Comments on: Moving right along…

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:20:01 +0000

That too Anita… that too! (although a little extra elbow room never goes astray) LOL

By: Anita

Anita — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:06:50 +0000

As you know Jean–Greatness comes from within.

By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:28:16 +0000

Having a space to call your own as an artist is so wonderful! It doesn’t matter what shape or form that space comes in… we creative souls have a knack of bringing warmth and atmosphere to any space we inhabit! Your converted room sounds perfect Anita! I don’t have a lot of room to work in here… but it’s an efficient space and I’m going to give it my best shot. And who knows what impact my different surroundings will have upon my art making. Many of the greats worked way out of their comfort zone… maybe that’s how they got great? Who knows.

By: Anita

Anita — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:56:03 +0000

Jean, how right you are!–Our materials and tools are so much more than a means to an end. I love the smells and feel of each of mine. I am so lucky to have a little studio in our home where projects can be worked on and developed at my own pace, whatever that might be at the given time. To some it might be just a converted garage, but It is possibly the most personal space in our home, filled with paints, brushes, papers, pens and pencils, as well as books each selected carefully over time.. My grandchildren love the space too, and I enjoy sharing it with them.

By: Garden Jools

Garden Jools — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:47:44 +0000

No Jean..mores the pity!
Your story about your easel has meade me think of my easel. A friend made it about 10 yrs ago…for my mother!!! She kept in the shed as it was too big for her. But when I started painting, she offered it to me! I have wondered that the easel was always meant for me anyway!

By: Jean

Jean — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:42:11 +0000

Jools… your new portraiture work is amazing!

Subject… and more so the personal response to it… has always been my reason for putting paint to paper (or canvas). Attempting to capture whatever it was that caught my eye and my heart in the first place.

The things that made it all possible… the means to the end… the paint the paper the canvas never really entered my head. I remember I loved the smell of my first wooden easel! LOL And at first I did notice that when I used a certain brush I could be assured of getting the right result first time… but it took a while for the penny to drop that the better my materials… and the more “in love” with them that I was… the better the result would be.

I reckon for the best results all the elements should be in concert. St. Francis of Assisi once said… “He who works with his hands is a labourer… he who works with his head and his hands is a craftsman… he who works with his head and his hands and his heart is an artist” He doesn’t mention materials… but I guess they didn’t have the allure of the well stocked art store back in his time! LOL

By: Garden Jools

Garden Jools — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:19:20 +0000

Aaahhhh Jean! Now that I have met you, I can truley picture you almost salivating at the thought of producing what is in your head..through your heart and hands! Well done! I understand what Big John was saying. When I step out into my studio (which I adore!!) I have a sense of leaving. A sense of entering as well. Then as I cast my eye around my paints and brushes, that whole feeling of getting lost in ones own essence is so tantalising and sooooo seductive, I cannot resist and I never fail to conjur what is inside. Someone once said to me that you should never write about something you know nothing about. I think the same advice holds true to any creative endeavour. Flowers and scenery have always been my “chalice”, but I have realised through past events and where those events left me…that faces are also something that I know. I have just completed two portraits of my girls and the experience of reproducing their faces made me fall in love with them all over again. It was almost like I could touch them and hold them as I painted them…such an amazing effect that painting them bestowed upon me. I instantly knew which brush to use and where to place that brush to get a particular line just where I wanted it. I kind of sketch with the brushes anyway (all of my paintings are done in such a way..what ever I end up with is always my first and only attempt…I do not know if that is a good thing or not!), with the flowers that is quite easy as the edges of petals and leaves is never predetermined anyway, but to try that with a portrait takes immense confidence and a true knowing of the subject. I am keen to see if I can push myself even further and try another persons face, perhaps even one that I do not know…leaving me in a postion of really knowing myself!

By: Jean

Jean — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:08:13 +0000

Blick just 5 minutes away? John I am sooo envious! I love kitchenware stores too… in fact I have my eye on a really neat “mini” cupcake tray which holds 50. And book stores too? Another pleasurable olfactory experience! LOL

Thanks so much for the lovely encouragement John!

By: John Crowther

John Crowther — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:43:20 +0000

So glad to have you back posting again, and to hear that you are happy and positive. You deserve that, Jean! Along with art supply stores (Blick is five minutes away from my house) I love book stores and cookware stores. — John