Updates from Terri on Her Art Journey
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Because, as an artist, I was not born a virtuoso with a natural talent to paint, I have a lot to learn. That means I will have to make a lot of UGLY art before I begin to make good art. Hence the painting pictured here. I made this disaster of a painting while on vacation a few years ago at one of those paint-and-sip-wine studios (called Pinot’s Palette) that my sister took me to. Frankly, we did more sipping than painting, and the instructor told me I was “really good at wine.” But it sparked my interest in acrylic painting. Now that I’m retired from my journalism career, I can devote more time to painting. About six months ago, I started getting serious and deliberate about learning how to paint and began taking online art lessons and painting classes (and not the kind that required wine!). As I’ve painfully learned, this is not an overnight process. Indeed, it takes a lot of practice and, so, I’ve made painting a daily habit. There’s even a movement that involves the habit of daily painting, and I’ve joined it! To help prioritize my “studio time,” I’ve designated a space in my office/spare bedroom with paints, brushes and an easel set up and ready to go. Although it may be modest, it’s my dedicated, sacred space, a place of refuge and function which I keep organized and decluttered. And I keep track of how much time I paint each day, how many “things” I’ve created and/or classes I’ve taken. Setting goals is important, too, so I’ve given myself a target for what I want to hit every 90 days. Another thing that keeps me focused on my art journey is prayer and seeking inspiration. To fill my creative well, I regularly spend time watching other artists, reading books, listening to music, going for walks, or just observing nature. During the first hour of the day over a cup of coffee, I read my Bible and pray for the Holy Spirit to show me the true source of my creativity. Growing in artistic maturity is an exercise in patience. Often it begins with a nudge from the Lord as He speaks to my heart and sparks my imagination. Over time, He trains my fingers to respond, allowing the process to grow and expand my bag of tricks. The goal is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and skilled as an artist. I’m still creating a lot of UGLY art, but over time, I do see some progress. And once in a while something close to good does end up on my canvas. When that happens, I’ll be sure to share it here, so please keep tuning in!
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As I’ve said before, I began my venture into the visual arts through photography. My role model was my mother, who constantly snapped pictures of me and my sisters. Her bedroom wall, filled from floor to ceiling with photographs of the three of us, was practically a shrine dedicated to her daughters. So perhaps it’s not surprising that my favorite subject as I began my foray into photography was my son. Although I do not plaster my walls with pictures of Danny, I do have many photo albums filled with his beautiful face! From the moment he was born, I started documenting his life. In fact, I have one album that contains a picture-a-month from birth to the age of 27 (that’s only because I haven’t been able to see him since the COVID pandemic has kept us apart!). One day, when I hope he’ll appreciate it, I plan to present it to him as my “love offering.” My son has followed in my footsteps when it comes to photography. He recently bought a fancy new camera. When he was very young, I joined a camera club; he joined me on many of my outings with the club as we explored and took pictures in different neighborhoods and various scenes around the city. Our favorite subject then was Central Park, which was just a block away from where we lived. He often referred to the park as his “backyard,” since we spent so much time there. If you’d like to see a sample of some of my photographs of Central Park or elsewhere, just click here. One of my favorites is what I call “Plein Air Painter in Central Park” (pictured above). If you like it, you may purchase it through my Art Store by clicking here. These days the things I most like to photograph are nature scenes, including flowers, birds, lakes and landscapes. But, honestly, I’ve moved on in my art journey from photography to painting. In fact, what I’d really like to do is become a plein air painter, like the fellow I photographed in Central Park. Of course, when I can’t get outside to paint, I can always use my pictures of nature as reference photos for my paintings! What do YOU like to photograph? This is where I create. I call it my “studio,” but it’s really just a corner in my spare bedroom. Where do you create? And WHY do you create?
