Month: February 2015

Latest painting – acrylic with collaged gemstones. 

 

With 14 years of teaching art behind me, I have reached a few conclusions. Every art student wants to become a better artist. Some students have more teachable spirits, and that’s a real bonus for them. However, the instructor also needs to work hard on communicating art skills to each student at their own individual level. Yet there is one thing that the teacher cannot do. They cannot put in the brush time for the student. Lately when looking at art that I consider to be exemplary, I am just so aware – those artists have put in a lot of brush time. And that’s what I’m doing over here this week! How about you? Are you putting in some brush time? It matters if you really want to grow your art to the next level. 

Here is an amazing quote about the meaning of art: “…even from the concentration camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic…many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival: art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, “I am alive, and my life has meaning.” Karl Paulnak (thanks to Fr. Ivan Moody) 

Such an enjoyable afternoon yesterday with the Brush and Palette Club doing art critiques for them! Thanks for inviting me. And now anyone can have me critique paintings too, by email. After you have clicked the “buy now” button in the right column of this page, and paid for the number of paintings you would like critiqued, you simply email a photo of your painting(s) to art@cherylo.ca. (You don’t need a Paypal account, just a credit card to do this.) I will respond by email with a detailed critique of your painting – both strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great way to grow your art. 

Thanks to ArtProMotivate for the quote: 

Happy to show you the latest landscape. It has collaged gemstones – tiger’s eye and quartze. Not yet for sale. 

I can be pretty goal oriented at times. Some might call it self motivated. Others might call it driven. It is what it is, and many of you know that right now and for the next few months I am to be focussing on my painting. My family and friends are wonderfully understanding and help me to find that fine thin line between being a happy hermit artist, and a happy hearted human who still has some vague idea of how to relate to other people that they love.  So, the art time is happening! Not meeting my goals everyday, but many days I do, and that’s life. Aaaaaand… I’ve just come up with a completely different out of the box creative project I really want to work on! It’s secret for now. But now I have to figure out how to chase this beguiling new fluff bum without losing too much time from my painting time. Should all dilemmas be so very pleasant. Wishing you all the best in chasing your ducks. (And thanks to Sue Fitzmaurice Author for the quote and image.)