Beauty and the Beast

Zinnia and Daisies #4 oil 4 x 4

In this case the beast is composition.  Creating well balanced, interesting, unified compositions has always been a challenge for me.  There is so much literature about the various types of compositions, but it’s difficult to prepare a scene to one of these standard formats, for instance, the S curve, the steelyard, or the tunnel.  And does one want a formulaic composition?  Yet I’m always in doubt when I look at one of my compositions and wonder if I’ve arranged the spaces and shapes well.  There is so much thought and work to it, and that is another rub.  Work, ugh!  I want to paint in that free “zone”, not plan, plan, plan, and think so deeply about these hard topics!

But a painting without good composition fails, even if well painted.

Here is where beauty helps.  I’ve found that if I setup a vase of wildly arranged flowers—a cheap, big old grocery store bouquet, and set out a collection of 4 x 4 gessobord  panels, I can paint what are essentially a series of “thumbnail” paintings of flowers.  I can practice small compositions, balancing how the shapes come together in these small spaces.  It’s free and fast and so much fun working around the beauty and fragrance of the flowers.  I don’t think about the formula compositions. I just look at the positive and negative spaces and how the sizes and shapes are harmonizing, flowing and creating balance and movement in and around the flowers and within the small square I’m working in. I’m finding it good practice and I believe it will translate to better compositions on larger panels.

What beast can you tame by surrounding yourself with beauty?

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

My paintings re 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

Sarah Sheffield Facebook Page

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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 . . . and by viewing my webpage at

Sheffield Art Studio

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

and LIKE me

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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 

LIKE me at 

www.facebook.com/sarahsheffieldartstudio