A Wandering Mind

I once had a wandering mind.  I hope to have one again.

In my recent de-cluttering, I uncovered some books I’d never read.  Many were from a former book festival I’d organized.  Author Charles de Lint attended one year and he inscribed The Ivory and the Horn to me, “Dream True.”  In this book, a series of short stories, the characters enter into imaginary situations that cross over into their “real” lives.  At first I found it difficult to “get into”, but then it became absorbing.  I let the original stories carry me away. 

What does it mean to “Dream True”?

Dreams or daydreams are raw material for creativity.  Daydreams may provide ideas you act on later.  Daydreams open you up to possibilities.

Doodling, likewise, is another form of “dreaming true”. Drawing while seemly unfocused and unaware of your immediate surroundings, actually increases memory retention. A study published in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology showed that doodlers actually retain more information from meetings than non-doodlers—they are both “here” and “there”. It means that in this wandering-mind state, you draw your way to awareness!

I now give myself permission more often to let my mind wander and I’m taking up doodling.  It’s important for artists to have a wandering mind.  As Charles de Lint says, “Dream True’! 

Recently I took a trip to Tucson.  Enjoy this little photo from my "wanderings" around Tohono Chul Park.

My visit to the park was courtesy of a pass provided by John Tuttle Clymer MD

  In memory of John Tuttle Clymer, MD June 27, 1925-March 19, 2014

Whose inquisitive mind and kind heart spread much wisdom and joy in this world.

I’d like to hear from YOU!  Please leave comments and questions.

Just a few days remaining to get down to the Tipping Paint Gallery special exhibit, “Eggistentialism” to benefit Urban Ministries.  The show reflects the joy and beauty of chickens and eggs, the gardens they live in and urban farming.  April 1-26.

My paintings are available at Cary Gallery of Artists 200 S. Academy St. in downtown Cary Ashworth Village (link) 919-462-2035 Mon-Sat 11 am-5:30 pm.

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Which Came First?

 

"Vintage Chickens and Fresh Eggs" 6 x 6 oil Available Tipping Paint Gallery

Galleries are full of chicken paintings.  They are beautiful and interesting.  But I’m from Detroit. I don’t “do” chickens.   So I said.  Then Tipping Paint Gallery came up with a unique exhibit to kick-off the annual Raleigh Tour d’ Coop about raising chickens, urban farming and a fund-raiser supporting Urban Ministries, which, among other things, provides a community food pantry.  Thus was born “Eggistentialism”.  So if I were to enter the exhibit, I was bound to paint a chicken or an egg, whichever came first.
 

Living in Cary, which recently authorized backyard chicken coops, I could possibly find a coop and do a painting outdoors.  But chickens are notoriously active.  That didn’t seem practical.  I wondered what I was to do.

It looked like the egg was coming first.  So would it be a cracked egg? A whole egg? Scrambled eggs? Brown eggs? Easter eggs?  Really, how many ways to arrange those ovals!? I was starting to think like Dr. Seuss and Sam of Green Eggs and Ham,

I would not, could not, paint them in a box.
I could not, would not, with a fox.
I will not paint them with a mouse
I will not paint them in a house.
I will not paint them here or there.
I will not paint them anywhere.

I was discouraged.  Then I looked up over the stove to my recipe book shelf, and there were grandma’s vintage chicken egg cups.  I had my chickens and my eggs!  I remember grandma displayed her glass collection in her dining room bay window where they would catch the light.  So I placed the two ceramic nesting chickens on a mahogany dining table by my dining room window, arranged three white eggs, and set about painting.

Detroit gals DO “do” chickens!

I’d like to hear from YOU!  Please leave comments and questions.

Tipping Paint Gallery “ Eggistentialism “311 West Martin Street Raleigh, NC 27601  April 1-26

My paintings are available at Cary Gallery of Artists 200 S. Academy St. in downtown Cary Ashworth Village. 919-462-2035 Mon-Sat 11 am - 5:30 pm.

