Updates from Terri on Her Art Journey
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After procrastinating for months, I finally got back to painting last week. It’s the seascape I’ll be teaching my students to paint during the class at City Lights Art Gallery that’s been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 22.
It’s been so long since I last painted, it was a struggle for me to finish this little painting in two hours. But it certainly felt good to be back at the easel. My challenge now is to get my demonstration down to an hour so that the class doesn’t go too long. I hope to keep the class to no longer than three hours, which should give me enough time to go over some of the fundamentals of acrylic painting before we actually paint this scene together. As of this writing, I still have two spots left in the tiny classroom at the gallery. Perhaps I’ll pick up a couple more students over the Mothers Day weekend, when I’ll be working at City Lights. In the meantime, I plan to paint this little gem another four or five times before my class so that I’ll be prepared to teach it. I had to reschedule this class once already after my recent injury, and I don’t want to put it off again because I’m out of practice. It’s actually a bit of a miracle that I’m able to teach at all this soon after my elbow surgery. Just two months ago today, I fell on my face, fractured my left elbow, broke a bone on my forearm and landed in the hospital. The surgeon says I’ve healed so miraculously quickly because I’m healthy and never smoked. Truly I believe that God’s healing power had more to do with it because the Lord does not want me to waste my time and “gifts” lying around the house! He wants me back at it!
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With the help of feedback from my gallery gal friends, I finally finished my collage. I call it “Bearded Iris & Friends,” and it will be on exhibit (and available for purchase) at City Lights Art Gallery in Henderson, NV, through the month of May. It’s part of the gallery’s display of members’ collages with a spring theme . . . hence the flowers and hummingbird (and mischievous looking cat for a bit of humor).
A collage is a piece of art made by sticking various different materials, such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric, on to a backing. For this piece, I used black-and-white photographs of flowers from my backyard and I painted over them with a mixture of acrylics and Mod Podge. Mod Podge is a water-based glue, sealer and finish, and it’s a must-have for making collages. Only the bird and cat were left unpainted. Honestly, this is not my favorite form of art. Most collages tend to be more abstract, and I happen to be more representational in my expression. This is my second attempt at making a collage, and I find it a bit clumsy and ugly. Alas, in the spirit of being a faithful member of City Lights, I faced the challenge and didn’t allow my inexperience to thwart me. After all, someone has to make the UGLIEST collage, so it might as well be me! On Friday, exactly six weeks after the surgery to mend my fractured elbow, the surgeon gave me the all-clear to use my arm. He attributes my quick recovery to my good health and the fact that I never smoked cigarettes. I like to think it was a miraculous healing brought by God’s answer to all those prayers that my friends and family said on my behalf. Thank you, Lord!
So, now that my arm is functioning and I’m able to drive, I’m back on track and can get back to work. The first thing I did after I got the “all-clear” was to reschedule the painting class I had to cancel. My acrylic painting class for absolute beginners will now be held on May 22 at City Lights Art Gallery from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. So far, I have two students signed up; I have room for four more and hope that I can fill the gallery’s classroom over the next four weeks. I’ll have to work at promoting it. The other thing I’m working on is the gallery’s challenge to create a collage with a spring theme. I’ve made a good start on it, and with feedback from some of my arty friends, I plan to finish it this week. I’m also putting together the curriculum for my private painting lessons. In the first three lessons, I’ve covered some real basics, like painting styles, subject matter, medium, composition, color and color mixing, temperature, values and how to make a chromatic dark, how to use values to make an object look three dimensional, and applying values to landscape painting. I think in the next lesson, I’ll talk about brushes and brushwork. Anyway, I’m optimistic and it feels great to be back on track! My backyard is lush with God’s creations.
Flowers of every spring color are popping up. They include a violet Bearded Iris; brilliant red Roses; yellow and orange Snapdragons; and pink Lantana. I expect the gold Lantana to bloom soon, too. These are not the colors that usually appear on my palette. For my landscape paintings, I typically use ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and yellow ochre. However, for a piece I’m working on for my gallery’s May challenge, I may try to use these seasonal colors. We’ve been asked to create a collage with a spring theme. I’ve only made one collage in my life, and these spring colors (as paints) are new to me. So, what the heck . . . maybe I’ll just go a little wild, and give it a go. If I actually get around to making something, I’ll post it in my blog next week. One of my goals for this Spring was to start teaching acrylic painting to absolute beginners. I even had a classroom booked at the local art gallery for a class I planned to teach on April 17.
