Updates from Terri on Her Art Journey
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This fall, my art journey ran into a little speed bump. My painting slowed down from daily, to weekly, until I stopped painting altogether. I lost all enthusiasm.
It turns out what I needed to jump start my painting was a CHALLENGE. And, thankfully, this past week my mentor, Rod Moore, gave me just that with his Figure Painting Challenge! Inspired by Robert Hagan, the Australian television personality, author and impressionist artist best known for his romantic portraiture and maritime paintings, Rod has created a new curriculum based on Hagan’s approach to painting. Similar to the Moore Method of Painting, which uses a limited palette of three primary colors plus white, the Hagan method translates scenes of everyday life into romantic, nostalgic and blissfully peaceful visions of the world. Unlike the Moore Method, in which the subject matter is primarily landscapes and seascapes, the focus of Hagan’s paintings are various types of figures, everything from animals and children fishing on the beach to cowboys on horseback rounding up cattle to birds and sailboats. One of the challenges for me has been adjusting to the new colors. Instead of ultramarine blue, Hagan uses cobalt blue, and instead of alizarin crimson, he uses light red ochre. He also paints exclusively in oil, which gives a muted, dreamy effect to his paintings. Since I’ve stuck with acrylics, the medium I’ve been using primarily for the past three years, my results are not nearly as dramatic as his. One of Rod’s first assignments this week was this seagull on a beach. He called it “Sammy Seagull,” and she was quite a challenge for me. Perhaps one day I’ll try painting with oils. For now, one challenge at a time!
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This coming Thursday, we celebrate Thanksgiving in America, and there’s so much for which I’m grateful.
When I began my art journey nearly three years ago, and started this blog on March 8, 2021, I had no idea where it would take me. Little did I realize how much joy it would bring me and how close it would draw me to God. To be sure, I’ve had a lot of help from human beings, including my art instructor, Rod Moore of Learn To Paint Academy, and my mentor, Matt Tommey of The Thriving Christian Artist, but it’s when I co-create with God and His Holy Spirit that I experience the true joy of painting. Such was the case with this painting of a tree. One of the last pieces I did this year, it was part of my 31TREES series that I made and posted on Facebook during the month of August. I honestly felt God painting along with me as I mixed the colors and fiddled with the composition, lights and shadows. So, I was thrilled when my good friend Chris told me how much she loved this particular painting. It was her favorite of the entire series, and I gifted it to her (sans frame). Chris recently sent me this photograph of her holding the painting. Just look how she’s honored and adorned my artwork with this gorgeous frame that picks up the gold tones of the painting! Thank you, Chris. It gives me such joy to see one of my paintings hanging in your home. And thank you, Lord, for co-creating with me, drawing me closer to you, and giving me the joy of painting. One of the great things about being back in Las Vegas is that I can reconnect with my arty friends from City Lights Art Gallery. On Friday, a small group of us got together for lunch and a tour of the Nevada State Museum to visit the Liberace exhibit. Liberace was a flamboyant dresser and fabulous pianist. He lived in Las Vegas from 1974 until he died in 1987. What fascinated me most about the exhibit was Liberace’s rhinestone-studded Baldwin piano and matching bedazzled suit. It inspired me to get back on the bench, the bench of the baby grand piano in my living room, that is. I must have played for hours. That’s a start. But it will take weeks to get my fingers working again. Muscle memory isn’t quite as keen as it once was. Perhaps my playing will sound a bit better after I get the piano tuned! Alas, this morning I cut the index finger of my left hand. That will put a serious crimp in my ability to practice. While that old finger is healing, I guess I’ll get back to painting this week. After all, I paint with my right hand! Refreshed from my month-long Sabbatical, I’m ready to slowly get back to my art journey, but perhaps in a slightly different direction.
For one thing, I’d like to add a PERFORMING art to my repertoire. Last week I started playing piano again after a nearly two year hiatus. When I started getting serious about painting, I gradually gave up music, which was actually my first love. In fact, when I was a teenager, I sang and played guitar and wanted to be a country singer. Alas, by the time I had to start making a living, I gave up my dream of being a musician and became a writer instead (which, at least, paid the bills). Nonetheless, I always had a piano in my living room and would occasionally pluck out a tune or two. But when I retired in 2018, I started reimagining myself as a VISUAL artist and began my art journey as a contemporary impressionist painter. Unfortunately, music slipped into the background of my life. During my recent “time off,” I’ve rethought how I’d really like to spend the rest of my life, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not about making art to sell it. I still want to paint, co-creating with God to make art that brings happiness and joy to myself and others and to glorify the Lord. And so I will continue to paint if and when the Holy Spirit inspires me. But I’m not going to strive and to be accomplishment driven as I have been most of my life. Instead,I will pick up the brush when I FEEL like it and play the piano when I FEEL like it. Of course, I’d still like to grow and develop my skills (both painting and piano), so I will practice, create, take lessons and continue to learn. And I will continue to share what I’ve learned on my art journey or some of what I’ve created. To that end, last week I added 31 paintings to my art shop on Fine Art America. It is the collection of tree paintings I posted on Facebook during the month of August (what I called 31TREES). With this collection, I now have more than 170 pieces listed on FAA and available for purchase. I don’t make much money from these reprints. But, as I’ve come to realize, that for me making money is not the objective! |
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 |