are perfect, but they were easier than I thought they would be. They just feel more daunting. I have had a car kit ready for the entire year, but it simply goes and comes with me in the car :-)
In recap: it has been a very good year - I am grateful to the powers that be, for my family, and to have the opportunity to paint whenever I want. I am grateful to the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society - for making me feel welcome, for the new friends I have made with whom I can talk in watercolor language, and for the community it constantly gives me, in actuality, and in thought.
This is one of the sketches I did in Puerto Vallarta - figures by the pool, mostly. I loved the scene of the white umbrellas, overlapped and touching, against the backdrop of the darker tropical forest. I also made friends as I sketched/painted, and people stopped by to look, take pictures, and chat.
I am also grateful for my progress as an artist - I got into two juried shows this year (FL and AK)
AND after being rejected a year ago from my application to display in the Performing Arts Center in Mountain View, this year I was accepted. Best of all, I found out I get a stipend to display my work there [solo] for 6 weeks - yay! [more watercolor supplies and books].
I love it when I do something or paint something with no agenda other than the love of painting, and to get consistently better via each piece. Those non-agenda pieces are typically my best work. The act of doing is far more important than the gains which may inadvertently come, or not. That was not the point of the doing.
This quote is excellent:
As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress;
each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.
Vincent Van Gogh
As for resolutions:
- I want to do more figures, quick, gestural, to have more confidence in putting them into my paintings and making each painting, and the moment that the painting represents, more of a narrative with a clear subject, a doer. Right now, my paintings are lacking the narrative, the subject. They are still and static representations of what I see with artistic license - shadows on buildings, etc. A person in front of, or hidden by, those shadows instantly tells a story.
- I want to understand color better - neutrals, especially, and how they interact with more vibrant colors.
- I want to do repeats of a scene - I know each iteration will be better, and I want to develop the patience it takes to keep trying the same thing
- I want to work on my IMpatience - it affects my relationships, the irritation I feel, and it definitely affects my watercolors - I am not patient enough to wait for the first layer to dry, and I am not patient enough to do meticulous negative painting
- I perhaps will try a series of paintings of a subject
- I want to be more kind - to everyone - loved ones, friends, strangers, and especially drivers on the road that irritate me.
- I want to be triggered less by events and people - for that, I will try to practice the PAUSE - before a reaction.
- I also want to not be the one to start an argument - again, the PAUSE.
- Finally, I want to forgive myself for the inevitable slip-ups as I try to practice all these resolutions, and continue to keep trying with more awareness.
Next year, I will continue to paint daily, but sketch more in the 5-15 minute waiting periods I have as I go about my day. I practiced that in Mexico, and was able to do a lot by having my paints at hand, especially my waterbrushes. And once I started on the figures, not that they are perfect, but they were easier than I thought they would be. They just feel more daunting. I have had a car kit ready for the entire year, but it simply goes and comes with me in the car :-)
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