I can’t believe time has gotten away from me for so long. It’s been three weeks since I posted! I’m torn  between trying to catch up in one long post, or dividing this post into shorter, topic specific posts. I guess that would probably be the best way.

The past three weeks have been spent: Painting at a workshop with Skip Lawrence in Santa Barbara, babysitting my 3-yr. old godson for 3 days, visiting my oldest daughter at OSU, spending some down time with a doozy of a cold, and working in  the garden. Spring has sprung and I’m so happy to be getting things accomplished!

I loved every minute of painting in Santa Barbara last month. Some of my paintings were successful and others weren’t, and that is a good thing. I think that if all of them were successful, I wouldn’t have been pushing myself. It was great to have a whole week to just focus on painting and nothing else. It is amazing what that can do for your creativity and confidence.

I wonder when people see my work at a show or gallery if they realize that its always a struggle to make time to paint. I wonder if they realize that Pollyanna doesn’t always sit in the room with me saying how wonderful each work is. Doubts creep in, rejections are recalled, the laundry needs to be done, the weeds are sprouting, the darned phone starts to ring just as you pick up a brush.

One of the women in our class invited the whole group to her beautiful home in Montecito for a potluck dinner on Thursday night. One of the highlights for me (aside from the stunning views and gorgeous art collection) was visiting her studio. I love to see where artists work. I wish I had snapped some photos of the actual space (but it was full of artists!) One thing I did bring home as a souvenir though, was a list she had taped to her easel.

NOTES TO MYSELF ON STARTING A PAINTING

(RICHARD DIEBENKORN)

-ATTEMPT WHAT IS NOT CERTAIN – CERTAINTY MAY OR MAY NOT COME LATER. IT MAY BE A VALUABLE DELUSION.

-THE PRETTY, INITIAL POSITION WHICH FALLS SHORT OF COMPLETENESS IS NOT TO BE VALUED – EXCEPT AS STIMULUS FOR FURTHER MOVES.

-DO SEARCH, BUT IN ORDER TO FIND OTHER THAN WHAT IS SEARCHED FOR.

-USE AND RESPOND TO THE INITIAL FRESH QUALITIES BUT CONSIDER THEM ABSOLUTELY EXPENDABLE.

-DON’T ‘DISCOVER’ A SUBJECT – OF ANY KIND.

-SOMEHOW, DON’T BE BORED – BUT IF YOU MUST, USE IT IN ACTION. USE ITS DESTRUCTIVE POTENTIAL.

-MISTAKES CAN’T BE ERASED BUT THEY MOVE YOUR FROM YOUR PRESENT POSITION.

-KEEP THINKING ABOUT POLLYANNA.

-TOLERATE CHAOS.

-BE CAREFUL ONLY IN A PERVERSE WAY.

I giggle to think of the illustrious Richard Diebenkorn trying to channel Pollyanna while painting. Reminding himself to keep a positive attitude… let it flow. I think there are enough grains of wisdom in that quote to expand into several posts.

In our class, there was one woman who had never picked up a paintbrush before. She is a successful physician and signed up in the hope of learning to paint before taking an extended trip around the world. She had admired the work of another artist who studied with Skip and recommended him as a teacher.

As experienced artists know, it takes much more than a week to learn to paint. But her enthusiasm and naivety allowed her to create something quite wonderful on the first day. On subsequent days, her critical mind got in the way and she was less successful. It was an interesting phenomenon to watch… Pollyanna was helping her on the first day! Once you’ve been painting for quite a while, it’s harder to get Pollyanna to stick around to watch 🙂 but if you could tie her up in the studio, telling you things like wow! great job! that’s beautiful!, etc. it just might help.

The sun is shining & I’ve GOT to get out in the garden! Next post I’ll share some of the work I did in class. I’m quite pleased with some of them. Do you paint near Pollyanna? I’d be interested to hear your perspective.