Keeping At It

Rereading through my old journals, I came across this prayer I wrote there in 2005. It isn't originally by me, and I don't remember where it came from. I needed it eight years ago and I still need it today.

"God, give me due respect for the abilities you have given me. Don't let me sell them short. Don't let me cheapen them. Don't let me bury my talents through indecision, cowardice, or laziness. Plant in me the necessary determination. Keep me at it. Rouse in me the fires of dedication. Keep me at it. Give me the energy, strength, and will power to bring your gifts to their proper fruition. Keep me at it. When I falter or fall, lift me up and set me back on my destined path. Keep me at it."

Creativity and What Matters Most

"Ultimately, it doesn't matter to the world if you paint or dance or write. The world can probably get by without the product of your efforts. But that is not the point. The point is what the process of following your creative impulses will do for you. It is clearly about process. Love the work, love the process. Our fascination will pull our attention forward. That, in turn, will fascinate the viewer." Creative Authenticity by Ian Roberts

Photographic Redos

I consider myself more of a photographer than a painter, but painting just won't let go of me. One of my favorite things to do is to take one of my photographs and change it.

Here are two paintings that started off as photographs. The one of the ruins is the Old Sheldon Church off Highway 17 in South Carolina; pretty close to Beaufort. I've photographed it several times in different seasons. If you go anytime of the year, any season, take a container of potent bug repellant. The tiny mosquitos about carried me off last time! I was holding my camera with one hand and making flapping motions from head to foot with the other. It makes for some interesting photographs, that's for sure!

So for this technique, I took my original 4x6 color photograph,copied,and enlarged it onto gray watercolor paper. I then recolored it using watercolor pencils. The result is a finely executed watercolor painting. Since my drawing skills are pretty poor, this is a good way to let my photograph do the drawing for me.

The second painting is a watercolor using my image of a foggy morning in Virginia as a guide. The finished painting is a 5x8, so it's pretty small. I like to paint small so I can finish a painting in one quick sitting. I really don't have the patience to work on a piece for hours or days at a time. Instant gratification is the ticket for me!

I've tried many different techniques combining photography with painting which I'll share as the mood strikes. What different techniques have you tried, and were you happy with the results?

Art and The Things You Love

"Your art is to be the praise of something that you love." John Ruskin

Here are three small watercolors of mine painted within the last 2-3 years and are of things that I love; the ocean, a Paris street scene, and a country cottage. I know that I'm not a very good painter, but I derive an extreme amount of pleasure from trying to capture with paint and paper the world I see.

Postcard Swap A Hit!

All the postcards are in from the swap mentioned here:http://artfulaspirations.blogspot.com/2012/07/fun-with-postcards.html

They came from all over the world. There were three photographs and three artworks. They also put their websites or blogs on the backs so I can contact them and see more of their work. I love exploring the art community and making new friends. This swap was a great idea!

More on Finding Balance

"I believe that a healthy sharing of oneself is a holy call, but so is caring for ourselves and taking time for the beautiful mysteries God created within us. The important thing is balance. Being a martyr distorts the virtuous ideal of giving to others by crossing over into victim pastures and a self-denial that squelches selfhood and the creative life of the soul." Annie O'Shaunnessy

The Artist's Duty

"The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world."

*Tuscan Landscape painting is by my friend Barbara Akins.

- G. K. Chesterton

Fun With Postcards

I'm participating in a postcard art swap. Here's how it works. You send in five postcards with your artwork on it. They can all be the same or five different ones. I'm sending in five different ones. It's easy to do since my medium is photography.

When the coordinator gets everyone's art, she mails our postcards to other participating artists so we receive five new postcards from around the world and one from the coordinator (she's an artist, too). That means we'll be getting six in all. I can't wait to see where they come from and what medium the artists will be using.

The clever person who thought of this idea is Kat Sloma. Her blog is Kat Eye Studio. I can't get the link to work, but you can look it up on Google. Sorry! Her blog has some good ideas for photography. She's generous and likes to help people. Check her out!

A Different Kind of Christmas Tree

Isn't this the cutest tree?  And to make it, all I'll have to do is collect all the books already sitting on my floor and stack them in this fashion.  Genius!

Keeping On With Painting

"Thoughts unspoken die unborn. The same goes for your paintings. If the desire lies within you, paint your heart out! But above all, keep developing, because that’s where real life begins.”

Tim Adams

I can't deny that I've had a lifelong desire to paint. I do best when I copy other works. This is what most if not all painters do to learn; they copy great paintings.

Anytime I've been in an art museum, I've seen plenty of students sitting there painting or drawing the works of art displayed on the walls.

I'm going to copy the one above. It's a loosely-executed watercolor called Le Journal by Jules Pascin. I love how it's outlined in black paint.

The watercolor at the top was painted plein air while I was visiting Fripp Island. It's of the marshes on the opposite side of the island from the Atlantic. I need to do a little more work on it. I'm not happy with the trees yet.

The framed landscape at the very top was my first watercolor attempt. It was painted from a photograph.

I need to do with painting what I do with everything else that I consider important enough to do. I make an appointment and then keep it. The trouble is finding a good time to make the appointment!