Last week I asked this of my friends on Facebook and heard from a number of them. “What makes you create?” I asked, and “why do you create?” Some answers were pretty obvious, like “I create to express myself and to capture the beauty of nature.” Others said it was relaxing or they created to have fun or to learn. One friend said it was in her DNA, “part of her soul.” The funniest answer was “because I can’t sell insurance.” But then he added, “Because we have to, Terri, we have no choice.” We HAVE to create. That’s the best answer. A couple of my FB buddies gave some practical advice. One recommended a book by Rollo May called “The Courage to Create” (so, of course, I ordered it). My favorite high school teacher, who taught the creative writing class I took as a senior, suggested I get Margaret Atwood’s book, “Negotiating with the Dead” (so, I got it, too). Some of the best advice on the creative process comes from my mentor, Matt Tommey. In his recent article, “What is Prophetic Art?,” he discusses how connecting with God is at the heart of the creative process. He calls it “co-laboring” with the Holy Spirit. He wrote, “Your imagination is a part of your being that interacts with the movement of God within you.” I like that. And, he concludes, that God cares much more THAT you create than WHAT you create. I like that, too. So, friend, get out there and CREATE. It’s what you’re born to do! My grandparents gave me my first camera when I was six years old. It was an Imperial Mark XII, which probably cost about $3.95 (recently a camera just like it sold for $70 on eBay). My little sister, who was just four years old at the time, got one, too. Hers was a pretty turquoise blue; mine was tan. Cheap knock-offs of the Kodak Brownie (Girl Scouts version), these point-and-shoots were made of plastic and used Kodak 620 film. Each roll of film could produce just twelve 4” x 4” photographs. So each picture was precious and you had to be quite selective and judicious in taking your shot. And so began my love for photography. The first photo I ever took with my new camera was of my mother; the second, as I recall, was of my father holding my sister’s camera. We smiled a lot in my family because Mom was constantly taking pictures of us, and frowning was not permitted. She’d carefully pose us and seemingly take forever before she’d click the shutter. To the chagrin of my family, I’ve inherited my mother’s desire to document everything in a photograph. Like her, I have enough photo albums to fill a closet . . . or two . . . or three. There was a time I considered becoming a photojournalist. My first job in a newsroom was as a graphic artist and typesetter for the Coralville (Iowa) Courier in the early 1970’s. One of my responsibilities was to develop and print the photos that ran in this weekly newspaper. My teacher in the darkroom was Don K. Woolley, who, in addition to being the paper’s photographer, ran the photojournalism department at the University of Iowa (the U of I still offers a scholarship for photojournalism students in Don’s honor). And when I was working on my journalism master’s degree at Columbia University in NYC several years later, I studied photojournalism with Sara Barrett, another wonderful teacher who is a photo editor in the Opinion section of The New York Times. But I never made it as a photojournalist, and actually never even tried.
Photography became my hobby. It was the gateway into the world of visual arts, and my camera equipment got progressively more sophisticated, from point-and-shoots, instamatics and polaroids to 35 mm’s with all the bells and whistles and fancy lenses. My subject matter also graduated from photos of the family to landscapes, seascapes and urban scenes. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to live in a variety of settings and to travel a bit, giving me plenty of opportunity to capture the beauty of the world and God’s incredible nature. As with any form of visual art, the elements of composition, design, light, shadows and color saturation are just as important in a good photograph as they are in a painting. These days, with camera phones that autocorrect for just about anything, it’s perhaps not as challenging as it once was. For example, you no longer have to be particularly selective in what you shoot since you’re not limited to just 12 pictures per roll of film. You can take endless amounts of photos of the same scene and simply edit to your heart’s desire. What’s the challenge in that? Today anyone can be a photographer and everyone is! Which may be one reason that my interest in photography has waned a bit and I’m moving on to other forms of visual art. I’ll still treasure the moments I capture on film (physical or digital), but it’s time for me to learn some new skills and to awaken my imagination in unexplored ways. How do you use your creative imagination? |
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 |