 . . .And by contacting me at the following links

my ecommerce website:

Sheffield Art Studio

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Discard Fever

 I’ve been seized by the impulse to discard.  Forty plus years of acquiring has resulted in clutter, so we enlisted the help of a professional organizer.  Every room—bed, bath, living, kitchen, and studio—is being purged.  And just like when you plan to paint a room and end up adding an addition, we’ve now decided to undertake several remodels.  Oh, my!  Decisions, decisions and chaos now and to come.

De-cluttering and remodeling  the house is like being in the “ugly” stage of a painting.  The ugly stage is when the painting has a long way to go, but has potential.  It’s very emotional.  If you give up at this stage, you won’t know if you could have saved it.  You won’t know the outcome.  There are so many choices to be made—what to leave in, what to take out.  What details are disrupting?  What features are engaging?

This unsettling stirring up is a good thing.  I’m finding that leaving behind distracting old things and keeping what has value and beauty is allowing fresh creative ideas to percolate to the top.

Some closet treasures that came out of hiding in the great purge of 2014 ended up in small paintings:

My Bonnets 5 x 5 Oil

Ready to Serve 5 x 5 Oil

Dancing and Later 7 x 5 Oil

Tip for painters:  pick up gowns, party dresses and still life items at thrift shops to paint; then re-donate instead of storing them.

My paintings are available at Cary Gallery of Artists 200 S. Academy St. in downtown Cary Ashworth Village 919-462-2035 Mon-Sat 11 am-5:30 pm.

  . . And by contacting me at the following links:

Sheffield Art Studio

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Inspiration from the Old: Chin Up!

My 93 year old father-in-law is frail.  His balance is not so good and, truthfully, his memory ebbs and flows, yet it surprises me how he connects to the world in such a direct way. When he sits on a porch or looks out the window or when we drive him by Banks Channel sound or the ocean, he reads the sky, water, and air.  He knows what will happen that day and he remembers what happened for decades before. Once he used that eyesight and hearing for hunting. Some time ago he flew missions in Africa, Europe, and India.  He survived.  He paid attention.  He still pays attention.

Long ago our ancestors could not afford to be inattentive.  Their survival counted on knowing who was friend or foe, on reading the seasonal changes.

When I was a child I used my senses to enjoy the smells, sounds, and feel of open windows, to catch grasshoppers in the park near me, to watch neighbors pass by.  I lost much of that as I grew into my middle years.  When I entered the creative life of painting I discovered plein air painting, painting outdoors directly from life.  It’s a sensory experience.  I rediscovered paying attention and it keeps me connected to the world.

I absolutely Love my IPhone and other technical gadgets. But they keep my head down, not head up, which is what you need to do to pay attention.  So in 2014 I resolve to keep my head up and pay attention like Poppa Sheffield. Chin up!

While it’s been frigid outside, here are a few of the things I’ve paid attention to inside:

Tick Tock When's Dinner? 12 x 12 oil on copper Available

Bedtime 12 x 12 oil on copper.  Available. This was Poppa Sheffield 's bed after WWII

My paintings are available at Cary Gallery of Artists 200 S. Academy St. in downtown Cary Ashworth Village. 919-462-2035 Mon-Sat 11 am - 5:30 pm.

 . . .And by contacting me at the following links:

www.sheffieldartstudio.com 

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No Place Like Home

“There’s no place like home.” says Dorothy in the final scenes of The Wizard of Oz.   Dorothy journeyed to the Land of Oz and had many adventures along the way.  From the yellow brick road to the lollipop kids to the ruby slippers to the Emerald city the adventure story is full of color.   But in the end the road led her back to what she wanted and needed—home. 

We have entered the time of year when color has faded to shades of gray.  It’s cold and spring travel down another yellow brick road is but a dream.  I was recently wondering what I could paint.  I wanted fresh, real subject matter. Taking a lesson from Dorothy, I “traveled” around my house with “artist’s eyes” to see if I could find what I needed right at home.

Here is some of what I found in my “Kansas”.

