Day 232 - Columbus Museum of Art

Today I took a trip to the Columbus Museum of Art to see the Picasso exhibit, and the new wing of the museum that opened last year that I had not yet seen. The new wing is beautiful. CMA is a smallish museum but it's a really nice one and it's right across the street from CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design) my alma mater, which also has some nice galleries. Anyway, Picasso......his work is really not my thing. I can respect the style and see the uniqueness in it, but cubism and modern art is just not my thing. There was one painting that I was actually very much drawn to called Woman with mantilla (Fatma). It had a very impressionistic/pointillist feel to it and I loved the colors. I even liked the fact it was left unfinished. Impressionism is my favorite style of painting so it was fitting that I was drawn to it. That and the fact I could make out the subject matter (unlike the cubist style Picasso is known for). Unfortunately I could not take a picture of it directly so the pic below is off my computer.

My favorite painting of the trip was this monochrome teal green one below, found in another gallery. Teal is my color so once again, only natural that I would be drawn to it. Even more so since it has to do with Monet, my favorite artist, and his gardens at Giverney. You can read the story in the picture below. I'm in love with the way the water is painted showing ice and reflections so amazingly. I was totally mesmerized by it. Makes me want to attempt a similar painting of my own. Hmm.... I'll have to add that to my to do list. ;-)

I told myself I was going to make more Museum and gallery visits this year. So far I'm not doing so great on that. Need to pick up the pace. I did visit the Biltmore Estate, the largest house in the US, owned by the Vanderbilt family,  earlier this week on my way home from camp. There is quite the collection of art there, including a giant mural from Italy on the ceiling of the library, as well as amazing pieces of furniture. The architecture of the house itself is stunning. Even the property, the gardens, the fountains, the landscaping along the roads....all deserve a thorough going thru and appreciation. I was short on time but it's easily an all day visit kind of experience. Someday I hope to go back to spend more time.

Day 230 - the start of something new

I'm coming off a week of summer camp and personal development that has affected me in ways I cannot yet put into words. I'm still doing a lot of processing but one thing that became pretty clear is I have once again been letting the craziness of life get in the way of my souls calling. I have been torn and pulled in numerous directions the last few months and have been fighting myself trying to figure out which way to go - feeling out of sorts and depressed. I thought I was supposed to go in an entirely new direction in my life that had nothing to do with art. And while I do believe I am still supposed to do that thing on some level, it is not to be at the level I was so extremely stressed over achieving. Getting out of your comfort zone is a good thing as long as it is aligns with your purpose in life. This calling aligns, but on a smaller scale than I was pulled to do ( the extreme stress was proof that I was trying to do too much).  I am never as aligned in my world as I am when I am creating art though. Even when I have stress about it, I know deep down I know its what I'm meant to do. I never even made it to arts and crafts at camp (I had intended to, but I let other things pull me away from it once again), but thru journaling and a lot of silent time with my thoughts, art began calling me again. Its who I am. Its what I do. So why do I keep myself from it so much? Honestly - I think its fear. Fear that I'm not good enough.  Which is silly. Who says I'm not good enough? What is 'good enough" anyway?  Who determines that? Its all in my head that's who. Ego is a crazy bitch some days and I'm working hard at ignoring her. All she does is hold me back and I'm kinda done with that shit, pardon my language.  So I am committing to getting back into my art every day practice as much as I can. I'm not going to force it like I did earlier this year - if my day just doesn't allow time for it, then so be it.But no more letting weeks and months go by without creating from my soul. Camp was a life altering reminder to do the things I love and want to do, not just the obligations I have to do. hopefully soon the things I love to do will become things I have to do because they will be necessary to my survival, by putting food in my belly and a roof over my head. much more on this later.

I tried to post this a few days ago from my phone but for some reason it wouldn't go thru so I'm reposting it now from my computer. I painting this a few days ago - the start of something new.....


24x30 acrylic on canvas

Day 231 - Power, Purpose, Pleasure

I am posting this on the same day as my previous post but these paintings were done on different days, I just didn't get them posted in a timely fashion. This painting I did yesterday. As I mentioned, I attended a personal development summer camp for women last week through Stratejoy. The topic of the camp was Power (expressing your truth), Purpose (your inner truth's anchor) and Pleasure (doing what you like). These topics and the things we journaled about were actually quite difficult to think and talk about. There was a lot of confronting our inner selves and moving beyond our comfort zones. But through the tears and difficult tasks, we all emerged a little stronger in our selves. We left pieces of our selves that no longer served us behind (through a fire ceremony), and opened up doors to paths we hadn't realized we were meant to go down. As I said earlier, art once again became a huge focus for me. The calling is so strong right now I almost wish I didn't have to sleep or do other business stuff so I could just sit in the studio all day and night and create haha. So many ideas for paintings and other creative things in my head right now I fear I will lose them before I can create them. Since returning home I posted a few of my paintings in my camp fb group and they were very well received. Several people are asking for prints. Which is amazing, yet also scary. Its a direction I have wanted to go in, but have yet to do, once again because of unfounded fears. I have committed myself to the task now however. I have been researching the business aspects of printing and setting up an online shop all day today and hope to have that up an running here in the near future. It is scary to put myself out there, but it also feels like the next right step for me. It feels good in my soul - and that is my purpose - to love myself and follow my soul.

So this painting is in honor of my experiences at camp. The background I have been messing with and changing for several months now. You may recognize it if you have looked back thru my archives at all. I have never been happy with it and every couple months I change it again. I think there are at least 3 layers to it, each with a variation of a giant heart. It has been sitting in my studio waiting for the right moment to change it up again. The idea for this painting was actually going to be done on the other background I did in the previous post. But I was having trouble seeing it clearly on that background. Then I looked over and saw this "heart" background and knew this vision needed to be on this canvas. I love when visions and ideas come together at the right moment, with the right background.

Power, Purpose, Pleasure
20x20 acrylic on canvas