Merle Rosen Stays Tuned to Her Internal Dialogue

It seems to me that Merle Rosen is doing exactly what she wants to do.

For one thing, there is a wide variety in her work. She is breaking that rule about getting really good at one thing. Her acrylic work, alone,  is applied to plywood, paper, yupo, multimedia board, Lanaquarelle, clayboard, and who knows what else.

But what really caught me was this video on YouTube about her collage and painting process.

She begins by quipping: “If you were in here  you’d probably be asking me questions about what I’m thinking about, and I’d say I’m not. You’d also want to know what I’m looking at, and I’d say Everything.”

She thinks it’s important to be present with a piece of art, with what is unfolding, whether you like it or not, and trying to go with it as it unfolds.

In this case, the belly button is what she determines to be missing. Oh, and a hat. Her collage material is also her own work, which is part of my method as well. So we’ll have to back up and watch her create the collage material:

She likes to make surfaces her own. She demonstrates working on Yupo with her first love, pencil. I am delighted to know that Yupo holds graphite well, and will definitely be trying it myself. She draws such expressive lines, completely intuitively. If she likes the entire surface, she works at it as a piece of art. If not, she takes the scissors to it and uses it as source material for other images.

Merle likes to take chances, to attempt things where she doesn’t have any idea what the outcome will be.

Did you catch a glimpse of that huge cache of Golden products on her shelves? That’s a perk which Golden Working Artists enjoy.

In an article by CityBeat’s Katie Moser, Rosen reveals that “her artwork and her teaching are a spiritual practice. Through various artistic media, she hopes to connect with her internal dialogue. Rosen teaches to help others do the same.”

Step-By-Step Guide To Acrylic Collage With Merle Rosen is available on DVD if you desire a longer session with Rosen. I am considering it, because her free-wheeling approach is so catchy. I’m also looking at another Golden Working Artist’s DVD: Nancy Reyner’s Acrylic Revolution: Watercolor & Oil Effects with Acrylic Paint. Her book, Acrylic Revolution, is a must have for anyone wants to explore the many options of acrylics.
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Listening to an interview with Nancy will let you know that she also works intuitively and spontaneously, like Rosen, but with such contrasting results. And Reyner desires to create powerful, transformative work that will move viewers emotionally, revealing something of her to others.

I can’t say with complete assurance that I am noticing everything around me while I paint, but I am definitely watching how the techniques these women use flow from the inner dialogue they are always listening to.

Are you listening to yours?

Finding That Emotional Connection

In October, I viewed a documentary about an a creature that has held my fascination for years. A Murder of Crows described the common crow as “one of the most intelligent, playful and mischievous species on the planet.”

After learning that the crow can fashion tools and recognize faces, I became even more enamored with this species.

However, I do not anthropomorphize them into smart and sinister bad boys of the bird world. I am not sure exactly why my head always turns when I hear a caw, or see a piece of art that features the crow. Somehow, they have come to represent certain aspects of myself~ I am curious how they act, and in what way others present them.

My friend Deb recently introduced me to the work of Craig Kosak. Oh my .  .  .  if you are a member of the crow fan club, Kosak’s work is going to cause your feathers to tremble. Technically, he paints the raven. However, articles with titles such as How to Tell Differences Between Crows and Ravens make it clear that I am not the only one who usually treats them as one species. And, indeed, the Corvus genus includes both.

Six Moons ~ by Craig Kosak (used with permission)

Western Art Collector Magazine, in its May 2008 issue, has an article entitled Instinct and Insight, where it reveals the astonishing fact that it was only in 2008 that Kosak had his first solo show, by the same name. The show featured 21 oil paintings, which helped Kosak delve into “who he really is” in a way that he considers “better than any therapy.”

Southwest Art featured Raven and Buffalo 7 on its January 2008 cover  and dubbed him, inside, as an artist to watch in 2008.

His latest article was in the August 2009 edition of American Art Collector previewing his Indian Market show in Santa Fe,  Talisman.

Many things draw me to Kosak’s work, including the following:

1–Those crows (ravens), which are so alive and gracefully posed/poised.

2–The luscious backgrounds, which look deceptively simple at first glance, but carry so many subtle details, including symbols and a rich layering of color. I can’t stop staring at the color permutations of the fence the crow is perched on, in the painting below, or that luminous flower.

Kosak divulges that he uses “lots of glazing and areas of solid color.”

I’ll take five, six, or seven passes at each area of the painting because I want the colors to glow. I do alternative layers of opaque and transparent color. It’s a continual process.