"Bookmark" 12 x 12 oil on copper



Sketch of Poppa's bed-painting idea



"Our Daily Bread" 8 x 8 oil on copper



Sketch of dining room shadows--painting idea

I'm still exploring. There are closets, bathrooms, and more bedrooms . . .   My home—it’s full of exactly the themes I’ve been trying to paint this past year, spaces of intimacy, quietness, informality, of familiarity, comforting routines, and happy memories.  It’s been around me all along!

Be safe as you travel to visit your families and friends in these last weeks of 2013. When you return home refreshed, experience with new eyes the comforts of home in 2014.

My paintings are available at Cary Gallery of Artists 200 S. Academy St. in downtown Cary Ashworth Village. 919-462-2035 Mon-Sat 11 am - 5:30 pm.

 . . .And by contacting me at the following links:

www.sheffieldartstudio.com 

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Layers of Light

It’s hot, it’s cold, it’s elusive, and it changes everything.

I was walking mid-afternoon in my neighborhood enjoying the autumn colors, the geese overhead and far off dogs barking.  The long shadows reminded me of shorter days and longer nights, the loss of light.  Humans have an instinctive love of light, and if I can’t have as much in the next few months, I’ve found ways to create it in my studio.



First Encaustic 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 wax on tile

For many years I’ve wanted to learn the ancient art of encaustic painting, the application of hot pigmented wax in layers to a surface.  I got my chance under the direction of Dianne Rodwell in her Encaustic Kitchen at her Artspace Studio in Raleigh. I learned many techniques for achieving special effects. Because beeswax is translucent, wonderful depth is achieved as light seeps through the layers diffusing the light and working its magic on the layers of color.  This ancient art is a feast for the eye as well as a temptation for the hand.  You want to sneak a guilty stroke of its surface.




 



Spring Glow #2 started with transparent oils.  oil 8 x 8



Not long after Diane’s class, I dove into a three day, fun packed (and calorie-packed-yum, thanks to Lynda Chambers) discovery of transparent colors with Dreama Tolle Perry.  The jewel like transparent colors she recommends allow light to flow through and around the painting. Opaque paints are used carefully in the final layers of the painting and in higher, lighter values to create a still heightened sense of light.  I have rearranged my painting palette to separate transparent colors from opaque colors to heighten my awareness during the painting process.Here are two interpretations of the same scene, one below painted with no mind for using transparent oil colors in the first layer, and the one to the left started with transparent oils in the first layer.

 

Spring Glow oil 10 x 8 SOLD





Mike Rooney CRAZY color-red block on yellow block

"What's in the light?  What’s in the shadow?” Mike Rooney kept asking.  In the Cape Cod Under-painting method (CCU), you use one set of colors to paint what is in light, one set to paint what is shadow, always being aware more of correct value, than of correct local “real” color (what he calls “home” color).  After a morning reminding us of how a color is one value in light becomes a different value in shadow, he introduced the application of “crazy color”.  He set up colored blocks set up on colored paper under a spotlight.  Our task was to paint a picture of the block, painting the sides hit by the spotlight using only red, yellow, orange or pink; the sides in shadow could only be painted from the colors green, blue, purple, or alizarin red.  Mind you, this might be a RED block!  So the shadow side of a red block might have to be purple or blue, not a dark red or dark orange.  Or if it were a yellow block, the shadow side might have to be green.   C- R-A-Z-Y color! 

It’s in the next layer where the artist corrects the color, without obliterating all of the under layer, bringing the color closer to “real” color. The eye grabs crazy color, mixes the layers, and you see united color full of rich light or shadow.







Light diffused through wax, transparent colors, eye-mixing crazy color defining light and shadow.  I’ll be experimenting with all these new ways of bringing light into my creative work. Goals set!

How will YOU capture the light during the winter months? I'd like to hear from YOU! Please leave comments and questions.

My paintings are available at Cary Gallery of Artists 200 S. Academy St. in downtown Cary Ashworth Village. 919-462-2035 Mon-Sat 11 am - 5:30 pm.

 . . .And by contacting me at the following links:

 www.sheffieldartstudio.com 

LIKE me on
www.facebook.com/sarahsheffieldartstudio