Alas, my plans were disrupted about five weeks ago when I tripped, fell and fractured my left elbow. The surgery went well and my arm is already out of the cast, but my surgeon wants me to wear a sling when I’m out of the house and he’s forbidden me to drive or lift anything heavy. And while I’m healing nicely and I’m well on the road to recovery, my left hand is still weak, unable to open a tube of paint. So, I’ve canceled the April 17 class, hoping to reschedule it if and when a classroom at the gallery is available later this Spring or Summer. But this little setback hasn’t stopped me in my tracks! As I’ve discovered, I can teach at my kitchen table. Although it’s not a classroom of students, I can give one-on-one private lessons. I gave my second lesson on Friday. The first two lessons have been about the fundamentals of painting, starting with the color wheel and explaining how the three primary colors (blue, red and yellow) can be mixed to make all the other colors. For landscape painting, we will use ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and yellow ochre; we made a color chart using this palette. We also discussed the importance of values (the range of darks and lights) and how to make a chromatic dark as part of a values study. Basically, the use of values is how you make a two-dimensional surface appear to be three dimensional, and it’s probably more important than color. Indeed, a popular critique of artists is “Color gets the credit, but values do the work.” Finally, I gave a simple demonstration of composition and design, starting with the “rule of thirds,” which suggests that the horizon line of a landscape is best located at either the top third or bottom third of a painting (and never directly in the middle). Furthermore, the main subject of a painting or focal point (the area of the painting that draws the eye) should be placed at one of the four areas where the one-third lines intersect (see diagram). I’m personally benefiting from these private lessons about the fundamentals of painting. They’ve been a refresher course, and I’m sure they’ll make me a better teacher when I get back to the gallery and offer courses to a larger student body. So in retrospect, I’m almost grateful for my little injury. Your art journey, like mine, might have its fair share of challenges and struggles. But if we have faith and persevere, we emerge stronger and more resilient than we ever thought possible. After all, we know that with God, anything is possible. March was mostly a crummy month for me. It started out with me in the hospital with a fractured elbow, which has made it impossible for me to paint. But the month ended on a bright note with Easter Sunday and the promise of resurrection (thank you, Jesus!).
So, on this first day of April, I am resurrecting my art journey. (And that’s no April Fool’s joke!) Seriously, I’m healing very quickly and am confident that by the end of this month, I shall be back at the easel. In the meantime, my art journey includes a tour of teaching. In that endeavor, I’m giving private painting lessons (using the Moore Method of Painting, aka MMOP) to my pastor. He’s an eager student, and I pray his enthusiasm continues and that I’m able to show him that anyone can learn how to paint with the MMOP! One concern or fear that a lot of beginners (let’s call them “emerging artists”) have is that they lack talent or creativity. Of course, I believe that fear is unfounded. After all, we were created in God’s image, with an imagination and an ability to create or even (on really good days) to CO-create with the Lord. In his book, “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, “ Steven Pressfield writes, “Creative work is . . . a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.” The book is inspirational and funny as it examines the obstacles to success and shows readers how to identify, defeat and unlock the inner barriers to creativity. Reading “The War of Art” has given me a surge of positive calm, like my pastor’s Easter Sunday sermon. And it’s further assurance that my art journey will be bouncing back on track starting this month. On March 6, I had an unfortunate accident. On my afternoon walk around my gated community, I foolishly ran to catch the gate as it was opening for an incoming car. I tripped over a curb and fell on my left elbow, as well as the right side of my head. My Apple Watch alerted 911 and with the help of a few wonderful neighbors, I was lifted into an ambulance.
From that moment on, I was at the mercy of so many people, starting with the medics on the ambulance, the nurses in the ER at the hospital, an orthopedic surgeon, and eventually my amazing husband who had to care for my every need for nearly two weeks. As someone who likes to be independent and in control of my life, I had great difficulty submitting to all this help, gracious as it was, Coincidentally, I’m sure, on the Sunday before my untimely stumble, I had promised my pastor that for the month of March I would be practicing the spiritual discipline of SUBMISSION. As my son has pointed out, I got a crash course in submission! Having my left arm in a cast has put a damper on my art journey, especially the painting part! Although I am right-handed, it’s surprising how much I need my left arm and hand to do the simplest tasks, like open a tube of paint. Nonetheless, I’ve tried to keep busy by doing a little art studying. That includes reading some books recommended by my mentor, Rod Moore, who is currently teaching an eight week course on the fundamentals of landscape painting. Perhaps the best book, which I had in my library, is “Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting” by John F. Carlson. A couple other books that are more about our potential to learn and become good artists are “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle and “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. But the most fun book I’ve read is “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles” by Steven Pressfield. In humorous fashion, he talks about how to overcome RESISTANCE.. Right now, I’m trying to resist feeling sorry for myself, to submit to God’s will and grace, and to accept the help of others. I also appreciate all the thoughts, concerns and prayers for healing from friends and family. I believe their prayers are working! I’m out of the cast, in a sling, and able to write this blog post. God willing, I’ll be back to painting soon, too. Last week, I finally completed my benchmark painting for 2024. It’s a 9” x 14” acrylic painting I call “‘Bridge Over Ridge Pond.” Taken from a reference photo, it’s a winter scene of the gazebo at Lakeridge, the community in western Connecticut where I spend a couple of months each year in late summer/early fall.