Talisman II was hung, for those fortunate enough to be present this past October, at the Howard/Mandeville Gallery. The gallery offers these insights about Kosak’s work:

Craig Kosak is inspired by the wildlife and landscapes he encounters while traveling and returns to his studio full of experiences to be expressed in his work. Rather than faithfully documenting the flora and fauna, he strives to capture his feelings, insights and emotions from these personal sojourns. Each trip consists of both a journey through the outer world, and an inner journey where he learns more about his own humanity, his spirit, and the world inside. His paintings are about both worlds and how they relate to each other.

Bloom ~ by Craig Kosak (used with permission)

Finding that emotional connection to your subject matter is absolutely necessary for an artist to stay inspired long enough to do the work. But does it translate to your viewers?

For this viewer, Craig, I would definitely offer an enthusiastic “Yes!”

P.S. Sharon Fraser sent me this link to a TED talk by Joshua Klein on The Intelligence of Crows. He tells us, and I quote, that “You should not piss off a crow.” Watch the talk to find out why.

The Artful Life

Somehow, I have become quite relaxed about this new “career” of mine, making art.

I have decided it will not be anything like my other careers, where I labored hard and long to acquire the credentials and secure the positions I believed I needed. In all these positions I have had bosses to obey, co-workers to co-operate with, work to take home that ate away at off time, and a varied assortment of stresses that I simply considered part of  “the game.” In fact, I have not quite quit those games: by all counts I have another three years to keep my game face on. (Fortunately, when I am with the little ones, I just have fun!)

But art, ahhhh, that is an entirely different matter. My art career is unfolding as a marvelous, revelatory path of discovery. I have no-one else to please or answer to. I can create what I want, when and how I want. I have more dreams and plans than you can shake the proverbial stick at, but I refuse to get in a flap about any of them. I am engaged by them, not employed by them. They fascinate and excite me. They do not demand my time, but fill my time like love fills an open heart. I am not obligated to perform, but can follow the inner invitation to play with my entire being.

My intuition informs me of each step and I can take all the time I need to fulfill it. My “job” is to simply enjoy myself and observe the evolution of my desires and intentions. I believe new opportunities are constantly coming my way and that I will be ready to embrace each and every one of them, without having to frantically follow a checklist set out for me by the latest success guru. I intend to have it all: the joy of art making, an art business that springs out of that, and plenty of leisure time to share with the people I love. I’ve had some successes in achieving this, and realising that art is part of everything I do.

Body, mind, and spirit are fully occupied with living the artful, art-filled life.

Deb Is Airborne

It seems like only a few hours have passed, but Deb is on her way home to Florida after spending four days with me in Silverspring Studio. We spent happy hours creating computer art, and cutting, stitching, and painting  paper. We celebrated Deb’s gorgeous cracked paper quilts. We shared ideas and dreams, and laughed until our sides ached. We enjoyed 3 different art DVDs, which are the length of feature films and would provoke yawns in anyone other than artists.

We did lunch, drank wine and mango juice, and were chauffeured by my dear husband to dinner and the airport.

Deb is a woman whom you can count on to give you the straight truth, and do the most generous thing. If you have her in your life, you are very fortunate. That’s how I feel tonight ~ extremely fortunate.

Deb and Carol

Weed Revelation

Weed Revelation ~ by Carol Wiebe

There is nothing so humble that we cannot derive beauty and inspiration from it. Weeds can be a revelation.

Deb Has Landed!

Today, my husband and I drove into Toronto and picked up my friend Deb Sims from the airport. Deb is an extraordinary artist, and one of the funniest people you could ever meet. When you are around her, your lungs get a real workout.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday we are going to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY in Silverspring Studio. We have Cracked Paper Quilts on our minds and a studio full of art supplies in our hands.

Who knows what could happen?

Sometimes Love Hurts

Sometimes Love Hurts ~ by Carol Wiebe

Sometimes, love hurts. We might even question if exposing ourselves to love is worth the potential pain.  

But love is not just a surface emotion: it embodies a wide spectrum of feelings. So wide, that poets, writers, artists, saviours, politicians, advertisers and countless others have tried to define and describe it through the ages. Various holy writings declare that God is Love.

I do not think it is possible to live on this earth and miss the experience of love. Simply being born is a gift of infinite love: we are given access to all the possibilities (including challenges) that life has to offer. The more we open ourselves, the deeper our experience can go.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.    ~ Rumi

Photo Issues with Firefox

A lot of my Flickr photos are not showing up on my site. I went online and realized this is a Firefox issue, NOT a Flickr problem. The photos ALL show up when I use Safari. If you are using Firefox, I apologize for any blanks may be seeing.

Do you have any image issues? How do you handle images on your blog?

A Playful Self Portrait

As a matter of principle (oh my, doesn’t that sound high-falutin’), I do not take part in chain letters, except to break them.

But a chain art exchange? That’s a different story.

