Updates from Terri on Her Art Journey
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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.
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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! |
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 |