Bears in the Road

I've had them run across the road in front of me while driving in the car.

I've had them mosey out in front of the car, stand there and look at me, then saunter off the road on the other side.

But I've never followed a group of black bears riding on a trailer!

Last time I was in Tennessee, I followed this truck and trailer out of town. They looked to be the kind of sculptures made with a chain saw from large blocks of wood. They were well done and were probably going to some craft fair or antique store.

I got a good chuckle out of them. Looks like there may be an owl there on the left. This is why I take my camera everywhere with me!

An Artist's Eye

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web." - Pablo Picasso

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Most of the time, I find poetry too hard to read. I know it's laziness on my part. I WANT to like poetry. So I've determined to stretch myself and read some poems. I have several books collected through the years; some left over from college English classes and some bought for the beauty of their covers.

This book falls into the latter category. Found in an antique shop a long time ago, I recently opened it to find the original giver's artwork decorating almost all the pages.

The inscription says, "To My Dear Roderick, Christmas 1935, From Jane.

Since it was a Christmas gift, she decorated quite a few pages with holly leaves and berries and underlined special words in red. I particularly love the sweet face she drew of Mrs. Browning, the author. Reginald must have been a pretty special fellow to warrant so much time and detail. Now I'm going to read a few. I don't think they'll take too much mental taxation.

Glass Blowing at Jamestown, Virginia

Here are more pics for you Pom Pom. We stayed in the glassblower's hut for a long time. We finally had to pull the kids out. You can see my two girls watching from the background in the first one. This is a beautiful cobalt blue jug.



It also felt good to be in here on a cool fall day. I wouldn't want their jobs in the summertime.

My Way of Seeing the World

Yesterday I mentioned reading the book Traveling Light by Deborah DeWit Marchant and that our photographs are very similar. Here's what she says about what motivates her photography, "I sought the familiar in confined spaces: the sky reflected in a window or the shadow of a tree on a sun-painted wall. I tried to connect with some sort of common

human experience. It wasn't the fantastic or the awesome that we shared, it was the simple daily things. The sights on my everyday paths were a deeper source of beauty than any extraordinary place. Soon, everywhere I looked some proof of humanity's moment in eternity captured me. A doorway, a cluttered shed, a rundown porch."

I've always been enamored with trying to capture small pieces of daily life. These are the cumulative pieces of our existence. I'm also reading The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. She says there are two different ways people look at life; one if seeing the big picture, and the other is noticing the small details. I'm definitely in the later group, so I guess that's why I take photos of bits and pieces. Above are a few examples of what I mean.

Art and Simplicity

I took these photos this past weekend at my parents' house in East Tennessee. There are two spiders somewhere in the five photos. Can you find them?



"When the light fell, like a wash of truth, every corner that held obscurity also held the potential for beauty." Deborah DeWit Marchant in Traveling Light, A Photographer's Journey

I'm rereading this book for inspiration. Mrs. Marchant's photos are so much like my own. Our writing is very different, though. Her prose is very poetical and sometimes difficult to understand. I'm tempted to say, "Just say it in plain English!" I really don't like to try and wade through words. It frustrates me. I like forthrightness and simplicity in writing; except for Pat Conroy. He's absolutely hypnotic.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't like pretentious writing. It especially irritates me in an artist bio. You know when you go to an art exhibition and you read what the artist says about his/her art. Sometimes I think you need a doctorate just to understand what they're saying. I think they believe that the more obtuse they are the better. It's so annoying.

When I wrote my artist statement, I tried to keep it simple and understandable. I didn't start out this post with the intention of posting my artist bio, but I think I will. Do you think it's understandable? Is it too simple?

THE ART BIO

OF

DEBBIE BAILEY

Having grown up in the mountains of East Tennessee, I have a heightened awareness of the beauty of the great outdoors. I’ve always been happiest listening to wind whispering through the pines or lying in a field watching clouds float by. As a photographer, I now capture those pieces of the everyday and hold them as images of things remembered and cherished. If you look at one of my photographs, smile, and say, “I know that place…” or “That reminds me of…” then I’ve done a good thing.

Since early childhood I’ve been interested in many different art forms; especially music and photography. I’m proficient in piano but mainly piddle around with the lap dulcimer, recorder, and guitar. The hammered dulcimer is next on my list of things to try.

I became passionate about photography after a trip to Italy in 2001 with one of my sons. Since then I’ve tried different photographic techniques such as handtinting with translucent oil paints on black and white photos, copying my photos onto watercolor paper and painting over them, bleaching them, using many different film speeds to see what will happen, taking Polaroids with a 1970’s camera and then manipulating the images using different instruments while the emulsion is still wet, and attaching a photo to the back of an antique mirror after some of the silvering has been removed.

I believe in THE CREATOR who made all from nothing. I also believe all people feel the need to express their uniqueness in some way. As image-bearers of God, we can only re-create what is His. I want my art to show the goodness and beauty of creation. I affirm with the Psalmist David who said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.”

Never content to do the same thing day after day, my art is always changing into something hopefully better. And just like life, that requires patience and perseverance. So I keep pushing onward and hope that my art will bless you as we go along.