Why? Because Dayna Collins asked me, that’s why, the art facilitator extraordinaire. Just spend some time on her blog and count the number of ways she coaxes art out of people. She doesn’t just offer workshops, she offers art events.

I have to admit I have had some trouble finding six willing victims participants. Perhaps its karma, slapping me for all those other chains I broke! I have asked at least a dozen people and am not sure if my six are a go (the art needs to be sent out within the week of receiving the invitation). But, in good faith, I tried to send my package off to Kim of Merlin’s Musings yesterday. Kim says she wants to kiss the mailman for bringing her goodies. I’ve heard of kill the messenger, but a kiss is certainly preferable!

Who knew the postal outlets would all be closed on Sunday? I will try again this morning, and those of you reading this get a sneak preview inside my package. In fact, you can join the fun if you like. Just leave a comment and I’ll send you the details.

The piece is about 17″ long, and that fluorescent maple leaf is, of course, a symbol of Canada. Here in Ontario, at this time of year, the sun shining through the red/orange maple leaves is a glorious sight. It makes you want to break out in a stirring rendition of “Oh Canada.,” which I sang hundreds of times as a kid growing up in Canada.

This Bird Stands On Guard (back) ~ by Carol Wiebe

This Bird Stands On Guard ~ by Carol Wiebe

I Am MAD at Audrey Niffenegger

Before I made an art book of my own, I was only marginally aware of the vast world of hand made art books. Now I can’t stop investigating that world, and Audrey Niffenegger has had some significant success in it. Christopher Borrelli, of The Chicago Tribune tells us:

For 25 years, Niffenegger has had solo art shows at Printworks Gallery on Superior Street, with portraits of herself as Siamese twins, etchings of dead starlings pulled in funeral coaches by skeleton horses. She was discovered as an undergraduate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For 13 years, she worked on 10 editions of an enormous book called “The Three Incestuous Sisters,” published by Abrams as a graphic novel, but in its original form contained 80 pages of text and 80 etchings, each of which she reproduced, then hand-painted. She sold all 10 books, for $10,000 each, to Harvard University and collectors.

Niffenegger’s art reveals a fascination with mortality, or what some have called morbidity. She also has a wonderful sense of the ridiculous and a wicked sense of humor. Audrey’s website FAQ points out that she prefers “quirky literary novels, speculative fiction, anything really odd.” I resonate with that, too.

I read The Time Traveller’s Wife when it first came out in 2004 and fell in love with the characters (don’t miss Audrey’s discussion about the book at that link). Often, I am disappointed in the movie versions of books, and while I admit that no movie based on a good book can hope to match it, I have viewed The Time Traveller’s Wife twice, and will happily watch it again, if you ask me. We can share a popcorn: large and buttered, of course.

Fantasy and science fiction have been prized genres for decades and I am especially drawn to novels where the “real world” and fantasy overlap. Magic Realism is the term most often used to describe such stories:

Magic realism is an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even “normal” setting. It has been widely used in relation to literature, art, and film.

I also have a knack for choosing first novels by women writers that I consider astonishing reads. The Time Traveller’s Wife is both magic realism and a first novel, not to mention an astonishing read that afforded me great pleasure. But I’ll let you form your own opinion about the book ~ I am not interested in writing a review. I have a bone to pick with Ms. Niffenegger, and since taxidermy is one of her interests, as well as all things skeletal, she should be game.

But here is the rub ~ that same FAQ I mentioned previously revealed the following question and answer:

Are you going to write a sequel to The Time Traveler’s Wife?
Probably not. Sometimes it’s much better to leave something to the imagination. But it’s very kind of you all to ask.

Kind, shmind! I have asked the same question for years, and am thoroughly peeved with Audrey’s flippant answer. I can understand that she is done with Henry and Clare, but Alba, at the tender age of ten, is already a marvelous character.  I WANT TO EXPERIENCE MORE OF ALBA!  Can you hear me raging, Audrey? It is pure, unadulterated, literary cruelty to dispense with Alba so easily.

Instead of doing the right thing, Audrey spent six years completing the recently released Her Fearful Symmetry, for which Scribner paid her a $5 million advance (yes, you read that right). I caught a glimpse of this fact just the other day in my local paper and whooped “Good for her!” Of course, that was before I remembered I was mad at her. Maybe now that she is independently wealthy, Ms. Niffenegger will have the leisure time to reflect on her previous lapse in judgment concerning a sequel to The Time Traveller’s Wife.

On the other hand, she really doesn’t need to give a damn. The sequel may well be gone with the wind. And in case you think it’s the wind that you are hearing, that would be me, sighing.

But oh, Audrey, to create something people connect with, and seek to experience more of ~ now that is deeply satisfying.