My benchmark paintings for 2023 and 2022 are also in acrylics and done from photos I took at Lakeridge. But they are both on smaller, 8” x 10” canvases. It’s at the suggestion of my painting instructor and mentor, Rod Moore, that I’ve made these benchmark paintings each year as a way to measure my progress. “To me it’s important that you make reasonable progress in reasonable time with your painting whilst having fun and enjoying the process,” says Rod. Rod says a benchmark painting is “designed to get you out of your comfort zone and to really test your current skill levels. This then gives a guide as to what you need to focus on: which skills you need to make improvements with to move your painting forward.” So, for this year’s benchmark, I went larger. I’ve always been a bit reluctant to paint on any canvas bigger than 8” x 10,” so I challenged myself to go to 9” x 14.’ Perhaps by next year I’ll be ready to go to 16” x 20” or even 20” x 26.” And I hope I’ll have plenty of reference photos from my trips to Italy and Turkey (planned for later this year, God willing) that will inspire me to paint a subject other than Lakeridge! One of my goals for 2024 is to enter at least one juried art competition. So, in an effort to knock off an item from my to-do list, I entered Nevada Watercolor Society’s 2024 Spring Show.
I joined NVWS during the Covid lockdown, but have never attended an in-person meeting or participated in any of its exhibits. As an emerging artist, I never expected my work to be worthy of exhibition. Nonetheless, I entered my watercolor, “Woodland Stream.” To my great surprise, my painting was not only accepted into the exhibit, it was one of seven paintings to be honored. (I won an “Honorable Mention” green ribbon and a $100 cash prize!) The ribbon was presented to me by Sharon Menary, the president of NVWS. There are 38 pieces of beautiful artwork (all watercolors) done by 25 different painters that will be on exhibit until May 4 at Charleston Heights Art Center, located at 800 Brush St. in Las Vegas. I was delighted that my brother John, who is visiting me from Maine, was able to attend the opening reception on February 22 when I received my ribbon. My husband Ralph and I celebrated with a glass of champagne when we got home. I wondered if all of the paintings that were submitted for this exhibit were accepted. I asked Cecilia Lary, another watercolorist seen here with her husband examining my painting, and she told me she was certain the judges were quite selective. One of the jurors, Kim Johnson Nechtman, had this to say: “As an instructor and student of the arts, I appreciate how difficult it is to put your paintings out there for judgement. Art is subjective and the journey to learn and grow are different for each individual. My hope is that the show helps to inspire artists to continue in their endeavor to grow.” Well, I’m definitely inspired to not only learn and grow but also to be bold enough to enter another juried competition! My art journey took a bit of a detour last week. On Friday, I participated in a mixed media photo collage workshop at City Lights Art Gallery with a terrific artist, Karla Cloninger.
It was quite a departure for me, yet something I said I’d challenge myself to do this year . . . experiment, learn and grow! And this workshop was just the ticket! Using black and white photos printed on plain paper, Karla showed us how to cut, paste, layer, paint, draw and splatter to make unique, one-of-a-kind collages. Karla provided wood panels and most of the supplies (except for the photographs), including the magic ingredient: MOD PODGE, an all-in-one glue, sealer and finish. Mod Podge is awesome. This quick-drying glue works on a variety of surfaces such as wood, paper, canvas, tin, terra cotta, and more – making it a must-have product for arts and crafts! This was my first craft project and I was definitely out of my element. While most of the other students did more abstract pieces, I was stuck in my “real” world and used various photos of my kids doing weird things (e.g. Paul pushing Danny off a train). The workshop was so much fun. Although I’m not sure I’ll become a collage aficionado, I did just order my first bottle of Mod Podge! |
AuthorTerri Thompson is a journalist-turned-visual artist, who is on an "art journey" and exploring how to tell her stories through her watercolor and acrylic paintings and photographs. Categories |